LAST WEEK

The last week of work was very simple. There was only one game every day, and every game was a championship. Because of the heatwave that is going on, we watered the dirt every day to make the fields look good. I wish I had a digital camera so I could of taken pictures. The fields looked so good for the last week. The season is now over and I can take it easy for a couple weeks. I am helping run a tournament in August and I am very excited to do that!

July 12th week

This was a short week. The community days is in town and there is a parade on Thursday this week and fireworks on Friday. Community days is like a hometown carnival. Tuesday was the first day of the playoffs in the peewee and minitail divisions. These two divisions are the leagues where the coach pitches to the players because they are only like 7 or 8 year olds trying to play. The peewee is baseball and minitail is softball. There isn't much going on anymore at the fields. My time there is coming to an end and everyday is pretty much the same: drag the fields, line the fields, leave.

Week of July 5th

This week was an amazing week. This is the time of the heatwave in this summer. It has been in the mid to high 90's about 4 out of the 5 days. All the fields were easy to get ready because it did not rain. I was not able to drag them because if I were to drag the fields it would make a dust storm. This would cause the fields to lose all of their dirt and when it rained the fields would be bad. On Saturday this week, it rained in the morning before the fields had to be ready. Once I used the tractor and drug the fields they looked amazing! I wish I had a camera that I could of taken a picture with. The dirt was perfect on the fields and it really looked great. The week after this one is tournaments and should be a fun time.

June 28- July 4

This was one of the most chaotic weeks for me. I had to get the fields ready every day and I had to umpire everyday. It has been super hot outside which has made this week suck. Everything went smoothly, but it was a lot of work to be done. Everyday had the same schedule. Get the fields ready from about 2-5pm, then umpire from 6-8. It is getting down to the last few weeks of work here. I am happy to say that and sad at the same time. I have learned a lot about baseball fields and I am really considering a career in facilities and maintenance.

June 21-27

This week was really nice for me. I didn't have to do a lot of work because it didn't rain in the beginning of the week. Everything was easy and took very little time to set up. Towards the end of the week it started to rain and canceled everything. So basically I got paid for 3 days of work that I didn't have to do. Not too bad if you ask me. I umpired three softball games this week also which went very smoothly. This has to be by far the best week of work so far. No problems, no complaints; the two things that make me very happy.

June 6-19

I have not had internet for a while now thanks to a crazy storm that destroyed the wiring outside. Basically the month of June has been pretty quiet. The drag just got fixed on the gator after it was broke for about a week. The fields are very dusty right now and need some rain. Other than that the fields are great and things are going well. Umpiring hasn't been too bad. I had one game where I was not happy with the situation I was put in. My boss paired me with a 13 year old umpire for a high school softball game. The kid did not know the rules and was very timid with his calls. This made it really hard on me because I had coaches complaining the whole time. This month is going pretty well and the all-star games start tomorrow. This is basically the midpoint of the season as the best players from each league will be showing off their skills in two sets of games tomorrow.

June 1

The week of June 1st was a shorter one. May 31 was Memorial Day and there were no games. It rained on Monday and made a lot of work for Tuesday. Tuesday was a very long day and it was really hard to get the fields ready. The fields had to be worked on all day. There was water that needed broomed off the field and it was quite annoying. Wednesday was basically the same as Tuesday with a lot of rain on Tuesday night. Thursday and Friday went a lot smoother because the sun was out and the wind was blowing. It helped get the fields dry and made it easier for me. Saturday was a long day. There were two sets of games and I had to umpire, so I was running around like crazy trying to get my work done. Hopefully the rain will be kept to a minimum next week and I don't have to do as much as this week.

The week of May 24

The week of May 24 consisted of very repetitive events. Lining and dragging the fields seemed to be the only things I had to do all week. I umpired on Monday, but other than that, everything was the same as always. I have a new coworker. She is the daughter of one of the board members and she helps me line the fields. She doesn't really do much because I don't ask her too. She puts the line down so I can trace it and make the baselines straight. It is nice to have someone out there that helps with easy tasks like this, because it makes the day go faster. This weekend there will be no games because of Memorial Day. I will be back to work on Tuesday.

Monday, May 24

This was one of the hardest days of work I have had so far. The fields were in terrible shape because of a rainy weekend. The fields were very hard and very rocky. I ran into some trouble because the drag was broke on the gator that I use to drag the fields. I had to fix it and it put me very far behind. After I fixed it I had to hurry up and drag the fields and line them for the games. After that, I had to umpire a hotstove class f game that was very long. The game was called because of darkness and my day was over.

Opening Day!

Saturday, May 22 was opening day at Volunteer Field. It was a little wet from some rain the night before but the first tier of games got in. It was really easy to get the fields ready for the first games because I had already drug out the dirt the night before. All I had to do was line the fields and they were ready to go. While the games were going on, my boss and I grilled burgers and hot dogs for the concessions. After the games were finished, I rode down to get ready to line the fields again because there was another set of games after, but a huge storm rolled in and unleashed rain on the fields. The second tier of games was cancelled and my day was over.

Rough Week!

I have not been able to post a blog in a while due to poor internet service. I will get this week caught up in this post. The first day this week was an easy day. I just had to go up to the fields to see if the games were playable. The fields were very wet and muddy so it was an easy call to cancel the games. Yesterday was a day of preparation for this weekend. My boss and I worked for about 4 hours to get all of the weeds and grass cleaned up around the fences. Today was another day of preparation like yesterday. The fields were made ready for tomorrow with a lot of signs put up around the fences, and grass cut. The whole complex is ready to go and I will be starting there tomorrow at 8am lining the fields and dragging them. Tomorrow is the official opening day of games and I cannot be more excited!

Third Day

My third day of work was a pretty fun time. I had some extra help today with another worker so it was kind of nice. I had to line a couple fields and drag them after using the tractor to turn up some of the dirt. It was just a normal day at the fields other than the wind. The cold air and wind made it a pretty crappy day. I am pretty excited for it to get warm outside so I can start on that beach tan. HA. Oh well, tomorrow will bring on a lot of field working and some umpiring. This will be the first game I umpire all year. I think it might rain tomorrow so it might not be happening, but you can always hope!

Second Day

Today was a very boring day at work. I had to scrape old paint off of the dugouts in order to get ready to put new paint on them. It was really windy and kind of cold so it wasn't much fun. I put in two safety bases for the younger kids today. I also had to replace a home plate on field 3 because the old one was cracking and out of position. I learned how to operate the new lawnmower and should be getting up there a lot more to cut the grass. I may go back up there tomorrow to get some more work done. Opening day is about a week away and I am getting pretty excited!

First Day

I got a call from my boss telling me that I could go up to the fields today and do two fields. I had to drag and rake 2 of the fields for games tonight. The fields were really rocky and clumpy, so I had to drag them twice in order to smooth them out. After the dragging was done all I had to do was line the baselines and batter's boxes. It was a great day outside and I got a lot of work done today.

Bummer

I didn't get to go to work today after a long night of rain. That is the worst part about working out side, especially in Ohio. The fields were too wet to work on so I could not do my job. Hopefully the sun will dry up the fields a little bit and I can get after it tomorrow.

Starting tomorrow!

Tomorrow will be my first day working on the baseball fields at Volunteer Field. There will be a lot to do in order to get the games ready for tomorrow evening. I will probably be on the tractor for a bit on the dirt so it can be turned up to make dragging it easier. I am very excited to start this internship and I am also excited to work outside!