Baseball @ MindSay 
mlb
The Brewers looked good today. Yes, it is awesome. The pitcher, C.C. Sabathia, also hit a home-run, which you don't see too often. I was impressed.
Other than watching baseball, I talked to my adult "kids" on the phone, watched a "30 Minutes" episode from my DVR, and hung out at home all day. Did some yardwork too. And some writing.......
It felt a little strange to arrive at the guard-house at noon, rather than the four PM I was used to. The sun was high, there were still a lot of people working in the buildings, and a lot of traffic going past the gate. Dale and Rich were glad to be relieved by us and were soon on their way.
There would need to be six patrols during the twelve hour shift, so both Peter and I would each have to do three. That wasn’t so bad, I thought, and hopefully the time would go fast.
I’d been “working security” for years. In my experience when you had a new partner, there was a lot to talk about, in getting to know each other, and the time seemed to pass quickly. With someone you knew well and spent a lot of time with, you sometimes ran out of things to talk about, and even though you were comfortable together, the time just dragged on-and-on.
Looking Peter over secretly, as he prepared to start the shift, I tried to make some conclusions in the better light. Still, I wasn’t sure of his age or whether or not he was an experienced officer.
I did the first patrol while Peter began a daily report for us, checked the e-mails and reviewed the pass-on information. Although it felt odd to do a patrol on that site with people still working in all areas of the buildings, it was nice, too. I stopped to talk to the plant nurse (a male named Rob), saw a few people I knew from when I’d still been attending church, and a neighbor. The forge area was operating, and was fascinating to watch at work for a few minutes. In the plating zone, I saw, for the first time, tools being pulled through the nickel plating process.
I came back to the guard house energized and in a great mood.
“I’ve never seen the plant in operation like this,” I reported to Peter, “Usually when I get here at four, even if they have worked a Saturday shift, they are finished when I get here. It’s just awesome.”
“Yes,” he said rather formally, “It’s a fascinating process, how they turn those dull metal rods into shiny, strong, tools.”
We were still awkward around each other, that was clear.
He had a deep voice, and spoke with long vowel sounds.
Again, I looked over the schedule, seeing that Peter had been working a lot--working his own scheduled hours, and also filling in for others.
“How do you like it here?” I asked.
“Here at the tool plant?” he asked.
Well, of course! I almost said.
“Yeah,” I answered instead, “Working security here at the tool plant.”
“It is interesting and I am learning a lot. It’s well…”
It was well?
“Is this your first security assignment?”
“No. I have experience in security work.”
He spoke in the most formal manner, and as if he sometimes searched for words.
“From where?”
“Northern Wisconsin.”
“I see.”
Peter smiled and our eyes met.
“Others say,” he reported, “That you work at another assignment as well as this one.”
“That’s true. I am the site supervisor at a community college.”
“You work seven days a week?”
“Yes, I do.”
He shook his head, just a little.
“Summer is for enjoyment, and not just for work. You must have your important reasons.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you like it here?”
“It’s interesting, as you said, and for me it is time-and-a-half all weekend long. That helps me a lot. And justifies the sacrifice of my personal time. I like my co-workers here very much.”
Of course, I wasn’t going to tell him the real reason I worked a lot.
“Time-and-a-half?”
How could he not know what that meant?
“Yes. I get my regular wage, plus another half of it, every hour, because I am working over forty hours.”
“Oh, yes, I understand.”
What was with this guy, anyway?
“You have worked over forty hours yourself this week from the looks of the schedule, so you will get time-and-a-half too.”
Oh. Wonderful.”
Peter looked down and picked some lint off of his pants. He hadn’t asked me to tell him anything about myself. Usually new partners asked you about your marital situation, your children, years of experience and so forth, and you hopefully discovered the same about them. This was the normal process of getting to know each other and making conversation.
Cars began to whiz past the gate. It looked like everyone who’d been working in the plant was leaving. For a little while, we watched, and waved back as people waved to us on their way out. The plant emptied in a surprisingly short time, and after only about ten minutes, nearly all the cars were off the property.
“We have a lot of time to pass today. Do you like to hear stories?” he asked me out-of-the-blue.
“Sure.”
“I come from people who love storytelling.”
“Which people are those?”
Oh, finally I was about to learn something about him!
“I come from the Ojibwe people.”
Weird. He did not say he was an Ojibwe. He said he came from the Ojibwe people. I noted this oddity in my mind and listened. And he didn’t look like an American Indian either.
“Are you familiar,” he asked, “With the Ojibwe?”
Peter sat back in his chair and crossed his legs, searching my face.
“A North American tribe of Indians, right? Maybe even from Wisconsin.”
“Yes, the northern Great Lakes region and even northern Wisconsin.”
I wasn’t quite sure, for some reason, if Peter was saying he had just come from living amongst the Ojibwe, or if he was implying that he was an Ojibwe. I was a little confused. I couldn’t tell by his appearance, nor by what he was saying. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask more questions, but instead I sat back, too, and tried to just relax. Apparently a story was coming my way and that was nice.
The rosters for this year's all-star game were announced on Sunday, and the Chicago Cubs will have a strong showing at the mid-summer classic.
Catcher Geovany Soto and outfielders Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano will all start in the game, and third baseman Aramis Ramirez and pitchers Ryan Dempster, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano were also named to the team.
I have been slacking lately on updating my blog. Sorry. It tends to run in waves. Here are a few updates for you all.
To begin, Happy 1st Birthday to Lewie!!!!. His actual birthday was March 21, I didn't post this then, because he and his big brother were going to have a party this Saturday. I figured I could give them both a special birthday message and maybe a couple new photos. However, the whole family is laid low with illness, so the party may be off. We'll see. At any rate, I wanted to wish him happy, and if the party goes as planned, we'll just do it all again.
Related: Happy upcoming Birthday to Lewie's big brother, Clayton. Clay will be four on April 5. Here is a recent picture mom, Mindy sent out. Not sure why they're both making faces, must be the curse (or blessing) of little boys.
Obviously, the big one is Clay and the little guy is Lew. Man, they are the cutest little guys!
In other news, Happy Belated Easter to you all! I meant to post on Easter, but was far too busy enjoying my second consecutive day off (that doesn't happen much in my world). I had big plans to treat you all to a nice history of Easter, why it is on a Sunday, why it moves around (the date) and all that, but I didn't complete my research and now....well, who cares? You'll just have to wait in breathless anticipation of next year's story. Or look it up on your own.
And finally, my favorite season is on its way, Baseball! I am a bit leery of my beloved Twins this season, they have made some pretty big changes, see here, for one of the biggest. Still, I love them and baseball, so I am truly thrilled that the season is about to get underway. We do have the return of Francisco Liriano to look forward to, along with a very young lineup. Cross your fingers. This Sunday night, I will be attending my fantasy baseball draft (my second season!) at Brine's in Stillwater. I am looking forward to another strong season, this time hopefully with a strong finish as well. (Last year, Chase Utley, affectionately called The Machine, carried the team until his injury cost us the playoffs. Oh well, I still love you Chase!)
So, look forward to many updates on the season, both in reality and in fantasy. Until then.....
you are my little Joe Girardi (with your helmet on and from the side, I'd say you're the son of JEG). You are going to do big things. You proved that tonight.
I soooooooooooooooooooo get to wear my Cano shirt tomorrow to work :)
<3
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