Let’s see … what’s been going on. I golfed with JP on February 17th and discovered that I can semi-consistently hit a pitching wedge 100 yards. I can even hit it in the general direction I think I’m aiming. JP can hit a 5-wood about half as far as I can hit the pitching wedge. That’s not bragging, by any means, because I’ve never, ever beaten JP on the golf course. Until today. I beat him by one stroke and I even got a par on one hole. It was a good day.

The new owner of the old 1973 Winnebago called me on February 18th and was obviously at his wit’s end because he couldn’t get it started. Since he was still in St. Helens, I shelved my baseboard project for a moment, one of the remodels I had to do because of pending visitors, and went to see what I could do. Turns out the fully charged battery his friend gave him wasn’t really charged at all. It was dead as a door nail and it just happened to be the battery for the engine and lights. The other battery had juice and worked the 12V house lights just fine. So, he retrieved the battery that he replaced and we discovered it actually had a 12.5 V charge, enough to kick the engine over. We hooked it up, and it did the job. The engine ran just great. My job was done and he was very grateful. I could tell that by the way he drove away.

After getting that little task complete I went back to the house to participate in the scheduled full on field day to clean house for visitors, previously mentioned, this weekend. They aren’t technically visitors because we’re all related in some way. One of them is the Brother-in-law of one of my Sisters-in-law who is also the father of some sort of niece, Maryssa, who was the focus of the visit. There was a lot of college softball going on over the course of February 20, 21, and 22. In the middle of all those games was a soccer match at which Lydia, the daughter of my oldest son’s brother-in-law and his wife, played goalie, or Keeper as the soccer crowd seems to prefer. I won’t burden you with scores but will admit that I had a great time watching all of the games. It was exciting, even the soccer, which previously held no interest for me because I failed to comprehend the rules and, therefore, found it profoundly confusing. I’m learning, however, and now find it very exciting. Softball is always exciting. Maryssa is a freshman at Eastern Oregon University and was, we later discovered, playing while coping with a case of mononucleosis. How fun do you think that was? Still, she got her first college RBI and we got to see it.

I’d tell you what happened yesterday but I really don’t know because I apparently removed a crucial calendar entry that would have provided that information. Guess it will forever be one of those mysteries.

Now I must quit and contemplate how much it’s going to rain tomorrow. The last 5-6 days have been glorious but we knew it wouldn’t last. Thankfully, I was able to squeeze enough gas out of the array of gas containers I found around the house to allow me to mow the front and back yards. Sadly, I didn’t have enough time to mow the lower 40 so it will grow unimpeded until spring at which time it will no doubt be a foot or two tall and will take a couple of days of slow motion mowing to finish.

Also, Diane bought me peanut brittle for being good. I’m going to go eat some. I’ll leave you with a few photos of the family visit and activities.

This is Bob making friends with Ozzie. He works on that every time he visits and Ozzie displayed evidence that he remembered Bob because he didn’t bite him this time.

Wynette and Donna watching the ball game. It was a beautiful day, but really cold. Like 9 degrees, I think. Looking at this makes me wonder why I didn’t realize that Wynette is so much taller than Donna. I think it evens out a little when they stand up.

At Sunday’s game, the first of two, Lydia thought painting her toes would be a good idea. Like I said, it was around 9 degrees with the wind chill factor and she’s barefooted.

Here’s part of the crew between Sunday’s games: Jennifer, Jeran, Cedric, Maryssa, Lydia, and Steffani.

Here I am playing golf today in one of my best T-shirts. Apparently I’m the only one who knew it was “Dress Up Golf Day” because everyone else looked normal. Also, I wanted to point out how all the skin on my face is dripping down my neck into my shirt like frosting on a cake. It’s much worse when I take my hat off.