Golf, Golf and...more Golf?

What a weekend. The temperatures hit 86 degrees on Friday and I was on the golf course with good friends and a cold bottle of Corona. You can't beat that with a stick. I went and visited a new agent in Turlock on Friday morning and then went to Oakdale, a small retirement enclave east of Modesto, and played golf at Oakdale Country Club. The locals would argue with my description of Oakdale, they have a Hershey chocolate plant and a large PG&E plant. The thing is, the town is west of Sonora and a favorite retirement spot for Bay Area transplants, who sell their tract homes for $850,000 and buy a 4,500 square foot dream home for $750,000 in Oakdale. I shot 40+46=86 on Friday and won all of the money from Jerry and Trent, who struggled to 93 and 97 respectively. The back nine falloff had more to do with the sun and the brews than any thing else. I had a great time and we sat in the bar afterward and played dice for an hour. I left my 8-iron at Oakdale and had to use Daniel's Ben Hogan 8-iron over the weekend. I'll be in Modesto Thursday or Friday meeting with the service center employees and will take a side trip up to Oakdale to pick up my club.

Friday night, I met Darla and the boys at Earl and Frances' house in Linden. Earl needed some help on the farm pruning the trees and our two six footers fit the bill. He paid them $100 each for a day's labor. We ate pizza and relaxed. We left the boys and our Explorer at the house and headed back to Roseville.

I played in the 54 hole tournament Day 2 & 3 on Saturday and Sunday. Don Pangburn and I teamed up to shoot a net 58 in the scramble (14 under) on Saturday and 63 (9 under) in the scotch tournament on Sunday. We made up a lot of ground after our first round 66 and finished in the top third of the field and in the money. Daniel's 8-iron even got me second closest to the pin on Sunday at 9 feet, 7 inches. The temperatures stayed warm over the weekend and we had 84 degrees on Saturday and 80 degrees yesterday. There is a slight breeze today and it expected to top out at 78 degrees. Nice weather.

I didn't realize how much sun I'd had over the weekend until Saturday night when I slipped into the hot tub to soak away the muscle strains and pains of two days of golf. It was like slipping into a large vat of scalding hot oil as the pins and needles of my sunburn made themselves evident. I made sure to coat myself liberally with SPF 30 sunscreen on Sunday to aver further damage.

One of the drawbacks to the early Spring is an early bout with allergies. My allergies are to grass pollens and tree pollens and they are rampant. Friday I was suffering itchy, watery eyes and a dripping nose. I pounded Chlor-Trimetron and still the tap was running in my eyes and nose. Saturday, the drill started again with sneezing, watery eyes and the works. Don, my partner, gave me a couple of shots of his prescription allergy medication, a nose spray called Durnaze and it was magic. The draining stopped, the sneezing stopped, and I was fine. On the golf course in the middle of growing grass and a forest of blooming trees. Don has several bottles of the prescription and gave me one for my golf bag and I will take it to my doctor and demand that he write me a prescription for this golden remedy.

We had Cora and Mel over for dinner on Saturday night, barbecued tri-tip and all of the fixins. Mel and Cora are from the Phillipines and have very defined boundaries for their kids. It is basically old school discipline and the children are to be seen and not heard. Their kids have grown up in the United States and are rebelling. We had such a refreshing visit with them and had Daniel and David at the dinner table with us. Cora has been singing the praises of our boys ever since. She thinks they are so well behaved and grown up and wishes that she'd brought her kids on Saturday night. We told them to bring them, but again it is culturally not something that they are comfortable with. Suddenly, Cora wants to get the families together now. The boys absolutely loved Cora and Mel and found their stories of the Phillipines and the Marcos regime fascinating. One of Mel's best friends in the Phillipines is Marcos' oldest son.

My only regret of the weekend was in not getting to talk to Jennifer. She called to wish me a Happy Birthday, but of course, I was on the golf course. She left a nice message and seems to be doing well, although she is rather homesick. She has updated her blog and you can access it at the bottom of this page.

Darla and the boys are off to Mexico this weekend to build houses for the less fortunate. I, in turn, will fly off to Scottsdale, Arizona on Saturday for some sun, golf and a little business on the side. This epistle will be late as I will be away from my keyboard until Thursday. I will update you then on the ongoing saga of Life with the Lyons in Northern California. I hope you all are hale, hearty and in touch with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Ciao.