Four in one......

5:50 pm - Sunday - August 21st - Likely, CA - 91° F, 13% humidity, wind 14 mph out of the west.....mostly sunny today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were hiking to the top of Bunsen Peak in Yellowstone NP to watch the solar eclipse with good friend Rosco, Geni and Dodge......one of my favorite pictures ever......↴

Alright.....I guess it is confession time....the days we work are so alike it is hard to blog every day, and, as you are no doubt aware, I have not blogged about Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday this week....I think that is the longest duration in which I have not blogged a single word in over 10 years.  My brother-in-law, Charles Wilson, called me today (Sunday) to be sure all was well in the 'Whatsnewell' world since he had not seen any posts for several days, so I promised him to get caught up this evening. This blog post will be a compilation of last four days.

Wednesday:

On Wednesday at precisely 8 am I had my first golf lesson ever, in m life.  Good friend, Mike Bratzler, who is a scratch golfer, whose father was a Golf Pro for many years in Florida, gave me a lesson.  He is a great teacher, and gave me three things regarding my back swing on which to work......keep my left foot on the ground, turn my left knee to the right instead of lifting my left foot, work on slowing down by back swing, and pausing at the top before beginning my swing.  I saw immediate results when I managed to execute those things, but it will take time for me to incorporate them into my swing......I can think of maybe one, or two things in my back swing, but 3, or 4 means some of them must become automatic....requiring no thought process.

After my lesson I decided to clean all my golf clubs, and reorganized TLE' golf bag (which she doesn't use, but I am always hopeful).  I was home by 9:30 am with the rest of the day in front of me.  Of course, Wednesday was the fourth of our 4 day weekend, so it was a shopping day.  We headed into Alturas by 10 am to do our weekly shopping, and were home before noon.  Wednesday was a warm one, and we spent the rest of the afternoon inside the cool confines of the Newell.

Thursday:

Thursday was coldest day in a month with the daily high topping out at 69° F.  It rained all night Wednesday evening/early Thursday morning, and on and off most of the day, and we did not have very many golfers, as one might expect.  I went to work at 7:30 am, and was home by 4 pm with maybe 8 carts rented....

....as always, Thursday is the day we clear the driving range of golf balls so it can be mowed.  This is the fullest the barrel has been since April.....

......I had been about 8 days since I last mowed the tee boxes, so I headed out to mow them around 9 am.  During the two hour round trip the hour meter on the John Deere hit 200 hours....

....when I started using the John Deere back in May it only had 148 hours on the meter......that is a lot of seat time on that slow moving riding lawn mower!

Friday:

After a slow day on Thursday, Friday was a very busy day with over 20 golf carts being rented.  By the time 4 pm came around there were still 11 golf carts outstanding, so I knew I was going to have a busy Saturday morning.

Saturday:

I knew Saturday was going to be a warm day, so I was up at 5:30 am so I could be at work by 6:30 am.  As it happened Tottenham, our favorite English Premier League team, was already in the second half of their match with the Wolverhampton Wolves.....in less than 60 seconds after I turned on the game Harry Kane (Tottenham) scored a goal off a corner kick, with a header.  That turned out to be the only goal Tottenham would need, as they prevailed 1-0 to remain undefeated.

The sun is not topping out over the Warner mountains until after 6:30 am, so on this day I actually got a picture of the 'sunrise'.....lol.....

.....I had 11 carts to wash first thing Saturday, and I got them done and had 15 carts staged by the time TLE came to work at 7:45 am.  We ended up renting 25 carts Saturday, and by the time 3 pm came around there were still 12 carts outstanding.

I think from this point on I will only make one post for the four days we work, and then individual posts for the four days we are off each week.  Thank you for your patience!

Thanks for stopping by!

A kick back, do nothing day.....

 3:27 pm - Wednesday - August 17th - Likely, CA - It is still 91° F, 17% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the west by northwest.....still mostly cloudy, and the forecast high is still 91° F.  On this date in 2013 my mother (Virginia) and 3 of my siblings gathered together in Salt Lake City for the wedding of my brother's (Dwyer) daughter, Ingrid, to Randy Shoemaker......↴

It's a turn down day by The Cyrkle, aka: A kick back, do nothing day

Tuesday turned out to be a kick back, do nothing day.  You need one of those on a four day weekend, don't you?  Well, I'm pretty sure that must be a rule, anyway...if not, it should be.  TLE and I watched the entire Tottenham Hot Spurs vs. Chelsea (English Premier League).  I was not aware that Tottenham had not beaten Chelsea, or even scored a goal against them in years.  As it turned out Tottenham did score a goal and they were briefly tied, before Chelsea scored another goal.  Chelsea was still up 2-1 with one minute to play in added time when they scored off a corner kick via a brilliant header by Harry Kane......what a game!

Once again TLE and I played backgammon all afternoon.  I went on an initial winning streak of 4, or 5 games before TLE rebounded and won a couple, but then I went on another winning streak.  I can't imagine a more enjoyable way to while away the hours than playing Backgammon with my best friend....The Lovely Elaine.

We did get a beautiful, cloud shrouded sunset, which we observed from the comfort of 'lido deck'......

....I grilled a wild caught salmon steak for dinner, to which TLE added a side of white rice, and corn....a perfect ending to a kick back, do nothing day!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm getting there......

 2:50 pm - Wednesday - August 17th - Likely, CA - 91° F, 16% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north by northwest......mostly cloudy today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this date in 2014 I was riding the 'Off The Top' trail at Mammoth Mountain Bike Park, which begins at 11,000' elevation......↴

Monday was a busy off day for me.....I hit a couple buckets of balls, then played 9 holes.  I bogeyed the first hole, parred the 2nd hole....just missed a birdie, parred the 3rd hole with a longish one putt, kind of blew up on the 4th hole, but got a double bogey anyway.  I bogeyed the par three 5th hole, and bogeyed the 6th hole.  At that point we had caught up with the foursome in front of us, so we jumped up to the elevated tee at the 16th (par 3) where I bogeyed, then bogeyed the par five 17th, and then bogeyed the 18th.  Probably my best 9 holes in 40 years!  I am, slowly but surely, getting there.

TLE and I bought a Backgammon board a while back with the intent of getting back into this fun board game after 40 years.  We played a lot while on vacations back in the 70's, then raising 5 kids kind of got in the way, and it fell by the wayside.  I think we sold it in a yard sale back in the 80's sometime.  I found a preowned one just like the one we had back in the 70' on eBay for about $28......

.....we finally sat down Monday to play for the first time in decades.  Relearning the rules was like trying to learn Chinese....at first.  Gradually our memories returned, and we began to have fun.  We must have played a dozen games Monday afternoon with TLE winning initially, but gradually I became more competitive, then finished off the afternoon winning a couple of times.  I had forgotten what a fun, strategic game Backgammon is.....sure, there is the element of luck involved with the toss of the dice, but there is a lot of strategy.

Around 7 pm, this time, we headed up to the high point at LPG&RVR to watch another sunset, and we stayed until almost 8:30 pm.....

Likely Mountain with TV antennas, etc.

.....we were treated to a cloudless sunset, but it was beautiful, nonetheless!  Thank you for stopping by!

Buckle up, and hold on tight!

7:37 am - Monday - August 15th - Likely, CA - 56° F, 43% humidity, wind - CALM out of the northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were having lunch at Walker Burger in Walker, CA on our way to Mammoth Mountain......↴

Now, for the first time since I began to blog daily back in October of 2012 I am three days behind, so today's blog will be a three in one.....Friday, Saturday and Sunday.....buckle up, and hold on tight!

Friday:

I was on the job by 6:30 am as has been my habit for some weeks now.  I'm kind of addicted to getting off work at 3 pm.  It hasn't been that hot lately.....mostly 90-92° F.....and I could probably go to work at my normal hour and get off at 5 pm, but I would rather still get off at 3 pm.  If mowing needs to be done, which it did Friday, we don't do any mowing within the RV park before 10 am, so I decided to do some much needed weeding.  In all I hauled away three wagon load of weeds from an area down in the gravel pull through sites before 10 am.  

Next up I retrieved the Husqvarna self propelled lawnmower to mow the four employee sites, which includes ours, which takes less than an hour, then retrieved the John Deere riding lawnmower to mow tent sites 4-10 once again.  I managed to get that area done in another hour, and was back to the Clubhouse in time to relieve TLE for her lunch break.  

After my 30 minute lunch break (1-1:30 pm) I headed back to the 'Cart Return' area to begin washing carts.  In all we had rented around 25 carts Friday....one of our busiest Friday's in a  while, but by 3 pm only 10 had been returned.  Saturday we had a tournament scheduled, so I knew I would have to wash 15 carts quickly Saturday morning to be ready for the tournament.

By the way, I shot a short video of me mowing the blue tee box at the 18th hole the other day, and forgot to post it, so here it is.  Thought you might like to see how I do it.....

Saturday:

The overnight lows have been getting into the low 40' lately, and at 6:30 am Saturday morning it was cold enough that I wished I had worn gloves. I've been wearing long pants to work lately to protect my legs from the mosquitoes, but Saturday I wore shorts, because I was going to be marshalling on the golf course during the tournament (Rich Hamel Memorial Tournament) since Mike was playing in the tournament.  Needless to say, I was slightly under dressed for the temperature at 6:30 am.

I was able to get all 15 golf carts left over from Friday washed, and staged with the other carts before 8 am, and by 9 am I was out on the course marshalling.....

Ready to marshal.....

.....I had to return to the Clubhouse at 12 pm to relieve TLE, and by 1:30 pm, after my lunch break, I began to wash the first of 26 golf carts.  Of course I can only wash what is returned, and by 3 pm, my quitting time, only 10 carts had been returned.  Of course Saturday is also 'Putting Contest' day, so I headed home to shower, and change clothes to be back in time for the 4 pm start time.  Once again I did not make it out of the first round.....go figure.  I seem to have lost my confidence, and need to trust my instincts more.  By the third hole I was down 2-0, but tied the 3rd hole with a very good putt, then sank my first putt on 4, only to tie the 5th hole and lose 2-1.  To be fair to myself, I did regain my confidence by the 3 hole, but the damage was already done.  TLE didn't putt as she was working until 5 pm, but  she did stay around to see the final winner.  We were home by 6 pm at which time I took a long nap....that was a long day!

Sunday:

Every time we drive into Alturas TLE and I both comment that we should walk up and down Main Street (US-395) and take pictures of all the building murals, so a week ago we agreed that we would drive into Alturas Sunday, get some coffee at the Starbucks located inside the historic Nile Hotel, then walk up and down Main Street taking pictures of all of the murals, and of whatever else might strike our collective fancies......

.....surprisingly, there are a lot of building murals in Altura.  You might remember back in 2017 when we were in Lompoc, CA, that we did the same thing.....I wrote about that here.  At any rate, I'll let the pictures do the talking.....

The historic Niles Theater, a single screen theater

The Alturas Elks Lodge is a beautiful Mission style building with a bell tower!

No mural, but I had to take a picture of Rubios Taquieria....best Mexican food in Modoc County!

A nail salon

....whilst we were walking and photographing I got a call from a prospective winter employer to whom we had sent our resumes a few days ago.  This job is one we have looked at in the past, but just never pulled the trigger on, but this year we decided it was time.  I'll save the details for when we confirm we have the jobs, but I know you will be envious.....lol!

Another thing we have talked about doing for months, was to drive our #20 Club Car golf cart up to the highest hill at LPG&RVR to watch the sun set, which, until now, was just too late, but now the sun is setting, locally, before 8 pm, so we crossed another 'to do' item off our list Sunday night. We left the Newell around 7:30 pm.  From the top of the hill we had a 360° view of the Likely Rancheria valley.....it is beautiful......

....we took a couple of chairs with us, and some sunset snacks along with a bottle of Catina Malbec.....our favorite Malbec.  We discovered this wine when we were in Southwest Harbor back in August of 2018, and buy it whenever we come across it now....I think we've got 4, or 5 bottles of it now......

.....by 7:50 pm the sun had slipped behind the mountains to our west.......

.....I asked TLE to take a video of our surroundings......beautiful!

So, there you go......three days in one blog post, and what a third day!  Thank you for your patience.  I promise to try and stay more current.....we'll see, shan't we?

Thank for stopping by!

A normal Thursday......

 6:34 pm - Saturday - August 13th - Likely, CA - 87° F, 11% humidity, wind 12 mph out of the west by northwest....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 89° F, which has already passed.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were taking in the view just south of Cannon Beach, OR......↴

Thursday is one of the days we pick the balls from the driving range so it can be mowed.  We don't like to close the driving range until 11 am, and like to have it mowed by 1 pm, so after staging 15 carts I headed out to do some hand weeding, and around 9:30 am I headed out to the back  of the driving range to use the 'Shag Bag' to pick the balls on the edges until 11 am, when I began to pick the rest of the balls with the 'ball machine'.  When I am using the 'Shag Bag' I don't close the driving range, but keep an eye out for anyone wishing to use the driving range.  If I see someone getting ready to hit some balls, I stop what I am doing until they are done.  In all I picked four 5 gallon buckets of balls, and had most of them washed before TLE's lunch break.  After I returned at  1:30 pm I finished washing the balls, then got to work washing carts until 3 pm.  There were still four carts out when I headed for home.  TLE was home a little after 5 pm, and that was our Thursday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Raking and mowing.....

 5:13 pm - Friday - August 11th - Likely, CA - 88° F, 21% humidity, wind 11 mph out of the southwest.......clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 89° F, which has already passed.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were sitting on the 'lido deck' watching the sunset on the Oregon Coast.....↴

I'm still behind a couple of blog posts, and this one will cover Wednesday.  It was back to work Wednesday for four more days.  I began the day staging 10 carts, and then headed out on the golf course to rake the four sand traps on 4, 12, 15, and 18.  The view from the 12th hole is beautiful......

.....of the four sand traps, the 12th is the smallest......

.....and the sand trap at the 15th is the largest....it takes a while to rake this one.....

.....none of the sand traps really comes into play, and 99% of the time when I arrive to rake them no one has been in any of the sand traps for several days.  I was back at the Clubhouse around 9:30 am at which time I hopped on the slow John Deere riding lawn mower to head out and mow the tee boxes at 18, 17, 16, 15 and 3.  It takes me about 2 hours to make the loop, and by the time I arrived back at the Clubhouse it was after 11:30 am.  I had 1/2 hour to kill before TLE's lunch break, so I washed a couple of golf carts that had been returned....the must have only play 9 holes.

When I returned from my lunch break at 1:30 pm I had ten more carts to wash, and managed to get them all done, and put away by 3 pm.....nice!  By 3:20 pm I had taken a shower, and was taking a nap in my recliner.  I really love those two hours between 3 and 5 pm....I have the Newell all to myself.

Thanks for stopping by!