Bob's Bald Head

Bob gave me this picture when I saw him at the Whiffleball Game. I don't think I have told this story. This is one of the funnier sober stories from college. Although as I look at the picture I don't know how sober everyone was, because there is a bottle of Busch Light on the table in the background. I am going to make and educated guess that this happened in 1995. I was living in the attic sharing the house with Bob, Todd and Kevin. I don't think that Mark was living there at the time. It was like a Tuesday, just an average regular day at college. I came home from class and started making some mac and cheese. You can see I am in the back ground eating out of the pan. Bob wanted to get a flat top hair cut. Todd, who had no hair cutting experience at all, told Bob he could cut his hair for him. I can't say that it ever really looked that good. It was sort of a flat top, but it wasn't level. So then Kevin took a shot at fixing the unlevel flat top. All that Kevin was able to do was make it unlevel the opposite way. Then Todd gave it one more shot, but by this time, Bob had run out of hair and they were down to the top of Bob's head. I remember Bob asking me what I think he should do. I told him, "If it was me, I would just shave my whole head." So that is what happened, Todd shaved him down to the scalp. Lyric of the Day:
Is this not enough?
This blessed sip of life,
Is it not enough?
Staring down at the ground.
Oh, then complain and pray for more from above,
You greedy little pig.
Stop, just watch your world trickle away,
Oh, it's your problem now.
We'll all be dead and gone in a few short years.
Just love will open our eyes,
Just love will put the hope back in our minds,
Much more than we could ever know.
Oh, so don't burn the day away,
Don't burn the day away.

Hartland Parade

Sunday I was out in Hartland for the parade. Preston has invited me numerous times, but I have always had something going on. But not this year. Here are Preston, Jessica and Patrick.The Klinks in front of the family compound which has had an offer accepted. Patrick in baby jail.

Sorry, I have been slacking on the Lyric of the Day:

I don't know how I'm going to tell you.

I can't play with you no more.

I don't know how I am going to do what momma told me.

My friend, the boy next door.

Wiffleball

I believe this is the 4th year that I have played in the Legends Wiffle Ball Game. Mike Braun, whom, I went to high school with, puts together the game every year at his parents house. It is much like the Freeman Party in that there are new improvements every year. This year the "small monster" was erected to make the short porch to right field a bit more formidable. Here is the view from home plate.Every year at least one professional athlete is laid to rest. This all started back in 1979 when Thurmun Munson died and they buried his baseball card in the woods behind the house. This year two athletes were put to rest, Steve McNair and Robin Roberts. Here is the Steve McNair card.Here is the Steve McNair coffin.Here is the actual sports cemetery. You can see the Mark Fidrych head stone from last year.Here is the ceremonial first pitch. We even have the National Anthem. This year played by Jimi Hendrix.Here is Mike, my good friend from high school.Here is Bob, who I met through Mike. Bob and I were roommates throughout most of college. Mike's brother Bill.Mike's brother, Paul.The four brothers, Paul, Mike, Joe and Bill.I think first pitch was about 1:30 and the last game completed at around 8:30. 7 hours of wiffleball. That is alot of wiffleball. My team dropped the first two games. I think in the second game we lost 24-6. But we made a comeback and eventually tied the series at 2-2. The fifth and final game was the closest of all games. My team was down 8-9 in the top of the ninth with two outs and I was up to the plate. I hit what was easily a single, but I tried to stretch it into a home run and got thrown out sliding into third, for the third and final out of the day. Here is my battle scar from the day. This is the result of being out at home, safe at second and lastly out at third over the course of the day.

I Can Still Do It

Here is the video of jumping over Ethan. He ducked a little bit. This may very well be the last year of the jump. I am getting older and Ethan is getting taller. Maybe next year I will move on to jumping over Joey.

Dirty Laundry Line

Everyone once in a while I am reminded of something that I have said that I don't remember. Long story short, a couple of years ago in the days leading up to a trip to Mexico with Chris, Rebecca and Vanessa, I made a comment. There were a lot of phone calls going back and forth in planning for the trip. I had been working out quite a bit so I wouldn't get laughed at when I took my shirt off. So I had told the three of them, "Make sure you bring a bunch of dirty clothes to Mexico because I am going to have a washboard stomach."

Things I Am Done With

Here are two things that I will no longer participate with.

Cards. Greeting cards, birthday cards, etc. The only card that I will still purchase will be my Christmas card. But if you want a card for your birthday, wedding, etc. You will not get one from me. I will write a lame poem that rhymes but I will not buy a card. If you want a card, then it is going to come out of your end. So instead of $25, you will get $21. 89.

Bottled Water. I am no longer interested in it. My tap water is good. Plus the water out of my tap is city water which is treated. One important step in treating city water is the addition of fluoride, you may recall that this is one of the ingredients in toothpaste. So I will no longer be purchasing bottled water.


Lyric of the Day:
The sun is up,
The sky is blue,
It's beautiful,
And so are you.

The Child Stalker

Maybe I need to get out more often because when I go out these stories come up. Last week I was back in Shorewood, my college stomping grounds. And the story of the child stalker came up. Back in college 14 years ago, during the summer of 1996, I had an internship with the Village of Shorewood. My main job during that internship was to run the village's sidewalk replacement program. The village was broken up into 8 sections and every year one section is picked to have the sidewalks inspected and then replaced as necessary. At the time the village only had one vehicle for the interns to use, so I drove my own car which was in my parents name. I was out driving around alot in my car and making notes of which sidewalk squares to replace and the corresponding house addresses. In this section of the village that I was working their was also a day care center. Often the teachers would take the kids for walks. The teachers had made note of me, and apparently thought that I looked rather suspicious. I learned later that the teachers had actually sent out flyers to parents to be on the lookout for the "child stalker" who was tall with blonde hair driving a Pontiac 6000. My big day of construction finally came. It was the day in which we were pouring the concrete sidewalks. The crew had just finished up one street and we were moving on to the next street when a resident came up to me. Our conversation went something like this:
Resident: "Hey do you work for the village?"
Me: "Yes I do. How can I help you?"
Resident: "Do you have a phone?"
Me: "No."
Resident: "Well I need to call the police."
Me: "Why do you need to call the police?"
Resident: "Do you see that car over there?" (He was pointing to my car)
Me: "Yes."
Resident: "That is the car of the child stalker."
Me: "That is my car."
Resident: "Your the child stalker?"
Me: "No, I just told you. I work for the Village."
Resident: "Well you better call the police because they are looking for you."
At the time, I really couldn't go and explain things to the police because I had two more concrete trucks backed up waiting to pour sidewalks. It was about 2 hours later, we had just finished pouring the last sidewalk and I was walking back to my car. As I was about to cross the street when this white mini van came flying around the corner and this guy briskly walked up to me and asked me "Are you Jeff Davies?" I said "No. I am Rickie Davies. Wait a second, is this about the child stalker thing?" He said "Yes." I explained to him the situation. As we were talking, two more squad cars quickly came to the scene. Apparently they had run the plates on my car which as I mentioned was registered to my parents. At the time, my brother, Jeff, was the only one living at home. So they had all of his information. The Shorewood detective even went as far to call the Waukesha County Sheriff asking about my brother. My parents knew a number of the men in blue, as they got referred by the police to anyone who had been in a car kill deer accident, to have the deer processed. After a five minute conversation with the detective explaining things the detective, who was older short and a bit chubby, said to me "You know I am glad you aren't a child stalker." "Why is that?" I asked. He said, "Because I would have hated to have to take you down." I looked at him and said "I don't think you could have taken me down."

Lyric of the Day:
And now the towers are fallin,
Tumblin down, Tumbin down.
Oh can't you hear the angels calling?
Oh yeah, listen.
Shining through eternity.
As it was, so it shall be yeah.

Father's Day

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Father's Day weekend, especially all of the fathers out there. My weekend ran like this. Friday I was at my brother, Jon's, house for some sheepshead. Since Jon saved me at the Freeman Party, I pretty much have to do whatever he says, at least for the foreseeable future. Saturday I got in a bike ride and a swim. It appears that I am regressing. My bike time was 4 minutes worse than my time the previous week. After my workout, I started Uncle Rick's Boot Camp with my nephew, Jared. Jared is starting his training for football season. After the first day's workout he told me that I am the worse uncle ever and that working out with me was the worst experience ever. After boot camp I picked up Borky and we headed to Maggie's Birthday party. I finished up Saturday by giving ping pong lessons at Nate's. Father's Day I got in a bike ride for my triathlon training and then held a second day of Uncle Rick's Boot Camp for my nephews. Then the celebration of fatherhood began. I was at Jon and Julie's for a pool party. The entire family was present with the lone exception of Jody. It turned out to be the first games of pool volleyball. I organized some games for the kids in the pool. The fastest swimmer was Ethan. The biggest splash went to Lindsey. The longest hand stand was also Ethan. And I forgot who held their breath the longest. I said a number of times that it was too bad that it was a Sunday night, or the party would have gone on much much longer. Here are your pool photos, sorry ladies, but there aren't any pictures of yours truly shirtless in this collection. Maybe at the next pool party.
This was the start of one of the races. Pickle with his game face.Here are all 10 kids in order. This led to another set of nicknames their number in order of birthday. From right to left they are: Nicholas (a.k.a. Pickle, No. 1) Zackary (a.k.a. No. 2) Lindsey (a.k.a. Boomer, No. 3) Ethan (a.k.a. "E", Auggie, No. 4) Jared (a.k.a Crusher, No. 5) Abby (a.k.a. Princess, No. 6) Sarah (a.k.a. No. 7) Erin (a.k.a. Fuss, No. 8) Josh (a.k.a. No.9 (Jack Daniels?)) and Joey (a.k.a. No. 10)Pickle.ZackZack again.BoomerBoomer in the biggest splash contest.AuggieCrusherPrincessPrincess again.SarahFussJoshJosh againThis was the biggest splash finals Crusher vs. Boomer.The resulting splashes. Boomer was again the winner. I had all of the kids line up in order and then jump into the pool.

Lyric of the Day:

You know I'm a dreamer,

But my heart's of gold.

I had to run away high,

So I wouldn't come home low.

Zack's Baseball Game

Monday night I went to watch my nephew, Zack's, baseball game down at Helfaer Field.Here is Sarah as she dances everywhere she goes.Joey watching the game.Zack's first at bat in which he hit a long drive to the warning track. The outfielder made a snow cone catch to rob Zack of what would have been at least a triple.Zack followed behind in his father's footsteps at catcher. I have offered to help Zack practice with passed balls because I suck at pitching and Zack needs to work on blocking pitches in the dirt.Chucker coaching at third base. My only criticism is that when he was sending kids home he didn't get the windmill going with his one arm. In my opinion, that is a must.Chucker and Joey after the game.Team photos.

Maggie's Birthday

Saturday afternoon was my old roommate, Truz's, daughter's birthday party in Germantown. On the way to the party, I found myself behind this Jerry Garcia look-a-like riding his hog. He must wear those overalls solo fairly often because he had overall tan lines. It is a look.Once I got to the party, right after I got myself a beer, I got one for Elery.They had a pinyata for the kids, somehow I was quickly in charge of organizing it.Here is Borky showing off his wiffle ball skill taking on a water balloon.Maggie enjoying her cake.Here is my buddy, Sofia. Amy and Caesar's daughter.The pool inside Dr. Johnson's house.After the birthday party we made our way over to Nate's. The Kempens made an appearance. They are due with their first son in another 2 or 3 weeks. I have heard that the front runner's for baby Kempen's name are: Hans, Clause and Justus.We finished up the night with some ping pong. In one game of beer pong, I hit Nate's beer 8 times out of maybe 35 serves.