Category: Uncategorized

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Doing Things For Play And Fun

What was the last thing you did for play or fun?

The latest thing I did for play and fun was a plane trip to San Diego yesterday to see the grandkids for the holidays. It was literally the last thing I did, because quite frankly I do everything for play and fun. I was lucky enough to find something I loved to do and I did that something for 44 yrs, with 29 of those years being my own boss. My other passion, golf, I have done for over 60 years and have had a blast. That doesn’t mean that I have not had sad times in my life. It means that if I am going to do something, no matter what it is related to, I am going to have fun doing it. I am a firm believer that work is play. You are going to be doing it 35 to 50 hours a week and if you’re not having fun then get a new career. I was an employee for 15 years and I found that this was a major difference, that most organizations were not having fun. I admit I have been lucky. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life and pretty much did it. I wish I had an answer on how to find your niche in life, but maybe that is a start. If you do something that you consider play and fun, try turning it into a career.

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Meditation: All Or Nothing At All

All or nothing at all, they even wrote a song about it. The words to that song state that no, I would rather, rather have nothing at all. If I can’t have it all, then I want nothing at all. The song is applying this philosophy to being in love with someone. If I can’t have all of your love, then I want nothing at all. This philosophy seems to have been applied to other facets of our lives. You could say it is the I want everything syndrome. The career, the family, I want it all. In most cases I think this can be a painful and destructive way to think. This kind of thinking can keep us from many experiences and pleasures. All or nothing is not a very good philosophy.

One of the best examples of this, was when I was a young vet making house calls. I had a client that had 5 cats and would visit her apartment which was on the second floor over a business. I would see her cats for various problems and their yearly checkup and vaccinations. She also had 5 very large aquariums in various rooms of the apartment. They were all well maintained and had various types of fish and other aquatic animals. She even had a hospital tank that she took care of any sick fish. She was really into it to say the least, and seemed to really enjoy all the time and effort it took to take care of the aquariums. One day when I paid her a visit all the aquariums were gone. I was shocked and ask her what happened, and she told me, while she was a work, some kind of pump thing did not work, and one of the aquariums overflowed, with the water going down into the business below. Her landlord made her get rid of the aquariums. Sometime within the next year her brother bought a duplex and rented the 2nd floor apartment to her. When I went to the new place the aquariums were back in full force, including the hospital tank. She seemed to be quite happy when her hobby had returned. Things remained the same for about 2 years. When I came for a cat visit about 2.5 years later, low and behold the aquariums were gone, again. I asked if another accident had happened, upsetting her brother. She told me oh no, I just got tired of taking care of all the aquariums and it was becoming more of an expense, so I sold everything back to the pet store. I didn’t say anything to her, but I was thinking why not just have one aquarium and still be able to get the enjoyment without as much time or expense. I think she really did enjoy those aquariums. She used to tell me about how some nights she would just watch them. Because of this all or nothing thinking she was missing out on something that she seemed to really like.

All or nothing at all, seems to be at the center of many problems of the human condition. Even in matters of the heart the ability to see a person some of the time would seem better than never seeing them at all. This philosophy has seemed to have taken more of a foothold on society in recent years. Fans are not happy unless their teams win it all. Compromise seems to be a thing of the past in Washington D. C. We are going on fasts now. Eating nothing for an extended period seems like it might be beneficial according to some. We are being told to not drink alcohol at all. We seem to go to church all the time or not at all. If we are trying to accomplish a goal and are doing quite well for an extended period of weeks or even months but then have one bad day, we seem to abandon the entire project. Winning and losing is another all or nothing credo. There is no in between. You either win or lose. There is nothing good about the outcomes or the feelings that come about because of the above scenarios. We must think differently if we are to be happier and more fun-loving individuals. The famous line winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing, should be replaced by winning isn’t everything, it is only temporary. We need to continue to strive to be the best that we can be, but we need to do it in such a way that we are allowed to have bad days but continue to push on and enjoy the life we have for as long as we can. Our new thinking should be something, no matter how small, is always better than nothing. Enjoy and appreciate the good moments and forgive and forget the bad. If you really love or like someone or something, any amount of time spent being or doing, no matter how small is better than nothing. All, should never be the goal of the living.

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Favorite Physical Activities or Exercises

Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite physical activities or exercises?
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When I was younger it was running. I would jog anywhere from 2 to 3 miles per day sometimes more. Once when I trained for a half of a marathon, I gradually upped it to around 9 to 10 miles a day. I was in my mid-forties when I ran the half marathon, and I learned one very important thing. I would never run a marathon. I would probably still be running today if it were not for an ankle injury I suffered in my early 60’s. After the injury I continued to run for about 5 years but when my significant other had her hip replaced and they told her no running, I decided that was as good as an excuse as any, and the last 5 years I have been a walker. I walk almost every day around 3 to 5 miles. My ankle is a minor inconvenience, and if I had more desire, I would probably jog on it every once in a while. My other activity of course is golf. Now people do not really think of golf as much of an activity, especially if you ride a golf cart which I do when I play 18 holes. The golf courses in Western Pennsylvania are very hilly and the terrain wreaks havoc on my ankle. When I play 9 holes, I will walk most of time but 18 is too much of a strain on the ankle. If you swing a golf club correctly, and that is the key word here, correctly, it gives the body a very nice workout. There is twisting, turning, and stretching of various muscles. The hands and wrists get a good workout. The golf swing helps you to maintain balance while performing a very refined movement. I have a very short 6 lb. weighted club that I swing every day. I also use the club to do arm exercises. The problem is, you can hit a golf ball by not using hardly any muscles, but it won’t go very far or straight. If you properly swing a club with some resistance and tension in the correct muscles, making a nice big turning swing, your body is going to get stronger. Not only that, but you are also going to be outside, not in some noisy claustrophobic gym where you can’t do anything until you wipe all the disgusting things that other people have left on the machines. Yuk! Golf is a great activity to keep the body fit and flexible. Not going to do much for your aerobic capacity but that is why you walk or run up the steps. This is a pretty easy way to keep fit.

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Golf: Mystery No. 2, Good Shots, Where Do They Come From and Where Do They Go.

We have all had this experience playing golf. We are having a bad day, not hitting the ball well at all and then all of a sudden, we hit a great shot, whether it be a drive or an iron shot. As soon as I do something like that I say “Where do the good shots come from and where do they go”. The opposite can happen also. You get off to a great start hitting the ball down the middle and onto the green for anywhere from 3 to 15 holes and then you hit one of the worst shots of your golfing career. During a round, this phenomenon can happen off and on. This happened to me about 4 days ago. On number 1,3, and 5 holes I hit wonderful iron shots with two of them resulting in birdies. On 2 and 4 I hit absolutely horrible iron shots that resulted in bogeys. They were all from under 150 yards in, and basically from the middle of the fairway. A round of golf can take many different paths. You can get off to a bad start then around the 5th or 6th hole something clicks and you play well the rest of the round. That is not so mysterious to me. The next two scenarios are a big mystery to me. You get off to a great start and then it could be as early as the 7th hole, you just suddenly lose it. You play poorly for either the rest of the round, or around 3 to 5 holes, then boom you finish up strong. The last scenario is the biggest mystery, when you get off to a bad start, seemingly right the ship around the 6th or 7th hole, and then around the 14th or 15th hole your game goes south again. You can see this even at the highest level of play. The one that stands out, is Corey Pavin in the third round of a Masters, back in the late 80’s or early 90’s. After 2 rounds he was in the hunt, only 2 or 3 shots out of the lead. He had a horrible Saturday and was 10 over for the day heading to the 18th hole. There must have been a lull in the action because CBS elected to show him playing the hole. He hit a beautiful drive around the corner, hit an iron within 3 feet for a birdie to shoot 81.

Now many golfers feel that the most common cause of bad shots made by tour professionals are caused by pressure. There is no question that at that level the circumstances are a factor. The quality of shots at any level can be affected by the situation. Everyone has gone through the experience of coming to the end of a round with a chance to shoot your best score and fouling up the last 2 or 3 holes to miss it by one shot. This cannot explain the pattern of shots that I am writing about. That is not to say that some good and bad shots cannot be explained. The average golfer has a number of courses that he plays on a regular basis. Some holes just seem to fit a golfer’s eye so to speak and, on these holes, he has a tendency to hit better shots. On the other side of the coin there are holes that the average golfer does not like and therefore has more of a tendency to hit bad shots. In other cases, these great and terrible shots, to me, remain a mystery. Unlike the swings of the pros that look so bad but produce shots that put them on the PGA tour, I think this is a mystery worth solving. I am not too sure what is the biggest mystery, the good shot that comes out of nowhere or the bad shot that unexpectedly rears up its ugly head. Solving this mystery, I believe is tied into solving the mystery of the horrible condition known as the yips. I have battled the yips off and on for years. I will go along for 10 holes or more and not have one yip. Then bam I will yip a putt or chip. One of the so-called cures for the yips is to forget about them. I know this does not work because I am always shocked when I have the first yip of the day, so I am not thinking about them. Naturally when I have the first yip, I do think of ways to avoid future ones, sometimes succeeding and sometimes not. I went through how some rounds progress, but another problem of these good and bad shots is you can have days where it affects just one part of your game. Everyone has had the experience of having a day when you are driving the ball well and your iron game is terrible. You can have the opposite ball striking day or have the most frustrating day of all where your ball striking is great and the short game and putting are horrible.

Naturally, I have not solved this mystery, or I would not be writing this blog. Have I thought that I came up with a solution to this problem? I would say about 2,345 times. This mystery has been around forever. Most people say that it’s just golf. Some golf instructors like to call this the vagaries of golf, which means the unexpected or the inexplicable change in a situation. As a descriptive term, that explains the situation as well as any one word can, but this does not give us any answers. There are some clues to the mystery, but they are not 100%. There is no question, I get a certain feeling, just before I am going to hit a good shot. In other words, I know that I am going to hit a good shot. There are other times when the good shot is a total surprise. The same thing for a bad shot. I know the shot will not turn out, but I go ahead anyway, and I am not wrong. Again, some bad shots come right out the blue. I feel really really good but then I swing, and the result is horrendous. One thing that is obvious, good shots bring more good shots and bad shots do seem to perpetuate themselves. Like everything, both things eventually come to an end. The key to playing better golf is to keep the good shots going longer and the bad shots ending quickly. The quest will go on.

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Wild Animals

Daily writing prompt
Do you ever see wild animals?
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Even though Western Pennsylvania is mostly a Democratic area, every once in a while, I do see a Trump supporter. They usually have that stupid ballcap on and I am always appalled because it is red and Ohio State colors are scarlet and gray. You usually see them in the outlying rural areas. They usually walk hunch over with their head down. When you are driving down these rural roads you have to be careful because they will have a tendency to run out onto the road, especially if they see any aluminum cans. They rarely have clothes on that fit, always a couple of sizes too small. Other than that, we will have a deer or two come into the yard. They do a very good job of trimming our shrubs. On the golf course I will see more deer and once in a while a fox. I don’t know our birds consider wild animals. We do have a lot of intelligent birds. They fly around and crap on Trump supporters only. Another reason I love living in Western Pennsylvania.

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Two Favorite Things To Wear

My two favorite things to wear (Not 1 or 3 but 2) are underwear and a toboggan. Underwear because it keeps my testicles in place and therefore, I do not sit on them. There is no question as you age your testicles have a tendency to hang down just a little farther than they did in your younger days. The difference is just enough that if you are not careful you can sit on them, and it can really hurt. I wear jockey underwear. I just do not trust boxers to do the job. Before I write about why I like a toboggan, it does go by different names such as ski cap, beanie, watch cap, and snookie, just so everyone knows what I am talking about. When I googled this, it claimed that toboggan was more of a southern term for this kind of cap. I don’t know. I grew up in Martins Ferry, Ohio and that was only name I ever heard it called until I was an adult in Western Pennsylvania. Anyway, the reason it is one of my favorite things to wear is that it allows me to play golf in some pretty cold temperatures, around 36 degrees and above. When I was a younger golfer and played golf in these cold conditions, I use to secretly make fun of other golfers that wore toboggans. I actually considered this non golf wear. I don’t even remember what started me doing it, but as soon as I covered my ears, I could not believe how much warmer I felt. Just like your hanging testicles, as you age, one becomes more sensitive to cold weather, and I really thought my cold weather days of playing golf were coming to an end. My usual threshold for playing golf was 38 degrees Fahrenheit and no wind. As I was getting older, I was moving this up to about 42 degrees. Then when I started wearing a toboggan, I was able to go back to my original conditions of play, because of how much warmer I felt with my ears covered. In fact, I would have to say that the toboggan is my favorite piece of clothing even over the underwear. However, I would always get in the golf cart very carefully.

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Golf: Mystery No. 1. With Those Swings How Did They Make It To The Tour.

One of my golf mantras has always been the swing is not the thing. Despite our obsession with our golf swings over the years, there have been many ugly, fundamentally bad swings on the PGA tour. There is nothing derogatory meant here. In fact, I have a high admiration for these players, that they were able to break free from the so-called norm and develop some kind of swing that allowed them to play at the highest level of the game. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there have been players that have had beautiful swings that are about as technically perfect as any swing can be. These players have had success on the tour, but not as much as some people think they should have, because of their great looking swings. This list is far from complete but here are some of the golfers with bad looking unpleasant swings that have had good to great PGA tour careers: Doug Sanders, Chi-Chi Rodriguez, Miller Barber, Gay Brewer, Lee Trevino, Hubert Green, Ray Floyd, Paul Goydos, Jim Furyk, Matthew Wolf, Allen Doyle. There are many more that could be added. Even Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus when they came out on tour, had things about their swings that observers were quite critical of. In Palmers case, it was his big turn and how hard he swung at the ball. It was described as a lash at the ball. Nicklaus on the other hand was criticized for the uprightness of his swing and that flying right elbow, that many said would be his Achilles heel. Women tour players have a tendency to have more fundamentally correct swings, but they did have a poster child for the unorthodox swing, if not ugly, in Nancy Lopez. She had such great tempo and balance, that her swing was far from ugly, but there was not one thing about her swing that was fundamentally correct, except for her impact position. The beautiful swingers over the years, whose careers did not achieve what they should have according to some, were Gene Littler, Tom Purtzer, Tom Weiskopf, George Knudson, Steve Elkington, Adam Scott, Greg Norman, and Louis Oosthuizen. These players had very good careers but the general opinion on all of these players is that they should have won more. You could put many more names to this list, but you get the point.

I am not too sure that a lot of golf observers get the point. What I mean by that is, when all of these unorthodox swings are discussed, the golf media is always looking to say something good about them. I saw one golf magazine have a headline that read what you can learn from Matthew Wolfe’s swing. In my view, absolutely nothing. At the top of his backswing the clubhead is directly over his head. Try that sometime but don’t hurt yourself. The other mystifying thing is how did they get to some of their swings. Many of them had fathers that were teaching pros. Everyone has to start somewhere and that is usually the fundamentals. How do you go from there and wind up with the finished product that you see on tour? However, they got there, I think it is brilliant. Some of the players were self-taught and explains some of the quirks that these players have in their swing. No matter how they got there, it still remains a mystery with those unorthodox swings, or whatever you want to call them, how they were able to have such success at the highest level of tournament golf. Some of these players success may have been short lived, and I am sure that makes people wonder if they had had more fundamentally sound swings, would they have had longer periods of success. But slumps are common in golf no matter what kind of swing you seem to have. What about those esthetically pleasing fundamentally sound golf swings that do not seem to be able to achieve what they should. What all of this says to me is that all these swing changes that you read about these players making from time to time is one big waste of time. It boils down to one basic thing that most everybody knows but just refuses to believe. That when you get to a certain level everything is determined right between the ears.

I know some that will read this and think that this really is not all that big a mystery in the game. They will say that the unorthodox swings have enough of the fundamentals of a good golf swing even though they do not look like it to explain their success. The more orthodox swings have some small non apparent flaws in their technique, which explains their lack of success. It is shown that players that change their swing seem to come out of slumps. Yes, these players do come out of slumps and players have won majors after changing their swings, Tiger Woods being that prime example. Nick Faldo is the poster boy for swing change. Hooking up with David Leadbetter he went from basically being a journeyman tour player to a 6-time major champion. He only did this once. In other examples of players who went through swing changes it did bring them success, but no more than they had before they changed their swing. There are some players who changed their swing for whatever reason and never regained the form they once had. Even though this is a mystery to me, I feel that it is a mystery that is not worth solving. What one needs to take away from all of this is that the swing is not the thing. If you really want to improve your game, and who doesn’t, you had better look somewhere else other than your golf swing.

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The All-Time Favorite Animal

Being a veterinarian, I have owned and treated many dogs and cats. However, this is without a doubt the all-time favorite animal. When I did farm work back in the mid 70’s I use to drive by a farm that used another vet. I couldn’t help but notice that there was a 3-legged cow running around the field. I could not imagine why someone would have a 3-legged cow. That farmer called me one day when his regular vet was away, to see if I could look at one of his cows. I said sure and I would be there in an hour. After I got done treating the cow and he was paying me, I said to him, I have to ask you one question. He, of course, already knew the question, why do I have a 3-legged cow. He said ” Let me tell you something about that cow. When I was out in field one day, I hit something unexpected, and the tractor rolled on top of me. That cow came over and pushed the tractor off of me and probably saved my life. Then about a month later, in the middle of the night, we had an electrical fire. The cow came on the front porch, knocked the door down, stuck its head inside and let out the loudest moo you ever heard, waking up the entire family, saving everybody’s lives”. He then turned to walk away. I called out to him, I don’t understand, why does it have only 3 legs. Without breaking stride or looking back the farmer said ” When you find a cow that good you don’t eat it all at once”. Now, that is a favorite animal. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

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Favorite Meals

The number 3 is way too limiting if you are a foodie which I am. Let’s divide this up into meals that you prepare and meals that are eaten out. When family and friends gather to eat it is always fun, but it is even better when what is being served is a favorite and really good. When you eat out, sometimes you will get a surprise, and obviously if it a good surprise, that even makes it better. When you eat at home you know it is going to be good from previous experience, and that is part of the fun of looking forward to it. I will start with my favorite eating out experiences.

I had a surprise eating experience not too long ago in Connecticut. This was at an Italian Restaurant and the experience was triggered by the bread being served with roasted garlic and a marinara sauce. When I dipped the bread in the marinara, it was the best marinara I have ever tasted, and I might add, that I make a very good marinara. This led to ordering the pasta Bolognese and it was again the best I have ever had. I had the grilled Octopus for an appetizer, which was amazing. Topped off this splendid meal with a Tiramisu dessert which was the perfect ending. I have had many amazing meals in restaurants, and I usually stick to seafood. Love fried shrimp and fish. I had a scallop dish in pasta shells with a cheese sauce which was to die for. Grilled Sea Bass is another one of my favorites. I love Mexican food and some of the best I have had was in San Diego in Old Town. The enchiladas were the best. The margaritas were delicious which made all the food taste even better. Short Ribs done right is another meal that is mouthwatering and delicious. I have had steaks years ago when it was affordable that were dry aged and were superb. The eating out experience can be wonderful, and it is a shame when it is not. Fortunately, I have not had many of those, since it can put a damper on a wonderful evening.

When cooking at home it can be even a more festive time. Thanksgiving and Christmas are one of those times. Turkey is always one of my favorites and one Christmas I did a prime rib that turned out perfectly. It was my one and only effort and it could not have been better. Homemade pizza is one of my favorites with lots of beer. The smash burger is another family favorite. My favorite dinner time meal is to make Enchiladas, beef, pork, and chicken. It is a lot of work, but it is worth the effort. The homemade ones are very delicious and better than most when you eat them out. Again, served with lots of beer. Last but certainly not least, we cannot leave out BREAKFAST! Oh my God. You name it, eggs, bacon, ham, steak, sausage. toast, waffles, pancakes, fruit, whipped cream, maple syrup, home fries, and I mean real home fries (does anybody really know how to make them anymore), Bagels, English Muffin, Crumpets, and cheese. In England they serve bake beans for breakfast, and I loved that. With all these things for breakfast, who needs lunch. One of my favorite things is breakfast for dinner. Right now, I am drooling on my fingers. I could go on, but it is obvious that naming 3 favorite meals is ridiculous. I even left out soups, chili, and chicken. Well time to eat. Did I mention that I really like meatloaf leftover, especially the one I make. Yum!

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Where Would I Live?

If I would stay in the United States I would live right where I am living now in Western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. Even though I grew up in Ohio, it was a little town Martins Ferry right on the Ohio-West Virginia border, it was only 60 miles from Pittsburgh. You could say that I have been in this area for my entire life. A four year sojourn to Columbus to go to Veterinary School and a 6 month stay in Athens Ohio to finish my pre-vet curriculum at Ohio University and that has been all the places that I have lived. There are so many pluses to living in Western Pa. that you could write a book on the subject. Here is the short list. The cost of living is more than reasonable especially for such things as housing and recreation. There are lots of things to do culturally and recreationally. It is without a doubt the best place to play golf. There are around 90 to 95 public courses with 90 minutes from my house and most of them are very reasonably priced. The weather is better than what most people think it is. Our winters are not that bad, and the most important thing is we do not get that disastrous destructive type of weather, such as hurricanes and tornadoes. Over the years we have gotten what is referred to as a microburst that has caused some damage, and some flooding here and there, but overall compared to a lot of areas of the country we have been spared. We have very successful sport teams. In my lifetime I have been able to watch 6 Super Bowl champions, 3 World Series champions, and 5 Stanley Cup champions. Having said all that there is one drawback. Pittsburgh happens to be in the state of Pennsylvania. As I use to tell many of my clients, I love Pittsburgh, I just wish it was in Ohio. Not that Ohio is any kind of utopia, far from it, but Pennsylvania is one of the most backward states in the union. If something is good they are in the bottom 5. If something is bad they are in top 5. This does not say that this totally offsets all the attributes of living in this wonderful area. It just keeps it from being perfect.

If my family were not here, or if I had no family, then I would probably live in the United Kingdom. If you have to ask why then you must be living in such a remote area that you’re not reading this anyway. I would go into more detail, but I have to get ready to play golf. Check the calendar, its November 14th, I am going to play golf, and with the winter rates, it is going to cost me $16 with a cart for 18 holes. Beat that all you southern rebels.