More Ballgames and Ballparks

We have been to three more Ballgames since my last update.

On 3/14 we went back to Hammond Stadium to see the Red Sox vs the Twins. It was a nice day but the Twins lost 7-3. The pitching didn't look good. Of course we still had some key players missing, who played in the World Baseball Classic during this game. So we will give them a pass for this one.

Next game: 3/15. Back down to Ft Myers to jetBlue Park at Fenway South. This is the Red Sox new Spring Training home, a lavish edifice that they built for $80M. It is very reminiscent of Fenway with a Green Monster in the outfield.




The seating is even oriented like Fenway - in the outfields sort of at right angles to the way you want to be facing. But the overall architecture is very contemporary and the concourses and concession areas very spacious and accommodating. It is much like a major league regular season park.



Once again the Twins lost, 5-0. Not only did the pitching look bad, but they just can't seem to score runs!

Today (3/17) we went up to Sarasota to see the Twins play the Baltimore Orioles at the Baltimore Spring Training home, Ed Smith Stadium. This is another charming older stadium that has had a pretty major recent renovation. Really nice people both attending and working there. This was recently the Cincinnati Spring Training home until they moved to Arizona and now share a very nice new ballpark with Cleveland in Goodyear.



We have never seen a beer selection like the one offered there. Here is a sandwich board advertising the selection.



Once again the Twins lost, 7-1. Morneau was playing but came up empty. Mauer has returned from the US team (they lost to Puerto Rico and were eliminated), but he was not playing today. Once again, the pitching was not solid and Boggs hit a home run for the Twins only score. It's hard to know how representative this is for the season's potential.

We decided that, on balance for Spring Training, we like the older renovated stadiums to the glitzy new Red Sox park. The older ones have a warmer, more intimate feel, with seating closer to the diamond and the game. Its very "hahd" not to like the Boston fans, though.

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Running

It is great to run again. I neglected this in Mpls this winter, and also laid off to try to improve the condition of my right sacroiliac joint. But I decided that a better stretching and back exercise program was more to the point. And that is turning out to be true. Hooray!

Next to our RV park there is a newer residential development that is quite unusual. Many here in Florida are very densely built. The developers clear the land, lay out the lots and streets, and start building houses. With this one none of that happened. The whole development is like a forest preserve. One road runs through it and houses are secluded off this road at the end of their rather long driveways. They are all owner designed and built. Some are apparently right on the Myakka River. I haven't seen them except the aerial view - they are secluded. You can see only a few homes from the road.

The road is GREAT for running - no traffic! We get in to the development by climbing through a barbed wire fence - yes, naughty but apparently a lot of people have done it because it is easy. Out most of the road's distance and back is a 4.5 mile loop. Have seen numerous woodpeckers but not much else. I can hear some rustling in the bushes. I am hoping to see an alligator along one of the water channels.

Here is the road.



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Two Ball Parks

On Saturday we drove to Bradenton to attend a Spring Training game at McKechnie Field, spring home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Today we drove to Port Charlotte to see the Tampa Rays at Charlotte Park. It was, for me, an interesting juxtaposition of the two spring training baseball parks.

Both have recently been upgraded and spiffed up - new restrooms, new concession stands, new hardscapes, etc. Both have built a boardwalk around the outfield, with bar seating, bars and other concessions, and lots of room for standing, sitting and milling around. It is now possible to walk all the way around both fields. Casual outfield seating is now extremely popular! More comfortable reserved seating has been installed in both parks.

But the nod clearly goes to the Pirates' charming McKechnie. The ushers are great, the crowd interesting, nice people, and the change they were able to achieve with the new boardwalk and all the other amenities including some beautiful landscaping is remarkable. It's in a city neighborhood of modest homes and parking is tight. It is one of the oldest spring training parks.

The Rays newer park is located out of the densely populated areas, and their huge lots were very dusty. Annoying to find one's car covered with dust when the game is over. Acoustics on the public address system were not good either - harsh, loud, raspy. They needed to spend a little bit more money there.

I will be extremely interested to see what the Twins will do when they renovate Hammond Stadium next year. It already is very nice, but they want to make the fan experience better. Hope they look at McKechnie!


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So far, an unsuccessful effort

They say it takes an engineer to own and maintain a motor home, right Gloria and Fred? Gary discovered a very faulty installation of the temperature sensor of the house batteries in our motor home - a manufacturer (Monaco) error. It has probably been this way from day 1. The result is that the batteries do not recharge properly and hence, if we are dry camped, or really looking at the behavior of the batteries, we could see that they weren't ever fully charged or recharging properly. It's complicated.....at this point in their age, they are probably shot.

Gary spent several hours on this problem today, plus we both did a tedious driving trek on the Tamiami Trail (a busy highway) going down to Sam's Club to buy 4 new 6 volt batteries to replace the old ones. Upon returning home, and upon trying to install them, it was found that they were 1/4 inch too wide to fit in the compartment, no way to make them work. So...back down the Tamiami to take them back. They weigh 50 pounds each, so Gary lifted at least 1000 pounds today due to multiple attempts to position them, getting them in and out of the car, in and out of the shopping cart, etc.

So I guess that, in addition to needing skills in engineering and troubleshooting, a motor home owner also needs to be a weight lifter!

We believe we have identified a battery that will work, available at a nearby golf cart sales store, so Monday Gary will repeat his weight lifting exercises, hopefully with success!


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We are 49ers Today!

Gary and I are celebrating 49 years of marriage today. How the time has flown. I guess he's a keeper!



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Jelks Preserve Near Venice, FL

We are now staying in an RV park about 5 miles east of Venice, FL. We had never been in this area before. Today we walked in the Jelks Preserve which is adjacent to the RV park. Both are on the Myakka River.

Jelks is a 600 acre preserve, with Nature Conservancy support, and has 8 miles of trails. We walked about 3 of those miles. It is a wonderful birding area. We saw 5 or 6 red bellied woodpeckers, a Carolina wren, and a blue-headed vireo. Heard lots of other birds but couldn't see them. We saw several little armadillos which are everywhere here.

The views of the river were lovely.





A view of the pathway.




I snapped this photo of a broken branch in the path which had air plants growing on it. We saw this type of vegetation on many of the trees.



There apparently are numerous wild pigs in the area. They are quite destructive and animal control personnel have to remove them from time to time. They are just feral pigs, and not native to Florida. We didn't see any but we did see signs of their activity. They did this (photo below) to almost every trail we were on. The paths are sand which underlies the area. The sand has been aggressively dug, turned over and foraged in.




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TC Says Hi!

At Hammond Stadium. TC says Hi to everyone back home! Twins leading 7-0 over Orioles.



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