Taking Down the House

Thursday: worked past 6 pm. Drove straight home. A big branch had fallen from the storm. Anna and Goose ate supper with us. Then C and I pulled junk from the attic downstairs. Got me all dirty. I also washed a couple loads of laundry. Also went to gas up the car. Was after 11 pm before I got to bed. Watched some of the Florida Utah game.

My friend Lee came over at 7 am. We loaded his pickup and took it to the Cobb County dump. Back home by 9 am. Was on the road to SC by ten. Drove past Augusta and stopped 11 miles into SC. Stopped again in Camden at Chick-fil-A. I had a milkshake.

Ceil's brother's family had been working all day, cleaning out their parent's house. We got a dumpster outside. We unearthed a bunch of golf balls, and neckties. Not that I wear them anymore.

Picked up supper from the Golden Nugget, the popular (and only) restaurant in town. I messed up Ceil's order, so I had to go back (a whole quarter mile). She had broiled jumbo shrimp. I ate the fried shrimp and my chicken tenders. Saved the extra baked potato and Cole slaw for Saturday breakfast.

We had a busy Saturday. No place to donate that's not an hour round trip. Been cleaning out closets and drawers and rooms that were stuffed with stuff. Old expired drugs as old as 1993. Magazines. Hundreds of golf tees. Dozens of old clubs. Six old golf bags. Hundreds of old books. Back and forth to the dumpster. Winnie had Rusty's dog to play with. Hundreds of old family photos and albums. Old commemorative Cokes and Pepsis from NASCAR, Clemson, the 96 Olympics.

I've saved a few things: golf balls, a few pens and pencils, shoestrings, a couple of books ("Bobby Jones on Golf" and a book written by former Rams receiver Lance Rentzal). Several photos. Umbrellas. Four ties. A rain jacket. C's brother's family has worked 2 full days and me and C one. Made a ton of progress, but there's still a bunch to do.

Pizza Hut for lunch. Rusty made homemade vanilla ice cream. C made lasagna for supper. Had football on the TV all day.

Braves beat the Dodgers two straight, after sweeping the Rockies in Denver and taking 2 of 3 in San Fran. Before that 2 of 3 from the Mets.

Sunday: more of the same. Just not quite as much.

Monday: long day. Did more cleaning up. Also packed the car. And packed. Didn't leave until 2:30, then Chick-fil-A and gas, plus a pit stop in Madison. Traffic. Got home at 7:45 and it took an hour to unpack.

A short history of the Masters' ticket lottery.

The origin of Elaine's awkward dancing  - SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels.

This weekend Jordan's crunchy croutons reminded me of the old SNL commercial for Quarry cereal  - "chock full of minerals". 

MIKE TROUT [B-R Bio] led the majors in WAR in four of his first five complete seasons. (In the fifth, he only led his league). Trout's WAR rating from 2012 to 2016 of 10.5, 8.9, 7.7, 9.6, and 10.5. He is the youngest member of the 30/30 club. In his rookie season of 2012, Trout hit 30 HR and had 49 SB a record level for rookies. Trout eats pickles before every game.

DENISON: reflections on America's post-Christian future. Axios notes that China's economy has been plagued by weak growth, a popped real estate bubble, and mass unemployment among young adults. Rather than dealing with these problems, China's government is hiding them. Recent reports showed unemployment among young adults reached 21.3% in June, but the government suspended the release of the data. The Economist agrees "China's economy won't be fixed" because "the autocratic government is making bad decisions." China's living standards are less than 20% of America's. "Many of its challenges stem from broader failures of its economic policymaking—which are getting worse as President Xi Jinping centralizes power."