Golf

.... 11:00 tee time. My older brother, my younger brother and I tee off. I actually enjoyed it more than I expected. There were a couple of times I got frustrated and just wanted to go home, but only a couple. And, ironically, they weren't the times I dumped it in the water or sand traps. It was when I was trying to get a little lift on the ball so it would actually fly a little way, but instead it just rolled a few yards across the lawn. The first hole was great. One brother sliced it over to the right, the other hit it to the left and mine, yes mine, went straight down the fairway. Where it's supposed to go. Oh, not as far as it should have gone, but definitely in the right direction. Actually, for the most part, I did pretty good on direction. I just had no distance. For the most part. On the second (maybe it was the third) hole I hit my first official ball in the sandtrap. Since the set of clubs I borrowed didn't have a sand wedge (that's the club you use to get out of the sand trap) I asked my brother if he had a sand wedge I could use. His response? "I brought a bunch of water, but I didn't bring any sandwedges to eat." Funny guy. Somewhere around the 5th hole I dunked my ball in the water. This was just a shallow stream that we had to get the ball over, and I didn't. No big deal, at least I got it back. Unlike the one that went into the pond a couple holes later. Completely lost. But that's ok, my little brother found 3 or 4 balls when he had to go searching for his a few times. On the 8th hole I thought I had lost another ball into the pond, headed straight over there and out of sight. But you gotta go check just to make sure, and there it was, caught in a weed right on the side of the pond. A really, really prickley weed. I would have preferred wading through a foot of water rather than get my hand jabbed the 3 or 4 times by that stupid plant.

.... Anyways, par for the course, which is the expected score, is 36. I scored 72. My brother's response; "Not a bad score ... for 18 holes." We only golfed 9. But, considering it was my very first time, and since they, who are semi-regular, scored a 52 and 56, I'm not embarassed by it. And, as always with my brothers, I had a really good time.

Another Cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof day

.... Getting close.  I just put the planks back on the roof over the back porch.  Well, the ones I had.  A couple were beyond reusing and because I put them right up against each other instead of leaving a 1/4" gap, I ended up five or six short.  Another run to Home Depot!  I'm hot, I'm tired, my knees are killing me, and I'm done for the day. 

,,,, But at least tomorrow I get to go golfing, the first time ever.  If you don't count miniature golf or whacking golf balls around the clearings up at our property.  Personally, I've always thought the idea of hitting a tiny little white ball with a long stick and trying to get it in a little hole a bazillion yards away, with sand traps, water traps and trees in the way, well, kinda silly.  But my older brother put it in perspective.  One time I asked him why he liked to golf and his response was "It's the only place they let you drink and drive."  Two hours hanging out with the brothers, it'll be fun.  Even if I do have to hit a little white ball with a long stick once in a while.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Or: "Me on a Black tar-papered Roof in 90 degree weather". Fun stuff.

.... I'm still working on de-leaking the porch roof. Today it was putting on the galvanized steel drip metal. I'm up there, kneeling on a towel and nailing long sheets of metal down. (Yes, I really should just buy some knee pads, but I keep forgetting every time I go to Home Depot.) Then to keep the water from getting under the metal, and under the tar paper, I had to seal the seems with roofing tar. (Gearheads - thanks for the offer, but it was only $10 a gallon and it was right there.) The stuff is kind of cool, it comes out of the can looking exactly like chocolate pudding, same color, same texture. You goop it on, spread it smooth and then it dries black and looks & feels exactly like dry tar. Oh, but it doesn't clean up exactly like chocolate pudding - I had to scrub it off my leg (yes, I did use gloves, so my hands were clean.)

.... Anyway, black tar roof, 90 degrees and in direct sunlight. It was hot. I'd work for about 15 minutes, go down and spend 10 minutes under the swamp cooler vent drinking water, head back up and do it all over again.

.... All I know is that if the thing leaks so much as one drop next time it rains I'm gonna end up in a rubber room with a wrap-around jacket.