Tacoma Rainier's Game with Tammy

This is year three of going to a Tacoma Rainier's game with Tammy.  She had asked me when we wanted to go, and I told her it would have to be after July since that's when the wedding was.  She told me that wouldn't be an issue since she loves to go later on in the year when it's hot and most likely wouldn't rain on us.  

Once the wedding was over, we brought the baseball game up again.  She checked the schedule and asked me when I was available.  I was pretty much available any time and asked her if any specific day worked for her.  She said it's easier going on a Friday.  I had her choose a Friday game and let me know which one she picked.

She messaged me a couple days later saying that we were going to go to the September 6th game against the Albuquerque Isotopes.  It was ironic because I just started Breaking Bad and that show takes place in Albuquerque.  Of all the times I've gone to a Rainiers, game I don't think the Isotopes were one of the teams I've seen play.  She said it was her treat and that I didn't have to worry about paying her back.  That was very kind of her.  I told her I would buy her a beer.

The night before, I made sure that I had plenty of gas in the Escape and set aside my clear plastic stadium bag.  I found my mitt, threw in some gum, a chewy bar, Kleenex and my Rainier's hat.  I tried looking into getting a Rainier's sweatshirt but didn't follow through on it.  Maybe next time.  I set my stuff aside for the next day.

On the day of, I made sure I had everything ready to go so when I logged off at 4, I was ready to grab and go.  I-5 north on a Friday could be terrible. It was an easy workday, nothing too terrible.  I was still waiting on my supervisor to meet up with the unit supervisor and their program manager on a DJA that was offered to me two weeks ago.  I was getting antsy. 

4:00 hit, I grabbed my bag, a sweatshirt, my keys, wallet, the GPS and headed out the door.  I plugged her address into the Nuvi, texted Ben and off I went to Tacoma.  I haven't been to Tammy's house since the last time I went with her to the baseball game.  

I got onto I-5 northbound, and I didn't have any trouble until I got to the exit I needed.  It was backed up far on the 512/South Tacoma Way interchange.  I was patient getting onto 512 and then off at Steele Street.  Luckily, that wasn't backed up.  Ben called me to check in.  I told him that I was almost to Tammy's house.  We kept the chat short, and he told me to have fun.  I told him I wasn't sure when I would be home, but I would call him on the way home.  I followed Nuvi's directions to Tammy's yellow house with the Subaru parked in front.  It took me a little less than an hour to get there.

I texted Tammy I was there, and she asked me to wait a couple seconds so she could hand me treats and sit on the couch for her dogs, so they knew that was supposed to be there.  She does this with all of her visitors, so the dogs feel comfortable. She fed the dogs and gave them treats while she finished getting ready.  Then her mom called to talk to her for a few minutes.  I just hung out and waited until she was done.  

We hopped into the Subaru and headed to Cheney Stadium on the backroads so we could watch the Rainiers take on the Isotopes at 7:05.  We listened to the radio as I navigated her where to go.  Meanwhile, I told Tammy about my DJA opportunity and what it entailed as far as I knew about it at that point.  She had questions, of course.   It took about a half hour to get to the parking lot where we had to pay $10 to park.  We found a place to park, made sure we had everything and walked to the front of the stadium. 

Our clear bags were checked through security, Tammy had our tickets scanned, we grabbed a free DIRT program, and they handed us some free train track safety awareness stuff.  We didn't go into the team store.  It wasn't busy quite yet so; we walked over to a couple concession stands.  Tammy got her beer and some peanuts, and I walked over to the Ivar's stand, bought a three-piece fish and chips and a Pepsi Zero and we met up at the seats. They were a little different from last year's, but they were still a great view.  

We ate, chatted and waited for the game to start.  She sat next to a lady who was super friendly, so we talked to her for a bit off and on.  We watched pregame, stood for the National Anthem and enjoyed America's past time in the warm September evening.  We finished our food before the first pitch was even thrown.

The top of the first inning, Albuquerque hit a solo homerun into right center field.  That is not how I wanted this game to start out.  Luckily, we only gave up the one run this early in the game.  The bottom of the inning the Rainier's showed up.  We got a few people on base with a walk, a stolen base, a base hit and on a sharp line drive to left field and a sacrifice fly ball to left field. We brought in three runs.  It was a great start to the game.  We were up 3-1.

The 2nd and 3rd innings went by quick.  There were a bunch of strike outs, walks and ground outs.  It was a little boring, but we maintained our lead and we talked to the lady who was sitting next to Tammy for a while.  We also ate peanuts and threw the shells into my empty food container. 

The Isotopes tried to get something going in the top of the 4th inning, but a runner never passed third.  On our turn, in the bottom of the 4th, we got a couple of runners on early in the inning and then we got a hard line-drive single to center field which scored a run and stranded a runner at second.  We added another run to our lead, 4-1. 

During the 5th inning, both sides went three up and three down.  It was a super quick inning.  When the 6th inning approached, Albuquerque struggled again sending three hitters up and they either struck out or grounded out.  At the top of the sixth, there was a pitching change, and we got some guys onto the bases, but we weren't able to capitalize.  The game still stood 4-1.

It got a little bit more exciting for the Isotopes when they went to bat in the 7th.  They got a runner on first off of a soft bunt to the third basemen.  There was a pitching change, a stolen base, but with a throwing error by the Rainier's put the runner on third.  We got out of that bind with a fly out to right field.  We sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game, did some stretches and talked to the lady sitting next to Tammy.  We finished the bag of peanuts.

The bottom of the 7th inning we got a runner on first with a line drive to center field.  He then stole second, giving us a runner in scoring position. The next batter doubles to left field, scoring our runner.  We now led the game 5-1.   

As we marched into the top of the 8th inning, the Rainier's made another pitching change before the batter took the plate. The first batter hit a ground ball to the center fielder and then stole second, giving them a chance with a runner in scoring position.  They did not get too far and stranded that runner at second when the side was retired.  There was another pitching change with the Isotopes before our batter stood up to the plate.  

Our second batter walked, our fourth singled on a line drive to right field, while the runner who walked scored, the batter made it to second on the throw to the plate.  The scoring came to an end when we flied out to the center fielder. 

Albuquerque, at the top of the 9th, tried to make do with their last three outs.  The Rainier's made another pitching change before the batter came up to the plate.  The first batter hit a single, the second batter hit a single, we forced an out on the next batter and to finish it off the last batter hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

Rainier's win 6-1!

We did get to watch the firework show because it was Firework Friday!  We sat in our seats and watched the 15-minute firework show.  Good times!

We made sure we had all of our stuff and watched back out to the Subaru.  It wasn't too bad getting out of the stadium because Tammy is an aggressive driver, lol. She scooted herself into the lane she wanted with ease.  It didn't take us long to get back to her house.  I hung out for a little bit chatting, thanked her for inviting me out to the game and headed home.  I called Ben on my way home.  The freeway was clear, and I made decent time pulling into our driveway.  Ben was on the computer playing games with his friends.  I got in a quick shower and got on the computer for a little bit before going to bed.

Next Adventure:  Centralia College Men's Soccer VIP's, Cleaning and Painting Cupboards and Drawers and Del's Dad's Celebration of Life

Labor Day Weekend

My five-day weekend started off on Thursday went geocaching with Bev. I was originally supposed to go to Spokane and help Willmarth move his stuff from Yakima but that didn't work out.  We found 16 caches and had a great time.  See Hawks Prairie Geocaching with Bev.

Friday, August 30th

This was the first Friday in a long time that we all had the same day off.  Mom drove into town, stopped by my house and we drove her Expedition over to Erika's to pick up her and Brian.  We drove up the road to have lunch at Big Tom's.  I've never been there but have driven past the burger restaurant hundreds of times over the years.  This is actually the place where my L&I career started.  My Dad ran into a former co-worker while hanging out with some buddies for lunch.  They got to talking about work and he was telling her that I was looking for something at the state.  She offered him her contact information and told him to have me give her a call. 10 years later and I am still working for the state because of that interaction.

We found a place to park, grabbed Brian in his carrier and walked past the jungle of dinosaurs. We looked at the menu while a bunch of kids and their moms were being loud at the picnic tables nearby.  This one kid wouldn't quit.  We ordered our food, paid and waited at the table with a roof on it, to keep Brian out of the sun.  We had to wait about 15 minutes for our food to get done.  They called our names, and Mom and I went over to grab it.

We divvied out the food and devoured our food.  I was hungry since this was my first meal of the day.  We chatted about the things that were happening, the newest developments with Brian and that Erika needed to pick up some stuff at the store after we were done eating.  We finished up, tossed our trash, grabbed Brian and walked back out to the Expedition. 

Erika wanted to go to Target because she had some coupons for diapers and formula. So, we drove over to Target.  We grabbed a shopping cart and placed Brian and his carrier inside of it and made our way into Target.  We wandered around.  We found out Brian preferred it when the shopping cart was moving.  Erika grabbed her diapers and formula, and we left.  I asked since we were over this way if we could hop over to Value Village and Erika was like, yeah!  She wanted to go look at clothes and books.  We drove over and parked.

We grabbed Brian and headed into the store.  Erika grabbed a cart and found a place for Brian and his carrier inside.  We wandered around.  I visited my usual places looking for certain things...every once and a while I spot stuff at the corner of my eye and have to check it out.  Erika found some clothes, a few book and I found a few things to bring home.  It's always fun at the thrift store because you never know what you're going to find. 

We drove Erika and Brian back to her house, stayed for a few minutes and I asked Mom if she needed to go grocery shopping.  She said she would go with me.  We hit up Costco, Walmart and Winco and I was able to get everything off my list for the next two weeks.  We drove back to my house and dropped off my groceries and then Mom headed home.  I did a few things, Ben came home from work, I made some dinner and then I drove into Rainier to meet up with Megan around 7.

I stayed for a few hours.  We talked about a lot of stuff and caught up with what was happening during that week.  I told her about a recent opportunity I was given the week before with my job.  I was offered the chance at doing a DJA with a friend and former coworker of mine. I was excited about the possibility and could not wait to start.  She shared stories from her job with me, the drama with her ex and the stuff her boys were going through. I probably stayed way too late, but I think she appreciated the company.  I thanked her for the hang out and headed back home.  I had to watch out for elk on Rainier Road.

Saturday, August 31st

It was nice to sleep in again.  Ben got up and got ready for a 12-hour shift at the fire station.  He had to be there by 10.  I got up with him.  I ate a quick breakfast and did some chores.  I had asked Liz the night before if she had some time to hang out during this long holiday weekend.  She said she was hanging out with another friend for a few hours and then doing laundry.  She asked me what I had in mind.  I said, I could just hang out at the house and offered to bring food.  She said that would be great and added we could watch Beetlejuice since she could never get her daughters to watch it with her.  I told her it sounded great, and I would be over around 6ish the next day.

It also was a nice day.  I decided to spend some time washing and vacuuming out my car since it was filthy, and I hadn't done either in a while. I'm so glad we chose to upgrade our hose a couple years ago.  The one we used to have always got kinks in it, and it was so short, it made washing cars difficult because of where the spigot was on the front of the house.  I was out there for about an hour and got both done while listening to my murder porn. I was also able to clean up about half of the rental house registers.  I would have to do the rest of them another time.

I went inside, got cleaned up and started making the food to take over to Liz's house.  I was trying a new recipe with three different parts.  The rice was easy enough to make, the chicken and salsa required more energy to get it right.  I was excited to make a savory dish with fruit in it.  I may have eaten a lot of the peaches while I was making the salsa.  

I got all the food done and needed to pack it away, so it stayed warm.  I grabbed my cooler, stuffed it in and hoped for the best.  I grabbed some ciders, beers and soda just in case.  I'm not sure what kind of drinks Liz was into these days.  I packed up the Escape and made my way down to Centralia, hoping that the food would stay warm.  I let her know I was on my way down.

I arrived, parked out in front, grabbed the cooler and knocked on the door.  Her door is complicated.  I am not sure when it's unlocked or when the video feed starts, but I understand why she has it.  I went into the kitchen; she threw down some paper plates and we dished up.  She said it cuts back on having to do dishes all the time.  I totally get it.  She thanked me for bringing food.  I told her there were some drinks in the cooler and she said she wasn't into the ciders or beers but is more of a whiskey and seltzer drinker.  Noted.

We dished up and watched Beetlejuice.  I haven't seen it in years.  It was nice to watch it again.  We visited a little bit.  Her mom and aunt came over for a few minutes, but her mom stayed in the car because she wasn't feeling very well.  Liz asked her aunt if she'd like some food.  There was plenty of it.  We cleaned up and I thanked her for having me over and she thanked me for making food and coming over to visit.  She offered to take the cooler out to the car for me, which was very kind of her.

I headed home and let her know when I got home, and she invited me out to the next Centralia College soccer game.  I told her I would write it on the calendar.  I brought in the stuff from the car and Ben made it home just after from his shift.  I put stuff away, we chilled and then went to bed.  

Sunday, September 1st

We got up around 9:30, ate a quick breakfast and then drove over to the rental to work on some of our projects.  

Mom and I got the stuff ready to wallpaper the main bathroom in the hallway.  We didn't have to purchase any wallpaper for this room because the past renters bought a bunch of rolls of it and didn't do anything with it.  It saved us money but made them look bad because they were going to alter a room without asking us first.  I'm glad we kicked them out before they had more chances to ruin the house further. 

It was slimy, humid and wet inside the bathroom when it is 83 degrees.  We got most of the walls covered except near the door, around the toilet and above the vanity.  Those would have to wait for another time. 

Ben worked on getting the wallpaper trim off of the dining room walls, he disassembled and loaded up some cupboard doors and drawers into the Escape so I could clean them up and paint them at home and he helped Dad put up the first truss in the ceiling.  Only 12 or so more to go!

We all went home, and I went to the store to get some stuff for the next day's Memorial Day gathering.  I bought the chicken, corn and some ingredients for dirt cups.  I assigned Mom potato salad, Erika brought chips, and we invited Heather and Josh and wasn't sure what they were going to bring.  I got home and got everything ready to bring over to the rental.  I made the dirt cups and then we relaxed the rest of the night.

Monday, September 2nd

We all drove into Rainier to have some family time at the rental.  Dad had the BBQ already over there, Ben and I brought over the fire pit and the bags of wood I took from Erika and Zac's house the previous summer.  We had our food in tow as well.  

We helped Dad get the carport ready for everyone.  He used the leaf blower to get rid of the leaves, dust and dirt so Ben and I could set up the tables and camp chairs.  We found a place for the fire pit, and we helped Dad set up the BBQ area so he could start cooking the chicken.  I am so glad I remembered to bring the can opener for the beans.

Mom, Grandma Karen, Erika and Zac showed up and found places to park.  We helped Erika set up the pack and play so we had a place to put Brian when he wasn't being held.  Mom brought the potato salad and made some no bake cookies.  Doug, Sonya and Josh and Heather drove up. Josh made rice to contribute to the meal.  I went inside and prepared the beans.  I did not like the stove top. 

The past few Labor Day's have been chilly, and this one was no exception.  I spent some time getting the fire pit going so we could stand around it after we ate our delicious food.  The food definitely hit the spot.  We did spend some time around the fire pit, Brian got passed around to just about everyone and a few people played Pop Darts.  I was glad Ben remembered to bring it.

Everyone got a tour of the house as it currently looked and told everyone our vision of what we wanted it to be once we were done.  It will take a while, and we will have to learn to be patient with the process.  Everyone enjoyed their afternoon and then went home.  Ben and I helped clean up and we went home so we could get ready for the upcoming work week.

I enjoyed my time off, but I seriously need a vacation.

Next Adventure:  Tacoma Rainier's Game with Tammy