Tiger, Yarnell's, Eulogies and Other Musings

It's been a while, I know. Peanut and Les have been ribbing me about updating my blog so I'm gonna do what they say, else I incur their wrath.

Where to begin?

Mowing grass consumes much of my time, but I enjoy it to a degree. I have lots to mow now. I take care of the old (Lancaster) house lawn, then move northward to mine (which is huge), then up to Janice's and sometimes finish up with the stuff alongside Bet and Joe's road. If it weren't for my big old red mower, I'd really be up a creek, but it cuts my workload a bunch.

I am proofreading a friend's novel, ole Triple L up in Dardanelle. She's Peanut's friend. And mine, too, I hope. I'm thru several chapters and I plan on sending those pages to her tomorrow in the mail. It's a nice story, about several galfriends who grew up in Yell County. I wish her luck.

My first book, Grant County Scoops, is selling at one of the local stores here now. Kinda neat, really. He's put up a sign out front that says, Scoops for Sale Here. I hope people don't think he's selling little plastic shovels, you know, like the ones kids use at the beach in Destin.

I've been trying to email Sandi and the kids down in San An Tone some since K has shipped out for four months. I follow the boys sports adventures thru their grandfather Jim and they are really something. Lance belts the baseball out of the park and Mason goes hard after the golf trophies. Proud of 'em. Of Kyle, too. He's our family patriot.

Speaking of golf, I tied for third at the recent Batesville tourney played on the beautiful Eagle Hills course up there. I hung in there for three days and birdied the last two holes in mounting a comeback. Almost made a hole in one on my next to last hole the last day....185 yards...it stopped two feet from the hole. Then I birdied the last hole, a long par 5, so I was proud of my finish, especially since I hadn't played in a year. What a beautiful and challenging, tough golf course. Love being up there with my buds.

And I watched the Players Tournament and US Open on TV. Paul Goydos lost the Players in a sudden death playoff at the famous water hole. I got to play with Paul several years ago when he was an up and coming pro and I have a photo of him and me here at the house so I was sure hoping he would win. And, watching Tiger at the Open...he's the best...and playing with pain, too. The tournaments are the same without him altho sister Bet roots against him. She says he hogs the money and that he ought to let somebody else win.

I've been fishing quite a bit, too. Loving retirement. Catching a lot of bass and last Friday, almost had something else in the boat--an alligator. He was pretty aggressive, chasing my buddy's top-water lure all the way to the boat. Spooked me, but he finally swam off. The place where I fish...this one...has several dozen gators but this is the first one that was aggressive. Sometimes, they follow the boat and stay a safe distance away, but guess this dude was just feelin' his oats.

I got another golf outing Monday...the Pat Summerall tourney. It's put on my our Ark. Hall of Fame sports group. A big deal. $2,000 for a four-man team. My son, Eric, and local bud G.E. are on my team....we should have some fun. The event raises about 65 grand for our organization and Pat Summerall flies in for it. He's a great guy, but still under the weather and not looking so good.

Other family news is that Roy is moving...my bro in law from next door. He's moving to an assisted living place at Bryant and me and three siblings bought his house. We're hoping someone in the family--maybe Les and Patrick--buy it and move in. We want to leave the land to our children if possible.

And politics. Hillary is out since I last updated so I'll be voting for B-Obama. Gotta go Democrat, you know. I'm ready for some change, anyway. Tired of oil barons in the White House. Gas prices! How can anybody fill up their tank and even think of voting for 8 more years of this nonsense. Wars...inflation...oil prices...yuk!

I delivered a eulogy a week ago. My dear old pal, Roney, died after a long battle with cancer. What a guy. There's only three of us left out of the Boys Club crew known around town here for their hunting and fishing exploits. It was an honor and a privilege to say a few words at his service and it's hard giving him up.

Don't know much else. Sittin here with my two puppies, Zoey Rae and Newt. What a pair. They love watching their Daddy type on the computer. Guess they're easy to please. Whole lot like their dad, I guess. Newt just walked under the computer drawer and bumped my legs as I was completing this. He's a dandy. Loves to jump after the tiny frogs in the yard. Zoey, on the other hand, just watches him and shakes her head in amazement and disgust. Probably embarrassed, too.

Gotta run. Hope my critics who said I needed to update are happy. I'm signing off now and heading in to see if any of the Yarnell's strawberry is left. It's great this time of the year...with the White County strawberries mixed in with the ice cream. You gotta love Arkansas, especially right now, when Jim and Joe are seeing great things in their gardens. Green beans, tomatoes, corn, squash...whew!

That's all for this time, til next time, thanks for your time.