A Look Back at My Membership-Did I Get My Value?

Written on 2-22-25.

     It’s a Saturday afternoon, and Belinda and I are enjoying some quiet time.  Kody, too.  B is resting on our bed, and Kody is in the hallway sleeping.  I started to declutter our computer room closet, but I am taking a break to catch up on some writing.  It’s a pleasant distraction.  We have many things that need to be gone through, including more stuff from Mom and Dad.  We are syphoning off items to be sold in a garage sale.

I did a workout this morning, and then we ate burgers and fries on our deck (first time this season) from a new restaurant in town, Badlands Burgers and Brews.  It took over the spot where the Bistro was on Main.  The burgers were okay.  I would eat there again, but they were expensive; we spent over $30.00 for the two of us. 

I have a dermatology appointment on Monday.  This is the second one, and I am having more Milia removed from between my eyes.  I have a BIG one near my left eyebrow.  She wouldn’t touch it last time, but I hope she will this time.  We shall see.  Of course, I have an ingrown hair in my eyebrow right next to it, too, so that’s great, just great (wink, wink).  

We have parent-teacher conferences this coming week.  I only have to make it until Wednesday, and then conferences start on Thursday and continue on Friday.  I helped set up some I.E.P. meetings for those days.  I know I am not Neily, but I am doing my best.

James and Casey are on week 32 now!  Our Swopelet is growing and growing.  Belinda and I got to feel it kick when they were here.  What a wonderful feeling!  Thank you, Casey, for allowing us to do that.  They have a routine where they play music each night to get him to start moving and grooving.  It worked.

Danielle and Sarah both participated in that Spartan Sprint 5K in Phoenix, and they both did rather well.  Sarah got 14th place and Danielle finished 3rd.  That was made even more impressive when we learned that Sarah lost her glasses in the mud and stopped to try and find them and 347 women competed!  Holy moly!  Great job, ladies!  I believe they are going to do another one, and they sounded just giddy when we called them on their way back to Albuquerque.  They were giggling as they told us what happened, and they loved it all.

On to golf…

I played on Wednesday, and that was the last day of my membership.  I played with Herman (not his real name), Richard, and Val (not his real name either).  Herman recommended Val for our bathroom remodel, but we were mostly set with Nate by that time.

It was an awful, truly forgettable round.  I made a couple of bogeys, and I also lost four golf balls.  I could have stayed and played some more, but I left after nine holes.  Everybody understood, and nobody tried to convince me to stay.  I had low energy and brain fog.  I did learn from Luke that I managed to get 23 rounds in for my membership, which confirmed it was not enough to warrant buying it.  What a bummer and a waste of money.  I knew I was short of the mark, but I didn’t know by how much.  Looking back, I know it was one of the tougher years of my life with Dad passing and helping to take care of Mom, too.  Then Mom died.  Oh, and I had my pinky surgery, also.

The round was so bad that I didn’t save it on my Garmin, and I threw away the scorecard.  I was happy when it was over.  I chalked it up to a practice round.  I can now look forward to a new season and getting back to work on getting my swing and game in shape.  Man, do I wish I had Herman's game.  He scores birdies and pars and only occasional bogeys most every round.  Someday.  

Okay, back to decluttering.  

Until next time…

I Play at Sandia for the First Time

Continued from Valentine's Day...

     I managed only one more par on the par four #6.  I did enjoy playing with them, although he was pretty miserable after his nine holes.  I felt bad for him; he really struggled.  His wife and I played better, for sure.

Curt and I took on Troy and Michael at Sandia last weekend.  On the #1 tee, I simply suggested best ball match play, and Mike agreed.  Curt was nervous playing with strangers and with new clubs.  He did better than he thought he would, though.

We won in a rout.  Curt ended them on the back nine with a couple of better scores.  We were a good team, and we ended up winning 8 and 6.  I thought Troy would play better, but he was all over the place.  So was Michael.  I had no idea how good Michael was, but I found out pretty fast.

I really enjoyed the course.  I played much better on the front nine, shooting a 44 and winning most of the holes.  I started with a par, and Troy asked me, after my long birdie attempt, if I was sending a threat.  I joked that if I had made it, that would have sent the threat.  I nearly did hole it, too, and it was from around 40 feet away.

I also got the only par on the long (over 600 yards) par five that we can see from Tramway when we drive home.  That was earned with a putt from around 50 feet.  I hit my approach from a rocky/sandy wash with my 6-iron, but it ended up just short of the green.  The pin was near the back, and my pitch with my “Sandy Andy” ended up way short.  Thankfully, I made that putt to win the hole!  I think I was the only one who earned a legal score on that monster.  

I earned another par on a shorter par five to win yet another hole.  It was fun to win and to have Curt as a partner.  He did his part on the back nine, for sure.  

After we won, I was competing against him in my head, and I know he wanted to beat me, too.  I shot a 44, 51 for a 95.  He shot a 51, 49 for an even 100, but he did beat me on the back nine.  My 95 was the low score of the group, and that’s a bit embarrassing to write.

I hope to play one more time this coming week.  The weather doesn’t look promising, though.  Weather Bug is telling me the high for Wednesday will be 48º.  Brrrrrr.  I will see how I feel when the day is here.

Until next time…

My First Birdie of 2025!

Written on 2-15-25.

     It’s the day after Valentine’s Day, and it’s a Saturday.  James and Casey recently arrived home after spending the first part of the weekend here.  They spent one night at our home and the other two up at Vallecito.  Very soon, their lives will change…for the better, of course.  I am glad they could have a getaway before it all begins.

Belinda and I are excited for the long weekend due to Presidents’ Day.  We have already done some light cleaning and started gathering tax documents from last year.  Danielle is going to Phoenix for a Spartan Race.  Benny had RSV yesterday, and she recently shared the air with him, but she still decided to go.  Hopefully, it will all be okay.  Benny is already feeling better, I have heard, and his temperature is down after being as high as 106º, though!  Matt is racing, too, and they brought Benny with them.

On to golf…

I just cleaned my clubs after my last two rounds, the one at Pinon Hills and the other at Sandia, like I wrote about above.  I have removed the Arccos sensors and cancelled my subscription.  I know I need more distance on my drives, and I know I can always improve my approaches from 125-150 yards.  It was a super experiment, but I feel I know my game well.  It was super to see the improvement I made at the end of the last season when I did score better.  It was gratifying to see the data.  You have improved by 1.3 strokes in blank, etc.  I didn’t want to pay $155.00 for an entire year again, though.  It was all or nothing.  I couldn't pay monthly, so I let it go.

My membership at Pinon Hills ends on Wednesday, the 19th, too.  I don’t plan on renewing that either.  I didn’t get enough rounds in this past year to justify doing it again.  Eric plans to pay each time, so that's what I will do, too.

I wanted to finish writing about my new baseball glove I bought at Dick’s (I switched to baseball gloves quite a while ago because I feel they are more durable, but maybe they aren't).  I used the gift certificate that Asurion sent me after the last one failed, so I was able to take advantage of that protection plan.  The one for my new glove, however, cost between $7.00 and $8.00, up from between $4.00 and $5.00.  I decided to do it anyway, but that is quite the price jump.  Hopefully, I won’t need to take advantage of it.  It’s a bit of a pain to file a claim.

I also didn’t finish the story about the round with that couple at Pinon Hills, and I have a birdie to write about from those nine holes.

Like I said, the husband was not very good, and his name is Joe.  We did have similar markings on our golf balls like I wrote before, too, and he hit my ball by accident from the #1 fairway.  He apologized, and I told him it was not a big deal.  I dropped close to where it just was and finished with a par, the first par of my round.  Actually, the first par of the year, too.

Then he hit my ball again on the next hole.  He shanked it, but it was my ball.  Once again, he was very remorseful, but I told him not to worry.  Then he did it a third time!  That was impressive.  If I had played the hole better, that wouldn't have happened, but I scored a double.

Without his help, I scored my first birdie of the year on the next hole.

Pinon Hills-Hole #3-Birdie #1 of 2025

My drive was not good.  It went left (so did Joe’s), but it did go far enough to get over the first large hill over there.  It ended up in the rough near the bottom of the next hill.  I was sure to remind Joe that our golf balls look very similar, so I was able to stop him from hitting my ball for a fourth time.

I had a blind approach due to the hill.  I walked up to see which line would be best.  I saw the flagstick on the front right side, so I picked a line just right of that.  I used my 5-iron/wood and swung a beauty from 159 yards.  The ball launched toward the hole, and I knew it would be satisfactory.  It was more than that, though.  It ended up right of the hole, only three feet away.

Joe’s wife putted for her par first, but she missed.  She doesn’t like putting on winter greens due to the inconsistency, she said.  They were crusty and mottled.  Thankfully, I was able to roll mine on a true path for my first birdie of the year!  Yay!

James and Casey's Swopelet Shower

Written on 2-12-25.

     I am back in my classroom, but it’s a Wednesday this time.  I do Math Olympiad on these days, and this time I will be reviewing the math problems from the test last week.  This time, I tried my very best to get the answers right; I missed all five.  I gave the test to Belinda, and she got two right.  Thank goodness for the answer keys, so I can explain to the students how to arrive at the answers, since I obviously didn’t by myself.

We had James and Casey’s baby shower this past weekend in Albuquerque.  It was great, just great!  Bev and Curt came down, and we got an original Swoperton gang picture, too.  We also got a tour of Matt and Becca’s house after three months (they hosted the shower), had some quality alone time with Ben, and spent both nights at Danielle’s house.

Bev, Curt, and I went to church on Sunday at the Shrine of St. Bernadette.  I had never gone there before, and it was truly beautiful.  Bev and Curt agreed.  All in all, it was a super weekend.

On to golf…

I played last Wednesday as a practice round for Saturday’s round at Sandia.  Herman (not his real name), Richard, and I played the back nine, and it was cool to see them.  Herman had three birdies and one bogey for a round of -2.  He made it look so simple.  My first nine was rough, but I improved my score when I played the front nine.  I asked them to join me, but they had had enough since they played 18 already.  I get it.  I barely made it playing 18 holes after my long winter lay-off.

On my final nine holes on the front, I played with a married couple.  They were in the same stage of life as Belinda and me, and she was better than he was.  He had the same marks on his golf balls that I do (black alignment lines), but he had little dots in each corner of his lines.  That was the only difference.

More on that later...

James and Danielle Get Some Gifts

Written on 2-1-25.

     I wanted to put in here what I gave to James and Danielle from Mom and Dad after Mom died.  I grabbed some stuff when we cleaned out their apartment, and I thought the gifts were fitting.  I snagged all of Dad’s pocket knives.  First, I just got the two that were next to his recliner, but later I found a bunch more.  I gave Danielle one of the Swiss Army knives and I gave James one that had a Cutlass, a sailing ship.

Next, I found many religious items on Mom’s table between the recliners.  I spotted many St. Anthony medals/necklaces, so I gave them one each as well.  He was the saint outside their door that came from their garden in the backyard. 

Last week, I went through all of the stuff I brought back and had spread out all over the computer room floor.  I am back at home today, and it’s 8:36 at night.  I am sitting in a decluttered computer room as I type this.  That was the last of the “stuff” to go through from Mom and Dad, and it was difficult.  I put it off for weeks.  Actually, I put off some of it again by moving some of the journals/diaries to a box that I put in James’s closet.

On to golf…

I haven’t played due to the cold weather.  The highs have been in the 30’s and 40’s, and the lows have been in the single digits.  Brrrrrrr!  I have been preoccupied with my new position, too.  In other words, it has not been conducive to playing golf, but it hardly ever is in the month of January.  I do remember having a January one year when Bruce, C.J., and I played many times at Hidden Valley.

One change I have made is keeping my golf clubs inside.  I want to keep them nice and warm and happy when I am not playing in the winter.  I believe it will keep the grips healthier.  Who knows.  I like to look at them, too.  They are right behind me, and it makes me smile that they are in here.

I bought a new golf glove using the silly and even more expensive Asurion No Sweat Protection Plan.

More on that later…