Catching Up From Last Year on My Birthday

     It's my 52nd birthday today, and I am celebrating by posting everything that remains from the end of last year's journal.  What a super way to start this new year!

Happy birthday to me!

Written on 12-26-18.

     Well, we celebrated a fabulous Christmas in Lakewood before Christmas Eve, and yesterday’s Christmas back here at home was wonderful, too.  In Lakewood, we had our final Christmas at the White Fence Farm, because they close down forever on the 30th.  Sigh.  

     It almost didn’t happen, or it almost didn’t happen the way we hoped it would.  They somehow double-booked the Colony Room, the room we normally get, so Bev asked me to speak with a manager to set things right.  I told him that Carolyn had just confirmed with me recently, and I purposefully added that I had my first real job there as a busboy years ago.  He said he would try his best to work something out, and then he did.  The other party of 30 people was put in the big room near ours.

     Now we are back at home, and we celebrated without James yesterday morning.  It was weird to have only the three of us (five if you count the cat and the new dog) together for Christmas morning.  Then we celebrated without Dale (and James and Becca and Matt for that matter) over at the Edgerton’s for the big Christmas family dinner, and that just felt plain wrong.  Tears flowed right at the beginning, mostly from the sisters, and although it was a delicious meal with great company, his absence was profoundly felt.

Back to golf…

Hole #6-I went back and forth in my mind with my 8-iron and my 9-iron.  Sure, the 9-iron is the “go to” club for this tee shot most of the time, but the tee markers were back more than ten yards from where they’ve been when I’ve used my 9-iron, so I clubbed up to the 8 instead.  The flagstick was placed way over on the left side again, so it’s a narrow landing area.  The 8-iron was definitely the correct choice, and my ball flew right at the flag.  It landed on the green and right of the flag a bit, but the sidespin and some wind caused it to roll to the left and stop at a spot where the green and the collar meet.

     I determined the ball was more on the green than off, so I marked it.  I had 18 feet to the hole, and I chose to...

Stuck in Traffic Just Past Bailey, Colorado

Written on 12-21-18.

     We are stuck in traffic just past Bailey, Colorado, and we are on our way to Mom and Dad’s for Christmas.  Tomorrow is my wife’s 51st birthday, and we are going to the White Fence Farm for the last time…ever…on Sunday for the Christmas celebration with Bev’s family and Barry.  Guy and his girls won’t be here this Christmas, but he just had his neck surgery and his in-laws are flying up from Florida.  

     The line of traffic ahead of us is long, and it reminds me (especially during this time of year) of a curling strand of Christmas tree lights, red ones of course.  We are tired and struggling to think of something to say to each other.  We just want to be there.  Traffic is beginning to move now, but it’s the traffic going in the other direction; we are crawling along in little spurts.  At least the full moon is bright and makes for an incredible view.

On to golf…

     My goal when I set out to play the other day was to...

Best Golf of 2018!

Written on 11-30-18.

     It’s 3:31 on a Friday afternoon.  B is taking a nap in our bedroom, and I am writing in our computer room, and I can hear Kody making smacking, snorting, and chewing sounds as he enjoys one of his favorite chewy toys, his rope.  I just messaged Danielle and James.  Danielle didn’t answer, but James told me it was due to her not being in Wi-Fi.  They are going to a beer festival thing tonight.  It’s been an off and on snowy, sleety, and rainy day.  Right now, however, the sun is shining, and it’s making the most beautiful contrast with the bluish-gray clouds and tannish-brown hills.

     I just took a sip of my cold coffee, the first cup brewed with my new coffee maker, a Mr. Coffee Optimal 10-cup Brewer.  Despite the cold temp, it’s delicious.  I’ve been obsessed with coffee lately.  I was sick of the Keurig.  It was way too much effort for too little coffee.  It was messy, too, leaving small spills on our counter way too often.  Additionally, Danielle is going to be living here during her student-teaching, so we will need more coffee.  It says it brews ten cups, but they consider a cup to be five to six ounces.  That’s like a shot glass of coffee to me.  If I use the maximum amount of water, though, I can get two large cups of coffee, one for Danielle and one for me.  

     I just glanced at the Calendar App on our new larger monitor, and I see that I have...

Updated Official Birdie and Eagle Count!

     I just caught this monster up after 2018's birdies.  I had no eagles last year, but I earned 54 birdies.  Even better, though, I shot two fantastic nine-hole scores near the end of the year, an even round at Civitan and a 1-under score at Aztec Municipal Golf Course on the back nine.  

The official count is now 511 birdies and 24 eagles since I started playing in September of 1999.

Without further ado, here they are...

1999 (3 Birdies Total, All Par 3’s)

#1-Hole 7-Par 3-Civitan-After Scoring Two Nines on This Hole in Other Rounds

#2-Hole 4-Par 3-Pinon-To 2 or 3 Feet

#3-Hole 3-Par 3-Civitan-With 50-Year Old Chuck (it was his birthday)

2000 (7 Birdies Total, 1 Par 4, 6 Par 3’s)

#4-Hole 1-Par 3-Civitan-While James and Danielle Were Rolling Down the Hills

#5-Hole 9-Par 3-Civitan-5-wood, Long Putt From Right Side

#6-Hole 2-Par 3-Civitan-With Dan and Young Craig, Chip-in From Past Green

#7-Hole 8-Par 3-Civitan-With Daryl, His Putt Over Hole Too Fast, Mine Just Right

#8-Hole 2-Par 4-Pinon-All Around the Hole and In, With Eric Before Sprinklers Blew

#9-Hole 3-Par 3-Beaver Creek-50 Yard Hole, Long Putt with Bob Toski Putter, w/ Curt 

#10-Hole 12-Pinon-Par 3-5-wood Into the Wind, Disappears and Then Rolls Close

2001 (9 Birdies Total, 1Par 5, 4 Par 4’s, 4 Par 3’s)

#11-Hole 5-Hidden Valley-Par 5-First Hidden Valley Birdie Ever

#12-Hole 2-Foothills Exec.-Par 4-Memorial Day-Brazil V-ball, Shrek, Adam Leffler Born

#13-Hole 12-Hidden Valley-Par 4-Cart Path and Approach From #12

#14-Hole 5-Mountain Shadows Exec.-Par 3-DOD Interview, 1 of 3 in One Round

#15-Hole 7-Mountain Shadows-Par 3-DOD Interview, 2 of 3 in One Round

#16-Hole 12-Mountain Shadows-Par 3-DOD Interview, 3 of 3 in One Round, Smooth 6

#17-Hole 3-Hidden Valley-Par 4-With Eric Before Back Was Hurt

#18-Hole 5-Encanto-Par 3-4-iron With Eric, Shaky Back, 1st of 2 in a Row

#19-Hole 6-Encanto-Par 4-With James, Hollered Eric’s Name, 1st 2 Birdies in a Row

2002 (1 Eagle on a Par 4, 14 Birdies Total, 4 Par 5’s, 3 Par 4’s, 7 Par 3’s)

#20-Hole 1-Civitan-Par 3-With Rocky and Eric, Courtney’s B-day, 7-iron Punch Shot

Eagle #1-HV-Hole #10-Par 4-w/ Eric, Hooked the Tee Shot, Then Out of the Dirt!

#21-Hole 1-Civitan-Par 3-With Eric, Putt From Above Hole, Another Name Shout Out

#22-Hole 3-Civitan-Par 3-With Eric, At Dusk, End of Birdie, Bogey, Birdie, Bogey Run

#23-Hole 4-Pinon-Par 3-9-iron to 3 Feet

#24-Hole 16-Hidden Valley-Par 3-During a Tuesday Scramble That My Team Won

End of My Golf Diary!  From here on out, I kept golf diaries by year. 

Start of Golf Diary-Part 2...