Saturday, October 4, 2025

Ah, October...

 
...a versicolor bridge between arid Summer and algid Winter. 

Admittedly, it's a bridge I'd rather not cross.

'Twould be much nicer to simply linger here, enjoying the vibrant colors, crisp mornings and pleasant afternoons with their slanting sunshine and elongated shadows.

Alas, there's a metaphysical


sign posted on our bridge, and so we must trundle along from September to November, post haste.

But as we do we should be sure to dawdle just a bit along the way and sample October's delightful wares:

world's best apple pie, courtesy of Karen.  no idea what the extra forks are about; I only need one.


some apple juice / cider and warm donuts right out of the oven...from Knaebe's in Rogers City...worth the trip


gotta visit a local pumpkin patch; if you've got kids, it's the law...they'll sic the pumpkin patch police on you if you're awol


no autumn is complete sans everyone's seasonal favorite, leaf-peeping


leave us not forget the grand finale, all hallows e'een...


...when trick 'r treaters stop by for a little old school spookification, some goodies and a gospel tract

It'll be gone before you know it, so go ahead...immerse yourself in the renewal and change of October.

As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the Fall."


Speaking of All Hallows, the interview process for the Walk of Fear™ continued this week, with a surprising turn of events.


The previous three applicants were all in the waiting room with the new guy.

"What's going on here?" I demanded.  "I told you I'd be in touch if you get the job!"

"I think we look pretty good together," the new guy offered.


"Don't get a big head," I admonished him.

"Too late," he replied with a toothy grin.


What?  Too obvious?

Well look who knows so much!

Why don't you try coming up with clever lines for a bunch of plastic blow mold halloween decorations.

Anyway, I threatened to drop him off at the farmers market if he didn't back off.

We'll see what next week brings.


This week's HGU* involves a new endeavor for me:

A foray into the world of pre-1850 feathery golf.

Yep, it's been more than a year since I <originally mentioned featheries>, and I finally enjoyed my first round with them.

And I did actually enjoy it, in spite of playing at a local par 3 that I don't really like that much.

It has water and sand on every hole, with its lower jaw thrust out and a chip on its shoulder, just dying to prove it's "real golf", even if it is just a par 3 course.


Would have been a heck of a lot better if they'd dropped the attitude, leaned into their par 3-ness and made a course that's fun and interesting, not pointlessly nasty.

Especially since it's in the middle of a bunch of condos for folks 55 and older.

There's no way they built the course with the residents in mind.

But without driving an hour my options are limited, so I sallied forth, clubs and feathery in hand...

l to r: long spoon, hickory lane feathery, brassie, lofter, putter

...to give it a shot.

The people who make the feathery I used claim most folks can hit their ball 80 to 100 yards.

Since I can drive a low compression ball 185 yards with my long spoon, I figured I'd be on the high side of that number.

So that's the first humiliation of my introduction to featheries:

80 yards turned out to be a pretty good drive for me.

I'm convinced at least part of that is being terrified of slicing or hooking one into the water when teeing off.

At $30 a pop, that's an expensive ball to banish to Davey Jones' locker.


Either way, it's an area I can definitely improve on in the few rounds I have left this year.

Due to my paltry distance from the tee and needing to hit around all the water hazards rather than over them, I played most holes as dogleg par 4's.

The second humiliation was - not surprisingly - on the greens.

Considering their not quite round shape, they roll pretty true most of the time.

my 1 putt for par on the first hole, which happily I made.  1 up after one.

Most; not always.

Thus on a couple of occasions a short 3 footer took an unexpected left (or right) turn en route to the cup.

But overall I found this to be a ton of fun.

teeing off on the 150 yard 5th hole.  I played this as a par 4 and ended up with a bogey.  +1 at that point in the match.

My normal stroll through the countryside for 9 holes with my hickories takes about an hour and 15.

on in 3 on the 140 yard 7th hole, which I played as a par 4.  A 3 putt from there meant a double bogey.  +1 after 7.

I had the first tee time with no one behind me, so I managed 9 holes in 45 minutes, and that was taking some extra time on the greens to practice putting.

8 was a disaster, so all square in the match when I teed off on 9.  on in 2, and since I play bogey or better wins the hole, only needed to 3 putt for the win.


tapped in for par and a 1 up win in my first ever round of feathery golf.

All holes on this course are 160 or less, most in the 140 to 150 range.

I play bogey or better wins, multi-bogeys lose.

Hole by hole scoring:

1) par, +1
2) double bogey, all square
3) chip in for birdie, +1
4) double bogey, all square
5) bogey, +1
6) par, +2
7) double bogey, +1
8) lost count, all square
9) par, +1 and a win

Overall I found this to be more fun than someone my age should be allowed to have.

I actually tried 2 different feathery golf balls:

- the Hickory Lane one with which I played my round;

- and one from the Authentic Featherie Company in Australia that goes by the "Lion" brand.  I hit it as an extra non-scoring shot now and then from the tees, fairways and on the green.


You can see the Lion ball is quite a bit smaller; it's actually a tad smaller than a modern ball, which I found to be annoying.

It's also much more expensive than the Lane ball, but performs roughly the same, maybe not quite as good.

With apologies to our friends from Down Under, don't waste your money on their Lion featheries; stick with <Hickory Lane Featheries>.

I think I can honestly say I'd be happy playing nothing but feathery golf from now on if I could find a par 3 course not quite as muscular as the one here in Holland.

I know I was tight on the tees where a simple mis-hit would drop my Hickory Lane feathery in the drink, and there's no question I play my best golf when I'm relaxed.

Hoping to get 2 outings per week for the next 3 or 4 weeks, and all of them will be featheries.

Next season?

Stay tuned.

*HGU = Hickory Golf Update


Time to 23 Skidoo:

mums in bloom now


moonlight on the water at Larry's cottage


un petite mystere...something keeps knocking the solar light off the post where our thermometer resides


if they do it again we'll know they have opposable thumbs and a philips head screwdriver...firmly attached now


first October sunrise at Larry's cottage...


...and an October sunset by our pool


with permission from the Mistress of the Manor, I'm removing stuff that shouldn't be there, blocking the view of Dean Bryan Vollendorf's wall...


...and voila!  much better.



This has been an unusual September / early October, with temps averaging 10 to 15 degrees above normal, and loads of sunshine.

Not complaining - a rarity, I know.

The sunshine is wonderful, but I've actually missed mornings in the 40's and low 50's when I'm prowling the local links with my hickories.

Today we're headed to one of my grandsons' wedding, and it will probably be in the mid 80's when they tie the knot.

Supposedly Autumn returns next week, and I'll welcome the change of weather to something more Octoberish.

Either way I'm thankful to be vertical and able to take nourishment;

I'm thankful for God's provision and protection:

" 1  Except th LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

" 2  It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so He giveth his beloved sleep."

    - Psalms 127:1-2


later, mcm fans...



Saturday, September 27, 2025

Can Hardly Believe...


...it's been 20 years already...not sure where the time went, or how it passed so quickly.

But I do know I'm incredibly blessed to have spent the last 20 years with my lovely wife.

wedding day, 2005

And of course, she feels exactly the same about me, right my darling kumquat?

I said, right?

Sweetheart?

Yes...well, she's probably busy counting her many matrimonial blessings, so we can come back to that later.

How did we celebrate?

By returning to the scene of the crime:




The shores of Lake Michigan in the Douglas / Saugatuck area where we honeymooned.

It was a beautiful day, <muy agradable> with just a touch of melancholy, casting back to those times when our love was new and the vigor of youth still throbbed in our veins.

I'm very thankful to have spent these years with the love of my life, and am reminded of God's description of The Virtuous Woman:

"10  Who can find a virtuous woman?  for her price is far above rubies.

"11  The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

"12  She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life...

"...28  Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

"29  Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

"30  Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain:  but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised."

    - Proverbs 31

Such great memories we've shared, and we're busy making more for the next 20 years.


So what do you think...is TDS* real or not?

My vote is it's so real it's actually dangerous, not just to the half-wits who have it, but also to those around them.

Case in point:

In 2017 Tylenol posted this on line.


Why do we care about this?

Recently the Trump White House, in conjunction with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, <advised against taking Tylenol during pregnancy> due to an increased risk of autism.

Get that?  They didn't say "if you take tylenol while pregnant your baby will have autism".

They advised against taking it while pregnant because some studies have shown a possible link between the two.

So what do you suppose the immediate reaction was among the morons with TDS?

You guessed it: <Pregnant Women Taking Tylenol> went viral.


A part of me doesn't care.

Stupidity is God's way of thinning the herd, so yeah...go ahead, take the whole bottle, destroy your liver, sayonara, and the collective IQ of the world just ticked up a notch.

But - and this is the kicker - there's another life involved here, an innocent one who depends on the brain dead idiot carrying them in the womb.

And you would think if there was even a chance - no matter how small - that ingesting acetaminophen (or any other substance) might harm their baby, they would be - if not smart enough, then at least caring enough about their unborn child - to NOT take it until AFTER they're born.

But no...this is their "wonder of me!" viral moment in the spotlight when they get to prove to the world:

Trump doesn't tell ME what to do!

Imagine the videos we'd be seeing online if he'd told them not to drop acid and snort cocaine while pregnant.

Lord have mercy on those poor babies.

*TDS - Trump Derangement Syndrome


Had another applicant for this year's "Walk Of Fear", due to open for a one night only engagement on Friday, October 31st.

I don't normally agree to interview applicants in abandoned factories at midnight...


...but he showed some real spirit in his application, and time is running short.

Hoping I'd be able to recognize him from his picture, I crossed all 9 fingers for luck and tallied ho.

The place didn't show any signs of life when I got there, and I was a little on edge when I couldn't find him.


Suddenly he just appeared out nowhere and spooked me.

"Well finally!" I said a little too quickly.

"I was starting to think you were ghosting me."

I could continue but it's all downhill from here with me struggling to fit words like "phantom", "wraith", "visitant" and "specter" into awkward sentences.

Suffice to say he and his pumpkin friends are still in the haunt for the job.


Howzabouts we HGU*, pic captions only, just for fun.

teeing off for the last time this year, at least on this course.  the drought was so bad they're shutting it down to overseed and repair.

birdie putt on 2 that morphed into a par

ditto on 5

"I think I'll chip in for birdie," sez I to myself on 7, just before I foozled it into a bogey

birdie putt on the par 5 8th hole that miraculously became an actual birdie

Remaining rounds this year will be with featheries on a local par 3 course which I'll play as par 4's.

More to come...but not too much more...

*HGU = hickory golf update


23 Skidoo, y'all...

Photographic evidence cats come when called:

Loki limbering up for the task at hand

biiiiig stretch...there's no rush here

getting the kinks out...it was so comfortable sleeping on the wall

"for cryin' out loud, the things I do for my subordinates.  there better be a big dish of food waiting for me that I can sniff and ignore."

a view from Lake Beautiful where Larry resides

ditto


"These are troubled times" is something that has been said all throughout history.

Pick any era you wish and it's guaranteed to have been punctuated by violence, corruption, greed, war.

We're fallen sinners (Romans 3:23); it's what we do.

So it's easy to get discouraged, but that's a mistake.

Instead of giving in to despair and panic, we should take comfort that God is in control of all things:

"10  Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

"11  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah."

    - Psalms 46  

later, mcm fans...