A Necessary Facelift and Our Grandote Experience

Written on 8-3-25.

    Shane and crew just left after doing the final part of this very long house project.  The last piece ended up being the hole where our vent used to be in our master bedroom, the one for the old swamp cooler.  Now, I am sitting under our mini-split AC, and I am enjoying the view of a filled in, orange peel-textured, white ceiling.  This room is the only room with that kind of texture, and it’s only on the ceiling, but we just kept it that way after the bathroom remodel.  Maybe five years from now, we will have it retextured to match the rest of the house, but until then we will be the only ones who will know or notice.  I know we would like to have the garage retextured eventually, too, but let’s enjoy a break for now.

It was a long journey, but it was worth it.  All of the doors are sanded, lacquered, smooth, and shiny.  We have new white trim throughout the house.  All of the house now has the Santa Fe/skip trowel texture (except for the master bedroom’s ceiling), and they look exceptional.  We have new paint with a semi-gloss look for a bit of extra brightness, and the best part of it all is the...

 lack of cracks.  That’s right.  After 20+ years, we have no cracks in our house.  Just say no to crack, right?!  The only place with some cracking is the garage now.  It looks phenomenal, and it was a necessary facelift for our home.  Phew.

I have my training in two days, and I am looking forward to that.  I went to the main office on Friday to try and get set up, but the HDMI cord didn’t work, so I will have to save my presentation on a flash drive now.  Hopefully, that will do it.  I will go again tomorrow afternoon to test it out.  I don’t understand why we can’t get my computer hooked up to present on their screens in the board room.  This is 2025!  It should work flawlessly.  I found multiple HDMI cords when we were getting our living room set up, so I might try one of those instead.  Or, it could be the adapter for my MacBook that I bought from Amazon recently.  Who knows?  I know it will all work out somehow.  At least we got the books delivered on time.

On to golf…

Eric and I enjoyed our round at Grandote Golf Course in La Veta when we went camping at Blue Lake Campground this past Monday through Wednesday.  I had always wanted to show Blue Lake to the Edgertons since we first went there four years ago.  It is soooooo beautiful and unique with all of its landforms and topography.  They gave it two thumbs-up, and I know they had fun.  They brought their Jeep to go exploring, and we all took a hike around Blue Lake on Tuesday night after we played golf.

I know Eric had fun playing golf, because he won the game we played on the back nine.  It was the points game that we usually play, and he won 26 to 23.  I beat him on the front nine with a lower score, and I had the low score for 18 holes, but he won nine and six points by winning the correct holes.  We chose to push the points, and that really helped his cause.

For example, we both got pars on hole #10.  He hit the green to win the bonuses of a GIR and closest-to-the-pin there.  I had an incredible up and down to match his par.  We both hit the fairway and got the GIR on hole #12 (we skipped hole #11, because a group of five was playing slowly), so we tied on that one, too.  He broke the ice with a super up and down on the par three #13.  I managed a bogey, but he went par, par, par to win those first nine pushed points.  He did it again later for another six points.  

The course was amazing and beautiful.  Every hole gave us different perspectives and views of the surrounding mountains.  The weather was the better for the first nine, but it got a little gusty and spat a little rain during the back nine.

I noticed the golf course as we drove past it on the way up to Blue Lake years ago, and I just knew I would end up playing there someday.  That someday ended up being Tuesday this past week.  We let a couple play through because they seemed to be in a hurry, and they told us the course was closed down for a while until it was opened up again a couple of years ago.  It was in decent shape, and the greens were consistent, albeit fuzzy and slow.  The rough was thick, so it took a bit of adjusting as we played along.

Another thing I noticed was that we were having decent drives, but we would still end up with 200 yard approaches (or longer), and we were playing from the whites.  Are we just getting old and weak?  I must revisit my Rypstick Program soon.  I just checked my app, and I haven’t trained since September of last year.  Yikes!  I know it helped when I did it consistently.

We have been busy.  We have had lots of travel and construction, but there is no excuse.  I have continued my weekly trainings with Matt (last name), so that’s a bright spot.  I have had six sessions with him so far, and I can feel a difference.  We are about travel again, too.  We go to Crater Lake next week to celebrate Belinda’s second “rewirement.”  I won’t be bringing my clubs for that, so that will be another break away from golf.  Maybe I will bring my Rypstick?  Okay, probably not.  That will be a wonderful vacation with Belinda.  It’s going to be so memorable, and I look forward to it very much.  Yes, even with no golf.

Until next time…