John C. Hoffman of The Sporting News went on to report that the John Sherman Lollar name spans several generations. I also sourced a PSA Bio and discovered that John Sherman Lollar Senior was an old semi-pro ballplayer who played catch with his son outside their family grocery store in Fayetteville, Arkansas, starting at the age of three. Senior died five years later in 1932. The great-grandfather fought for the North in the Civil War and started the name tradition in honor of General William Tecumseh Sherman, who passed it on to his son, came to be known as “Sherm.” The name connection is even more appropriate after he proved, as a Major League catcher, to be a dependable field general.
The death of Sherm’s father added additional responsibilities for the entire family. His mother, Ruby, who helped support the family as a librarian, sold the store, temporarily moved to Guin, Alabama, but returned to Fayetteville to work for the Veteran’s Administration. There were three younger siblings, Bonnie, Pat, and Jerry. Despite the disruption in his life, Lollar’s interest in baseball never waned. In 1936, shortly before he turned twelve, he became a batboy for the Fayetteville Bears in the Arkansas-Missouri League.
A 1957 Saturday Evening Post article added, “Sherman would warm up the pitchers between innings and do a good job. The crowds would get a big kick out of seeing this frail, skinny kid catch and throw to second base.”
Hoffman then went on to write: “After graduating from Fayetteville High School, a school that had no baseball team, so his sole sports option was to play basketball, the sixteen-year-old Lollar took a job with J.C. Penney in Pittsburg, Kansas. He played with a team affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce in the Ban Johnson League while also studying at Pittsburg State Teachers College (now Pittsburgh State University). Two years later, after the Ban Johnson League folded, Lollar both played for and managed the semipro Baxter Springs (Kansas) Miners, working as a brakeman in a local mine when he wasn’t playing baseball.”
As Hoffman further reported, “the mining team, managed by Barney Barnett, an old semi-pro player, and played three or four times a week. Lollar had been rejected by his draft board in World War II and one of his teammates was a pitcher named Stan West, who belonged to the Baltimore team of the International League. West was engaged in defense work, but he recommended Lollar to Tommy Thomas, former White Sox pitcher, who was then managing the Baltimore team.”
A cyst on his throat kept him from the service, so he was able to continue to play ball, unlike some of his contemporaries whose careers were interrupted by the war. He had to be thinking of his father, who died in the hospital from a carbuncle or cluster of boils caused by bacterial infection. Sherm’s cyst was not related but it was in a similar part of the body. It might have been related to his premature death at the age of 53 in 1977. Cancer was the cause, and I have medallion in my collection from the Sherm Lollar/Nellie Fox Cancer Foundation. Fox died two years earlier at only 48-years-of-age from skin cancer related to smokeless tobacco that always filled his cheek and became a trademark.
“Lollar joined the minor league Orioles in August, 1943 and caught 12 games before the conclusion of the season. The next season he became the regular catcher for the Orioles but batted only .250 in 126 games. However, he had 15 home runs and drove in 72 runs and was the team’s number one catcher again in 1945.”
Sherm was quoted as saying, “I don’t recall that I ever wanted to be anything else except a catcher. It seems like I was born with a catcher’s mitt on my hand. I can remember playing pepper and catching with my arm was still sore from vaccination. That must’ve been before I was six years old.”
“When the time came for me to join the Baltimore team in Buffalo, mother was pleased. She knew it would have been dad‘s wish that I should be a professional ball player and so she gave me her wholehearted support.”
He went on to say, “the Baltimore club sent me my transportation to Buffalo, but it never occurred to me that I should get any kind of a bonus for signing a contract. I was just glad to get the chance to play.”
“Lollar told, too, how he happened to break into the lineup and then became the regular catcher in 1944. Most of the boys had gone into the service, he said, and there wasn’t there weren’t too many players left. Then in 1944, the Cleveland club, which had a working agreement with Baltimore was supposed to send a couple of catchers to the Orioles, but they were late getting around to it. And by the time they got there, I had caught several games and was going pretty good, so Tommy Thomas just left me in the lineup.”
Sherm became the International League MVP in 1945 after a great season with a league-leading “.364 batting average, and 111 RBIs in 139-games. He also hit 34 homers, 27 doubles and four triples. Half a dozen big league teams, including the White Sox had tried to buy him. Chicago offered $50,000 for his contract but Cleveland had first choice. At spring training, he was one of a dozen catchers and one of them, just out of the service was Jim Hegan. Hegan won the job.”
Sherm Lollar made his Major League debut April 20, 1946, with the Indians, and caught 28-games as back-up to Frankie Hayes, who held a 312-game streak of consecutive games as well as Hegan, just another future catching legend, like his predecessor, somehow ignored by Cooperstown.
I was disturbed to find that although Lollar was born in Dunham, Arkansas and spent his younger years nearby Fayetteville, the Arkansas Department of Tourism website does not even recognize him as worthy of their list of “famous athletes.” This lack of disrespect extends to the Baseball Hall of Fame, where only a handful of catchers are enshrined, despite their key leadership role on their respective teams. At least, there’s a blurb about him in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Thankfully, The Sporting News has been generous on their reporting of his career.
On the next page of The Sporting News was a side-article written with the headline: Top Moment? Game in ‘53 when his bat beat the Yankees. According to the author Hoffman, “it is doubtful if anyone would have detected it, because Sherm Lollar, ace catcher of the Chicago White Sox staff, is never demonstrative, but he was a mighty pleased young man the evening of May 14, 1953. In fact, it was his biggest thrill of his baseball career. The White Sox were behind four to one in the seventh to the Yankees in a game in New York. Teammates, Tom Wright and Vern Stevens were on base when Lollar hit a homer in the left field stands to tie the game. The score was tied again 5-5 in the eighth and then in the ninth Lollar opened with a single but replaced by a pinch runner, Red Wilson, who scored the winning run.”
The box scores that day showed two singles, a home run, and a walk. Lollar also scored twice and drove in three. Perhaps he had a personal grudge to settle against the Bronx Bombers and Manager Bill Dickey, who first sent him to Newark, favoring left-handed Yogi Berra behind the plate. Lollar was then traded the following year after a wrist injury to the St. Louis Browns, despite a 3-4 performance including two doubles in the 1947 World Series. Yogi replaced him in the batting order in Game 3 and hit the very first pinch-hit homer in Series history.
Maybe the Championship ring that Lollar earned that year never fit him comfortably. “I thought I was in after that,” Lollar said, “but I sat on the bench practically all of the next season. I got into only 22 games, and I guess that kind of shook my confidence, but you just have to take the bad breaks with the good ones in this game.” With the move to the Browns in 1949, he earned his first of 7 career All-Star selections.
It wasn’t until he came to the White Sox for the 1952 season before he got a full-time catching job, after spending six of his eighteen years as a non-starter. I was only one-year old at the time, so it wasn’t until 7-years later that I became one of his biggest fans, during the course of the 1959 World Series.
To be continued…..
The Chicago White Sox can use some positive publicity these days, hinging on their historic losing season of 2024. They officially outdid the 1962 Mets, losing 121 games. Only the 1899 Cleveland Spiders compiled a worse record throughout the entire history of the sport. Maybe, they should be known as the “Black Sox” rather than the 1919 gamblers? Where’s my bleach?
As a result of doing such “dirty” laundry, I’ve decided to write a few sparkling articles about my White Sox childhood hero, John Sherman Lollar, inspired by a recent E-Bay purchase for my growing collection. I bought the August 3,1955 edition of the The Sporting News, based out of St. Louis. It was 25-cents back then but cost me nearly $20 with shipping & handling. The tease read: “Lollar Proving White Sox Pillar – See Page 3.“
On Page 3 of the now-yellowed tabloid was an impressive illustration by Lou Darvis of him in a Sox hat and several related cartoons under the title of “As Catcher, Lollar His Team’s Best Pitcher.” An underlined preview just above read “Nabbed 18 of 22 Base Pilferers” and a sub-title stated: His Motto: ‘They Shall Not Steal’. A series of articles by John C Hoffman of Chicago, Illinois were nicely written on the next few pages.
I will get into more details in subsequent posts, but each of the four cartoons surrounding his caricature had an intriguing caption highlighting his early career and touting his quiet leadership skills:
“His dad, an old semi-pro ballplayer, used to play catch with Sherman outside their grocery store…probably started the first self-serve store in Fayetteville.” The Illustrator drew his butcher’s apron-cladded father behind the counter saying to a woman customer, “Would y’ mind helpin’ yourself, Mrs. Skinner? I wanna catch a few with Shermy.”
“Conducts Clubhouse meetings before each series. Instructs hurlers on how to pitch to opposing pitchers.” In this cartoon insert, Lollar’s, wearing shin guards, is pointing to a body drawn on the chalkboard and advising, “Pitch ‘im close an’ high aroun’ the clavicle.”
“At the age of 12, he was a batboy for Fayetteville, in the Arkansas-Missouri League.” Sherm is portrayed by the artist lugging seven huge bats and saying, “Whew! ‘an those guys big guys carry on’y two bats to th’ plate.”
“No. 1 catcher for the white-hot White Sox, Sherman Lollar hit seven homers in ten days earlier this season.”
“Wrote Sports for his local paper at Pittsburg (Kan.) State Teacher’s College” His character is shown carrying a reporter’s notebook and quipping, “Nuthin’ to this racket – I’d rather make th’ news!
As a young fan who followed his career and now a collector of his memorabilia, I was pleased to see that his skills got some attention. The publication was popular because it combined the appeal of a comic book with some serious background information. You could read the articles or just look at the pictures and learn something about the man. The illustrations were worthy of framing. You can’t frame the current digital version of today’s The Sporting News that discontinued print publication in 2012, but I’m sure that they’ve had lots of illustrative fun lambasting the 2024 version of the Chicago White Sox, who with 121 losses with two games to go, have now officially surpassed the 1962 New York Mets as the worst team in baseball since 1899. Sherm would not be happy!
More on John Sherman Lollar in upcoming posts…
My wife is in school today, with the rest of the week off due to the impending storm. School is closed, along with the local car wash, with expectations of lots of rain and a coastal surge. Fortunately, we are not in a flood zone and couldn’t afford retirement beachfront property. That’s where ownership in the Marriott Vacation Club comes in handy. If we need to be on the beach for a few weeks, we’ll let them deal with potential storm damage.
The winds and rain are expected in tomorrow, but the eye of the storm is currently offshore and headed towards the Big Bend. For us, it should be a matter of simply dealing with a tropical depression, but for others it will likely be disastrous. Some of the areas north of here were flooded by Debby, just a month ago, and could be hit again. Buying real estate along coastal Florida is like rolling the dice. Insurance costs are already through the roof.
Most of the items on our lanai and outside have already been secured. We’ll probably leave it that way for a few more weeks, since more storms are anticipated. Saturday marks the two-year anniversary of Ian that caused the most damage of any Florida storm in history. It happened just after we moved here three years ago, and we were traveling. Same was true with Idalia last year, so we won’t be gone from home in the future during this fall timeframe.
My day started early as I dropped my wife off at 7:30 and stopped at the dog park for about 45-minutes. Between puppy outings today, I will go to Eyeglass World to pick up my new shades and to the urologist for a cystoscope to determine the best course of action for surgery. I’m certainly tired of getting out of bed every two-hours or more to use the bathroom. I’ve been dreaming for some time of restoring my fountain of youth. Tomorrow, it’s back to the General Practitioner to evaluate the results of my pelvic MRI that preliminarily shows that I will need another one focused more on the spine. All this then leads up to hernia surgery to repair a bulge near my chest incision. Storms are probably the least of my problems, concerned more with surgical depression than tropical depression.
A Category 3 is headed our way! Batton down the hatches, Helene is coming soon! It may very well be our first hurricane while living here in Florida. We were traveling during Irma and Idalia, but our home held up. The pups were staying near here while we were gone, so at least Tally is a veteran, Fosse was yet to be born, but her doggy-parents endured the winds and rain at Tally’s side while staying at “Schnauzerville”. We’ll spend the next few days, charging phones, securing lanai & yard items, and stocking up on propane, water, and other essentials. We do not have a generator like most of our neighbors, so it could be hot and uncomfortable living for a few days. The outdoor kitchen will come in handy for food preparation.
Our house of concrete and steel is built like a fortress, with hurricane windows, and a tile roof. It held up well during Irma, and even better with Idalia that packed less punch. I will be worried about the lanai screens and surrounding cage structure. Several neighbors lost theirs during previous storms, but this entirely depends on the direction of the wind swirls. We’ll do what we can to properly prepare that may include lugging the heavy ceramic plant vases and fountain into the garage. Neighbors pitched in to do this the last time in our absence, comfortably on an Alaskan Cruise.
I understand that the noise can be deafening as the storm blows through. My son’s family, that lives nearby spent a couple days at a shelter. They did have some roof damage, that two-years later, claim payment is still being processed. I’m not sure that the property owners and insurance companies can financially withstand another devastating setback, yet people continue to flock to Florida and buy homes.
In the meantime, more storms were brewing in the stomachs and bowels of Tally and Fosse. Fosse is beginning to rival her predecessor, Tinker, as the “Poopingest Pup on the Planet.” Tally’s stomach has been growling and treats have been limited to rice with chicken stock. We had to go out and buy more Spot Shot, and I’ve hauled out the carpet shampooer on more than one occasion.
My wife also has restricted her diet with concerns about diabetes. Low-carb meals are in my future that will certainly aid in helping me lose that post-surgery flab. The scale read 199 yesterday, so progress is being maintained. Advil continues to ease the sciatica pain, as I wait for MRI results and potential treatment. I was up with the dogs in the middle of the night and again just before sunrise and was able to get around comfortably on both occasions.
The two of us went to see Train and REO Speedwagon a few weeks ago, so given the circumstances of hurricanes and diarrhea, all I can think of is the song, Riding the Storm Out!
“Ridin’ the storm out, waitin’ for the thaw out
On a full moon night in the Rocky Mountain winter
My wine bottle’s low, watching for the snow
I’ve been thinking lately of what I’m missing in the city
And I’m not missing a thing
Watchin’ the full moon crossing the range
Ridin’ the storm out, ridin’ the storm out
Ridin’ the storm out, ridin’ the storm out
Lady’s beside me, she’s there to guide me
She says that alone we’ve finally found home
The wind outside is frightening
But it’s kinder than the lightning life of the city
It’s a hard life to live but it gives back what you give
And I’m not missing a thing
Watchin’ the full moon crossing the range
Ridin’ the storm out, ridin’ the storm out
Ridin’ the storm out, ridin’ the storm out
Ridin’ the storm out, waitin’ for the fall out
On a full moon night in the Rocky Mountain winter
My wine bottle’s low, watching for the snow
I’ve been thinking lately of what I’m missing in the city
And I’m not missing a thing
Watchin’ the full moon crossing the range
Ridin’ the storm out, ridin’ the storm out
Ridin’ the storm out
Ridin’, ridin’, ridin’ the storm out”
Songwriter: Gary Richrath RIP
Could something as simple as switching from Tylenol to Advil be the temporary solution for my sciatica pain? For two out of three days since making the change, I’ve been able to maneuver relatively comfortably with the dogs in the morning. I also haven’t gone directly from bed to the freezer for an icepack. Now granted, other changes have been made in my routine, like keeping my left leg straight in bed rather than curling into a ball and staying off soft cushioned stairs to provide more lower back support. The combination seems to be working. This morning, I will deliver a disc with my MRI results to the chiropractor, while my physician supposedly received them directly over the weekend. They will both analyze the results and prescribe treatment in the next few days.
I’ll continue to do my fitness center routine, that has also been modified over the weekend to include mile-long walks back to the house from the workout. In the past, the walks have been longer, up to two miles, but with the support of treadmill rails or the dog buggy, relieving pressure off my back. The problem seems to stem from the base of my spine and then along my left side, moving from upper thigh to calf to toes. There’s obviously a pinched nerve somewhere!
The other hassle I’ve been dealing with this weekend is the timer on my landscaping lights. I’ve had a repairman out on several occasions. We replaced lights and made adjustments, but the timer clock that’s set to turn on the lights at dusk gets stuck at midnight, so they never shut off. Before I have him install a costly new timer, I’ve reset the system this morning to shut-off just before midnight to see if that helps resolve the issue. It’s always something!
We loaded up on Costco items this weekend to earn a $50 savings card. The new store is just down the street. As a result, there’s now enough shampoo in the house to last until at least 2017. It was simply a matter of spending money to make money. I also shampooed our outdoor furniture over the last few days because of all the construction dirt from the addition behind us. This project ensued because both dogs were having diarrhea, so I had to haul out the carpet/upholstery cleaner to handle both issues.
We even had a hassle for “Date Night” this week, stopping at three different restaurants before we found one open or willing to serve us. We ended up at the Lighthouse Grill on Lemon Bay and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and some BBQ, so it all worked out. The night before we dined at Dockside with friends. We then finished Season 1 of Bad Sisters, while I watched football and baseball the rest of the weekend.
Today, I need to stop by Eyeglass World for the fourth time to resolve my on-going prescription hassle, and then create a new hassle by setting an appointment at Xfinity to upgrade my phone. I also have to do a late night pick-up of my son from the St. Pete/Clearwater Airport, so I hope his flight goes smoothly. All in all, retirement life does not run exactly like clockwork!
Between baseball cards and big games my life seems to revolve around sports. I check the scores every morning, look at all the box scores, go to the Topps Now site every afternoon to see what cards are available, and watch the live action whenever I can, then view a related documentary or read a book like Bushville Wins! about the 1957 World Champion Milwaukee Braves. IU sports, Purdue, other BIG Ten teams, Indiana Fever, the Cubs, White Sox, Colts, Bears, Kyle Schwarber, and Shohei Ohtani are currently my regular interests.
The baseball playoff race is in full swing, IU football is off to an unprecedented start, IU basketball is getting ready to start, and history is being made by Schwarber and Ohtani on the diamond. Sadly, the Cubs will fall short again this year, and the White Sox are a joke, about to lose their 120th game this season – more history of the worst kind!
Hoosier football won their first four games in dominating style, the local Venice High School Indians are 5-0 after a 54-51 victory last night over Cocoa. The WNBA Indiana Fever and rookie sensation Caitlin Clark are solidly in the playoffs and will battle the Connecticut Sun today on ABC-TV. At least, my sports interests are diverse, ranging from high school and college to professional. I follow the Portland Timbers in soccer as well as the IU program, watch the Little League World Series, men’s & women’s softball, Indy Car, NASCAR, and Formula One. If competition and skill or a ball are involved – I’m interested.
The Purdue-IU rivalry has finally taken a twist in football this year, as the Boilermakers look weak. Hopefully that trend will continue in men’s & women’s basketball, as well as the other sports. Purdue is my second favorite team, the result of working in that community for several years, but there’s no doubt as to my favorite when they play IU. The Colts and Bears tangle this afternoon.
My interest in Kyle Schwarber stems from his collegiate years at IU, my alma mater as well. He made history again last night with his 15th lead-off home run for the Phillies this season. No one else in baseball has ever accomplished that feat! He did it against the Met’s pitcher, Sean Manaea, who now boasts a 12-5 record and retired 21-24 batters with only three hits, including Schwarber’s 406-foot bomb. Manaea’s pitching gem, however, temporarily stalled the Phillies claim to the Division title.
Shohei Ohtani immediately intrigued my interest when he moved his skills from the Japanese leagues to MLB in 2018. This despite my being neither an Angels or Dodgers fan. The ability to both pitch and hit effectively is a rare art, dating back to Babe Ruth. I started collecting his baseball cards, as I also do with Schwarber, and have been caught-up in his success. After arm surgery late last year, he’s focused on hitting and base stealing this season, reaching the 52-52 plateau the other night with 7 more games yet to play. He could very well get back on the mound in the playoffs, finally on a team that has gotten him into the MLB postseason for the very first time.
Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the next game!
I just happened to tune into the MLB Network last night to watch part of Shohei Ohtani’s amazing historic performance. He went 6-6, with 10 RBIs, 2 steals, 2 doubles, 3 HRs, and 4 runs scored, becoming the first player to achieve membership in the 50/50 Club. Yes, other players have had more HRs or steals, but no one in all of baseball has done what he has done this season – and it’s not over. Although his Dodger team clinched their twelfth-straight playoff berth, he will have played 874 games without going to the postseason, once these last 9-games are in the books.
The Japanese superstar still hides behind his interpreter, although I think that he’s probably somewhat well-versed by now in English. He’d have to do too much talking to the press if it weren’t for this crutch. It’s a defense mechanism that has even protected him from gambling accusations. I also expect that he’ll be back on the mound before the playoffs are over, adding to his baseball mystique. Surgery has allowed him to focus on hitting and stealing bases that has not been a luxury in previous seasons as a two-way player.
I’m not a Dodger fan but I am intrigued with Shoei himself. I’ve been collecting his baseball cards since the 2018 Rookie season that brought him to the Angels and saw him play in Anaheim that year. If he had remained with the Angels this year, he would have missed this playoff opportunity with the rival Dodgers. Who can now blame him for the move? His collection of over 150-cards, and growing, is on display at my local baseball card shop, Blue Breaks. The limited-edition Topps Now cards chronologically summarize his MLB career. Hopefully, this 50/50 achievement adds to its investment value.
I went to find an image for this post for “Sub-200” and it came up with a bunch of pictures of machine guns. I only meant to imply that my weight is temporarily back under two-hundred pounds. It’s been a calorie battle since surgery in January, losing that daily burn from running that helped me comfortably maintain between 190-195 on average. I could eat and drink anything back then, and yes there were occasional blips of over 200 on the scale after spending weeks on a cruise ship, but it came off easily. This battle has been different.
With limited exercise, I was on an upward trend that was getting out of control, at least from my perspective. Ten or fifteen pounds can be easily hidden under baggy shirts and loosened belts. However, I wasn’t comfortable and for months prohibited from any heavy lifting. I thought walking more might be the solution, but it wasn’t working. I then started to get cramps in my legs that escalated into full-scale sciatica – more pain than I’ve probably ever experienced. It brings me to my knees every morning, as I try to simply pick up the dog poop. Neighbors have seen me on the ground, wondering if I’m OK? The stiffness escalates when I first get out of bed, even despite frequent trips to the bathroom and stretching overnight. My first stop is at the kitchen freezer, that now works properly, for an ice pack.
Moving around for a few hours completely eliminates any pain. I go to the fitness center every morning, spend about 45-minutes on a stationary bike, 10-minutes rowing, and do several sets of light weights. I then try to do some evening walks with the support of the dog buggy. Push-ups have made my pec muscles/cartilage tender, so I’ve backed-off a bit. I’ve also cut back on sweets and alcohol. Bottom line, my weight registered 199.5 this morning. Five more pounds to go, and I’ll be satisfied, if I can at least stay Sub-200!
Once again, I find myself waiting for the refrigerator repairman – Re-Refrigeration. I am now stuck in a warranty dilemma, after yesterday’s surprise news that I would be out $750 for parts and service. This saga actually began last December, before my surgery, when we were first experiencing problems with cooling levels in our KitchenAid side-by-side. I was under the impression that we were out of warranty, so I found an authorized repair service and set an appointment. My wife talked to her dog park friends and got the name of a neighborhood repair guy that everyone used because he was so much cheaper than the bigger dealers. As a result, I cancelled the appointment. Instead, we had her guy look at it, who advised us to call KitchenAid directly because it was apparently still under warranty. Sure enough, my wife made the contact, read off the serial numbers, and found the warranty was indeed good. We would next need to contact Flamingo Services for the authorized work order.
They came out twice in July, and in the meantime my wife had moved most of the contents into our garage refrigerator, just to be sure it didn’t get contaminated. All indications at that point were that we were still covered by the warranty but would need to pay for the service call. Parts were ordered, then delayed while we began our month-long travels. A friend stayed here and noticed that the refrigerator was not cooling properly. Follow-up calls, when we returned, finally revealed that they had “tried” to contact us “several times,” but no one responded. My wife has no records of these supposed calls on her phone log. The parts apparently were then sent back.
Since she was substitute-teaching again, starting in August, I took the slippery Flamingo ball and did more follow-ups. The parts were ultimately reordered, and a service appointment made. Of course, they cancelled that morning, screwing up my plans, and had to reschedule a week later, screwing up more plans. We had set a 1p-4p timeframe, but they arrived at 10a after a 15-minute warning message, so I missed my pre-paid Chair Yoga class, but was glad to see them. Two hours later, after a thorough examination it was determined that they would need to get more parts. They also informed me that our warranty had expired on this three-year-old model, and it would be roughly $750. I was dumbfounded but wanted to finally get this thing fixed, so I agreed to have them locate the parts. They weren’t even sure if they were available. Promptly, at the end of the day, they had secured these pricy parts and would be out today to fix it.
I’m waiting, but justifiably disturbed with the whole situation. The neighborhood guy could have fixed it months ago for half this price, but instead the factory told me to use Flamingo. Am I obligated to pay, or should I refuse until I speak to a manager? If I do pay, I will never get a response. Holding back payment seems like the best plan going forward. My wife will also be here, if they truly made the 1-4 window, instead of showing up early like yesterday. Stay tuned for Re-Re-Refrigeration, I hope I’m soon shivering and stuttering like this from the cold air coming out of the open doors.
I’m moving on to the next milestone, only 500 posts from 3,000. I feel like Pete Rose, aiming for that next hit to earn another record. Shohei Ohtani is in a bit of a stall, throttled by Braves pitching in his quest for 50/50. Aaron Judge, on the other hand, moved out of his funk, and smashed home runs number 52 and 53. The Cubs will probably have to wait until next year, still 5-games out of the last Wild Card spot that now belongs to the Mets. However, the Braves are just a game back, with three head-to-head-matchups in Atlanta remaining in the 2024 regular season. Our neighboring park, Cool Today, just released the 2025 Braves Spring Training schedule. It would be good to see them at least make the Playoffs.
There’s a concert at the Park Saturday night, one of our favorite local bands, Dukes of Brinkley. Tonight, we’re out to dinner with Indy friends at Laishley’s in Punta Gorda and Friday night joining some neighbors at nearby Dockside. “Date Night” has therefore been moved to Saturday night, so we might be able to fit in a little live music.
I’m waiting for the refrigerator repair guy to call with a specific time, although there’s already been several frustrating cancellations. My wife is tired of running to the garage refrigerator during meal preparation. This has been an on-going hassle for several months. She’s substituting again today, so I had Dog Park duty. Once I finish writing, I’ll head to Chair Yoga and the fitness center.
My leg pain was especially bad first thing this morning but has since predictably gone away. Fosse did not help matters, running off to chase a rabbit, while I limped after. Hopefully, I will get some feedback on the cause of this sciatica with Friday’s MRI. It was in my lower back last night, making our evening walk miserable. The Dog Buggy (stroller) at least allows me some support, and Tally enjoys riding along with us rather than being left behind at home. The pain moves from my lower spine area to my upper left thigh, and into my calf, so it’s been difficult to determine the source of the pinched nerve or irritation. I’ll finally get some answers and eventually some relief. Maybe we’ll even have working kitchen refrigerator by then?
