Kitty Litter

I write this in the Days Inn in Ozarks, Missouri. We drove 3.5 hours down here yesterday only to find out the field was extremely wet. We arrived at the park, which is an old minor league facility, with the grounds crew working on the field. Most field have a large tarp which covers the infield to prevent the water soaking the field. Missouri has been getting a lot of rain the past few weeks and the tarp allows teams to continue to play when the rain breaks. Well the tarp that covers this field has holes in it and the infield became wet and unplayable.

There are many tricks in trying to get a field ready. Some coaches and ground crew pour gasoline in the puddles and then put a match to it to dry them up. With the price of gas nowadays that's an expensive effort. There is a compound called QuickDry that absorbs the water and helps to dry the field quickly. This method is also expensive with bags costing around $10 and taking up to 10-20 bags to get the job done. If you haven't guessed it already, kitty litter has the same effect as QuickDry, without being so expensive. There is a drawback: it smells like a litter box!

So the boys went to a restaurant called Lambert's, which has really good home style meals. They also have an unusual atmosphere with the wait staff walking around with appetizers that they dish out of bowls and place on napkins on your table. This includes: fried okra, macaroni n' cheese with tomatoes, and rolls that they throw from across the restaurant! We had a great meal and a great time. Some of the guys sent a birthday gift to one of the assistant coaches with balloons and a cinnamon roll. Good times.

We play a triple-header today to open the season. The sky is blue this morning, the wind blowing east to west, and it's a perfect day for a game(s)!

Will write tomorrow with the results of our day. Go Grays!