For those who are still with me, I thought I would just give you a quick update of things that have happened around the household in the past couple weeks apart from Taylor. As mentioned earlier, the relentless march of time moves onward even with the addition to the family. It has little concern for the extra activities now involved in day to day living. I have petitioned to have a few more hours added to the day. Haven't heard back yet, but my hopes of a positive result are not high.
I did happen to fit in a round of golf last weekend. This is a rarity for me these days. My last time golfing was during our Thanksgiving visit with Andy & Beth in Panama City. I received a call around mid-week from a golf buddy at Turkey Creek (the course I used to belong to). He was one of the few people out there that actually carried his clubs once in a while. A high school teacher in what I would guess to be late 40's to early 50's, he would always be the one setting up the golf outings I used to go on almost weekly. He and I would also meet up and walk out a Turkey Creek, often in the evenings. Anyway, he and another one of his walking friends (another non-member) were going to walk the Municipal course on Sunday and invited me to come along.
Eager to get out on the course again I hastily accepted. Since I hadn't picked up a club in darn near 1 1/2 months I figured I should run over to Turkey Creek get a little practice in on Saturday afternoon. It felt good to be back at the club again, even if just to practice. I grabbed a large bucket and headed to the driving range... Soon I was wishing I had selected a small bucket.
In my head the swing was sound. I mean I have been doing this for 30 some odd years. It's not like I forgot how to swing a golf club. The balls sure forgot how to fly though. I skulled Sand Wedges, Fatted 8-irons, Yank Hooked 6-Irons, and Topped 3-woods and Sliced Drivers. At about the 6-Iron stage I noticed about 6-8 buzzards had started circling out near the end of the range. I thought to myself, "Is my game in that hurt of shape? Have they come to scavenge on the bones of my now deceased golf game? How am I going to play tomorrow with this?" As they worked themselves closer to me I became more frustrated with my game. There were very few solid shots to offset the putrid ones. With about 6 balls left to hit, 3 of the buzzards decended to earth about 85-90 yards down range. I grabbed my Sand Wedge tried to silence their mockery. None came close enough to make them take flight, but I was satisfied that none were skulled or fatted and all were in the general direction of my target. I then spent a little time chipping at the green in an attempt to recapture some semblance of touch. I was pleasantly satisfied that my feel hadn't totally abandoned me. With darkness settling in, I headed home.
Things actually turned out much better then I thought on Sunday. I struck the ball much better then I had on the range Saturday, and my short game was very effective. It was far from perfect and I fought my usual Hook, but I made putts when I really needed it. I ended up shooting a 38-37 for a 75. One Birdie on the Front-9 and one on the Back-9. It sure is a crazy game, If I had to predict my score on the Range the night before I would have guessed maybe an 85-90.
Operation Hickory Tree: In the last update I foolishly declared myself the winner vs. one of my many adversaries, the Hickory Tree. Perhaps I should clarify with some background information. For some reason unbeknown to me, (either in an epic failure of foresight, or an incredible act of vindictiveness) someone in the past of this homestead planted about 6-8 hickory trees surrounding our house. Starting late each summer and extending on into early winter our yard turns into a virtual battlefield. The nuts are rock hard and almost golf ball sized. During the fall you can hear them slam down onto our roof. When I mow the lawn it often sounds as if I'm mowing a gravel pit. They attract a plethora of gray squirrels which feed on the nuts leaving shells and half eaten nuts scattered over everything. On the plus side the trees are very attractive, on the negative side... well I don't have time to cover all that. There was one tree in particular that really chapped my hide. This one was a very large beautiful tree that forked at it's base and formed two large sweeping trees that framed our house on the left side of the driveway. Yes, the driveway... both of the canopies hung directly over our driveway. Now we only have a single carport (where another hickory tree has staked it's claim of destruction.) which basically means we have a non functional driveway for 3/4 of the year. Sure, we parked there once in a while. We both have the hail like pot marks on our vehicles to prove it. I tried to look back through my old photos to find a picture of the tree, but I seem to have subconsciously framed it out of every picture I've taken around that area of the house. My hatred for this tree must run deeper then even I imagined.Anyway, one December day, while Linda and Taylor were back home visiting family, I get a knock on the door from the neighbor across the street. She says there are some tree people doing work at her place, she would see if I could get a deal on dropping our tree since she knew we wanted to do so at some point. They said they would fell the tree for $100 and leave the clean-up to me (which I wanted because it was a chance to get some firewood free of charge). The neighbor said "Merry Christmas, I'll put in $50 if you want to do it." Well, this service doesn't usually come cheap so I jumped at the opportunity to get to the ground for $50 out of pocket. They proceeded to drop the tree and cut the trunk to clear our driveway. They packed up and left and I now realized I basically had 2 very large trees laying in my front yard.
With a quick phone call to Nate and Carol, I procured a chainsaw to begin my dissection. Through back spasms and sore muscles I separated limb from trunk, stick from limb, and twig from stick. Saving almost everything 1" diameter and larger, this process lasted almost two weeks, often with periods of downtime for recovery. Some will be used for a back yard fire pit I plan to build, the rest will be used in the fireplace. Well, when I finally had completed the dissection. A pile of twigs and sticks on the "curb" ready for pick up, the rest of the tree cut down to size and stacked according to size, I foolishly declared myself the winner. Little did I know the Hickory Tree had only begun to fight. I'm now faced with a stack of very large, very strong chunks of hickory that needs to be split. My tools have switched from gasoline powered chains to granola bar powered pains. I have a splitting axe, a splitting maul and a small sledge hammer. I've done this before, but never with a tree this vindictive. After 6-8 swings with the splitting axe, each one bouncing off a moderately sized selection of wood, I noticed the only effect my of my effort was to give the wood surface a certain corduroy effect. It was at this point I realized I had only won the opening battle. The winner of the war was and still is in doubt. I'm thinking I may need to succumb to the arms race and rent a wood splitter. Updates will be given as events transpire.
Here are some pictures taken throughout the process of dissecting the tree. There are no pictures of Taylor out helping me, so don't expect any cute smiles on this link.
Operation Hickory Tree
It's now January 20th and our Christmas decorations still are not completely down and put away. Part of it is just a lack of uninterrupted time to complete a task. Part of it is that the decorations really look nice and it's such a shame to rush them back off to storage.There is no long drawn out story about this small segment. Just an appreciation from me to Linda. While it is a joint effort each year with each of us having our assigned areas, Linda coordinates the effort and does all the finishing details to pull everything together. My job is to hang the greenery and lights, decorate the top of the china cabinet and get the tree ready for Linda to decorate. She pretty much takes it from there and I must say each year it looks even better.
I decided to take a few pictures of main decorated areas to share with family and friends unable to visit during the Holidays.
Christmas Decorations 2008
No discussion could be complete without mention one of the more significant events in our household on the start of this new year.National Champions!!!
One thing I love about living in Gainesville is the quality of college athletics we are able to follow each year. Make no doubt about it Gainesville is a college town. Granted it's a large town, but then it's a large University. I first moved to Gainesville in the early spring of 1996. That first year here was an initiation into college athletics like I've never seen before. The passion for the home team runs deep and since I never really had connection to any other team I quickly became a fan. That first year started with the bang of a National Championship with Danny Wuerffel at the helm. While football reigns supreme in the south I quickly found out that no matter what time of year there is always some championship caliber sporting event to follow. Dad and I used to always go to some Basketball game during his visits. The program was still building with Donnovan and tickets were more plentiful then football. He really enjoyed those games and became an interested observer of Gator athletics. We would talk about games on the phone at times. I always wished I could have gotten him into a big football game in The Swamp. Nothing I've done has ever matched the atmosphere of a bigtime game in The Swamp. The collective roar of 90,000 rabid fans is a sight to behold.
Over the years my attachment to the program grew. Even though I moved to Gainesville years after my college days were over, I definitely feel a connection with the team. For me they aren't an alma mater (would love to have attended, they even have a great Architectural Program) but they are my home team. With that said, the last few years have been something of a dream. Back-to-back Basketball Championships in '06 and '07 sandwhiched around a Football Championship in '06. Then when the Gators took break, the Kansas Jayhawks win the Basketball Championship in '08. Now we've just experienced another Football Championship. Needless to say it's been Utopia for a sports fan. Thankfully Linda, as someone who is quite the fan herself, is fully supportive of my passion. Her true sports passions lies with Jayhawk Basketball but she really roots on the home team as well!
I'm already excited about spring practice coming up then the Orange & Blue Game (final scrimmage of spring practice that usually draws 40-50,000 people). Next year should be fun. But first there is Basketball Season, then maybe I will start watching some more Baseball. When Taylor gets a little older we can go see very good girls athletics in Gymnastics, Volleyball and Soccer. I'm sure I may even get her into some games in The Swamp!
Speaking of Taylor. For those who read through this entire posting, here's a few pictures for your trouble. As I stated to start this update there are not that many, but it's a nice sample.
Early January Taylor Pictures.
