Bun costume payback!

I don't know about you but the past few weeks have been a blur? Perhaps it's been my pain medication...no not really. I haven't been taking anything too strong. I'm down to mere Advil these days.

This week I was in recovery from the fab time at Lake of the Ozarks. Fun but I do miss my home time! 16 hours to do laundry and sleep don't quite cut it. I was quite pooped. Had Physical Therapy a couple times - but with Geri, who is great. She's working on getting my shoulder blade back in place.

Then I decided to give attention to another med problem I'd noticed for the past few weeks. My ear hurt. Not really like an infection but inside farther than I could reach with a Qtip. Perplexing. I'd put off dealing with it because the darn shoulder. But I finally broke down and made an appointment for Tuesday, which made for a busy day. PT early, haircut and color touchup mid-day, then ear at 4:15 p.m. I barely had time to squeeze in work!

Sheryl checked me over and took a look in my ear. She said it was a little red but she saw a hair in there, would I like her to wash it out? Sure! So she brought in an assistant and a squirter, with a tray to catch water/suds. What resulted was what looked like an Odie hair! Yep - it had been in my ear since about 4th of July I figure...irritating. Odie does sleep in my spot when I'm gone - like the lil missus. So my pillow gets hairy. I got some drops to help any residual soreness in there. Thank God it wasn't a bug...my buddy Kay had that happen to her one time. Interesting note - I mentioned to Sheryl how my allergies have been so non-existent this summer, when so many others are miserable. She laughed and said I can thank my miserable shoulder and the steroid shots I received because of it! Aha - it all makes sense now...

The hair was prolly payback for this bun costume...

That night I celebrated the successful hair removal by meeting Pablo and Don and Diana McKim at "Meet the ISU Coaches" at the 7 Flags Events Center. It was a rah rah event but fun to hear what the coaches had to say. I was ready to strap on pads and run through a brick wall after hearing ISU Football Coach Paul Rhoads! Of course Freddie Hoiberg is dreamy and loved seeing my honey during the week too!

Wednesday night Joanie and I went to the Chinese place in the strip mall near her house. The food wasn't great but always nice to spend some time with my roomie/landlady. She's such a sweetie. We always say we're going to do that more often and then we don't. Note to self! Thursday needs to be a blog unto itself - big work day.

Win for the generations

Until yesterday, the Iowa State Cyclones had not beaten the Nebraska Cornhuskers since 1977 when I was a sophomore at ISU. I remember it like it was yesterday (that's cuz I don't remember yesterday too well anymore).

We had beaten the Huskers in Ames my freshman year. Back then, students had general seating and some camped out in order to get the good seats. We would line up early, clutching fifths of vodka and pints of Jack Daniels. They actually let us in with that stuff! We'd dump booze into our cups of Seven Up and Coke, sipping (or gulping) during warm ups while the big speakers on the field played songs like Rubberband Man and other disco hits. Dexter Green was the running back and there were stars on defense too.

My sophomore year we didn't go to the game, and of course it wasn't on TV. But I do remember people running around in the halls of the dorms yelling "we won!" And after a while the goal post were marched ceremoniously down Lincoln Way and tossed into Lake LuVerne. After years of Husker domination we had beaten them on their turf. I grew up in a town where there were many Nebraska diehards and it was especially satisfying!

So fast forward 32 years. My kid is a junior at ISU and we win in a crazy game where our starting quarterback and running back are sidelined by injury. Nebraska is coming off a surprise victory at Missouri followed by a humiliating loss at home to Texas Tech. They're pissed, but fans on their message board sound similar to Hawkeye fans - gee what a lose-lose situation it is for us to have to stoop to playing lowly ISU.

Their team resembled Iowa's fumblin' Ronnie Harmon back in the Rosebowl many years ago. They lost the ball every way they could, and the less talented Clones took care of business. As time ticked away I envisioned all the heartbreaking ways our team could lose. A last second 55 yard field goal came to mind - driving a stake in our hearts thanks to a missed extra point.

For once this season, the football gods shined down on the clones and despite the odds the team came through. I love our coach, and this team. They don't give up. And after all the cold rain this fall...there is joy in mudville!