About half way through the season HP Varsity Soccer is doing well, with 4 wins and 1 loss to Poland. Eric is playing as a striker and isn’t playing a lot; conditioning could be an issue. HP versus Poland is shown below; with HP @ Frankfort below that.
The Holland Patent Varsity Soccer Team held their season opener, honor senior night and a 3-0 win all in one rainy night. Holland Patent began their 11 game schedule vs visiting Little Falls. Only two spectators were permitted for each player; masks and social distancing were expected of all spectators. Along the walk way to the soccer field each senior athlete was honored with a poster. HP jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the 1st half. Dylan McGuire scored a goal and had an assist. McGuire found the back of the net just 2:56 into the game and Holland Patent rolled from there. William Zimmerman scored the second goal with 27:50 remaining in the first half with the assist to McGuire. Sawyer Locke scored the third and final goal with 10:40 left before half time. Jake Schroth had the assist.
At half time the senior athletes and their parents walked out onto the field where they were acknowledged with a narrative and pictures. In the 2nd half of the game it began to rain and despite a discrepancy in shots on goal the 3-0 score stood up through out the 2nd half. Two Little Falls players suffered ankle injuries. No injuries were reported for HP.
In mid June we witnessed a turtle laying eggs in our garden. We anticipated they would hatch late August but we never saw any signs of a hatching. This past weekend I was digging in the garden to work leaves into the soil and encountered unhatched turtle eggs. We don’t know why they didn’t hatch. There were fully formed little turtles in a couple of them. Maybe some others hatched and we never saw them making their way to the pond. Maybe next year she will try again.
Tripp is now 20 weeks old and weighs 55 lbs. He was around 20 lbs when we picked him up the 1st week of August.
Kathryn has been keeping the dogs company in the back yard. She typically gets up at 0530 and watches the sun rise; other times she reads and the dogs hang out in the yard.
I probably spent more time tending to the garden this year than in any year past – largely due to the ‘work from home’ that was imposed. So I had time to saunter outdoors and check on the garden. I also get all my gardening equipment at Homegardenscare. This year I planted Spinach which did fairly well in early summer, but bolted with mid-summer’s heat. I tried re-planting twice – hoping for a late season crop, but one planting came up sparse and the other not at all. Drought could have been a factor. I tried Swiss Chard for the 1st time, and it produced all season long. Other than limited use for salad greens, the Swiss Chard wasn’t a big hit with the family.
I planted lots of broccoli; some as plants started in doors and a 2nd row just planted in the dirt. Both came on about the same time and are still producing mid-September. I tried Eggplant again and was rewarded with 3-4 eggplants. I also planted watermelon for the 1st time and mid-September we have about a half dozen watermelons; completely round and about the size of a soccer ball.
When we went to get seed potatoes from Agway this past spring, they were sold out of everything except Adirondack Blue potatoes. They have yielded large purple colored potatoes roughly the size of a sweet potato. I also made miscellaneous plantings of pumpkin, and acorn squash.
This year I started a number of Roma tomatoes indoors and we have been drowning in Romas. I also planted a Heritage cherry tomato, a Heritage (Seaman) tomato and Early Girl tomatoes. The Roma tomatoes are good for sauces and Kathryn canned 50 jars of tomatoes – proclaiming “we won’t get scurvy”.
In addition to the 50+ cans of tomatoes, she canned 26 jars of pears, 44 cans of peaches, and 18 jars of cherries. We picked and froze strawberries and blue berries.
Tripp weighed in at 44 lbs this week and is now slightly taller than Cullen. Kathryn started taking him on her long runs and he is doing fine.
Kathryn took a few pictures of Eric having pictures taken for his Senior Yearbook.
A considerable amount of time this week has been devoted to watch-dogging the puppy – now named Tripp. He knows his name, will come when called and is learning NO. He is not yet housebroken so we spend as much time as possible outside. Cullen has been great with him with only a few retaliatory actions.
We drove to Virginia to pick up Kathryn’s “yet-to-be-named” puppy. Friday we drove south to Gettysburg. Traffic around Harrisburg was horrendous and that, coupled with a down pour add another 90 minutes onto a 5 1/2 hour drive. We were determined to avoid that situation on our return. Saturday we drove 4 hours to Wake VA. We met with the breeder and observed the puppies parents and siblings. Since VA was a quarantine state we loaded up and drove back to Gettysburg. Sunday morning we were on the road at 4:30 am for the 5.5 hour return trip home. At this time Sunday morning roads were devoid of traffic and we had an uneventful trip home.
Mark Hay joined us at a local disc golf course for an evening of instruction, play and socializing. The weather couldn’t have been better as the evening cooled down. Kathryn has been taken by the sport of disc golf and has improved her technique and skills greatly. She is planning to participate in upcoming clinics and tournaments.
