A Post because Vogelbach was Trending

 I was out in the yard helping my wife set up soaker hoses in FIVE different beds when I came inside and saw a Twitter notification on my phone. 

Oh, Yeah?  Let's goooooo!  (Big time hat tip to PKS!

Guess which shirt I'm wearing today? My sister gave me this gem for my birthday two years ago. 

I think I wear this shirt every weekend. 😁

Also, the shirt is right on the mark, as the VOGELMONSTER went deep twice today. 

If you're into watch big guys destroy baseballs here are the links to home run #1 and home run #2.

Just for good measure, here's the latest Dan Vogelbach card I added to my collection this past week. It's another one of those parallels from the 2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition set. 

A ten year old, pre-rookie auto of my favorite masher for under a five spot (including shipping) on Ebay. 

Man, I'm living the good the life. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

3 Highlights of My Week

No sense in burying the lede here. Acquiring a button relic card has been on my to-do list for years and I've been watching a Kerry Wood button card Ebay for quite some time. The price, unfortunately, hasn't budged.

Enter Panini's 2020 National Treasures. 

I can sit watch National Treasures case breaks on YouTube for hours. It's a fun break to watch for sure.. I knew Dan Vogelbach had a traditional jersey card in the set, but what I didn't realize was he had a button card!

I set a timer and sniped this auction at the last second for a very nice price. How cool of a card is this!?!

The back might even better as it recounts the story of Yusei Kikuchi giving his son the middle name of VOGELMONSTER Daniel.

From time-to-time I've stopped in at Dunkin' Donuts, on a Friday, to grab some coffee to help me finish off the school week with a little extra kick. I guess my students have noticed and one of them introduced me to Dunkin's app. I earned a free coffee right away and decided to cash in. While I was there I splurged on a donut as well. 

Behold! The Ghost Pepper Donut! It's a yeast donut, with pink frosting and sprinkles. I'm fairly sure the ghost pepper was only in the frosting. I picked up a tiny hint of hot pepper taste, but little, if any heat. I would definitely say this donut was far sweeter than it was hot. 

I think those who can't normally handle spicy foods would have no problem consuming this tasty, sweet pastry. See if you can locate one and impress your friends!

Here's a picture of Hugo on our back patio. I like to think he's protecting us from the sparrows and juncos who frequent the nearby feeder. 

He's wearing his vest of Kryptonite, as well like to call it. When we first introduced him to the vest he flopped right over on his side. Later he learned to walk, but he did so as though his joints were fused together. The Kryptonite within the vest has slowly begun to wear off. Or perhaps he's built up an immunity? Now the vest only hinders his mobility enough so that he is not a threat to our little flying friends.  Good times.

What were the three highlights of your week?

Not What I Was Expecting

I arrived home late last night, after filming for my high school's football team, to find a package sitting atop my desk.

The view from atop the press box makes me nostalgic.

Upon seeing the package I thought, "Nice! My Sportlots box arrived just in time for a three day weekend!"

The box was a little bigger than expected, but I guess I did order quite a few cards. This morning I ripped into the box.

Some cards were for my own projects, but mostly I needed some cards to complete a few trade packages.

I thought I would try the new Sportlots Box option, but more on that next time I suppose.

Peonies? Ugh.

I guess my wife used my Paypal account to pay for her latest garden project.  Sigh.

The wait for cardboard continues.

Football Trip to NIU and Penquins!

The high school I teach at saw its football team play in the 5A state championship game at Northern Illinois University this past Saturday. It was a fun season, especially for a football program which had never advanced past the second round of the playoffs in its history. 

Dunlap entering the field by ripping through the cheerleaders' sign. 

I have had the cushy job of manning the iPad the past few seasons to record live footage. My footage is then sent wirelessly to three other iPads so coaches and players may look at game film much the way NFL teams due on the sideline. It's a fairly easy job, and any student could do it, but I think the head coach likes having a dependable and responsible co-worker on the job. 

2 hour drive, but the fans travel well!

The played Chicago Phillips High School, out of the Chicago Public League where students transfer schools as frequently as the wind changes direction. I was told that nine of Phillips' starters transferred in this school year. Yeah... that'll give a boost to your program in a heart beat!

Our team was the underdog going in and our quarterback was lost to a shoulder injury during the first offensive series of the game. We lost 33-7, but our team showed heart in the second half and took home the second place trophy back to Dunlap with pride. A 13-1 record is definitely something to be proud of! It was really an amazing season. I've seen first hand how hard the coaches and players work and I'm very proud to play a small part in their memorable season. 

The above pictures were taken from my spot atop the NIU press box. Yep, up high, outside, in the wind, on a 40 degree day. I wore layers and stood in the sun, so it actually wasn't too bad. The video guy for Chicago Phillips was fun to talk to as well, so time flew by even though the game was a 21 point spread fairly early on. 

During halftime I found my way back inside the press box and enjoyed the free food!  Coffee on a cold day? Yes, please!

Later that even, once back in P-town, my wife and I restored our inflatable penguins to their rightful place in the front yard. We lost our big ash tree this spring and now the penguins are on center stage!

We don't do much for holiday decorations, but we do love our penguins!

That's it for today's post. I hope you enjoyed something non-cardboard related for a change.  More cards of the Vogelmonster tomorrow!

He's Back!

It's been a busy start to the school year, but I've got a few pictures to show off. These should give you a quick summary as to what I've been up to, since I haven't had much time for cardboard as of late.

My junior high softball coaching duties ended yesterday and maybe now I can play a little more attention to the blog with the extra time.

 Above is a picture of me hitting fly balls to my sixth grade team during pregame warm-ups. I take pride in being able to hit a softball into the glove of a less than confident twelve year old. Not easy to do at one hundred and twenty feet away from me!

My wife, father-in-law and I planted a new tree in the front yard. 

 We lost our ash tree last fall to the notorious emerald ash borer.  Gingkos are slow growing, but they are supposedly very hearty. Hopefully this little guy does well!

Our school district had a "school improvement day" recently and I learned how to graph within an on-line graphing calculator.

 It took some work, but I finished a Cubs logo!  The shading of the red and blue was the most challenging. Hat-tip to my co-worker Mike for troubleshooting for me!

I was able to get a little paddle boarding in a couple of weekends ago. 

Laura and I, feeling a little brave, traveled across the lake at Snakeden Hollow on the same board. She sat on the back and I did the paddling. I tried to make it across standing up, but I quickly found I had to kneel. Either that, or wind up wet!

I've resumed my duties taping games for the football coaching staff.

 Last week, I was in a scissor lift about twenty feet in the air at the back of the north end zone. Yikes! Their end zone camera is currently broken, so they have four sophomores running the camera from atop the press box, which is my normal post.  I'm not a big fan of heights and I'm hoping they get the camera fixed soon.

Lastly, the Mariners called up Dan Vogelbach yesterday. I should be pumped about this, but he'll be lucky to accumulate ten at-bats the rest of the way. The Mariners seem committed to Danny Valencia and Yonder Alonso at first base with Nelson Cruz being used as the DH. I guess that leaves me waiting 'til next year. Go figure.

Chipmunk Contest Winner Declared!

Summer. Where has it gone?

It's my first day of the new school year and the Chipmunk Relocation Contest is officially over. It was a pretty successful summer of trapping in my backyard as I caught four squirrels, ten raccoons and thirty-eight chipmunks. All fifty-two of the varmint were safely relocated to a drop-off zone a couple of highways over. I also caught five birds and released them from my backyard.

Below are the links and one picture for proof of the latest round of trappings.

Bird #5

Chipmunk #35 - Only a picture for this one. I wasn't home at the time and my wife deposited it at the drop off point for me.  Thanks, babe!

Chipmunk #36

Chipmunk #37

Raccoon #9

Raccoon #10

Chipmunk #38

List of ALL 33 Entries:    (chipmunks, others, Cubs Wins, blogger)
5             3             69           irondequoit36
8             13           74           Tony L.
10           5             77           Stealing Home
12           7             79           JediJeff

13           3             81           Adam Kaningher

13           8             82           The Angels in Order

18           6             75           Mark Hoyle

22           2             79           Matthew Scott

26           6             76           Play at the Plate

27           4             75           Al Kawamoto

28           5             76           Nick

31           1             69           The Lost Collector

34           7             81           Daniel Wilson (currently sitting in the winning spot!)

35           4             85           John Hazen

36           8             77           Jupiterhill

36           9             74           Swing And a Pop-up

37           3             77           Jane

37           8             107         B Man

38           3             71           jaybarkerfan

38           14           73          WINNING NUMBERS

39           6             70           gcrl

42           5             78           Nachos Grande

42           6             83           CaptKirk42

44           4             74           KO Rob

47           3             76           Captain Canuck

49           4             80           Sport Card Collectors

49           9             78           Once A Cub

50           4             70           Fuji

52           4             79           RAZ

52           5             75           Adam Sanders

53           4             75           Wilson

55           3             81           Corky

61           12           79           defgav

74           3             74           Jeff

Congrats to jaybarkerfan on guessing the correct number of chipmunks which would be relocated. Your prize is a blaster of baseball cards!

I mentioned in this post there would be a consolation prize: correctly predict the number of wins the Cubs would have on the morning of August 15th. Well, the Cubs blew late leads in each of the last two games and as a result they sit at 73 wins.  Every number between 69 and 85 was guessed at least once except for 72, 73, and 84.  No 73? Go figure.  Sorry guys.

Thanks for playing along and following my progress this summer!

For the record, our garden is producing a ridiculous amount of vegetables, which are safe to grow peacefully now that the rodents have been removed. Happy days!

Chipmunk Contest Update #4

Our three cats have been on the look out for critters, but things have really slowed down in the backyard.

 

I haven't caught a chipmunk in a week, but I do have a ninja-like cardinal sneaking peanuts from the trap just about every day. Also, I've caught four sparrows now, which obviously need to take lessons from the cautious cardinal.



There are at least two raccoons left in my neighborhood, but they haven't been back in the last few nights. They must have found a better feeding area.  I hope they stay away for the time being, because there's been a new development . . .

Holy Cow! 

 My in-laws had their backyard ravaged by something one night and I'm taking the coon trap up north to try to help them out. What in the world could have done that to their lawn? 

I'm not done trapping the masked marauders, but things are on hold at least for a month or so.

Raccoon #8

  
Here are your links to what has been trapped since my last post. 

Bird #4

Chipmunk #34

Raccoon #5

Raccoon #6

Raccoon #7

Raccoon #8


Here are your updated standings:

List of ALL 33 Entries:    (chipmunks, others, Cubs Wins, blogger)
5             3             69           irondequoit36
8             13           74           Tony L.
10           5             77           Stealing Home

12           7             79           JediJeff

13           3             81           Adam Kaningher

13           8             82           The Angels in Order

18           6             75           Mark Hoyle

22           2             79           Matthew Scott

26           6             76           Play at the Plate

27           4             75           Al Kawamoto

28           5             76           Nick

31           1             69           The Lost Collector

34           13           61          CURRENT NUMBERS (70 win pace)

34           7             81           Daniel Wilson (currently sitting in the winning spot!)

35           4             85           John Hazen

36           8             77           Jupiterhill

36           9             74           Swing And a Pop-up

37           3             77           Jane

37           8             107         B Man

38           3             71           jaybarkerfan

39           6             70           gcrl

42           5             78           Nachos Grande

42           6             83           CaptKirk42

44           4             74           KO Rob

47           3             76           Captain Canuck

49           4             80           Sport Card Collectors

49           9             78           Once A Cub

50           4             70           Fuji

52           4             79           RAZ

52           5             75           Adam Sanders

53           4             75           Wilson

55           3             81           Corky

61           12           79           defgav

74           3             74           Jeff

The contest will continue until August 15, which allows for about two more weeks of trapping, but this will probably be the last update unless things pick up again.

Thanks for reading!

Chipmunk Contest Update #3

Things haven't necessarily slowed down, but I'm not catching nearly as many chipmunks as of late. Maybe I've thinned the population in my backyard to point where I'll only catch ones from neighboring houses?

As you'll note from the list of links below I've trapped and relocated two more squirrels and two more raccoons. The last two raccoons were just a little pups, which makes me think there are three or four more of their siblings out there needing to be banished from my subdivision.

I've also caught three sparrows, but I just released them back into the backyard. Heck, maybe it's just the same dumb sparrow trying to steal all my peanuts? I'm not counting the sparrows, because I'm not officially relocating them. My contest, my rules.

Chipmunk #31
Squirrel #3
Raccoon #2
Bird #1
Chipmunk #32
Bird #2
Here's a picture of Raccoon #3, because the video is my worst effort to date.

It's a young one!

Bird #3
Squirrel #4
Raccoon #4
Chipmunk #33 (no link, because of user error when recording the video)

Here are your updated standings:

List of ALL 33 Entries:    (chipmunks, others, Cubs Wins, blogger)
5             3             69           irondequoit36
8             13           74           Tony L.
10           5             77           Stealing Home

12           7             79           JediJeff

13           3             81           Adam Kaningher

13           8             82           The Angels in Order

18           6             75           Mark Hoyle

22           2             79           Matthew Scott

26           6             76           Play at the Plate

27           4             75           Al Kawamoto

28           5             76           Nick

31           1             69           The Lost Collector

33           8             52          CURRENT NUMBERS (72 win pace)

34           7             81           Daniel Wilson

35           4             85           John Hazen

36           8             77           Jupiterhill

36           9             74           Swing And a Pop-up

37           3             77           Jane

37           8             107         B Man

38           3             71           jaybarkerfan

39           6             70           gcrl

42           5             78           Nachos Grande

42           6             83           CaptKirk42

44           4             74           KO Rob

47           3             76           Captain Canuck

49           4             80           Sport Card Collectors

49           9             78           Once A Cub

50           4             70           Fuji

52           4             79           RAZ

52           5             75           Adam Sanders

53           4             75           Wilson

55           3             81           Corky

61           12           79           defgav

74           3             74           Jeff

The contest will continue until August 15, which allows for about 30 more days of trapping after I subtract out the days we'll be out of town on vacation.  At the current rate, I think those of you who guessed in the 30s and lower 40s are looking pretty good!

Chipmunk Contest Update #2

It's been three weeks since I started trapping chipmunks for my 2016 Relocation Program. The 9 Day Chipmunk Streak was broken as soon as I mentioned it in my last update. I jinxed myself. Go figure.

I've taken five days off from trapping, because we visited family one day and I attended a four day Advanced Placement Summer Institute last week in the south suburbs of Chicago. (For the record, I teach AP Calculus for my day job and the training was a little dry, but it had to be done. Basically it was like attending math camp. Yeesh.)

Here are the youtube links to the visual proof of the most recent trappings:

Chipmunk #23
Chipmunk #24
Raccoon #1
Chipmunks #25 & #26
Chipmunk #27
Chipmunk #28 & Squirrel #2
Chipmunk #29
Chipmunk #30

My wife asked me to go after the raccoons, so I borrowed my dad's trap and have been setting that up before I turn in each evening. Only one so far in five nights, but I did remove fifteen raccoons from the neighborhood back in 2014. Maybe the one I've trapped was the the one making the mess in our backyard?

Here are your updated standings:

List of ALL 33 Entries:    (chipmunks, others, Cubs Wins, blogger)
5             3             69           irondequoit36
8             13           74           Tony L.

10           5             77           Stealing Home

12           7             79           JediJeff

13           3             81           Adam Kaningher

13           8             82           The Angels in Order

18           6             75           Mark Hoyle

22           2             79           Matthew Scott

26           6             76           Play at the Plate

27           4             75           Al Kawamoto

28           5             76           Nick

30           3             48          CURRENT NUMBERS (76 win pace)

31           1             69           The Lost Collector

34           7             81           Daniel Wilson

35           4             85           John Hazen

36           8             77           Jupiterhill

36           9             74           Swing And a Pop-up

37           3             77           Jane

37           8             107         B Man

38           3             71           jaybarkerfan

39           6             70           gcrl

42           5             78           Nachos Grande

42           6             83           CaptKirk42

44           4             74           KO Rob

47           3             76           Captain Canuck

49           4             80           Sport Card Collectors

49           9             78           Once A Cub

50           4             70           Fuji

52           4             79           RAZ

52           5             75           Adam Sanders

53           4             75           Wilson

55           3             81           Corky

61           12           79           defgav

74           3             74           Jeff

 

If the contest ended right now The Lost Collector would come away victorious, but I'm fairly certain there's more varmint to trap. Just yesterday I trapped chipmunks #28, #29, #30 and squirrel #2.  When we first moved into this house in 2008 I trapped SIXTY chipmunks and I'm currently halfway to that standard. It will be interesting to see where this winds up!

 

For what it's worth, I purchased a new trap while in Chicagoland and that seems to be working out much better. The smaller chipmunks weren't setting off the old trap because they didn't weigh enough to trigger it, and if they did set it off they were able to squiggle through the bars and escape to freedom. It was quite frustrating and I lost a LOT of unsalted peanuts as a result. I was hoping to use some of those peanuts as an ice cream topping!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Chipmunk Contest Update & Consolation Prize Announcement

The deadline for guesses for the Chipmunk Relocation Contest has come and gone. Thank you to all who have entered and good luck!

Just a reminder, I will continue to trap and relocate chipmunks the rest of the summer until my first day of school on August 15th. It's been 10 days since I started the relocation program and I've had some moderate success. Each release has been recorded with my iPhone in one hand, while I attempted to release the little bastards chipmunks with the other.

Here are links to the videos on youtube . . . if you're going to watch just one, I would say the one I embedded is my best production job!  Most of them are 10 to 15 seconds in length except for one which I forgot to hit the stop button.

Chipmunks #1 and #2

Chipmunks #3 and #4
Chipmunks #5 and #6
Chipmunk #7
Chipmunk #8
Chipmunk #9
Chipmunks #10 and #11
Chipmunk #12
Chipmunks #13 and #14
Chipmunks #15 and #16
Chipmunks #17 and #18:

Chipmunks #19 and #20

Oh, and I caught a squirrel Tuesday morning! Squirrel #1:

Chipmunk #21
Chipmunk #22

Things have slowed down lately as I've only trapped one chipmunk each of the last two days. They've taken to setting off the trap, eating the bait while inside, and then squeezing through some of the larger spaces between the metal bars of the trap. I don't have this problem with the bigger adult chipmunks and I've added some more wire to the trap to hopefully increase my success rate with the smaller youngsters. If that fails, then at least I can look forward to catching them once I fatten them up!  Ha!

A few notes:

1. The most chipmunks relocated in a day is six, which was the first day.
2. The fewest chipmunks relocated in a day is one, which has been achieved multiple times.
3. Chipmunks have been relocated 9 out of 10 days. (We had to go out of town one day and I wasn't around to set the trap that day.)  But they don't count days of rest against batters during hitting streaks, so I can still say I HAVE A 9 DAY CHIPMUNK STREAK!

List of ALL 33 Entries:    (chipmunks, others, Cubs Wins, blogger)
5             3             69           irondequoit36

8             13           74           Tony L.

10           5             77           Stealing Home

12           7             79           JediJeff

13           3             81           Adam Kaningher

13           8             82           The Angels in Order

18           6             75           Mark Hoyle

22           2             79           Matthew Scott

22           1             44           CURRENT NUMBERS (80 win pace)

26           6             76           Play at the Plate

27           4             75           Al Kawamoto

28           5             76           Nick

31           1             69           The Lost Collector

34           7             81           Daniel Wilson

35           4             85           John Hazen

36           8             77           Jupiterhill

36           9             74           Swing And a Pop-up

37           3             77           Jane

37           8             107         B Man

38           3             71           jaybarkerfan

39           6             70           gcrl

42           5             78           Nachos Grande

42           6             83           CaptKirk42

44           4             74           KO Rob

47           3             76           Captain Canuck

49           4             80           Sport Card Collectors

49           9             78           Once A Cub

50           4             70           Fuji

52           4             79           RAZ

52           5             75           Adam Sanders

53           4             75           Wilson

55           3             81           Corky

61           12           79           defgav

74           3             74           Jeff

CONSOLATION PRIZE!

 It appears that guessing low was an easy way to get eliminated. Sorry, guys! But, I've decided to run a bit of a secondary contest: If your guess (above) for the amount of Cubs victories is exactly correct on the morning of 8/15/2016, then I'll send you a consolation prize. That way you still have a vested interest in the contest. Every number between 69 and 85 was guessed at leas once except for 72, 73, and 84.  Plus, B Man guessed 107!  I love his confidence in my Cubs!  If multiple people are correct, then I'll send out multiple prizes. How's that sound?

Stay tuned for more updates down the road and thanks for reading!