1. Debbie and I had a few items that needed to go to the Post Office and I took them up and got them sent off. I was especially glad to send the defective EZ Pass transponder back to New York and, since I don't see us driving on toll roads any time soon, I included paperwork that will close our EZ Pass account.
I also stopped off at Yoke's to pick up some sour cream and a couple containers of kitty litter and checked in with the pharmacy to see if flu shots were drop in or if I needed an appointment. I guess you'd say I landed in between. They are doing flu shots on a drop in basis, but, because the pharmacy was a little backed up, the woman at the window took my name and phone number and I went home, only to return a short while later when the pharmacist called me and said I could get my flu shot right away.
For the time being, I think I'm done with vaccinations for a while, having been administered both a Covid booster and a flu shot this month.
2. Because Gibbs, without malice, barks at Luna and Copper, unnerving them, and because he will pluck turds out of their litter pans if he has access to the Vizio room or the basement, Luna now spends much of the day in the Vizio room with the door closed and Copper hangs out in the basement -- and we keep Gibbs from going down there. Some time during the day, and sometimes against his will, I carry Copper upstairs to the Vizio room where we can hang out together and once Debbie and Gibbs go upstairs to bed, Luna and Copper can roam around the main floor and they both sleep with me at night.
During the day, I often watch something on the Vizio so Luna will have company.
Today, I flipped on a 30 for 30 episode, Four Days in October. It chronicles the stunning comeback the Boston Red Sox made in the 2004 ALCS. Before 2004, no team had ever come from 0-3 games down and won four games in a row to win a playoff series.
Boston did it in 2004. They did it against their fiercest rival, the New York Yankees. They advanced to the World Series and by winning it, put an end to what's known as the Curse of the Bambino -- the Red Sox had not won a World Series since 1918 and, according to the Curse of the Bambino, the reason was because Boston sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920.
Watching this hour long documentary today, the number of wild things that happened as the Red Sox swept those four games came back to me.
David Ortiz delivered two game winning hits, one a home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to win Game 4 and, in Game 5, he delivered a run scoring single in the bottom of the 14th.
Curt Schilling had an injured ankle. He was treated for it in the Red Sox's training room and, in great pain, pitched a stellar seven innings in Game 6, a performance made more dramatic by how the procedure on his ankle bled. The blood on his sock was clearly visible and Game 6 became known as "The Bloody Sock" game.
Game 6 also featured one of the low points in Alex Rodriquez's baseball career. In the top of the 8th inning, Rodriquez hit a dribbler toward first base. Boston's pitcher, Bronson Arroyo pounced off the mound, fielded the ball, and with the ball in his glove reached out to tag Rodriquez out.
Unbelievably, A-Rod slapped the ball out of Arroyo's glove, a move that was both bush league and against the rules of baseball. The slapped ball trickled up the right field line. It appeared that Derek Jeter came all the way around from first to score and that Rodriquez picked up an extra base, advancing to second.
Finally, though, cooler heads prevailed, and despite A-Rod's protestations, claiming that he knocked the ball out of Arroyo's glove legally, that it was the natural motion of his arms that dislodged the ball, Rodriquez was called out and Jeter had to return to first base.
Replays clearly show that Rodriquez intentionally slapped the ball out of Arroyo's glove. The motion of his slap, by the way, was not very athletic, not at all flattering.
It's hilarious to look back at this play and watch A-Rod futilely argue his case and then petulantly pout about it.
The Red Sox won Game 6 and then buried the Yankees in Game 7. Ortiz homered with a runner on early in the game; Johnny Damon homered twice, the second a grand slam; the Red Sox vaulted to an early and wide margin in this game and were never really threatened and so completed their historic comeback over the course of four days in October.
3. Tonight Carol, Paul, Molly, Debbie, and I all went to Christy's house. Tonight, she hosted family dinner.
Christy centered our meal around stuffed peppers. She made green peppers stuffed with hamburger and rice and other items and Debbie baked a batch of vegetarian orange peppers stuffed with black beans, rice, and other items. Carol made a superb apple, cranberry, and almond coleslaw and, before dinner, we enjoyed tonight's very tasty cocktail, a lemon meringue sangria that Christy mixed. In addition, we loved the appetizer Molly prepared, a most flavorful olive tapenade served with naan. Christy also served fresh and crisp stuffed celery sticks.
We had a lot of fun yakking, telling stories, and getting caught up on recent family and community news.
At Christmastime, Carol had given each of us narrow shot glass with one of Everett's famous sayings inscribed on it.
Tonight, we all brought our Everett glasses and raised a toast to his memory, one of our many family dinner's sweetest and most touching moments. Here's the picture Carol snapped of us toasting Everett's well-lived life:
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