Time warp

It’s a beautiful day at Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium, which is where I am at the moment. In a weird, internet-connects-all world, I landed a one-time freelance gig to cover the Rhode Island-FSU game for a RI newspaper.

I haven’t covered a sports story since the 2007 Detroit Shock

I’m only slightly daunted. I guess I am a reporter at heart. I’ve been looking forward to this all week.

The RI team has its ace in, but realistically, FSU is No. 1 in the country and unless they totally muck it up – which is entirely possible – the Rams will walk out of here 0-for-No.1 series in their last three years.

The story is going to be how they’re preparing for their conference run, tackling the No. 1 team and all that. Hopefully it comes together quickly. There’s no immediate deadline pressure but it’s not like a feature with the Wings a gamer for the Tigers where I can get the information at the next skate or from someone else in the pressbox if I don’t think to get it.

The Rams have lost both games so far in this series, but in the bottom of the second so far, they’re the stronger looking team. It’s early, though.

Anyway, as much as I’ve looked forward to this, it’s not the week’s highlight. I finally caught up with Leila and her family yesterday. This includes her mom, who, I should add, looks fabulous these days.

She’s got a raised bed garden in Leila and Chip’s backyard and it’s growing quickly. They set it up six weeks ago and man, it’s so much healthier than Daddy’s corn right now. The difference between composting and having trees, I guess. One adds nutrients; the other takes them away. No real surprises if you think about it.

But it was just so good to see Leila and hang out with them. Riley is such a cutie. It took a bit for her to warm up to me, but I got a big kiss when I went to leave.

Chip still makes awesome sweet tea, too.

I was out there several hours but still felt like I had to run home to the puppies. I’m alone with them this weekend and man, it’s been challenging. I’ve also been doing some work for Florida Law Weekly and haven’t been around the house. Rally and Batgirl have been thrilled to see me when I’m there.

Their scratching is driving me nuts. Combined, they don’t weigh 12 pounds, but it’s all flea. Yesterday I got them some Capstar – can you say overpriced? – and it helped but at this point I think they itch out of habit.

Right now, the pups are home alone. So far, I’ve been lucky, but today will b the longest they’ve stayed at the house by themselves. And I could not figure out where Batgirl put the toy you fill with food. I’ve been leaving them with that as I leave and it’s kept them distracted for awhile. But God knows what the girl did with it.

I’m definitely not looking forward to opening that door this evening.