Many errands and household chores got crammed into Tuesday, so a belated look back at the final weekend of the summer. It was very good, but also kind of crappy.

The good parts were:
* The girls getting a four-day weekend. It was nice to sleep in a bit Friday before all our other activities for the weekend.
* Our KC friends the B’s were in town, staying with local pals the H’s. Together we went to watch our local high school play football Friday night, then down to the lake Saturday and part of Sunday. It was a perfect lake weekend: sunny and hot. We tubed and cruised, floated and swam, drank and ate.
* Some old friends who now live in Michigan were visiting the lake as well. It was good to catch-up briefly.
* After our guests left, we hung around Sunday night and had one, last relaxing summer evening down there. Well, if you call doing laundry, mowing the grass, and putting the summer toys away relaxing. Odds are there will be several more decent lake days before the season is officially over. But with a cross country meet every Saturday and a soccer game every Sunday for the next six weeks, the next time we use the boat will likely be when we take it out to store it for the winter. Man does the lake part of the year go fast.

As for the bad parts, they were all sports-related:
* Our local high school football team lost to one of its big rivals 24–21 Friday. That was a bummer because A) we all went to the game together (the girls had a great time), and B) our buddy Coach H is now the head coach. Losses suck a little more when you friend is the one who is taking the heat for it.
* KU lost likely it’s only winnable game of the year. Expectations are always pretty low at KU. This year they are as low as they’ve ever been. Blame Lew Perkins and Turner Gill, or Sheahon Zenger and Charlie Weis. Or all of them. The fact is the program is an absolute mess. The only good news is this should be rock bottom. It can’t get worse, right? Of course, it may not get better for awhile. I think David Beaty has the right combination of recruiting mojo and coaching chops to get it turned around. It’s just going to take 3–5 years. And maybe another round of conference realignment that allows KU to get in a situation where they can play four non-conference games instead of three. Unlike the last two coaches, I really like Beaty. Hopefully the cause isn’t hopeless.
* In addition, the proud, freedom-loving, equality for all men craving Jayhawk was besmirched on the field an hour to the west. We live in an era of stupid, manufactured controversies. Far too many of us scream with outrage over the tiniest of slights. This “controversy” is profoundly dumb. My bigger concern is why the hell was K-State making fun of KU when they were playing South Dakota? The Wildcats have won something like 17 of the last 20 football games against KU. Seems like they should be worrying more about Baylor and TCU than big brother over in Lawrence.
* The Royals got swept at home by the White Sox and then fell Monday to Minnesota. Thank goodness they won Tuesday, keeping their longest losing stretch of the year four games. Lots of wringing of hands about several parts of the team. I’m not wringing my hands just yet. Still three weeks to get things figured out.

It was a busy four-plus days. Hope all of you had fine holiday weekends to wrap up your summers, too.