Expect the unexpected....

8:14 am - Thursday - September 14th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 43%, wind 0 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2020 we were overnighting on the Columbia River on the Washington....we would cross the 4 miler long Astoria-Megler Bridge into Oregon the next morning on our final leg to Seal Rocks RV Cove where we spent 12 months.....↴ 

I got dressed for work Wednesday morning not expecting to be working on the driving range clearing golf balls from its surface so it could be mowed, so I wore shorts and a t-shirt.  If I had known in advance I was going to be clearing golf balls on the driving range I would have worn long pants, and a long sleeved shirt to minimize mosquito interaction. In fact, I got dressed Wednesday morning thinking it would be a pretty easy day as based on the tee time sheet we would only need 8 carts for the day.  Expectations can be tricky things....sometimes you get the exact opposite of what you expect.

Within 10 minutes of arriving at the Clubhouse to stage 8 carts I saw DeWayne walking toward me.  He wanted to let me know that he would be mowing the driving range later in the day, not on Thursday as we had discussed a couple of days prior,  and then TLE advised she would need more than 8 carts....well, there goes my easy day....lol.

In all we ended up renting 14 carts, and all but one was back by 5 pm.  I don't try to clear the driving range until after 10 am as the grass is too wet, so I headed out to do my initial round of the golf course.....

.....I love how the rising sun causes the dew on the putting green to sparkle.  I decided to drive down the first fairway and take a picture of the permanent sites which front the 1st and 10th fairways.....

.....we are hoping to get a site up there in the next year, or two.  The next picture is looking back down the 11th fairway....

.....on my round I re-raked two of the 4 sand traps, and touched up the other two during.  I arrived back at the Clubhouse around 9:30 am, and decided to pick up a few tools, and finish the weeding job I began down near site 51 (employee row) Sunday afternoon.  This area has been an eyesore for as long as we have been here, so I decided to clean it up a few days ago.  There were way more weeds than I was counting on, so what I began Sunday afternoon did not get finished until Wednesday.  It turned out quite well, but I had to haul 3 trailer loads of weeds to the burn pile later in the day.

By the time I had all the weeds pulled and stacked for later pick up, it was almost 10:30 am, and time to get started on the driving range.  I garnered six 5 gallon buckets of balls....about 1800 balls in all, and finished just before 12 pm...perfect.  As it turned out, the mosquitoes were not bad at all....another expectation turned upon its head.

After giving TLE her lunch break, I headed home to take my 1 hour lunch break, which included a nap.  After lunch I began to load the piles of weeds into the small gardening trailer we have for just such occasions, and haul them to the burn pile.  Once that was done I washed 10 golf carts, put them away, and then set about washing 1800 golf balls.  Over time I have refined my golf ball washing process, and it does not take nearly as long as it used to.  Before I left for my lunch break I poured all the balls into the aforementioned six 5 gallon buckets, poured in some Dawn dish detergent, and then filled them with water to let them soak.  As they sit there in the direct sunlight the water heats, and the dirt falls from the balls....it's amazing.  So, while I was at lunch, and picking up the weeds the balls were getting cleaned.  By the time I returned to finish the cleaning process it had been 3 hours, and it was time to pour off the soapy water, then rinse them before pouring them into six baskets to dry overnight.

All but one of the golf carts returned before 5 pm, and TLE and I were on our way home about 5 minutes after 5 pm.  We decided to sit on the 'viewing deck' until sundown enjoying the early evening stillness which descends over LPG&RVR.  There were adult beverages consumed, a couple of cigars smoked, good music playing the the background, and sweet conversation for a couple of hours as the sun slowly made it daily slide toward the western mountains.....

.....the sun is hitting those mountains a little after 7 pm now, and as soon as it hits the mountains you can feel the air temperature drop significantly.  Within a few minutes we had retreated to the warm, friendly confines of the Newell for another evening.  Now to enjoy our four day 'weekend'!

Thanks for stopping by!