Finding my Mojo

As witness to my running streak, a plethora of Nike boxes My new golf bag loaded for bear

Finding my Mojo... a really good bottled IPA

After a hards days work in the sun, Mindy and relaxed on the deck with a few drinks and some homemade music.

I woke earlier than necessary feeling pretty much fulfilled & rested. But since it was a Saturday and the fact that I had no real need to be up before 6:00am, I went back to sleep for a little while longer. Even still, I was up and around pretty early by most standards - 6:45am. Bob & I held a 10:17am tee time at Thornapple Country Club, so I planned my morning agenda backwards from there. After swiftly whipping out my exercise routine, Ykraps and I were out for our morning walk. The morning sky didn’t look as friendly as many past but the streets were dry and the clouds noticeably thin. I had the sneaking suspicion that the weather just might defy, once again, what the forecasters had predicted. By their account, it was supposed to rain most of the morning and then hold a threat of showers through the afternoon. They were right about last evening as it rained while Mindy and I hung at Barley’s. I spent little time fooling around after my walk with Ykraps with the idea of being on my run no later than 8:30am. That left me plenty of time, still. As I dressed for a run I decided to take a few minutes to change the music selection on my MP# player. That took a little longer than anticipated but was well worth the time since I hadn’t changed the line-up in months. As planned, I was out the door for a run by 8:30am. To my relief, the already thin cloud cover seemed to be thinning even more during my run. The threat of being rained out on the golf course seemed more and more unlikely. After my run I grabbed a shower and prepped a bag of nuts for a mid round snack. I had all of my gear ready to go by 9:40am. Just before leaving the house, I made myself a egg, turkey, and cheese sandwich on rye. Before backing out of my drive I placed my old Nike golf bag at the curb rather than chuck it in the garbage. Despite it being broke, it still looks almost new and I was certain that someone would snag it, and who knows, maybe even fix it. And just as soon as I sat it there and walked away, the first car that drove by slowed and watched me pull away. I didn’t bother going back to see, (why would I) but I suspect he’s the lucky one who got it! I headed south on Wilson towards I-70 West. Too, I called Bob to confirm his readiness. He was just leaving his home. As soon as I passed I-270, the sky was crystal clear as far as one could see. The once cloudy morning predicted to be rainy was now bright, sunny, and warm! It looked like it was going to be a splendid day for golf! I called Mindy to discuss her plans for the day and to determine how and when we’d be hooking up later in the day. She had a morning chalked full of errands and then planned to end up sunning on my deck. As usual, I arrived first so I took my time gathering and dawning my gear. The course, judging by the parking lot, looked to be at about 50% capacity. Remembering that it was Bob’s birthday yesterday, I went ahead and covered both tee-times as a nice surprise for Bob when he arrived. Again, it was simply beautiful! Bob finally arrived 3 or 4 minutes before our schedule tee time. He had little time to prepare or practice. Sometimes that’s best, though. Because there were only the two of us, we got paired with a retired gentleman, Luther and his wife, Oloise (sp). His wife wasn’t golfing but instead just walking with him. We later learned that he was a retired economics professor from OSU – very interesting fellow. Like always, my front nine was pretty good – especially given that this was my first round of the year. I shot a 46 – two pars, three double-bogeys, four bogey’s. My back nine left much more to be desired. I had two triple bogeys to start (not too good), but nothing to terrible. For whatever reason, I tend to tire after nine holes, and my attention and interest begin to wane a little too. I don’t worry about it – just notice a trend. Perhaps if I golfed more I gain some stamina – don’t know. Regardless, it was very enjoyable being out on the course. We actually played 20 holes. Once we say that it was backing after hole 11, and seeing that there was only one group behind us, we went back and played holes 13 & 14 a second time. I par’d them both second time around. Our strategy worked well for everyone in that it created space between the group in front and behind us as well as giving us some much needed practice. I need to mention, too, that Bob started hitting the snot out of his drives. He tattooed a number of them on the back nine. And aside from a decent front nine, the highlight for me was still having the same ball after 18 holes that I began with ( I did loose a ball on mulligan drive though). The significance is that Thornapple has two greens guarded by ponds and several holes with streams winding through. But in addition to that, the rough was thick and long. As a matter of fact, the fairways were long and thick too. You had to keep a keen out for your ball. On hole 18 Bob hit into the sand and practically buried the entire ball leaving only the small Wilson logo showing. He played it as it laid and paid the price. It ended up costing him several strokes. We finished up around 3:10pm. It was fun! Bob headed into the clubhouse, and I went on my merry way. I decided to stop at the West Broad St. Kroger for some quality beer since I knew I had only two left at home. While there, I grabbed a six pack of Mike’s Hard Lime’s for Mindy. Once home I was ready for some yard work, sunshine, and some nutrition. Before cracking a beer I had an insatiable craving for an orange soda. I practically chugged an orange Mt Dew. Afterwards, I cracked a cold beer and took to the deck. After a short rest I began working the yard. The first order of business was re-tying the climbing rose bush canes to the pergalo. The previous week I had cut so much dead growth that the support for much of the bush was removed. Using last years technique wasn’t going to net the desired results, but thanks to Mindy’s quick thinking, we began tying each individual cane to the pergalo’s main runners. This was tedious much not too terribly difficult with two people, although both of us got poked and scratched a few times. At some point during the rose bush project, Ykraps snuck away from the deck. We had left the back door purposely open for his enjoyment. He hasn’t ran off in years. David, my new neighbor, came over to report seeing Ykraps running along the woods. Good thing, we were completely oblivious to his departure. I grabbed his leash and went looking in the direction I was pointed. Of course, all the neighbors were out and took some interest in our dilemma. Mike, the fireman, said he hadn’t seen him but would help by looking along the woods. And as soon as I got down about a block I heard Mindy and mike calling me back. Upon my return I could see that they had found him. My guess is that he saw a rabbit and chased it into the woods, then couldn’t figure out how to get back out. He’s always been a bit of an air head. After securing Ykraps I walked back through my neighbors yards. Our newest neighbor, Krissy was out with her children. She had just moved in last weekend. I took the opportunity to introduce myself and Mindy. She is a widow and has a son, Jacob who is 8, and a daughter, Makayla, who is 3. I boldly asked how she lost her husband since she had stated it was so recent. She told us it was from alcohol poisoning on New Year’s Day. Hmmm? That is really sad. We spent the next half hour talking with David and Becky, my immediate neighbors to the east. He explained all the things he learned about the various trees and bushes in his yard after calling an arborist out. They’re nice folks. Mindy and I still had lots of work to do so we eventually found our way back to the deck where we zoned back in on the rose bush. After another 45 minutes or so we finally finished tying up all the canes. The results were stunning. It looks better than ever. Next we moved on to transplanting/transferring a couple day lilies to better balance their sizes. That took only minutes. Next, I moved onto some light weed removal and cleaning up some additional debris still left form last year but tucked tightly up under some of the shrubs surrounding my deck. About that time, neighbor Pat stopped over reporting seeing Mindy out on the deck watching me work. We sat and chatted for about two hours sharing a few stories and a couple of beers. Sometime during his visit and at our prompting, he beckoned his wife Lisa and daughter Elena. They stayed until just before dark. It was getting a little chilly after the sun set. When Pat & Lisa left, Mindy and I went inside to grab a shower and wash all the grime away. By the time we had showered and were again dressed, it was nearly 9pm. We were both pretty hungry but had little energy to go out or even enough to cook. We opted instead for some cheesy nachos and some of my now famous guacamole and salsa. They were delicious. I pampered myself with another beer. As the evening wound down, Mindy and I returned to the deck. I took my guitar along. It sounds so much better outdoors. We stayed out there until almost 10pm talking and playing. We could see lightning off in the distance and felt a couple drops of rain. Eventually we thought better of sitting outside and instead headed in. Minutes later it began raining rather steadily. By 10:30pm, Mindy was ready for bed. I was tired but felt able to stay up. It’s just so hard to rash early on a weekend night. Ultimately, however, we did. We were asleep even before 11pm.