Random Thoughts

I spent nearly the whole weekend outside despite the heat. Friday night I went to play some disc golf. I haven't played for a week or two and my game was really showing it. It's amazing how fast you get out of form. Oddly enough, despite my overall poor showing, I did get my first-ever hole in one! Of course no one I know was around to witness it since I went to the course alone to practice. A bunch of guys waiting to play the next hole did see it though and they all wanted to sign my disc so I could prove that I had done it. That was pretty cool.

Saturday I got up early to get Alex to the dog park before it got too hot. She doesn't run much when it's this warm, but she still really enjoys going. She gets to sniff everything, leave lot of "notes" for other dogs, and gets to hang with some of her friends. Yes, she definitely has dogs she likes and some she doesn't. When she gets used to a dog and decides they are OK we say they have made it into the "cool club". A couple of the dogs have even figured out that she is not nearly as tough as she pretends to be and they get away with things she would never tolerate from others. One dog, called tucker, who belongs to a lady who works with me on the K9COLA board, loves to run up and nip at her hind legs. She always spins and growls at him but lets him keep doing it. Any other dog and she would be all over it. Most dogs are too intimidated by her to even think about doing that! She's really quite a pushover, but she can't let just anyone know that or she might loose her status as Queen of the Park. :)

That evening we had James over for dinner. Afterwards we went to hide a geocache. What am I talking about? Well it's a game we've been playing since February and are having a lot of fun with it. James usually brings his son along and he really gets a kick out of it. For me and James it's just a good excuse to get out and enjoy the outdoors. It also lets us discover lots of neat places we might have visited otherwise. You can learn more at www.geocaching.com. I go by the alias "Hike!" on that site.

After that we went to the disc golf course and played a round. I didn't do much better than the night before, but thankfully he was pretty rusty too. I was a pretty nice evening and did cool down nicely.

On Sunday morning I again got up early and took Alex for a hike at Palisades State Park. There is a trail through the woods that we like and the shade kept the temperature manageable. We also checked in on a geocache that James hid there earlier in the year.

I played more disc golf in the afternoon and did a little better. I managed a birdie on a hole that I've only been able to get par on before. In the evening I went hunting more geocaches. I nearly got eaten alive by mosquitoes on one though. I had on 25% DEET and it barely slowed them down. I made a hasty retreat after quickly signing the log book. I searched out several others and none of them were nearly so infested with the little vampires. I didn't get home until nearly dark and I was pretty exhausted. These high temps really take it out of me.

I all it was a pretty fun weekend. Next weekend James, his son Mason, and I are planning to go camping at Maquoketa Caves Park. Michelle has to work, so we figured it would be a good weekend to go since she doesn't really like caving.

Randy