Some guy in a small travel trailer with a pop-out canvas bedroom came out to get something out of his SUV. A little dog was tied up to the back of the trailer and starting yapping like crazy. The lady stuck her head out of the back door of the trailer and said "For crying out loud, say good morning to Ralphie so he shuts up." I laughed and thought "Yeah, right, that will certainly make him stop barking." So the guy says quietly in a deep gruff voice "Hey Ralphie." And the little dog sat down and shut up. I guess he just wanted the guy to acknowledge that he was alive:-) By the way, Carlee, a German shorthaired pointer won Best in Show at the 2005 Westminster Kennel Club competition last night. We were cheering for her all the way. What a great looking dog. She posed like no dog I've ever seen before. Very regal!
After breakfast we cleaned up and headed north on 165 to an 18-hole course, Ricewood, in Oberlin that is open to the public. Our first clue that it was not going to be a stellar course was the price; $10.00 green fees. As we got our bags and shoes out of the truck, a local guy came by in a golf cart and said "Do you think it's so wet you're going to need that boat?" We still have the DeLorean on top of the truck so we get a lot of boat comments, especially when it's raining. This guy asked where we were from and if we had ever played the course before. We said no it was our first time and he said "Then it will be your last. It's really wet here." That was our second clue. The locals rarely badmouth their own course unless it is a dog track (golf lingo for really poorly maintained.) He was part of the "High Nooners" who play every day at noon--imagine that. They teed off right in front of us. Another old guy from the foursome came over and shook our hand and asked us where we were from. They're very friendly here. Probably trying to drum up some business for their course.
The course was short; 5791 from the white tees for Bob and 4904 from the red tees for me. Well, I tried to play the red tees most of the way, but they were hard to locate so sometimes I gave up looking and played from the green tees which are just slightly longer. But with my new driver it was not a problem. John Daly's got nothing on me now:-) The course was very wet and we got no roll and no good lies in the fairways. But we got in some good practice since we hadn't played in a while. All we did the whole time in Austin was go to the driving range, except for our soggy round at Shadow Glen with Steve. We played all but three holes on the back. It just got too wet back there. They had even shortened at least one hole to a Par 3 because the fairway was unplayable. We were hot and hungry anyway. The humidity yesterday was 100% and I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the same today. And the high is supposed to be 80. It sure feels like it.
We headed back to Kinder after 15 or 20 minutes of cleaning off our shoes and pull carts. We had a great lunch at Bamboo Hut Chinese Restaurant at 607 1st Ave. The Moo Goo Gai Pan that I ordered was some of the best I ever had. Bob's Shrimp and Broccoli was equally delicious. We took big 'to go' boxes home they served so much. We stopped in the Resort Lodge and got a complimentary Houston Chronicle. Then we dug out the lawn chairs and read the paper on the patio. The wind kicked up and the promised cold front arrived. It chased us inside to finish the paper. We cleaned up, had a snack and are resting our tired feet.
It's West Wing tonight. We miss Glenda AND her decadent chocolate torte!
It's 7:13 p.m. and 60.3 degrees.