SUMMER OLYMPICS

I love the summer Olympics.  Right now we are in day 2 and I watched the men's cycling road race yesterday with the women racing today.  I saw some women's basketball, volleyball, swimming heats, etc.  I did make the mistake of leaving NBC on during their evening newscast and they were over analyzing the swimming and ruined the night for me.  I do not usually watch NBC news and most certainly will not do so during the Olympics.  This week will be a busy one with a Senior Golf championship and the grandkids and granddogs coming for a visit.  I most likely will not be posting during the week but should have quite a bit to say next week. 

JULY

I figured that since my last posting was July 4th, I needed to catch everyone up.  Most of the month my mornings have been watching the baby geese (now as big as mom and dad) and the ducklings grow.  The geese have not lost anyone but the survival rate of a duckling is about 25%.  We started with 11 and currently have 3.  JR saw a hawk attempt to get one the other day and since there were 4 at that time we assume success on the part of the hawk.  Last week my daughter-in-law had out-patient surgery.  It went well but I was there for about 3 1/2 days to help her and take care of the grandkids and dogs.  I enjoyed being there although I wish she had not had to go through the medical bit.  I felt like I did not do much but I was tired when I came home.  I precooked two of the meals and made a meatloaf down there.  We were on a ground beef-a-rama week but the grandkids will eat ground beef.  We had fruit and veggies with each meal.  Last Sunday was a golf outing at another course.  Two couples put this on and it is so fun.  We all look forward to it every year.  I watched them though and with the pre-planning and the work they did Sunday I truly appreciate their effort and generosity.  The weather was in the low 90's and the golf was in the afternoon but a nice breeze kept us from getting too overheated.  This seems to be a week full of meetings.  I had one yesterday morning (a charity fund raiser meeting), a work meeting tonight at 6 and two meetings tomorrow both after golf.  The rest of the week looks clear although we are looking for new reclining chairs and have some good candidates.  The sales end at the end of the month so we need to decide soon.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

I do love the 4th of July.  This one is my favorite of the summer holidays.  Everyone was up here on Saturday but our son had to work Monday and so left with the dogs on Sunday.  Sunday night was supposed to be the club's cookout and fireworks display but Mother Nature had other plans.  The storm hit about 1 1/2 hours prior to the picnic start time and to be honest that was a good thing.  Otherwise there would have been around 800+ soaked people trying to either go home or get out of the rain plus very soggy food.  The food had not been set out yet.  There was quite a bit of hail and the grandkids had not really seen much hail so I brought some in for them to feel.  Several of the neighbors had firework displays so at least some was seen.  The kids played two holes of golf with their new clubs.  "Bob" went fishing and caught a nice bass and then we settled down and played some board games (I think JR thinks that they are "bored" games.  We played Connect 4 and Club.  "Bob" thought Col. Mustard (aka JR) and lo and behold he was right.  I took everyone home on Monday and was back in time to go to the retooled cook-out and fireworks display.  All in all a good weekend.

FIRST DAY OF SUMMER

"Summertime and the living is easy" part of a song from Porgy and Bess

It is almost the end of June.  I love summer the best of all the seasons.  The temperatures are great, the sun shines, the trees have leaves and there is a casualness in the air.  It has been very hot these last few days.  I played 9 holes yesterday, started around 10:30 and it was enough.  We finished before the true heat of day hit.  Monday and Tuesday nights found me down in G-Town for baseball games.  I saw our grandson play on Monday.  I was lucky and was able to watch him pitch.  He has become an accomplished baseball player.  Tuesday night was our granddaughter's game.  It is amazing how just one year can make a difference in playing abilities.  She had some great hits and fielded the ball well.  Our son is the coach and since this age group is coach pitching he is the pitcher as well.  Our granddaughter went to a birthday party Tuesday afternoon so our grandson and I went out to lunch.  Each time I am down they get to pick where to go for lunch.  They have to take turns.  He chose Skyline Chili since he knows that his sister does not like it.  It had been years since I was there.  It is nice that we are visiting places other than McDonald's and Wendy's.  Last week we were at Hothead Burritos.

OLIVER TWIST

Last Thursday we did the quick trip to the grandkids for purposes of baseball games and school plays.  Our granddaughter's baseball game was at 6:30 and our son is the coach, so JR went to that game.  Our grandson was in the chorus of the 5th grade musical Oliver Twist and so his mom and I went to that.  Miss Em (granddaughter) thought it was interesting that the guys went to the girl's game and the gals went to the guy's event.  The game ended with a win in our column and the play was good.  Lots of mistakes and curtain malfunctions but everything you would expect with a 5th grade play.  The Rabbit Wrangler (grandson) did not fall off the risers and did participate in the singing.  He even got into the spirit of the play and donned a cap (granted it was from Ireland) and smeared some dirt on his face (to help make him look like an orphan).  Once both events were over we jumped in the car and beat the major part of the rain home.  We left at 2:30pm and arrived home at 11:30pm.  All of that for about 3 hours of pure delightful entertainment - including getting to play with the granddogs.