Posts from — August 2008

Today was my first official day of retirement. I am finished after 35 years with Weyerhaeuser. It’s been an exciting 35 years, lots of diffferent assignments and Weyerhaeuser has been very good to myself and my family. For that we are thankful.

So to celebrate my 1st day of retirement…….. You guessed it. I went golfing. After all why not, it was Seniors Day. I started off really bad with back to back double bogies and then got it back on track with a string of pars, 3 birdies a couple more bogies and I ended up with a 79. It was a great day.

Last weekend Brenda and I headed down to Princeton to spend it with Sage and Conrad. Mom and Dad headed off to Vernon to have some together time, go disc golfing at Fallow Ridge and to meet up with their friends Dave and Deb. Our weekend was busy with activities and projects to keep a 2 1/2 year old busy, there were no major emotional meltdowns (by kids or granparents) and what happens when Namma and Grampa are there stays there! The pictures pretty well sum up an exciting time………. Enjoy them.

Ready for Bedtime

Sage with a Fun Science Project

Well after adding in my games from Storey Creek (92) and Crown Isle (87) from our trip to Campbell River and Seniors Day on Wednesday where I shot an 83, my Index Factor is at a 11.4 or a 12 Handicap. I am pretty happy with that considering I was as high as a 17.1 earlier in the year or a 17 handicap. My golfing buddy Dave H. is really playing well and he is down to an Index Factor of 6.2 or a 7 handicap. I am headed off to a dental appointment and then I have a game at 10:12 with Ley M. and his son-in-law, so I’ll provide an update to this post later today. 

So today I golfed with Let McM. and his son-in-law Coby. Trust me it’s a small world, Coby is married to Ley’s daughter and he is the oldest son of a couple who lived near us in North Kamloops. Our son Jeff played on the same soccer team (in about 1982) as Coby’s younger brother Robbie. As far as golf I played pretty well today and shot an 82. One stupid double on #5 which is the par 5 hole, the good news is that I forgot about it and made a par 4 on hole #6 which is the #2 handicap hole. On the back nine I just missed a few putts or it could have easily been a 79. When I entered the game my Index Factor went down to an 11.2

Well, we recently got back from a visit to Campbell River to see our friends Ross and Betty-Anne. As always they were great hosts and made sure that we were very well fed and looked after. We arrived late on Tuesday night so had a bit of a chance to visit and get caught up. Then on Wednesday morning they took us on a tour of Campbell River and we ended up at Painters Lodge for lunch. After lunch we stopped by the CAP-IT Store that they own in Campbell River, their son Tyson manages the store and they have a great selection of vehicle customization options…. what a great job they have done in setting the store up. Then Ross and I headed off to Storey Creek Golf Course for Men’s Night; we didn’t play overly well but we had a lot of laughs, a few drinks and a good time. Meanwhile Brenda and Betty-Anne headed back to Painters Lodge and took the small passenger shuttle boat over to April Point Lodge on Quadra Island. The next day Ross and I were off early to golf at Crown Isle, it’s one of the premier golf courses on Vancouver island; we golfed a lot better and had a great day. Brenda and Betty-Anne visited with Betty-Anne’s sister in Fanny Bay and they had a Quilt Display and Garden Tour so this was right up Brenda’s alley. We met for lunch in Comox at Black Fin Pub and then headed back to Campbell River for the afternoon/evening. Tyson, Nicki, Jacob and Linden stopped by for a visit, what active boys they have. We had a good visit and look forward to our next one. The pictures are of #1. Brenda and I on the beach about 2 blocks from their house. #2 Ross, Betty-Anne and Odie in their backyard. #3. Sunrise at the same beach at around 5:50 a.m. on the way back to Departure Bay Ferry.

Today is my 55th Birthday! Yahoo, I am a Senior….. well at the golf course. The day started off with a relaxing coffee with Brenda and she spoiled me with some really neat presents; A Fishing Rod (plus line and a lure), ProV-1 Golf Balls and some golf tees. Actually we had Great Gramma and Grampa for dinner last night with our niece Sabrina and her friend; I got a coffee grinder and a couple pounds of coffee that I can’t wait to try out. Anyway, in celebration of my birthday I decided to post a blog of the things that are important to me and that’s Family! So, thanks to Kevin and Tamara and Jeff and Lindsay for the pictures we have a “Grand” Post! So, in no order of importance here are the Grand Kids, Grand Cats, Grand Dog, Grand Rabbit, Grand Guinea Pig, Grand Bird and Grand Fish(es)!

A few days ago we hiked the hills behind our home. Actually we hiked down the street, across Peterson Creek Park, up the hills behind lower Sahali and ended up at the Save-On store in Sahali. Even though there are lots of trails in the hills behind Royal Inland Hospital it is a little difficult finding public access through the properties. We ended up going down the hills and then bactracking up to get to the lower Sahali elevation. In the picture below you can see R.I.H., not too bad for a photo taken with a cellphone!

At Save-On we bought some California and Cucumber Rolls and wrapped them up with an ice pack we had taken along in our MEC day hike bag. From there we headed to Riverside Park for a picnic. Now, if you know Kamloops; from Save-On in Sahali to Riverside Park is a bit of a trek; although it is all down hill. However because we had hiked all the way up hill we rewarded ourselves with a Slushy from the Mohawk gas station. It was a great way to cool off, an ice cold slushy and a easy walk downtown. So, we hiked down to Riverside Park had our picnic lunch and then headed back home by way of Pioneer Park. We were gone over 2 hours, the day was warm and it was a great hike.

This year we have gone fishing a few times at a couple local lakes; Paul Lake and Pinantan Lake. Fishing was not bad the first time we went to Paul Lake, except for the fact where we launched our canoe at the Government campsite the locals were having an Annual Fishing derby so it was tough getting the canoe back to the car. After that we tried another launch area which worked better but fishing was spotty and it was windy/gusty so we end up getting blown around in our little red canoe.

So then we tried Pinantan Lake which is a little further up the road and we have done quite well. The first time we caught or got 8 fish to the boat the largest being about a 2 lb trout that Brenda caught and the average around 1 lb and a few “dinks” as Kevin calls them. They all put up a pretty good fight as we are only using light rods and only a small “flatfish” or “hot shot”. Plus we never keep any, so it’s all catch and release…………. too much work and their slimy. Of course we forgot the camera and so the picture of Brenda’s fish was taken with our cellphone. We make a day of it take a lunch and always enjoy ourselves.

Today was Senior’s Wednesday at the course. The format was a 2 Man Best Ball. Each player played their ball and then you recorded the best lowest score for a gross score. The net socre was calculated by taking an average of both players handicaps. Sounds pretty easy……. correct? Well, it obviously was too dificult for some people and we ended up correcting a few cards to get everything straightened out. My partner was Dave H., we shot even par on the front and -1 under on the back nine…… thanks to the great game Dave had. Our combined handicap average was 9.5 so we finished at Gross 71 and Net 61.5…….. which wasn’t good enough for overall low net one team shot a Net 58! I played quite well on the front and shot a 40 (one stupid double on the #7 hole which is a par 3) and I shot 42 on the back for an overall score of 82. My index went down to an 11.0.

So my golf game has been pretty stagnant, with that I mean that I have been having trouble getting a lower score than the mid to high 80’s. Well that all changed on Saturday August 2/08, I shot a 92……… Yikes! I couldn’t hit the ball out of my shadow and when I finally did get the ball off the tee I then screwed up my approach and when I finally got to the green in regulation I three putted. Oh Well! It’s only a game and I could be working. The beauty of the handicap indexing system is that my handicap has only gone up a little and I currently sit at an 11.2, which I know a lot of golfers would love to have. On Tuesday Dave H., Al J. and I went to Talking Rock out a Quaaout Lodge on Little Shuswap Lake. It’s a very new resort style golf course and for only being opened since late last year it’s in pretty good shape. Of course the greens are as hard as hitting a paved parking lot, so that took a few holes to get used to that. It was quite warm, in the mid 30’s, but we walked it and we all agreed it is an easier walk than Eagle Point. Even though the group in front of us had carts and one guy walking we kept on their tail all day, in fact we waited 2-5 minutes on all the tee boxes. So, it ended up being just under a 5 hour round of golf……… like I said it is a resort style golf course and I guess that is to be expected. As far as my game I ended up shooting an 89, which was not too bad considering I had never played the course before…………. of course I just had to take a couple of double bogies that I can’t seem to escape somewhere in the round. Oh Well! Perhaps today at Seniors Day?

Today was a so – so round. I started out well and then took a stupid double bogie early on the second hole and had to scramble for a 43 on the front nine. I started off well on the back nine and ended with a par – par finish for a 42 for an overall score of 85. After I entered the score of 85 my index went back down to a 10.9. The highlight of the day was Al J. who took an 18 on the 8th hole……… I think he miscounted and it was only 17! Ha!