For friends, family and the random search engine visitor. This blog started as an experiment in mobile blogging from my Palm TREO 600, 700, Prē, HTC Evo, Samsung 5, Pixel 3, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL. Now it serves as a simple repository of favorite activities. Expect bad golf, good fishing, great sailing, eating, drinking, adventure travel, occasional politics and anything else I find interesting along the way including, but not limited to, any of the labels listed here...
MW BLOG LABEL CLOUD (click label for posts on that topic)
Our first full day at camp of the Semi-Annual Spring Trip. One day before more visitors arrive. We have a few thing to take care of before we can start fishing in earnest.
First fish of the spring trip
We get our fishing licenses and wait for Craig to arrive and float the pontoon boat.
Once the boat is in water, it's time to get to work.
Nice bass, but the season is not open yet, so the right thing to do is toss it back.
Pike season is open
It's cool, windy and wet on the lake.
We'll be dodging rain squalls, but looks like we'll get some decent fishing in over the next couple weeks.
Uber to SFO and United to ORD on Saturday, getting our stuff together on Sunday, and driving to Big Shag Lake on Monday.
I like to post the current headlines at the airport when departing on a trip. It's a time capsule reminder of what was on the hive mind when we departed. This day the New York Times was wondering about Trump tapes, USA Today was reporting on the massive money flooding into the Georgia District 6 special election and the San Francisco Chronicle was besides itself regarding 1 -the Attorney General threatening harsher drug penalties and 2 - Homeland Security considering a ban on laptops on international flights.
The flight itself? Well, it's United. So...
That said, I want to give United credit where it is due - as I reported in my Facebook comments about this flight:
"Given all the crap that United has taken recently, I must report that I actually was impressed by one aspect of United service. While I was sitting at the bar having that beer I received yet another notification on the United App that my flight would be delayed by an additional hour. Along with the notification was a link and invitation to look at earlier flights with no charge for changing. I was able to switch flights while drinking my beer and get out an hour earlier using the app. Here's the big benefit: I never had to speak or interact with any actual human United employees to change the flight. This is the key to United restoring their reputation and brand. They just need to make it possible for patrons to never have to talk to any United employees."
Kudos to United for letting me fix the situation on my phone with an app while a drinking a beer. I switch flights, walk down the terminal to my new gate, and am on my way.
Sunday we do some shopping for the trip, and family gathers for a birthday. I'm not sure who. The family has gotten to the size where there's a birthday celebration every week.
Personally, I've reached the age where I am adamantly opposed to birthday celebrations. But I digress.
Monday we are on the road.
Packed and ready to roll.
There is a bad smell here.
We pick up growlers at the Rail House. Cousin Mike meets us with a gift of wild leeks
Made it. No problems, although Dad's head & foot are giving him some problems
It is raining when we arrive at camp. A preview of coming attractions:
The good news is, this day, the course was not only playable, but actually in reasonably good condition on most (but not all) holes. There is still evidence of a lot of tree damage that has yet to be addressed, and even some recent dangerous tree falls. Since tree work was a major component of the San Francisco Rec and Park Natural Resources Plan recently approved by the SF Board of Supervisors, I am hoping to see some City action to maintain and cut dangerous trees on the course before someone is hurt. Stay tuned.
I scheduled the round with Brad and the starter partnered us with Steve and Matt. Couldn't ask for a nicer day. Just a beautiful day for golf on a beautiful course.
Brad was killing it on the front - 3 over through 9
My golf was not so beautiful, but the regular reader knows that goes with out saying. We'll get the bad news out of the way out front: 105 - 54 on the front, 51 on the back. So it goes. Some action shots from the day...
Brad's approach on 3rd fairway. That's my drive 10 yds in front of him.
On the 14th Tee:
Matt stripes one on 14 - right next to my drive.
Both of Steve's drives on 14 - first left, then right.
Brad goes frog hunting with his drive on 14
Matt stripes another drive on 17
Steve goes for it on 18 with his 2nd shot, which would have been great except for that tree.
It was a fun day despite the score, hope to see these guys out here again.
Beautiful day for an OGC event at Callippe Preserve Golf Course. Bob and I are paired with Mark and Jay. Everyone plays their own ball, but we play as a team in a "Two Net Best Ball" event. We started hot. Jay birdied and I parred the first hole. As a team we were 4 under after 1. We finished the day 17 under par, but 2 strokes behind the winners. My "others" on 9 and 18 didn't help.
Bob insisted on documenting my drive on this hole, where I failed to reach the red tees.
Fine. But I need to maintain my "G" rating on blogger so had to censor this image. BTW here is a shot of Bob hitting his second shot out of the rough...
... into even deeper rough. Also, here is Bob in the sand:
The highlight of the round was Mark's eagle on 14. I didn't get a pic of the approach, but bracketed the gem with his tee shots. I think this was his tee shot on 14:
He skulled his second shot 140 yards out, but it took a friendly bounce off a green side hillock. Nobody else saw it, but Mark heard it hit the pin, disappear, and thought it might have gone in. He wisely sends Jay ahead for independent confirmation.
Jay finds it in the cup. Defying convention, Mark also hits a great tee shot on 15 after the eagle.
We were looking good on 18, heading for the clubhouse at 18 under, but the team folded like Van De Velde at the 1999 Open.
This was Bob and my scores from the carts electronic scorecard. If it wasn't obvious, I am Player 1. My only par was the first hole and...
... those nines really hurt. I finish with 111. Bob with 100. I didn't tell him that at his handicap his maximum equitable score on any hole is an 8. He could have posted a 99. Karma's a bitch.
Brad, Rick, me on a beautiful spring day at Lincoln Park. This is the first day of the baseball season, so I had to show my World Champion Chicago Cubs colors.
They started us off on the 9th tee, so the usual blogging sequence was a bit discombobulated. As was the usual mid-round beer retrieval. I had to hit a hook off the first tee (11th hole) to be in position to retrieve the beers from the car parked across the road. We made it work.
Somewhere after the turn:
BK 38
MW 46
RZ 48
Chipping contest for the extra beer on the 5th green. Rick won.
Highlight was the 6th hole. Brad and I hit long fades (slices?) around the dogleg right, putting us in position for short approach shots. We both hit inside 6 feet. Here are the birdie putts:
I should have had it, but I'll never complain about a par.
7th Tee drives:
And the 19th hole with club sandwiches, a vegan quesadilla and a new beer discovery - Belgium Bump by Local Brewing Company - recommended by new bartender Yani.
