Big Rain at Split Rock

I slept rather soundly and didn’t wake until 530 something. I knew it was after 530am after hearing the sprinkler system running. It was 542am by the time I was downstairs and preparing for morning exercise. I glanced out the back door into the dark sky and could see that it was cloud over. I went ahead and completed my sit-ups and push-ups then headed out with Ykraps. Zone #1 was still running so I diverted to the east. I noticed right away that neighbor Carl placed his trash can on our side of the road for an earlier pick-up. Figured he must have a double load this week. Inside, while sipping coffee, I checked the forecast. It was 73 degrees again, a very familiar temperature this week. The forecast called for rain but the radar looked pretty benign. I didn’t have to worry about dodging rain, or worse yet, lightning. I also spent a little time reading a handful of stories about the Brett Favre signing. Definitely causing quite a stir in Viking country. And given how poorly our other two potential starting quarterbacks have fared during training camp, I was excited. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I moved directly onto stretching. I skipped my usual morning meditation. Good or bad, skipping meditation afforded me the opportunity to head out on my run sooner than I would’ve otherwise. I was out the door by 632am, and actually running a few minutes later. It wasn’t hot but it was awfully humid. I was a sweaty mess after 35 minutes of running. Felt good though. I toweled off in the laundry room after my run. I didn’t waste a lot of time transitioning to food prep. Hopefully, once school starts next week, Mindy will once again start making breakfast and packing lunches. We’ll see. If so, that’ll be a huge time saver for me. I was finished in the kitchen and headed up for a shower at 7:40am. I had Mindy’s morning coffee in tow. I clarified her plans. She was heading into school again today and taking the kids along, too. Yikes! I was showered and dressed before 8:00am. Mindy joined me downstairs for coffee. I still had a lot to do before leaving, however. I had to load up my lunch and then load my golf clubs into the Trooper. I took a pair of shorts, too. The forecast was iffy but I wanted to be prepared just the same. Just before heading out, we talked about the young lady coming to clean our house today for the first time. Mindy planned on being home through most of it, but as I understood it, she’s already been over to review and make sure we’re both on the same page as far as what to expect. This whole idea of having some one clean our house has been in the planning stages since late last spring. We’ll see how it goes. I left the house at roughly 815am. I didn’t get out of the subdivision before the sky opened up with driving rain. I mean it poured, and it kept it up all the way into work. Thankfully, it slowed significantly before I exited the Trooper. I arrived at work by 830am. It was a rather quiet morning but I did have a team meeting scheduled as well as our weekly staff meeting to attend. But prior to both, there was an important conference call I needed to join as well. Needless to say, my morning moved swiftly. By the time all the calls and meetings were behind us it was 1pm. Several work related issues dominated the rest of my day. Meanwhile, the weather flip-flopped from sunshine to rain a few times throughout the day. One minute I was certain we’d be golfing but not the next. I did hear from Tom Clark that he was in, and later from Bob. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to make it. If the weather held out, I was determined to go. Another rain storm moved in around 3:45pm, but just like earlier, it was gone 15 minutes later and the sun was again shining. I called Tom just to make sure he was still in. He was. I left the office at 4:28pm. As far as the eye could see the sky looked harmless, but as I got further south and deeper into Grove City another storm cloud formed moving out of the southwest. Come rt 665 it poured even harder than it did early that AM. But Split Rock is a good 7 or 8 miles south of rt 665, and I could see clearing to the immediate south. Sure enough, it was sunny south of rt 762, which is where Split Rock lies. I couldn’t help but notice a lot of heavy ponding in some of the nearby property but the roads were dry, and so were the skies. Tom was already waiting at the course and brought a cart to the rear of our vehicles, which were parked side by side. How cute! We laughed about how hard it rained during our drives down. And when I went inside to pay the young lady mentioned that they got three inches just a little earlier. Wow! From my perch, the course looked OK, though. However, the practice putting green was definitely soggy. We tee’d off the back nine with me hitting a drive straight down the middle. Tom was left, but still OK. I was eager to try my new Rescue hybrid and hit it gingerly but decent. It went a tad left but still OK and about 180 yds. Being a par 5, that left me about 90 yds in. I hit a PW, having to bend it around a large tree’s canopy. I left it just off the green. I chipped up and two putted. Drats! As we got out there, it became obvious how ridiculously wet the course was. Several sands traps were totally ruined by the heavy rains and some even held water up to 10 inches deep. Despite the water, we had a good time. I played like usual – near bogey golf. I missed every birdie opportunity and even a couple 3-4 ft par putts. And after about six holes I started the ugly slice thing again with my mid irons. And for whatever the reason, once it starts, I can’t correct it for quite awhile. It’s crazy! Tom ended up playing really good. At one point he was putting for his third par in a row. He shared that he took a $60 private lesson from the pro at Able’s golf center in Dublin, and that the guy fixed his swing. Certainly money well spent. However, as I expected, his old habits returned now and again. Tom doesn’t have much tolerance for his own short comings. On one particular hole, he hit at least eight drives off the tee trying to correct a glaring problem, all but one landed in the exact same vicinity, which wasn’t good. Good grief! I didn’t finish very strong at all. I started pushing all my drives, and then couldn’t hit a second shot to save myself. The one bright spot was my chipping. After finishing the nine holes we kept on going playing holes 1 through 5. Both of us frequently hit two balls on each hole trying to work through various issues. And while the temperature wasn’t all the hot the humidity was absolutely off the charts. I was dripping wet from head to toe, and the bugs were everywhere. All that rain made it almost unbearable. After hole #5 hole we bagged it and headed back to the clubhouse. It was 8:15pm. We headed for home. Tom followed me as I showed him the route I take. His GPS had him taking I-71S to the Orient exit. I called Mindy, who was at the Big Fat Greek waiting on a to-go order. She was fetching us some dinner ~ gyros. Just to my immediate west I could see another storm cell was forming. There was a severe storm warning broadcast on the radio too. But to the north, the direction I was headed, it looked OK. I arrived home by 8:45pm. Mindy indicated that she’d already walked Ykraps. She had my gyro and fries set aside. I took care of a few odds and ends before sitting down to eat. I also got out of my drenched black t-shirt. We tuned into the weather radar on the TV to see what we might be up against later. We could hear rumbles of thunder off in the distance. The lion’s share of the latest storm looked like it was going to miss us, although there was a lot more behind that one, and it appeared to be moving right at us. It got late in a hurry. Soon it was time for me to tuck in the kids. That was around 9:30pm. Afterwards, I did a little reading about Favre and the Vikings, and then did some writing for my blog. I excused myself for bed just after 10pm. Mindy said she’d join me shortly. OK.