For a while there, the Major League Baseball lockout put one of my favorite pastimes in serious jeopardy — fantasy baseball.

But the March 10 agreement between the league and the MLB Players Association gave a green light to my annual league, a conglomeration between family, former coworkers and random friends of friends. This weekend, the ragtag collection of roto-nerds will get together for our league’s draft and officially launch our season. It really can’t be baseball season until your fantasy team has a roster.

The annual summer obligation, to me, is much better than its football counterpart — though I’m a big fan of fantasy football as well — mainly because I enjoy the daily upkeep a fantasy roster requires compared to football. In fantasy football, I can spend about five minutes a week on my football roster and be in first place. Fantasy baseball requires you to work daily on your roster for six months, and even then that might not be enough.

But win or lose, seemingly all is right in the world when one is knee deep in fantasy baseball.

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If you missed one or more issues of the The Observer this week, here are a few items you missed out on.

Reporter Dick Mason had a nice feature on Ken Eberhard, an 80-year-old La Grande resident, who walks a total of 4 miles on Fruitdale Lane about four times a week. Eberhard has been picking up debris along Fruitdale Lane ever since starting his regular walks about two years ago.

Dick also turned in an interesting story about a husband-wife duo who while researching information for their new book, learned that there was a timeshare home on Palmer Junction Road where Roy Rogers had once lived.

Reporter Davis Carbaugh, along with Dick, delivered a story on how the increase in gas prices are affecting local cities, schools and public agencies.

Coming up next week look for a story on a local group who is organizing a quilt raffle to raise money for Ukraine.

I appreciate your interest in these newsletters and in local life here in our little corner of Northeast Oregon. If you don’t already subscribe to the East Oregonian, I hope you will.