I Need a Bigger Bottle
This one belongs in the Top 10
The CBS affiliate in the Twin Cities has the call letters WCCO. While we might surf and try other stations for a change of pace, WCCO is the station for local coverage that I enjoy. One of my positive associations is with their weather coverage. On certain evenings, when things are just right, WCCO calls a given day a top 10 weather day. I am writing this on the evening of October 19th because I simply want to remember it. It will post tomorrow night and that will be fine because the forecast for tomorrow is to turn colder with precipitation.
October 19th in Minnesota brings no guarantees. Rain, hail, sleet, or snow would not be out of the question. Today, however, it was sunny and clear and in the low 70s. Frequent readers know that I love to play tennis. I don’t love tennis in the abstract though, I enjoy it because of the circle of men that I share the courts with. I wrote a bit about this in a previous post titled Climate Change. In the story, I explained the role of the Commissioner. For the first time this summer, the Commish guided that the two best weekdays to play tennis would be Monday and Tuesday. He ALWAYS spaces the days, giving our aging bodies a day of rest in between if we need it.
Being a “good patient” with a rather busy day made yesterday a day of being a spectator but today I would make time to play. I am still nursing a case of tennis elbow and I know that I need to rest it, but just not today. Today we reached 73F and the wind was almost non-existent. I needed to make some special arrangements to make things work today. My son needed to use my car. In those cases, I have learned to just say yes and have faith that the rest of the plan will just work out. The place we are playing tonight is Erickson Park in Rosemount
Today I removed and prepped the remainder of my deck for applying an extra coat of stain. Our deck is largely maintenance-free and features composite decking and aluminum stiles with some tempered glass sides. It is beautiful and only needs care on the main posts which are cedar. One side of it is quite high so an extension ladder is required to clean or stain it. Earlier in the summer, I filled all of the cracks with a great wood filler and now am just trying to get the color to match and protect the wood. What a splendid day to leave this work for. It is all now prepped and the very next somewhat nice day will be dedicated to the final protective coat of stain. To have a 70s day in October for such a task is just like rolling all sixes in Yahtzee. It can happen, but you cannot plan for it.
Everything was working out for my variable plan when my next-door neighbor unexpectedly changed the numbers of expected players from six to eight. Perfect. I texted him and asked if I could tag along. He said sure but he was going over about an hour early to play singles with his brother who also lives in the neighborhood. The brothers are pretty strong players for our crowd and great additions to our ever-growing group. I packed a book and we left a bit early. I got to watch that entertaining experience that many of us understand. Two brothers playing against each other. How great and lucky they are to have that opportunity.
I brought along the book that I have to finish by the second week of November titled “Profiles in Folly” by Alan Axelrod. The gist of the tale is how reasonable folks make a series of decisions and before they know it they feel trapped. Examples of the short takes include the Maginot Line, Custer at Little Big Horn. I am sure that gives you a sense of the tale. I am enjoying it so far but think that sitting on my racquet bag on a beautiful fall day while reading the book was really the part I liked best.
The rest of the group started filing in and I practiced a bit with the early arrivals. As a “good patient” I was splitting my time with one of the early arrivals. We were technically committed to filling the role of one of the eight players for the evening. My friend J took the court and I moved to the picnic table. Rather than reading my book, I started taking candid photos of the players. I tried doing this last year but started a little too late. I vowed this year to be a better photographer and I think that is the case. The sky was SO CLEAR and every photo came out sharp as our town had updated the courts earlier in the season and put in upgraded nets.
The courts were built about ten years ago and one of our regular players was instrumental in our town getting a grant from the USTA and the complex includes lights as a result. Only our conscience enforces how long we play for now! The guys were all great as usual. A wonderful night and I managed to rotate through and still get in three sets of play. It was simply wonderful. If you look at the picture at the top of the post (from Google Maps) you will note it is only 9 minutes from my house. I love it when we play at these courts!
Whether I watch WCCO or not, tonight, in my estimation, was a Top Ten Weather Day. Hope you all continue to enjoy my writing and pass along constructive comments. Choosing a song for tonight was easy. Hope you enjoy it. Reaching the end of the post I realized I had not addressed the title yet. Well, I was thinking of that expression, tonight was so great, I wish I could bottle it. Tonight would require a large bottle.
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