My Memorial Day Vacation

The wild west was the destination for Memorial Day 2007. Golf, food, pool activities were all on the itinerary at my sister's house for the weekend. A small road trip to the mountains north of Phoenix proved to be entertaining.

Golf at Stone Mountain GC.

Monica, Ann, and Me at The Palace Saloon in Prescott, AZ. This is where Monica's wallet was stolen. We think by a horse thief.

Monica and Ann's house in North Phoenix. Look Mountain in the background.

We started here at Eagle Mountain GC.

Spectator on the 18th Tee.

And we finished at the TPC of Scottsdale. Great Course!

Spectator on the 15th tee of the TPC.

I had a great time. And now I am back in Roanoke. The Hall of Fame is in two weeks, back to training for the marathon, starting a new prospecting campaign for work, and finishing my creek project.

Rocking Right Along!

Well......I have used all the rocks I gathered for my project. I will need a few more for finishing touches. All the over runs are contained, the rocks in place, the pump works, and I am on to the plumbing phase.

I bought a 5,000 GPH pump. Over kill! It'll be a class 5 rapid. I need to install a ball valve to regulate the flow. The pump will not be running full capacity so it should last alot longer. It's starting to look like an actual creek now. It won't be long until the birds and squirrels are bathing in it.

I am taking a short break from construction due to a trip out west to see my sister Monica. There will be some golf posts from AZ coming some.

Progress

I made a little progress this week on the pond less waterfall. I have the waterfalls set the way I want them, and I have laid the creek bed. I used mortar to keep the bed from shifting and to secure some key rocks. We had a gully washer last night so I hope it does not mess it up to much.

Next I will need to assemble the plumbing and test the pump. After that I will fill the hole with different size rocks and pebbles, finish edging the creek bed, plant flowers and shrubs, mulch, and then finally run electric. June 2nd is the target date.

I slept in this morning. A four miler is scheduled for 4pm today.

It Just a Number

This past weekend I played in a two day event at Countryside Golf Course. It was the first weekend available to attempt to qualify for the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame Tournament. We had to play two rounds of golf and the total of the rounds were your score to qualify for the ten man team to represent our club in the tournament. The tournament is a three day event at Hunting Hills, Hidden Valley, and Waterfront Country Clubs. It is a team and individual event to be played from June 8-10th. Nine spots were available since our 2006 Club Champion is exempt. You usually have to shoot 160 to make the team. I shot 77-79 for a total of 156. I am currently fifth with five left to qualify this week. Baring no one else is allowed to sign up after the past deadline, I am mathematically safe.

What a relief! After making an 8 on the eighth hole of the tournament I could have starting packing it in early. I tightened up and finished with a good round on Saturday. Going out with a 38 on the front nine Sunday I felt pretty good. That's when little things start to happen. You start thinking about the number. Three straight bogies on 10,11,12. A great par on 13, lobing a shot out of the knee high rough on 17 to a back right pin. A bogey on 14, a double bogey on 15. Wait a minute don't tell me you are going to blow this thing! After watching two competitors hit it in the water on the tough 16th par three, I punched a 7 iron to about 10 feet. MADE IT! BIRDIE! I then snapped hooked my tee shot on the 17th. It hit a tree and kicked out of the the hazard. I hit it into the bunker short of the green. UP and DOWN! ANOTHER BIRDIE! Finally some breathing room. I wish I could say I finished strong but I made yet another double bogey on the 18th. ( note to self: When up by two or three shots don't hit driver of the 18th tee ever again. )

What a game!

We Have Water!

These are the current pictures of my continuing project. I don't know what phase I'm in because new phases keep popping up.

Original Plans:

Bricks to form stream bed and ledge for rock walls:

Padding I got at the carpet store dumpster for free:

Liner bought online. I left the hole unlined so the water could drain from the Flow Test:

Cool Waterfalls:

Everything flowed perfect. Now to the next phase. Uh???????

Notice my helper in about every picture. She is very impatient and critiques all my work.

Wachovia Championship 2007

Thanks to my friend Jimmy King in Charlotte, NC. He kindly saved two tickets for Tammy and I to attend the Wachovia Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club last Friday. It's not often you get to see an event that has 29 of the top 30 golfers in the world playing in the same field. We saw a lot of golf.

The weather was a little suspect. It was cool and rainy at times. Nothing a few beers couldn't do to make it bearable. Jimmy was right, he said I was going to love the golf course. It was long and narrow. The fairways and greens seemed to look white in stead of green. Indicating the firmness and speediness of them both. The rough was thick and green and the majority of the greens were elevated with the slopes shaved. The shaved slopes looked like the greens at Countryside. Any short shots came twenty five yards back in the fairway.

We stood left of the green at the 18th and watched several groups struggle to finish. Tiger, VJ, Ernie, Phil, Zack Johnson, John Daly, the list goes on. We also stood behind the green of the 8th. A short par four, some 340 yards. A few guys tried to drive the green. Most laid back to hit wedges into the very small green. We saw alot of good shots on that hole. Some almost holing out from the fairway. Half of the players had some trouble reading the green, which meant just a par on the easy birdie hole. Tiger and Phil included.

The afternoon round we followed Ted Purdy and Retief Goosen for their whole round. That was great for two reasons. One was to see an athlete at the top of his field maneuver around the golf course, play a multitude of different shots, and shoot an under par round. Purdy shot 69. The other reason is that Tammy's brother Mark use to live with Ted's wife when he first moved to Phoenix. She was there. Tammy recognized her and went to say hello. We walked and talked to her on several occasions during the round. I tried to plant the seed for a match with Ted,me, and my sister Monica. Monica also lives in Phoenix. Ted is on the road alot as you can imagine, but I bet when he hears about my offer it will be hard to concentrate on his other matches for a good while.

All and all we had a great time at the tournament. What a life it must be to play golf for a living and to be successful at it. I know it's still a job, but come on. Wouldn't you just love it! I would. I came back to play in Countryside two day event. I shot 70-77. Finished tied for second. Won $75.00. Watch out Tiger!

On the Road Again!

Ok..... I'm back in training mode. Tim and I met for the first of many runs this morning at 5:45 AM. It's a little early for most people, but it's the best time to beat the summer heat. The roads are cool and so is the air for the most part. I think it's the only way to survive logging almost 700 miles this Summer preparing for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I will once again be fundraising for TNT. Should be great Summer!