Wacky Wednesday

 Trivia tonight with a full house. All six of us are expected, yea!!!!

Now for tonight's interesting cards.

It's hump day so enjoy the rest of the week!

Call me late to the PARTY! Padrograph surprises!

 Let me get this off of my chest (it doesn't need any aggravation). The 2026 checklist for Topps series 1 is out, which makes sense because release day is tomorrow. The Braves have 1,211 spots. NUTS. 12 cards in the base set each having ANOTHER 56 variations.

57 versions of the same card.......AGAIN.....Thanks but no Thanks Topps. Add in Holiday will use probably the same image too, plus others like 582 MONTGOMERY, and the "special event/holiday" variations. This might be the final straw for me, certainly reducing how many cards I buy this year. Beyond the base Braves, not sure I'll be seeking any. I'll take them, but I won't be looking for them. Here is the link to my 2026 Braves needs

Johnnys 2026 Braves needs

Now for some GOOD STUFF: The last couple of weeks the blogosphere has been posting up the goodies from the surprise mailers from Padrographs (Rod). I too received a glorious package and have included the highlights below. Thank you Sir Rod!

Kick starting the package are two autographs. My brother got all mushy over it today when I finally showed it to him. Trebek was his hero, lol. The Other will fit nicely into my USA Olympians.  The rest are new to me Braves.

I did have that Holiday Harris in my Slots box, that also came in the same day as Rod's package. I opened Rod's first and the other will go into that set build which should be almost complete by now....not sure. I completed the A & G set build, and had many Braves in that Slots box too, and still need a couple, but these were needs.

Update Braves needs in addition to the Slots cards.

Closing out the highlights with some Update inserts/parallels and some Chrome Udpate.

Thanks again Rod... Absolutely a wonderful surprise that did that TCDB quest some GOOD!

I'll finish the week with a couple of posts to wrap up The Villages card show after YES a Wacky Wednesday tomorrow (trivia night- we haven't played in a long while).

Just Another Maddux Monday

 I promised several weeks ago that once I ended the Shadow Shots that I would kick start the Maddux Mondays. Tonight is the first edition. The second edition will be in 2 weeks and most Monday after that. 

This is a GIVEAWAY post (all of the Maddux posts will be). Rules are simple. Be a follower of this blog and a US or Canadian resident. Just comment (once below on this post) by Friday midnight EST. I will randomize the entrants and the winner gets all 18 cards posted.

Here are tonight's cards:

I sorted the cards to give a good range of products and years. This one has a rookie! I scattered a few more Maddux rookies throughout the run of this theme. There should be a total of 30 of these Monday giveaways.

Later folks!

More from the Tampa show

 I still need to get some scanning done from The Villages show, Sport Lots, Rod package, Grand slam, and even Ebay. I'll be doing that over the weekend.

Here are the last cards that I scanned from the Tampa show. 

Some needed Braves. I bought a monster box from this dealer, mainly set builds and PC cards, but you know I was happy to add these Braves.

Have a great weekend folks!

TCDB monthly update along and a room with a view

 Before I get started with the numbers, while I was vacationing at one of my Local hospitals I took some pictures. I previously mentioned that the room was nice or rather equivalent to a hotel room. You decide.

The door was not your normal door. It was an oversized sliding glass double door. The curtain was for my privacy.

Here you can see a mini window, the sink, and a piece of the t.v. LOL.

Much better view of the t.v. and a board. You can't read it but that board shows that "I like baseball cards". The lady(tech) that did the echo cardiogram wrote that on the board.

That is the bathroom door which behind it was a large bathroom with a nice size shower (wish mine at home was like that one), and another window that looked out behind the hospital.

Same window here but from a different angle. This should be the last post containing my recent health drama. At least until something changes.

Now let's get to the January TCDB update.

Atlanta Braves: (as of today): 32, 975 still #2 behind that "other guy" he is at 33,616 putting me 691 behind him. No matter what I don't believe his numbers!

Total all cards: I jumped up one spot to #24 with 414, 133 unique cards listed.

Basbeall cards: I held at the #12 spot even though I added over 11K cards to it to get to 372, 757.

Gaming: I added none and dropped 2 spots to #100.

Non-Sports: I jumped 2 spots hereby adding 3,200 cards to get to #25 with 28, 662 cards.

I will be putting a regular baseball card post tomorrow as the Saturday posts are done for now.

Later Gators!

Wacky Wednesday and some story telling.

 This is/was the last scheduled/planned Wacky Wednesday, but in light of recent activities here at the home front I will probably continue to give myself one easy to prepare post each week. I hope you don't mind (I now a few that wanted them to continue anyway). 

Now let's do some story telling. This one is in regards to my recent health issue and how I got as my mother would have called them "FAVORS" along the way. Many people would say things like someone upstairs was looking after me or at least call them blessings. I'm good with favors and they have continued even through today. Doesn't really change anything, but I know I'm getting favors. Let me break several of them down for you (before we get to the baseball cards).

1) I had absolutely no symptoms of A-Fib. None whatsoever and that is why A-Fib can be/could have been deadly. I was at my once a year annual visit at the VA with my primary care Dr. I trust very few in the health care industry. I trust her. She knows me including my "white coat syndrome" which raises my BP and heart rate. My heart rate would have been in the 90's while in her office as it has been for the last 13 years. This time it was 113, that bothered me, they checked again it was 115 went through the normal routine and everything else was AMAZING....my best ever. Then she wanted to check again it was 120 and she really was very bothered immediately did and EKG and told me to go the hospital (local not VA). That my friends was one of the many favors. To think what if I didn't have an appointment with her that day? What would have happened? By the time the ER got me strapped in my heart rate was through the roof bouncing from 150 to as high as 240. She would have totally freaked had it been that in her office. She ordered 24 hour monitoring knowing that would get a whole bunch of tests done and skirt some VA bureaucracies. The hospital was unable to get things settled down and cut me loose at 26 hours with 2 medications that I knew would be for the rest of my life meds. I called the my Dr. the next day as I was instructed to do to schedule a 2 wekke follow up after a hospital visit. 

Favor 2: She called right back immediately and said she would get the records from the hospital and then give me a referral for a cardiologist in Gainesville at the VA hospital. The next day Friday morning I got a call and that appointment was set for yesterday. On Friday I then proceeded to the local card shop. What should have taken 2 weeks was handled and has now been taken care of. 

Favor 3: the determination that I could NOT do any of the tests for sleep apnea and that that was the cause for developing the A-Fib was made. I now know how and why this seemed to happen out of the blue. Doesn't change anything, but knowing is a comfort. I am a fix it get er done kind of guy, and don't believe in band-aids. Another favor I'll squeeze in here before moving to the next two favors is that it is possible for the A-Fib to go away all on it's own (especially if I can do something about the sleep apnea). That won't take the medications away as the new Doc made it clear those are forever albeit the actual heart med will change slightly as they figure out what actually works, so far nada. Because A-Fib can always come back if it goes away.

The Cpap, and dental devices are not possible alternatives for me. However, there is still another option and that is an implant which was to be discussed on my cardiologist follow up appointment on March 31st. For 2 more favors see below:

1) sent home yesterday by picking up the meds at the VA pharmacy with the changes made yesterday. However the clerk at the window handed me the wrong bag. Normally, I would have just taken the bag and left but she said that it's only 2 weeks and they'd mail me the rest. I said which one there's 2? She said no just Atorvastatin, I told her that is not mine, she did some work and yep not my script, told me to wait and they would get it (took an hour), but that was a favor her saying what she said or I wouldn't have known she gave me the wrong bag until bedtime.

2) The Doc told me that I'd get a call from the pharmacy to go over the refills of the blood thinner. I got that call today because the Doc's nurse called me to bump up my follow up three weeks another favor in and of itself. I mentioned about the pharmacy call and asked if had been scheduled, she said no got right on it and bam got that call today and took care of the Eliquis for a year. Favor.

My mom would have been wearing out that word these last 7 days for sure. I know that I have been trying. Now let's have some interesting cards.

All Upper Deck card backs....man those were the days.

Tomorrow's post will have pictures of that NICE hospital room they put me up in, lol.

You ain't going to believe this.

 Well, I went to meet my cardiologist this afternoon (got back an hour ago). I will show you guys some cards in a minute, but I have to tell this story first.

Probably not going to have my heart shocked, as she said I would still be on the meds even it it worked. That's #1. #2 She doesn't care what I eat including fast food, lol. (my labs really are that good). #3 If I drink alcohol, don't drink the brown liquor, switch to the clear. The only goal she has is to get the right meds to "slowly" get my heart rate down and stay that way. We'll be doing pretty much all future appointments over the telephone. In her opinion the A-Fib is because in her opinion I have sleep apnea (because I only sleep 4-6 hours a night for the last 40 plus years and those aren't continuous hours either) which can not be treated as physically I can't sleep with anything attached to me. I sleep very little and toss and turn non-stop all night wrapping up in whatever covers I have, it just wouldn't work. She really does want me to do the home test for it, but again guaranteed the mask thing would never stay on my face, not to mention the wrapping it up inside my covers. LOL. I flip from side to side every 15 minutes even when I am asleep, and rarely have I ever had REM sleep. She would prefer I not drink caffeinated beverages, but is figuring that too is a lost cause, lol. I will certainly give it a good reduction especially with the Mountain Dew. So there you have my first and more than likely only in person visit with my brand new cardiologist.

Okay, let get to purchase second and third purchases from the Tampa card show.

There was a dealer that had a stack on these original 1973 Wacky Packages in one of his cases. I paid less than a buck a piece. I actually needed two of the variations (* vs **), and two more were upgrades. The oldest in the batch two stickers from the series 4, there were also a pair of series 3, but the majority were from series 1. 

Purchase 3: A Braves autograph! Blue framed numbered to 50.

I probably paid the top value on this one, but still happy to have added it!

Have a great night!

I'm still here

 That's a good thing. I see a cardiologist tomorrow to see if the next step is the cardio-version (shocking) my heart to see if that gets it back to normal. Now before I went to my annual VA check-up appointment where I wound up in the hospital I had went to 2 card shows. One in Tampa on the Friday before, and the other was in The Villages on Saturday. I also visited the LCS here last Friday. So I have scan or two to show off. I plan on keeping them all short. 

Now Phil says 6 more weeks,  humbug!

This first post contains the goodies from my first purchase at the Tampa show below.

Pulled these oversized Marathon gas station cards out of a binder.

In fact everything I got I pulled out of that binder, made my deal and moved on to the next guy. Tonight, is just the binder pulls like that NEEDED Braves promo sheet above.

Love that Coke Ripken card.

That's it for tonight. 

Saturday Shadow Shots: The last one

 Here we are the final shadow shots post.

1) I see a genie coming out of his bottle.

2) I see a moose head.

3) I see Pumba blowing a horn.

Wacky Wednesday

 As predicted, I am home. I now have 2 meds to take twice a day for the time being. They were going to "shock" my heart to attempt to knock it back in rythym however I chose to wait until I see what the VA says (which I know they are going to find a different (one of my choosing) cardiologist who will probably recommend the same thing, but this time no doubt with pre-approval (it's kind of expensive, lol). Now I am positive the VA would have paid had I chosen to stay another day and got it done to see if it worked, but I am a zero risk kind of guy. I will let my VA Dr, order it that way it's not an issue. With that said even though my heart rate is CRAZY wild it is still considered "controlled" albeit it jumps from 74 (my base line) to as high as 240 non stop but usually maxes out around in the 140's. 

Thank you for all of the well wishes, I appreciate it very much.

Now let's knock out another wacky Wednesday very APPROPRIATELY I might add.

One more to go (maybe).

Stay warm folks.

Say What?

 Sorry this is so late, but I just got into my room. My room you ask? Did I take a trip? NO I did not. However, I went to my annual VA Dr's appointment with my primary care doc. She handed me the lab report, and everything was the best it had ever been. My heart rate was slightly elevated upon arriving with the nurse as it usually is (I have white coat syndrome), but the DR checked it again during our visit and it went up, and immediately did an EKG and sent me packing to the ER. I spent many hours "downstairs" before getting into this I'd say extremely nice private observation room where I will be for the next 24 hours. Better than most hotel rooms I've been in for sure, okay maybe equal too. Apparently I have developed a thing called Atrial flutter, which is different than A-Fib. One step down I guess. Their big issue is that I have zero symptoms, so I am stuck here, and in about two weeks when I follow up with my VA doc will be put on a blood thinner. So that is how I spent the day.

Two more incoming.

 What's up for tonight? A couple more of incoming Braves from the blogosphere.

Gavin sent these and went 8 for 8 hitting my needs.

Next up is a six pack of needs from one of our Canadian buds Derek.

Thanks guys, I keep inching forward.

Shadow Shots getting dim

 Only a couple left to do counting today. That leaves just one more. 

I hit up the Tampa show yesterday, and today I hit The Villages show. That is two so far for the year and they were both good shows.

1) I'm reaching deep here: I see a lighthouse on a narrow strip of island.

2) A blue crab.....anyone hungry?

3) I'll go with a turkey.

Enjoy the weekend, stay warm as this storm is nasty.

CORRECTION post

 A week or two ago I posted the cards below, and miscredited them.

These came from Coffee Matt. I apologize for the mix up. I feel better now. :)

Have a great weekend folks!

Wacky Wednesday: nearing the end

 Getting close to the end for the foreseeable future. That is regarding Wacky Wednesday.

That leaves us with two more to go.

Later.

A few Ebay purchases rolled into one post.

 What is on the agenda for tonight, let's see. I won several Ebay auctions/BIN last month. I've shown several already here is what is left.

One was a master set of 2025 A&G with the 2 insert sets. Got a great price on those.

I didn't scan them, they were boxed and in the order the way  I liked so after checking to make sure they were all there I just put them on the shelf waiting to be put into a binder.

I also won an auction for a near complete set of 2025 Archives (it was missing 47 cards) which I have put most of them into my Sport Lots cart. Not all but most.

I also won a separate auction for a Braves lot. Those are below.

Basically, counting a couple I already had I only need #84 Acuna to complete the base Braves for my team set. It's probably in my SLOTS cart too.  This lot had the pink parallel of Andruw (I was very happy he finally gets into the HOF--congrats to Beltran too). Also got the Boardwalk & Baseball insert of Riley. 

Thursday I'll have a "CORRECTION" post.

Have a great night!

Happy MLK day

 Just a short post honoring MLK. 

Now, I do have one or two cards of MLK as well, but they weren't in this scan file.

My Uncle Fred had this memento among his "stuff". Now I have it.

Enjoy the day.

Shadow Shots and a Postal update

 First let's get the latest postal service update. I hadn't heard a thing in several weeks. Until Friday morning. This it what was in the e-mail:

Hello John Miller,

The U.S. Postal Service has completed the review of your claim for (Tracking Number: 9500110374915276288624) and has approved your claim for payment. Payment for this claim will be sent to you in a mailing within 7 - 10 business days for this amount:

(Check Number: 324800735)
($100.00)

If the paid amount is less than the amount requested, the difference may be due to; the assessed value being lower than the amount claimed, depreciation, insurance coverage limits, etc.

Now to wait on the check I guess. I had reached out to one of my US Senators a couple of months ago regarding my issues with the P.O. I never heard anything (not even a form letter response) and that pisses me off a little too, especially as he was also my Governor for 8 years. Oh well, it appears to be all handled now after nearly 4 months. NUTS! 

Now for some shadows.

1) I really don't see anything particular in the shadow. However what I find interesting is it looks like a SQUARE that is tipping a ball cap.

2) I see the A Okay hand sign.

3) Either a Cheetah or a Puma can't really be sure.....I don't want to get too close

Enjoy the weekend everybody!

Mount Fuji erupts!

 I got a package as did many of us recently from Mark. I will have to split the goodies up into two posts. One for tonight and one will have to wait a few weeks at which time you will understand why.

TCDB: They finally updated the Braves input for me. Now I am 574 cards behind him. I'm telling you that I need to go to Atlanta (or nearby) visit some family and tear up every card shop I can taking all of the ATL Braves inserts and parallels, especially the parallels (pretty much could use any of those "seasonal" parallels Topps uses in series 1, 2, and update.

Back to Mount Fuji (maybe I should say Saint Fuji :)

These were the needed Braves. My first green plaid Braves from the 2025 Holiday set.

Mark sent along some John Miller cards too. No idea if I need them because I haven't updated that collection in a decade. Good news is, I might need them in the set builds too.

A few years back I remember sending a partial box of ALF cards to Mark. Either he finally opened the packs or these are from a different set. He sent about a hundred from the 87' series 1 set which according to TCDB I didn't have any of the 44 card set, and I now have 21 almost half of the set. 

Mark also sent an unopened pack of 2021 Opening Day. I haven't completed that set, I needed 30 cards yet, so I ripped the pack.

Over the years I have usually sent Mark all of the Mascot cards I'd get as he collects them. My TCDB data showed I didn't have any of the Mascots so there is a need right there, as well as the Correa which was also a need. Opening the Opening Day pack was the right call.

Now for some proud papa news: 

My brother and I switched weeks for playing trivia, and at the last minute last night Hunter (my daughter) texted me saying that all 4 of "The Gang" (the kids-youngsters) would ne joining us. I called here immediately to let her know that Jack and I weren't playing last night. They still went, they wanted to play and they finished in third winning $10.00, and was only 10 point from the number one spot. They did well.

Thanks Mark, and you already know why I must wait 4 week (minus 3 days) to show the rest of what you sent :)

Wacky Wednesday: almost done

 Almost done this go around, I didn't come close to getting through binder one and I have two binders of interesting or odd cards. In case you missed the previous post (GOALS) where I mentioned the readership on Wed. and Saturdays just isn't happening. I will be posting Monday through Friday once I have finished the few as in 3 weeks worth left of the Shadows and Wacky cards already scanned.

Here are this weeks winners or losers depending your liking.

Three more to go.