Diane returned home Monday night from a “grandkid fix” visit to New Jersey.

She goes three or four times each year to see daughter Tammy’s three children: five-year-old Brandon, four-year-old Brody (in two weeks) and two-year-old Brylee.

The next time Diane will return to the Garden State, it will be to see the newest grandchild. That’s right, Tammy is pregnant with her fourth (another girl) and she’s due in January.

Diane took lots of presents for the kids, but she didn’t return with empty luggage, Tammy filled it with all of her boys’ baby clothes. That’s because youngest daughter Toni is expecting her first in February. Yes, it’s a boy.

That will give us eight grandkids.

Our West coast girls recently celebrated birthdays. Holly said it’s easier celebrating her two girls’ birthdays together. They have a lot of the same friends. Brooke’s birthday is on Sept.16, and Addy’s is Oct. 11.

They are into the Princess theme. I found a couple of Princess dresses at Target.

Diane said the weather was great while she was in New Jersey with highs in the low to mid 70s.

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Sunday was a sad day for me. It was the last Diamondbacks game for the season.

They finished an even .500, 81 games won and 81 games lost. They had the best record in the Western Division for the first half of the season. Then those pesky Los Angeles Dodgers got hot. Diamondbacks pitcher Pat Corbin was outstanding in the season’s first half. He made the All-Star Game with an 11-l record. His second half wasn’t nearly as impressive with a final record of 14-8.

The team’s other All Star, Paul Goldschmidt, had an outstanding season, leading the National League in Runs Batted In with 125 and he tied for the lead in home runs with 36. He finished with a very respectable .302 average. He should win the MVP Award, but that’s up to a committee with plenty of eastern writers on it.

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The Oktoberfest was a lot of fun last weekend. It was amazing how cool it got as the evening went on. It actually felt pretty good after going through the warmest summer ever in the Valley.

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Well we can officially call the monsoon season over for another year.

Sept 30 was the final official day of the season.

Fortunately, we didn’t have any real damage from the storms this year. But I would have liked to see a little more rain and lightning displays like we had in the good old days.

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Kip Kirkendoll, business manager for The Times, had a bobcat in her cul de sac last week. And two days later Daughter Dani came home from dropping off her son, Hunter, at high school and found a bobcat in our driveway. It was just sitting there watching the traffic go by on Saguaro Boulevard.

He was probably contemplating the bond issue. Actually that’s my lead-in to urging you to vote in favor of the measure which is being handled by mail-in ballots which will be arriving in the mail Oct.10.