Fences and a Trip to Houston.

Wow! I knew I had gotten busy this summer and slacked off the blog. I didn't realize it has been almost a month since I posted. Lots going on that ate up my posting time. In the meantime the Rangers managed to get their magic number to clinch the American League West down to two games. Looks like they might well clinch in Oakland again.

Perhaps the biggest thing I had going was a fence replacement. This last spring a portion of our back fence blew down. The neighbor and I repaired it but it was obvious the time was short before a new fence would be needed. We crunched numbers and decided to wait until September to get the project done. Out came the old fence and in went the new. At least for about 60% of my yard. Now one of the other neighbors is talking about replacing the fence between us within the next month or so. That's going to take some more time but will almost completely give me a new fence to keep the dog and kids in.

In the midst of the fence endeavor, Spiff Jr and I took a short trip down to Houston to follow the Rangers to Minute Maid Park. We watched the game on September 12th. Took some time to walk around the park before the game. It was my first time in an enclosed stadium and I wasn't really impressed. Not that there was anything just terribly wrong, Minute Maid is a nice park. I just prefer outside baseball I guess. Hopefully the Rangers new enclosed park will be left open most of the time. The other thing that struck me was that there were almost as many Rangers fans there as Astros fans. Hopefully the Rangers can avoid that problem as well. The Rangers winning the contest in extras put a great finish to the night.

Of course, we had to check out the local card shop before the game. I found the Houston Sports Connection online prior to our trip and we made it a point to get there. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't Duane's Sportscards in Arlington. The shop employees were friendly and we picked up some needed supplies. The shop was cluttered though and seemed to be focused on high-end cards and autographed memorabilia. I didn't see a single quarter box or very many common cards at all, even of the Astros. We did manage to find several game-used and autographed Rangers cards though, including the pictured 2004 Leaf Second Edition Kevin Mench auto. The prices on those weren't unreasonable but it didn't take long for Spiff Jr to run through his budget. I think he would have preferred some lower priced cards to take a look at. All things considered, if I am ever in Houston again I will probably try to stop by again.

All in all the trip was great. We had some guy time, hit a card shop, and got to a game. Can't beat that. Unfortunately the fall is just as busy as the summer was. Another fence project, Spiff Jr back to playing ball, and several other family activities could make it a challenge to keep up on the posting. I'll do my best though to stay on top of things and not be a stranger.