K is for Kilometer , King Kong and Krill

 Good Evening and welcome to day 11 of the A-to-Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. Due to the incredible busyness of my week I am posting more than 16 hours late today.  Usually I would post at 4:13 a.m to coincide with the date 4/13.  Speaking of 4/13 stay tuned and I will have a special 17th birthday shout out for someone who was born today.  

Part I: A to Z Limericks

our This limerick was written 3/20/22 about an hour after I finished the Shamrock Shuffle, a Chicago 5 mile run.  Special 17th birthday shout out to my niece Olivia who ran in that race much much faster than I did and is celebrating her birthday today.

 Just finished my first 8 K

A 5 mile race, so they say

I'll admit it was fun

But I'm glad that it's done

No more runs for a week and a day

Actually I have not run for 3 weeks and 2 days.  Although I have taught some gym and played some full court basketball.  I hope to get back on track (Oh boy, was the pun intended!) soon.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

When I think of Dave Kingman, I think of Wrigley Field.  Kingman only played for the Cubs for 3 years (1978-1980) but during that time hit 49 home runs at the friendly confines.  When not with the Cubs he hit 20 more home runs at Wrigley as a  member of the visiting team. Kingman once hit a home run 550 feet.  

Kingman played from 1971 to 1986.  In the era of 1976-1987 he hit 329 of his career 442 homers, 3rd most of that era. Only Mike Schmidt (1st with 437) and Jim Rice (2nd with 341) hit more in that time period.  During that time King Kong belted  118 homers with the Mets, Creamed 100, for the A's,  hit 94 dingers with the Cubs.  He also hit 11 for the Padres, 4 for the Yankees and 2 for the Angels.  

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

My opening word for K on March 11th was Krill

K R I L L  - There was something fishy about that guess not netting letters

G H O S T-  I didn't get spooked by my first guess and got h and t on the second , but in wrong places.

H A U T E - this guess got A in the right position and added h to t as letters in the wrong position

W A T C H - got it in 4

This morning I started again with Krill and like last month guessed the wordle in 4 guesses.  

I better call it a night. Hopefully I can finish my 3 l topics before 4:14 tomorrow morning.  For more A to Z challenge click here.  

J is For January, Jim Rice, and Judge

Good morning and welcome to day 10 of the A-to-Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. Due to the incredible busyness of my week I am only doing the limerick today.

Part I: A to Z Limericks

 ...

This limerick was written 8 years ago in preparation for a 20 degree below zero day 

Going out in this weather? stay in.

 If you must go,avoid exposed skin. 

With extremities warm 

You'll be safe in a storm

 But spittle might freeze on your chin

From Facebook 2014

My home run hitter for J is Jim Rice, an old school long ball banger who played his entire career (1974-1989) for the Boston Red Sox.  That's the years I turned 10 until the year I turned 25.  I spent my formative years of baseball appreciation watching this hall of famer play.  

From the time period between 1976 to 1987, Rice hit 341 (approximately 90%) of his 382 homers.  This is 2nd only to fellow Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt who hit 437 in the same time period.

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

My opening word for March 10th was Judge.

J U D G E- E in coorect poition everything else wrong

R H Y M E-  Different word, same result.

B L A Z E - Added L and A in incorrect places.

S A L V E   -Correctly placed the A , S and L are in wrong position

L A P S E Got it in 4

Today I started with Judge again but this time got the correct word in 4 guesses.

For more A to Z challenge click here. 

I is for Illinois, Ibanez and Imago

 Good morning  and welcome to  a new week  of the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

If me, you want to annoy

Go ahead mispronounce Illinois

Please be compliant

Let the s remain silent

And no, I am not being coy

The first 4 lines of that limerick stayed on my open computer screen all night as I could not think of an adequate final line.  This morning I asked my wife who volunteered the closer.  Thanks Amy. How fitting that the limerick dropping on our 24th wedding anniversary  shows yet another example of how wonderful it is to be on a team with you.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

When I was thinking which homer smasher I would choose for the letter I.  I did not immediately think of Raul Ibanez.  I immideiately thought of Jason Isringhausen, forgetting for a moment he was   and gave up far more homers (85 in a 16 year career) than he hit (2).  My thoughts then went to Pete Incaviglia for a moment before settling on Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez. With 311 dingers, Pudge does have more homers than any other I player.  I was pretty settled on I-Rod when I did a little more stat surfing.

In the period between 1988 and 1999 Incaviglia hit 149 bombs. Pudge only hit 109.  In the period of 2000 through 2010 Rodriguez hit 161 homers while Raul Ibanez slammed 204 (99 for the Mariners, 55 for the Royals, and 50 with the Phillies ). That means that I-Rod was the I with the most homers in either time period.  Ibanez hit only 6 less (305) career homers than I-Rod so I decided to give not to Raul.

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

In March when I was going alphabetically to pick my opening wordle words some were just random, and some held a great bit of meaning to me. Imago was one of the latter.

For several years my family and I went to the local college film festival called the Imago Film Festival click  on Wikipedia for more information about this festival.

I M A G O - Got M and O but in wrong places.

M O U N D-  M and O were correctly placed on my 2nd guess and I added n as well.

M O R O N- I felt a little like a moron not getting any more info from my 3rd guess as I did on my 2nd. 

M O N E Y -Throwing money on your problems, doesn't always solve them.  This maxim came true on guess 4, but I did get my N in the right place.

M O N K S - 5th guess got me no further than the fourth.

M O N T H - This was not the only 6 guess wordle I have had.  But it's the only one that took me a month to get.

For more A to Z challenge click here.  

H is for Hammer, Hank, and Hairy

 Good morning  and welcome to Day 8 of the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

Today's limerick is also about today's home run hitter.  I don't consider Hank Aaaron a home run hitter.  I consider him the home run hitter.  On April 8,1974 he hit his 715th al time home run to break the record of Babe Ruth.  I am writing this post on Friday April 8th just a few hours before Saturdays H post drops.  That means 48 years ago I watched Hank Hammer 715 on television.  Here is what it looked like       

On April 8 '74

Hammering Hank #44

Hit home run 7 1 5

I felt so alive

To be part of such great baseball lore.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Yesterday I talked about Ken Griffey Jr. the 7th leading homerun hitter of all time.  For over 33 years Hank Aaron was the all time leading home run hitter.    He is now 2nd behind Barry Bonds.

I was born in 1964.  I was 9 years old when Aaaron broke Ruth's record.  Aaronhit his first homer in 1954 and his last in 1976.  From 1954 to1963 Hank hit 342 home runs.  This was 5th most of all players over that time period and only 40 less than Willie Mays who hit the most in that time period.

From 1964 to 1975 Aaron hit 403 homers  387 for the Braves and 16 for the Brewers.  Aaron led all of baseball by 46 homers during that period.  In 1976 Aaron hit the last 10 of his 755 dingers while finishing his HOF career in Milwaukee. Aaron batted .305 in the course of his career so he was much more than just a home run hitter.

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

Playing wordle every day can be a big hairy deal.  On March 8th I began my wordle with ...

H A I R Y - I may as well have been bald as none of those letters were in the answer

Q U E S T -  This got me a e and t in the right places and s in the wrong one.

S W E P T - On my third guess I was exteremely closing getting 4 of the letters in the right position.

S W E E T - .  How sweet it was to get it in 4.

For more A to Z challenge click here.  

G is for Grief , Griffey, and Geode

 

Good morning  and welcome to Day 7 of the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

As I prepare to write the limerick for April 8th it is A pril 7th and today is the 13th anniversary of my brother's death.  He was 38 years old and died of a heart attack in a nursing home in what is now my home town of Elgin, Illinois.  Today's limerick is dedicated to him, Keith Bertram Roller.

The funny thing about grief

Is that time only gives some relief

Whether 1 year or thirteen

I know one thing for certain .

I know that I'll always miss Keith.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Of the 6 home run specialists we've profiled this month only 1, Cal Ripken Jr. has been in the to 50 in career long balls.  Ripken's 431 blasts put him exactly 50th on the all time list.  Today and tomorrow we get back to back players in the top 10.  

Only 6 players in MLB history have gone yard more times than Ken Griffey Jr.. Griffey hit 398 of his 630 homers between 1988 and 1999.  All of these were with the Seattle Mariners his original team.  Those home runs alone would tie him for 60th all time with Dale Murphy.  After 1999 he hit   210 with his Dad's former team the Cincinnati Reds and 3 more with my beloved White Sox before hitting 19 more for the Mariners after returning to Seattle for his final 2 seasons.

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

A geode is a rock contained with crystals or other mineral matter. My best friend form my college days grew up on farmland not far from the university.  There is a dried up creek bed on the property and we have collected geodes from there on multiple occasions.  So on March 7th, I used geode as my opening word for that day's wordle.

G E O D E - I went digging with Geode and I came up with the O and the D in incorrect positions.

B L O O D - Blood was my first of 2 illogical guesses as I had already determined that the O was not in the medial position.  I was able to determine that the D was in the final position.

S O U N D - On my third guess I still only had the O and the D which I had since geode, but now I had them in their proper places.

H A R D Y - This was my second illogical guess as I neglected to use the O altogether and I put the D in what I knew to be the wrong place.  Some people do place this way I like to only guess words that have a chance of being the word.  That being said the guess did reveal all5 letters needed for the actual solution.

H O A R D - I may have actually solved it sooner if I stuck with logical guesses. I did find it interesting that I started with geode and ended with hoard because when my kids were growing up I used to hoard their geodes so they could use them at nature swap at our local zoo.  

Todays topics were a mixture of many emotional memories in my life.  My memories of my brother, my friendships over the years, my love for baseball and being able to share all those with my wife and children are some of the truest treasure of my life.  For more A to Z challenge click here.  

F is for Freud, Freddie Freeman, and Fugue

Good morning  and welcome to Day 6 of the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

There once was a young man from Madrid

Who cared more for his ego than id

So he pulled out his android

Took a selfie, now Freud

Can explain why he's done what he did.

Facebook March 7, 2014

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Freddie Freeman played for the Atlanta Braves from 2010 to 2021. The Braves are the current reigning World Series champions He recently signed as a free agent with the L.A. Dodgers.  Freeman was the 2020 NL MVP and finished 2nd in voting for NL Rookie of the Year in 2011 his first full season.

Between 2011 and 2021 Freeman hit 270 homers for the Braves.  This places him 6th in  both all time homers for the Braves and most home runs between 2010 and 2021.  This is fitting for a player whose first and last names begin with the 6th letter of the alphabet.

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

On March 7th I started my wordle with the word fugue.

F U G U E - This was my first opening word all month that did not get any letters right. As this was a bad start I countered with ...

S T A R T - This yielded a T in the wrong place. I switched the T to the first place with ...

T H I N K - which gave me no more information than the T in a new wrong place. By that time I had guessed all the vowels except so I doubled down with ...

B O O T H - Having oth in the right places, my 5th guess was ...

C L O T H - Mission completed in 5 guesses.  

That does it for another day of the challenge.  for more A to Z click here.

E is for Edmonds, Eustace and Equal

Good morning  and welcome to Day 5 pf the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

Today is my first day writing a limerick within 24 hours of posting it for the challenge.  I have been listening recently to the voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis  so I'll attempt a limerick about one of the principal characters of both books.

There once was a fellow name Scrubb

An egotistical bully this bub

inside and outside a dragon

until he met Aslan

now he's not as useless as he was.  

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Jim Edmonds played Major League Baseball from 1993 to 2010 . He hit his first 121 homers with the Anaheim Angels from 1993 to 1999.  It was after he left Anaheim ,in the period between  2000 and  2010 that  he was his most prolific at the plate.  During that time he  hit 272 of his 393 career home runs.  (241 with the St. Louis Cardinals, 19 for the Chicago Cubs, 8 for the Milwaukee Brewers, 3 for the Cincinnati Reds and 1 for the San Diego Padres.) 

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

On March 5th I started my wordle by guessing equal.

E Q U A L this got me the e but in the wrong position.  I then guessed ...

R E I G N that guess neeted me 4 correct letters with I in the right place. my next guess

B R I N E was correct in 3 guesses!

That's all for today.  for more A to Z challenge click here.  

D is for Dirty, Dawson, Drain

Good morning and welcome to Day 4 of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

Part I: A to Z Limericks 

In researching all things limerick, I have discovered that many limericks are ribald, offensive, or dirty. I have decided to try my hand at a dirty one ...

If you happen to go to the zoo

You might see lots of kangaroo poo

And a whole lot of feces

From bunches of species

Yes, I know it sounds gross, but it's true.

Adapted from my FB post 1/24/2014

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

One of the challenges in doing an a to z challenge that is a list of people is figuring out who to include and exclude based on what letter their name begins with. It is especially difficult if a players first name and last name begin with the same letter. If I want to include Freddie Freeman in my homerun list, I have no choice but to use him as F which is where I was planning on putting Frank Thomas. Another problem is when 2 players cancel everyone else out. I knew I wanted to include both Dick Allen (who I featured on April 1st) and Andre Dawson on this list, but since they both use up the same letters it squeezes out players like Adam Dunn who hit 354 homers between 2000 and 2010. Allen and Dawson are good choices though as they both revitalized their careers when moving to Chicago.

Dawson hit 274 of his 438 homers between 1976-1987 tied with Don Baylor for 10th for most homers in that era. This included all 225 of his career home runs with the Montreal Expos and 49 with the Cubs in 1987 the year he won his MVP award. Dawson hit another 100 with the Cubs playing 5 additional seasons on the Norths Side before finishing his HOF career with the Red Sox and Marlins.

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

On March 4, 2022 my opening word was drain

D R A I N- A was the only correct letter and it was in the correct place, I went from drain to blade.

B L A D E - D and E were in the word but not in the tight place. I countered with stead

S T E A D - This put the last 3 letters in the right place, so I forged ahead with ahead.

A H E A D - which was right!

For more A to Z challenge click here,

C is for Capital Punishment, Cal, and Codex

 

Good morning and welcome to Day 3 of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

Part I:  A to Z Limericks

2 years ago my theme was state capitals.  Last month in preparation for this years challenge. With memories of that challenge  I wrote this limerick...

I once had a friend in Cheyenne

Who hated his cell phone plan

He got charged for roaming

Without leaving Wyoming

He's better off with a string and a can.  

Written in March 2022 in anticipation of the challenge.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

When you think of Cal Ripken you don't necessarily think of home runs.  I think of the streak.  I think of the period between May 30, 1982 and 9/19/1998 when he started 2,632 straight baseball games.  Whit Merrifield of the Kansas City Royals currently has a 467 consecutive game streak. Merrifield would have to play more than 13 seasons to get near that record.  Merrifield is already 33 years old.  Ripken was 38 when the streak ended.  

Yet Ripken was a prolific homerun hitter.  He hit 431 homers in his hall of fame career, 242 between 1988 and 1999 all with the Baltimore Orioles. 

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

On March 3, 2022 I started with codex.

C O D E X - This gave me an O in the right place so I followed up with aorta.

A O R T A - In addition to the O, I got a T out of position. My next guess was robin.

R O B I N - This gave me the O and the N and also the R as there was no other space for it.  That helped me get Mourn in 4.

M O U R N

For more A to Z challenge click here,

B is for Bisquick, Bryce, and Bulbs.

Good morning and welcome to Day 2 of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

 Part I:  A to Z Limericks

 

   

An Ode to Bisquick

                                                                  Their impossible hamburger pie

                                                                  A hyperbole meal you can try

                                                                 Course, if you can do it

                                                                 Do not misconstrue it

                                                                 I'm more an implausible guy

                                                                 Adapted from my Facebook post of 1/10/2014

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Yesterday, we looked at a homerun hitter from the first 12 years of my life.  Today we look at Bryce Harper who is currently smashing the long ball for the Philadelphia Phillies.  Like Dick Allen yesterday, Harper  has won both the MVP and the Rookie of the Year award.  Harper won his Rookie of the Year in 2012 with the Nationals and has won 2 MVP awards one with Washington in 2015 and is the reighning NL MVP winning it with the Phillies in 2021.   In the period encompassing 2011 through 2021 Harper has gone yard 267 times, 184 with the Nationals and 83 more with the Phillies. At 29 there could be plenty more  homers on the horizon for the 6 time all-star.  

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

My starting word for the 3/2/22 wordle was Bulbs

B U L B S

With only the s in the word but in the wrong place, I countered with spare,

S P A R E

This got me a 2nd letter but both still in the wrong place.  I tried daisy.

D A I S Y

That guess gained me 2 letters in the right place and the logic formed by previous guessess determined that the S would be in the middle of the word. That should have been it, but thanks to guessing the uncommon mashy on my 4th try it took me the full 6 to get to the  nasty answer.  Here are my last 3 guesses and what they revealed.

M A S H Y

T A S T Y

N A S T Y

Tomorrow  is a day off for the challenge.  It's a good day to look around other blogs  and see how they have began the challenge.  I'll be back on Monday with a state and a streak and , well you'll have to C about the rest.  For more A to Z challenge click here.  

A is for Awana, Allen, and Ample.

                                                                

Good morning and welcome to another year of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my life time, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

I did not grow up attending the kind of churches that participate in the children's program Awana.  So, it was not until Amy and I started our own family that we participated as parents and volunteers.. Awana is a program that among other things promotes the memorization  of bible verses from children 2 -18.  They are in many ways similar to a youth scouting program and one of their biggest events is the Awana Grand Prix which is very similar to the Pine Box Derbiesthat  I participated in as a Cub Scout.    Awana is something that worked for out family for many years which I 0ne reason why I penned this limerick 8+ years ago.

                                                         Tell folks, tell friends, tell an iguana.

There's plenty of fun at Awana

                                                         We learn that God is King

                                                         We play games and we sing

                                                         But never Hakuna Matata

                                                         From My Facebook page 3/5/2014

Dick Allen (1942-2020) was my hero when I was a young White Sox fan. His 3 year tenure on the White Sox (1972-1974) is a big reason I became a White Sox fan. When you look at the list of the 10 best homerun hitters from 1964-1975, 7 of them are in the Hall of Fame. Only Dick Allen , Boog Powell and Frank Howard are not. Powell was a MVP winner and Frank Howard won the Rookie of the Year award. Allen had more homers than either of those men and won both awards. Allen hit 331 homers from 1964 -1975. 189 with the Phillies, 85 with the White Sox, 34 with the Cardinals and 23 with the Dodgers. Allen averaged 33 homers per every 162 games played.

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

My starting word on March 1st for Wordle was ample.

A M P L E

With the P and the E in the correct place. I tried to think of words that would fit. The first thing that came to my mind was Rupee.

R U P E E

Much to my delight and surprise it was correct, I found out a week or so later that Rupee caused a little bit of an sensation on wordle with many people breaking their win streaks on this word for Indian currency. For me it was a rare 2 time solve, but a good way to start my a to z wordle openers.

Thus begins another April A to Z to see what other prople are posting click here.

A to Z challenge 2022 Theme Reveal

 When I guest posted last month at the A to Z challenge blog I kinda did my theme reveal a little early.  

Just in case you missed it, I said that this year I will be posting limericks that I have written. Because it's the A to Z challenge,  the theme of each limerick will start with a different letter of the alphabet. It turns out that April is National Poetry Month so the timing works out well.  

Limerick, Ireland

Why limericks? It all started almost 9 years ago when I wanted to do something to commemorate my 50th year on the planet.  So on Facebook from the day I turned 49 until the day I turned 50, I tried to generate one limerick a day and post it there.  

Here is my limerick from  8 years ago, March 6th, 2014

                                                        Just allocated our tax refund

                                                        Most for debt and a little for fun

                                                        Now that I'm done taxing

                                                        It's time for relaxing

                                                        Watching Star Trek with daughter and son

For the a to z challenge I have chosen  9 of those Facebook limericks  and will post them on the appropriate  date for the appropriate letter. Many of those FB  limericks were about friends having birthdays or such things; don't expect to see any of those here.   In the month of March I plan to pen 8 more limericks, and if all goes well produce 9 final limericks in April on the day they drop.

This is where my announcement begins to resemble a late night infomercial, because besides the 26 limericks, you also are going to get 2 more wonderful A to Z products.  

As you may or may not know Leap of Dave is a conglomeration of 4 blogs I used to write simultaneously. First,  I changed my blog Home School Dad to Leap of Dave.  Then I discontinued.my blogs Dave Out Loud (a vlog), Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog and Random Acts of Roller and transferred them here.  In the past I have participated in the challenge from all 4 blogs.  This year while I will only be participating once, each post will contain 3 separate parts. 

After the limerick I will be featuring a baseball player who hit at least 100 career home runs in my life time.  In the past at Crazy Uncle Dave's I have done this same type of theme for Chicago White Sox Players and Chicago Cubs Players.  There will be some repeats of those players but mostly it will include players from all around the league.  To give it more variety I will have at least 5 players whose  main homer contributions were in the following periods:  1964-1975, 1976-1987, 1988-1999, 2000-2010, and 2011- 2021.

Nothing says Home Run more than the late "Hammering " Hank Aaron

So you get A to Z limericks. You get A to Z Sluggers ...

 But Wait, There's More!!!

Like many people over the past few months, I have been playing the game Wordle on line.  On March 1st my starting word began with the letter A.  Each day this month I am starting with the next letter in the alphabet.  On April 1st I will share the word that began with A and my subsequent guesses until I finally got the correct Wordle of that day.  

A sample Wordle

So to sum up:

L is for Limericks, Long Balls and Lengthy Wordle explanations.  

 

I am looking forward to sharing my love of poems, baseball and word games with you guys next month.  I hope you are all planning on participating this year by at least reading a number of other peoples' posts.  If you are thinking about participating in the challenge this year as a blogger, stop thinking about it, and do it! If you have your theme reveal ready, click here and enter it so we can all see what you're up to.

See you guys in April!

Things I'd like to post more about.

 Blog Insider: A look behind the curtain at HSD

Tonight's Episode: Some things I'd like to post more about.

When I first started blogging I kept a notebook with all the blogging ideas I had and would cross them out when I wrote about them and add more as the ideas come to me.  This got to be a bit of a problem as I would often not have my notebook when I got an idea and often could not find my notebook when I was working on my blog.  Also, not all of my ideas were blog worthy.  Some were time sensitive and by the time I got to writing them down they were no longer relevant.  Some just worked better as an idea but did not make sense when they saw the light of screen.  

I have decided to make one of those lists as a blog post to give me a reference point I can't leave in my other coat and also to give the readers (if there are still any out there) an idea of what sort of things are interesting me these days.

• I would like to write more about my work as a substitute teacher.
• I would like to write more about my ADHD.
• I would like to write a little about the combination of my ADHD and my work as a substitute teacher,  
• I have began recompiling my list of my 100 favorite movies.  I would like to write more about the particular movies and my process in compiling the list.
• My wife and I have have lost over 100 pounds this year.  I'd like to write about my weight and my goal to stop yoyoing and get down to my weight in high school.
• I would like to share more poetry here.  Which means I'd like to write more poetry.  
• I would like to take more pictures and post more pictures.
• I would like to write more about my faith.

There are certainly other things I'd like to blog more about, but at this present moment these are the forms of content I'd like to delve into more in the future.  

I am also thinking of making some wholesale changes in my my blogging presence  at the beginning of the year.  I currently have 4 blogs active and am finding keeping those active more and more challenging.  I once commented to someone that as long as I am posting at least once a quarter on each blog I would be satisfied.  I have certainly been doing that but I'm noticing some redundancies and have spending a lot of thoughtspace on how to more efficiently scratch my blogging itch in the months and years to come.  

Innaugural Holiday Poetry Reading

 A Poem - Joseph McCarthy

I Took a Poet to Lunch Today

Reluctant Winter

Do Bunnies Have Christmas - Aileen Fisher

All Poems written by Dave Roller  unless otherwise indicated. 

Six Word Rewind

This week I showed my face in the blogosphere after a month long absence. What better place to get back in the swing of things than participating in Six Word Saturday @ShowMYfaceDOTcom?

My Six Words:

They (Still) Drive Me Crazy Sometimes
About a month into my blog, I started sharing poems I wrote here. The first time out I was all ready to put out a poem I had written 10 years prior. I decided at the last minute to write an new one instead. Here is what happened . .

Original Air date February 2009

I, like many people, am a closet poet. That is where my poems remain, in a drawer, next to the closet. From time to time I am going to pull one out of that drawer and share it here. This time to show I am not merely a former poet, I will present one I wrote only hours ago.

They Drive me Crazy Sometimes

She drives me crazy sometimes
Who can win an argument with an amnesiac?
But, no one gets me like she does
She makes our house a haven
And, only laughs when my jokes are funny.

She drives me crazy sometimes
Who made her the third parent, anyways?
But, beneath that bossy boiler
Lies an artist's soul
Skipping and humming. Playful and loving.

He drives me crazy sometimes.
Who can have that many questions about Star Wars?!?
But, he is as adventurous as a pirate.
As giving as Robin Hood.
And as resourceful as Macgyver.

She drives me crazy sometimes
Who wants to be a puppy every single day?
But, she makes cuteness an art form
She's a three year old thesaurus
And she loves to ask God to help people.

They drive me crazy sometimes
But, isn't it worth the trip?

Meanwhile back in 2011. The family still drives me crazy on a somewhat frequentamente basis. Puppy has branched off and is now imagining herself as other animals. Today she was part wolf part tiger. In almost 2 years time they still have the same strengths and weaknesses. Being part and parcel of their family is still worth any craziness endured.

In the past 2 years more of my poetry has surfaced. You can check them all out by clicking here.

Speaking of clicking, click here to return to Six Word Saturday.

Next Time: Don't Know Much About History - A Review

A Poem from a Train

I lived in Russia from late 1992 to 1994. I lived in a city in Far Eastern Russia called Khabarovsk. For about a year of the time I was there I would regularly travel by train to a neighbroing city about 3 hours away called Birobidjan. Here is a poem I wrote on the train in March of 2004.

The Melting Snow of the Infinte Plain

Written on a train from Birobidjan to Khabarovsk

Dusk inserts contrast to the endless white before me

Small patchs of forest punctuate the crystalline desolation

Brush and barren soil testify

That the Herculean winter is mortal after all

A days journey nears completion

A circuitous route

Ends like it began

Thoughts of far and near

Of important and trivial

speed through the minds eye

Occasionally stopping.

At the stops

The view becomes clear and definite

Then slowly

Movement begins again

The everyday life becomes a blur.

Night has come to the winter plain.

Morning and Spring inch closer.

And the train rolls on.

Multiplication and McCarthyism

Word Count Wednesday: 100 Words or Les


Crazy Uncle Dave here. It’s late Tuesday night, early morning Wednesday. Here are a few random thought to start/finish my day.

Yesterday, Charlie did double digit multiplication for the first time. Where’s the camera when you need it?


If comedy = tragedy + time, does parsley = oregano + thyme?
Speaking of comedy = tragedy plus time . . .

A Poem by Joseph McCarthy
Roses are red
Violets are too
Everything’s red
Except me and you
And I’m not so sure about you.




Next Time: You haven’t seen . . . ?!!!!?

Poetry

Poetry appreciated. Poetry demonstrated. Poetry Lucified.

We have been studying poetry in school for the past few weeks. Today I had Emma blog about two of her favorite poets who coincidentally have written several poems about bunnies. You can see her post by clicking here.


Charlie and I worked for a while to write a poem and finally since many of the poems we have been studying have been accompanied by illustrations. Charlie wrote and illustrated a poem about winter.

I like to ski. Wheeeeee!

Lucy really wanted to write a poem about flowers. So I had her dictate one to me.

Flowers are pretty

They're very nice

I picked them for my Momma

Flowers are beautiful

The pink and purple and red ones

and green ones and black ones and yellows ones

and roses and green ones

and orange ones and . . .

Now, she probably had a few dozen more lines to recite when I interrupted her by saying that's a nice poem let's draw a picture of a flower. Her response: I'm not good at drawing flowers let's draw a horse.

Then she decided that she wanted to draw a unicorn instead of a horse. I want to say that she wanted to draw a unicorn because I had read Shel Silversteins's "The Unicorn" earlier that day. But Lucy's motivations are generally much more random than that. Here is said picture . . .

Those are my six words for today. Head over to Show My Face dot com to play along at home.

Before you do, I want to share a small poem I wrote today inspired by Charlie. I had asked him to write a poem about winter and he was getting frustrated and being silly at the same time. He said something like: Winter winter Winter winter. I don't like winter.

I decided to write a poem from the perspective of a second grader assigned to write a poem about winter and does not want to.

Winter. Winter. Winter. Winter.

Winter is no fun.

Winter. Winter. Winter Winter.

Now my poem's done.

I say it's done

but Dad say no.

Who wants to write

when you can play in the snow?

Sledding, Skiing, snow ball fighting.

Winter's really quite inviting.

It's fun outside and in the home

but do I have to write a poem?!!!

Winter. Winter. Winter. Winter.

Now, my poem's done!

Next Time: Things This Thursday