Well this year I'm going to do it! Every year since I moved to Western North Carolina, John Dalzell calls and invites me to the Corona Host Lions Poker tournament and then within a week or so Leroy Fleming calls and tries to sell me a ticket to the event. And of course being 2,500 miles away, practically with my toes in the Atlantic, I can't just drop everything and travel all that way to play poker with my friends for an afternoon. However, this year I didn't get the call! No invitation to the tournament, no attempt to sell me a ticket that I can't use. I've even stopped receiving the Corona Host Lions meeting notices and recaps and I am still an Associate member of that club. Talk about being forgotten and feeling irrelevant.
I'll show them!
I have my airline flight booked and my poker entry ticket reserved. Now I need to fuss with all of those other pesky details like where to stay and how to get around. I figure my best opportunity to remind all my friends that I'm still out here is to mooch off everyone. Not too much that would wear out my welcome but just enough to remind them all that I'm still kicking. I know I still have a couple of friends left in California because I've already received an offer or two for a place to stay for the night. I'm arriving Tuesday evening, April 9th, and flying out Tuesday, April 16th. My goal is to see if enough people remember me so I don't have to impose on anyone more than a night at a time. The phone (text) lines are open.
This falls into the "Be Careful What You Wish For" category. I've still yet to play anyone on the Racquetball Challenge Ladder at the Y, however I started a Racquetball Meet-Up group on-line and I have my phone number posted all over the antechamber outside the racquetball courts. I've received a number of calls and requests to play and the number of players that have beat me is up to 3, although I did win 1 of 3 from one of those players. John O'Doherty asked me to be ready to play when I arrive in SoCal. I replied that I'm traveling light and could not bring my racquetball gear, but I may have to find a way!
As it turns out, the "heavier than average snow fall this winter" was just about all done as of my last posting. We got a couple of dustings after that but it's been all rain all winter for us this year. I understand it's been about the same in SoCal. We have a friend who's house has an addition that blocks the drainage down one side of her yard. With all the rain we've had her back yard literally had 4 to 6 inches of standing water almost all the time. Liam was getting short of spending money for the year so he and I took on the project. The ground was so wet it was relatively easy digging but it was still about 160 feet of trench to dig to get the water out to the front. Liam and I started at opposite ends and worked to the middle. When we got about 6 or 7 feet apart I stopped and said to Liam; "You know, my dad had his first heart attack in the winter digging a trench to drain water away from his house. My dad was 59 at the time. Thank goodness I'm only 58!"
Maureen had expressed to me a number of times in the past that she was interested in taking up archery. Two Christmases ago I gave her a nice appropriately sized compound bow. However, with all the changes in our lives going on at the time and chasing Liam around the southeast every weekend, we never got the opportunity to actually pursue the sport. So for our anniversary this year I gave us both an archery lesson. And for Valentines' Day I built an archery range in our back yard. It's nice to have an acre to move around in back there.
It's far enough back that we can shoot out to 40+ yards if we want.
While we were waiting for an opportunity to actually use the range with all the rain we've been having I went a little nuts with some PVC pipe and camouflage duct tape.
Above is an archery shooting station and right is a target stand. They are both still on the porch because when I took these pictures it was still raining like mad.
Here's how stir crazy I was getting with all the rain.
I had some 1" PVC left over so I purchased some extra fittings and made a "Buddy Tree", for lack of a better description, to hold all of the dog stuff always laying about near the door.
And last, I'm working on a new (for me) art form. My mom needed something to comply with the theme of a craft show she is entering in April. The craft show is called the "Daffodil Festival."
I'm attempting to carve Daffodils into a linoleum block and produce a series of block prints with water color that she can display and sell. I started late and I'm not sure how well they will come out since this is my first foray into this particular form of "mixed-media", but if it turns out at all I'll share some of the finished product in a future posting.
But let's not get distracted. The whole purpose of my blog this time is to advertise my intent to impose of any friends I may have remaining in SoCal.
Hope to see you soon! 😉
Rick
