Friday

Well Thursday was a day where I should have lost a few ounces from around the spare tire as I ate sparingly while working and playing hard. The morning started with the usual routine after a 7'ish wake up. The skies were somewhat cloudy but it managed to stay rather nice throughout the day except for some thunder off in the distance. We did get a shower or two somewhere around sunset and then again later in the evening we got a nice soft rain, wow I never thought I wanted to see rain again for quite awhile but it was a welcome relief.

After our quiet times and a bowl of oatmeal with fruit I headed out to check on the deer damage and they(deer) used the gardens as a smorgasbord once again; the beets were eaten off at ground level and even a few were pulled out of the ground, the Swiss chard was another casualty with it being eaten off at ground level as well, the lettuce was eaten off and so was the sweet potato vines. I spent the morning constructing a deer fence complete with plastic grocery bags hanging from the line and then used some chicken wire across the beets. Hopefully they will continue to grow and sprout new leaves as we mainly like the greens for salads more than the beets themselves.

Gerald came up with his Kawasaki Mule and we loaded it several times with the sawed oak wood. After lunch we got together and with his log splitter we split and stacked both trees on his back porch. We probably got close to a couple cords of wood to season for the winter. That kept me busy until 3'ish when I decided to read and rest on the back porch until it was time to head over to Cornerstone for some pickle ball at 6:30.

Nancy had me fry up some bacon outside on the grille for a lunch of BLTs in a tortilla wrap after our daily hike to the top of the mountain and that held me the rest of the day except for a handful of mixed nuts before heading out to play at 6. It seems our other players were unable to make it at the last minute so Gerald and I played several games of singles then just hit for about an hour and a half. We were both whipped so we called it a night around 8 PM then headed out. The concrete floor makes for a different bounce than the outside non-skid court and we are starting to get use to the surface with some nice rallies. This venue will be nice for those who pursue this sport this winter here in the mountains. The only draw back is removing and then replacing the chairs weekly.


 Nancy had gone off around 4 PM to watch our young senior friend Kallie play tennis at the high school so I rode with neighbor Gerald. She was already home when we got back around 8:30 and had watched Kallie lose in a close match. We tuned into the Ray's game and they won but I have a feeling it's too late with just a few games left in the regular season to make a difference, LATER