And the Rocket's Red Glare...

1st Inning.

Highlights of the Brew Crew...Granny Brewer.  "Is she dead?" my 3 year old daughter, Lulu, asked me as she sat on my lap at the funeral service for my Granny Brewer.  We listened to the pastor give his speech on life and death as the body of my Granny lay in the open casket in front of him.  As we sat in the pew at the Blue Mountain Baptist Church in north Arkansas, I told her, "Yes".  She then asked, "Who killed her?" to which I responded, "No one. Jesus wanted her to go to Heaven." Lulu then whispered in my ear, "Is she alone in Heaven?". I told her she was not alone. She went to be with my Papa Brewer.

Seeing my Granny for the last time laying quietly in the casket brought on so many memories. The dress my little Lulu was wearing that day was made by my Granny for my sister when she was that age. The last time I was in that church was with my Granny around 17 years ago.  The feeling of sadness was with me but the overwhelming feeling of happiness (for her) dominated me as she was no longer suffering from the Alzheimer's that had taken her from us close to a decade ago.  There have been many days and nights where I wished that my kids could know my Granny and Papa Brewer like did growing up and that they could have similar experiences with them.  That is what makes me sad.  Well, with all that said I have listed a few of those memories and experiences below that made a mark on me and ones that I will never forget.

• Waiting for her to get home from working at the shirt factory. When my sister and me would get the chance to go visit it usually involved getting a ride from my Great Aunt (Granny's sister) and Great Uncle who live in the KC area.  We would leave on a Friday after school and get there at night but my Granny worked the evening shift and would not get home until early in the morning.  Sometimes we would wait up with my Papa on the front porch.  Sometimes there would be a cardboard box on the front porch and me and my sister would hide in it and jump out when Granny stepped up on the porch.  Nothing like scaring your Granny at 1am...
• Those delicious breakfasts!  Granny could cook and she would always make a great breakfast which usually consisted of biscuits and gravy, sausage patties, scrambled eggs, and orange juice. On too many mornings after eating that breakfast I would just go back to sleep and wake up close to noon. Now every time I smell sausage cooking in my house it reminds me of her and those breakfasts.
  
• Quilt making machine. Granny could sew just about anything and something that I felt was a specialty of hers was making quilts.  I have several from her and ones that I believe her mom, my Granny Elsie, made many, many, many years ago.  But I still have one, the last one she made for me, that she crafted due to my new found interest in deer hunting.  It is covered with pictures of a deer and is one that goes with me to the hunting camp or in an RV trip and is always a go-to for lounging on the couch.
• Everything else.  A montage of memories flies by in my head and I think of things like her swinging on the porch swing while us kids played in the yard; riding in the back of my Uncle Dwight's truck with coolers full of food and Pepsi and Mountain Dew as we headed to Long Creek to go swimming for the day; her dragging me to church and me digging through her purse for a butterscotch candy; sitting in the back room watching tv and her getting onto my Papa for bringing baby animals in for us to play with; helping her snap beans on the front porch; and lastly, the hugs when we arrived for our visits and when we left. 
  

2nd Inning.

Articles of the Week...

• The Badass Blackbird..."With a sleek needle nose and a swept double-delta wing with two prominent nacelles, the supersonic SR-1 Blackbird spy plane is the stuff aviation legend. Although the SR-1 first flew in late December of 1964 and hasn't been in service for almost 25 years, it's still the fastest plane that's ever seen action."  The coolest, baddest, fastest plane to ever fly...well, until they reveal 'Aurora'.  Also, it was a Transformer...wish they would have had it as a toy when I was a kid.
• Prepare for Warp Speed..."'Star Trek' introduced the world outside of rocket science circles to the concept of warp drive – the propulsion system that allowed the starship Enterprise to travel faster than the speed of light. Warp speed is the holy grail that would let us explore the universe safely surrounded and protected by a space-distorting warp field. After watching the SpaceX rocket recently just try to land on a platform, you’d think this ability is years if not decades away. Yet the buzz on space websites is that NASA may have accidentally discovered a way to create a warp field. Wait, what?"  I hope to see space travel beyond our solar system in my lifetime and I hope this is the start of serious technology to get us going.
• I am Batman!..."Jackson Gordon is no ordinary 21-year-old. By day he is an industrial design student at Philadelphia University, but Gordon has another side to him -- a side altogether darker, tougher and more enigmatic. Hanging in his workshop Gordon has a full suit of armor plating, cape and cowl -- matte black and built to stop a knife. Gordon has an alter ego: the Dark Knight himself, Batman."  Who wouldn't like to build their own Batman suit of armor?  Maybe only the Joker...
  
• Haunted Missouri..."Missouri's hauntings reach back centuries to the Native Americans of the region, who had traditions for keeping the dead from returning to this world. Today there are dozens of haunted spots in the Show-Me State. Many of the sites are open to the public (such as the Lemp Mansion) or can be visited during special events."  Speaking of old, creepy places...how about a list of the 10 most haunted places in Missouri?
• 1985 is Alive..."It’s been 29 long years. It was the year of “Back to the Future.” Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” hit No. 1. “MacGyver” first debuted on television. And during that magical season, the 1985 Kansas City Royals, led by Hall-of-Famer George Brett, battled their way into the playoffs against the Toronto Blue Jays."  A great 'Where are they now?' piece on the Royals from that 1985 World Championship team.
  
• McAbandonment..."The three saddest words in the English language may be "abandoned McDonald's barge."Yes, floating McDonald's restaurants were once a thing. There used to be one near the Archway in St. Louis, in fact. This one comes from British Colombia, just north of the U.S.-Canadian border. It is now completely abandoned and floating in Burrard Inlet near Vancouver."  Creepy, old, abandoned places are neat to me.  I try to visit places like this as much as possible and would love the chance to check this place out.
• Rosie the Robot Riveter..."Cheaper, better robots will replace human workers in the world’s factories at a faster pace over the next decade, pushing labor costs down 16 percent, a report today said." You want $15/hour to flip burgers? You need to get back to school and learn a trade or get a degree in a field that is needed say in robotics? 
  
• Baseball and Crime, South of the Border..."Tucked away among the tilled plots and scrubby pastures of this rural town, the Seattle Mariners’ baseball academy is mostly abandoned. The weight room has been cleared of machines. The numbered locker-room stalls are bare." I believe baseball is the true international sport (not soccer) and I like the idea of these academies in other countries.  It makes me sad as a baseball fan to see them left abandoned.
• Love, Charity, Esteem..."You couldn’t put a label on my Teke chapter because we didn’t fit nicely under any one description. We had varsity and intramural athletes, ROTC cadets, scholars in various majors, musicians, artists, comedians (lots of those), and members with many other talents and gifts."  A 'successful organization' piece from one of my TKE fraternity brothers from the Beta Psi Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon. 
  

3rd Inning.

Sports...Pete Rose.  As I sat in my living room the other night watching my hometown team, the Kansas City Royals, I was appalled to see second baseman, Omar Infante, lollygagging on his way to first base after a passed 3rd strike where he was eventually thrown out and killed a possible big inning.  There was a time when ballplayers actually hustled while playing.  George Brett was one, Reggie Jackson was one, and Cal Ripken was one.  But the king of hustle was ole 'Charlie Hustle', Pete Rose.  Regardless of his betting troubles, no one can deny his aggressiveness on the field.

Rose started his career in 1963 with the Cincinnati Reds and played there until going to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1979 where he played until 1984.  He split the 1984 season starting on the Montreal Expos before later in the season returning to the Reds where he finished his career.  As a player he is best known for his hustle on the field and becoming the all-time hits king upon surpassing Ty Cobb (4,189) and finishing his career with 4,256.

FoxSports.com recently published an article that can be found here and listed 7 of his greatest moments. I will list 3 from that list below.

• Every headfirst slide.  As a kid playing baseball you would always pretend to be a major leaguer. If you were hitting you might choose Darryl Strawberry; fielding you might choose Frank White; and if you were sliding you went headfirst and you were Pete Rose.

• 1970 All-Star Game. During my lifetime I have seen the annual Major League Baseball All-Star game go from meaning something to a tie to back to meaning something.  The level of play over that period started to resemble the NFL's Pro-Bowl which has fell from being a real game decades ago to basically a backyard-bbq pick up game.  But there was a time, before player free agency, when guys spent their entire careers with one team or at least with one league and there was actually a rivalry and the All-Star Game meant bragging rights between the National League and American League.  One such example of going all out to win the game is Rose's game ending performance in the 1970 game.

• All-Time Hit King.  Like the consecutive games record that would come later, the All-time Hits record had gone 50 years before Rose surpassed Ty Cobb.  The moment was fitting as he accomplished it wearing the old red and white Reds uniform.  It will be nice to see him at this year's All-Star Game hosted by the Cincinnati Reds.

4th Inning.

American History...Flag Day, June 14th.  As we approach June 14th, some may or may not have noticed the day on your calendars but it is officially 'National Flag Day'. Per NationalFlagDay.com, "On June 14th, 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand, a 19 year old teacher at Stony Hill School, placed a 10 inch, 38- star flag in a bottle on his desk then assigned essays on the flag and its significance. This observance, commemorated Congresses adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777. This observance was also the beginning of Cigrand’s long years of fervent and devoted effort to bring about national recognition and observance of Flag Day. The crowning achievement of his life came at age fifty when President Wilson, on May 30, 1916, issued a proclamation calling for a nation wide observance of Flag Day. Then in 1949, President Truman signed an Act Of Congress designating the 14th day of June every year as National Flag Day. On June 14th, 2004, the 108th U.S. Congress voted unanimously on H.R. 662 that Flag Day originated in Ozaukee County, Waubeka Wisconsin."  So, this June 14th make sure you take a moment to fly that flag and fly it proudly.  Replace your old one if it has become ragged or faded and if you feel like being crafty you can get with your kids and make your own rotating pvc pipe flag pole.  Instructions are below.  Enjoy!
   

5th Inning.

Firearms Corner...How is ammo made? With the plethora of new gun owners everyday in the United States, there is bound to be questions, not only about firearms, but also about ammunition.  I have had plenty as I pick the brain of my uncle who is a 're-loader'.  Combine the newbies' questions along with the ever fear of government bans on firearms and you have what we have had over the past several years with the hoarding and unavailability of ammo.  Well, consider this an educational inning on how ammo is made presented by NRA and showcasing Hornday ammo. Now if only they could wave a magic wand and produce .22LR in mass quantities again so the hoarders can quit posting it for sale online at gouge prices. Video is below. Enjoy!

6th Inning.

Random Facts (after working from home for the past 4 years and now starting a new job in an actual office)...I have to wear pants now during my work day...Shaving is required more than once a year...No more interpretive dancing and singing to Meatloaf at the highest volumes my computer speakers will allow... Afternoon snacks of root beer floats are hard to come by at my new place of employment...The sound of mysterious voices and sounds I would hear while working in my basement office have been replaced by live human voices and sounds from my new office...You have to hold in a lot more farts...Showering is no longer a lunchtime activity...Now, if I have a heart attack I will be treated immediately rather than found dead several hours later... No more conference calls from the bathroom...

7th Inning.

Have you seen it?... Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon.  There are many movies from our youth that slip through the cracks and don't always become the 'Big Hit' but stick with you as a personal favorite.  An example of one of those and a favorite of mine is 'Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon'.  This movie came out during the mid-1980s around the same time as other martial arts flicks such as 'The Karate Kid', 'The American Ninja', and 'Revenge of the Ninja'.  It was a time of martial arts craze for us kids of the '80s.  I remember seeing this one on VHS after renting it during one of those sleepovers with the friends where you try to reenact the karate moves on each other after watching the movie.  Who didn't dress up as a ninja during Halloween during those years? I am guilty of that but due to my 'husky-ness' I more closely resembled 'Beverly Hills Ninja' than I did Stormshadow. Along with a pretty cool soundtrack that includes the Debarge hit--'Rhythm of the Night', the movie is a great representation of that era.  

IMDB.com describes the plot as "In New York City, a young man searches for the "master" to obtain the final level of martial arts mastery known as the glow. Along the way, he must fight an evil martial arts expert and rescue a beautiful singer from an obsessed music promoter." It stars Taimak as 'Bruce' Leroy Green and the hero of the movie.  His damsel in distress is played by Vanity (from 80s musical fame).  The rest of the cast is relative unknowns but contribute to the B-movie entertainment.

If you are looking for a movie that has some comical scenes mixed in with some decent martial arts moves and some good music, then this is for you!  The trailer is below.  Enjoy!

8th Inning.

FFL Factoid...From the National Shooting Sports Foundation's ATF Q&A page:

Q: Can a juvenile (18 and under) possess a handgun on the business premises of a licensee?

A: Possession of a handgun by a juvenile is prohibited without express written permission from a parent or guardian except under exceptions granted under 18 USC 922(x).

9th Inning.

Baseball Video...On April 25th, 1976 at Dodger Stadium, one of the greatest plays to happen on a major league baseball field, Chicago Cub's centerfielder, Rick Monday saves the American flag from being burned in the outfield of by a couple of a-holes.