Football & Baseball

We went to Cassie & Jack's house for a chili dinner today.  Tom & Darlene drove up from their home in the Annapolis area to see us one more time before we leave for the winter.  The last time they came up they went home in a terrible rainstorm, but lucked out this time.  It was great visiting with them since we don't get together that often since they are so far away.

Gerry made up a batch of mild chili and Cassie made a batch of hot stuff.  I can't handle the hot chile so we worked out a great compromise.  When we mixed the two chili's in a bowl we had three varieties.  I don't know about the other two, but my mild chili was great and I had two bowls of it.  Great food for a fall day.

This wasn't a good weekend for the sports teams I follow.  First off, my old high school has been having a good year and doing pretty well for them.  They played the best team in their conference and lost on Friday night, 21-7.   Then the Univ of MD scored 45 points on Saturday and lost 56-45.  That sound more like a basketball score.  Finally on Sunday the Redskins stunk up the place for the first half and then played decently in the 2nd half and wound up losing 20-13 to the Eagles.

The only bright spot was that the St. Louis Cardinal baseball team beat the Brewers and will move on to play the Texas Rangers in the World Series.  The Cards aren't my team, but since I grew up listening to them on the radio, I root for them whenever the Pirates aren't playing them.  So, it looks like west of the Mississippi river teams will be playing for the title.   At least the Yankees aren't in it and for me that is good thing.

I like to watch the football games but today I could have skipped them since it was so nice outside.  It was cool and very windy, but the sun was shining and fall is definitely in the air.  Getting to be late fall very fast.

We topped off the night by stopping by Rutters for some of their delicious coffee.  We are getting to be regulars at that place.  They have a rewards card available and we will get one for next year since we stop so often.  Maybe we should get one for the year and at least take advantage of it for the remaining time we are here.

Labor Day & Hospitals

We had a nice Labor Day weekend with Tom & Darlene joining us for a cookout on Sunday.  They live in Annapolis, MD and made the long 2 hour drive up to the cabin for my great hamburgers.  Some people are easy to please.  They stayed until almost 1130pm and made the long drive back in the rain and bad weather.  

Last night we drove to Cassie's in-laws in Mt. Airy, MD to spend the night with them since we were taking Cassie to the Univ of MD Medical Center for a procedure.  Mt. Airy is about 35 miles from the hospital and saved us an hour driving time in the morning.  We got up at 430am in order to make the drive to the hospital.  The doctor just came out and said she was finished with the procedure and all is well.  Now the fun starts for Cassie with the pain medicine and such.

The pictures below and to the left are of the Emerson Bromo Seltzer tower in downtown Baltimore.  The waiting room at the hospital overlooks the tower.  If you look closely you can see Bromo Seltzer written around the clock numbers. 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower

The Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower was erected in 1911 at the corner of Eutaw and Lombard Streets in Baltimore, Maryland. It was designed by Joseph Evans Sperry and was constructed by Bromo-Seltzer inventor "Captain" Isaac E. Emerson. It was the tallest building in Baltimore from 1911 until 1923. The design of the tower along with the original factory building at its base was inspired by the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, which was seen by Emerson during a tour of Europe in 1900. Systems engineering for the building's original design was completed by Henry Adams. The factory was demolished in 1969 and replaced with a firehouse.

The building's most distinctive feature are the four clock faces adorning the tower's 15th floor on the North, South, East and West sides. Installed by the Seth Thomas Clock Company at an original cost of $3,965 US, they are made of translucent white glass and feature the letters B-R-O-M-O S-E-L-T-Z-E-R, with the Roman numerals being less prominent. The dials, which are illuminated at night with mercury-vapor lamps, are 24 feet (7.3 metres) in diameter, and the minute and hour hands approximately 12 and 10 feet (3.7 and 3.0 metres) in length respectively. Originally driven by weights, the moving parts are now electrically powered
From street-level to rooftop, the tower stands 288.7 feet (88.0 metres) high and was originally adorned with a 51 foot (15.5 metre) tall Bromo-Seltzer bottle,^] glowing blue and rotating. Weighing 20 tons (18.1 tonnes), it was lined with 314 incandescent light bulbs and topped with a crown. The bottle was removed in 1936 because of structural concerns.
The tower was virtually abandoned in 2002, but in early 2007 the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts began renovations to transform the building into 33 artists' studios. The Baltimore Fire Department's John F. Steadman Fire Station, which opened in 1973 and is situated at the tower's base, houses BCFD Hazmat 1, Airflex 1, Medic1, Medic 23, MAC23, Engine 23, Rescue 1, and formerly Truck 2.

I hope we can stay awake for the 1 1/2 hour drive back to their home.  To say we are sleepy is an understatement.  At least we didn't have to contend with the Indy Car road race held this past weekend in Baltimore.  They say the traffic was terrible around the race area.  We got here in the dark this morning so we didn't see any evidence of the race.  I wonder who won?   

Note: Reader Al said that Will Power won the race in Baltimore.  Now the question is:  Who is Will Power???  
William Steven Power (born 1 March 1981 in Toowoomba, Queensland) is an Australian motorsport driver, who currently competes in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Power