My husband and I had a nice Monday afternoon recently. We got our COVID boosters, got a lot of errands done, and even had some good Mexican food! Weather was even nice enough to sit outside for a bit on our deck, where we heard screech owls, a mysterious beast rustling around in the woods (probably a deer) and we even caught a glimpse of a bunny AFTER DARK! We don’t usually see bunnies after dark! Poor thing must’ve been scared by the noises in the woods. Who wouldn’t be scared of noises in the woods if you’re small, furry and delicious like a bunny?

It started getting a bit nippy to sit outside, so we signed on for a virtual game and came inside. Little did we know that the next day would be a hellish one for us with COVID shot side effects, especially me. I mean, really – did I have to experience every damned side effect? Yup! I finally went back to work today, but man – for a while there I felt like I was hit repeatedly with a bat (body aches) all the while being cold as hell and fighting off a fever that went as high as 102 degrees all the while having no energy to fight anything! Yes, I’m very glad I got it done, though.

As for the game? Wow, we were in a tiebreaker for first! It’s been so long since we’ve been in a tiebreaker that we didn’t even know what to do! I mean besides lose the tiebreaker, like we did (boo)!

Here were our questions:

Round One

1) Cars – Founded in 1939, what Italian sports car manufacturer has produced the California, Enzo, and Spider?

2) Lit Animals – The books Gloomy Gus and Gentle Ben by Walt Morey are both about what type of animal?

3) Monarchs – Who was the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901?

4) Basketball – What school made the Final Four ten times between winning the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament in 1992 and 2021?

Damned sportsball question ruined our perfect first round!

Mystery One – Visual

We missed 3 and 4.

Round Two

1) SCIENCE! – In addition to radiation, name one of the two ways in which heat travels.

NERD POINT: Name both. Got both.

2) Video Games – The 1991 video game subtitled Return of Samus is the second game in what Nintendo franchise? Miss.

3) Instruments – With a name derived from a word for “chestnuts,” what percussion instrument, associated with Spain, consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string, and is usually played with a pair in each hand? This was all Mike.

4) Nuts – Which state produces close to 80% of the world’s almonds and nearly all of the almonds produced in the United States?

Mystery Two

Name the production that won the Tony Award for Best Musical, based on the year of the award and the other musicals that were nominated.

M1) 2016 – Bright Star, School of Rock, Shuffle Along, and Waitress

M2)2011 – Catch Me If You Can, The Scottsboro Boys, and Sister Act

M3) 1983 – Blues in the Night, Merlin, and My One and Only

M4)1998 – Side Show, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Ragtime

Our Ohio host Brandon said “Pumpernickel” instead of Pimpernel (yes really and it was awesome)! We only got #1 and #2 correct.

We were in second with 42 points going into the final behind another Ypsilanti, MI team called the Ypsi Jax, who had 49 points.

Final – Speeches

A speech given by Sojourner Truth in 1851 at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, is most commonly known by what four-word title that is phrased as a question?

Although several versions of the speech have been printed, it is likely that Truth’s original delivery did not include this four-word phrase at all.

We were in a tiebreaker with the Ypsi Jax on this question – How many total miles long is the border between Canada and Alaska? They won the tiebreaker, our guess was WAY too long.

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, the Scarlet Pimpernel!