Back on the Course, Back Pain and All....

My back pain just won't go away.  I decided to play golf today, anyway.  After a couple of holes I dropped out of our team competition because I could tell I couldn't swing a normal swing and I didn't think it was fair that I drag the rest of the team down with me.  If' I'd have just been playing for myself I wouldn't mind losing.  But, I didn't think it was fair to the rest of the guys to count my score on our team.  I ended up being able to play the complete round, but shot a 48 - 46 = 94.  I managed to sink a couple of nice putts to keep it that low.  I will play, but I'm not going to put up my money for competition until I feel like I'm ready to make my normal swing.
I do feel like playing today helped me.  I think my back feels better now than it did this morning.  I think getting out, stretching, moving, walking, has probably helped.  So that's why I'll continue to play.  I took a little extra medication to play, so I hope I'm not feeling a little better because of that.  But, we'll see.  It felt good to get out and play, even being with a limited swing.  It's been several weeks now.  It was a lot colder today than I thought it would be, too.  The temperature wasn't bad, but the cloudy, windy conditions made it feel a lot colder than you would think.  Plus, I think today the course was the wettest, sloppiest, I've played on this year.  It was really bad.  Even many of the greens had standing water that we had to try to putt around.  But, it was fun.  I enjoyed it.  So, I look forward to the next decent day to get out and play a little.

Trying to get back into the routine of Civilian Life.....

Several months ago, back in November, I stopped by Veterans Hospital to apply for a Veterans ID.  I've never used Veterans Hospital or their services before, but because I am eligible I thought it would be a good idea to get an ID card and be registered with them in case I ever wanted to take advantage of their services.  Plus, just having an ID card that identifies me as a veteran I thought may come in handy as my plans are to buried, when the time comes, in Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.  Well, the procedure has opened up a whole can of worms. 

First of all, my discharge papers, known affectionately by all Veterans as a DD-214, does not list several of the medals I'd received. I've always known this but didn't really care.  I'm sure this was caused by the fact that my last year in the military, my year in Vietnam, was spent in a Joint Service Outfit, detached from the U. S. Navy.  Therefore, the records keeping wasn't done very well.  Then, when I was discharged in Memphis, TN, I didn't bother to check my discharge papers to see that everything was in order.  I was just happy to get the heck out of there and get home to see my lovely bride I'd been away from for a year.  So these problems with my records are now starting to show up.  But my Veterans ID I received has me listed as a different 'priority' than I should be as a Purple Heart Recipient.  Therein lies the rub.  So, I've submitted forms to get my 'DD-214' altered to have my medals listed.  How this will turn out, we may never know.  I submitted a form back in November and haven't heard anything.  I re-submitted a week ago, I think this was a different form, and am waiting to hear about that.

My hopes of getting anything done is not very high.  I mean, just two days ago I received a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs thanking me for my service and hoping my transition back into Civilian Life goes smoothly.  So, I'm not real sure they are on top of the situation.

The big problem is, the DD-214 (Department of Defense form 214), is my official record of my military career.  And, even though I have the medal, the certificate,  the letter of presentation, pictures of Colonel McCorkle pinning the medal on me while in Vietnam, and a copy of the message sent to our headquarters in Saigon informing them that my next of kin NOT be notified of my injury as a result of hostile fire, the U. S. Navy doesn't seem to think that I officially have a Purple Heart. So, the Saga continues.....

Artistic Ability passed from Father to Daughter

We had the family over for dinner yesterday.  We hadn't done that since before Christmas and we felt like it was about time.  We always enjoy it.  Of course, Erin and Jill were all over the house doing their own thing.  Pretending to be horses, dogs, cats,daughters; drawing on the computer, cutting up paper and drawing pictures.
They are both very creative and talented.  I love that Mark and Kim instill creativity in them teaching them all their crafts and encouraging them to be creative on their own.  Erin and Jill both show tremendous talent.

Jillian sat down at the desk and said she was going to draw a bird and Erin said "Jill draws great birds!".  And, she was right.  Jill drew this bird flying to her nest in the tree.  Notice the detail.  Worm in mouth, hole in tree, branches with nest, and the grass at bottom of page snipped with scissors to look like blades of grass.  I'm not so sure about the "Jade" name, I'm thinking maybe it's a Blue Jay.  But the 'bird naming' in parenthesis and the whole scene seems to me to be pretty darn good for a 6 year old Kindergartner!  Of course, I'm a little biased.

Thursday, but no golf this week

I've had to call 'time-out' for a little while on my golf.  I know the followers of my blog live to read about all my rounds of golf and can't wait for the next report.  But, for several weeks my back has been bothering me and it's gotten worse in the past week.  So, yesterday I went to the doctor.  I've had this same pain before, and actually, quite often.  But it doesn't get this bad or last this long very often.  The last time was about 4 years ago.  I'm hoping the Rx he gave me will get rid of the pain and I'll be back in action next week. 

Like I said, it's been bothering me for several weeks, even playing earlier rounds, so I planned to play golf today.  But when I started getting my clubs out of the basement this morning I decided I'd better take a couple of practice swings to see how it was going to feel.  Well, instant pain.  So I decided I'd better skip the round.
I appreciate  all the cards and well wishes I've received and will receive.  I've been applying heat and ice, taking my medication, and hope to back out on the course next week.  So, to all my faithful readers, hang in there. 

Class at the Zoo

I helped with a class at the Zoo today.  This was a much better behaved group of 4th graders than I had a couple of weeks ago.  Sure, they were rowdy at times, but they were controllable, and quieted down when instructed to do so, unlike the other class.

 I handled a box turtle and a Tegu.  The picture at left is one I got off the computer and is not anyone at the Zoo, but I wanted a picture with people in it so that you can see the size of this creature.  The one I handled today was a little smaller, but the Tegu is one of the world's largest lizards.  It is from South America and 'tegu' is an Argentine word for 'lizard'.  He was a hand full at times, but stayed fairly still when I took him around for the kids to touch.

I wanted to show this picture because I think one of the most fascinating things about this lizard is the tongue.  He has a very large, long  forked pink tongue that he is constantly sticking out to 'smell around'.  And, this close-up gives you a good look at how colorful he is and how his scaled skin looks like it's beaded.  I haven't researched this, but I would imagine because of his pretty skin he was used for many purses, shoes, and belts. 

I can't believe I've already gotten close to 60 hours volunteer time in since I became an official Docent the first of December.  And this is the slow time of year.  I don't think I'll sign up for much coming up.  I'm already signed up for an outreach this month and one in March.  With the class I'm attending in a couple of weeks on the Dinosaurs that we'll have again this summer and those two outreaches I'll be close to 70 hours by the end of March.

Line Dancing Lessons

Mary Lynn and I noticed in the Highland Community Ministries Newsletter last week that they offer Line Dancing each Monday at St Paul United Methodist Church.  That's located at the corner of Douglas and Bardstown Road.  We thought we'd give it a try.  So, today was our first day.

Mary Lynn had some Line Dancing a couple of years ago, but I've never done any of it, so it was new to me.  The Lane Dancing was from noon to 2 pm.  When Mary Lynn and I walked out of that place today at the end of the session  you'd of thought we just ran a marathon!  2 hours of line dancing is hard work!  It was a lot of fun, and we plan to go back next week.  It's set up so that if you're a beginner, you can learn some of the dances, but if you've been doing this awhile, a lot of time isn't spent on teaching.  You get to do a lot of dancing.  About half the songs the instructor will go over the steps before it starts, but other songs she just plays and the people dance.  You can watch and try to catch on to those, or just sit and watch.  Every week we go we'll pick up more and more of the moves and, after awhile, be able to keep up.   I thought we did pretty good for the first week.  It seems like each dance has 4 separate sets of moves that you repeat over and over.  I get the first couple of sets, but get confused on the last part.  I'm sure it'll get easier.  It's amazing how tired I was after 2 hours!

Golf on a warm but muddy Thursday

It was a good day to play golf.  Warm weather, light breeze, sunshine.  The course was  pretty muddy, but that's to be expected this time of year if it isn't frozen.  The only thing that wasn't nice was the way I played.
I usually put some type of golf picture with my post, but I found this 2nd grade school picture of me and couldn't think of any other reason to post it, so I'll put it with my golf entry. I was the same age Erin is now.
I can't count this round because I didn't play my own ball the whole round.  We played a 'Shamble' on the back nine.  I didn't know we were going to do that and I was a little disappointed.  I played terrible on the front nine and my only consolation was that at least it would raise my handicap.  Then I found out we were playing the back nine a Shamble, so they don't count the round towards our handicap.  I shot a 45 - 40 - 85.  Our foursome came in last in the team competition.  I played bad and was the lowest score in our group!  I think I've said this before, but I just never seem to play well in muddy conditions.  Just not a mudder!