Our Poor Country

The Washington Post produced a graphic on budgets past and proposed. Looks pretty grim.  02/25/2010  

Manager Marc Ramin

was on his way to be with his son and expecting daughter-in-law when he received a call from his two sisters in Pennsylvania that his mom was having an emergency operation.  After a panic trip to be with her, he's back with a report his 86 year old mom is recovering fine.  

He then resumed his trip to be with his son's first child, Marc and Erin's first grandchild, a girl, born on the 12th -- same day as Erin's b'day.  02/24/10

Winter

Snow came to old Blue Lake.  At times the falling snow was pretty heavy (at least for Hill Country types) but it hardly stuck to the ground.  No snowmen.

Sharon took a "snow day" off.  Paul Castiglione says golf was free today, but the lift tickets were expensive.

Eddie Wells (aka Eduardo) did not show.  Stayed home with Momma, as does Miller frequently, to play with his toys. 2/23/2010

The Outside Men's

If you happen to be in the pro shop and hear some loud banging, scrapping, groaning, and the occasional expletive loudly uttered as when the thumb gets clobbered, take no notice.  Just keep your wife, kids, and those whose tender ears you care about, away at a safe distance.  It's only our two guys, Bruce Lomax and Don Webb, remodelling the men's outside toilet.  They're taking it down to the concrete -- no kidding.  Ken Mayne is helping with the painting.  Hmmm.  Maybe EPA or OSHA, or a HazMat team took some biological samples and left a hint.  (Someone, a catty person to be sure, remarked that all we need do for the place to remain in good condition for years to come is keep Pac and Eddie out of there.)

Thanks, guys.

Good news -- No emergencies, Sharon hasn't had to call 911 so far.  2/16/10

Claude Moss says he's taken a position at a golf course in Washington State as pro shop manager.  He'll be leaving in April.   2/16/10

C&C

February 10, 2010

Those who missed this year's "Eggstravaganza" C&C missed a good one.  Bob Dering, in full stride and acting as emcee, was a consensus hit at Wednesday's C&C.  The evening was quite convivial; even Karen was in control, no insults, no sniping -- OK, a catty comment or two, but no biggie.

Bob can be ruthless.  Wife Betty got away scot free from his playful barbs at her nursing days.  That can't be said of Club President Brucie Lomax who with Gloria became the night's target of gadfly Bob and were duly skewered.  Bob tells their story.  It seems during a driving trip to Poughkeepsie these two “Fly Over Country” Texans could not settle on its proper pronunciation syllable: "keep” or “kip”.  Stopping at a local spot they asked an impatient , annoyed waitress to speak slowly and enunciate clearly how the place was spoken.  In a voice dripping with New York disgust at these strangers, mouthed, “T A C O B E L L.”

(A teaching moment: one never wants to get on the wrong side of Bob because he, having a few synapses still firing away, will remember, and next year he will get you.)

Co-hosting with Bob and Betty were Bart and Judy Patterson who did their usual magnificent job guarding the door, taking money, and compiling statistics documenting the evening, giving us numbers Donna cherishes so highly.  We had 50 in the room, testament to the Dering's and Patterson's drawing power and to Bart's ability to count in whole integers.

We even had guests; both JP candidates of Precinct #1: W. Kermit Robinson and Bob Sykes.

We sang "Happy Birthday" led by Carroll Beale, celebrating his 93rd birthday.

Larry Meyers was in attendance.  He's the squire of Blue Lake.  He knows everything, a walking encylopedia.

If one's senses were sharp, a pervasive theme of Valentine's day could not be ignored.  Heart bouquets, red place mats were displayed on tables and around the room.  Doug Miller vouchsafed to admit he was so inspired and caught up in the evening's theme he had to fight down a raging urge to go to Walmart and buy something expensive for Sheryl. “It's OK, I got through the crisis,” he later nervously admitted.

The hors d'oeuvres table was fabulous. The side board had great dishes.  Desserts were (if you're into texting) OOTW.  (Before you call your grandkids, here's some help; the W stands for world.)

Three eggs were given as door prizes and six were won by silent auction. Here is the tale of the tape:

Eggs won in the silent auction:

Bob Dering has been to Blue Lake a crashing phenomenon.  This year will be his last, he said in his intro.  The eggs he supplies have over the years brought in more contributions to C&C than any other event.  Moreover, Bob donates it all. There's a lot of work involved; each egg takes 8-10 hours to complete.  (That's more time than it takes for Gary Cassell to set up his tee shot.)  This evening the C&C fund was enriched $437.  We all owe a great deal to Bob for his generosity and for his devotion to our little golf club. Thank you, Bob.

Check out Bob's recent output of “the incredible, edible egg.”   Click click. 02/11/10

Magic Jack Works, a first hand report.

Check out Dala and Jerry's new phone service.

WGA Played  --> WGA Action   02/02/10

Larry Meyers -- Homeward Bound

Larry Meyers is home.  He's now snugly in his digs (not his words) and beginning to get his sea legs -- he's Navy, you know.  He's busy getting his house back in shape and will probably be scarce for a few days.  (Translation: goofing off.)  Knowing Larry as we all do, he'll be in everyone's hair soon enough.  It's been tough having him gone so long.  The habitues at the clubhouse are starting to turn on themselves  02/11/2010

Military Buffs -- Seen this one?

Scramble Results from Sunday, Dec 27, are in.