1. Now I know why I can't find Copper when he goes outside. He loves it outside. In fact, I think he might prefer to be an outdoor cat. This morning he went out the door. No problem. Having found him a couple of days ago near Terry Douglas's porch, I strolled the two doors down that way later in the day and, sure enough, Copper was was sitting in a rock garden area right up against Terry's front porch/patio. I approached Copper and he suddenly disappeared. Some time this summer he learned that he can very easily hop through an opening and hide under Terry's porch. As I walked back home, next door neighbor Jane told me that Copper sometimes hides out in her garage. Now I knew a little more about Copper's wanderings. She also told me that Terry is out of town. Later in the day, I returned to check on Copper at Terry's again and, once again, he hopped under Terry's porch.
On the one hand, I'm relieved that I know where Copper hangs out when I can't find him outside. On the other hand, I have no idea what Terry Douglas thinks about this. I'll talk to him when he returns home. I also don't know how hungry Copper gets when he's away from our house for stretches of time without eating. I'm hoping the colder weather and his hunger will move him to return to our house.
I'll be keeping a vigilant eye and ear out for him.
2. I love watching masterful pitching performances in the major leagues and today Atlanta's Max Fried dominated the Milwaukee Brewers over six innings, striking out nine, not surrendering any walks, and making the Brewers hitters look helpless with his command of a combination of fastballs, changeups, and spinners. I'll admit, I found myself wishing I could turn the calendar back to the days, not that long ago, when starting pitchers dominating another team like Fried was doing stayed in the game, finished what they started. My guess is that Fried, too, would have loved to do this. But, it's not the way things are done in contemporary baseball and Atlanta manager Brian Snitker lifted Fried in the top of the 7th for a pinch hitter -- Fried had only thrown 81 pitches -- 58 of them for strikes -- and relievers Luke Jackson, Tyler Matzek, and Will Smith shut out the Brewers the rest of the way and with its 3-0 win, Atlanta tied this series a game a piece.
Out in San Francisco, the Dodgers' astonishing lefty Julio Urias also twirled a gem, just giving up one run to the Giants over five innings and, like Fried, managed to keep the Giants off balance and struggling for most of his time on the hill. The Dodgers aided Urias with some stellar defensive plays. A parade of relievers sealed Urias' win, but, to me, the bigger story for the Dodgers was how their slumbering timber awoke. Logan Webb shut out the Dodgers on Friday, but today the Dodgers slammed balls all over the park. The slumping Cory Bellinger hit a loud two run double; A. J. Pollock's bat came to life as he also doubled and looked more sound of legs as dashed to second on that hit; Will Smith his a laser to left that crashed into the stands for a home run; in short, in defeating the Giants 9-2, the Dodgers looked dangerous at the plate and if their offensive prowess carries over to the two games, starting Monday, at Dodger Stadium, they will be very tough to beat.
3. After the Dodger/Giants game ended, Debbie and I sat up until past midnight talking about life in Kellogg, something Debbie could talk about and tell stories about since she's back now and had a hot time on the old town Friday night. I didn't have any real news about life in Kellogg -- I don't go out much these days -- but I do know a little bit of Kellogg history and could fill in some gaps about who's related to whom and tell a few stories about things that have happened with different people over the years.
It was a good spirited session of yakking, made even more pleasant by the way Luna and Gibbs were each in the living room, not that far apart from each other. For the most part, they were quiet, peaceful, and accepting of one another.
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