Eric had a bout of sleepwalking the night before last….Kathryn came out and lots of lights were on (including the mud room closet…odd) and when she went was upstairs he was in the rec room buttoning his shirt and tying his shoes. When she asked what he was doing and he said “I don’t feel well…..” We took him down for warm milk and I think that is when he woke up. We had some warm milk and talked a bit. The next day he didn’t remember getting up at all.
Eric tried out for the 7th grade basketball team along with 30 other boys. Coach Scott Parsons kept 14 boys and created two 7 man teams for their competitions. Dylan, Shane and Dennis form the core of the ‘A’ team with Luke, Michael and Eric the core of the ‘B’ team. After upsetting Frankfort, they beat Sherburne badly. Sherburne led in Q1, but had a disabled point guard and their B team was unable to score while HP ran up the score for the remaining three quarters.
Snow conditions forced re-scheduling of Tuesday’s game vs Canastota. Thursday night the Utica Academy of Science brought a good 8th grade team. UCS had a very good point guard on their A team while their B team featured an extremely tall center (#12) and a good forward (#15). HPMS eked out a close win to push their record to 3-0.
Our weekend was filled with basketball and car repair issues. The 7th grade team had their 1st game on Friday after school and pulled off a stunning upset. Frankfort has beaten HP every game for the last 3-4 years. In fact, they have rarely lost to anybody. They have a different philosophy, usually only putting 8 kids on a team so they have no “A” team and “B” team where all the other schools usually take more kids and have a “B” team. This is the same group who, this past summer, did a 5 minute time killing 3 man weave (there was no shot clock at that level) to ensure a victory. Anyway, so you get there is some history, getting the win very sweet. Saturday’s game was against Sherbourne and we soundly defeated them, even though at the end our coach had the boys dial it back, don’t pressure the ball etc. So it’s been a good start to the season and we shall see how long it continues. Eric is also playing in an AAU team out of Rome, so they had their first practice Sunday. It will be good for him to play with other guys and get different coaching.
Eric got to ski some on Saturday. There may not be much more skiing until we get more snow. Saturday night Jim and I went out to eat with Helmers and to a concert at the Nelson Odeon featuring Dirty Bourbon River Band. The music was different – described as Dixie Land gypsy folk – very up tempo and bouncy but kind of raw. It was good but we were tired and Eric was home alone so we didn’t stay for the second set.
Skip came over for dinner last night to plan canoe trips and to watch the SU game. He is scheduled to have his knee replaced. He says he can’t do anything, and is putting weight back on. He says he will probably try to go to rehab after surgery rather than come right home. Kathryn is house-bound, as we continue to have major car troubles with both cars are in the shop. The Subaru dashboard light problem may be related to the transmission (as the lights would come on when going uphill over 50MPH). The Volvo has been at Ballister’s for close to a month as we debated the parts and method for replacing the gas filler tube. Being a 1991 Volvo, getting parts (in this case the pipe that goes into the gas tank) and then having someone figure out how to get them in, is an issue. But with some outside consultation, they got it done. Then yesterday, on his way home from basketball he finds he has no liquid in his radiator. Hopefully that is patched up now, but a major repair and/or new car is likely in our future.
Saturday Eric organized a pickup basketball game at Trenton Town Park. The weekend after Thanksgiving Eric, Trevor and I went to Trenton Town Park on Saturday and Eric & I returned again on Sunday. Both times we mentioned how lucky we were to get another chance to play outdoors with temperatures around 50 degrees. This past Saturday Eric recruited Trevor, Jon, Dylan and Shane. They were joined by Tom and Morgan for full court games playing from 1 – 2:30pm.
Eric hosted a capture the flag party which started off with a little touch football while attendees arrived.
Teams were selected with Eric, Luke and Jack on one team and Jon, Jack, Noah and Michael on the other.
After an hour or so I fed them snacks and they went out for a 2nd session. Good weather and good times. One flag is still missing…..
We received copies of Eric’s school picture. He wore his t-shirt and took a collared shirt for the picture.
We received Eric’s progress report. After weeks of independence on handling his homework, we were relieved to see his good graves.
Modified soccer season came to a close. The modified team had 16 players, 12 from the 7th grade and 4 8th graders. Eric primarily played Striker. The team struggled as many of their games pitted 7th graders versus teams with 7 – 9th graders as their opponents schools had no JV teams, therefore the 9th graders that didn’t make the varsity played on the modified team. Despite the size difference HP won 3 games and were competitive in all but one game. Scoring was an issue.
Friday we picked Eric up from school and went to see The Martian movie. We told Eric that as soon as he finished the book we would take him to the movie. On the way home we stopped off at Dick’s and bought new basketball sneakers. On Saturday Kathryn, Eric, Stone and Trevor went to a Zombie Run in Mohawk and were the only participants.
Eric was invited to a Halloween Party hosted by Olivia and Amber and went trick or treating in Barneveld with others from the party.
On Sunday we moved our deck furniture to the barn for storage. Sunday evening he got to attend Shane’s birthday party.
We couldn’t have asked for better weather this weekend. Eric’s soccer game Friday was versus Frankfort – a team that they lost to on Monday. This time they won 2-1 and controlled the game flow. Afterwards Eric went to the middle school dance while we played pitch with friends Steve/Linda and Bonnie/Cindy. Saturday I completed my defensive driving class. Every three years for the insurance discount. But it was a crime to sit inside on such a nice day. Kathryn canned pears and made applesauce for the winter. We cut another cord of firewood for next year as we opened up our trail in back of Kincaids so that my tractor and brush hog will fit through. I climbed up on our roof and cleaned our wood stove chimney. Our chimney was quite clean. Eric has soccer games on Monday and Tuesday. Kathryn and I watched the full lunar eclipse before crashing for the night.
In their 2nd game in a row HP Modified Soccer team faced a big (20 player) and experienced Remsen team. Once again playing against a team comprised of 7-9th graders, HPMS was challenged to control the ball. The team didn’t space as well as their opening game, seemed flat to start and did a lot of kicking versus passing of the ball. Remsen was not only big, but also as fast as HPMS. They lost 4-1 but played better the last 10 minutes of the game.
Wednesday night HPMS traveled to Canastota (another 7-9th grade team). Canastota had 14 players with a couple of good players, but also some holes; they were not able to match HPMS’s speed across all positions. HPMS won 5-2 with goals by Luke, Eric and Jack; in all 7 players took shots on goal. Below HPMS listens to Coach Parson’s prior to the game.
Eric participated in the Middle School track meet by running the 300 meter race. He ran 5th for much of the race and put on a kick to capture 3rd place in his heat of 8 contestants.
