Return to Birmingham

We have been enjoying ourselves since our return to Birmingham. Mike and I played golf on Wednesday with Rick Arnold and Bart, the new Executive Director of the PGA section here in the Birmingham area. We played a new course, Ballantrae, which was very close to our RV Park. The course opened last year but this is its first full year. It has been nominated as a best new course for 2005 and Rick and I both did a Golf Digest evaluation of the course. The course was cut entirely out of the forest and trees surround almost every hole. The fairways are overly generous, over 80 yards wide in most areas, so even bad tee shots will normally find the fairway or at least some grass.

We had a good day and the group was very compatible. I was able to keep my losses to Mike down to $2 so I get an extra shot next time for minimal cost. Rick stopped by the RV Park for a beer and my friend Fred Stevens, and his lovely wife Sandra, met us there for dinner as well. We grilled some steaks and the weather was so nice we ate outside and had a wonderful meal. Tippy and Patty are sure great at sharing the chores and coming up with well-balanced meals when we eat in. After dinner we continued to sit outside and enjoy the nice evening with conversation and a couple of bottles of wine. Sandra had to leave for Washington, DC at 5:00 am the next day so we finally had to part company. We will see them again at Pinehurst for the Open, as Fred also serves as a rules official. Fred is the Director of Championships for the Alabama Golf Association. In addition to the eight state championships the association runs he is also responsible for the SEC Golf Championship, two levels of state high school championships, plus all of the USGA qualifiers in the state. He stays pretty busy but like most of us he does what he loves to do.

We have had Alex spayed while we have been here in Birmingham. We dropped her off at the vet hospital on Tuesday morning and picked her up on Thursday morning. The surgery went fine and she is now mending well. Our only problem is trying to keep her somewhat inactive so the interior stitches can heal properly. She has some medication, a liquid, and she gets a daily dose of ½ an ounce until Sunday.

Tippy, Mike, & Patty met Rick at Niki’s West in downtown Birmingham yesterday, Thursday, for lunch. This is a famous local place that feeds 2,000 meals every day for lunch. It is a cafeteria style and they apparently keep you moving as you select your meal. I stayed home with Alex so she didn’t over do herself and got a couple of things done in the coach. We had chicken breasts, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls for dinner. Mmmmmmmmmm gooooood, I don’t know how they do it!

There were some thunderstorms in the area yesterday and they are supposed to return today with some scattered tornadoes also possible. We will probably stick pretty close to the RV Park today; our golf date will be canceled, but may go out to lunch. On Sunday we will drive to Montgomery for an afternoon of fishing and sight seeing on Cindy’s pontoon boat. We will stay overnight at a Core of Engineers (COE) RV Park, Prairie Creek, and head for the Golf Shores area on Monday. Stay tuned, be safe.