On This Weekend...

...We Honor Those Who Gave The Ultimate Sacrifice...in defense of our great country.

And we thank those who served...

my son Benjamin in Afghanistan...

my granddaughter Tionna in Washington.

THANK YOU!

Got on the links for an enjoyable 9...

...even though the course is wetter than I've ever seen it...and they're actually letting carts drive on it now, probably bc they have to for the sake of their business.

Paddle boats would have been more appropriate today...

Nevertheless I did alright...actually hitting my cleek pretty well, both from the tees and from the fairway.

Parred a couple, bogeyed a few, and in general soaked up the ambiance of my stroll through the countryside, both emotionally as well as literally.

And on #9 I had a shot at being on the green in 3 so I could attempt a 1 putt for par...but pulled my niblick approach shot a little left...which means I'd have to chip in from here...

...to make par...and that little dot just in front of the flag is how close I came...about 6 inches from the cup.

Tapped in for bogey and strolled off the course, ready to face the rest of the day.

Finally got that knockoff DC-3 lamp modified to resemble the 1930's Ray Schober DC-3 lamp, made for the 1939 World's Fair.

Here's an original Schober lamp:

...that will run you somewhere north of $600...

...and here's my inexpensive DC-3 lamp:

...that costs a fraction of that price.

Karen has been too busy working on all the outdoor stuff we have going on here, so that's actually my handiwork, which explains a lot.

Oh well...mostly I wanted to suggest an art deco vibe, which when photographed with a 1936 Sparton Bluebird radio, emphasizes that point.

It's not great art, but it's close enough for government work.

This is shaping up to be "home improvement project" summer...we've got at least 3 projects either scheduled or nearly scheduled.

The granddaddy of them all is a complete roof replacement (insert inhuman wailing sound here).

Working through 3 quotes and trying to decide if I want to pay both an arm and a leg, or if I can get away with just a kneecap and three toes.

The other projects aren't as painful, but will be big improvements.

#4 son is going to redo our back patio...cement is cracked and sinking in spots so having that fixed will be great.

And we're having the windows in the bonus room replaced...should make it easier to both heat and cool that room, especially once the roof has been replaced which will include more insulation overhead.

Boring, I know...but such is the stuff of home ownership.

And now, for my grand finale, I've decided to fire myself out of a cannon...

...while simultaneously drinking whiskey, smoking a cigar and contemplating deep mysteries of the human condition.

No...wait...hold the phone...this note just handed me by my beautiful assistant...

...turns out we had to sell the cannon to pay for the roof.

Oh well...guess I'll hafta sign off as usual.

later, mcm fans...

Gotta Love...

...the month of May in Michigan...everything greens up and blossoms...so beautiful.

Wish that magnolia tree would keep its flowers all summer!  Sadly they'll be gone in another week.

Critter activity keeps increasing...besides a couple of neighborhood cats and a 'possum, we now have this guy...

...Rocky Raccoon feeding from the cat dish on our back patio.  Gotta hand it to the folks at Purina...their Seafood Friskies cat food is a hit with all the locals.

And the bird population is doing well...our oriole is back, and I recently heard Woody hammering away the other morning...

Gorgeous red headed woodpecker.

After what seemed like a long hiatus, I was finally able to get back on the links...

...another cool and cloudy one, and the course is still too wet, but even so it was truly a delightful stroll through the country today.

Didn't score especially well...only 1 par the entire round...but I had legitimate chances for par on 3 other holes, including #7...

...where I stroked a 25 foot putt right into the flag, but it bounced off bc I hit it just a little too hard.

Overall not a bad trip around the links for me...consistent from the tees with my cleek, hit my mashie on the fairways pretty well, chipped with my niblick almost like I knew what I was doing, and even handled Calamity Jane on the greens with some flashes of competence now and then.

When I tapped in for bogey on #9 all was right with the world...depending on the rest of y'all to keep it that way.

Here's a sneak preview of what's cooking in the courtyard...

...that's a shot of the hired help working her magic...but whatever you do, don't tell Karen I said that...she'll start charging me.

As you can see we're just getting started, so to push things forward a bit we braved the craziness of Countryside Greenhouse the day before Mom's day...

...and then Karen just spread some of what we bought around the lagoon area in preparation for actual planting...

...long way to go but it's coming along.

Here's what lives on the other side of the lagoon...

...a couple of naked jaybirds playing in the fountain...it's supposed to be "aht", I think...

And on the diet front...

...it's been and up and down kind of week...currently sitting at 208, which puts me at 10 pounds less than when I started.

Not exactly a raging success, but I definitely needed to lose those 10 pounds, and losing 5 more would be a good thing.  I'm hopeful, as the weather improves and we get outside more consistently, I'll be able to shed the remaining 5...

And finally, it's Mom's Day...originally championed by Anna Jarvis...

...back in 1908, it became an official holiday by 1914, designated such by then President Woodrow Wilson.

However, Ms. Jarvis became mightily annoyed by the rapid commercialization of her beloved holiday - all the florists, confectioners and card makers knew a moneymaker when they saw one - and over time she actively campaigned against the day she helped popularize.

By the time she died in 1948 she was nearly broke, having spent most of her life's savings trying to have the day removed from the national calendar of holidays.

For most of the rest of us, it's far less complicated...so call / visit your Mom, will ya?

later, mcm fans...

Goodbye Mr. T...

 ...it was a good ride...that's the picture Karen took of my last ride as I was driving back from having him serviced at Eclectic Motors a few days ago...was only in the 40's and very windy so I froze all 9 of my fingers on that little journey.

Here he is loaded onto the trailer and just about to pull out of the driveway for the trip east to the showroom.

Yes, it's possible it's a little bit early to bid Mr. T farewell, but my 1923 Model T truck is currently for sale at Grand Rapids Auto Gallery out by the airport...my contact there assures me he'll sell him in less than 60 days...says if nothing else there's a hot overseas market for them.

Guess we'll see...in the meantime here's a pic of us arriving at the new homestead back on July 2nd, 2017...

...and here are a few from the two years prior to that when I drove him around a bit closer to the Grand Rapids area...

he goes in the snow...

...but needed repair now and then...

...looked great just sitting there...

...or primed and ready for a jaunt around town...

Definitely going to miss him.

While we're on the subject of last things...

...this may very well have been the last fire of the season...

...because I hope - by all things decent and proper, for the love of chicken gravy, I hope - this is the LAST snow of the season...

...ENOUGH ALREADY!!

Ol' Man Winter has to be one of the rudest individuals I've ever had the displeasure to meet...he comes 'round every year but some years he lends new meaning to the unpleasantry of "overstaying your welcome"...

While Karen and I were out and about yesterday we stopped by the bookstore and grabbed a coffee...while we were there we saw a bargain bin of low priced movies so glanced at a few of the titles.

I was surprised to see 1996's megahit The English Patient there, a testament I suppose to the fleeting nature of praise and acclaim.

It was the biggest hit of 1996, though not in box office receipts.

Jerry Maguire starring Mr. Bizarro himself, Tom Cruise, takes that honor.

But TEP dominated the Oscars that year, getting nominations in 12 different categories and taking home the grand prize in 9 of them

(Of course, in keeping with the long standing tradition of incompetence at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, neither Ralph Fiennes nor Kristin Scott Thomas won the Oscar for Best Actor / Actress.)

This is an epic film in every way...running time (2:42), subject matter, the number of years it covers, the historical backdrop against which it unfolds, the method in which the story is told...

...but spoiler alert...it's a relationship flick - not a chick flick, a relationship flick - and it does not have a happily ever after, feel good ending.

I know some of  you just tuned out and I totally understand, but by so doing you're depriving yourself of experiencing some breathtaking scenery and fabulous acting...

This one is well worth your time.

But don't take my word for it...

No, wait...scratch that...do take my word for it.

On the diet front...

...I'm thrilled to report I've been stuck at 207 lbs for 5 days in a row now...perhaps that's my ideal weight?

Mr. Mirror is screaming otherwise...and to be honest, Mr. Mirror has become almost as much of a pain in the ass as Ol' Man Winter is...

...so it's been a tough few days, but planning to dust myself off, climb back in the saddle and keep plugging away at it this week...

later, mcm fans...