Metro Monday and More!!

Big kitten news today.  Even if you normally skip Metro Monday, make sure you scroll down :-)

Summers of my childhood were spent at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull... the old Tiger Stadium.  I can still hear Ernie Harwell, George Kell, and Al Kaline's voices in my head as they called the baseball games for local radio and television.  

Built in 1912 and opening just days after the sinking of the Titanic, the stadium was already creaky, smelly, peeling, and just plain old by the time I started spending time there in the early 1980s... and yet I couldn't get enough.  I can still rattle off the lineup and pitching rotation for the 1984 World Series champions like it was yesterday.  Forget Kirk Gibson's epic home run that lifted the Dodgers to the title in 1988.  It was just a replay.  He did it first in 1984.

My father, a retired Detroit Police lieutenant, took me there as often as possible.  The stadium offered two free seats to city police and firefighters.  With a flash of a badge, we got street parking right next to the stadium and seats in the lower level in right field.

The approximate view from our seats in right field (except our section had chain link fencing in the way... at least it was free)

Tiger Stadium creaked to a close after the 1999 season, but the empty building stood for another ten years before they brought it down.  Dubbed "Ernie Harwell Park", the diamond remains behind.  I hear that if you show up on a Saturday afternoon at 3:30, you might find a pick-up baseball game to join.

Sad, but at least it's still being used.

***UPDATE***

My husband dragged the kids downtown Sunday evening to check out Ernie Harwell Park.

The gate was open and he ran the bases.  He is a happy man.

In the 1990s, ownership of the team transferred from one pizza baron (Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza) to another (Mike Ilitch, founder and owner of Little Caesar's and also the hometown Detroit Red Wings).   At the end of the decade, a new stadium was built.  Set into a revitalized area of downtown, the Lions play at Ford Field next door and the historic Fox Theater stands across the street.  It's taken a dozen years for my allegiance to transfer to the new building, but it truly is magnificent. 

My view from the very cheap seats for the 2011 playoffs.

The Renaissance Center as seen from the ballpark.

My hair's not quite so short anymore, thank goodness.  For some reason I thought a pixie was a good way to go during the stress of moving last summer.  

And they set off a darn good fireworks show after every Friday night home game (although this particular shot was taken on the 4th of July instead).  Between the fireworks and Pepsi logo?  A neon "Pure Michigan" advertisement.  Tim Allen's voice in those commercials can stop me dead in my tracks.

Passing on the allegiance to the next generation (who spent their formative years out of state) has been a bit difficult.  But this was the cake my son requested for his 13th birthday.  He also got to spend the day at the ballpark for a double header.

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The New Guy

I never suspected when I went to Petco during the Saturday adoption hours to get supplies for my foster kittens that I would be coming home with another kitten for the front room.  Meet Ben...

Ben came out of the same foster hoarding situation as my trio.  Like Porter, he was a singleton that got matched to a pair of litter mates.  Much bigger and healthier than the other two, he was becoming a bit of a holy terror... bullying, pouncing on, and scaring the dickens out of the pair with whom he shared a foster space.  

Since he too is at the tail end of a ringworm infestation (just one spot left on the back of an ear), he had to be matched into one of the other foster homes with ringworm kittens.  Slightly older and bigger than Porter, we decided to try him out here.  He's easily two or three times the size of an Eloise.  Good thing my spunky spitfire doesn't know how tiny she actually is.

Henry (left) and Ben (right, the dilute tabby)... Henry is just a hair smaller than Porter, the biggest of our original trio.

A look at all four of them at dinner time.  Teeny-tiny Eloise at the top of the orange plate, with Henry and Ben at the bottom.  Smartypants Porter has the red plate all to himself. ;-)

Ben is a brute who doesn't know his own strength.  He's hard-charging, very playful, and interested in everything.  I think Henry has lost the title of wild child of the foster room.  Not that he seems to mind.  Henry has become Ben's constant shadow.

We've had a couple moments of floofing and hissing, but otherwise the transition seems to be going well.  Eloise and Porter, the more reserved of the original trio, were a bit wary of Ben on Saturday.  By Sunday morning, they were chasing each other up and down the cat tree as if he had always been there.

GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!  With healing coming along at a good pace, I've been given the OK to pause the bathing for a week and see what happens.  Think good thoughts for us please!

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Your Olympic Moment

We celebrate the Summer Olympics by challenging the kitties to compete in various Olympic sports.  Today, the kittens show off their wrestling moves.

Eloise pins Henry to the mat.

Henry and Porter are pretty evenly matched, although Porter seems to be getting the better of Henry here.

Porter uses his patented vampire move on Eloise.

"MOM!!!!!!!"

No Ben wrestling pictures?  Hmmm, he must have been the giant blur in the middle of the photo session.  As it was, I don't think Benny is too used to having competition close to his own size.  Boy, does he whine like a baby when someone is getting the better of him.  :-)

Final Results:

Gold: Porter

Silver: Henry

Bronze: Eloise

Medal Count:

Porter: 1

Henry: 1

Eloise: 1