Writing on a Sunday and Two More Birdies

Written on 5-29-22.

        I am relaxing and watching golf again on a Sunday.  Sundays are perfect days for writing.  Today, it’s the Charles Schwab Challenge, and I know Dad is watching the Indy 500.  I know he enjoys watching that as much I enjoy watching golf.  I see Varnier III and Scheffler near the top of the leaderboard, but I just started watching.  B was trying to take a nap in our bedroom, but somebody dropped off a flier for Jay Block for governor, and the interruption got the dogs barking…a lot.  Misty is here, so A and E could go to a wedding in Minneapolis.

Danielle is here in Aztec.  It is going to be a brief visit, because she is headed to Boise for her fifth fire season and her third for the Boise Helitack Team.  She is staying at the Edgerton’s, because she tested positive for Covid last Sunday.  Yikes!  She met us outside yesterday evening, and Char and Ed surprised us and came over after a bike ride.  That wasn’t planned, so it was fortuitous to have them see Danielle...from a distance. 

           She spoke to the people she will be staying with in Idaho this year via text, and they said...

Good Scoring Despite the Winds

Written on 5-13-22. 

        It helped that we chose to play from the whites, because the wind was so bad.  I know I got a par on #9, but it was easier, because the course we played was shorter.

On the back, they really made a charge.  I hit the green on the par three #12, but so did Bruce and C.J.  I three-putted, and they didn’t, so they gained a hole there.  On the next hole, Bruce got a par again while the rest of us struggled.  That was my worst hole, by far.  They gained another hole there, and I remember them being only two down with plenty of holes to play.

I got the only par on the next hole, so we turned it back to three up.  We won the next hole with our pars, so it was over at that point.  We won four up with three left.

I shot a 40/45 for an 85 in the wind, so I was very happy with that result.  What has helped is the Tom Saguto and Genevieve Ling videos on YouTube.  Tom helps me take “crispy, KFC” divots, so my ball goes far and straight, and Genevieve shows me how to navigate a course, be calm, and be successful.  I see make most of her putts, so that is my expectation as well.  I remember not being able to break 90 the past two years after the stroke, so I am overjoyed.

Eric and I played in Page, AZ again at the Lake Powell National Golf Course two days ago.  That was fun, too, but this round was gusty, too.  We teed off close to 8:00 AM, and I thought we would avoid the wind.  Nope.  When we were leaving, however, the gusts were really picking up, and it was difficult for Eric to hook up the Tracker behind their RV.  We did enjoy a lunch together with the girls and Misty on the patio, and the server even brought out some water for Misty.  We thought she had done that before, since many people travel with their dogs through Page.

If the first two holes were any indication of how the rest of the round was going to go, I would have had a very rough day.  Eric got seven points on those two holes.  He had the long drive on a par five, the G.I.R., and he won the hole on the first, and he got the closest to the pin on the next hole for three more.  Thankfully, he cooled off after that.

I had only bogeys and pars on the front, and I managed to hit the greens on #7 and #8 to slowly catch up to him.  By the end of the front nine, I had 10 points to his nine.  It wasn’t until hole #6 that I earned my first par, but we were playing from the blues in the wind, so the conditions were challenging.

On the back, we took turns winning the first four holes.  On the 13th and the 14th, he won two in a row, though, to tie everything for the round at 12 points each.  On the signature hole par three #15, I managed a par with my 7-iron approach, a nifty chip, and a four footer.  Then I managed the fairway, the G.I.R. and the win on the long par four #16.  

Eric always makes it interesting, and he played hole #17 beautifully.  If he had hit the fairway with his tee shot, he would have won the game that day, but he missed it to the right.

All he had to do on the last hole was hit the green to win or win the hole to tie.  All I had to do was tie him or hit the green to put it out of reach.  I did a bit better than that by getting a six to his seven, and I won the game by two points this time.  Not pretty, but it was a win.  His tee shot got him in trouble again, and he ended up in the creek that runs between #17 and #18.  Phew.  The final score was 17 to 15. 

Until next time…

Another Birdie and Bryce Canyon National Park

Written on 5-6-22.

        I am getting dinner ready for tonight’s event.  We are having a Zoom meeting/double date with the Karasiks tonight, and we chose spaghetti.  Danielle is coming after school today, and she said she would leave by 4:00.  She and Kyle will be here for Mothers’ Day, so that will be fun!  James chose not to travel again after going to Florida and Ohio, and we totally get that.  

Also, a former student is coming over here after her track meet to deliver a graduation announcement to me.  I had her for two years of a loop around 12 years ago, and it’s very kind of her to remember me.  I also got announcements from three boys in that class: Wyatt, Zach, and Blaine.  I brought out the tub of mementos in the garage from that year, and it’s super to see the pictures of their younger selves.

Written on 5-8-22.

It’s Sunday afternoon now, and Danielle took Kody with her back to Albuquerque yesterday.  James and Casey will watch him while we go to Wahweap, Kodachrome and Escalante Petrified this week.

Written on 5-12-22.

It’s Thursday, and we are at Escalante now.  We talked to James and Danielle last night, and Kody is doing great.  James brought him over to their weekly Wednesday D&D night with nerds…er…friends. One friend who has allergies took some medication to be able to be with Kody.  That was really nice.  Kody got some more human interaction that way.  

I don’t know why I stopped writing that day, but I have plenty of time to write today.  B and I are all set up with our Alto, and it’s quiet time now.  It’s 11:07 in the morning, and we just took a walk around the campground to check it out in brightness of the daylight.  We spent the first of three nights here last night, and we drove from Page to get here.  It took an hour longer than it normally would have taken, because I stopped in Kanab, Utah to join in a CORE meeting.

Written on 5-13-22.

Okay, that’s two days where I started to write, and then something else took me away from it.  This time I know what it was.  Food called, and we answered, and then it was time to go to Bryce Canyon National Park.  Given a choice between writing and seeing unparalleled nature at its best, I will always choose the latter.  Eating first is always a good idea, too.

Now, I have until around 3:00, and it’s 10:25, so I should not get pulled away this time.  We meet the Edgertons in Escalante this afternoon to do some shopping.  B is out on the lake with her paddle board, so we are both happy.

I’m a little stuffed up due to allergies, but it’s bearable.  I will muddle through.

On to golf…

I have two rounds to recount and one birdie.  The first round was at Riverview.  The scorecard was whisked away on gusty winds on hole #10, but I believe I have remembered most of it.  It was blustery that day.  I don’t feel a need to go hole by hole, so here’s the summary…

Eric and I took on...

First Two Birdies of 2022

Written on 4-30-22.

        Okay, here are the birdies, and then I will say why it was close to four birdies that day.

Riverview Golf Course-Hole #7-Birdie #1 of 2022

It could have been two birdies in three holes, but I will explain that in a bit.  I teed off with my new Ping driver.  I can still call it new, I feel.  Bruce outdrove me on most holes by twenty yards or so, by the way!  Talk about switching things around.  Normally, I would be the one with the longer drives.  

My ball settled into the first cut on the left side, but it was hard to tell which was fairway and which was the first cut; it was all cut pretty low and the grass was dry.  I was inside 100 yards, so I chose to use my pitching wedge with a low shot vs. a high sand wedge with a full swing.  It worked super well, and my ball landed left of the hole, stopping 12 feet away.  Yes, it was another sandy green, so I put some extra speed on it, and it rolled right in for the first birdie of the year.  Hooray!

It was hole #5 where I could have had my first birdie, and it was similar to the one I just wrote about.  The differences were that I was on the fairway and the putt was longer.  It wasn’t a legal birdie, because I moved the ball with my club when it was on the fairway, and it happened when I was telling Bruce about what took place (the episode that tested Danielle’s values) at her school when I accidentally touched the ball at address.

Riverview Golf Course-Hole #16-Birdie #2 of 2022

This round became a practice round on the back nine without question, especially for me, and possibly for them as well.  On one of the holes, C.J. accidentally played Bruce’s ball, and we all had some larger scores.  On holes #12 and #13, I didn’t get...