Another weekend is sliding into memory, although at 6:40 on Sunday night it is still 106 degrees. This was a really HOT weekend and for one of the first times that I can remember, the heat had an ill effect on my golf game Saturday morning. I've suffered some dizziness and shortness of breath before on really hot nights of our twilight league and we have had some teams quit after starting because it was just too uncomfortable for them and they felt it was unsafe to play. Saturday morning it started out pretty warm at 8:30 (there was no breeze). It was maybe 85 when we teed off, but it just did a number on me. I felt lightheaded and dizzy on the back side and was drinking water like a madman. I shot 44+45=89, but was lucky to finish the round as the heat just did a number on me. I will play on Thursday night in league and then take a three week break from actually golfing as I have the National Junior Golf Tournament starting next weekend and running until Thursday of the following week. We then leave for Tahoe and ten days up in the cooler environs of the Sierra Nevada, where the daytime highs hit about 90 on a really HOT day, but average mid 80's in early August with overnight lows a sweater-inducing mid forties. I look forward to that.
We are in a stretch of weather that will hit seven straight days over 100 degrees and then, amazingly drop into the lower 90's for the start of our tournament. We have kids flying in from all over the United States, the furthest from Rhode Island. Of the 156 golfers, 23 will be from California. They begin arriving on Friday night and we have kids who range in age from 14-18. The qualifiers have to be 17 on March 15th. There will be 84 kids that are coming without their parents and being housed in homes mostly on the course at Del Paso Country Club. The Club Members have been great about stepping up and opening their homes to the kids, but the superintendent out there told the homeowners that they were required as a club to provide host housing. A little fib, but one that worked impressively. I will be at the course from Saturday until Thursday, arriving each day of the actual tournament by 6:30 and 9 AM on the weekend. This weekend we have to prepare the course, put out the trash cans and set up the grandstands and the score boards. Sunday is a day of practice for the kids and we need to be on the course to monitor the play. Monday starts the actual tournament and I am in charge of fore caddies and scoring. I have a total of 52 fore caddie spots and 54 scoring spots for the week and we have about 40 fore caddie spots filled and 48 scoring positions. I will fill in where I can and give bathroom breaks to the scorers and fore caddies and there will be more of the committee available to fill in the spots that we are thin. It will be a busy week and I will find some time to work on the blog perhaps later in the week next week. I have a dinner for the kids and sponsors on Sunday night at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento and our speaker will be Kevin Sutherland, the PGA golfer from Sacramento. His brother was on the tour as well and is now the golf coach at my alma mater, Sacramento State University.
The pictures above are of Darla's burgeoning pot garden. Every time I come home there are more pots and plants. It looks great and she is out hand watering the garden every day. The other picture is of my view of the pool from my float.
The picture of the fire of our neighbor's house was from Monday night. Darla and I were sitting watching a recording of the RNC Convention and Melania's speech at 10:10, when someone came to our front door and banged on the door three times and then rang our doorbell twice. Darla and I looked at each other and I cautiously approached the darkened front door and turned on the light. I could see someone standing on our porch, but see emergency lights on the street. It was the brother of one of our neighbor' down the street and he informed me that our neighbors house was on fire behind us. Darla and I hunker down at night and have all of the window coverings shut and we were clueless as to the glowing blaze in the home one door down from our rear neighbor. There was an electrical fire in the attic and it spread to the roof and then to the wood frame itself. There were five fire trucks on scene (this is a big deal for the Roseville Fire Department) as well as six police vehicles. They were pouring water onto the roof of the house and keeping neighbors back. Izzy behind us had noticed the fire from her back kitchen window and her husband, Dwight, ran over to bang on the door. When he got no response, he broke the sidelight window and opened the door and started yelling. The woman who owns the home was asleep in an upstairs bedroom and Dwight got her robe and hustled her out of the house. He went back in to search for her cat who ran from him, but out the front door.
We stood in the cul-de-sac and visited with our neighbors as the fireman did their job. The police approached us and asked us to move back to the end of the street as the firemen were going to "vent" the house. I had no idea what that was, but the firemen took axes and chain saws and cut holes in the garage doors and broke windows to let the ash and smoke out of the house. As soon as they did a huge billow of smoke poured out of the house and into the street. It makes you realize how tightly these houses are built as the smoke and ash was trapped in the house and rushed out when it was vented. Everyone was okay, but the work is just starting for the investigators and insurance adjusters as the home will have to be rebuilt.
This unfortunately is not the first tragedy visited on this family as the woman was married to a San Jose policeman who became involved with a drug trafficker and had an affair with her and was fired. He committed suicide and she ended up moving with her two kids to Roseville. Both boys are jd's and drove their cars like maniacs through the neighborhood. The older son got involved in drugs and pcp in particular and on a bender was pulled over by a policeman in West Sacramento and pulled out a gun and shot and killed him. He was surrounded at a motel in Sacramento and arrested and was convicted to life in prison without possibility of parole. It was a mess and we had the media all over the neighborhood asking us what we thought of the young man. Usually you say they were a quiet family that kept to themselves, but not in this case. The woman has seen more sorrow in her life than one person should have to endure and I wish her well. Hopefully God will work in her life and show her a bigger purpose for her going forward.
Well, this is short, but it's late and I have some chicken breasts waiting for the barbecue and I plan to roast them up with barbecue sauce and enjoy a hearty meal. Darla and I had a nice day on and in the pool and the heat remains for the rest of this week. I will be in the pool each night when I get home from work. Hope you are all doing great. Ciao.
The picture of the fire of our neighbor's house was from Monday night. Darla and I were sitting watching a recording of the RNC Convention and Melania's speech at 10:10, when someone came to our front door and banged on the door three times and then rang our doorbell twice. Darla and I looked at each other and I cautiously approached the darkened front door and turned on the light. I could see someone standing on our porch, but see emergency lights on the street. It was the brother of one of our neighbor' down the street and he informed me that our neighbors house was on fire behind us. Darla and I hunker down at night and have all of the window coverings shut and we were clueless as to the glowing blaze in the home one door down from our rear neighbor. There was an electrical fire in the attic and it spread to the roof and then to the wood frame itself. There were five fire trucks on scene (this is a big deal for the Roseville Fire Department) as well as six police vehicles. They were pouring water onto the roof of the house and keeping neighbors back. Izzy behind us had noticed the fire from her back kitchen window and her husband, Dwight, ran over to bang on the door. When he got no response, he broke the sidelight window and opened the door and started yelling. The woman who owns the home was asleep in an upstairs bedroom and Dwight got her robe and hustled her out of the house. He went back in to search for her cat who ran from him, but out the front door.
We stood in the cul-de-sac and visited with our neighbors as the fireman did their job. The police approached us and asked us to move back to the end of the street as the firemen were going to "vent" the house. I had no idea what that was, but the firemen took axes and chain saws and cut holes in the garage doors and broke windows to let the ash and smoke out of the house. As soon as they did a huge billow of smoke poured out of the house and into the street. It makes you realize how tightly these houses are built as the smoke and ash was trapped in the house and rushed out when it was vented. Everyone was okay, but the work is just starting for the investigators and insurance adjusters as the home will have to be rebuilt.
This unfortunately is not the first tragedy visited on this family as the woman was married to a San Jose policeman who became involved with a drug trafficker and had an affair with her and was fired. He committed suicide and she ended up moving with her two kids to Roseville. Both boys are jd's and drove their cars like maniacs through the neighborhood. The older son got involved in drugs and pcp in particular and on a bender was pulled over by a policeman in West Sacramento and pulled out a gun and shot and killed him. He was surrounded at a motel in Sacramento and arrested and was convicted to life in prison without possibility of parole. It was a mess and we had the media all over the neighborhood asking us what we thought of the young man. Usually you say they were a quiet family that kept to themselves, but not in this case. The woman has seen more sorrow in her life than one person should have to endure and I wish her well. Hopefully God will work in her life and show her a bigger purpose for her going forward.
Well, this is short, but it's late and I have some chicken breasts waiting for the barbecue and I plan to roast them up with barbecue sauce and enjoy a hearty meal. Darla and I had a nice day on and in the pool and the heat remains for the rest of this week. I will be in the pool each night when I get home from work. Hope you are all doing great. Ciao.
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