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This photo was taken by our daughter, Sarah Timmons, or my wife, depending on who you ask. We were in Rehoboth Beach, DE on Easter Sunday, 2011.


Several years ago, on the way home from a family vacation, I picked up a notebook and quickly recorded an incident that had occurred involving our son. Eventually, I used that story to illustrate something about my spiritual walk as a believer in Christ. Thus began a deliberate attempt to document the significance of everyday events. Almost any ordinary circumstance in daily life can become fodder for another story. This, almost by definition, lends itself to a blog.

Of course, many of the entries here are just ordinary diary style stuff... the stuff of ordinary blogs. Good grief, I don't want to be ordinary.


Sunday, March 17, 2013

The Song

Here's the link to my article in the March Manna (click on "The Song"):



Thursday, March 14, 2013

Elias and his Wire Bot

Elias, age 12, brought home his school Art Class folder.  Found this inside:


This is the description he wrote:

My robot is a bot that scares away the birds that perch on telephone wires. It has clamps to grip the wire and special wheels to help it stay balanced.  It has lots of tools to fix the wires if broken.  It has an extra eye and a powerful flashlight to use in the dark.  It has brushes to clean the wire and is light so it does not weigh down the wire.  It also has a magnet to get tools it drops and rocket boosters to get him up on the wire.  It has an umbrella for the rain.  It has water guns and horns for the birds.  It has clippers and a grappling hook to get branches off the wires.  It also has a chain saw and axe to clear away fallen trees.  It has a very strong robotic hand to hoist itself up and finally extra wire to fix broken ones.  I like my robot because it has so many different tools..  MADE BY ELIAS TIMMONS

I especially like the rocket booster touch.  Elias Timmons.  Look for him in Wikipedia in the future under "Creative Genius."

Saturday, March 9, 2013

The Georgetown Little League Horse Crap Call Incident

Georgetown Little League had tryouts today, and I was reminded of an incident last year involving one of our boy's coaches.  That incident was the subject of a previous blog post, and since it was such a colorful event, a portion of it is reprinted here:

Coming into Little League two years ago, we heard all kinds of cautions, mostly pertaining to overly competitive coaches and parents.  We have experienced none of that.  Georgetown Little League has been an outstanding organization, staff and parents alike.

We did have one small incident, the details of which are listed below:

  • A visiting umpire made a questionable call.
  • Elias's Coach Jeff tried to question the call, the umpire refused to discuss it, and as he walked away, Jeff muttered the words "Well that's a horse crap call."
  • The umpire immediately ejected Coach Jeff from the game.  It was his first ejection, ever.
  • A parent got involved in the situation (normally calm and extremely pleasant), and probably without thinking, let the "F" word slip.  He too was ejected from the field by the umpire.  The parent protested that he had just cut the grass on the field, and couldn't be ejected.  The umpire did not think these extenuating circumstances merited any leniency, and the parent was ejected anyway.  When he hesitated to leave, the umpire threatened to cancel the whole game.
  • Another parent rose from the stands and shouted "It's all about the kids.  Let them play ball!"
  • Our coach and the parent then quietly left the field.  No yelling, no kicking of dirt onto the umpire's shoes, which was very disappointing, as I thought these things were part of the game of baseball.  Apparently not in Little League.
  • The term "Horse Crap Call" became a joke for the rest of the season.  
  • Elias was called out at first base on a subsequent night by this same umpire.  The ball clearly reached the base before he arrived and the umpire called him out, but the first baseman apparently bobbled and then dropped the ball.  Jeff was coaching first base and politely asked for a revision of the call, which was ignored.  He elected not to use the term "Horse Crap Call", and let the call go in the interest of good sportsmanship and the fact it was closing night.
  • Later, Jeff said he thought I should have gone to bat for my son, and should have used the "Horse Crap Call" line myself.  
Thank you Georgetown Little League.  Thank you coaches.  And thank you boys.  From your perspective,  you are just playing a game.  From ours, you are enriching our lives.