TIME

Time travels at an exact pace every second of every day.  Why then does time travel at different speeds in different era's of our lives?

The concept of time speed entered my life at a young age.  Time traveled so slowly the days before Christmas or just before a birthday party.  I remember painfully watching the second hand on the clock tick away while in elementary school for the recess or "end of the day" bell to ring.  Remember being 12?  I"d tell everyone when I was 12 and a half on the way to that magic age of teenager?  The  month before I got my driver's license seems like eternity.  I remember "older" people telling me  of just the opposite.  Time went by too fast.  I didn't get it.  Time will never go by too fast.....

My 20's were somewhat of a blur.  There are parts of that decade that I don't even remember. So I will discount time speed through that era of my life.  However, the years from 30 to 49 have been the fastest 19 years of my life.  It appears that those "older" folks were correct.

As everyone who's read this blog over the last couple of months know that I turned 50 on April 30th and  as "The Tour" is coming to a close.....I am astonished on how much faster time speed is post-50 relative to pre-50. 

These last 30 days only seem like about 22 or 23 days....

Will retirement come that fast or does the perception of time speed revert back to a crawl?

 

BROTHERS

The face of a brother changes as one grows up.  I have two brothers and two sisters.  This post is about my brothers Mike and Paul.  I had the honor of spending the last 4 days with them golfing, eating, laughing, talking, celebrating birthdays, "the tour" and bonding. 

It wasn't always like this though.  Not because we weren't close,  but you can only be so close when ages differ.  The oldest of us is Mike.  He is 53.  He graduated from high school 4 years prior to me and then served in the Air Force for 19 years. I was 13 when he left.  I'm the next one and everyone knows (or should know) that I am 50.  Then there is Paul.  He is 4 years younger than me and 8 years younger than Mike; so he was about 9 years old when Mike entered the Air Force and was about 15 when I moved out of the house.  I think that much of Paul's childhood was somewhat like an only child.  Paul graduated from high school 4 years after me and 8 years after Mike.  I put an emphasis on graduation dates to manifest the fact that none of us shared common friends or era's in school that some brothers closer to age might share.

However the difference in age or distance apart, I always felt we were "close from afar"  There were parts of our lives in which we physically lived close over the last 30 years, so it's not like we haven't seen each other. Mike lived near Sacramento at the same time I did for a while and Mike and Paul lived in North Dakota together for a while.  I now live in Tracy, California.  Paul lives just north of Gulfport Mississippi. Mike lives just outside of Pensacola Florida.  The Milton Open was very competitive but so much fun.  I love my brothers very much and I am thankful we had these 4 days to share and to remember. 

Thanks Paul for making the journey and thanks Mike for having us...(and thanks Wendy for tolerating us)

We are hoping to make this an annual visit....the three brothers (or stooges as some may call)

 

I'M REALLY "NOT"

One of those people who blog about food...But this was too good to pass up.  Brother Mike made ribs for dinner and Brother Paul is enjoying is pre-birthday feast with us..

Note the sponsorship in the tip picture...

IT WAS ALL BUSINESS TODAY

Today was the final round of the "Milton Open" and it was all business.  Although there was a little bit of laughter and bonding, the mood was much more serious.  There were no camera's, no phone calls, no helpful tips to improve each other's game.....Today "it was on".......

Let me set the stage for today.  After yesterday's round of "round robin" scramble, brother Mike and brother Paul asked me if I wanted to play a second round of the day back at Tanglewood.  I'm a little competitive and I couldn't be the one to say no....We drop sister-in-law Wendy off at home and the three stooges (brothers) head off to holes 19 thru 36.  Come to find out, these two "clowns" (brothers) were purposely trying to sabotage my game.  You see....their goal was to tire me out and attempt to get me to "change" my game and "make adjustments" that would hamper my game for the final round to be played today.  I didn't post this yesterday, but my score for the second round of yesterday was 110....I haven't shot a 110 in years and my confidence was shattered and was worried that it (or my golf game) wouldn't return in time for the final round...

We played an individual stroke play round today.  The total scores for the day and the round were.

player	round 1	round 2	round 3	total
Mike	80	91	116	287
Wendy	82	91	112	285
Paul	79	89	107	275
Teamster	90	87	90	257

So as you can see...I had a pretty good day on the course..There evil plan to ruin my game to their benefit didn't work for "the brothers".....and although my competitive juices were flowing the day was thoroughly enjoyable (maybe because I won) and I hope that Mike, Wendy and Paul had fun as well..

As a side game, we also played Bingo, Bango, Bongo.  A Bingo is first on the green, the Bango is the closest to the pin before putting and the Bongo is the first in the cup while playing in order.  The score for the BBB was Wendy-18...Mike-15, Teamster-11 and Paul-10.....

Paul was going to go home tonight, but we've decided to go back to Stonebrook tomorrow morning and play a 4 person scramble and see how we score.  It should be a relaxing day and one last opportunity to to golf before I fly home tomorrow night.....

And it's brother Paul's birthday. tomorrow....so Happy Birthday Paul....

ROUND 2 IN THE BOOKS

After torrential downpours yesterday, today was a near perfect day.  The sun was shining and only a slight threat of rain and/or thunderstorms.  We had played yesterday at  Tanglewood Golf and at Stonebrook today.  

Today's format was a round robin 2 person scramble.   It was a lot of fun and very competitive.  The pairings for the first 6 holes was Paul/Dave vs. Mike/Wendy.  Dave/Paul shot a 28 and Mike/Wendy shot a 31.  The next 6 was Dave/Wendy (29) vs. Paul/Mike (30) and we finished with Mike/Dave (30) vs. Paul/Wendy (31).  The final score for the day was Dave (87), Paul (89),, Mike (91) and Wendy (91).   The two day total now stands at Dave (167), Paul (168), Mike (171) and Wendy (173).  Tomorrow we will play as singles.  The money play will be called Bing, Bang, Bong.  You get one point for the first on the green, one point for the closest to the pin, and one point for first in.  Your score will be calculated as a stroke play as individuals.  It's kind of indicative how close our skills are and how much more the scores stay with the team concept.  It's been a lot of fun so far;  some good stories and quite a bit of laughter....some with each other and some at each other...I look forward to tomorrow. 

There are some extremely beautiful homes on this course but many of them have these screened in pools because of the amount of mosquito's and other bugs in the area...

And for a side note....It's interesting to be in part of the southern Bible belt.  In the local paper, instead of a Dear Abby column, there is an advise column by Billy Graham. 

A FIRST ON THE GOLF COURSE

 

As a golfer we always look forward to many firsts....A first Par....A first Birdie.....A first Eagle......A first chip in from the sand or from the fairway.....and hopefully someday a first Hole-in-one....

However....today was a different type of first.......

A 7. 5 HOUR ROUND......

A normal round usually takes around 4.5 to 5 hours.  But we had a few delays.....

 

However.....Brother Paul didn't get up at 3 am and drive from Mississippi to "NOT" golf....Brother Mike didn't take 3 days vacation to "NOT" golf...and I didn't fly 2650 miles to "NOT" golf....We had all day to play and had nothing else we neither needed nor wanted to do...So we played golf..Sister-in-law Wendy and her friend Darlene joined us as well.

Brother Mike had set up a complex scoring system...For the first 9 holes it was a scramble boys against girls.  The boys scored 39 and the girls scored 42 on the front.  On the back nine, one of the boys had to switch to the girls team and play 3 against 2 on the back.  Paul either won or lost the draw whichever way you want to look at it. So it was Paul and the girls vs. Mike and I.. On the back nine, the "girls" scored a 40 and the boys scored a 41. 

Although the play was a team concept, the score was finalize as individuals. 

Paul.....79...Dave and Mike.... 80....and the girls.....82...

Tomorrow will be the 3 boys and Wendy.  We'll play a round robin scramble...Each of us will be on each other's team for 6 holes and then total our scored individually.  Should be an interesting day....Praying for no rain....

 

A slight delay...but not a cancellation...a slight down poor but we have all day

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FLORIDA

What happens in Pensacola stays in Pensacola?....Not really.  Today was travel day.  I  traveled  2460 miles today...although it was by plane....It was still a long day.  There was a hint of thunderstorms around Houston and it made for a couple of nice "cloud" pictures.

 

 

I'm here at Mike and Wendy's hoping the rain will stop in Charlotte so NASCAR can start the race (I am in the south and it is Sunday so I need my southern spirituality)...Mike picked me up at the airport and then we had to stop by the office and he let me stand by his rig.....

Brother Paul is due to arrive early in the morning from Saucier Mississippi for what phase 3 is really about.....

GOLF!!!!!!!!!

Tonight we're just sitting in the back yard relaxing and getting a good night's rest before  "THE MILTON OPEN"

PHASE 3 BEGINS....

 

The riding portion of "the tour" is over and now Phase 3 begins...total miles ridden 4017.  Even stopped to see mom and dad on the way home..and to cool off...

The Teamster flies out to Pensacola Florida to play 3 rounds of golf with brother Mike and brother Paul....maybe they will let me win for my birthday.....

Thanks everyone for following this portion of the tour...the final portion will hopefully be full of a lot of "golf trash talk" among brothers...

 

the map

View The Teamster Five-O Tour in a larger map

BEGINNERS LUCK

For those who know me....most know I'm not much of a gambler. I give myself a budget to play with and if or when that amount is gone, I just leave. If I win a little bit, it's easy for me to walk away with my meager winnings.
Now this story will sound a little familiar to my family. My mom and dad spend the winters in Yuma Arizona and one day a week they would go to the local Indian Casino for lunch and the free tokens given away to gamble with. My mom would post on her blog their weekly winnings if any were made....
Well....we check in at the Carson Valley Inn. We check in and then check out "the inn".....When we checked in they gave us complimentary $10.00 worth of gambling money....We decided to play a couple of $.25 poker machines...........and after about 10 minutes and winning and losing a few hands here and there....I hit 4 aces....bells and whistles go off.....the machine says I won 1200 coins....I sit back and sigh...no idea what I've won....  quickly does the math in her head and asks...."do you know you won 300 dollars? Not a bad day...

This is the picture of the guardian bell that my sister got me for my birthday...The bell has a story behind it and you can click here to read the story about it...Thanks Michelle for everything....

SAFE AGAIN

We are safely in Mindon Nevada staying at the Carson Valley Inn. We are cleaned up and are on our way the the "Thirsty Third Thursday-Wine Walk" and follow it up with a nice dinner, a good nights sleep and the final ride home tomorrow...Many thanks to sister Michelle for setting up the room at "the inn"...Plus she gave me a guardian bell for my birthday...

BEING WATCHED OVER

I'm a believer.....I believe in God....I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that the Holy Spirit is on "the tour"

It rained the day I left on May 2nd. Was he testing my faith? I don't know...All I know is after 50 miles of rain it stopped....I've just missed some pretty intense weather. For example...my day in Death Valley...100 degrees and the following day 112 degrees. My day in Flagstaff..editors note..desert songbird's comment reminded me it was Laughlin, not Flagstaff.....95 degrees and the following day 102 degrees. The day we rode from Ketchum Idaho to Boise....severe thunderstorms 2 hours before we got to Boise. On the Thursday before we arrived in Portland....they had a record "low" high for that day....The day we arrived, it was a balmy 84 degrees followed by rain the day after we left. This last weekend it was 105 degrees and 5 days later when we arrive back in the valley, the temps are suppose to be in the mid 80's.

Now today while we are riding from Yreka to Burney Falls I check not only my gas gauge but also my trip odometer and figure we have enough gas to get to Burney Falls. My gas tank holds 5.0 gallons and about 38 miles from Burney, my low fuel light comes on. I calculate it comes on about 1 gallon from empty so I should have between 40 and 50 miles. I nurse it home like a NASCAR driver with a 10 second lead with 5 laps to go....

not much to spare.

Today was a really nice day. We had breakfast with Gene and his wife(brother of Jeff from Oregon City who we had dinner with Sunday)...then rode to Burney Falls for a picnic and are now in Susanville for the night.

MT. Shasta

again