Summer Numbers

At the end of this tailspin called summer, I’ve been recalling events in numbers – a little strange because I’m more of a word person.  Short & quantifiable, numbers highlight this Hump Day Short. In the last 30 days, I’ve slept in 17 beds.

After flying 1,600 miles to the Midwest, the rental car had racked up 2,000 Midwest-driving miles at the end of our 14-day trip.

45,143 LEGO blocks were used by master LEGO sculptor Sean Kinney to create a mother bison sculpture on display at the Reiman Gardens on the ISU campus in Ames, IA.  It was one of 27 sculptures in the gardens.  (Click here for pictures of sculptures.)

6 pair of underwear; 1 set of pajamas; 2 capri pants: What I left behind in a hotel room drawer after 1 beautful wedding in the Midwest.  It was shipped to my parents’ house in 1 box that took 7 days to arrive.

Quantillion, quintillion, googleplex.  A number created during a drive through cornfields in Iowa; I think it relates to the numberof corn tassels we saw.

½ of 1 toenail left on my big toe – a result of the 26- mile Avon Walk in May.

ZERO:  How many ears of corn are on many cornstalks in Iowa due to the drought.

View fullsize

ZERO: How many days until school starts.

1 alien space umbrella I was using yesterday made 8 people smile.

A few days rather than a few weeks until we move back into our house – too early for exact numbers.  Thanks, Mom & Dad, for our 1 mantel.  It's a piece of white oak from my grandpa's timber on the old home place, cut down in 1952 and shipped from Iowa to Massachussetts for $40.  Yes, it's so cliche, but... priceless.

Done with the LEGO Designs

A two-handed catch at 10 p.m. Friday night ended the LEGO designs for a few weeks.  Bill broke his right hand and dislocated his ring finger playing softball.  Put a baseball glove on a cricket hand and 27 years later… boom.  The strange splayed nature of his finger had the whole ER talking.  The doctor straightened his finger, put a cast on his hand/wrist, and told him to see an orthopedic surgeon on Monday – just in case. When I met Bill 23 years ago, softball was his summer love.  He even convinced me to play – but the first time a grounder hit my glove and flew up into my face, leaving lace marks and blood on my nose… Yeah.  Not my sport.  A new arrival from England, Bill was eager to try out this version of America’s favorite pastime.  While watching a group of co-workers playing softball, he was invited to come in and try his hand at batting.  He made contact with a pitch and started running.  Then he heard shouts from his teammates-to-be, “Drop the bat!  Ya gotta drop the bat!  You can’t run with the bat!”  Obediently, he dropped it.  Then tripped over it, rolled around a little bit in the dirt, and made it to first base – only because the short-stop was laughing so hard he couldn’t make the throw to first.  A career batting average of 1,000.

So now as the boys start their Little League season, Dad is on the sidelines.  “Can we tell them you were playing lacrosse?” I didn’t want them to see the cast and  fear the baseball field.  “No, it’s important that we show them how to play the game correctly.”

Baseball: Catch the ball in the glove, not barehanded, then transfer it to the other hand to throw.  Drop the bat before running to 1st.

Cricket: Catch the ball bare-handed with two hands.  Carry the bat when running.

The two do not combine well.

As Bill points out, married to him, I will never run out of material.

Heading out to play catch.