Brian Mountjoy - LIFE ON THE DASH

SOFTBALL LEAGUES

Ever been on a softball team during your lifespan after college?

Ever think about how “in shape” a typical softball player is in?

Ever wonder how a softball player that plays in one game a week is able to rationalize that he is in tip top shape?

Ever wonder if a softball player stretches out before each game?

Ever wonder why some base (no pun intended) their entire life around their softball games of the week?

Ever wonder if softball will catch on like Major League Baseball?

Ever think that some are unwilling to let go of their glory days as an 8^th grade little league player?

Ever wonder if a player realizes that the increase of beer intake during a game results in a decreased batting average?

Ever seen an extremely old guy refuse to give it up?

Ever seen 2 rival church softball teams in action? In other words, have you ever put 2 male Siamese fighting fish in the same tank?

Ever wonder why some go to the batting cages 7 times a week and play 5 times a week?

Ever wish that kickball leagues would takeover softball leagues?

Ever wonder why some softball players still wear the same uniform they wore 25 years ago and we still have to see them wear it?

 

Next time you see some stadium lights on your way home from work, stop by and watch a softball game for 10 minutes, marvel and laugh at what you will encounter. 

 

MENTAL TIME LAPSE REVERSAL

This isn’t about football.
This isn’t even a great photograph.
But it was the moment. The exact moment, as the lights brightened up with the sun going down, there occurred a stirring up of a range of memories and smells and sounds. It was like a time lapse in reverse within my mind that stopped, showed a still shot of a memory, and then kept going only to stop at another still shot memory.
The smell of the grass made me think of one thing. The sound of several boys running made me think of another thing. The way the old stadium lights were angled reminded me of another place. The sunset and color of the sky recounted a certain time of the year. The change in temperature rekindled another moment.
This is a great photograph to me.
This is about life.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Live well so you can take some pictures that will breath life.

 

SWIMMING POOLS, MOVIE STARS

As I drove along, minding my own business, I was surprisingly blindsided by my family name briskly passing me by in the right lane. With an odd last name as mine, it was a peculiar sight to behold. The possible reality gripped me that there may be a distant relative submerged deep within the swimming pool business.

 Mind you, I did have vast experience in the pool cleaning arena.

I was the son, the middle child, who had the dubious honor/family assignment of continually brushing every square inch of the walls of our pool. Be aware that our pool, in my estimation, was large. Our pool was located in the desert area. The desert area brought along with it “dust devils” and the frequent “dust storm” resembling the breadth and depth and width of a locust plague. Time estimate for manual sweeping completion: neverending.
My brother, the first born, had the privilege as the eldest, to test the pH balance of the pool by adding 2-3 drops of his “magic potion” in small vial of pool water to determine the correct balance. Time estimate for pH tester completion: 52 seconds.

 Yep, something seems to be out of balance.

To deter my efforts to vocally share my displeasure with the parents on the obvious work imbalance, he would hurl “elder brother verbage” at me like “thiosulfate reagent” and “cyanuric acid symbiosis” and ‘bromine equivalency.”

I was defeated.

As I continued to drive, with self-control, I abstained from swerving to my right and did not attempt to grind him into the wall.

 

HIVES

 

Technically, it’s not hives, but hive.
And we have one.
Nestled gently under and between the walls of our “playhouse” in our backyard live these pollinating creatures.
Some say a small hive contains only around 20,00 bees. Whew, finally some good news.
I feel I have 4 options:
1. Do nothing.
2. Do nothing for now, and then attempt to obtain and enjoy the honey.
3. Call a Beehive removal company.
4. Realizing that bees sleep in the evening and early morning, call a couple of friends to come over during this time, get some good sticks, and incessantly poke the beehive.
 
Very ironic in that just a few weeks ago I was dressed up in a bee costume.