Last Time For This Foursome In A While...

So I woke up this morning with an ugly sight in my kitchen. Claire had pooped all over. In a way I did this. I gave her new puppy food yesterday afternoon because she didn't seem to be eating the same food we always give her. I took her out for a walk last night the second I got home and she didn't poop. I figured that was ok. Turned out to be not. And so I would be spending first thing this morning cleaning up dogshit in my kitchen floor. <Sigh> And I have to leave her all morning to play golf. Did I dare? I had no choice of course. And so off I went to Pasadena to play at Altadena. And I knew it was going to be one hot day. There was a lingering memory of the last time we played here when it was this hot and that was when Chris was injured and drove around in a golf cart and Greg and I were huffing and puffing all day trying to keep up. One of many lingering memories of our time playing golf together. All 4 of us made it today even though all but Scott were at the party last night and I would have given Greg a pass for missing today since he had to stay until it was over. Probably at 11 PM. But here he was swatting long tee shots off the tee and hitting a pair of pars right out of the gate. Me? Ehh... I did not start well. I have GOT to find my shot from the fairway. My tee shots were ok. But my fairway shots were nowhere to be found. Of course I have not shot decently from the fairway for a good month now and I probably should find some practice time because my swing is all tweaked up. Still I played decently after the 5th hole. Even tied to win 2 holes actually. When I messed up on Hole 7 which is usually my best hole on this course, I knew today was not my day. But hey, I tied for the win on 8 and I had a nice hole on 9 except that I blew a very short putt to miss tying for my 3rd hole. The significance of today was that this game was probably the last time this foursome will be playing together in a while. I hate to sound sentimental but this week has been one for timemarkers and such. And I'm just creating one here. It reminded me that no matter what, we had a lot of good times on the golf course the four of us. And I will miss Greg. And that cackle of his. 

It's funny when he started playing with us intermittently more than 5 years ago at Penmar at that 9:30 AM timeslot, I will admit I likened him to that character in Get Smart Albert Pfister in the Nitrowhisperine episode. Kind of an older kook who needed a lot of sunscreen. Who knew he was already older than Scott. When Mandy and Lisa stopped playing, he sort of just stepped into the void. When he traveled to Harbor to play with us, that's when you knew he wanted to play with us regularly. And then after the separation and divorce, the foursome sort of just coalesced and cemented. And now here we are at the end of that foursome. You never how long a good thing will last. Which is why you enjoy the moment as much as possible. Anyway after the golf game, it felt like just another Sunday, except that I finally got a text from Lisa that Johnnie had left me a note. I don't think he realizes I won't be getting it for 3 weeks but that's ok. It was just to let me know they had made it to Maui just fine. I went home and Claire had pooped all over the kitchen again. Lucky it was stone. I felt bad rubbing her nose in her own shit but she has to learn. And then I got me some French Dip and onion rings from Marie Callenders and just chilled the rest of Sunday away. I did make a pit stop at Lisa's to take out her garbage bins. Yes, I was checking on Courtney. Hey it took all of a couple of minutes and I did it on the way to the grocery store anyway to finish my shopping. Tonight I made myself some beef stew for dinner. Hadn't made that in a few months. It used to be the winter staple. Tonight, it was simply the fastest thing I could make that I could leave alone simmering for a bit. I reminded myself that I'm already on Day 2 of 3 weeks that I have to put something together if I'm truly serious about retiring by the end of the year. Getting to $1.1M or better by then would be nice, although really I already have a year's worth of savings to get by on don't I? I need to do my calcs, research tax implications and get my game plan rock solid. That much I need to be done with before Johnnie comes back. It's all good.