Water Tower Field Booty

I metal detected at the Water Tower Fields today. I found $2.53, a ring, a zipper pull, and a piece of metal that looks like it had a picture of a family and dog, judging by the shape of it. I don't know what exactly that was supposed to be. The ring, I don't know either. I guess it's a piece of jewelry. On the inside it says 'Tungsten FC'. I've heard of Tungsten steel, so it could be a piece of hardware. For being undergound for awhile, it sure was shiny. It could be the missing piece that caused one of the space shuttle disasters.

Iroquois GC round 50 for the year

I played my 50th round of the year today. Shot a 47 - 55 = 102. Nuff said.

Slogging through the water at Iroquois GC

..........................................................................................I played golf at Iroquois GC today, round 49 for the year. I should have called and cancelled, but went ahead and played anyway. Boy, was it wet. It only rained hard once for about 10 minutes, but it sprinkled rain almost the whole time. Many of the greens had standing water on them and you needed to move your ball to try to avoid going thru standing water. Sometimes though, it was unavoidable. When you putt through standing water, your ball doesn't go very far. Putting cost me a couple of strokes today, and I thought I putted well. I shot a 38 - 42 = 80. Again, a good score but not good enough to win any money. I'm home now, and have all my golf gear, (clubs, umbrellas, shoes, hat) in the basement drying out with a fan blowing on them. I thought I played well considering I got zero roll on my drives and had to putt through standing water on the greens. But, you got a free ball wash every time you made a putt!

Critter Ridder strikes again...

Well lookie here! Another racoon! He's now a Hoosier. I know the poor dear looks like a drowned rat, but that's because I hosed him off pretty good trying to wash out the cage. For some reason he dug up all the grass and dirt around the cage and put it in the bottom, as you can see when you englarge the picture. I think he must have thought if he dug up enough dirt he would be able to get out. Anyway, it wouldn't wash out with him in there.So,I hauled him over to New Albany, let him go, and returned and washed the cage out.

I always keep two squirrel traps set. I catch an occasional bird in them, and let them go. Yesterday when I went out back a cat took off over the stone wall, and one of my squirrel traps was turned over in the middle of the yard. When I checked, a small House Wren was caught in it and I'm sure the cat was trying to get at it. He managed to tear up my cage a little bit. So, I set my larger trap trying to catch him last night. But, instead, caught this beast. He's a bit smaller than the last one I caught, but I'm sure will grow big and strong in Hoosier Land.

More Bad, no, Terrible Golf

I played Shawnee GC today. Played very bad. Shot a 47 - 44 = 91. At least that should help get my handicap back up a little bit. Though, Lou, who keeps the handicaps, a lot of times will throw out an unusually High score. I wish he'd throw out unusually low scores and I wouldn't have such a low handicap.

This has been a bad week. Bad golf, got beat bad in both my Fantasy Football Leagues. My golf game is better than that, and I feel sure my Football Teams are better than that. At least UK won Saturday, even though they had a tough time and didn't play very well.

I might as well make my prediction for the game this weekend right now. I think UK will play better, but still not enough to stay with Florida. I say Florida 38, UK 14.

I'm 1 - 1 in Jit's Fantasy League and I'm in last place in my other League, which has 6 players. I'm looking forward to a much better week this weekend from my Fantasy Teams. But, I'm up against a tough opponent, Susie Garvey, in Jit's league. She's 2 - 0 and could easily go 3 - 0 if my team doesn't improve a whole lot this week

Metal Detecting again...

I went metal detecting this morning for the first time in many weeks. After the rain last night the ground was nice and soft and I thought any place I dig the grass would recover nicely. I went to Lannan Park in the Portland neighborhood. I found 82 cents, a spoon and a Hannah Montana charm off a necklace. I'll have to check out that park a few more times. There are three or four ball fields there plus a large picnic area. Lot's of places for money to be found!

Sunday's in the 'ManCave'.....

There's a lot of football to watch on Sunday. I belong to 2 Fantasy Football Leagues. So, when I watch the games I have to pay close attention to the scores and stats that scroll accross the bottom of the screen. I have a lot of players to keep track of. It's a tough life, but, hey, somebody's gotta do it!

Remember the Bee Shortage...?

Last year I heard a lot about the shortage of bees and how a lot of the hives were dying out. I haven't heard any more about it this year, and I've seen a lot more bees this year than the past several years. The Asters Mark planted on my hillside are in full bloom and looking at them I see at least one bee for every two flowers on the plant! The plant is full of flowers and full of bees. Click on the picture and count the bees you see. I came back and edited this entry and added a picture of the Monarch Butterflies visiting the flowers. What a wildlife sanctuary I have. Well, sanctuary for all but the squirrels.

The Day the Music Died...

I have always listened to music. Not just in passing, while in the car, or something to be on in the background, but just sat and listened to music. I've always enjoyed lots of different kinds of music. People have asked me "What kind of music do you listen to?" Well, that's hard to say. I really like music, so I listen to a rather diverse selection. I'm not a fan of country music, but I really like some of it. I listen to Cajun, Irish, Folk, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Big Band, Bluegrass, Easy Listening, etc.

Mary Travers passed away Wednesday. It made me stop and think. But, if I were to guess, I'd say I spent more time in my life listening to Peter, Paul and Mary than any other single or group of performers. I liked their music when I was young and I still like to listen to them. I've gone through fads where I liked one artist a lot and listened to them more than anything else, but P,P & M have always been near the top of my list.

What group have you spent more time listening to in your life? Kinda hard to pick one isn't it? Like listing your top 5 movies of all times. Who are your top 5 most listened to performers in your life? I'd have to give mine a lot of thought before I could settle on the 5, but PP&M would be my #1.

Mary Travers, I'll miss you.

The 12 Annual Bubalou Golf Scramble

. The 12th Annual Bubalou Golf Scramble was held at Shawnee Golf Course today. Brian and I played in a foursome with Jay Nau and Jerome Clarke. We shot a 31 - 34 = 65. Considering Brian has shot a 65 on that course by himself, it wasn't a very good score. We just couldn't get our second shots very close and had a lot of long birdie putts. Brian did win a closest to the pin on hole #6 and got $30. It was fun, the weather was great, the food good.

Tuesday Golf

I walked 18 at Shawnee GC today. I shot a 42 - 41 = 83. Not a bad score when you don't putt very well. It wasn't a terrible putting day, but nothing seemed to drop. Plus 2 penalty strokes during the round. All in all, I'll take an 83 and be happy with it. It was a great day to be out on the course. This was round #47 for the year.

Long needed vacation

Mary Lynn and I went on a long needed vacation trip to the beach this weekend. A very nice man on the beach offered to take our picture. Somehow I thought I'd look better in my speedo's! Mary Lynn still has a 'HOT' Bod though. This is a far cry from my 'running body' in the post below.

I really did used to Run.....

This is me finishing the 1981 Ky Derby Festival Mini-Marathon. This race is 13.1 miles, from Iroquois Park to Main Street in Downtown Louisville. I ran this race 10 years in a row, from 1978 thru 1987. As you can see, I was a little bit thinner then, and, you can't really tell, but I had my original hip. Also, my mustache was a shade darker. Now days, I get tired when I drive 13.1 miles.
As fast as I was moving, I'm surprised this picture wasn't 'blurrier'.

Flaget Class of '64 meeting

Flaget Class of '64 has a meeting the 2nd Tuesday of every odd month. We meet at Giacomo's Pizza on Goss Ave at 7:00 p.m. Not only are all class members welcome, but any friends who'd like to sit and drink a few beers and see old friends they haven't seen for awhile. We often have people from several classes around our class show up. Last night Mike Lally ('67) and Terry Meagher ('59?) were there. We had about 15-16 people in all. It's always fun and I like keeping up with all the friends I went to school with. If you happen to know any of these guys, drop by the next meeting, November 10th, and share a few laughs and reminisce the good old days.

Tuesday Golf at Shawnee

I played my usual Tuesday round at Shawnee GC today. I shot a 41 - 44 = 85. Not a good round, but I can't be upset with a round of 85. I hit a lot of good shots, but hit a lot of bad shots that really messed up my score. On 17, I hit a shot I thought might me OB so I hit a provisional. Well, the original drive WAS OB, so I played my provisional ball and made par with it, for a double bogey.That's the way my round went. I played good golf, but put in enough bad shots to make the round look bad. To top it off, I only beat J. R. by 3 strokes and as I've said before, I'm not happy with a round unless I beat him by 10.

The Bees love those Sunflowers

In keeping with my 'nature pictures' theme over the past month I thought I provide you with a picture of the bees on my sunflowers. They really seem to love them. At any time there are several bees on the sunflowers and are so busy they don't even fly off as you approach. I got up real close to take this picture and it didn't bother them at all. Click on the picture for a closer look.

Weissinger Hills GC today, Golf 5 days in a row...

I played Weissinger Hills GC today for round #45 of the year. I played with Greg Lynn and as a team we played J. R. Harris and Harold Goad. One point low man, one point low team each hole, total of 36 points available. Greg and I won 22 - 7. A massacre! I also played Greg giving him 3 strokes a side and lost the front nine, tied the back nine, and lost the 18. So the $3 I won for team bets I lost $2 of it to Greg. But still, $1 ahead and had fun on a nice day. I shot a 42 - 42 = 84, the same as Polo Fields yesterday. Didn't putt well again today. I did chip very well, though. Greg shot a 39 - 45 = 84. Can you believe I'm giving him 3 strokes a side! For the record, J. R. Harris, 51 - 49 = 100, Harold Goad 45 - 47 = 92.

Golf at Polo Fields GC

....................................................................................................This is the fourth straight day I've played golf. Today it was The Polo Fields GC. I played with Brian today and shot a 42 - 42 = 84. I had several double bogeys today which I hate, but I also had a couple of birdies, which helped keep my score down. Polo Fields is a nice golf course and overall a pretty good layout. I really enjoy playing it, especially when it's free! The greens were really fast and I didn't putt real well. I found it hard to leave my ball close to the hole on long putts and ended up with several 3 putt holes. Oh, by the way, the hole shown above, I birdied! Round 45 this year.

Golf round #44 for the year...

I played pretty good again today. I played at Iroquois GC and shot a 40 - 39 = 79. I've been fairly consistent the last couple of weeks. As I've said before, I can't win with my handicap down around 10, so I guess I'll have to wait until winter when my game goes south before I can get my handicap back up. I didn't have anything bigger than a bogey for the 18 holes, and when I do that it sure helps keep your score down. I can't believe this is already round #44 for the year. And that doesn't count scrambles!

Dollar, Dollar, Dollar......

Bobby Flood called me this morning and wanted to know if I could meet him at 1:00 at Maplehurst GC. Well, for a retired guy without any plans it was no problem. Every time we play, we always play a $1 Nassau. That is $1 front nine, $1 back nine, $1 for the 18. I usually give him 3 strokes a side. This time he was confident. "I don't need any strokes today. But just in case, we'll adjust on the back nine."Well, on the front nine I shot a 43 to his 50. So, $1 for me. He requested, and after some protest, received 6 strokes on the back nine. I shot a 40 to his 47. $1 for me and $1 for the 18. I LOVE Bobby's money!

Maplehurst (Valhalla of Bullitt County) is still a goat ranch. The fairways were Bullitt County Zoysia (Crabgrass), and the back and forth fairways have always made for golf balls flying from all directions. The greens didn't hold at all. You were always rolling off the back of the greens. They have very small greens and I'd forgotten how much break most of them had. I think it's been at least 10 years since I've played out there.

The golf was fine, the weather great, and I had lots of fun. Plus, I got Bobby's $3, which if you notice he had to dig in his cars console to find 4 quarters!This was golf round #43 for the year.

***I forgot to mention that we played in 2 hours and 40 minutes and had to wait a lot for the twosome in front of us!

Mark helped Beautify my yard...

......Mark planted 3 Aster plants behind the fence on the hillside. They are in full bloom now. One of them has been blooming for about 6 weeks, but is just now starting to fill with blooms. Mark also gave me some sunflower seeds to plant. The ones I planted by the back fence were dug up and eaten by chipmunks. The only ones to survive were the ones I planted up between the Azalea bushes by the back walk. They don't get as much sun as the ones by the back fence would have, but they grew pretty tall. Even the small ones that got less sun are blooming now. I wonder how long these flowers will stand before a squirrel climbs them and breaks them off.

Tuesday Golf at Shawnee Round 42 this Year

I played Shawnee GC today. Not well, but I played. I shot a 42 - 43 = 85. Not terrible, but I made way to many bad shots. I hit a lot of good recovery shots, but I shouldn't have had to make them. I had a lot of pars today, but too many double bogeys and one triple bogey. Oh well, it may raise my handicap a stroke. Even though I played bad, what a beautiful day! Blue skies, small white clouds, and a temperature with a high of 75!