It’s October 26, as I write this. All around these parts, whether you’re talking about Woodbury, the Twin Cities, or Minnesota in general, people know what’s coming. It may come early, it may come late. It may be brutal, it may be mild. But it’s coming. It’s winter. You can almost smell it.

It’s October 19 in Minnesota and I have all the windows open. I’m seated on our comfy white leather chair in my lower-level office with the sliding door pulled all the way to the left. Boofus is sitting on the floor, watching the leaves skitter around the patio like brightly colored crabs on the beach. Buster is upstairs, in the upper level of his kitty condo, curled into a ball. He’s good at that. Did I mention it’s October 19 in Minnesota? It is. And it’s 73 degrees. 

Yet another Thursday Blog Day is upon us, and I’ve got a good idea for this one. I have no race from the prior weekend to report on, and I leave tomorrow for Dallas, so there’s no “breaking news” to lead off with. Instead, a few details about life and plans, and then I’ll finish the majority of this blog with some good stories that almost made the book. As Secret Agent Maxwell Smart would say, they missed it by “THAT much.”

Anyone who has read my book “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” knows many of the central themes in my life. I grew up in St. Louis. I always loved Farotto’s pizza and their stellar toasted ravioli. I’ve made a lot of great friends over the years, and the special ones I’ve either always kept close or have reconnected with thanks to the magic of social media. After baseball, soccer, and marketing, I spent 20 consecutive years going to drag races for a living. And, from my childhood up through college, I was either bugged by allergies or actually sick, and quite often.