It wasn’t that long ago when Labor Day weekends were big, involved deals for us. When we were lake house owners, that would always be the last blowout of the year. Lots of friends or family down for two final days of floating, swimming, boating and fun.
We’ve backed off that pace quite a bit and these weekends are much more laid back. We did have some friends over Sunday evening. I spent about 10 hours smoking a pork shoulder which turned out well. I may have had a beer or two too many, though, and Monday morning was a struggle. Sadly that “beer or two too many” limit comes a lot quicker than it used to.
Here’s what else went on during our final weekend of the summer.
HS Football
It was a PERFECT night for football as Class 6A #6 Cathedral pounded #9 Penn 35–6 Friday. The Irish were up 35–0 at halftime and all the starters sat out the second half. The fourth or fifth string let in a long, impressive touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to ruin the shutout.
This is homecoming week with big rival, Class 3A #1 Bishop Chatard on the schedule.
KU Football
My first point, one I will repeat next week, is that playing a college football game on a Friday night is generally stupid. When you are a program that has struggled to be successful and generate fan interest for over a decade, it is super dumb. So big thumbs down to KU for deciding to play the first two games of the season on Friday nights. Sounds like they had a decent crowd last week, but I bet playing on the night when almost every high school in the state was also playing cost them a few thousand more asses in the seats.
I didn’t get to check the score until halftime of the CHS game, when it was tied at 7-all late in the first quarter. That alone confirmed that Jalon Daniels was not playing.
I was able to listen to the first drive of the second half – a KU touchdown – and then watch the rest of the second half. Obviously I was the key as the team shook off some inconsistent play and did what you’re supposed to do to FCS teams. It was just a few years back when KU was losing these games, so a 31-point win without the starting QB was just fine.
As I only saw part of the game, I won’t offer any assessments.
College Football
OK, we all owe Deion an apology, right? I mean all of you who doubted him. Because I, of course, did not. I believed he would turn Colorado around immediately. Never had a single question.
It was good to have a full slate of games, even if I spent four hours of the day in the car between here and Cincinnati. More on that in a moment…
Auto Update
My appointment to get an estimate on the girls’ car was last Thursday. My big fear was that they would need to open the back tailgate to assess the damage, not be able to get it shut, and we would lose the car because of that.
Turns out that shouldn’t have been my worry.
They crawled underneath the vehicle, looked for about five minutes, and told me the impact bar was compromised and the car was no longer drivable if we wanted insurance to cover the repairs.
Great.
I already got an initial estimate but the car is supposed to be disassembled today for a full inspection, so I guess we’ll see. Turns out the other kid’s family’s insurance company uses the same body shop as one of their preferred vendors, so hopefully no issues getting payment hammered out. The shop told me Mazda parts aren’t too difficult to find, and ballparked it at 2–3 weeks for repairs.
All that means I’m back on the school driving grind for awhile. The only bonus to that is I get to sleep an extra half hour since I don’t have to wake C up as early as when she drives.
A Weekend Visitor
As for that trip to Cincinnati, last Wednesday M texted us and said she had looked at her schedule of sorority events and realized this was the last weekend she had a chance to come home for awhile. The catch was that while she did not have a ticket to the Bearcats’ season opener Saturday, she did want to hang around for “tailgating and fun,” which I thought was a hilarious way to put it. She asked if we could pick her up late afternoon to bring her back for a quick visit. We didn’t have anything on our calendar, so we said of course.
I drove down and picked her up around 5:00. I checked the UC score when I parked and they were up on Eastern Kentucky something like 45–7 just before halftime. It was very hot in Cincinnati and people were already streaming out of the stadium to return to tailgates or just get out of the sun with the game firmly in control.
Long-time readers with great memories may recall the years I picked M up from CYO camp, when she would talk nonstop for the entire 90-minute drive home telling me every detail of her week away. This time she had three weeks of material and talked the entire two hours home. I didn’t mind.
She seems to be doing well. Classes aren’t too hard. She and her roommate are getting along great. She really likes the girls in her sorority. She’s made a co-ed friend group in the dorm.
The only bummer was she found a fraudulent charge on her debit card a week ago. Fortunately it was for only $2.00 and the bank reimbursed her. Glad she has learned the lesson that it’s a good idea to check your account frequently before a single bad charge can turn into a bunch of them that wipe out her balance. She’s been able to manage between Venmo and the balance on her Bearcat Card. Hopefully her new debit card will arrive this week.
Friends who have already been through this will likely agree with me, but one of the greatest sounds you will ever hear as a parent is when your college student comes home and she and her siblings are all upstairs, screaming and laughing together.
She saw one friend while she was home, did some laundry, took some naps, and hung out with us. Pretty low key.
S took her back on Monday afternoon. It was a quick but good visit.
As of now we aren’t scheduled to see her again until Family Weekend in late October, although I may go down for a football game earlier in October.