The Golfer's Wife

Loudmouth branches out

What do the Norwegian Men's Curling Team .......

...and John Daly.....

.... have in common?

They both like Loudmouth Golf.

Roundtown Sadie

Scottish Terrier Champion Roundtown Mercedes of Maryscot ( Sadie to her family and friends ) won Best in Show at Westminster last night. If I didn’t have a nasty head cold I’m sure I could come up with several pithy statements about how she is a Scottish Terrier and Scotland is the home of golf, so of course this information belongs on a golf blog. But any pithy statements are lost in the cotton that currently occupies the space where my brain used to be.

I liked this:

Rangel kidded that his relationship with Sadie was like a marriage. "I'm happily married," he said, "as long as I say, 'Yes, honey.'"

If you’ve ever known a Scottie you understand exactly what he was talking about.

In another article there was this:

Frei agreed, saying Sadie is a typical terrier. "It's her world and we're just living in it," he joked.

If you’ve ever own….ah, lived with a terrier you know exactly what HE was talking about.

I’ve lived with many. I live with one now. Scottie’s may be cute, but they are a bundle of sturdy determination and they don’t suffer fools. At All. As long as everything goes their way, life is good. When things don’t go their way you really have your hands full. It’s much easier on everyone if you just go along. The Irish Terrier ( which is what Jigger is ) is just as sure they rule the world, but they are a bit more patient and sneaky. They are very good at letting you think you are doing what you want, while making sure you are actually doing exactly what they want. As long as things are going their way they don’t see the need to actually point out to you that they are in charge. Scottie’s are much more direct in their attitude. They make sure everyone knows they are in charge.

Each terrier handles the I’m-in-charge-here issue a little differently. But the one thing they all have in common is the fact that they are in charge, and the sooner you figure that out, the happier everyone is.

A View From The Back Door

Yeah. So. There won't be any golf around here for awhile.

Distractions

Believe it or not there are times when it’s not golf 24x7 around here. These past couple weeks it’s only been golf about 12x7. Lots of other things going on.

To start with there was the weather. We have absolutely beautiful falls out here in The Wild West, but every year, just as fall is starting, Mother Nature whaps us upside the head with a couple of days of cold wet weather, just to remind us what’s coming later. She did said whapping last week. Which was the signal to pick everything from the garden, clean up the flowerbeds, check the size and wearability of all coats/gloves/boots/ski-and-snowboard-gear and replace if needed, get out all the corduroy/jeans/long-sleeved-shirts/sweaters, and make sure every car has a scraper.

Then there are the Rockies ( the baseball team ). They were in a race for the NL wild card spot, which they finally managed to clinch today, but we were chewing fingernails for a week or so there. And there is even a chance ( somewhat slim since their remaining games are against the Dodgers  ) they might win their division. In any case there will be baseball around here well into October. Which means more nights at the ballpark instead of blogging.

And there are the actual Rockies. As in the mountains. The Aspen are turning, which requires the yearly trip to take in the green and gold hillsides ( notice please flatlanders…they are referred to as hillsides, not mountainsides. You ski down a mountainside, but you look at Aspen on hillsides. Don’t ask me why. That’s just the way things roll.).

There has been some golf. The cc had it’s yearly version of the Ryder Cup. The Golfer was the captain of Team USA this year. They were victorious over Team Europe. Which means he automatically qualifies for next years tournament, so he was happy.

Tonight the Avalanche start their season, which means we will now be adding hockey games to the mix. Tonight they are honoring Joe Sakic and retiring his number. Very bitter sweet. The Avs have never started a season without Super Joe. This is a ‘rebuilding’ year, so great things are not expected. But hopefully they can at least win this home opener for Joe.

The Presidents Cup is next week. And the weather is supposed to stay up in the 70’s. So I’m sure we will be back to golf around 20x7. At least until the first baseball playoff game.

So True

I came across this the other day and had a good laugh. I am one of those ‘tech workers’. A software engineer in fact. Although I have been doing it for so long that when I started there were no software engineers. There were only computer programmers. And almost no one knew what that was.

Annnyyyyway.  Believe it or not, as off the cuff and un-edited as these posts may seem, I actually do type them out and do a certain amount of proof reading before I post them. And the first thing I do is remove the word So from the beginning of almost every sentence. The Golfer is also a long time tech worker. 90% of our conversations begin with one or the other of us saying ‘Soooo…’. 

After I read this I started listening for it in conversations around the office. And damned if at least 95% of them didn’t start off with a So….

I really can’t tell you why we ‘tech workers’ do this. Or actually which comes first, the So or the job as a tech worker. Are there people who are genetically programmed to use So.. and for some reason they gravitate towards jobs in the technology sector? Or does taking a job in the technology sector mean that, along with an addiction to caffeine and an overpowering sweet tooth, you will also develop the need begin conversations with So?

Sounds like a good topic for a thesis, or maybe a government funded study, doncha think?

And now I’m sure you will all be keeping a count of the number of times I start a sentence with So. Just keep in mind, apparently I can’t help it.

New Member

The cc welcomed a new member this past week. This is him.

The cc has always had a pair of swans. Several weeks ago the male of the pair ( which I have since learned is called a cob ) died, due to an unfortunate accident. He was hit in the head by a golf ball.

Swans pair up for life, and an un-mated female ( which I have learned, is called a pen) would be an un-happy, and perhaps not long for this world, pen. The pen in question here is 11 years old. As it turns out swans live 20-30 years in ‘controlled environments’ ( like say the ponds of a country club golf course ). So it was determined that the cob should be replaced. And here is another interesting fact I learned about swans. They pick their mates at about 2 years of age. After that you really can’t break up a pair without serious consequences for both birds. Which means the cc either had to find a cob who had also recently lost his mate, or get a 2 year old un-mated male. And of course it was much easier to find a 2 year old un-mated male, then a recently widowed cob. They found said un-mated male in Cleveland of all places. He was flown out ( on a plane, they didn’t make him fly himself ) last week and seems to be happy and busy inspecting his new home. And mate.

So I don’t know about you, but I have been thinking. About the possible devious nature of swans. Pens in particular. The pair always SEEMED happy out there paddling around the ponds together. But who knows what the true state of the relationship was? Perhaps he was bossy. Or a wimp who didn’t stand up to the ducks and geese. Or perhaps he had gotten slow and dumpy in the pen’s eyes. And perhaps she thought to herself that it was time for a change. That a nice young stud would be just the thing. And so she waited and watched and when she saw a golfer standing in a particular spot, and aimed in a particular direction, she suggested to the cob that she was sure there was something nice and tasty to eat if he looked just THERE. And presto. The old cob is history and a handsome young thing is plopped down in her ponds. I mean they seem very serene out there gliding along. But you really don’t know what lurks in the heart of a swan now do you?

So long Joe. Hope to see you soon.

As has been noted here before we are big sports fans here in The Household. And in spite of where we live 2nd place, after golf, does not belong to the orange and blue. Since 1995 the boys on the ice have been firmly entrenched at that second spot. This past week was bitter sweet for us Avs fans. Joe Sakic officially retired. We knew it was coming, but it is still hard to say goodbye. Joe says he will be working on his golf game. Which makes perfect sense, because if ever there was A Golfer in another sport it is Joe Sakic.

For those of you not familiar with hockey, and not familiar with Joe, here are two articles by Woody Paige that pretty much sum things up.

It is being said that after taking a couple of years off Joe would like to join the Avalanche organization in some management/coaching capacity. I certainly hope so. Having Gentleman Joe being part of any organization would raise the character of said organization by about 100 notches.

I know this is a golf blog but I hope you’ll forgive this brief interlude while we say Good Bye Joe. And thanks for everything.

Thoughts and Prayers

Our thoughts and prayers are with The Mickelsons. We wish this true Golfers Wife a speedy and complete recovery.

A Quick Note

So you know what can help get you through the whirlwind that is the Green Season around here? Besides Guinness I mean ( Thank God for Guinness )?  Strongbow, thats what. ( Tip o'the hat to Miss Molly. Worlds best team lead. )

It's that time of year again

Posting may be a little sparse for the next week. Things get very busy around here this time of year. Here is what I had to say about it last year. No different this year. Lots of extra dance practice, lots of performances, a parade ( please-don’t-snow-please-don’t-snow ), and of course LOTS of driving. 

And corned beef, and cabbage, and most importantly of all, if one is to survive the season, Guinness ( which actually, around here it’s Guinness season all year round ).

If I have time between draughts I may manage a post. But don’t count on it. You’ll probably have to wait until next week sometime for more from this particular fount of golfing wisdom. 

Slainte!