Eventful.....

 6:00 am - Friday - July 26th - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 47%, wind 4 mph out of the southeast.....smokey skies today (there is a forest fire northwest of us) with a forecast high of 91° F.   On this date in 2013 TLE and I were headed to Great Falls, MT on US-2 from Browning, MT in our 2002 T-Bird.....

.....the view this morning....

Very smokey this morning

We awoke to clear, blue skies Thursday, but by mid morning smoke from a fire to the northwest of us, being pushed southward by north winds, filled the Pitt River Valley, and the mountains all but disappeared....

....these pictures were taken from the 8th hole tee boxes around 1 pm.  In our three summers here this is the worst smoke from any fire by 10 fold, but the show must proceed, so I staged 20 golf carts to begin my day knowing we would probably end up renting close to 30, but there is only room for 20 at a time. 

My first round of the course found every few goose/duck leavings, so that is 4 days in a row I have seen a decline.  All four sand traps showed no human occupancy since Wednesday, so I left them alone, returning to the Clubhouse around 8 am. It being a Thursday meant I would need to clear the driving range of balls, so it could be mowed, then wash/dry those same balls, plus I needed to mow the lawn at the Night Registration office, the parking lot grass, and the grass next to the restrooms.

As the day progressed the smoke infiltrated everything.  The smell of smoke was everywhere you turned.  It kind of reminded me of living in SoCal in the 50's when the smog would get so bad your eyes would water, and lungs would burn with every breath.

Just before noon time the chef (Kathie) of our onsite restaurant became violently ill, and began throwing up for about 45 minutes.  The paramedics were called, and she was rushed to the hospital in Alturas.  Initially some thought it might have been food poisoning, but turned out to be a gall bladder attack.  By the end of the day she was stabilized, the pain had been managed, and she will be released Friday morning.

Needless to say, but that kind of threw our day into disarray, but Carolyn, Kathie's assistant, kept the food moving, and with the help of TLE, and a couple other people, the food was served, and tables bussed.

By 3:30 pm I was out of gas, but 8 of the 28 golf carts we rented had not returned.  I headed for home, took a long shower, and relaxed in my recliner icing my knee, and then applying heat.  All of that seems to help, but there is this underlying stiffness in the back of the knee that is not normal, and does not disappear.  Hopefully I will find out what is causing that on Friday.

I picked up TLE around 5:10 pm, and we were home a few minutes later.  As is our customer when Charles and Phyllis are in town we had dinner with them again, but by 7:30 pm I was ready for a nap.....the heat, combined with the smoke in the air really did a number on me! Thursday turned out to be quite eventful! 

We'll be leaving for Reno in about an hour, so time to get cracking!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mixed bag....

5:53 am - Thursday - July 25th - LPG&RVR - 67° F, humidity 55%, wind 6 mph out of the east by southeast....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 93° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were hiking the Lava Creek Trail at Yellowstone NP to Undine Falls.....9 miles round trip....

When the over night low only gets to 63° F you know it is going to be a warm day, and although it only got to 94° F Wednesday, the humidity was higher than normal, and you know how that turns out, right?  Thankfully, there was a breeze most of the day, and for good measure we hand several rounds of thunder showers in the afternoon, which cooled things down, but as soon as the sun returned the humidity soared once again, so Wednesday's weather was quite a mixed bag.

We ended up renting 17 golf carts Wednesday, and considering the park is about 70% empty, that was not bad at all.  We've had a lot of offsite golfers playing here this week.  By 'offsite' I mean they are not staying here in the RV park, but driving here from somewhere else to play golf.

On my first round of the course I found the goose/duck leavings to more scarce than ever, and I think I know why....we're down to one pair of geese....

.....I raked 3 of the 4 sand traps, and was back at the Clubhouse just after 9 am.  I spent some time moving sprinklers around at the Night Registration office grass area, then hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna to do some mowing.....I mowed the three large grass areas in the residential area up the hill, then the grass around the small pavilion, and finally around the putting green.  Since I had no grass clippings to dispose of it rent rather quickly.  

I made another run around the golf course as marshal.....

....and by the time I returned it was time for TLE's lunch break.  Once her lunch break comes and goes the rest of the day flies by quickly.  By the time  I headed back out to the Cart Return area there were 11 golf carts needing their daily spa treatment.  I had them all washed in less than 20 minutes, and back in the cart shed in another 15 minutes.

I made another run around the course to check on the progress of the remaining 6 golf carts and found 4 of them on the 16th and 17 holes, so I knew the other two would be returned later than 3:30 pm.  I was able to get 4 more carts put away, but had to return around 4:45 pm to wash the final two before TLE was ready to go home.

We had dinner with Charles and Phyllis at their 5th wheel again, and were home by 8pm.  One more day, and then our 4 day weekend arrives....nice.

Thanks for stopping by!

Doh!

 5:53 am - Wednesday - July 24th - LPG&RVR  - 63° F, humidity 56%, wind 2 mph out of the southeast.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were camping along the Yellowstone River in Gardiner, MT.....

The sun is now setting at 8:26 pm, and it regresses about 1 minute per day now.  We'll blink a couple of times and before we know it the sun will be setting before 8 pm.  That's how fast this summer seems to be going.  We're kind of enduring the current heatwave, which seems never ending, but all that being said I'm tolerating the heat much better this summer.  The only time it really bothers me is when I leave the cool confines of the Clubhouse after giving TLE her lunch break.  During that one hour the heat seems to magnify itself 100%.  Knowing I only have 2.5 hours left in my day does help, though.

To begin my day I opened the large gate valve to the pond so we could irrigate the back in sites, plus the tent sites, then staged 12 carts before heading out to make my first round of the course.  I'm cautiously happy to say the goose/duck leavings continue to decline, and I'm beginning to believe I am not being 'punked' by the geese/ducks.  I raked just one of the 4 sand traps, and was back to the Clubhouse by 9 am.

I needed to have the starter belt on my gas powered Club Car Villager #20 tightened, so I left it with Miracle Bob to work his magic, and picked up one of the 'duty' carts to which I attached the small dumping trailer to go around and pickup weeds I had pulled a few days earlier.  By the time I returned Miracle Bob had finished with my cart, so I headed out to make a marshaling round of the course.  As I drove up the 8th fairway I heard something snap, and reflexively took my foot off the gas pedal....that was a mistake.  The snapping sound I heard the the starter belt giving up the ghost.  Once the engine shut off I could not start it again without the starter belt. Had I just kept going I could have driven back to the Clubhouse, but I didn't....doh!

I called Jose whom I had just seen at the Clubhouse, and he picked up one of the 'duty' carts, as well as the tow hitch we use for towing disabled golf carts (it is rarely used), and within 10 minutes he was hitching up Club Car Villager #20 for a return trip to see 'Miracle Bob'.  Once back at the Clubhouse I left the cart to be repaired, then hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna, and headed down to the tent sites to mow them before the water from the pond made its way down there.  By 11 am I was finished with my mowing for the day, cleaned the Husqvarna using compressed air, refueled it, then headed out to make another marshaling round of the course before TLE's lunch break.

In all we rented 15 golf carts Tuesday, which is not bad for a Tuesday, and had all by 4 of them returned by the time 3:30 pm rolled around.  By then Bob had installed the new starter belt, and I headed for home, and a nice cool shower.  Oh, by the way, Charles and Phyllis arrive around 12:30 pm, and were set up in site #54, right next to us, within an hour.  We headed over after work to spend a couple of hours with them before calling it a day.  They'll be here through the 30th.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, Monday....

5:49 am - Tuesday - July 23rd - LPG&RVR - 62° F, humidity 63%, wind 1 mph out of the east......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were driving along 'Going to the Sun Highway' in Glacier National Park....we drove all the way to Lake MacDonald where we had lunch....

 

....we were able to spend the previous night in the parking lot of the Saint Mary Visitor Center at the east entrance.  Over the next month we entered the park from every U.S. entrance, and hiked many miles.

Every once and a while our four day work schedule lines up with a Monday being our first day of work, which is the case this week.  Being a Monday, the park is pretty empty right now, but we've had a lot of folks coming to golf from offsite.  In all I staged 15 golf carts Monday morning, and 11 went out....not too bad for a Monday during the 'dog days of summer'.

On my first round of the course I found far less goose/duck leavings at the #3 tee boxes, but am not sure whether, or not I am being 'punked' by the geese/ducks.  I raked 3 of the four sand traps, and was back at the Clubhouse a little after 9 am.  Around 10 am I hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna and began to mow.  I mowed all four water electric pull through sites, 6 of the 10 back in Meadows sites, 9 of the 10 full hookup sites, all four employee sites, and the large grass area next to site #30.  I did that in one hour!  Why so fast?  Well, since I was not having to dispose of grass clippings (the two bags were removed from the 2 bag Husqvarna last year) it went quite fast.  The grass has stopped growing as fast as it had been, so there is no need to collect the clippings.

After giving TLE her daily lunch break I made a round of the course as marshal, then got one of the 'duty' carts and hooked up the screen to drag the usual cart paths.  It's been at least a month since I've done that, and they were long overdue.  By the time I returned to the Clubhouse it was 3 pm, and time to wash the final 6 carts, and put everything away.  The temperature at 3:30 was 99° F, and was I ever glad to be able to head for home, and take a nice, long, cool shower!

Thanks for stopping by!

Two good things.....

5:46 am - Monday - July 22nd - LPG&RVR - 61° F, humidity 60%, wind 1 mph out of the east by southeast....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were having a late lunch at Tamarack Brewing just south of Kalispell, MT....one of the best micro breweries we have visited in 12+ years on the road....brews, and food were spectacular, and the ambiance was even better....

Well, all good things must come to an end, and two of those good things came to an end Sunday.  First good thing was this year's edition of The Open....the 152nd Open held at Royal Troon in Scotland this year.  When the dust finally settled around 12:30 pm Pacific Time Xander Schauffle stood alone at 9 under par, winning by 2 strokes.  It was a memorable, and enjoyable Open....one of the best in recent memory.

The second good thing was the 21st Stage of Le Tour de France....a time trial run from the Principality of Monaco to Nice, France.  They usually finish in Paris, but with the Summer Olympics about to begin it was was too busy in Paris to have both events, and all the people attending both, so they moved the final stage to the coast.  Frankly, I liked this venue more than the Paris one.  In the end Tadej Pogacar (Tadā Pogotcha) won his 6th stage of this year's Tour handily, and extended his lead to over 6 minutes, winning his 3rd Tour in 5 years.

Our weekend went just as I thought it would, except for the knee problem, and now it is time to return to work for four more days.  Additionally, our brother-in-law, Charles Wilson, and Phyllis, TLE's sister, are arriving for an 8 day stay on Tuesday, so the next 9 days promise to be full of activity.

We are just over a week away from the 1st of August, which hardly seems possible, but there it is, just looming over the horizon.  The weather will be hot for the next 4 days, but will dip into the 80's for our 4 day weekend (Friday to Monday), so we've got that going for us.  Life is good at LPG&RVR!

Thanks for stopping by!

Just a little luck, please.....

7:23 am - Sunday - July 21st - LPG&RVR - 69° F, humidity 37%, wind 1 mph out of the east by northeast......partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 98° F.....actually got to 102° F yesterday!  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were residing at the Kalispell, MT Elks Lodge, which is next to a private airport.....

With few exceptions this summer TLE and I have been walking 2 miles on each of our 4 days off each 8 day cycle, but Saturday I just could not bring myself to do it.  My right knee really makes it difficult to enjoy the walk, and I'm beginning to believe that I'm just making it worse....whatever 'it' is.  My knee feels unstable, and there is swelling in the back of the knee which prevents me from fulling extending my leg.  Is this just old age making its presence known via arthritis, or is there some damage in there which needs to be addressed?  You will recall that one of the falls I had last winter at Glamis North Hot Springs involved me twisting, or hyper extending my right knee.  It seemed to get better for quite a while, and within 10 days of the fall I was able to walk normally again, with no pain, however, that same pain returned about 2 weeks ago.  I kept thinking I could just 'walk it off', but that is not happening.  There has been little, or no change in the pain level, or condition of the knee for 10 days now, so I think it is time to have it looked at by an orthopedist.

Anyway, since we did not walk first thing Saturday morning we got to watching the 3rd round of 'The Open' earlier than usual, and watched it until its conclusion around 12:30 pm.  There was a lot of rain, and just about the time it appeared the leaders were walking away from the rest of the field there was a cascade of bogeys.  By the end the round the leaders had lost 5-7 strokes, falling from 8 under par to 1 under par, and the new leaders were at 4 under par.  Going into Sunday's fourth round there are probably 8-10 players with a chance to get hot, and win it all....just like we like it!

Next us was the 20th Stage of Le Tour, which was another exciting mountain stage seeing Tadej Pocagar winning his 5 stage of this year's tour with another come from behind climb to win the stage by 7 seconds over the second place rider....amazing!

Of course, there was the weekly Putting Contest at 4 pm, and I was there sweltering in the 102° F heat with 21 other intrepid contestants.  I managed to get through 4 rounds, and was once again tied after 5 holes with my opponent, so we did a one putt, closest to the hole playoff....I lost by less than 1/2 ball....in other words, my worthy opponent was less than an inch closer to the hole than I....my ball actually went into the hole, but lipped out at the last second.....doh!  The take away for me is I am putting as well as I have putted all summer, and just need a little luck....lol!

By the way, I was talking with good friends Ron and Karen Murray, who are from Reno, while at the Putting Contest, and was able to get a referral to a good orthopedist.  I was able to go online to their website and set an appointment for next Friday (July 26th) to get my knee assessed...there's the touch of luck for which I was looking.  "You can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need".

Thanks for stopping by!

Adjustments.....

 1:15 pm - Saturday - July 20th - LPG&RVR - 98° F, humidity 12%, wind 8 mph out of the south by southeast......partly cloudy skies with a forecast high of 100° F.  On this date in 2014 I was riding trails in the Mammoth Mountain Bike Park with friends.....

The daily temperatures are steadily rising towards triple digit territory on our four day weekend.  We managed to get out for our two mile out and back walk before 7 am, and managed to get our average back to at least 3 mph.  My right knee is still giving me a lot of problems, and I'm beginning to think I need to have it examined by a professional....

.....just as we did on Thursday, we sat on the 'lido deck' for a few hours watching The Open until it got too warm to be there anymore.  Thank goodness our A/C is working so well!

After the end of round 2 of The Open we watched a replay of Stage 19 of Le Tour de France, which had another exciting conclusion with Tadej Pogacar coming from 3 minutes behind on the final climb of the day to win the stage by 20 seconds, and pretty much solidify his victory with two stages left.  He increased his lead over the second place rider to over 5 minutes, which, barring a horrible accident, other cataclysmic event, is pretty much an insurmountable lead.

We didn't eat dinner until near 8:30 pm.  We wanted to grill a couple of filets, and it was just too hot until closer to 8 pm to do so....

......we don't normally eat that late, but sometimes you just have to make an adjustment if you want to BBQ when it is this hot.

Thanks for stopping by!

Let the weekend begin!

2:33 pm - Friday - July 19th - LPG&RVR - 91° F, humidity 13%, wind 6 mph out of the northwest......partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 94° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I met up with Richard and Rhonda, fellow Newell owners, in West Yellowstone.....

.....we were working at the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store that summer, and made the drive over to West Yellowstone on one of our days off work.

Thursday was the first day of our four day weekend this week, and we had plans to watch The Open (British Open - golf), and then a replay of Stage 18 of Le Tour de France.  All that being said, we began our day, as is our custom on days off work, with a 2 mile out and back walk....

.....my right knee, which has been bothering me lately, kind of slowed us down.....we only averaged 2.8 mph.  However, by the end of the walk the knee was beginning to get loose.  I spent part of the day applying an ice pack, and that also seemed to be helping.

We spent most of the rest of the morning watching The Open on the outdoor TV.  The outside temperature was pleasant until around noon time when we headed indoors for the rest of the day, still watching The Open.

While inside I decided it was time to clean our Fantastic Fan screen, and fan blades.  It's been 5, or 6 months since I cleaned both.  The screen came off easily, and I had the lint brushed off it in 10 minutes, or so.  When I went to remove the fan blades I heard a 'crack', and this is what happened....

....our Fantastic fan turned 10 years old this summer, so I guess it might not be too surprising that something finally broke.....doh!  I was able to glue it back together using Locktite super glue, and it appears to be operating normally after reinstallation, however, just to be on the safe side I have ordered a replacement off Amazon, which should be here within the week.  That was the excitement for the day.

On The Open, about 1/2 of the top 20 golfers in the world did not fare too well over the first 18 holes with such notables as Rory McIlroy finishing the day at 8 over par!  After that we started the replay of Stage 18 of Le Tour, and watched that, in full, until late afternoon.

The high temp of the day, 91° F came and went, and by 8 pm the temp had dropped below 80° F, so we decided to venture outdoors again, and enjoyed the cool evening temperatures until well after 9:30 pm.

Thanks for stopping by!

Time slipped away on me again....another 2 for 1.....

9:29 am - Thursday - July 18th - LPG&RVR - 78° F, humidity 21%, wind 3 mph out of trhe west by southwest.....it was clear today....the high was 94° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were overnighting at the Columbia Icefields in Alberta, Canada.....just south of Jasper.....beautiful....

 ....one of my top 5 favorite pictures from from the past 12 years of our nomadic life!

Tuesday, July 16th:

My last blog post was on July 16th, but as I sit here Thursday night (July 18th) I realize I have not yet written about Tuesday, or Wednesday, so here goes.

Tuesday was a delightfully breezy day, which made the high of 91° F seem 4, or 5 degrees cooler.  I staged just 5 golf carts Tuesday, and we rented 4.  That's what I call a slow day here at LPG&RVR.  Of course, the park was about 80% empty, so I guess it should come as no surprise. On my first pass around the course I raked 2 of the 4 sand traps, and scooped up far too much goose/duck leavings....when are those rascally geese going to take leave, and fly north?

We ran sprinklers down at the Night Office most the the day, and made numerous trips down there to move the four sprinklers.  I also ran the sprinklers for the large grass area adjacent to site #30 for a few hours, and mowed the grass around the large, and small pavilions, as well as the 'buddy sites', plus 7 of the back in Meadows sites.  I also opened the quarter turn gate valve releasing the pond waters to flood the back in sites, and the 10 tent sites.  We let the water from 8 am Tuesday until 5:30 am Wednesday, when I shut the quarter turn gate valve.

I also finished washing/drying the golf balls I had collected on Monday, then, after a suitable drying period, poured them back into the barrels in the Clubhouse.  By 3:30 pm only two of the 4 electric carts we rented had returned, so I went home knowing I would have to return to wash the final two, then get them plugged in for the night.  I ended up working 8.5 hours Tuesday....the extra 30 minutes was to take care of the two remaining electrics.  TLE was home by 5:15 pm.

Wednesday, July 17th:

I was on the job by 7:30 am Wednesday.  We had been advised by Surprise Valley Electric that there would be a planned power outage from 8 am to 12 pm, so I could not irrigate using our regular water supply as there would be no electric pump to create the necessary water pressure to irrigate, plus supply water to our customers.  Wednesday was quite a bit busier than Tuesday, and I staged 18 golf carts in all.....the 10 Yamaha gassers, and then 8 of the round nose Club Car gassers.....16 of them were eventually rented.

As I mentioned in Tuesday's description above, I was up at 5:30 am to turn off the irrigation from the pond that was flooding the 10 back in sites, plus 10 tent sites.  The water got all the way to the end of the 10th tent site, so it only took 21.5 hours this time (it took over 26 hours last time).

On my first round of the course I encountered quite a bit of goose/duck leavings....will it never end?  This time last year there had been NO goose/duck leavings after the first of July, but here we are almost 3 weeks into July and it continues....yuck!  I did not need to rake any of the 4 sand traps, and was back at the Clubhouse before 9 am.  When we have these planned power outages TLE really does not have much to do as the computer and phones are usually down also.

I haven't been able to mow around the tee boxes for which I am responsible for over 2 weeks as the starter went out on the 2 bag Husqvarna I use for that purpose.  I could not bring myself to use the ever so slow John Deere, so I decided to wait for the new starter to arrive, and guess what?  It arrived Wednesday morning, so after giving TLE her lunch break (by the way the electricity came back on around 11:45 am) I started up the 2 bag Husqvarna, and headed out to mow said tee boxes (3,10, 15, 16, 17 & 18) and was back a tad after 2 pm.

For the last 90 minutes I cleaned the golf carts which had been returned, but by 3:30 pm there were still 7 carts outstanding, so once again I had to return around 4:45 pm to clean them, and put them away.  TLE was ready to go home by 5:15 pm, and for the second day in a row I worked 8.5 hours.

The forecast high of 95° F was not realized, but it did get to 93, or 94°, which was mitigated somewhat by the continuing breezes.  The overnight temperature got down to 51° F last night, and the indoor temperature got down to 57° F.....nice.  First time it has been under 60° F indoors in over 10 days.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dog days.....

 5:50 am - Tuesday - July 16th - LPG&RVR - 61° F, humidity 24%, wind 1 mph out of the east by southeast.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 91° F.  The view this morning....

Beautiful sunrise

.....on this date in 2020 we were in Harlowton, MT with good friends Claude and Gail Banker in their 1984 36' Bluebird diesel pusher (us on right, and them on left).....

We're officially in the 'dog days' of summer where it is one 90° F day after another as far as the eye might see.  I've decided not to go to work at 6:30 am like I did the last two summers.  Going to work at 7:30 am, and getting off at 3:30 pm seems to work for me this summer.  I feel like I'm acclimating better to the heat than in the past, and maybe that has a little to do with my weight loss.  Who knows, right?  By working to 3:30 pm I end up with fewer carts needing their daily spa treatment each morning.

There were two things which needed to be done Monday....mow and trim the employee sites, which were getting quite 'shaggy' in appearance, and clear the balls from the driving range, but making my first round of the course comes first each day.

Every time I think the geese have moved north they do a number on the #3 tee boxes, and that was the case again Monday.  I think there is a family of geese which has decided to summer at LPG&RVR....lol.  Only two of the four sand traps needed my attention, and I was back at the Clubhouse by 9:30 am......

....upon my return I retrieved our Husqvarna self propelled rotary lawnmower, and a string trimmer, then headed down to the four employee site lawns.  By 11 am I was finished, and putting away that equipment.  Time to clear the driving range.  I knew that not many people had rented golf balls since last Thursday, so it appeared I could clear the range in less than an hour just using the 'Shag Bag', and I was right.  In all I garnered just two 5 gallon buckets of balls to go along with the other 5 gallon bucket I picked out of the forest on Sunday afternoon.  By the time I filled the buckets with water, and Dawn dish soap to let them soak for a few hours it was time to give TLE her lunch break.

It is nice knowing I only have 2.5 hours left in my work day when TLE returns from lunch at 1 pm, and the time always goes quickly. In all we rented just 8 golf carts Monday, and all but one of them had returned by 3:30 pm.  I spent the afternoon making another round of the course, turning on irrigation, moving sprinklers, and cleaning golf carts.  Soon it was 3:30 pm, and time for a long, hot shower followed by some recliner time in the cool confines of the Newell before TLE came home just after 5 pm.

By the way, I'm kind of stuck at 180 pounds right now, and have been for a couple of weeks, but I'm sure I'll break through that barrier soon.  The most important thing is I am keeping off the weight that I've lost.  I'm still eating just one meal per day, and my body seems to have adjusted nicely to that new norm.

Thanks for stopping by!

A brief reprieve.....

 5:50 am - Monday - July 15th - LPG&RVR - 63° F, humidity 20%, wind 1 mph out of the southeast.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 92° F.  On this date in 2020 we reentered Montana heading westbound on I-90.....

....just west of Billings, MT we stopped off at a Travel Center of America where we bought 126 gallons of diesel at $1.98/gallon.....my, how things have changed since then. Nowadays $4.99/gallon seems like a good price, but most places it is closer to $6/gallon here in Northern California.

Sunday began heavily overcast, but no one thought it would rain, including me.  I staged 10 golf carts, then headed out to make my first round of the course.  This is what things looked like around 8:30 am....

.....then this happened.....

....this wet stuff began to coat my windshield, then I could hear water hitting the pond next to the #3 tee box.....

....I don't think it has rained since early May, but was it ever welcome!  All of our interior roads have become quite dusty, and this is just what was needed to settle the dust.

I had to turn my golf cart into the wind at the 15th hole for about 25 minutes so the rain would only hit the windshield, and not my person.  I did manage to rake 3 of the 4 sand traps in spite of the rain, and was actually kind of pleasant to feel the rain on my face and arms as I did so.

It was still raining when I returned to the Clubhouse about 20 minutes later, so I headed inside, ordered a cup of coffee, then sat in the dining room watching a little of the Scottish Open.  Now that is my kind of work day, right?

Once the rain stopped I headed back out to do a little hand weeding (we don't use motorized tools on the weekend), made another round of the course, picked up the rake from the sand trap at the 4th hole to fix, fixed it, then headed out to the driving range to do my first deep cleaning of the forest on each side of the driving range.  So far this summer I have not ventured too far out from the edges of the driving range as I haven't had time, but I knew there must be a lot of balls out there.  I worked for about an hour and recovered almost 5 gallons of balls, and I was only about 60% done!  Some of the balls were over 100 yards out on the left and right sides, so some people have got wicked bad hooks, and slices....lol!

Soon it was noon time, and time to give TLE her lunch break.  With the rain it was a slow day, but we did end up renting all 10 golf carts I had staged.  Eight of them had been returned by 3 pm, so I washed them, and put them away, and that was my day.  The temperature barely hit 87° F Sunday.  Of course, Sunday's cloud cover, and rain was just a one day reprieve from the heat, but it was a very welcome reprieve.  We'll be back into the 90's, beginning Monday, for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for stopping by!