A birthday and something orange in the sky

One of the above happens every year (this time I was the lucky one!) and the other... well... it seems like it has been a year since we've seen it here in Florida. The weather finally broke this afternoon after about 2 days of rain and that big orange thing in the sky was a welcome sight. We've put in a couple good days on the course despite the weather. Killearn Country Club is plenty soaked. The tee boxes and greens are in awesome shape. The fairways are a little thin in spots but you can generally get good lies.

The cool thing about our practice rounds is that Brian will let me hit a tee shot every now and then and depending on the situation I'll play the hole. We started out yesterday with a couple guys fresh out of Kansas State. They bailed at the turn and it was just Brian and I the rest of the way. The 12th hole is an shortish uphill par 4 with a slight dogleg right. No warm up I get up and throw a little fade out to the right side of the fairway. A full 48 degree wedge up the hill to 3 feet. Birdie. Games kind of easy every now and then! But Brian and I just walking the course is a treat. We don't have to rush for others behind us. We don't have to wait on others in our group. We're just out there in our element.

Today we played with a couple guys from Michigan State. One of which was the leading money winner in the NGA Winter Series this past year. Those Sparty golfers are everywhere!

Those who know me know that I won't ever pass up a sushi dinner. Brian had to laugh tonight at the volume of sushi that I took in. 15 pieces of sashimi, 5 pieces of this Osaka's Louisiana Roll, 8 pieces of Rainbow Roll, 6 pieces of Alaskan Roll, half an order of edamame, and let's not forget the Miso soup!

The one thing I couldn't pull off tonight was the Jimmy Buffett concert. Hated to miss it but paying $50 for nose bleed seats inside an arena didn't appeal to me tonight without by fellow Parrotheads back in Indiana. Fins up!

Relaxing the rest of the evening was our MO tonight. Only disappoint was Sparty not winning tonight. But always a good time watching Big Bang Theory. Penny (knock knock). Penny (knock knock). Penny (knock knock).

The NGA released the pairings today and we tee off in the last group on Thursday at 2:27pm. We're honestly hoping we can just finish the round that day. We're gearing up for the possibility that we'll be back at the course early Friday morning prior to teeing off around 9:30 on Friday morning for Round 2. The weather doesn't look good either. We're not worrying so much as what we'll happen but just preparing ourselves for what could be a stop and go type of round and the potential to play a lot of golf on Friday.

It's late on Tuesday night and a full day has been had. Thanks to all for the birthday wishes. I can't really process words and thoughts any more. However, I'll leave you with the words from Thomas Edison - "There is no substitute for hard work."