Happy Fathers Day!

...<clickety-click-click>...to experience more wisdom of the ages than you can possibly use.

And to help you be an even better dad, remember this:

Your kids will love you for it.

Have you been enjoying the recent spate of "mostly peaceful protests"?

a flag waving citizen of Mexico reveling in destruction

These peace loving democrats burn cars, loot stores and assault law enforcement in an effort to spread their message of love while winning the hearts and minds of the nation.

There is a tiny flaw in their reasoning, however.

As one sage observed, countries with actual kings don't allow protests called "No Kings Day".

He wouldn't burn cars, loot businesses or assault law enforcement

People too dense to grasp that obvious fact should be bubble wrapped and securely stored someplace out of the way so they can't infect the rest of us with the moron virus.

Apart from riots by people in desperate need of a moral compass, not to mention a brain...

...the only other event I'll comment on is the conflict in the Middle East involving Israel, and it's not my commentary, but God's:

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:  they shall prosper that love thee.

"Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces."

    - Psalm 122: 6,7

We've been kicking around selling the Castle Frankenstein...

...and have been making lists of things we need to do if that's really going to happen.

One small item I checked off the list this week:

Install a period correct Automatic Electric Space Saver phone in our kitchen.

That's a Dial Gizmo hanging from the RJ-11 jack; it converts pulse dialing to tone so this 1960's telephone works with our voip line.

Gotta love mid century modern.

I changed my days off during the summer from Fridays to Mondays to take advantage of cheaper rates when I'm golfing.

So now I stroll through the countryside early on Monday morning, and by the time Saturday or Sunday rolls around when I publish this blog, who cares how I did a week ago?

Looks like you're off the hook...for now.

Besides, this is all you need to know about my last round:

'nuff said

However, I do reserve the right to ramble aimlessly about all things hickory golf if I get a hankerin'.

Your time is almost up; 23 Skidoo and you're through:

a recent courtyard pic, which inadvertently reveals...

...our case of "tree envy"...love the neighbor's dogwood tree

Loki playing 'possum

you remember the replacement art deco dancer figurine I bought to appease Karen...well right after I bought that, I found one just like the figurine I actually broke (above); so I bought that one for her as well.

and then I found a copy of a flapper statuette we already own, so I bought that, too.  I have officially stopped looking at art deco figurines now.

I am so done with this blog entry, I'll end with the student's lament from Ecclesiastes:

"And further by these my son be admonished:

"Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

"Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

    - Ecclesiastes 12: 11,12

later, mcm fans...

June 6th, 1944...

...<D-DAY>.

NEVER FORGET!

Here's a little sumthin'...

...to take you back to the mid 70's:  <Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)>.

It's a pre-rap "list" song, sorta like Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere", but dressed up with a chorus and some video that actually identifies most of what's in the list he's reading.

It was recorded by a 1-hit-wonder group called "Reunion", which was comprised of Joey Levine as lead singer / list reader and some studio musicians.

Charted at #8 in 1974...

of course I had a lava lamp, it was the '70s...didn't you?

...and why do you care about any of this?

Can't think of any good reason, other than it does name a lot of the music greats in a very short time and it's kinda fun.

And having a little bit of fun is ok, as long as you remember fun like cotton candy:  it's a nice treat now and then but you can't live on it.

Don't say I never did nuthin' for ya.

Well, he done gone and dooded it.

<The Hickory Hacker>, aka Christian Williams, has managed to give Callaway Supersoft golf balls a gutta percha style line cut cover:

For us pre-1900 hickory golfers, this is truly cool stuff, and not just for aesthetic reasons.

The only "officially approved" - i.e., acceptable for hickory tournament play - gutta percha golf ball is sold by McIntyre golf.

It's impressive that for historical purposes they use synthetic gutta percha, but their ball has 2 major problems:

One, it's outrageously expensive, around $16 per ball when you factor in shipping.

Compare that to a Callaway Supersoft at about $2.20 per ball and you get the idea.

As if that's not bad enough, worse yet is the fact it seriously underperforms when compared to gutty's used in the 19th century.

Using pre-1900 style clubs most hickory golfers get somewhere around 150 yards with a McIntyre gutty.

Don't believe that paltry number?

Here's an email I received from McIntyre golf in response to this question:

How far can you drive one of your gutta percha balls?

"Re: New customer message on May 22, 2023 at 8:00 am

 

to me

Terry-

 

140 to 160 would be typical.  most gutty events with pre-1900 clubs have course lengths at 2200-2300 yard per 9.

McIntyre Golf Company"

So how far were golfers hitting "real" guttys produced in the 2nd half of the 1800's?

In Mark Frost's book, "The Greatest Game Ever Played"...

Eddie Lowery caddying for Francis Ouimet at the 1913 US Open, the main subject of Mark Frost's book.

...he recounts Harry Vardon's victory in the 1896 British Open played at Muirfield in Scotland.

In particular he describes the 18th hole, a 447 yard par 4.

In Vardon's 1905 book, "The Complete Golfer", he reminisces about that same championship in 1896 and the 18th hole, describing it as "a fairly long hole - a drive and a good brassy."

He goes on to comment that while it's "...an easy 5, it's a more difficult 4", which makes perfect sense.

The last hole of a championship course, it's meant to be challenging.

To make par on the way out, Vardon's "drive and a brassy" would need to be something like 225 and 200 yards to be on in 2 - avoiding the nasty bunker guarding the green - to have a chance at a 2 putt for par.

So it's fair to conclude good golfers could hit a 19th century gutta percha 200+ yards.

That means McIntyre's overpriced version underperforms by at least 30 to 40 yards.

Kudos to them for trying to create a period correct ball using synthetic gutta percha, but what's more historically accurate?

The stuff you put inside it, or the way it performs?

I don't know any golfer who's more concerned about what's inside his golf ball than he is about the distance he gets from the tee.

At $16 per ball you'd think the folks at McIntyre Golf would be embarrassed by this obvious deficiency, but since they're the official ball recommended for <SOHG> and other hickory gutty ball era tournaments they just roll on.

They do so without me, however.

I may never play in a sanctioned tournament, but I can still enjoy pre-1900 golf using both clubs and balls that perform the way they did during the gutty era.

Very excited to get my mitts on a few of these brand spanking new HH guttys and come one step closer to playing the game the way it was "back when".

I'm going to skip this week's hickory golf update, having already bored you to tears with tales of the gutta percha wars, so let's 23 Skidoo:

when Larry first sent me this pic I missed Woody there in the middle of the tree

no sooner did Larry and a friend get his dock in the water than a green heron decided to use it for some fishing

an art deco figurine of an elegant lady...a "please don't beat me" gift to Karen for breaking one of her art deco figurines of an elegant lady

and, praise God in heaven, never will be

roses are blooming, top...

...and bottom

our peonies have popped

you like flowers?  we got flowers...

...can't wait until the tiger lilies, daisies, black eyed susans and hibiscus are in bloom

This day - June 6th - is a somber day.

On this day more than 8 decades ago, across an ocean in a foreign land, thousands of young American men bled and died on the beaches of Normandy in a hail of gunfire amid the fog of war.

They did not want to be there on that day, nor did they know anyone personally in the country on whose shores they laid down their lives.

They would rather have been back home with their families and friends, planning a future where they would grow old surrounded by people they love.

But their country called and they answered.

Because they did, putting duty above self and making the ultimate sacrifice, you and I are free:

Free to do and be what they might have been and done had they not given their lives for God and country.

Think about that today.

Honor their memories.

Be thankful.

Be humble.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

    - John 15:13

later, mcm fans...

Cognitive Dissonance...

...is truly enjoying a warm fire on a cold morning - while at the same time disliking cold mornings.

But hey, I'm not the only one...Kitty's right there with me.

As is often the case during this otherwise wonderful month, summer is having some trouble finding its way to our neck of the woods.

So here we are on the last day of May, sitting by the fire and hoping today might warm up to 59 degrees.

Sorry to say, we've decided next year we won't open the pool until the Memorial Day weekend.

Too much junk falls into it from the trees...

...and too many cold days to actually use it.

Lots of work and expense, not enough fun to make it worthwhile.

Heavy sigh...

Continuing with the cognitive dissonance theme, there is one other circumstance when a cold morning is acceptable, nay, preferable...

...to a warm humid day.

Yep, when I'm on the links, flailing away with my hickories.

And so it was this week when I sallied forth.

Alas, while I continue to hit pretty well from the tees and fairways, I'm still befuddled by the short game.

It only takes one foozled shot around the green to move me from bogey or better - a win in my book - to double bogey or worse.

So I'm not scoring as well as I'd like, but it's still an enjoyable early morning stroll through the countryside.

And they're about to get even earlier, as the 1st tee times from now on will be 7 rather than 8 am.

Yikes.

Before we leave the subject of hickory golf...

I've mentioned <The Hickory Hacker> before.

His real name is Christian Williams and he describes himself as both a golf historian and avid enthusiast.

Below is an explanatory quote from his blog:

"For those of us who have found a connection to this game through avenues other than athletic ability, our enjoyment of golf is derived from a deep reverence for its history, its rules, and its ability to make us better people."

Hear, hear!

One of the fun things he does is give modern low compression balls - suitable for hickory clubs - period correct "mesh pattern" covers (similar to the JH Taylor ball used in the 1920s):

Those are Titleist TruSoft low compression balls with their new "old timey" mesh pattern look.

You may be wondering what the big yank is, but to those of us practicing the black art of hickory golfery, this is très cool.

He's also working on a line cut version, similar to gutta percha balls...

...but finding molds at a reasonable price...

that's an obscene price for a mold that will do one ball at a time

...ain't easy.

If he does manage to pull this off, he'll be my new hero.

Hey, don't laugh; that's no small thing.

Other than Superman...

...Mighty Mouse...

...and Bad Orange Man...

...heroes have been in short supply.

I was going to spend some time waxing disgusted at the soulless charlatans of the lunatic left...

...but then I thought, "why stink up an otherwise perfectly good blog entry?"

Let's 23 Skidoo instead:

at Larry's cottage:  trees vanquished, job done

lakeside vista

love the rising mist on the mirrored water

doorbell image of Boo Boo from Larry's neighbor at the lake

Catherine and Rodger from Alaska stopped by our place for some food and fellowship

they brought flowers...

...and dinner.  yes, that does say "moose".

hardscape continues to bloom...

...as do our irises in the courtyard.

Loki lurking

Since I started this blog entry we've magically morphed from May into June.

Can't tell by the weather; it's just as cold this morning as it was yesterday.

But hey, it's June.

That's the official start of meteorological summer, so drop whatever un-summer type stuff you've been doing and get with the program.

No excuses!  Commence summerization procedures immediately before it's too late.

And on your way out the door, take this command from God's Word with you:

15  See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

    - Ephesians 5:15,16

Ain't that the truth.

later, mcm fans...