A Noisy Sunday Morning

Thankfully, the two neighbors on either side say they didn't hear anything - but I opened the back door for Lola and Cooper to relieve themselves before breakfast without looking outside.  Even if I had looked, I wouldn't have seen the culprits that set Cooper off, circling the second deck, to my right, and barking like an idiot - at 6:30 in the morning.  I had already fed Rosie and chased a raccoon from her back yard before going over to Tamarack.  Then Cooper started acting the fool, wouldn't quiet down, or calm down, either.  Lola was prancing around the second deck, but, luckily, stayed silent.  I walked over to the second deck, and didn't see anything.  There was nothing in the pine tree at the corner, where both dogs kept circling.  Then I stepped up on the deck, and glanced up at the wire netting that holds the grape arbor - first, I saw several almost ripe clusters of grapes, then I saw a large raccoon flattened out on the top of the wire, with it's eyes closed.  I got both dogs back inside and went to peek out the window - there were three young raccoons  lying flat on top of the wire further to the right than their mother  They all opened their eyes and looked at me, and then squeezed them shut again - seemingly, if they couldn't see me, then I couldn't see them.  So I took the kids out for a walk, and double-checked the back yard when we returned.  No raccoons.  So I could open the deck door without qualms, and allow both cats and dogs outside.
  Most of the collegiate teams I like won their openers yesterday, while the CU Buffaloes and the CSU Rams face off today in Denver, for their opening game of the season.  Somehow, since Tim Tebow was released from the Patriots yesterday afternoon, I just can't get my mind interested in football any more.  Since I graduated from UF, I will root for the Gators; since Steve Spurrier coaches South Carolina, I'll cheer for the Gamecocks.  But, suddenly, pro football seems like a waste of time.  I have been a fan of Champ Bailey's since he was a Georgia Bulldog (what a horrifying admission from a Gator fan!), but he's the last guy left on the Broncos that I really like.  I'll watch the Broncos - Ravens game Thursday night - but it will be to see (maybe) Champ Bailey, and for Elvis Dumervil on the Ravens.  If Percy Harvin were playing, I'd be rooting for his team, and the same goes for Tebow.  But most of the players that I really like have disappeared.  So why get all hot and bothered?
 

Fun - And the Gators

I had a great time this morning, first walking Rosie out in the cool, grey light before the sun rose, and then walking Cooper and Lola, and watching Cooper go into the "hunt" mode...  Tipsy and Pounce were very loving this morning, and all of us had a blast watering the plants, with the dogs playing duck and run from the water - and the cats trying to catch the dogs as they ran by...  It was a total circus, and i had to remember not to laugh too loudly - because it wasn't 7:30 yet, and I didn't want to disgruntle the neighbors on a Saturday morning.  We're supposed to be much cooler today, but with a higher than usual humidity - so I'm not really looking forward to the afternoon hours.
  I'm trying to remember how long ago, and who the Athletic Director and Head Coach was, when it was decided that the University of Florida Gators needed to play a non-SEC, much weaker team to begin their football season.  I suppose that when I was a child and teenager, the Gators played fewer games per season, but I know that we played the University of Miami, Florida State and Florida A & M - they were considered in-state rivals.  Since I was a student at UF, it seems that the Gators start off the season playing a much smaller, less-competitive school just to have an easy first game win.  To me, that is not sporting. That is like having me (age 57, with COPD, a bad back, bad hips and knees, bad ankles and feet) race against Usain Bolt - unless he drops dead in the middle of the race (which I do NOT wish upon him), there's no way I would win.  I easily remember playing LSU, Auburn and Alabama for Homecoming...  But then, college football wan't the big business then that it is now, either.  Oh, well.   I'm not yet 60, and I miss "the old days" in sports.  That's kinda sad.
  Speaking of which, the Gators will kick off the season in about an hour - and who are they facing?  The University of Toledo Rockets - the school was begun in 1871 in Ohio, and - this is amazing in this day and age - the UT regents have not raised tuition costs in two years.  That's almost enough to get me to root for them, in and of itself.  Of course I want the Gators to win, but I wish we were playing another SEC team, or a team that can be a contender in this game, today.
 -   Oh, and, just as an aside, former Gator Timmy Tebow was not caught in yesterday's first cut from the New England Patriots.  Right now, it's just "wait and see"...