More Friday Shananigans

Tiger shares lead at Wachovia at -6. He's already in the clubhouse; lots of golf still going on down there.

Mavs are gone. Too bad, I've always had a soft spot for them with their owner being an IU grad. Ragtag Warriors? Number 8 seed? Whooee! What a ride for Don Nelson who's been around seemingly forever, at least as long as I can remember.

The US Attorney scandal: More bad stuff from the NYT. And this has to do not with one of the fired ones but rather with one who stepped down while investigating a US Representative and then took a job at the firm representing said representative. From the article:

"...If the United States attorney scandal has made one thing clear, it is that the riskiest job in the Bush administration is being a prosecutor investigating a Republican member of Congress. Carol Lam, the United States attorney in San Diego, was fired after she put Randy Cunningham, known as Duke, in prison. Paul Charlton, in Arizona, was dismissed while he was investigating Rick Renzi. Dan Bogden, in Nevada, was fired while he was reportedly investigating Jim Gibbons, a congressman who was elected governor last year.

Ms. Yang was investigating Jerry Lewis, who was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Ms. Lam and most of the other purged prosecutors were fired on Dec. 7. Ms. Yang, in a fortuitously timed exit, resigned in mid-October...."

Hmmm. Remember, truth will out. Right now coming out in dribs and drabs but looks like the floodgates are about to open. In more than one arena.

Did you catch the picture of the group of ten suited white men at the Republican debate last night? Patriarchal. Nice if you like that sort of thing.

I have pictures of the boys at the Cabin - food was delicious as usual and the place is under new managemant - Nick Strange and Pete Smith were out mixing with a very full house when we were there. Bunch of Catholics there from church. Friday church. I did check and they insist they are still praying for us. Life is good.

Will post pictures of the boys later. Little darlings.

Friday Shananigans

Going to the Cabin for breakfast with Diane, Eric and the boys, Lucas and Ian. Golf Course is being left in the hands of our old friend, Mz. Inclementina Weatherspoon. More shananigans a little later.

Movie Time

Picture: Stephen B. and Clinton B. after a round of golf earlier today. Waiting for good old dad to pick them up. One granddad the other night said he was glad to pick up the boys from the golf course - he remembers how much fun it was to get out and golf. Cool.

The movies:

Last night it was Shiri, a South Korean shoot-em-up secret agent man/woman thriller set in Seoul with a lovely ending. And the lovely ending was a very big surprise. Lots of gun play and chases and that sort of thing but in the end it is nothing but another love story. Such is life, I guess. Good to see part of the rest of the world.

Tonight a really strange story that seems to me to scream loud and clear that every man is an island. The movie: Legend of 1900. Lots of piano playing as the hero becomes a very accomplished piano player who spends his life on a ship. Good and one that held our interest up to the very end, but very sad.

Thursday Shot of the Day

Picture: Lloyd's Bench

Surprise, surprise! The rains held off so that the Seniors were able to finish both today's regular event plus the three or four holes left over from last week's rain shortened play. So, the website has the reports for the two events.

Sharpshooters of the day:
- how about Joe Gray, who started on #9 with a birdie and the hole prize, rolled in one from off the green on #1, and then rolled in another on #8 to take that hole prize as well. Said he played awfully well at the beginning and the end. (wish I could say the same - not so good day for old watashi).
-how about Big Al Kavanaugh, coming in with a 36, good for low gross, a share of the low net, and a hole prize on #1. It was reported he was rolling in the long putts and that his score would have been two strokes better if he could have hit a few three footers. Mighty fine shooting for the guy from Barr Reeve.
-how about the guy from out west way over there in Washington, John Chapman, who captured low net honors with a 28 as a result of his superb gross of 38. He too gets a hole prize, one of the ones dragged over from the cessation of play the previous week - or low net score. Wonder if that 38 is John's low gross ever?
-other sharpshooters: Ray Shaw got the closest shot to the barrel on #2; Jim Bateman got his shot on #7 closer than anybody else; and Tom McAtee, subbing for Bob Elliott, rolled in a long putt on #5.

Good news from Don Lannan: Virgil Harper will partner up with him starting next week. Bob Gilley, his partner of several years past, playing on Tuesday but can't make two leagues this year with his battle for good health an ongoing thing. Welcome back, Virgil. And yes, Bob, we miss you.

Congratulations to our early season leaders: Team: Kenny Hudson and Carroll Rayhill on top with Richard Barber and John Chapman nipping at their heels; Individual: Al Kavanaugh on top with little Charlie Sheetz right there one step behind. Of course, you know a lot of other golfers see you up there and are interested in getting up there with you. Hear those footsteps?

Such fun. More good golfing on its way.

More Follies

Picture: Bryant Trambaugh teeing off last night.

-Tiger and Michael playing togeter, or played together, this morning. What a magical pairing.
-"no crying in baseball" - one of my favorite sayings and a swell movie to boot. Remember it?

-more on favorite books and authors:

Maybe a particular time frame would be better than an all time package. For instance, during my last two years at Notgre Dame, D.H.Lawrence caught my eye and I read all of his stuff and ended up writing my senior thesis on Sons and Lovers, Two Women, and Lady Chatterley's Lover. These past winters, I've taken a hankering to David McCullough's writing and read a lot of his stuff, from his biography of Harry Truman to his telling of the building of the Panama Canal. Thirty years ago, when we moved from suburbia to small town and country living here in southern Indiana, I not only read back-to-the-land books but also The Little House on the Prairie series. Read some cowboy books and several mystery writers at that time as well.

So, I'm going to take a pass on the favorite author and favorite book thingee. I've got a bunch of favorites and over the coming years expect to have even more. How about you?

Raining hard here now with a thunder clap every now and then. Oh well, so it goes.

Mid Week Follies

From here and there:
-Mavs stay alive with big 4th quarter - best team in the NBA?
-what's with all the sweeping? Cavs, Pistons, Bulls had the brooms.
-what in the world happened to the Pacers this year? Big disappointment.
-Bush vetoes for the 2nd time - the bring-the-troops home bill
-Blair to step down - British to find out what really happened during the past several years, maybe.
-Gonzales and Wolfowitz hold onto their jobs, at least for the moment.
-Why is the Bible Romney's favorite non-fiction book? Why not Joe Smith's tome? What is your favorite book, fiction or non-fiction? Let me think on this for a day or two then I'll answer both parts, or not. My immediate answer is that my interest right now is in such and such and admit that I do not have a favorite all time author, not that I can think of offhand. Would that work for Romney and other celebrities? Should.
-PBS ran at least a two part series on the Mormons these last two nights - caught most of the first night and very little of the second night. Quite a story what the Mormons have gone through and accomplished in their short history. If you lived in the middle of the 1800's, would you be a believer? Are you a believer now? Each to his own.
-Catholic Church revealing Irish sex abuse. Sad, sad, sad, and then some more sad.
-and yes I did finish Hocus Pocus the other day. A good read but one that is easy to put down and come back to when the mood strikes you. I like the Japanese warden who would have preferred to be a bird. What's with the protagonist's name - Eugene Debs Hartke? Was Vonnegut saying something about or to Vance Hartke? I remember Senator Hartke from my college years. Hmmm, the link says he is known for his opposition to the Vietnam War - I didn't know that. The two of them might have been pals somewhere along the line. Any ideas?

People out here playing golf. Rain maybe this afternoon, maybe not.

Tuesday Shot of the Day

picture: Charlie Lyon letting people know he is #1. John Walker suggested we quick get a picture since it will never happen again. Guess what - Charlie's still #1. Week 2 with CL on top of the heap and counting.

Here we go again. Tuesday Men are started: Joe Doyle and sub Dave E. Strange, Mike Smith and Tom McAtee on the course; Kevin and Curt Johnson getting ready. Radar shows nothing right now, and that's how we want it for the rest of the daylight hours. Will update later.

Update 5:45pm:
-Phil Eyler finished birdie-par-birdie and a 36. Nice.
-BillCarrico (net 26) and Keith Parsons (net 29) - super team score of net 55.

Update 10:00pm:
-Don Carrico, subbing for Jim Murphy, rolled one in from the fringe on #6 for a birdie.
-Norman Graber stuck one an inch closer to the hole on #7 that Short Jeffers earlier shot. Norman got the prize; Short got the birdie.
-Norman Graber followed his sharp shooting on #7 by rolling in a 10' putt on #8 to tie Terry LaMar for that prize. Good night for Norman. And Terry LaMar who was subbing for brother Gary.
-Kevin Johnson and Mike Kidwell had par rounds, good for low gross.
-Bill Carrico had a super night, one that could have been a whole bunch better if #9 hadn't kicked him in the butt - triple bogey there and a net 26 overall. Beat ever gross of 42 for him.
-newcomers and young guns to boot, Weston Muessig and Mitch Jeffers playing awfully well. Remain in the top ten.
-old timers and the two oldies in the top ten: Mike Albertson and Junior Byron.
-Curt Johnson, playing with his swing coach, Kevin Johnson, stumbled a bit today - 48.
-Brian Ader knocked it close on #9 - hole prize and birdie.
-John Drake knocked it close on #3 and settled for a par.
-average gross score for the event: 43.63. First three weeks it was in the 45 range. People limbering up and playing better golf.
-lots of stories out there that need telling - add them in the comments.