Author: Rudy

Sunday: Woke up at around 6. It’s supposed to be a scorcher today. I wrote my blog entry for yesterday. And I watched my morning news shows. Sue got up and made coffee — and then she made the most delicious blackberry pancakes for breakfast! We watched a story about the Masters 25 years ago. Then we watched the final day of this year’s Masters. Sat in my big black leather lazy-boy all day. The golf was fantastic. Lead changing all afternoon. Oosterhuis leading by a couple, Phil making a valiant effort, Bubba Watson getting some key back nine birdies to force a playoff. And then Watson wins the thing on the second playoff hole. Fantastic.

Cheese- and bacon-burgers on the barbecue for supper. Then 60 Minutes — the news: Mike Wallace has died today at age 93. Then I watched a couple of episodes of Holmes on Homes — the Canadian carpenter repairing faulty foundations, etc. We watched my last downloaded movie, Red Road, a weird movie about a girl who is a CCTV security operator who watches a man from her past on her monitors and chases after him into dangerous situations. Very slow, hard to understand the accents, dark. But okay.

Internet was still flaky today — I tried to call my mom but got cut off. We’ll probably go return our modem to MediaCom first thing in the morning. Watched a bit more TV and went to bed.

Saturday: A lazy Saturday. I woke up at 4 in the morning and couldn’t go back to sleep so I got up. Sat at my computer for a couple of hours and waited for a respectable time to have my first coffee. Sue got up at around 7. We had bacon and eggs. With our windows open the birds begin singing just before sunrise and make a lot of noise for much of the morning. The dove outside my window is now sitting on her nest pretty much full-time.

It didn’t feel very hot outside today — just the right temperature for a run around the block. Sue did that yesterday; today I joined her. It’s about a mile. I had to stop running and walk a bit it catch my breath. We had leftover pizza for lunch. It was better than it was last night for supper — but not much. Then we watched Day 3 of the Masters Golf Championship on TV. Good television! Tiger stumbled. Phil Mickelson made an enthusiastic charge. By the end of the day Phil was 1 back of Peter Hanson of Sweden at -8. It will be a great final day tomorrow.

As soon as golf on TV was over we hopped into the van and headed to Mountain Brook. A slow foursome ahead of us let us play through on hole number 7. Although I had a few bogies, I was discouraged by some terrible tee shots on the short holes. But as usual, in spite of the scores, we had fun.

Sue made some delicious curried shrimp with pasta and a salad for supper. Yummy! No Redbox movie rental tonight; we watched Bat*21, the Gene Hackman movie I downloaded. It’s about a Vietnam pilot who gets shot down behind enemy lines and gets rescued. His love of golf plays a role in helping him find his way out. After the movie and our usual ice cream and chocolate sauce night snack, we went to bed.

Friday: Still had internet problems — on and off all day. Irmy called Sue and had to redial many times because our connection kept cutting out. Sue went for a run around the block. She finished reading her two books, “The Hunger Games” and I don’t know what the other book was. After lunch we watched the Masters Golf on TV. Sue called Val and told her the news about Alex. Then at around 4pm we went golfing. Had to wait for a couple of carts to go by and finish their tournament and then we had the course to ourselves. For a while we were shooting two balls each. A highlight was when we both reached the green with our tee shots on Hole 7 — and came away with a birdie for me and a par for Sue. Really, other than that, the scoring wasn’t very good for me. We each lost a ball. But we had fun. We returned our movie rental and then went to Bashas to pick up a pizza for supper. Added extra toppings. Watched the end of the Masters on TV while we ate less than half of the pizza. The pizza was bit of a disappointment, but we’ll probably finish tomorrow and then be on to better things for Sunday. Watched some ‘news’ shows on TV and went to bed early. Tired. It felt like Saturday all day today, but it was actually Good Friday. Yippie! that means there’s still 2 more days of weekend to come!

Thursday: I guess the title of this post says it all. Read a bit in the morning. Had internet “issues” all day — it was cutting out for extended periods of time. Hope it will be fixed tomorrow or we’ll have to go to the MediaCom office. I filled up the tires on Robert’s nice road bike, raised the seat, and Sue and I went for a quick ride to Walgreen’s before lunch. The first day of the Master’s in Augusta was already on the Golf Channel when we left.

After lunch we watched golf on TV all afternoon. Well, actually I apparently snored through and hour and a half of it. Sue only napped ‘gracefully’ and quietly. At 4:00 we were once again at Mountain Brook for another spectacular late afternoon of whacking the ball around. Some bogies. A par. Some wild drives. A few sand traps. But everything is blooming now and looking great.

Got home and had leftover tortilla torte with our gin & tonics. Then, after Daily Show reruns we watched our Redbox DVD rental, “A Dangerous Method”. It was a story about Freud and Carl Jung. So-so. Actually, not very good. Followed it up with a couple of “20/20” reruns that were more interesting. I tried to stay awake long enough to watch Anthony Bourdain guest on The Daily Show at 11:00, but I’m afraid I missed that. Finally headed to bed ‘for real’ at midnight.

Wednesday: Didn’t do much in the morning. I read my book (“Blink”) and although the Kindle said I was only about 65% finished, it turned out that the last 35% was endnotes. So I finished that book. Sue was busy cooking a Mexican tortilla torte for our lunch. She went to Basha’s for one last week’s worth of groceries (seniors’ discount day today) and came home and continued cooking. Robert and Arlene arrived at 12:30. We had lunch together. All the windows were open in the house — it was warm today. We unloaded Robert’s road bike from their rental car and put it in the garage. We are taking it home for them. Then we loaded their clubs into our van and headed to Mountain Brook for our 2:00 tee time. I guess I thought that we were going for our usual 9-holes walking game, but Arlene paid for the four of us — 18 holes with cart at $46 per person!

Started off the round with a par on hole number 1. And then a decent tee shot on 2 (with too many putts after that). Followed that up with a few bogies and even a birdie on hole 7! I think that’s my first! I shot 51 on the front nine. We stopped to pick up a couple of beers and headed to the 10th tee.

The back nine were not as good for me as the front. But Robert played really well, and I think the girls did too. There was no one ahead of us, and no one behind us. A bit of hazy cloud cover gave us some relief from the heat and it turned out to be a perfect day weather-wise. The one disappointment was the old guy on the course who was rushing us and picking up the pins behind us — letting us know that we were the only ones with carts out on the course and that as soon as we finished he would be able to go home!

After golf we went home and had some drinks and snacks. Sue thawed the salmon she bought in the morning and made rice and a salad. We had a late supper. Visited. Had a very nice day with the Dycks. They left at around 9:30. They are closing up their house and flying home for the season tomorrow. We have another 10 days.

Tuesday: After yesterday’s busy day, today was the opposite. Sue did some more laundry. She had a long phone call with Garth. I did a bit of logo work for Tim. Then at around 11 we went for a bike ride (my first since before Tim and Alex were here). Lunch. A bit of reading. Finally, after fighting it for a little too long, I gave in and went for a nap. Probably 2 hours. Great. Woke up in time for happy hour. Watched the Daily Show rerun. Then we had a skype call from Alex. The news is out. She’s told her in-laws, her boss, and Irmy. She seems happy. So are we. Then I cooked the crap out of a couple of chicken breasts while Sue prepared mac and cheese leftovers. We had supper. We watched 60 Minute reruns. Then some PBS docs on the Panama Canal. Then news. Night snacks: ice cream with chocolate sauce, pistachios, a Coke. Late night TV. To bed. Tomorrow Robert and Arlene are coming over for lunch and some golf. Should be fun.

Monday: Woke up just after 6. A quick breakfast and shower and then we were on our way to Goodyear. We were a bit worried about making it there on time for our 10:00 tee time, but we managed to stay in the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane most of the way and even had time to fill up gas before joining our friends at the Estrella Golf Club. I rode the cart with Reg, while Robert and Henry rode in the second cart. The girls were right behind us, Sue and Ingrid, Arlene and Penny. It was windy but otherwise very comfortable.

My game was up and down — started off with a par, but blew it on every second hole. Sue golfed well all day, but was less than pleased with her putting. We had a great day.

We headed to the Goodyear house at around 2:30. I visited quite a bit with Henry, learning a bit about what he does (trade commodities). We watched the sunset and had a very fine steak barbecue — for my birthday! Sat around the table for a couple of hours and told stories.

We finally pulled ourselves away from the table and said our goodbyes. Reg and Ingrid are heading home tomorrow. The other four are leaving on Thursday. Robert may come by here on Wednesday to drop off his road bike for us to take home for him.

At home we checked our respective computers for new emails (a few) and watched a bit of TV before calling it a day.

Sunday: Had an early breakfast. The day wasn’t supposed to be quite so hot, an expected high of 70. Alex, Sue, and I left before 9am for the parking lot at the hieroglyphic walk. We had an interesting walk up to the petroglyphs! About halfway up another hiker warned us that there was a rattlesnake ahead. He had put a few rocks in the path so we would know where it was. Alex wanted to turn right around and head back to the house. We insisted on continuing. When we got to the snake, another couple with a camera were already photographing it. The snake was right next to the path. It was at least 4 feet long, and quite a bit thicker than what I expected.


           


When we got back to the house it was time for the kids to pack their bags. We had lunch at 12 and then headed for the airport. Said goodbye. Their flight left at around 2:30. We went home and Sue started doing laundry. We watched golf on TV. I booked the final tee time for the day at Mountain Brook for 4:20. Sue and I were back to our routine. We walked nine holes. And our games were pretty good! I started off with a par on hole one. My tee shot on hole 2 made it almost to the green. Of course there were a couple of holes where I doubled par. But in the end, both Sue and I shot a 50. Not bad.
We went home and Sue started making supper. We skyped with Walter and Angie and sort of arranged a summer cycling trip to the east coast. After supper we watched a bit of news — I had some podcasts of Fareed and the CBC panel — and then some TV. I was once again falling asleep in my chair when we got a call from Alex. They were home, safe and sound, no hitches, no problems, no delays. All good. It was just after 9:00 our time. Went to bed not long after that!

It’s the beginning of April. Spring is here. The desert is blooming. The weather is hot. The golf courses are getting emptier. Snowbirds are heading home. Our kids are heading home. But we are NOT heading home. We will enjoy another two weeks here in Gold Canyon, Arizona. Good times here.

Saturday: No bacon and eggs today. Irmy phoned to wish me a happy birthday. I tried my best to finish book 3 of the “Hunger Games” trilogy — only got to 90% complete on my Kindle.

Alex sat outside in the morning. Sue went for a haircut. Tim and I sat inside and waited for the golf on TV to begin (at noon). Tim and Alex made whistle dogs for lunch. We ate out on the patio.

Tim and I went to the golf course for our 18 hole game at 1:37. The girls dropped us off and then went to the fruit market to buy a bit more fruit. Then they went home and did some prep for the supper today. At 3:30 they joined us at the golf course for the second nine.


   


I had 3 pars and at least one bogey on the front nine for a 51. Not quite as good on the back nine. But the hot sun was made bearable by a slight breeze. No golfers putting pressure on us. We had a very good last day of golfing with our kids. Good times. Tim shot a 91 on 18. I ended up with 51 and 58 for a 109. Okay.

Sat out on the patio for snacks and G&T’s and beers after the game. Then everyone (except Rudy) worked on preparing supper: ribs and macaroni and cheese a salad and stir-fried vegetables. Yummy.

We ended our last evening (of March, of our holiday with Tim and Alex) by sitting in front of the TV. Another perfect day in paradise!