Baseball Camp!

My son Reid has continued to work hard on improving his baseball skills even though his season is over.  Part of this work included a week long baseball camp at ABAC college.  This is a great camp for kids between the ages of 7 and 13.  The head coach at ABAC does a great job with the kids and stresses fundamental baseball while keeping it fun.  They work on a different skill each day and then play a scrimmage game  where they keep score and learn valuable real time game skills at the end of each practice.

Reid loved it.  As I said before, the coach does a good job with the kids.  He keeps it light and fun for them.  He has a nick name for each player.  Reid's name was "Apollo Reid!"

It was a good week and one in which Reid improved.  He brought home some bling as well.  He finished 1st in base running skills, 2nd in hitting and 2nd in pitching.  I am very proud of him!

Let's keep working son!

Yep, I'm good!

Two tables completed and ready for shipping!  Someone is getting two VERY beautiful antiques!!

The New 725 Browning!

I love it when Browning comes out with new products.  Although I have no need for another over/under shotgun, I do so enjoy watching the commercials!  Here is the very cool new spot for the Browning 725 Citori.  Enjoy!

Browning- The Best There Is!

Some Days are Better Than Others!

Jackpot!!

My wife asked me what I wanted for Father's day.  I told her I wanted to go shopping!  Now before you go thinking I have lost my mind, my kind of shopping and hers are two totally different things.  I wanted to hit the antique and junk stores to look for treasures that are out there for the taking.  My wife goes with me to make me happy, but I don't think she really enjoys it as much as I do.

We decided to head south and made our way to Thomasville, GA.  Thomasville is a very nice town that has an unbelievable downtown area full of antique shops, variety stores, restaurants and even a high end gun shop.  We enjoyed walking around and visiting the shops, but we really didn't have much luck.  I almost pulled the trigger on a small table, but changed my mind at the last minute.  I'm glad I did.

We decided to head back towards home with the idea of stopping at my favorite antique store in Moultrie, GA.  Sid's Antiques is a place that has a little of everything and I have bought several pieces there over the years.  After searching the store and drooling over all of his tables I asked him if he had anything that needed a little work.  He pulled out the table that you see on the right in the picture above.  It is hard to tell, but the top has a couple of bad spots and it just needed some minor TLC to make it a show piece.  Notice the bottom shelf and the brass connectors.  Very hard to find.  I was shocked at the price he offered to me and I jumped before he could change his mind.  Before I could get out of the store, a total of three tables had been loaded in the truck.  Two Tiger Oaks and the smaller oak table that is in the background.  They are all beautiful tables and I think I may just have an interested buyer for at least one of them.

I called my Dad when I got home and he came over to have a look at what I scored.  He fell in love with the table on the right and we hashed out a little trade.  The flaws on the top of this table were not a problem for him because he uses a table similar to this in his office to hold his fax machine.  I was glad that I could make my Dad happy on Father's Day weekend, and I still ended up with two Tiger Oak tables and they are almost identical.

The table on the left came from my Dad



My Dad's table is really not in need of any refinishing.  It is perfect.  It has a cherry tint to it which might be a good thing for the right buyer.  I will strip it down however and change the color if a customer is willing to pay for the labor!!



This is the top.  See the Tiger stripes?



Another shot

I jumped right on the other Tiger table.  The first picture is a before shot of the top.  The next few shots are of the progress.

Very nice stripes in this one!!!

Treated with pre-stain

So as you can see, I had a pretty good day on my treasure hunt!  Now the fun must continue as I finish these two and start on the little on below.

Happy Father's Day!!





Voodoo Magic!

Our baseball season is officially over, but Reid told me that he wants to continue to work on his game during the summer.  I am more than happy to oblige.  The first step was an investment in a new bat.  I admit that I fought the trend and didn't think a bat could make that much of a difference, but after watching hundreds of kids swing the new age lighter composite bats, I knew that I needed to step up to the plate and give Reid the best equipment possible for his game.

After hours of research and questioning several baseball Dads, I decided on a Demarini Voodoo 29 inch 16 oz youth half composite / half aluminum baseball bat.  This bat is an even balanced bat with a drop swing weight of -13.  The bat swings really nice and we were able to pick up an inch in length and drop an ounce in weight from Reid's previous Demarini DX2.  I am trying to get more bat speed for Reid.  He has a nice little swing, but needs to drive the ball with more authority.  We un-boxed the bat and headed for the batting cage.

As we were hitting I kept telling Reid to swing through the baseball, meaning swing the bat all the way through the swing and finish hard.  I couldn't get him to understand what I was telling him.  Then the idea hit me.  I took my phone and rigged it up in the netting of the pitcher screen and hit the video button.  This is what I got on the first try.

I then showed Reid the video.  He was able to see what I was trying to tell him.  This next video shows a better swing with the correct adjustments.  (I apologize in advance that it is not as clear as the first one.  Blogger is apparently having issues with video upload.  I had to record a recording to get this to work.)

This was much better!

Does the bat make a difference?  I really think it does.  I took some swings with it and I can tell a difference.  The ball jumps off the barrel with more pop than his other bat and it makes that wonderful pinging sound that I have been longing for.  I hope that with a steady diet of practice and if my arm doesn't fall off, we will make improvements and turn this kid into a feared hitter at the plate!