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What else can go wrong?

Reality TVClubHouse Discussions: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2009 - 2: What else can go wrong? users admin

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Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 9:34 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
The girls (Kota and my niece) had a game tonight and it was one of those interesting experiences where if it could go wrong, it would! By the time the game was called off, we were asking, "What else can go wrong???" And then I thought it could make a fun thread, lol!

The girls had a game tonight and we spent a good portion of the afternoon wondering if they would cancel/reschedule it because of rain, thunder, and lightening (not much of the last two, but some.) It'd been sprinkling on and off since about 1 and rained really hard for about 3 minutes at one point, but by 3:30 we hadn't heard from the coaches so Dakota got dressed. We (Kota, Caleb, and I) left to go pick up my niece and get to the park by 4.

Sis and bil said they thought the game would end up be cancelled and I said I doubted it. This was supposed to be our last game of the regular season, but we had one that we had rescheduled for next week from a few weeks ago and I thought that they wouldn't cancel this one short of lightening striking the field or a flood, not the little bits of rain like we'd had. Told them I'd ask the coaches when I got there and give them a call, that way if it was being cancelled, they wouldn't load up the other two kids and drive over there for nothing. We got to the park, I asked the coach, and sure enough he said no, it hasn't rained that hard, no mud, and the field isn't that wet, we're playing this game!

The girls were out warming up and man they were just full of energy. Lots of laughing and giggling, bouncing all over the place. Was nice to see after the last game which had just been brutal on us. The coach had to call them in at one point and calm them down some cuz they were just twitchy with energy.

Now, at the last game, the coach had told Dakota she could pitch later in the game. Even though she's practiced with him, and at home, all season, he's only let her pitch once and she was very excited about this. Unfortunately, he forgot his promise to her and she didn't get to pitch. Yesterday the other coach apologized to her and told her they'd try for her pitching tonight. And tonight, during warm ups, he took her over and warmed her up, she'd be pitching in the last two innings and she was estatic! He was quite pleased too because she was pitching sooooo great.

Sounds good so far, right? Yeah, that's where it ends! For the third game in a row, at our own park, the ump didn't show up! The scoreboard people didn't show up. They couldn't get ahold of anyone else to ump. Coaches are in a near panic. They finally asked the parents and our team scorekeeper ended up being the only one there who knew enough of the rules to do it (and other teams coach agreed to this.) Luckily, they'd showed Darren last week how to keep score, so he volunteered to do that, and they asked a couple of the siblings of the girls to run the scoreboard. Problems fixed. That would have been enough excitement for me, but oh no!

10 minutes before gametime, unmarked police car comes speeding down the street, lights and siren going. The street we all park on, where the one gate we use is, right behind the field we're on. The unmarked police car was quickly followed by, no joke, 20 other police cars, motorcylces, suv's....all with lights and sirens going. They close off the intersection closest to us and the one at the end of the park and swarm around a house. Everyone's looking around, should we be worried? The one board member there goes out and talks to a cop at our end of the street and he says, it's fine, no problem, have the game, we'll let you know if it gets worse.

About two minutes later...police helicopter shows up and starts circling the neighborhood but especially focusing on the one street, school and park we're at. Er, hello, should we worry yet? Nope, no problems!

They actually called the game on! The girls get on the field, and I told them this later on, I was so proud of those kids, with all this going on, they got out there and focused on their game ignoring everything else going on around them and listened to the coaches so well.

And then it starts sprinkling again. The girls play on. Helicopter still going in circles overhead, cop cars with lights/sirens going all over the place, other cop cars circling the park. The coach actually came over to a group of us parents and made the comment that here's the cops all over neighborhood, they're obviously looking for someone, yet not one of them came in the park to check bathrooms, snackbar, bleachers, dug-outs. I can tell you, I wasn't the only one looking for someone who didn't belong!

It stopped raining, started again, stopped, started again. Helicopter overhead, cops all over the place. I heard the other coach tell the kids (and I'll have to remember to compliment him tomorrow for keeping them so calm and not letting the girls be frightened) that the cops had heard this was a big game for them and they were there watching to make sure they all played fair, lol.

45 minutes after this starts, firetrucks and ambulance show up. Helicopter still going, rain off and on, cops everywhere. They were there for a bit and then left, along with about half the cop cars. They kept the streets blocked off, the other cars still with sirens and lights, helicopter still going overhead (and by now he stayed right over the park,) and a couple cars cruising around the block over and over and over.

By then, the one board member had called the others and about half the board showed up. About that same time, the two teams playing the next game had showed up for warmups. Game goes on. And I'll pause here to tell ya'll, despite all this, our girls dominated. One of our girls who's never hit the ball, hit a freaking triple and brought two runners in! My niece and Kota both hit doubles and brought a couple girls in. They made no mistakes at all. One girl hit the ball to Kota on third base, she scooped it up, threw it to first, our first basement caught it, tagged the girl out, threw the ball to our pitcher who turned around just a tad bit late and saw the girl on second running to third and she threw the ball to Kota who caught it. If the pitcher had been just a second quicker, that girl would have been out. The girl playing catcher was catching foul balls left and right. I mean, they were playing awesome. Our team was up to bat, Dakota was on second, my niece on third, our best hitter up to bat. Once my niece came in, that would have been our fifth run of the inning and that inning would be over. Dakota was up to pitch next and we could see at that point, all she wanted was for her cousin to make it in so she could get out there!

Sis and bil had run home real quick and they had just got back. It started to rain again. Sis says, "Sandy, the cops have their mobile unit mobilized at Denny's (right down the street) and streets blocked off all over this area. Whatever it is, it's big."

What else can go wrong? Just as she said it, I turned around and looked at the street in time to see all those cop cars that had left show back up with lights and sirens going and the K-9 unit coming down the street. In the space of a breath, seriously that quickly, the K-9 unit announces they'll be letting the dogs out, it starts to thunder, boom, boom, BOOM, and both teams coaches look at each other and ours yells "OFF THE FIELD!" And all 12 girls on the field, the other teams 9, Dakota, my niece, and our hitter, quickly but calmly ran to their dugouts like they'd practiced it a hundred times. I was even more impressed when I looked and realized that every girl in both dugouts was sitting on their benches quietly waiting for instructions. Board member came over and told our coaches they were calling the game (score 12-3 us,) have the girls pack up quickly. Cops told them they had so long to clear the park before the dogs were let loose, if people were parked on the one street, they'd have to go out the other way (meaning u-turn for most of us) and once all the kids/parents were gone, the park would be locked up and they'd release the dogs.

I was really impressed. They kept us at the park as long as it was safe, then got everyone out when it wasn't. I don't know if it took them almost 2 hours to figure out exactly what it was or who it was they were looking for and if that's what made them decide to finally clear the park or what. The rumors going around by the time we left were that they were looking for a suspect who might be armed and that someone had been seriously hurt (when the ambulance/firetrucks showed up) but ya know how rumors go...no idea where it started or how close to the truth that was.

Most of us parents told the girls as we were leaving how proud we were of them for focusing on their game and doing exactly what they were told when they were told to. I know I repeated it to Kota in the car too.

And ya know what? After all this...cop cars, fire truck, ambulance, helicopter (which stayed over the school/park the whole time,) k-9 units, and winning the game.....you know what Kota said to me in the car on the way home?

"I didn't get to pitch!" LOL, I said, "Baby, that really wasn't your coaches fault, he had no choice."

Still no idea what was going on, but I know when I came back with dinner an hour later (right about 8) the helicopter was still over the park and sis called about 9 to tell me the cops still had most that area blocked off and the helicopter was still going (that'd be about 4 hours after they showed up!) I'm still wondering exactly how much info the cops gave the board members cuz I know they wouldn't have kept the kids there if they thought it was that serious.

Christy358
Member

07-10-2007

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 10:50 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Christy358 a private message Print Post    
You have all the fun.

Denecee
Member

09-05-2002

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 11:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Denecee a private message Print Post    
Wargod, you should be an author because you write very well. I was on the edge of my seat, lol! Exciting stuff right there! I had some excitement myself but if I talk about it, then I really won't be able to sleep. Good night and thanks for sharing!

Tess
Member

04-13-2001

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 2:22 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Tess a private message Print Post    
There never is a dull moment in your city, War. To think my uncle & family lived there back in the day when it was just a sleepy desert town. That was a loooooong time ago.

I've got nothing to add tonight. We've gone from disaster to counting our blessings with Miss Sarah in the space of a day. I'll be back when she gets her pet rat as a reward for making it through her latest health debacle and simultaneous broken heart. Being 12 is murder.

Biscottiii
Member

05-29-2004

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 3:22 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Biscottiii a private message Print Post    
Great Gods of Thunder, War that sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock movie! I congrated for the win over in the HomeBeautiful Thead, but had no idea what a circus it was.
Well written, felt like I was there watching.

Goddessatlaw
Member

07-19-2002

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 4:17 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Goddessatlaw a private message Print Post    
Dang that's a busy night. Let us know when you find out for sure what the ruckus was all about.

Mameblanche
Member

08-24-2002

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 6:09 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mameblanche a private message Print Post    
War, that's wild!

Dipo
Member

04-23-2002

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 8:48 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Dipo a private message Print Post    
Yeah, Wargod, have you heard anything yet?

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 10:11 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
Nope, nothing at all. The local paper online usually has just a few news articles from the days paper so nothing there. Of course, it could have been late enough in the evening it didn't have the chance to make today's paper. I am going to pick up a copy when I go out though, it might be in the paper copy today or tomorrow. Otherwise, hoping we'll find out something more substantial than rumors at the little league field. I know the one board member spent a lot of time talking to the cops before we had to leave, but she may have just been keeping up on rather it was safe for the kids to continue their game.

LOL, I did see where Will Ferrell is trashing Lancaster in the news yesterday, saying he was scared during filming of Land of the Lost to stay here cuz they'd heard it was one of the meth capitals of America and being sure they'd be robbed by druggies. And of course, how there was a lab explosion while they were here.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 1:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
Hoo boy, I'm guessing our board member didn't get all the information from the cops yesterday.

There's a little story, about six small paragraphs, in the paper. Man walking down the main street our school/park sits off of was robbed and stabbed by two other men. Says the first suspect was detained within minutes of the 911 call and the victim was treated at the scene by paramedics (doesn't sound like they took him to the hospital so that's good!)

They list the streets they blocked off that the cops were searching for the second suspect so they knew the general area of where he was and that's why no searching of the school/park (I'm guessing anyways.) And then it mentions they called in the helicopter and two k-9 units and searched backyard by backyard and that a second man was later caught.

When I called to read it to sis, she said, "Aw man, they didn't mention the fact that the girls played right through that until they finally had to cancel their game cuz of the k-9 units!"

I would have laughed my butt off if they'd written, "Deputies...went from backyard to backyard looking for the second suspect. And the Angel's won their big game 12-3 before it was cancelled."

Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 2:10 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
LOL.. actually I'm sure the helicopter was there because of the big Angels game.

So sorry Kota didn't get to pitch!

Goddessatlaw
Member

07-19-2002

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 4:26 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Goddessatlaw a private message Print Post    
Scary.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 8:51 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
Well, on the plus side, he felt so bad that he forgot to let her pitch Monday night and then all the stuff last night that she didn't get to pitch that he took her today at practice and had her pitch the whole time. He was apparently very pleased (Darren and I had a school function with Caleb, so sis was there with the girls) and told her she'd pitch in next weeks game.

I'm fairly sure the board member had no idea they were searching for a guy who'd just stabbed someone. I know this woman and there is no way she would have let the game go on if she thought it was a dangerous situation, even if the cops were sure he wasn't near or coming to the park.

Biscottiii
Member

05-29-2004

Friday, June 05, 2009 - 12:40 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Biscottiii a private message Print Post    
The cops probably figured the suspect would have stood out like a sore thumb, with all the adults and kids at the game. Looking to hide in someone's backyard bushes instead. Plus, they probably didn't want a sudden mass exodus of cars hightailing it out, where he could be hidden in someone's backseat.

Woo, that's a game nobody will EVER forget, I'm just betting. Go Angels!

Skootz
Member

07-23-2003

Friday, June 05, 2009 - 5:05 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Skootz a private message Print Post    
I haven't read much or been here much at the board lately - don't know why, just haven't, But War, I just read your thread title and knew I had to read it lol - what a night to remember...and to have it finished off with the "I didn't get to pitch" line was awesome.

Glad you are all safe and the girls won...what a night!

Sia
Member

03-11-2002

Friday, June 05, 2009 - 9:55 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sia a private message Print Post    
Wargod, at first I thought this might turn into an ongoing thread, but by the time I finished your first post I thought, "Man, nothing could top this debacle for things going wrong--unless all those police squad cars tear across the field, ruining the whole baseball diamond!"

I can't believe those kids were composed enough to keep playing, God bless 'em, and I'm sorry that your girl didn't get to pitch! That's too bad.

. . .adding my 2-cents to everyone else's: you should definitely submit your story to the local newspaper. You're an eye-witness with a personal stake in the matter, and the paper didn't have a writer at the ball park. Please turn in your story! It would be awesome!

Sia
Member

03-11-2002

Friday, June 05, 2009 - 10:03 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sia a private message Print Post    
sorry: double-post

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Friday, June 05, 2009 - 12:25 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
Oh, I hope this is an ongoing thread with everyone sharing stories! I know I have plenty of days where nothing I do goes right, lol. The softball/cops/bad weather story was too unbelievable not to share!

Everytime I think about it, I'm more amazed with how well the girls on both teams behaved, listened, and focused on their game. I don't know if anyones ever seen a police helicopter during a search like that up close, but it's kinda interesting. They fly the same area over and over again, but they'll also drop pretty low and then go high up, then drop low, etc. At one point it seriously looked like the helicopter was going to land on the other field it was so low. This was going on right over the girls heads! I expect the older girls (10, 11, 12) to behave and follow directions properly, but was still surprised with how well they focused. I was downright amazed by the 7/8 year old girls and how well they did. I've seen the littlest ones get distracted by a butterfly in outfield and that they were able to stay focused with a helicopter overhead is shocking!

From what sis was telling me this morning (she was at practice with the girls yesterday) both coaches took a few minutes yesterday to tell the girls how proud they were of them and how well they followed directions.

Sia
Member

03-11-2002

Sunday, June 07, 2009 - 5:48 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sia a private message Print Post    
War, I'm so happy to hear of coaches who give positive messages to the kids with whom they work. I went to a baseball game to see my nephew play a couple of weeks ago (the worst/best two hours of my life, in itself a funny story) and had to hear one of the "coaches" scold my 130-pound hulk of a nephew for failing to slide into second base feet-first. Had he done so, he'd have hurt the tiny 40-pound porcelain doll who was playing second base for the opposing team. They have both boys and girls on the teams and there is a great disparity in the sizes and weights of the kids. I think they're all 1st and 2nd-graders, but they range all over the place.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Sunday, June 07, 2009 - 9:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
We've been up against teams that have the screaming coaches and I can't stand that. The is kids should be having fun, not getting yelled at like that! Some of them are absolutely brutal.

I'll say that our coaches last week pretty much took off the coach hats and acted like nothing more than dads (good thing.) They made sure the girls weren't scared, worried, nervous, or too hyper and then they told them how proud they were of them and how well they did during the whole thing.

Happymom
Member

01-20-2003

Monday, June 08, 2009 - 3:41 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Happymom a private message Print Post    
War, Wow what a story! Good for those girls! Sometimes adults can really learn a lot from kids! Plenty of adults would not have been able to carry on with their responsibilities in such a situation.

(A couple years ago, I was on a field trip with a car full of kids and had a flat tire (actually burned through flapping flat tire) on a busy highway at a busy time in a precarious place and I was so proud of the kids! They all did exactly what I told them to do!)

I hope it's an ongoing thread too. Fortunately, I don't have anything to contribute at this time.

Whoami
Member

08-03-2001

Monday, June 08, 2009 - 5:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Whoami a private message Print Post    
Do events from long ago count?

It was over 25 years ago, when we lived in the town before this one. We didn’t have a car (or else it was when the one we had was on the blink). Trips to the store were usually more like an expedition than anything. We'd laden down our shoulders with tied together grocery bags (plastic bags with sturdy handles were imperative), and drape more bags off our arms, several off each arm. And more bags in our hands.

This time around, our washing machine had broken down. So, being experts at expeditions now, we prepared for a trek to the laundry mat. We stuffed our laundry in big trash bags, tied them together and slung them over our shoulders, then carried more in our hands. Our trek home with the now clean laundry was the same thing.

This might be a good time to add that we were also pressed for time, as KTBB and I were due to leave shortly for a color guard rehearsal, and our ride would be appearing in our carport within the hour. Because we knew we'd be pressed for time, we stopped off at the store and purchased some quick TV dinners to prepare so we could eat and dash once we got home from our expedition.

So, we trudge home with our load, and I'm the first to get to our front door. We've always had pets, and its just second nature to get in the door in a hurry, and get it closed quickly behind us so no four-footed friends get out the door (we had no screen door in that house). I put down one handful of bags and unlock the door, and push it open just enough to clear the door jam. Then I retrieve my handful of bags, push the door open with my foot and proceed into the house. However, the door did not just swing gently open in front of me. It fell clean off the hinges!

We get the three of us in the house as quickly as possible, laden down with our bags, blocking the now wide-open doorway from the furry crew with our bodies until we could get all the way into the entryway. One of us keeps the animals at bay; the other one holds the door up against the doorway to block any easy escape. Mom finds the TV dinners, and decides to preheat the oven (this was before the time of microwaves, or at least before our time of having one in the house), and then tend to the door while the oven preheated.

We turn our attention to the door, but that attention is short lived. Cause the heating element in the oven overheated (or something like that) breaks in two and catches the oven on fire. It was a small fire and a bit of baking soda took care of it quickly. But now we have no dinner, and two people struggling to re-hang the heavy front door (while the other one keeps the pets at bay) before KTBB and I have to leave.

Truthfully, after all these years, I don't really recall exactly how we ended that episode. I think we did what we could to the door, and I remember Mom telling us it would be ok for us to go ahead and leave once our ride got there. So Mom must have finished putting the front door back on by herself. And eventually we got a new heating element for the oven and fixed that too.

I know that wasn't nearly as captivating a story as War’s. LOL. Perhaps I could also tell the story of when we had a non-functional furnace, and the only source of heat for the house was the oven. I remember wearing several layers of clothes in the house, and several blankets at night in bed. We had to endure that for a while until we could finally afford to have the furnace repaired. Once it was repaired, and we were rejoicing in the concept of heat in the house, the refrigerator went on the fritz. We always wondered if it was one of those “if its not one thing its another" type things, or if the refrigerator had always been on the fritz, but it was too cold in the house at the time to know the difference.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Monday, June 08, 2009 - 11:23 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
LOL Who! I've met your mom, the idea of her hanging a door by herself gave me the giggles, she's so tiny. I can just see ya'll trying to struggle with keeping the door up and the pets in with a fire in the kitchen, lol.

Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 - 1:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
What War said about your mom hanging a door on her own!! Just for size.. she is spunky enough to try it even now.

Supergranny
Member

02-03-2005

Saturday, June 20, 2009 - 10:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Supergranny a private message Print Post    
War, our son was supposed to be at Edwards last week testing and documenting a new plane. They couldn't do it because of the big soccer tournament there. He's leaving Wens so when you see the big new Boeing 737 over you...wave cause that's him.

But the interesting thing is that the crew has been briefed about the violence and crime in that area. They are to leave nothing in the cars. They used to put the Boeing people up at the Inn in Lancaster but the company says the area is too rough and they are in Palmdale. So Lancaster does seem to be getting a bad rap from all over. That's too bad.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Sunday, June 21, 2009 - 12:05 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
Heh, I know exactly what Inn you are talking about and the area it's in. We used to live in an apartment one street over. When we first moved in it was a great neighborhood but within two years, leaving things in the car was the least of your worries. About a week before we moved into the house, there was a drive by shooting.

On the positive side, the cops and city have been cracking down a great deal over the last couple years. It's slow going though!

Ohhhh new plane, cool! Does your son fly? I'm guessing he does. I always want to know if they are yelling YEEHAW as they take off. We've watched them for years do touch and go's (outta plant 42 in Palmdale) and it looks like it'd be the funnest thing ever, lol. Oh, and warn him our weather has been insane this year! It was cool today and downright cold this evening, and windy as usual, and not up in the 90's like usual. I can't even begin to guess what it's going to be like next week.

Ophiliasgrandma
Member

09-04-2001

Sunday, June 21, 2009 - 9:44 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ophiliasgrandma a private message Print Post    
Thanksgiving morning the oven broke...luckily a repair man came and TG dinner was saved.

Christmas day, 31 to dinner when I clogged up the sink garbage disposal with potato peelings. DS saved the day by disassembling the beast and got it working again. You really do need your kitchen sink when you're hosting a large gathering for dinner.