my micro-blog
So another quiet Tuesday comes to a close.
I'll put on some relaxing music and read some light fiction before putting head to pillow.
And I'll hope that luck is with the wife tonight at the Bingo Hall. Our household budget could use a little boost.
and so the adventure continues.
posted by Roscoe
Today was simple and successful. I had the one main chore, my weekly laundry, to take care of. And I did. Other than that, I kept to my prayer regimen, and kept up with the increased number of correspondence chess games I've got going now. And that pretty much filled up this Monday in the Roscoe-verse.
Oh, an extra prayer tonight for a friend who has cataract surgery tomorrow.
and the adventure continues.
posted by Roscoe
Though I feel pretty good about the chores I was able to accomplish this past week, they were mostly “inside” chores: things I was able to get done sitting here at my work table. Yard work chores are still calling to me: not desperately ... yet. But I hope to get to them during the upcoming week before they get out of hand.
So the adventure continues.
posted by Roscoe
The elements for a Classic Saturday in the Roscoe-verse are scheduled. We'll have two afternoon Big Ten Conference College Football Games: first up will be the Ohio St. Buckeyes vs the Illinois Fighin' Illini; and that will be followed by the Indiana Hoosiers vs the Oregon Ducks. And in the evening, Svengoolie will bring me a pair of classic monster movies.
And the adventure continues.
posted by Roscoe
I hope so. I've not really watched much MLB since the early part of the season, but I'm counting on the Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners to provide some good baseball tonight when they meet in the “do or die” game 5 of their ALDS match up. I will be watching!
And the adventure continues.
posted by Roscoe
This Thursday was a quiet, ordinary day in the Roscoe-verse.
No major problems of any kind. And for that I'm very thankful!
And the adventure continues...
posted by Roscoe
We remember from last week that we left Dorothy and her friends, and Princess Ozma and her crew, all tying to rescue the rightful Queen of Ev and her ten children. The Queen and her children were being held captive by the Nome King. Dorothy and Ozma were successful. And all returned to Ev where a huge celebration was held. The Queen told her rescuers they were welcome to stay in her land as honored guests. But Ozma said she needed to return to Oz to rule over her people. And Dorothy wanted to get back to her Uncle Henry in Australia and help nurse him back to health. So Ozma used her newly acquired magic belt and transported Dorothy to Uncle Henry's side.
And so ended Book 3 of 14, Ozma of Oz.
Now we find ourselves in Book 4, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.
Uncle Henry's health and disposition improved greatly when Dorothy returned to him. He decided he was well enough to return to his ranch in Kansas. He and Dorothy had a pleasant voyage back to America, and he went straight back to Kansas while Dorothy stayed a short while, visiting family in California. Her visit over, Dorothy and her pet cat, Eureka, and her cousin Zeb, were riding in a buggy pulled by an old horse named Jim. Then a big earthquake came.
Dorothy and her friends were swallowed up by a big crack in the ground. They fell, and fell, and finally landed in a glass city. Many of the buildings there, all made of glass, were damaged by rocks which rained down as a result of the earthquake above. A second “rock rain” followed shortly, caused by another quake above. And with this second, another buggy came down. A little man stepped out of this buggy and Dorothy happily recognized him as her old friend, the Wizard of Oz.
The Mangaboos, the vegetable people of the glass city, were not all happy with these new arrivals and chased them out of their land. They escaped into a big cave in the side of a mountain and wandered through other strange lands and had many adventures including fighting off an attack by Invisible Bears, and escaping from vicious wooden Gargoyles who captured them. Now they find themselves in a huge cave nervously surrounded by hungry young dragons who are waiting for their mother to return with food for them. They're hoping for an elephant, or maybe an ox...
And the adventure continues.
posted by Roscoe
I won this club-based correspondence chess tournament game a few days ago with the Rook, Queen, Bishop Combination Checkmate seen above. The full move record of this game: 1. d4 d5 2. h3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. a3 a6 5. Nd2 c6 6. c4 g6 7. Ngf3 h6 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bd3 Bg7 10. Ne5 Bxe5 11. O-O Nd7 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nc4 Nxc4 14. Bxc4 Nxe3 15. Bxe3 Qxd1 16. Rfxd1 O-O 17. Bxh6 Re8 18. Bf4 b5 19. Bb3 Bb7 20. Rd7 Rab8 21. Rad1 Rbd8 22. Bc7 Rxd7 23. Rxd7 c5 24. Be5 Bc6 25. Rd6 Bd5 26. Bxd5 exd5 27. Rxd5 f6 28. Bxf6 Re1+ 29. Kh2 c4 30. Bc3 Re2 31. f3 Kh7 32. Rd7+ Kh6 33. Rd6 Kh5 34. Rxa6 g5 35. Rb6 b4 36. Rxb4 Kh4 37. Rxc4+ Kh5 38. Kg3 Re3 39. a4 Re8 40. Kh2 Re2 41. Rc5 Kh4 42. Bf6 Rxb2 43. Bxg5+ Kh5 44. Kg3 Rb4 45. Bd2+ Kg6 46. Bxb4 Kf6 47. a5 Ke6 48. a6 Kd6 49. a7 Kd7 50. a8=Q Kd6 51. Qd8+ Ke6 52. Bc3 Kf7 53. Qd7+ Kg6 54. Qf5+ Kh6 55. Rc6# 1-0
And the adventure continues.
posted by Roscoe
Yesterday midday and into the evening I was seriously stressed out. Much more so than I mostly ever get. And that carried over into last night, where sleep was really hard to find. Think I got maybe an hour or two at most of actual sleep.
This morning I calmly made the phone calls that had to be made, and worked through the different facets of the problem that had been stressing me out. Later in the morning while following news reports here in my room I dozed off in this comfortable chair for... maybe two hours.
Mid-afternoon while listening to relaxing music I made my way over to that bed against the wall and found another good two-hour nap.
Now, working my way through Monday's mid-evening, I am rested and relaxed. And I'm looking forward to a good healthy night's sleep. Hope you have one, too.
And the adventure continues.
posted by Roscoe
This morning I won a club-based tournament correspondence chess game using an extremely unusual 3 pawns Checkmate. The image above shows position of pieces at game's end. You can see that the g6 pawn delivers the mating move, and the White King's only possible flight squares are covered by the h6 and f5 pawns. Of course, my Black king is protecting the h6 and g6 pawns, and my White Queen is also covering the potential g4 flight square; but pawns so seldom get top billing for their offensive power, that I'll let them have it here.
The full move record for this game is: 1. e4 a6 2. d4 h6 3. Bc4 e6 4. Nf3 b5 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. e5 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+ 8. Qxd2 O-O 9. O-O Bb7 10. Nh4 Ne4 11. Bxe4 Bxe4 12. Qf4 f5 13. Ng6 Nc6 14. Nxf8 Qxf8 15. Nd2 Nxd4 16. c3 Ne2+ 17. Kh1 Nxf4 18. f3 Bd3 19. Rfe1 d5 20. b3 Qa3 21. g3 Nh3 22. Re3 Nf2+ 23. Kg2 Nd1 24. Re1 Nxc3 25. Re3 Qb2 26. Rae1 Qxd2+ 27. Kh3 d4 28. Rxd3 Qxe1 29. Rxd4 Qf1+ 30. Kh4 Qxf3 31. Rf4 Qg2 32. h3 Ne2 33. Rb4 Qxg3+ 34. Kh5 Kh7 35. a4 Qxh3+ 36. Rh4 g6# 0-1
And the adventure continues.
posted by Roscoe