Phoenix

Like a good soldier, I was up and into my routine by 7:30am. Mindy stayed sleeping. Truth be told, I don’t think that she even heard me get out of bed. I was extra quiet as I slipped out of bed and crept down the stairs. I sped through my morning routine, which included exercise and a walk with Ykraps. It was already after 8am when I returned from our walk and snuggled up to my first cup of coffee. I took my time sipping coffee and playing on the internet reading about the Vikings loss to the Seahawks. Just as I was preparing for my morning run I heard Mindy beginning to stir upstairs. I left for my run just before 9am. Thirty five minutes later I made it back home. By then, Mindy was finalizing her preparation for church. It was 9:30am. I needed to get moving if I were to make our 10:40am tee time at Phoenix golf course. After a quick shower I gathered all the necessary gear I needed to make today’s golf a pleasure. I gathered my clubs, made a sandwich, and packed a snack. Mindy left for church just as I was loading my clubs into the Trooper. Both of our vehicles were parked along the curb, hers directly behind mine. Someone smacked her driver’s side mirror overnight shattering the glass. More often than not, I collapsed mine any time I park on the street to prevent such a mishap. I didn’t yesterday. I looked at it quickly to see if there was anything I could do to secure it. I couldn’t, so I took the dangling glass off, and Mindy departed for church. I spent a few more minutes in the house making sure I had everything I needed. I was out the door by 10:05am after confirming the address on Rt. 104. I made excellent time by taking 70 east to 71 south. I got off at the Frank Rd exit then made a quick right onto Rt.104 south. The golf course was about two or three miles ahead on the right side of the road. I’ve been waiting to play Phoenix for a while. I was looking forward to today’s play. The weather was ideal. The sky was clear & sunny and temperature warm but not oppressive. Ten minutes later everyone was present and ready – Bob I., Bob B., and Chuck. Once again, I shared a cart with Chuck. Phoenix is built on top of the old trash dump. The design is a links style course meaning that in lieu of trees there are lots of rolling hills and tall grasses to swallow up any errant balls. The fact that it sits on top of the old dump creates quite a bit of elevation compared to the surrounding landscape. Because of this, there is an awesome view of downtown. It’s a perspective I hadn’t witnessed before. I was sorry that I didn’t bring my camera. More importantly, I was finally able to shake the double/triple bogey start that my 2007 golf season has become defined by. I played bogey golf pretty much all day long with only a couple double bogeys and pars sprinkled in. All in all, I played well. I shot a 91 – my season’s best, and only the 4th time that I’ve played a full 18 holes. My personal critique is that I am still not taking advantage of several decent scoring opportunities, but I know that they’ll come. Meanwhile, both Chuck and Bob Imber had there best outings of the season. In fact, Bob I. should’ve broken 80 save for one really bad hole. He ended up with an 82. I was impressed. But Chuck topped that with an even 80. He’s been erratic all season, at least on Wednesday’s. Today he was everything but. We finished at 3:52pm. I was really surprised that it was so late. After all, it’s not like we played slow or were delayed much. We were out there for 5 hours. Holy smoke! I left promptly and placed a call to Mindy while I was driving. She was readying the kids for departure. We agreed to simply meet at her mom’s – no sense in me driving home first. I took 104 to Frank Rd and then took Clime all the way to Holly Hill. Along the way, I called my mom. We hadn't talked in quite a while. As usual, she let me know it too! She let me know that her surgery was slated for Tuesday, September 4th and asked if I would be there. I told her that I would try to make that happen after confirming the location, which she explained was at Adena Hospital in Chillicothe. We quickly got caught up on what one another's been doing for the last month, and then said our goodbyes. I was already in front of Gloria's house. And just as we expected, I beat Mindy there. It was just Gloria and Joe, Mindy’s nephew. But all the others soon arrived. Everyone was there save for Craig & Jeff. I’m not sure what they were up to. After a little battle with the power, we sat down to dinner. We had roast beef, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. As you might guess, everything was just dandy! For dessert, Gloria made some of her famous fudge. We brought along a cheesecake that we picked up the day before while at Wal-Mart. I had some of that. We stayed until 7:15pm. The kids rode home with me. Mindy was a few minutes behind us. As usual, I took Ykraps on his evening walk as soon as I got home and settled. He was most thankful for that, I could tell. It wasn’t too long before the kids were all tucked into bed. Bella asked that I read her a story. She selected a Sponge Bob book. It was a quick read. I tuned into the Sunday night preseason NLF game immediately after just to pass time. Mindy watched too. We went to bed very early and well before the game was over.