Golf League - Week 6

Played the back nine last night. For once, the weather was just about perfect! Temps in the upper 60's, not a cloud in the sky, no wind to speak of... just beautiful.

Started off in a tough spot on #10... drove my tee shot into the pond. Took a drop and chipped up to the right of the green. Chipped in for my par. Good finish to what could have been a bad start to the round. Bogied the next hole because I bladed my pitching wedge over the green and didn't chip close enough to the hole. Parred #12, a par 3. Hit a good drive and second shot on #13, a par 5, and was sitting about 20 yards from the hole. Hit a great chip shot to within about two feet. Putt breaks a little to the right. I pulled the putt and missed the birdie. Next is the second par 3, and I missed the green and chipped up to within about three feet. Again, I missed the par putt. My putting left me last night, for some unknown reason. Still, I'm two over after four holes, so I'm not doing too bad. Good tee shot on #15, but was a little short on my approach shot. Chipped up to about five feet and missed the par putt again. Three over now. Pull-hooked my tee shot on #16 and have to hit over some trees, up hill to the green. Hit a solid 8 iron to the front of the green. The pin was back. Long birdie putt came up just a little short, but it was a gimme putt... par. Hole 17 is a long par 5. I hit, what I felt was a good drive, but no one saw it after it left the tee. My partner said he thought he saw it start off right, but was drawing back into the fairway. We couldn't see the ball anywhere, due to the sun and shade in the fairway. Finally found it on the left side of the fairway. Hit a decent second shot and had about 110 yards to the green. Hit a good pitching wedge to the green, but was about 20 feet from the hole. Hit a good putt, but came up a little short and settled for a par. Still three over after 8 holes. I'm in good shape... I can still break 40 for this round if I don't have my blowup hole, as I have each week so far. The 18th hole is a straight away par 4. Hit a good drive even though my right foot slipped from under me as I was coming through the ball. I had about 115 yards to the green and the hole was cut in the back of the green, which slopes severely towards the front of the green. My hope was to hit below the hole to have an up hill putt. I hit a good 10 iron (I love this club), but put the ball above the hole. I had a down hill putt, with a break to the right. It's a speed putt. I looked at it from both sides, had my partner read it as well. We didn't have the same opinion as to how much the putt was going to break. I went with what my partner was telling me. Fortunately, I hit the putt well, and the ball found the bottom of the cup for a birdie. Finished with a 38. Should have been a lot better because of my putting problems, but I was happy with the score. I won a couple of skins with the birdie at 18 and a par on 17.

The one thing that I can point to in making this round what it was is the fact that I did not use my 3 wood at all. When I had a chance to use it (on both par 5's), I opted to use my 3 iron instead. I'm sure I could have been on the green, or at least closer to the hole that I ended up on these holes, but with having no confidence in my 3 wood, I chose to use the 3 iron. I really need to get to the range and hit my 3 wood, and get the confidence back with that club. I know I've said it before, but I just haven't been able to find the time. Some day...

What a long weekend...

Well, I did end up getting sick, but not bad enough to not get things done around the house...

First things first, though... golf on Wednesday night... Shot a 41. Didn't hit my goal, but all in all it was a good night. It was really windy and cool last Wednesday, not a great night for golf. Started off bogey, bogey, bogey, and then settled down. I parred the next two holes, and then came up just short (about 6 inches) of getting a hole in one on the #6 Par 3 hole. I hit a great shot... a little draw into a left to right wind and the ball hit the upslope of the two tiered green and stopped just short of the hole. Finished par, double bogey, par. I won two skins and the closest to the pin contest (on #6) and won about $26 in total. It was a good night.

I woke up Thursday morning not feeling much better. Fortunately, I didn't have to go to work. I did have a lot on my schedule at home, but didn't feel much like doing anything. I sat around until about 9:30 a.m. and then started getting things around. I needed to empty the garage, so I could begin my painting chores. It's amazing the amount of crap one keeps for one reason or another, to later realize that there was no reason to keep it in the first place. Once the garage was empty, I swept it out, and then began priming the shelves.

A couple of years ago, my father in law, God bless him, built me some shelves in my garage when we were out of town visiting my folks. We had discussed it, and he was going to help me put them up, but being the kind of person he is, he didn't want to wait for me. So, he did it himself. They looked nice and were definitely what was needed, for storage purposes.

Once the shelves were primed, I took a time out to get some lunch and visit with my daughter, who just came home from kindergarten. After lunch, I got back at the painting. Fortunately for me, I was painting the walls and the ceiling all the same color, so there was no being careful with the paint near the ceiling. I absolutely hate painting, mostly because of the trim work. Since there wasn't any to be done in the garage, I didn't mind painting all that much.

I finally finished up painting the whole garage, the walls and the ceiling, but left the door and window trim for my wife, who said she would do that. I was done about 4:30 p.m. or so, and had to get everything cleaned up, including myself, as my son had a baseball game that night.

My son had a great game Thursday night. He played left center and third base. Caught a pop fly, while playing third, and could have gotten a double play if he wasn't so confused about where to throw the ball. There was a runner at first and second at the time, and both runners took off when the ball was hit. Caleb caught the ball and everyone, from the spectators to the coaches were hollering at him to throw the ball to second base, or first base, or anywhere. He just held onto the ball. Poor kid. He was so excited about catching the ball that he didn't know what to do next and with all the excitement, he didn't know who to listen to or where to throw the ball. He had three really good hits, one of which was a double, had an RBI or two, and scored a run. His team lost by one run, but my son had a good game and was really proud of himself that he caught that pop fly (as was his dad!)

Friday morning came, again, I didn't have to go into work, but still wasn't feeling good. With the garage work still needing to be done, I still wasn't up to getting an early start on things. Again, I sat around until about 9:30 a.m. again before getting started. Again, I swept the floor, as on today's agenda, was painting the floor of the garage. As I mentioned in a earlier post, our garage floor, when wet, becomes as slick as ice, and the kids have slipped and fallen in the past. It was time to rectify this dangerous situation once and for all.

After sweeping the floor, I opened the Quikrete Bond Lok I got at our local Lowes store and began the process of cleaning the garage floor. I wasn't sure what to expect, as I had never used this stuff before. I had to wet the floor first, and then put this Bond Lok stuff down and it bubbles/foams up on the wet surface. Using a stiff bristled broom, you scrub the floor with the broom and then rinse it away. It took me about an hour or so to clean the floor, and then I had to wait for the floor to dry. Unfortunately, the floor didn't dry before the day was over, so I had to wait until Saturday to paint the floor.

On Saturday, I swept the floor once more, and then got out the Quikrete One Step Epoxy paint and began the process of painting the floor. I added, what looked to be fine white sand or silica, to the paint, to add to the non-skid surface of the floor. After about an hour and a half, the floor was completely painted and looked great. Now we had to wait about 24 hours before we could walk on it and begin the process of putting everything back into the garage.

And that's what we did on Sunday. The floor was dry and looked good, but it could have used a second coat of paint, but I didn't feel like waiting any longer to get things back into the garage. It looked like we were having a yard sale, with all the stuff sitting outside the garage, and it was supposed to rain Sunday night. Everything is back in it's places now, and things are getting back to normal. Tonight, we can finally park our cars in the garage for the first time since last Wednesday.

All in all, it was a good, productive weekend. I'm still not 100% healthy, but getting there. I suppose if I hadn't worked all weekend, I would feel better, but I wouldn't have felt good about not getting the garage finished.

I can't be getting sick...

Not much has been going on this week. Got golf league tonight. Playing the front this week. Would really like to put a complete round together today. I'm thinking like a 36 or 37 for the night.

I feel like I'm coming down with something. It started yesterday with sneezing. I just thought it was some tickle in my nose that wouldn't go away. Well, the tickle finally went away, but the sneezing and runny nose is sticking around. Took some meds last night and this morning, and hopefully will begin to feel better as the day goes by.

Got a whole weekend planned of things to do around the house. Today is my last day of work this week. I'm taking Thursday off (we get Friday and Monday off for the Memorial Day holiday... we've got four floating holidays... Friday is one of them.) I will be painting the inside of my garage on Thursday, and then painting the garage floor on Friday. Our garage floor, when wet, is like an ice skating arena. When the kids play with their squirt guns during the summer, and the garage floor gets wet, it becomes dangerous. I'm hoping that this stuff I bought from Lowe's will help resolve this problem.

My son has a baseball game on Thursday night, so hopefully the painting of the garage walls and ceiling will go quickly and I'll have time to get cleaned up to go to the game.

I can't be getting sick. I've got too much to do this weekend!

Little League Baseball - Game 5

Another loss for the good guys again. Fell behind around the 3rd inning and then tied it up, but then had another bad last inning. Unfortunately, the weakest part of the lineup came in the bottom half of the 6th and final inning and had three strike outs to finish the game. My boy did well, with two hits and an RBI (I think.) He got tagged out trying to "steal" home. I say "steal" because he heard everyone in the stands yell "GO!" or "RUN!" when the ball was hit, but didn't know he didn't have to run, and didn't hear his coach calling for him to stay. All of us in the stands (sitting on the 3rd base side) were yelling to the kid who hit the ball. Poor kid... he wasn't sure who to listen to (but knows he's supposed to listen to the coach first ;-) )

No game until next Thursday, but there might be a practice this weekend.

Golf League - Week 4

Well... there was a thought that we would be rained out again tonight, but the rain moved East and it cleared up a little bit. Cool, windy, and wet... not great golf weather, but it was better than not playing at all.

I started out good. We played the back nine this week. I parred the first five holes, but should have had a birdie or two in there. On the 10th hole, I was pin high off the green, and chipped on and hit the pin, but the ball didn't fall into the hole. I should have straightened up the pin before hitting my shot, as the pin was leaning towards me. Starting with the 15th hole, I bogied, double bogied, double bogied, and bogied to finish with a 42. I wasn't happy at all. Bad second shots on 15 and 16 (both came up short of the green) and my putting, which was great for the first five holes, left me stranded somewhere. On 17, I didn't hit my drive particularly well, but I was ok. I've abandoned my 3 wood now and tried my 5 wood. Not much better. I'm either going to have to find a new set of fairway woods, or just stick with my 3 iron, which I hit much better.

It was a disappointing end to what could have been a great round for me. I've got to find some time to hit the range and feel more comfortable with my fairway woods.

Little League Baseball - Game 4

I'm a little late on this one, but Game 4 was played Tuesday night. Nice night, but a little windy and cool. My son had 3 hits, scored once, in a losing effort. It seemed the kids were a little preoccupied with things other than the task at hand, and were daydreaming and looking at everything but what was going on in the game. It's kind of scary at times, especially when my son was playing third base and wasn't particularly paying a lot of attention. I kept hollering at him (nicely) to pay attention, as I was afraid of a line drive hitting him in the face when he wasn't looking. The kids wouldn't sit still on the bench and the coach get getting after them about it. It's hard to contain all that youthful energy at times.

Next game is tonight. Hopefully it will have a better outcome.

Monday Morning Review...

What a weekend!

Played golf on Friday afternoon. What a beautiful day. Shot an 82, but double bogied the last two holes. Still, I played well and had a good time with friends.

Saturday was my birthday. My son had Opening Day Ceremonies for little league baseball. He had pictures at 9:15 a.m. and his game at 10:15 a.m. They had a pancake breakfast from 8-10 a.m. and blowup things for the kids to play on. My son's team won their game, 11-7. He had two hits (a single and a double, an RBI or two, and scored two runs.) We finally left around 2:30 p.m. When we got home, I decided that if I didn't mow, I wasn't going to be able to do it before this coming weekend, and by then, it would too high, so I got on the rider and mowed. Took me a couple of hours, but it looks better.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Being that I was actually born on Mother's Day, it's more special for my Mom and me. This is the first year in quite awhile that we've not been together on Mother's Day. I did call and wish her well, though. The weather was crappy all day... in the low 50's and rainy all day. Spent the day indoors. My wife and daughter (6) got things around for a yard sale we're having this weekend, and my son and I watched "National Treasure", golf, and women's bowling... how's that for a trifecta?

As for the 10K a Day for the weekend... got in 5000+ steps on Friday, 4500+ steps on Saturday, and on Sunday... well, I got in about 3000 steps, only because I forced myself on the treadmill Sunday evening, as I looked at the pedometer and I hadn't even reached a 1000 steps yet that day.

All in all it was a great weekend. Going to be a busy week this week with two baseball games, golf on Wednesday (if the weather holds out), and a yard sale Thursday through Saturday. Sounds like more fun than humans should be allowed, huh?

Have a great week!