A Little Rain, A Little Sun

Gee. It sounds like Spring in Northern California. We had quite a storm over Friday night with solid rain that was supposed to quit about three in the morning. I had a 9:08 AM tee time on Saturday and awoke to drizzle at 7:30 AM and the phone ringing. For some reason the master bedroom phone is never in the master bedroom and by the time I got up, tripped over my senile dog who is forever off of his rug and splayed out in the middle of the room, and reached a handset of the phone which never makes it back to the cradle unless the battery is low, the caller was gone. It turned out to be Darren who was wondering if we were a go for golf. Darren is new to the group and hasn't learned that we are always a go unless the course is closed. By the time I got up, showered, ate some Cheerios (my other cholesterol drug), read the paper and fiddled with the computer looking at weather forecasts, the rain had abated and it was simply cold and wet.

I made it over to the course at 8:45 AM and the gang was all there. Boyd was opting out of our regular Saturday foursome and hitching a ride over to the new Indian Casino course in Capay Valley, Yochedehe. He had invited me to join them, but for $90 to play and a 90 minute drive I decided I had enough to keep me occupied around home. I played with Darren, Mel and Bob on the newly punched greens at Woodcreek. The aeration was done with the smaller tines that are placed closer together and the greens had been sanded. The greens were surprisingly fast and true for all of the sand. Darren chipped in for birdie from off the green on the first hole and we played a team game where we switch partners every six holes and play for $5 a segment. I shot 37+40=77 to continue a hot streak of non-tournament golf. In fact, Bob said to me during the round that I was playing as if I had a tournament tomorrow. Hey, I'm supposed to be the wise guy in this group. I did manage to win $15 as the other three all won one match (with me) and lost the other two. My $15 in winnings were quickly spent in the bar on two beers and two sodas for $13 and a $2 tip, but I got the satisfaction of cleaning up. Darren was my partner on the last six holes and he hadn't won a match yet. I proceeded to go from even par after twelve holes to five over for the six holes we played. Somehow, we managed to win three of the six holes and pushed the last for a win. Darren would have lost $15 with each of us winning $5 if we'd lost. He was on me pretty good for playing great golf all day and tanking with him. I asked him what the common denominator was in his two previous losses. He looked at me funny (It was him!). Bob shot a stellar 38+34=72, Mel shot 84 and Darren shot 90. It was a fun day and the weather improved all day long to the point of sun and a light breeze by the time we finished.

It only warmed to 59 degrees and the average temperature this time of year is 69 degrees, so we have a 79 due us. perhaps next weekend would be appropriate. Yesterday was also cool and breezy with a high of 65 degrees. It was downright cold when we got to church at 8:45 AM and still cold and breezy when we left. I slept on the couch during the golf match and arose about 3:30 to do some errands. I've wanted to re wrap the grip on my golf cart and had trouble finding some grip tape. I bought a roll of dark blue Ace bandage that sticks to itself and wrapped the grip with that. I also bought a new hose for the back yard and some weed control. I have a few weeds popping up in the retaining wall behind the pool and wanted to spray those. I also decided to add another coat of wood preservative to the side gate by the jet ski on the side yard of the house. That gate takes spray from the lawn sprinklers full force and I'll need to re-apply the wood preservative every year. I finished that fence and gate and then re-applied the wood preservative to the trash enclosure at the front of the house as well. My next big project will be power washing the deck and stone on the pool and re-applying the water sealant to that. I will re stain the deck with the sandstone stain and use a water based sealant on that and use the acrylic based sealant on the stone.

I got kicked out of the house on Thursday night to a Cabi party thrown by Darla at our house. In the past, I would have snuck off to the Indian casino and played some nickel poker, but instead went over to the gym, rejoined on Darla and David's membership and had a workout. I've completely changed my diet and I'm off red meat almost entirely. I'm getting used to ground turkey in my spaghetti, tacos and even had ground turkey hamburgers last night for dinner that were surprisingly good. Darla doctored them up with spices and we had cheese and onion on them and other than being a bit dry, they were good. Next time, we'll put some barbecue sauce on the patties. The turkey patties cook completely differently as there is no grease that exudes from the meat so they tend to brown a little quicker so need to be cooked at a lower heat. I realize that my new diet is great, but in order to kick the high cholesterol I need drugs, a new diet AND exercise. I'll try to get over and hit the recumbent bike three times a week.

I talked to Jennifer this week and little Samantha is now yabbering alot, finding her voice and even rolled over from her stomach to her back. I mentioned in an earlier epistle that Samantha has a pretty strong constitution and she wants what she wants. She doesn't like being put on her stomach and at three months is already rolling over because she wants to be on her back.

Dad and Shirley will be on a plane back to Vancouver this week, tanned and happy. I'm sure Dad will have plenty to keep him busy at home with plants beginning the Spring thaw and needing to be trimmed. I know that they enjoyed their six weeks in Hawaii, but I'm sure will be happy to be home near family and their grand kids in Canada. We will plan to meet them in Las Vegas on their next trip to their home away from home.

Well, it is the last day of the month and I need to get at it and make sure the staff is focused and ready for a big push on the last day of the month. Tomorrow is April. Ciao.