Lost Valley

We just finished a whirlwind Spring Break expedition to Lost Valley at the Buffalo National River. Using Lost Valley as our basecamp, we hiked the Lost Valley Trail, Hideout Hollow Trail, Glory Hole Trail, and Kings River Falls Trail. We also spent a couple of hours at a pizza place in Jasper during a stormy Tuesday afternoon. More details to follow. For now, here's a trail review I posted to Backpacker.com.

McFarland's Pitching Debut as Rineco AA and AAA Post First Win of Season

Bryant, AR - In a record-setting (surely) 3-hour game, the Rineco AA defeated Price Financial 15-14 in 7 innings. Samuel McFarland pitched his first inning of the season in the AA game, allowing two unearned runs, two walks, two outs at first, and one strikeout. As the AAA game that followed finished around 11:00PM, Samuel asked, "Can I just have my milkshake tomorrow?"

Union Bank Indians Take 2nd

March 17 - Union Bank Indians AAA once again faced Next Level Sports Hornets in the semi-finals of the Little Oaks 9U Live Pitch pre-season tournament in Mabelvale, AR. Boston Heil pitched a strong 3-inning game. Manager Joe Johnson was sending the boys to the plate with hitting on the agenda. "You're not looking for a walk!" Nathan McFarland hit a long fly ball to center field that would have left the park but for "that stinky net thing" extending six feet above the outfield fence. Indians 4, Hornets, 3.

The Indians weren't so fortunate in the second game of the night against Thompson Electric A's. Starting pitcher Nathan McFarland seemed to be somewhat mental due to a pre-game change in pitching technique to stop throwing screwballs. ("Daddy, my wrist hurts.") After walking four batters, Nathan was relieved by Myers Buck, who closed the inning and pitched the remainder of the game. Although the Indians were hitting better than previous games, the A's strategy of walking and stealing seemed to pay off. A's 5, Indians 3. The Indians took second place in the tournament.

Photo Albums

I have started cleaning up years of digital photos and uploading to Shutterfly. It seems they are one of the better photo services still offering unlimited storage. Picasa, Photobucket, and Flickr all have limits. But Shutterfly is still unlimited - for now. And I can get 4x6 prints for $0.10 ea, which is almost as cheap as Wal-Mart online ($0.09, I think.) Also, Shutterfly has a flexible, feature-rich, user-friendly utility for not just sharing photos, but for building an entire photo album web site.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

McFarland Photo Album

Nathan's First Pitch

Tuesday, March 10 - Union Bank Indians AAA played their second game of the Mabelvale Pre-Season Tournament against some team with blue uniforms. In the third inning, I was surprised when team manager and grandfather Joe Johnson sent 8-year-old Nathan McFarland to the mound for his pitching debut. It seems the family members in the stands were more nervous than Nathan, for he struck out his first batter - a lefty - and his second batter. The third batter hit a high fly ball to left field, which was unfortunately mishandled, resulting in a base hit. Nathan walked batter #4 before striking out the fifth batter. I've seen experienced pitchers do far worse. Good job, Nate!

Eagle Rock Loop

Dennis and I hiked this trail back in October.