Friday Night Lights and Doggie Frights

The band and colorguard enter the palace for the first time this year.

Last night was the first football game of the new school year. It came on the fourth day of school, which seems really early to me. Luckily (or maybe because of this), the band and the football teams have been practicing already, missing out on part of their summer vacation to grow their expertise and discipline. That takes a real commitment to the group.

A thunderstorm blew up just after I left the house. I didn’t think anything of it because it stayed mostly dry until we got to the palace (what they call the district&rsqou;s shared sports facility). The rains hit just as we arrived, and we had to keep the kids in the bus until it blew over, which seemed like days. The kids were kids—good kids but a little rowdy. They had the bus bouncing in all directions when one of them pointed to similar movement in the bus parked next to use and said, “Wow! They’ve got that bus rockin’!“

I thought this was an omen about the game, but it turned out to be looking at the house. Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

When the rain stopped, we let the kids go warm up while the parents spread plastic ponchos over the metal seats so the kids wouldn’t have to sit in water in their new pants. They entered the field 44 minutes and 44 seconds before the start of the game, and came up to their plastic-covered metal seats.

The Mavs played well, and stomped the visiting team. I felt sorry for them. They had a long ride home to College Station after a lopsided loss.

I took several pictures of the half-time show, but they didn’t come out all that well. There will be a few games where we have both had more time to practice (although the band did remarkably well for only having 10 days to learn the routine) and better light.

Here is the band sitting on their ponchos to keep their seats dry.

Our ride home was much quieter than the ride to the game. I think the kids were tired. It was a little while after we got home before we noticed one of the dogs was missing. It took longer for me to notice because both of the wanderers were waiting for us. The missing dog was Mr. Stability, AKA Buddy.

Buddy never wanders, so the storm must have really scared him. We couldn’t hear anything from the school or the palace, and the house is almost in the middle of the two end points. But the neighbors said it was really noisy at home.

The noise and being all alone for the first time since before school let out must have really upset him. He broke the gate and made his way out to look for someone to make the storm stop. The other dogs had time to explore, get bored, and come home. Buddy hurt himself pretty badly breaking the gate. We found him just laying in a neighbor’s driveway less than four blocks away. This morning, he is having trouble getting up, but he still managed to get up and down the stairs a couple of times by himself.

We’ll see how he does over the next few days. I hope I don’t have to have him surgerized.