Everybody's Having a Birthday

It is mid-May and what that means in our world, is that it is birthday time. Today is Darla's birthday and the birthday of her five-year younger twin, Alicia. Tomorrow is David's eighteenth birthday. For Daniel and I, we just try to stay out of the way this week. I am taking the gang, including Alicia, to dinner at Buca Di Beppo tonight in Roseville. Daniel and I are the only ones not having a birthday, so I guess we are picking up the bill.

The weekend just passed was one of intense heat (88 degrees) on Saturday, followed by a drizzly, humid rainfest yesterday. I got rained on in the last day of the three day tournament, but managed a spirited 83. The effort was for naught, as I had laid a huge egg on Saturday with a 92. I had gone from a gross 80 to a net 80 in one week. I was coming off a week of illness. I suffered from chills and fever during the middle part of the week and almost missed a day of work. I probably should have stayed home, but the work doesn't do itself. I was feeling fine by Saturday, but the lethargy hit during the round and I slogged around in the heat to a 45+47=92 which effectively ended my bid for a win in the tournament. I was pleased with my comeback in poor conditions yesterday and shot 42+41=83. The theme of a three day tournament is consistency and I didn't manage that at all. C'est la Vie.

I have been working with my dentist on a crown for one of my rear molars for over a month now. He has twice ordered my crown from the lab. The first attempt had a pinhole in it, which wasn't discovered until the crown was in my mouth and the adhesive was bleeding through to the top of the crown. The dentist wiped it off twice and finally pulled the crown and looked at it under the light and found the hole. On the second try, I didn't even make it to the dentist's office. They called to tell me the crown was in and I jokingly told the dentist to check the crown under an intense light before I came in. They called later to say the doctor wasn't happy with the casting and was sending it back again. I'm getting a little anxious as I wait. I'll be in Philly on Wednesday-Friday at a Manager's meeting with one of our carriers and I'm wearing a bottle cap on my back tooth. The doctor is off this week as his daughter is graduating college down in SoCal. I'll have to wait until next week and hope the temporary stays put.

Today is breezy and the clouds have departed for the moment. We have a chance of rain and isolated thundershowers this afternoon so the weather is not over yet. We have had a very rainy Spring thus far and I fear that we will jump from Winter to Summer once the weather changes. Saturday was a taste of the heat and it was a little too much too soon. I'd like about a month of 72-77 degrees for awhile. Fat chance.

Darla is off today and will scrap book and paint her nails and sleep and do anything that fits her mind. She is a believer in taking your birthday off, because no one else gives a rip that it's your birthday, so you might as well indulge yourself. Good and accurate attitude.

Darla got me again on Saturday. I came off the course tired and sweaty and frustrated and came home to the news that she had a racquetball court setup for 6:15 PM. I sunk into the spa for a few minutes to let my joints relax and then sat in a lounge chair and dried off in the sun. I then did some chores..clearing out the gutters in preparation for the next round of rain. I also trimmed the hedge beside the shed as it was growing above the level of the shed again and looking scraggly. I also trimmed some bushes in the back yard. By then I was completely miserable because of the heat and my own weariness and we went to the gym. I managed to squeak out the first game 15-11 and was toast. Darla beat me 15-8 in the second game and I had no juice left for a third game and we left tied 1 game a piece. Darla loves to set up those racquetball games after I golf. She knows that I won't dare say no to playing. The exercise is great, but I hadn't eaten since breakfast and was very low on energy.

Work is progressing nicely. Management has finally come back and offered me some additional compensation for all of my extra work in the office. It's about time. I'm off to Philadelphia this week and then will take Darla with me to Eureka the end of this month. I'll be there for a golf tournament and we will stay at the Red Lion hotel in Eureka. It's a long drive from here and it will be nice to have Darla's company on the trip. Hopefully the weather is good. The Pacific Northwest can be a bit tricky weatherwise, especially on the coast of far Northern California in late May. We'll be able to enjoy some good meals together and have some quality time away.

We leave for Hawaii in 26 days; three weeks from this coming weekend. I am really looking forward to the vacation. I will not bring my golf clubs this trip, but told Darla that I will probably still play once or twice. The Makai club where we have our condo is part of the Princeville golf club and there is an 18 hole Makai Club course that backs up to our condo. The club has a nine-hole tournament weekly and I think I'll sign up to play in one of the tournaments while we are there.

I only have one golf tournament left before we leave. I've decided NOT to play in the Memorial tournament and will spend some time with Darla. We may go out of town or just to the beach if the weather is good. I will, however, play in the Net Amateur tournament on June 11th. I've already arranged with the handicapper to play in the 1st group of that tournament. We leave for San Francisco that afternoon, where we will stay overnight prior to our Sunday morning flight from SF to Kauai. The hotel will put us up for the night, transport us to the airport and hold our car for up to two weeks, all for $129.99. Not bad. The airport charges $30 a day to garage your car alone. Darla and I stayed at the same hotel on our honeymoon, when we flew to Mexico. We will take the boys to a Chinese food restaurant that we like down the road from the hotel.

I was able to make it to church yesterday before my golf tourament, which was a blessing. It was the Global day of prayer yesterday and perhaps God smiled on me as I regained my abilities after imploding on Saturday. Jackson Sonyonga, the African missionary, said that we are lazy in America. He said that we all get together as churches and have a National Day of Prayer. He said it is like ganging up on the devil, collectively punching him and then running away to hide for another year. We need more prayer in this country and you will never stand so tall as when you kneel to pray. Is God calling you to pray more? Think about it? Ciao.