Drama and the Masters

My brother-in-law, Dale, and I went to Augusta, GA on Tuesday to watch a practice round of the Masters. My father-in-law was in the lottery to win tickets and for the last two years in a row, he’s gotten them. So, for the second year in a row, Dale and I have traveled to GA Golf’s Hallowed Grounds to spend the day watching the pros do it. It is awesome walking around that joint. The first thing you notice is the grass. The grass they have out for the masses to walk on and trample down is better than what I have in my front yard!! Not a weed in site and I don’t think they allow bugs in there either. I think bugs and women are held in the same regard when it comes to Augusta National; neither is allowed to join there. LOL.. Of course, the Azaleas were almost in full bloom and the weather was fantastic. We saw Phil, Tom Watson, Jim Furyk, Ian Woosnam, a bunch of guys I didn’t know, some guys I can’t remember and Vijay. I can’t stand Vijay, so I never care to see him, but we did see him at one point. We didn’t get to see Tiger this year. One of the cooler points of the day were standing behind the green on 9. The players’ second shot is from down hill to the elevated green. The shots were right at us. Very cool watching the balls come our way from almost 200 yards out and hit the green only feet away from the pin. We also stood around 16 and watched the players skip the balls off the water up to the green. That’s always a highlight. We also stood at the tee of 6 when Tom Watson came up by himself. He spent a bit of time talking to the folks in the gallery and took three shots to the green hitting various places on it. It was very cool to see people with that kind of accuracy playing and to see them take the time to talk to folks as they played. It was a great day out.. I will have pics on my website as soon as I get them from Dale. The picture above was from the 2006 trip we took. It's Dale in front of the Leaderboard.

As for my drama; it was at 0230 this morning. Tiny Baby woke up coughing around 0220, so I went up to make sure she was OK and rocked her back to sleep. After I put her back to bed, around 0230 and went back downstairs. Of course, Ripley was following my every footstep, so I let him outside to go do his business. There was a cat on the porch, so he tore off after it barking his head off. I knew, as soon as the cat was over the fence, he would quiet down, so I didn’t bother chasing him. As soon as he quieted, the cast iron fire poker next to the fireplace located about 8 feet from me, and right next to Kyko’s (my African Grey Parrot) cage, decided to jump off its holder and go crashing to the hardwood floor. It made one helluva racket when it hit the floor. Of course, when it hit, it scared the bird, he jumped off his cage and went crashing to the floor himself and fluttered all the way across the kitchen floor to the far side of the kitchen. I keep Kyko’s wings clipped, so he can’t fly, but that doesn’t keep him from trying. After he was across the floor, Heather comes busting out of the bedroom asking what’s wrong. I explain what’s going on and where everyone is and she goes back in. I look down and there are 5 red tail feathers all over the floor. Kyko hit so hard, he knocked out every tail feather but two and left a trail of them across the kitchen floor. As soon as I noticed this, Ripley comes busting back in the door and runs into the kitchen. He gets over the bird and wants to play. A 28 pound dog and a 10 ounce bird do not make great play buddies, so I had to keep Ripley at bay while Picked up Kyko to get him back to his cage. As I picked him, the dog jumped, scared the bird again, he jumped, fluttered off my arm, crashed the floor again and ran around the corner of the bar. As I got around there to push the dig back, I noticed blood drops on the floor. Kyko had broken off the tip of his beak on that last jump and was bleeding. This isn’t the first time he has done this, so I knew what to do. I got him on the bar and got some baking powder. You can put baking powder on the break and it will clot quicker. As I stated, it was only the tip, so it’s not a life threatening injury, but it’s still not good. I got the baking powder on his beak and the bleeding stopped almost immediately. Of course, all this time, the dog is jumping up to see what’s going on and whining like I locked him out of the house. After I knew Kyko was ok, I got him back on my arm to get him to his cage, the dog jumped again, and Kyko, in turn, jumped again and fluttered to the living room. I had had it “up to here” at this time and popped the dog on his butt and told him to get on the couch. He jumped up on the couch and stayed there the rest of the time. I finally got Kyko back on his cage. Besides only having 2 tail feathers left, a wing feather that was sticking out sideways and a white power all over his nose that made him look like an extra from the movie, “Blow,” he was no worse for wear. Of course, the dog was pouting because I popped him, so I had to go love on him for a few minutes and let him know I didn’t hate him. I finally got back to bed around 0300 and didn’t get back to sleep until close to 0400. Oh the joys of owning animals. But, I wouldn’t trade either of them for anything.

I Am Rescue, Hear Me Roar

OK, well not exactly roar, but hear me announce proudly that I am now a fully certified PADI Rescue Diver. We actually, finally, had my Rescue class this past weekend. After two cancellations by my local Dive Store due to no one signing up, I was able, along with 4 others, to take the class. The full write up is on my website, but I will hit the highlights here.

The class was two days. Saturday, the first half of the day in the classroom watching the video, going over knowledge reviews and taking our test. I missed one question and got a 98 on my test. 2 of the guys aced it, one got a 96 and I'm not sure what the other got, but it, also, was in the 90's. The next half day was in the pool practicing some new skills such as calming a panicked diver, getting a hold of a panicked diver without them drowning either of you, swimming with a non-responsive diver while giving rescue breaths. Note: That last one sucks!!!!

The second day was at a local open water site going over underwater search techniques and then running 4 scenarios. That was very cool, because it was play acting for all of us. We would be given a situation, how it started and when, the rest was up to us. Who would do what, how to deal with the person calling EMT/DAN etc, along with Basic Life Support and/or First Aid of the person. Luckily, we got to work as a team and not as individuals. Everyone stepped up to the plate and did their job and we passed the 4 scenarios with only minor hiccups. Not anything that would kill anyone, but minor things we could do better in a real-world situation. As they showed us in the class, there is no real right and wrong answer. They give you the knowledge to make decisions and some ideas on how to act upon those decisions, but how you get it done is up to you and what you are comfortable doing. Just for an example, we had to get an unresponsive diver off the bottom and to the surface safely. Some guys would lay down next to their victim and bring them up with them. I couldn't get my victim up while laying down and had a really hard time with it. I asked to do it again and this time, I stood up, pulled them to me and got them up much easier to the surface. See? No right or wrong way, just what is better for you.

All in all, it was an outstanding course. I was sore Sunday morning after the Saturday pool session. I was OK on Monday because the scenarios didn't tax us as much as the pool portion did. Plus, we were able to take breaks because there was an Open Water class there getting checked out in between our sessions. I learned a lot and it was, by far, the most taxing and rewarding course I've ever taken. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Of course, I have to thank Scuba Steve for yet another great display of instructing. He took the time to make sure we did it right and did safely. If we had questions, he answered each of them and never thought any of them were dumb questions. And, I want to thank Dive Buddy Dee for being our designated "Victim" for the day. Her story is on the website with the details. Next stop: Divemaster.

As I stated earlier, the full write is on the website.

Headed tomorrow to the Masters in Augusta, GA. I'll tell Tiger you said Hello.