Is It Football Yet? +Addendum

Carter-Finley Stadium - New Fast Drain,
Flat Football Field During Construction

The talk around the office (full of NC State Engineers and Season Ticket Holders) has been the upcoming football season.

We’re all excited.

Anything less than 7 and 5 will be a disappointment.

But, you say – 7 and 5? That’s OK, but not that great.

Maybe so, maybe not.

The expectation is – the 5 losses will be close. In other words – State will be a ‘dangerous’ team for other higher rated teams to play. On paper – maybe we should lose – but with a break here, a busted play there – and State could beat any team on the schedule. Including @ Florida State and @ Virginia Tech.

In several pre-season articles – NC State is touted as a dark horse.

We’ve been plagued the last 2 years with unbelievable injuries. But so far this year, everybody is healthy including a couple of ‘stars’ that haven’t played in the past due to injuries.

Now, in the last couple of weeks, I’ve read articles that flat out predict that NC State will be the surprise team in the nation – going all the way to the ACC Championship game.

An article in today’s News & Observer gives an overview of the upcoming ACC season and predicts that NC State will finish in first place at 6 and 2 in the Atlantic Division and will play VT (predicted to be 7 and 1 in the Coastal Division) in the ACC Championship Game.

Of course, all this is counting your chickens before they hatch.

I’m sticking with 7 and 5 (overall) and finishing 2nd in the Atlantic Division and playing in a pretty good bowl game.

Still – if you read between the lines of today’s N&O article – a 6 and 2 ACC Conference record has implications for the overall record.

With 8 Conference games – State plays 4 non-conference teams: Murray State, Gardner-Webb, South Carolina and Pittsburgh.

State will win against Murray State and Gardner-Webb. We should be slightly favored over South Carolina. Pittsburgh will be a toss up on paper – but I think that Pitt will be down from last year with having a much younger team due to graduations.

So – let’s say Pitt wins – that means State should still win 3 non-conference games. Combine that with the article’s prediction of our final record in the ACC and you’ve got a 9 and 3 season. Beat Pitt and we’re 10 and 2. If we sneak up on FSU or VT in the Conference - then you’re looking at an improbable 11 and 1 regular season.

If that happens – as Fred Sanford used to say – “Elizabeth honey, I’m coming to join you!”

LOL

Again – counting chickens before they hatch.

I’ll be very happy at 7 and 5. Anything more? - I’ll be ecstatic!

Football is 2 months away.

I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas in November.

Addendum

Talk about not counting your chickens . . .

Linebacker Nate Irving was a phenom his freshman year. Last year he was only able to play in about 4 games due to an ankle injury. But he was back at full speed during spring practice and a probable All ACC player this year. He is definitely a future NFL First Round pick. Nate is a big reason we're hoping for a good year.

Not one hour after I wrote the above post - the news reports came out. Nate has been in a car crash and has a broken leg and collapsed lung. He will undergo surgery this evening.

Wishing the best for Nate.

I hope Nate has a speedy recovery and maybe even be able to play this year. Not just for State - but for himself.

Dexter

My friend DB gets HBO and Showtime. For years now he’s been telling me that Showtime's Dexter is a great show.

I put Dexter on my Netflix list and the first discs have arrived.

This week the roomie and I started watching it.

It’s awesome. The writing is very crisp and dry – in a very weird funny way. Even the opening credits are funny – if you pay attention. By the way – that’s a blood orange that gets cut open.

The story lines, characters, music, camera work, creativity and writing are just simply excellent.

To have come up with such an offbeat show – the creators / writers obviously could use some psychiatric help.

This kind of sums it up - While watching the third episode - Here’s the verbatim exchange between Nuke and myself:

Nuke (grinning): “You really like this show don’t you?”

Me: “Oh yeah!”

Nuke (laughing): “I knew you were a sick fucker.”

LOL

Life on the Road

I travel throughout North Carolina for my job.

Usually I am out of town for the week. Sometimes, however, I'm on-site for only a day or so.

Today is one of those times.

I'm currently in Sylva - a small town near Western Carolina University. I'll be here a couple of days.

This is my room at Comfort Inn on the Highway.

 

Ahhhhh - the life of the Super High Level Jet-Set Executive.

I think my nephew, David, does a whole lot better working, and travelling, for Google.

Bunnies

Two years ago I put fabric and wood chips around the house. The idea was to have landscaping beds. It looked great for about a year. But then, the chips start to decay which creates soil on top of the fabric - which became the home for a yard full of weeds! It looked awful.

So, this spring and early summer, I’ve been removing the fabric and chips. Still looking for something more natural than grass – I’ve planted white dutch clover. So far – it looks like I’ve found the answer.

Clover will only grow to about 4 to 6 inches in height. It can also be mowed for when I’d like a manicured lawn look – but normally – it’s best to just let the clover grow to its natural size.

Clover extracts nitrogen from the air so fertilizer isn’t needed. Once it grows dense enough, it usually will choke out weeds. It has a deep root system so it resists draught conditions. Clover grows and spreads under just about any condition – full sun, partial shade, total shade. It’s even growing like crazy under the back deck. So it looks like I’ll have a nice cool green cover even under the deck instead of the typical dismal bare dirt.

Plus – it’s a natural food for deer, rabbits and other small critters.

It’s working. For the past week, I’ve seen a whole bunch of bunnies eating in the front year in the morning when I go to work. Friday morning I counted 6.

I’ll try and get a photo.

Speaking of yard work – my farking lawn mower died. Nuke said it quit on him last time he mowed. I started it up this weekend – was mowing – and the same thing happened. It just died. Wouldn’t restart. I’ve been tinkering with it but no luck.

So – I’m headed over to Lowes in Pittsboro in a while to pick up a new riding lawn mower. Plus, one of the guys that works there does small engine repair and also does volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and such. He’s going to take my old mover – repair it – and donate to either a family that needs a mower or will sell it at the Habitat Store in Pittsboro.

And - my TV is trying to die. The picture / screen goes away every so often and I have to shut it off and let it rest for a while. It's happening more and more frequently. Unfortunatly, looks like I'll be buying a new TV as well.

A thousand here, a thousand there - pretty soon - this is going to start to add up.

Lilies

 

 

The orange and cream color lilies in planting pots on the back deck have started to bloom this week.

I first planted the bulbs 2 winters ago. They bloomed last year and then receded over the winter. This is their second year and the number of bulbs and plants have increased.

Unfortunately, the lilies crowded out the tulips (planted in the same pots) which tried to grow and bloom first.

They co-existed great last year - the tulips blooming first - than the lilies a couple months later.

But this year - the lilies quickly overgrew the tulips and took over.

Looks like I may have finally found something to grow in the deck pots that even my brown thumb can't kill.

As always, click on the photos for a closer / better look.