Summer Re-Reading: American Monsters

A few summers ago, my interest in cryptozoology was rekindled. Initially nurtured in my childhood by a steady diet of my parents’ copies of World News and the National Enquirer, this interest has re-emerged thanks in part to a new interest in folklore as well as listening to a number of excellent crytpid and folklore related podcasts and reality television shows. Once a niche filed of ineterst, well-written and academic reading about such creatures as the Mothman, Bigfoot and others has also  become much more readily available. Though there was magic in the halcyon days of Bat Boy, the writing has also become more polished, professional and consistently entertaining.

Due to the clean writing style and accessible nature of her writing, Linda S. Godfrey has quickly found her way to my nightstand as one of my go-to cryptid informer and literary palette cleansers. “One of America’s foremost experts on mystery creatures”, Godfrey’s books take a journalistic approach to retelling anecdotes and presenting histories of a variety of “monsters”, both familiar and unfamiliar. American Monsters: A History of Monster Lore, Legends, and Sightings in America spans an extensive timeline of experiences, often relayed through first-hand accounts of a multitude of incidents with mysterious creatures. While re-reading sections this summer, I was also pleased to see the number of secondary sources from smaller publishes she references, in particular, those dealing with local or regional folklore.

"Wendigo" illustration, page 254.

The encyclopedic text is divided into three parts, Air, Sea and Land, and further organized into chapters. Each chapter is then broken into small accounts of related creatures ranging in length from one to four pages. The anecdotes also include reference to numerous sources, information from which is used so effectively I found myself keeping a small "to read" list of these small press publications. This org -group. The book opens, for example, with “Part One: Monsters by Air”, beginning with “Chapter 1. Feathered Fiends” before moving into tales of Bigclaw, the Micmac Culloo and other historical Big Birds. In a language that is conversational and a tone that is suggests a suspension of disbelief, the writer comes across as neither pandering nor naive. Godfrey clearly lays out the experiences of  individuals in a manner that evokes each the eerie mood of each encounter and evokes the historical and cultural context from which each emerged.

One of the book’s chief accomplishments, beyond being wildly entertaining, is taking advantage of opportunities to add additional layers of insight to those topics readers might incorrectly presume they have heard everything about. The expert here is clearly Godfrey and she’s come equipped with multiple approaches to each subject. An excellent example of this is the section entitled “Challenge of Chupacabres.” Having seen the X-Files episode as well as one or two short videos on YouTube, it might be easy to assume one has all the relevant information necessary to make a personal call on the existence of this “hell monkey”.  While not offering a definitive answer on the existence of chupacabres, Godfrey does provide some examples of encounters and sightings with ancillary creatures that may be related to the Chupacabra phenomenon. Throughout the text, Godfrey also provides samples of photographic evidence and illustrations that range from the evidentiary to the ornamental. (As an aside, that evidence which is referenced throughout, but not included here, is readily available via a quick online search.)

American Monsters is a very entertaining and informative summer reading selection which continues to foster a personal interest in unusual creatures and the zeitgeist from which they sprang. In so many ways, each story is telling a small piece of the American story, which I continue to find fascinating. My guess is that if you take the chance to pick-up this unique tome, you will find the same.

*Originally posted 7/23/18, Revised 7/16/2020

A Deer Skull Preserved

A white-tailed doe deer skull preserved by yours truly. (8/26/14)

There are some discoveries than can be made participating in high school cross-country that are just not likely to be found in other more traditional fall sports such as football or swimming. Chief among those would be finding decomposing animal remains on the field of play.

Each cross-country preseason, the student-athletes and coaches, travel to the courses we will be competing on during the regular season. Last Tuesday, while running with members of the girls team, we found ourselves slightly off course at Mendon Ponds Park, and came across the remains of a decomposing deer carcass. Half-joking, I told the girls I would be coming back later to retrieve the bones. Though it took me a few days, this past weekend, while on an early morning bottle return run, I drove back to Mendon and, searched back through the trails we had run earlier in the week.

The doe remains as we came across them. (8/23/14)

White tail deer are very common in upstate New York; I've even seen them within the Rochester city limits running down Monroe Avenue. The irony was not very subtle that when I walked along the trees looking for the trail head, I came across a deer quietly watching me from four feet deep in to the woods. After inadvertently startling the watcher away, I was fortunate enough to once again happen across the site where the bones lay. Leaving the spine and other mystery bones behind, I respectfully retrieved the doe deer skull and carefully placed it in a plastic shopping bag for transport. (Unfortunately the jaw bone was not in the general vicinity.) NOTE: While I realize that it is illegal in some states, such as Iowa, to take "live specimens" from public parks, I found nothing online regarding the collection of wildlife remains in New York state.

The skull--sans jawbone--as it lay just off the trail. (8/23/14)

I had two thoughts as I drove home. Firstly, I contemplated whether I had somehow been disrespectful to the animal that had passed and whose skull I now carried in the trunk of my vehicle. At that point I quietly promised myself to move forward in a mindful manner, conscious that the activity I was embarking on was not without cost.

My second thought was the activity I thought to engage in: to determine the most practical way to preserve the skull, my thinking being that it would be an interesting display piece in my classroom. In the practices that followed, our engagement with the remains had now become part of an interesting cross-country anecdote. I am by no means a scientist and this post should not be read as a set of how-to directions (though I frame it just that way), but I do often pick up odd activities just to see where they go, and this is just the most recent flight of fancy. In a way, it relates back to a previous one.

A number of years ago I took the hunting gun safety certification course because it seemed (and was interesting). One reason I've never pursued the hobby is the fear that I might actually (through luck rather than skill) kill something and would then be obligated to field dress it. One benefit of finding this gift-wrapped (and meat free) skull on the cross-country trail was the opportunity to look into the preservation of animal skulls and to give it a go...

In its original condition at the bottom of a bucket. (8/23/14)

Thanks to the Internet, the answer to the questions of "How to Preserve a Skull" was easily answered in six easy steps, giving me some basic guidelines for my little weekend project. If Steps 1, "Remove all flesh from inside and outside of the skull using one of several methods," and 2, "Dry the skull," had not already been well-handled by Mother Nature, the remains would still be in the park decomposing. The head did not require water maceration or the use of flesh eating bugs (two possible recommended approaches); it had clearly been laying at rest for a lengthy period of time. The top of the skull already had a bleached appearance due to exposure to the elements, though the underside that had been laying on the ground, including the teeth, was fairly stained.

A quick, cleansing boil. (8/23/14)

Despite the excellent condition of the skull immediately lifted from the trail, there were few odd matted strands of fur remaining, as well as small hairs that had yet to be picked out. This required a Step 2b not mentioned in the written portion of the linked page but is in the Youtube video near the end. Before repeating Step 2, to ease the separation of the remains from the skull, I placed it in boiling water to set for a short time. Using an old toothbrush, I carefully scrubbed in the open areas, careful not to disrupt the fairly intact nasal cartilage. Step 2b (which is not mentioned in the written portion of the linked page but is in the Youtube video near the end).

All the goodies necessary for a 24 hour hydrogen peroxide bath. (8/23/14)

Boiled, gently scrubbed and ready for "bleaching." (8/23/14)

Step 3 is "Bleach the skull," which oddly, based on other reading, would be a mistake. The goal is to give it a whitened appearance, but to use regular bleach would cause the bone to weaken and can lead to cracked teeth. I let the skull soak in 3% solution hydrogen peroxide for 24 hours, turning it occasionally to keep as much of it submerged as possible. It was still bubbling a little when I rinsed the skull of the next morning. I did not want to the skull to look artificial so I did not allow it to bleach completely white. My intention was to have the final preserved skull maintain the yellow-ish hue of natural bone. As a result of both boiling and soaking in hydrogen peroxide, the teeth also have a tendency to drop out. This happened and, as suggested, I glued them back (Steps 4 and 5 combined).

The first of two coats of polyurethane semi-gloss lacquer is applied. (8/24/14)

The last step was the application of a polyurethane lacquer to preserve the skull. The image above was taken on the picnic table in the sunshine, which accounts for it's clean white look. The photo the top of the post is the final product which I'm glad to report did maintain it's natural (thought thankfully cleaner) look. Though superficial I am hopeful that the presence of this artifact will serve as some sort of reminder... of just what, I have yet to fully process.

Tomorrow, as I continue setting up my classroom for the start of a new school year next week, I will bring the skull to work. Among the books, team photos and artificial crows it is sure to give students, as well as student-athletes, (and myself) something to talk and think about.

Rain Barrel Redux

Rainy day Friday... the barrel back in business! (5/25/13)

This past weekend, at the tail end of our recent late-spring/early-summer "heat wave," I took advantage of the nice weather to unpack our rain barrel from storage and reconnect it to the downspout. It was not a day-too-soon as soon thereafter a band of intermittent showers moved in. Now all I need to do is get some plants in the ground... our outdoor hanging plants will only use so much of the rain barrel's freshly fallen contents!



Before (5/19/13).

After (5/19/13).



 

 

How to Share Previously-Loved Books?



There's more where these came from...

At one point I reflected upon the spiritual and environmental impacts of my comic book collection, a period of time during which I severely reduced the number of books I was collecting (it's tough to completely eliminate a hobby I've been involved in for nearly thirty years!). Recently as I was returning the holiday decorations to their assigned location in the back corner of our attic crawlspace, it occurred to me that the bookshelves which line the more finished portion of the attic are chock full of books.

This was not, of course, a completely new revelation, just one I had not given much thought to. While the purchase of books may be wasteful in and of itself, especially in the age of public libraries adequately stocked with mainstream fair, since my college days I have been something of a book buyer, rather than renter. An occasional renter, via any number of local (and not so local) branches of our excellent public library system, I still occassionally purchase a book or two, especially if the desired selection is not likely to be on the New York Times Best Seller list, and therefore, not as likely to be found on library shelves. (East Hill Farm by Gordon Ball being only the most recent example.)

Every year or two (and it must be that time of year again) I consider alleviating myself of the tomes I've collected over the past 20+ years. When this urge strikes me I'll bring a cardboard box into the attic and begin leafing through the books in an effort to identify those I am willing to part with. This is not an easy task. This book will bring back memories of walking the railroad track to the Liftbridge Book Store in Brockport, New York, and that slim volume will bring back memories of late night shift work at the now defunct Lawyer's Co-op factory. Memories are tough to part with, especially as they become more distant. But, truth is, I don't need many of these books anymore. They are now more representative of my greed and wastefulness than any intellectual development.

That doesn't mean I just want to throw them away either.

Being that many are older and paperback, they are really not wanted by many of the traditional avenues for donating such things. Even the Rochester Regional Library Council (RRLC), in their online info about book donations want only "book(s)... in reasonably good condition and have a retail value of $10.00 or more. No paperback books or Reader's Digest books please." (There bold, not mine.) While I recognize there are other donation avenues that are a little less selective, such as the Volunteers of America (I like to look through their stack to--it sure is interesting how many copies of Rush Limbaugh's books one sees there), I would rather have a sense that these books are loved, or at least appreciated as much as I have loved and appreciated them.

My wife has also suggested selling them on Ebay, a sensible idea, but I admit to lacking the motivation to get the learn how (though how difficult could it be?), to follow-through with that idea. Silly as it sounds, I guess I would prefer to give them away to someone who wants them and would choose to pass them on when they've finished with them.

Naturally, as a public school English teacher, I've also considered bringing them to my classroom or donating them to the school library, but this idea has potentials pitfalls, too. Not that some of the books are racy or profane, I would venture to guess that more than a few would be deemed "inappropriate" (who can forget the Chuck Palahniuk scandal a few years back). Which is not to say I haven't handed on books to young minds eager for reading entertainment in the past, especially when I taught in an urban middle school and my own children outgrew age-appropriate books such as Goosebumps. In some ways, donating to school may be potentially the most problematic solution, which is unfortunate. The same concern as the VOA option also exists: these books might likely will stay on the shelf unread for years until being thoughtlessly discarded any way.

Somehow (with VOA being the last resort), I want to find a meaningful way to divest mysefl of some of these books, and whiel I have one or two ideas still perculating, I'm open to anty suggestiosn you migth have!

Weekly Reading: November 30

Short stack this week.

As the number of mega-publisher (DC & Marvel) comics I collect dwindles (and will continue to with the cancellations of Alpha Flight and Ghost Rider), the (relatively) smaller publications have increased, most notably those put out by Image. Only a few short months ago my Image purchases were limited to All-ages Western Reed Gunther, but has recently expanded to include titles from both the company's horror (Severed) and superhero (Mudman) offerings. I've also continued to sample from past titles, which though no longer being published, fill a genre niche I occasionally like to scratch.

This week's haul includes:

Kid Colt #1 (Marvel, 2009) Western... Duh!
Severed #4 (Image) Horror
FF #12 (Marvel) Superhero
Ghost Rider #6 (marvel) Superhero
Mudman #1 (Image) Superhero
Loveless #1-2 (DC, 2005) Western

Once again, a slow week at ye' ol' comic shop for new releases creates the opporuntity for a follow-up trip to the longbox of forgotten Western comics. This week I pulled a 2009 one-shot featuring Kid Colt, a character I have inadvertently started following through a number of different iterations, including the recently begun mini-series Six Guns. I also picked up the first two issues of Brian Azzarello and Narcelo Frusin's Loveless. Admittedly this was because I initially thought it may feature super-cool diminutive Wild Wild West villain, Doctor Miguelito Loveless. On initial inspection there appears to be no little people featured therein, but I picked them up on a lark hoping for a good beginning.

Weekly Reading: November 23

Something of a small holiday week for new releases, though this week's whopping $7.99(!) Fantastic Four #600 (the first issue in almost a year having been replaced by Future Foundation) saw the inevitable return of Johnny "The Human Torch" Storm from the ranks of dearly briefly departed superheroes. Given not much was on the new releases table, I picked through a long box of cover priced back issues marked "War + Western." Therein I came across two issues of a five issue mini-series drawn by the legendary John Severin. There's nothing like some unexpected Western goodness to spice up the long Turkey Day weekend!

Here are the goodies I stuffed my bag with this week:

Fantastic Four #600 (Marvel) Superhero
Desperadoes: Quiet of the Grave #3 & #4 (Homage) Western/Fantasy
Alpha Flight #6 (Marvel) Superhero
All-Star Western #3 (DC) Western
I, Vampire #3 (DC) Superhero/Horror
The Sixth Gun #17 (Oni Press) Western/Fantasy
Streets of Glory #6 (Avatar) Western

In addition to the new-old Western I discovered in the long box, I also purchased the last issue of the Streets of Glory mini that I had begun buying weekly--it too had been released a few years ago (2008), only to be discovered when I saw the trade paperback for sale on the new releases table. No fan of trades, I began slowly but surely collecting the six individual issues--really great old-timey Western stuff with a dose of realistic action thrown in for good measure, a sort of comic book version of Unforgiven.

Next week promises to be another small week (for me anyway), so who knows what secrets the stacks of unloved books and secret longbox stashes will reveal?

Weekly Reading: November 16

Another high quality weekly group shot... with some extra glaring flash spots for added ambiance! 

This week it really hit me that my weekly pull list is now nearly devoid of traditional superhero comic books. It could just be that this particular week happens to lack square jawed protagonists and alien threats, but it is clear that the majority of the books I collect now consist of cowboys, neo-dark super-powered "regular" people, and things that go bump in the night.

There is probably some deep analysis of my current state of mind that could take place around my need to tap into the pulp mythos of America, or a search for grounded fantasy... or it could be that most "traditional" superhero comics just aren't fun or original anymore.

Hawken #1 (IDW) Western/Fantasy
The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #1 (Image) Neo-Hero
Zorro Rides Again #5 (Dynamite) Western
Six Guns #2 (Marvel) Action/Western
House of Night #1 (Dark Horse Comics) Supernatural/Thriller
iZombie #19 (Vertigo) Supernatural/Action
Streets of Glory #4 (Avatar) Western
Planet of the Apes #8 (BOOM!) Science-fiction/Action
The Devil Is Due In Dreary #1 (Ardden) Action/Western

It's really a contradiction of ideas--while I would greatly enjoy reading old-school adventures of "fun" heroes, I've replaced them with tortured cowpokes and modern-day revisionist Westerns.

Weekly Reading: November 9

A light week for those titles I collect, so I tried some new titles just for kicks.

This week's trip to Comics Etc. was one during which I took advantage of the lack of titles I've collected long term (Fantastic Four, Jonah Hex aka All-Star Western, etc.) to continue my recent habit of sampling titles from smaller publishers, or which have received online reviews that peaked my curiosity. Quite a range of titles this week, though the horror/western angle continues to loom large.

Sadly, I first began collecting comic books (like many) because of the escapist fantasies available in the traditional superhero titles, but following the descent into "dark and gloomy" heroes over the past 10-15 years (thanks, Wolverine and Batman), they don't seem so "heroic" anymore. Though quite a few of the titles listed below are "Horror" or "Action," they are marketed as such and therefore, do not conflict with my own "Superhero" comic sensibilities. (Admittedly, Ghost Rider and even Uncanny X-Force walk a thin line.) As a result, while I DO enjoy a smattering of "dark" hero titles, most of my reading interests, and dollars, have moved onto other things.

• The Intrepid Escape Goat: The Curse of the Buddha's Thumb (Th3rd World Studios)--Children's/Action
• H.P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror (IDW) Horror
• Ghost Rider (Marvel) Superhero
• Uncanny X-Force (Marvel) Superhero
• Key of Z (BOOM!) Horror
• The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West (Big Dog Ink) Action/Western
• The Goon (Dark Horse Comics) Mature/Action
• Streets of Glory (Avatar) Western

I still have some reading to catch up on from last week--there's a whole "process" involved from pull box to bagging and backboarding--but with the longer Veteran's Day weekend, and less grading than usual to accomplish, I may just catch-up!

Weekly Reading: November 2

The gaudy haul from this week's trip to Comics Etc.

One of my life's many pleasures is stopping by the comic store I've frequented on and off for almost 20+ year's of my time on earth. Each week, the number of books I purchase fluctuates, and occasionally, as was the case this week, I supplement new issues, with back issues, either to fill out a run of a title or because I come across a writer or artist I enjoy and seek out past titles/issues they've worked on.

This past Wednesday was a fairly substantial one for me (and the image above does not include the comic I purchased for my stepson):

• American Vampire #20 (DC Comics) Horror/Western
• Streets of Glory #2 (Avatar) Western
• Uncanny X-Men #1 (Marvel) Super-hero
• Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #1 (BOOM!) Action
• Peanuts #0 (KaBOOM!) Kids
• OMAC #3 (DC Comics) Super-hero
• Swamp Thing #3 (DC Comics) Horror/Super-hero
• Rachel Rising #3 (Abstract Studio) Horror
• The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #2 (Image) Super-hero
• Six Guns (Marvel) Action
• The Goon #36 (Dark Horse Comics) Action/Horror
• Helldorado #1 (APE Entertainment) Western/Horror

I would once again like to thank DC Comics for their "New 52" reboot which has allowed me to dump most of the titles they publish in favor of independent titles and unique offerings I might have otherwise been unable to afford--though who knows how long until they reboot the reboot...

Wolverine Wednesday Make-up Day!

Logan: "I thought you were the Moon and I was your Wolverine. Turns out you're the Trickster, and I'm just the fool who got played."

Run: 6.2 miles in :48:16 min. @ 4:30 a.m.
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 40°F, 83% Humidity, Wind: CALM; feels like 40°F.
Pace: 7:50 min/mile
Course: A brief run around the 'hood.

Only six short required today yesterday, but after a long day of school it might just as well be six-hundred I couldn't pull myself away from the XBox 360 (I'm really digging Wolverine: Uncaged rigth about now) long enough to run! So (after feeling guilty about not running while watching the season finale of The Biggest Loser), I rolled out of bed at 4:00 a.m. to begin catching up.

The weather was once again perfect, and despite some nervousness while heading down a less-than-desirable street that had no less than three police cruisers stationed at different corners, the journey went well. I continue to feel aerobically strong, but lingering knee ache is still a concern. The ache is not too much though that I can't get in an easy six, especially when the cool(-ish) weather soothes the "pain"...

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Birdapalooza: Dinnertime is "Bird Time"

My apologies regarding the sideways video, but if you look carefully at the center of the tree, just above the hanging suet feeder is the White-breasted Nuthatch, to the right on the roof of the shed is a female Northern Cardinal, and on the ground to the left is a Blue Jay.

Date: August 20, 2007
Time: 5:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Location: The back yard of our home in the upstate New York city of Rochester.

Bird Species/Markings/Features: A number of different birds made appearances during dinner this evening--One male Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens). Knowing the difference between the sexes proved helpful in identifying it as the male… he is the first we have seen after many visits from what appears to have been the same female over the last four weeks.(Female has black plumage on the back of her head, while the male has red.) The photo below does not reflect the hue of the plumage as much as I had hoped...


One male Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). I was once again surprised by the size of the Bird, especially in comparison to the other birds around the tree at the time.


The male White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) also returned. Anne and I were excited to see this little fellow return as they are a joy to follow as they hop up and down the length of the trunk.


A female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) also stopped for some suet but I was unable to capture her image (poorly) before she flew away.

Sights/Sounds/Activities: All four birds appeared both individually, and finally, as a group together. When I did get outside with the camera I did not hear a lot of bird chatter, as one might expect from the Blue Jay, but all birds, except the Northern Cardinal were relatively approachable. Surprisingly, neither the Nuthatch or Woodpecker flew away but I was able to watch them from close proximity as they made their way back up the tree...

Notes: I certainly am grateful that Anne suggested the suet feeder this summer! The number of interesting visitors we've had recently to the feeder has made for a fun post-dinner diversion nearly every evening. I need to get more suet today while I am out and about...

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

My Green Toe: Planting Prep Flashback

"Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest."~Douglas William Jerrold, about Australia, A Land of Plenty

As I was preparing to water our vegetable "crops" this morning, it occurred to me that I had never posted the pictures I had taken on May 17 to better illustrate Anne's and my preparation of our urban vegetable garden beds. This work was done just in advance of our placing of the plantings, purchased in part at the local farmer's market, into the garden. After seeing The Pink Shoe's share the step-by-step images of her preparation of blueberry jam on her blog, I was inspired to go slightly backwards to better catch up to the current status of the gardens.

This first image is of the garden bed as it appeared just before our initial attempts to turn over of the soil. The day before I had removed a small wooden fence which had separated the area from our lawn in the interest of creating more space for the plants. As you can see, Gracie (our dog) was also helping out, too:


This "story" actually begins last year. It was in Spring 2006 that my sons and I constructed our composting pit, the contents of which we had hoped to use in our own gardens. This past Spring saw the fruition of that goal. This year, filled with a years worth kitchen waste (and jack-o-lanterns, as in the first image) and grass clippings, we had plenty to work with:




After tilling the soil in an effort to better turn it over, and removing and weeds, Anne and I willy-nilly dropped a good amount of compost into the dirt. Some of it was rather smelly, which I guess was to be expected:


We then spread it out evenly over the entire area, working it into the soil:


Wallah! It took Anne and I about two days to fully prepare everything for greeting the plantings... this was of course back in May and things have really exploded since then.

Next: "My How Our Garden Has Grown!"

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

The Beasts Win... Theeeee BEASTS WIN!

Can't you just hear John Sterling making the call--I know I can! (If you don't know who John Sterling is, I can only guess you are not a Major League Baseball fan!) Just as a similiar radio call is made after each New York Yankees victory, the Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball League (okay, maybe only the single league that I'm competing in) has folks chanting from the rafters: "Castaway has repeated as the manager of a championship Fantasy Baseball team."

I haven't posted about it previously, but I am (or was) involved in a Fantasy Baseball League this past season which ended tonigh with the conclusion of the Championship "Game." The league is commissioner-ed(?) by my brother, who now lives in Mexico, and for the second year in a row the team I managed (this year carrying the moniker THE EASTSIDE BEASTS) won, not only the regular season, by virtue of having the most wins, but also the playoffs, by beating the stinky, slimy Blue Demons managed by a guy from Chi-Town, 8-1-1.

Last year my team, The Eastside Cubs, lost to the New York Knights in the Championship Game. "So," you say, "how can you be a repeat as champs?"...
Simple, my friend, the New York Knights were also managed by yours truly, with important assists by my son and step-son, each ten years old at the time. My son helped me again this year, especially with the selections of David "Big Papi" Ortiz and Johnny Damon during the draft in March. (Derek "The Captain" Jeter was also a valuable acquisition, made for my stepson, who is a Yankees fan.) I'm something of a Tigers fan (long story--which I'll share in a later post), so had the best three pitchers in their rotation locked up before the team really took off. It was an excellent sense of balance that Kenny "The Roaster" Rogers had both my first and last pitching victories of the season.

Now, I just need to figure out how the heck to win a fantasy football game!

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!