Back to my tale of woe...
So back to Friday. When we last left off, I was chilled to the bone after draining the garage. And I had just received a phone call that I needed to get down to the school ASAP with a variety of shaving implements because some by the book ref wasn't going to let Jake wrestle because of his facial hair.
Well, Jake's been getting sideburns and some chin hair, and a bit of mustache for about a year now. At first, it was blond, and hardly noticeable, but it's been getting darker and thicker. And we've been holding off on shaving, because once you start, you never stop. I can remember when Dad first taught me to shave. Barbasol, a disposable Bic, and Old Spice Aftershave. And I am sure that Jake will never forget his first shave.
I got to the gym and I could tell somoething was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what it was right away. Then it occurred to me, "Gee, it's sure dark." The power was off in the gym. So they were wrestling in the near dark with ambient light. I found Jake in the locker room and there was only emergency lighting. So Jake's first shave was with ice cold water, in the near dark, and under duress and time constraints. I did most of it, and managed to not draw any blood.
By the time we were done, they had set up a generator and some emergency lights in the gym. But they didn't help much.
So then I went back home. I had gotten donations of 13 pizzas from 3 stores around town for Friday to feed the coaches, refs, and event staff. But the power was out. And only 1 place that had gas ovens came through for us. St. Helena Brewery and Pizza is my new favorite pizza place because of this. But we were still in a bind. One parent brought the food that was supposed to be there Saturday on Friday. So now we had 5 pizzas and 2 lasagnas. So Rachel and I went to the cupboard to see what we could pull together. We found we had four boxes of bowtie pasta, 1 jar of sauce, and a bunch of stuff to make sauce. It was speed cooking - and it came out surprisingly good.
Meanwhile, I had a leak downstairs - the source was our upstairs sliders leaking and dripping downstairs. So it was back out in the rain doing emergency repairs with caulk and duct tape.
45 minutes later, we were heading back to the school with a big pot of pasta. And I found myself with caulk and spaghetti sauce stains on my clothes. Oh, and we broguth Jake's battery powered Pignose Amp so Troy could make announcements from the stage.
Oh, and as I mentioned, Jake won his first match. We dropped off the food and I found Troy. I told him I heard Jake won his match, and he said, "Oh, he didn't just win, he kicked the guy's a$$!"
He's come a long way in a month or so since the novice tournament. He's dropped about 20 pounds, he's more fit, more confident, and he's gained a lot of proficiency. He went from getting pinned, to scoring points, to pinning his opponents. (Blurry Jake on the left)
Well, they were supposed to have 4 rounds of wrestling on Friday to determine the seedings for Saturday. But it got too dark, so they only got through two rounds. Jake lost his second match, and a disturbing pattern is beginning to emerge - he wins when I'm not there. Anyway, 1-1 got him a decent seeding. And we went home.
I went right to bed - around 5:00. I woke up shivering at 8:30 or so. Took my temperature and had 101. I was also a little delirious and mumbling incomprehensible things to Rachel as I took some medicine and headed for the hot tub. The first step outside was in to a puddle of near freezing water, and I managed to power through, get the cover up, and pour myself in to the tub. Let me tell you - 102 degree water on a 101 fever feels flippin' awesome. I would have stayed in for an hour if it weren't for the lightning that started after about 20 minutes.
So I bundled up and went to make a revised plan for Saturday based on the events of the day.
Well, Jake's been getting sideburns and some chin hair, and a bit of mustache for about a year now. At first, it was blond, and hardly noticeable, but it's been getting darker and thicker. And we've been holding off on shaving, because once you start, you never stop. I can remember when Dad first taught me to shave. Barbasol, a disposable Bic, and Old Spice Aftershave. And I am sure that Jake will never forget his first shave.
I got to the gym and I could tell somoething was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what it was right away. Then it occurred to me, "Gee, it's sure dark." The power was off in the gym. So they were wrestling in the near dark with ambient light. I found Jake in the locker room and there was only emergency lighting. So Jake's first shave was with ice cold water, in the near dark, and under duress and time constraints. I did most of it, and managed to not draw any blood.
By the time we were done, they had set up a generator and some emergency lights in the gym. But they didn't help much.
So then I went back home. I had gotten donations of 13 pizzas from 3 stores around town for Friday to feed the coaches, refs, and event staff. But the power was out. And only 1 place that had gas ovens came through for us. St. Helena Brewery and Pizza is my new favorite pizza place because of this. But we were still in a bind. One parent brought the food that was supposed to be there Saturday on Friday. So now we had 5 pizzas and 2 lasagnas. So Rachel and I went to the cupboard to see what we could pull together. We found we had four boxes of bowtie pasta, 1 jar of sauce, and a bunch of stuff to make sauce. It was speed cooking - and it came out surprisingly good.
Meanwhile, I had a leak downstairs - the source was our upstairs sliders leaking and dripping downstairs. So it was back out in the rain doing emergency repairs with caulk and duct tape.
45 minutes later, we were heading back to the school with a big pot of pasta. And I found myself with caulk and spaghetti sauce stains on my clothes. Oh, and we broguth Jake's battery powered Pignose Amp so Troy could make announcements from the stage.
Oh, and as I mentioned, Jake won his first match. We dropped off the food and I found Troy. I told him I heard Jake won his match, and he said, "Oh, he didn't just win, he kicked the guy's a$$!"
He's come a long way in a month or so since the novice tournament. He's dropped about 20 pounds, he's more fit, more confident, and he's gained a lot of proficiency. He went from getting pinned, to scoring points, to pinning his opponents. (Blurry Jake on the left)
Well, they were supposed to have 4 rounds of wrestling on Friday to determine the seedings for Saturday. But it got too dark, so they only got through two rounds. Jake lost his second match, and a disturbing pattern is beginning to emerge - he wins when I'm not there. Anyway, 1-1 got him a decent seeding. And we went home.
I went right to bed - around 5:00. I woke up shivering at 8:30 or so. Took my temperature and had 101. I was also a little delirious and mumbling incomprehensible things to Rachel as I took some medicine and headed for the hot tub. The first step outside was in to a puddle of near freezing water, and I managed to power through, get the cover up, and pour myself in to the tub. Let me tell you - 102 degree water on a 101 fever feels flippin' awesome. I would have stayed in for an hour if it weren't for the lightning that started after about 20 minutes.
So I bundled up and went to make a revised plan for Saturday based on the events of the day.
posted by Eric Soderstrom at 1:52 PM
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