Saturday, November 5th, 2022

 THAT'S ANOTHER CYCLONE... VICTORY! 

Today was the 2022 homecoming football game for Iowa State, and I'm glad to say that the Cyclones were able to play well and defeat the West Virginia Mountaineers, 31-14.  

Since it was homecoming, I helped push my aunt LaVonne in her wheelchair like usual, for the ISU alumni band.  We started the day at the Bergstrom practice facility, where the alumni band and the regular ISU varsity band practiced formations and how they would enter / exit the field for halftime.  At the start of the day, we were not even sure if we would be performing during the halftime show, since it was raining so much that there was some thought that the halftime show would be cancelled in order to not tear up the field if it was too wet.  The rain eventually subsided, and the sun came out enough to let us perform.  

As for the game, Hunter Dekkers threw 2 TD passes, and the ISU defense came up big quite a few times.  The defense held West Virginia to 200 yards of total offense (some of that coming in garbage time), and they forced seven 3-and-outs.  Anthony Johnson also had an interception for the ISU defence.

Today is the second time that I have seen the Cyclones defeat West Virginia in football (2018 was the other).  Besides those two wins, the only other time that I had attended an ISU/WV game was a West Virginia win back in 2012.  

Go Cyclones!

A view of the action in the second half.

Saturday, October 29th, 2022

 This morning I woke up early so I could be out at the tailgate lots by 7:30, to have some fun before the Cyclones kicked off against Oklahoma at 11:00.  Unfortunately, as has been the case most of the season, the Cyclones ended up on the wrong end of the scoreboard, 27-13.  

The tailgate was fun at least.  We set up under the southwest corner of the Scheman building, so we did not have to worry about putting up any tents.  Dan had his blackstone griddle, and he fried up bacon, hash browns, and eggs, and we made breakfast bowls.  

As for the game, the Cyclone offense just could not get anything going.  Hunter Dekkers unfortunately threw 3 interceptions, and our running game was mostly non-existent.  I believe that today was the fourth time that I have attended an ISU football game vs Oklahoma (2018, 2014, and 2012 were the others).  The Sooners are the only Big 12 team that I have not seen the Cyclones defeat in person, and with the Sooners set to leave for the SEC in a few years, I might just be out of luck with that.  

Another fun thing to note today was that Maxwell was able to ride a bicycle without training wheels for the first time today!  Elizabeth had him practicing, and he was able to ride all the way over the Daley park by himself.  

Sunday, October 2nd, 2022

 Well, it certainly feels like fall around here.  Eben called me today and said that he just finished combining soybeans.  What really made it feel like fall though was taking the family to Center Grove Orchard.  We took a nice family photo, the kids got to play on a variety of things, and we picked out some pumpkins.  The big white pumpkin that we bought ended up weighing just over 53 pounds!  I weighed Maxwell while I had the scale out, and he weighs 54 pounds... pretty darn close to the pumpkin.  

Saturday. September 24th, 2022

Today I woke up early and brought both kids out to the tailgate lots by 7:00 for a fun day of tailgating and football.  Well, at least the tailgating was fun.  We set up camp under the SW corner overhang of the Scheman building to stay out of the sun.  The kids had plenty of grassy area just to the south to run around and play catch with a football.  I brought some Casey's breakfast pizzas, and others brought biscuits and gravy.  

As for the game, well, it was not as much fun.  Baylor ended up defeating Iowa State, 31-24. The first touchdown drive for Baylor was especially painful to watch, as there was a complete BS targeting penalty called on ISU, which caused Beau Freyler to miss the rest of the game.  That was one of about three terrible 15 yard penalties called on the Cyclones today.  Baylor still made the plays to win the game, but poor officiating definitely adds some frustration to watching games like this.  

Anyways, it was nice to have both of the boys get to watch a game with me at Jack Trice.  Today was the fourth time that I have seen Iowa State play Baylor in football.  The other years were wins in 2018 and 2012, and a loss back when I was an undergrad student in 2005.    This was the 8th football game that Nolan has been to, and his 4th conference game (Oklahoma 2018, Texas Tech 2020, and Kansas State 2021 were the others).  As for Maxwell, this was his 4th football game and second conference game that he has attended (the other was Kansas State 2021).  

Maxwell and Nolan with the view from our seated in section G.

Monday, September 5th, 2022

 Happy Labor Day everyone.  Today I did something that I haven’t done since early 2006… donate plasma.  I remember that when I first started to blog it was something I would talk about.  I went back to the same place I used to donate as a college student, BioLife.  I sat in the “Red” section today and gave from my left arm.  It all went pretty smoothly for me, although there was another person there that was having a bad reaction to it.  Anyways, if I can occasionally donate plasma it could be a nice way to help chip in for a vacation that we have planned in over a year…

Saturday, September 3rd, 2022

I am feeling a bit exhausted at the moment after being outside in the sun all day, but it was well worth it to enjoy Iowa State's season-opening football game against Southeast Missouri State.  The Cyclones rolled over the Redhawks, 42-10.

This year we are parking in the B1 lot, which is just north of the Scheman building.  We had to move away from the G7 lot that had always been our tailgate home, as that was converted to RV lots.  I think that the kids had a lot of fun at the tailgate.  Maxwell and Glenn were inseparable.  Nolan hung out with Bash most of the time, and we played catch with the nerf football quite a bit.  I brought a bunch of Fareway pork burgers to grill, and Dan made some smoked chicken wings that were very good.

As for the game itself, Xavier Hutchinson had three receiving touchdowns.  Hunter Dekkers looked solid for his first career start.  There was not much drama in the game, as SEMO was not very good.

Our whole family was able to attend today's game.  Nolan sat with me (with our mobile pass tickets), while Maxwell and Elizabeth used some free tickets that she got from work.  The weather was very nice for a home opener - kickoff was 74 degrees and sunny.  I believe that this was Nolan's 7th ISU football game, and it was Maxwell's 3rd game.  

Go Cyclones!!

  

Thursday, July 14th, 2022

 Today is a special day, as Nolan is now NINE YEARS OLD!!  It's incredible how fast the boys are growing up.

To recap today, both of the boys stayed home from day camp while Elizabeth worked from home.  They had lots of time to relax and play.  After I got home from work, Nolan was able to open a few presents.  The main present that he got was a rock tumbler, to help polish rocks that he collects.  He also received a Minecraft-themed Uno card game, which we played with him tonight (Nolan won by the way).  

Then we took the boys over to Edwards, where a Kona Ice truck was there serving shaved ice.  After Nolan and Maxwell finished those treats, we all went out to Hickory Park to celebrate.  Nolan actually ordered off of the adult menu instead of the kids menu... which I believe is a first time ever.  I guess that is just another sign that he is getting big!  Anyways, he ordered a pork steak (basically two 4-oz smoked pork chops) dinner with a side of fries and a side of cottage cheese.  Maxwell had a hot dog kid's meal with mac & cheese, Elizabeth had a side of fries, and I had a pork tenderloin sandwich.  Of course, they came and sang happy birthday to Nolan, and the kids got ice cream for dessert.  

When we got home from supper, the boys got to stay up later than usual to have videos in bed.  I'd say they had a pretty good day today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOLAN!!

Here we are playing Nolan's new Uno card game.