Snow Canyon is Coming!

Written on 9-7-25.

      It’s a Sunday afternoon, and Belinda and I have been prepping for our next camping trip to Snow Canyon in the southwest part of Utah.  We drove through Kanab on our way back after the Edgertons continued on their way to Canada to see the bears snag salmon out of the river there.  We stayed at a sanctuary/campground on our way home, and I said I would like to go back there to explore some more.  Well, tomorrow we will go do just that.  

If I would have said that the anniversary of Dad’s death was a year ago yesterday, and Danielle would be starting over at the Albuquerque Fire Academy tomorrow, I don’t know if I would believed either of those things.  They are as true as Tiger Woods’ aim with his putter, though.  

I miss my Dad.  Bev recently put many of the...

photos from 1542 S. Benton Street up on Legacy Box, and that has helped.  It’s fun to see them happy in those old images.  I miss both of my parents, of course.  Throughout this past year, I have thought of calling them up and telling them what’s been going on, and then the sudden realization comes, and I sit in stunned misery.  I can’t call and just have a chat anymore.  Sigh.

Oh, and Danielle.  Don’t get me started.  Okay, I will start myself.  She got ripped off.  She was ‘misadvised.’  I am upset.  I’m upset!  I can’t do anything about the whole situation, though (except to complain) and that’s not my style.  Eventually, we have to stop rescuing our children, and allow them to figure things out on their own.  

I have leaned into ‘things happen for a reason,’ but we have no clue what the reason could be at this point.  I also feel good that the decision has been made, and she/we are moving forward.  Get it done, Danielle.  Do it right.  Remain positive despite having every reason not to.  If anybody has the grit to do this again, our daughter does.

On to golf…

Herman (not his real name) and I played on Friday.  Belinda and I decided yesterday that I will pay for golf with our debit card from now on to make it hurt a bit.  We are going more ‘gazelle-like,’ since Belinda is not working full-time.  It’s time to tighten our belts.  Hopefully, we can do that.  We have done it before, so I know we can.

I did do a Time to Teach training for new teachers here in Aztec, so that has helped.  I am looking for a job as an instructional coach again, too, so we will see what comes from that.  I need to be able to pay for my golf!

It was great to see Herman again.  I told him about what happened with Danielle, and he responded like every other good friend we have told.  He thought it was stupid. 

We played with Doug and Garret (not their real names either).  Herman knew both of them, but he hadn’t seen them in a while.  Garret played the front nine and then left to go have lunch with his wife in Durango.  They were both getting ready four tournaments on Saturday.  Doug and Herman were playing in the same one at Riverview, but they were on different teams.  

I had a rough front nine.  I had four big scores, but I managed two pars and three bogeys.  Garret had a tough beginning, too, but he made a correction after the first few holes.  He had the longest drive I have ever seen on hole #9.  He drove it past the second wash from the whites.  He was right off the green in two shots, but he could only manage a par.  I bet that huge drive gave him confidence for a scramble, though.

Herman was two over on the front nine with no birdies.  Garret managed four birdies by hole #14.  I teased Herman by saying, “Why can’t you do that?”

Herman felt he had already had a few birdies, but when he thought back on the round, he realized he didn’t have any.  Then he got two birdies back to back on holes 15 and 16.  He gave me a hard time for ruffling his feathers for not having any birdies.  I love the confidence he had when he thought he had already earned a few, and I was even more impressed when he could summon two birdies by just talking about it.  I asked him to get four birdies in the last four holes, but he was unable to do that.  That would have really been something!  He and Garret tied with 78’s.

I played much better on the back.  Herman shot a 40, and I earned a 44.  I finally woke up and played more like I am capable.  

We shared a club sandwich after the round, and I shared the pictures of our vacation out to the Redwoods and Crater Lake.  

The Broncos are leading by one point.  It’s a bit difficult to believe it’s football season again.  I am going to wake Belinda to have some dinner together.  I will write some more when I am at Snow Canyon.

Until next time…