PHD’s aren’t undefeated anymore :(

Yes, the title says it all… our win on night 1 was followed up by a loss. Based on my previous posts, you can probably guess that I wasn’t happy about it. To make it even worse, we got totally blown away in the second game. We just couldn’t buy a good shot and all the “bounces” went in favor of the other team. This is unacceptable!


This past Monday, our third game started with us giving up a point in each of the first 4 ends, so we were down 4-0 halfway through. This too is definitely unacceptable! We showed signs of coming to our senses in the 5th when we scored 2 points. Our mojo showed up after we took the lead with 3 points in the 6th. Starting the 7th end up 5-4 we were in full swagger and were able to tack on three more points, giving us an 8-4 lead going into the 8th, and final, end. Then one of my team mates said something along the lines of “it’s almost impossible to give up five points in one end.” He’s right about that, you usually score one or two points, maybe three. Five is pretty hard to pull off and I can’t recall seeing it happen in my vast one year of experience.


Halfway through that last end, the other team had 4 stones in the house (scoring circle) and we had 1. Gulp. The middle was wide open when I went up for my first throw and I was able to park a stone right in front of the center of the house. It was a very nice throw (can I say that about my own throw?) and it positioned us to limit them to 1 point. The other team’s skip threw his first stone and it slid wide, leaving us in in that same good position. For my second throw, I wanted to park my second stone about four feet in front of my last stone.  That position would protect the previous stone so they couldn’t knock it out easily. The throw started out on line, but as it slowed it turned and slid a little wider than we wanted it to go. I just left an opening about 1.5 stones wide, leaving an opportunity for them to knock out our center stone.


I knew the other skip would have to throw a perfect throw to make it through that gap, so I wasn’t totally concerned, until he released his stone. As it got closer to the house, my concerns grew, but I knew we had 2 stones in the house, so worst case they would get 3 points, leaving us up by one. His stone wend down the ice and slide right through the gap and into our center stone (my first throw), clearing it out of the house. Worse yet, it managed to some how take out our other stone that was in the house, leaving them with 5 stones in the house. (Insert your favorite explicit adjectives here) They beat us 9-8 on that last throw. I was too stunned to say much, looking back I guess we jinxed ourselves a bit by thinking that we had it in the bag. You know the saying, “it isn’t over until the fat lady sings.”


Other than that, there really isn’t much going on here. I have a project in the works for my last welding class this Saturday. If all goes well, I’ll have an update and photos of that next week. The farmers are finishing up the harvest, making it looks a little bleak outside. When we gaze out our windows, all we see is the brown stubble where the corn stood tall just a few weeks ago. Add to that the fact that the sun is setting earlier, the wind is picking up, and (to top it all off) we have had to switch on the heat in the house. Winter is coming soon.


I attended a meeting last night between the developers and those of us who live in the neighborhood. I don’t recall writing much about it before, but our house is in a very young subdivision. As of now, there are around 210 houses occupied and another 100 lots ready to be built on. That sounds like a lot by itself, but it is just the beginning. There are several phases that haven’t even been started yet; farmers are still raising crops on them. This is going to be a big development when it is done, it will have 985 houses in it when completed. Yes, that is a lot of houses.


Unfortunately, the neighborhoods around here don’t have the amenities that I was used to seeing in GA, like pools and tennis courts. The term “swim/tennis” neighborhood doesn’t really apply around here. Instead, the city has several pools that the people go to. The center piece of our neighborhood is an 80+ acre preserve area that is being restored from farmland to prairie/wetland plantings. Considering my background, you could probably guess that this area is one of the reasons why I liked the neighborhood so much. The developers, the city and even the EPA have sunk a lot of money into restoring this area. I can’t wait until they get the paved trails installed so we can bike through it, enjoying the wildflowers that have been seeded and the creek that runs through it. In addition to the prairie area, there are plans for some soccer/football fields in the future and we also have an elementary school that was built to serve the neighborhood. There is a playground and basketball courts there at the school for the families that have rug rats. I think it is going to be a really nice place when it is done, as long as the quality of construction in the neighborhood meets or exceeds its current level.


The big news for the night was that the developers want the neighborhood to take over control of the HOA starting January 1. From what I can tell, there are a few residents who have been pretty active in raising some funds for the neighborhood and taking care of random tasks like installing flowers and mulch at the entrances. So far, everyone seems to be willing to maintain their houses/yards and there isn’t much else for the HOA to deal with. I’m a little leery of the concept of HOA’s, as I have heard some horror stories of power hungry individuals getting involved and taking things to extremes. In an attempt to get a feel for how this HOA is going to operate, I volunteered to be a part of the grounds committee. With my background, it only makes sense and I definitely did not want to go for treasurer or president. Part of me thinks that this could be a big mistake; the other thinks it could be something that I will enjoy…