Eagle Football -- The Season Begins

You can sense it from the lengthening shadows leaning northward to the shortening of the days and the moderating of the temperatures -- fall is in the air. And so are the footballs.

Jacob's Thatcher Eagles took the field for the first time this season last night -- even though it was only a scrimmage against Tombstone Yellow Jackets. Here are some pictorial highlights...

No score was kept, but the coaches seemed satisfied with the effort. The season begins in earnest next Friday night with the first game. Not sure of the opponent.

This is Jacob's last hurrah on the gridiron so he's hoping to make the most of it. He should see more playing time on offense and defense. It's anyone's guess how the team will do this year.

Here I am, in all my backside glory. Spencer shot this image at our recent Hansen Family Reunion on Mt. Graham. You can see the camp kitchen you all gave me for Christmas. It was great fun to use, very easy to set up, very efficient, and carried a great deal of the the "Wow" factor for those who were at the family reunion. It solidified my reputation as a "serious camper." Thank you all again, for the great gift.

The family reunion was a lot of fun but also a lot of work. I was in charge of providing the camp location and set up and for some of the activities. Everything went off without a hitch except for some rain we received Wednesday (before the event actually began) that soaked a lot of our sleeping bags and tents.

The actual reunion ran Thursday through Saturday. I went up on Tuesday to lay claim to a camping site. Mom and I had taken a scouting trip up the mountain a couple of weeks earlier and decided that Snow Flat was the best place. It is a three or four-acre meadow near the top of Mt. Graham with a small pond at the lower end. There was a large group already there when I arrived Tuesday afternoon, so I went around a bit of a hill toward the lower end of the meadow and set up the camp in a lovely spot under a canopy of Ponderosa pines and douglas fir trees.

I was there alone Tuesday evening and night and used the time to set up a couple of tents, the kitchen area and arrange the campfire area.

In the morning I finished with the set up and then went back down the mountain to pick up Jan and the rented Port-o-Potties and do the shopping for the food items that needed to be on ice. It rained on the mountain before we were able to return and I had not put the rain flys on the tents, thus the soaked sleeping gear.

Spencer and Anna arrived Wednesday night so it was just the four of us for dinner and evening campfire. That was nice. On Thursday other family members starting arriving. The list of attendees...

Grandma and Grandpa Hansen

Kathy Johnson

Susan Abbott

Christie, Russ and Christian Frandsen

Mark Hansen

Julie and Lizzy Early

Joseph Abbott and his triplets

Spencer and Anna

And Sally

Thursday was mostly gathering and talking. We had a good dinner of your Mom's famous Mexican food. She is quite a fantastic Mexican food chef.

Friday we toured the telescopes which was fun and impressive to the visitors. Saturday there was a shooting range -- Joseph Abbott and I were the range masters -- and a t-shirt painting workshop taught by Lizzy Early. Both were a lot of fun.

Then as rain was threatening again, we packed up our stuff and drove the winding road back to Thatcher. Julie and Lizzy stayed with us in Thatcher Saturday night and then drove back to Phoenix Sunday morning to catch a flight back to Portland.

I think everyone who attended the reunion had fun. The weather was perfect. There were no mosquitos, only a skunk that took a liking to my kitchen area. He/she visited us just about every night.

Mt. Graham is really quite a great place to get away from the desert's summer heat. Within forty-five minutes one can be in an alpine setting amidst firs, pines and aspen.

Mom is now in Utah visiting her mother and sisters -- and Whitney's family, I think. She has been quite the traveler this summer with trips to Washington earlier this year, Iowa and now Utah. I've been "stuck" here in Thatcher for the duration, but I don't mind. I miss Mom when she's gone, however.

I registered for the Tour de Tucson this past week to ride with Spencer, Anna and a few members of Anna's family. It sounds like we will have quite a group. That puts added pressure on me to do well so I've stepped up my training rides. I rode more than 400 miles in July--a pace I will need to maintain to get in the shape I want.

Jacob made it through football camp and now gets into regular two-a-day practices until school begins. Sally seems to be adjusting slowly to her new situation.

Life moves on.

Love.

Dad