Big week end

golfing at the Preserve at Honey Creek at Rathbun Lake in southern Iowa.  It is an ALS event, then it was reported that it is for Alzheimers......whatever, we are sponsoring a hole. The Rathbun people  tried to be  HONEY CREEK, but my friends already owed that name, Honey Creek Golf Course in Boone, Iowa.  Up scale course, I can't wait to play this nice course. I hope my teammates can putt.

About a half dozen OLD softball teammates will join up for this event. Some I have not seen for over 20 years.   I guess this is a thank you to facebook, that is how we have kept in touch and found the announcement and made the plans.  We did use the tele to contact one person that does not use FB, that's OK.......I am taking the camera along, I heard that on Saturday night we will have the biggest moon of the month.  I think they are talking about the moon in the sky,  not the moons of my BUTT shots photo album.....it should be very peaceful, at the bonfire.........moon watching...........

Alumni events upcoming. I hope my classmates will get on the stick and send in some money for our FOUR class reunion.  that will be a great time.  The last four year high school in Ankeny.  As we celebrate our 100th graduating class and embark into a new future in Ankeny, TWO high schools..
A city divided.   I live maybe 5 blocks from good old AHS, but the kids on my street will go to the new high school.......go figure........carry on........

Winter was NOT over

when I arrived back in Iowa for the summer.  When I awoke on Day two being home, it was snowing and it stopped about 48 hours later.  There was only about 2-3 inches of accumulation. I was cold, I was going to have to wear long pants, I needed some groceries.........which meant driving in snow.  My car has never been in the snow. I don't have 4 x 4 wheel drive or front wheel drive, so I had to wait until late afternoon when the snow was mostly melted.  Call me a wimp.....YES, I am very climatized to the Texas weather.

Day one, looking at beautiful tulips that are usually all gone by the time I cruise down that Blue Highway.

Day two, about 7 AM, looking out my bedroom window at the neighbor's gazing ball.  

Day three, same viewpoint, looking out the bedroom window.  I was getting depressed at this point and was thinking about returning to Texas.

Our beautiful Magnolia tree or tulip tree as some people call it.  Last  year the blooms had already fallen by the time I arrived in Iowa for the summer.  Spring was about 6 weeks early.  However, this year........you just gotta laugh!

Carry On..........

Winter is over

I hope. This statement makes it OK to travel down that Blue Highway again.  Time to travel north to rainy weather, summer fun, more golf, reunions.  However, I will miss the Bobbing time in the pool, the palm trees, the many friends from all over the world, besides Iowa.  Here's hoping that next fall will bring the same agenda:  working at the Double Bogey Bar and Grill, ladies golf league, trips to South Padre Island and Progreso, Mexico.  Life is good in the Rio Grande Valley, even though we have had less than an inch of rain in the last 7  months PLUS.........still a serious drought and it really hurts the farmers and the people that live here full time.  This county is one of the poorest in the USA.  I have been very delinquent about posts on this blog all winter long.......maybe I will get my act together this summer and bring y áll up to date with a photo story about the winter. Carry on........

Catch Up or Ketschup?

 

It is taking way toooo looooong to download these photos, so I will stop here, tonight. A couple shots

on the beach, South Padre Island and one piece of the mural honoring Tom Landry, on the

side of Doubleday's Sports Bar in Port Isabel, right next to

Fisherman's Restaurant, who serve the best

Club Sandwich in the world!

 

 

 

March Madness

has started, with the Big Ten Women's BB tournament. The Hawkeyes won their first round game, then were defeated by my hometown girl/coach Connie Yori and the Cornhuskers.  Today I think Purdue pulled out the championship game, bummer, since Iowa beat them two times this season. On to the Big 12 women.  ISU played two fine games and will face #1 Baylor and Greiner the giant in the championship game on Monday night.  The Iowa men won their last conference game of the season and will open the Big 10 Men's tourney on Thursday.  GO Hawks.  The Iowa wrestlers were off to a fantastic start in the Big 10 wrestling, but PSU was hot again and won.  Guess that is why Cale moved away from ISU, he could not win there, but he has some studs out east.  I think I will take a break tomorrow night and watch JR Ewing's funeral on TNT @ 8 pm. A great old show, it almost made me miss AHS football games, thank goodness we had VCR's back in the day.  Work is going fine, our Friday Night event @ the golf course is very popular, espicially with great entertainers and a fish fry during Lent.  One more fish fry for the season and three nights of music, then we pack it in for another winter season.  Where did the winter go?  Is the snow done in Iowa?  I do not want to see anymore white stuff.............carry on...............

I am in shock

that I have not made a post in four months.  Time to make up for lost time. Starting in December with a walk around the park, to the Schmidt house, my Christmas rug and the golf cart parade, ending with Patches telling his mom that he did NOT want to ride in the parade. Patches took off for home.

 

 

Arrived in fine shape,

worked five days then the S##T hit the fan.  I still have my job, as do all the rest of the golf course crew, but who knows what will happen next season.  Will explain more when I calm down. Off to work tomorrow, the season starts November 1.  My barroom is beautiful, clean and ready for the beer drinkers.  Golf course looks great, hole #8 has been a disaster for years. That is where the flood waters  come over the resaca. Due to the drought of last summer, the hole is GREEN........
Carry on........

Look at my page Title

"Rolling down that Blue Highway"
Well, tomorrow is the day and I am ready to get back to some hot weather and my other life
with friends from around the world.  My Iowa neighbors winter in Florida and they feel the
same way. We have two lives with two sets of great friends. Everyday we learn more about
the world from our winter friends.  It will take me two and a half days to get back to my home

in Texas, a wonderful ride and the fall colors should be fantastic.  This is the pool I BOB in every afternoon.  Life is good

Ten days

to get my work done, as in packing to head back to my home in TEXAS.  I am getting anxious to get on that "Blue Highway".  I do not drive the interstate upon entering Texas, way tooooo much traffic for my piece of mind. My rig will be moved the day before I arrive and I will have the week end to get things in order before I start working.  The golf course club house is a fun job after 30 years fighting off dogs, climbing through drifts of snow, hiding in the basement of an apartment building when the tornado sirens start blasting and putting up with rotten supervisors.  Life is Good.
My job consists of selling drinks, pop, beer, water, coffee.  Taking food orders, sandwiches cooked on the grill in the kitchen, making popcorn, taking inventory once in a while, filling the cooler with a good stock of drinks for the next shift and having fun with the golfers.  In February I will host my FIFTH  Komen Rally for the Cure golf event.  Last year we donated $1,200 to the cause and $800 to a local hospital for mamograms for indigent women of the RGV.  I don't think we will go over that amount this year, unless I get another donation of a set of clubs and bag to raffle off. 
I live at Llano Grande Lake  Park, I think the web site is www.llanograndelakepark.com or google/bing Llano Grande RV Park, Mercedes, Texas.  The drive to Mexico is about 10 minutes and it is less than one hour to South Padre Island and the beach. I make that ride at least once a month and I love it.  I lived over there one winter, that was enough, no good shopping and the golf course was too expensive. I love Llano.
I am also starting to think about my 20 year plan (or longer).  I will put this in motion within the next two years, the main obstacle is selling my collections and paying off the car (one year left).  The plan is to purchase a mobile home at Llano, or a park model.  I hope I can stay at Llano, it is an awesome park.
The tree has almost disposed of all her leaves. Mom always said when the Ash Tree starts to drop her leaves, it is time to go south.  Better get packing.........carry on my friends.........

A Month has passed

since my last post. I follow a wonderful web site called DPS, Digital Photography Service, out of Austrailia. Today there was a tutorial to teach how to shoot photos with zoom blur effect. I messed around for a while in the back yard, below are before and after shots. This is a fun thing to do with your camera. With more practice and other subjects I should get some really cool shots to share.

Summer miscellaneous photos, starting with

The new road to nowhere.......actually, it is the new road to the high school. Only about 6 blocks from home, on our usual road to the grocery store, etc. I was expecting them to put in stop lights, surely they will, before I return from the south.

These are my beautiful flowers, before the heat wave hit Iowa. Too many 90 to 100 degree days.

Every parade needs a handsome police officer, kids that entertain, horses and JOHN DEERE TRACTORS...

There have been many photos posted recently on FB with the question, what is this? If you know, share, don't reveal what it is. This is a hint at your age. SO, I decided to add a photo. One new item, one old item. The old item was used by many retirees, before they retired. The new item is made by a retiree, in his/her free time. Guess.

Finally

I am caught up with the summer. Today, in 1977, Elvis died, on the toilet. How ironic is that? I remember those words spoken back then. Today, they would hammer him a lot more, in the press. Today is also the 124th anniversary of my Grandmother's birth, in Red Wing, Minnesota, area. In about two months, I will be packing the car and heading south again for the winter, but still summertime. Does time fly for any of my followers? It seems like I just arrived in Iowa for the summer and it is time to start planning the move again. I have some miscellaneous photos that I will try to post this week, maybe tonight. Happy August 16th, yáll.....carry on.........

Summerfest and Class Reunion

Three days of class events. The first night at the Summerfest Beer Tent, not well attended, but as we all know, we had a lot of fun. Second night at the banquet, don't I set a nice table? Finally, our class party. Also, not well attended, but we had a blast. Everyone took a turn talking about their last 45 years since high school. I had Walgrees make the AHS sign and took a photo with everyone.