Feels like winter.....

8:47 am - Sunday - October 1st - LPG&RVR - 40° F, humidity 72%, wind 6 mph out of the north by northwest......cloudy today with a forecast high of 57° F....feels more like winter than fall.  On this date in 2015 we were at AM Solar in Springfield, OR having two more solar panels installed to bring our total to four.....two 150 watt panels (installed in February of 2012), and the two new 160 watt panels, for a total wattage of 620 watts.  Took 6.5 hours beginning to end.....↴

Sunday was the last day of September, and did it every go out with a roar.  The temperature never exceeded 49° F.......it was rainy, and blustery all day long, and continues to be blustery as I write Sunday morning.  Saturday was the final day of the season long weekly putting contests.  On this day all of the winners from the prior contests, plus all those who came in second are eligible  to go head to head to see who is the season champion.  We had several members who won more than once, and many who came in second several times.  I managed to win just once, but have been putting pretty well the past few weeks.  However, I get ahead of myself.

We watched the entirety of the English Premier Soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool.  Tottenham has not beaten Liverpool  at home since their (Tottenham) new stadium was completed.  Tottenham scored first, and led 1-0 going into the 'added time' (the halves are 45 minutes, however, time is added at the end of each half to account for time wasting, injuries, substitutions, yellow/red cards, and penalty kicks), which was 5, or 6 minutes in this case, and Liverpool, even though a man short due to a red card, scored as time ran out to tie the match.  The game remained tied until the 6th minute of added time at the end of the second half (at this point Liverpool was playing with just 9 players due to another red card) when Tottenham miraculously scored the winning goal with just a few seconds remaining to secure the victory, and to remain undefeated this year.

Our rainy Saturday schedule also included a trip into Alturas to do our weekly shopping.  We left around 11 am, at the conclusion of the aforementioned soccer match, to do just that, and were back home by 1 pm.  Our windshield wipers were in action the entire round trip, but by the time we arrived back home it seemed the rain had begun to diminish.

As has been the custom for several years now, predating our arrival, there is an annual BBQ cookoff at 5 pm, so the putting contest was held at 3 pm with the temperature down to about 42° F, and the wind blowing quite stiffly.  I won my first match against Greg (he won 2, or 3 times this year, and placed second at least 3 times).  I was up two points as we putted on the 4th hole....up two with two holes to play.  I made a great putt, pin high, to within 3 inches of the hole. Greg then putted, and sank the putt for a hole in one, so my lead going into the 5th hole was down to one.  He putted, and scored a second consecutive hole in one to tie the match, so we went to a one hole, closest to the pin putt off, which I won with another great putt.  I forgot to mention, since there were only 10 players on hand to compete in the final, we had a double elimination match.  In my second match I was tied with Bernard (another two time winner this season) at the end of 5, so we went to another one hole, closest to the pin putt off.....he put his putt 2 inches closer to the hole than I so I had my first loss.  I won my 3rd match handily against Julia (wife of Bernard), and then went to my fourth match, which ended up being a rematch with Greg.  We were tied going to the 5th hole.  He putted first, and put his putt about 6 inches from the hole.  I putted next, and was 3 inches from the hole, directly in his line.  He then croqueted me off the green about 1 foot.....to win the match I had to either sink my second putt from off the green, or end up closer than he to the hole.  I ended up about 2 inches further away from the hole than he was, so that was the end of competition for me...so close!  At any rate I finished 4th overall, but no cigar.  Last year I was out in the first round of the final, so a big improvement this year for me.  Greg ended up winning his final match against undefeated Bernard, so the two guys who defeated me were in the final....not too bad.

We had 6 entries for the BBQ cookoff, and they were all scrumptious, but for the 3rd consecutive year Mike Bratzler won.   Mike is the one who conducts the weekly putting contests (he is a great putter, but since he is the organizer of the contest he does not putt), and also the unofficial golf pro here at LPG&RVR.  Many of us have taken golf lessons from him, including moi.  He is very good, and has helped me shave a lot of strokes of my game.

Around 6:30 pm we began to clean up the cafe, put all the tables and chairs back where they belonged, and we were home before 7 pm with the wind still blowing, and the temperatures into the high 30's.

By the way, I forgot to mention yesterday that I received a text message from Kyle (Colorado Outback Adventures) on Thursday that he had taken delivery (at GNHS) 7 of the 12 new RZR's....

....the rest will be delivered next week sometime.  In mean time he'll be busy installing the roll cages on each of those beauties! The temperature there on Thursday was a balmy 83° F.

Well, that is it for September.  Only a few short days left in our season, but for now I have a lot trailer organizing to get done today (Sunday)!

Thanks for stopping by!