My last chance to make an impression at Spring Training?

During the past few days we have been enjoying the Cactus League baseball games. At the beginning of the month many of the minor league players were trying to make a good first impression, and while several did, the games were generally a bit sloppy (errors and poor pitching). Now that spring training is starting to wind down, the starting rosters for the games are filled with the regulars for the first 7 innings so the quality of play has improved. And with the weather remaining perfect (25C and sunny), it has been wonderful to sit and watch the games. In spite of not making an error yet (one perfect catch in the stands), or striking out (Pocahontas still loves me), I have not yet been approached by any scouts. Recently I changed my approach and started hanging out with some of the players in the hope of getting noticed (see picture below).

Prior to coming back to Phoenix we spent four days in Sedona visiting with my sister Lynn and her husband Doug from Vancouver who were in the area doing a 2 week home exchange. The deck on the home had beautiful views of the nearby red sandstone rock mountains. The scene seemed to change throughout the day as the shadows moved around varied rock formations. As a bonus my cousin Adele from Quebec and her husband Christian were also staying with my sister so it was a good get-together. We did a couple of hikes, the first to the Palatki Ruins and Pictographs (more hillside caves where the ancient tribes built) their small homes). Another day we made a return trip (for us) to Oak Creek Canyon where we rock-hopped (13 stream crossings each way) along the scenic West Fork Trail. We had some nice meals together and played games in the evening.

Tomorrow will be our final day in Phoenix. We have tickets for the Lady Antebellum concert in the evening and before the event we will be hosting a tailgate party with 4 other Calgary friends who are joining us for the concert. The next day we will drive to Las Vegas to meet up with some more friends for a few days.



Major League Baseball wannabe with Cleveland Indians new Closer, John Axford.......who currently makes $6 million more per year than I do.



Mike Trout smashing a home run that landed over the flowers in deep centre field. You may be able to see the ball just to the left of the middle light pole.

The view from the deck of the Sedona home exchange

One of the shorter rock crossings along our Oak Creek Canyon family hike