First Time Out

Zack, my brother, had spring break this last week. I conned him into watching Triton Friday morning so that I could go golfing for the first time this year. My uncle and I always go at least 4 or 5 times a week on the average all summer. He had already been to Burley and a few other places before me, but his scores didn't sound all that imposing. I did however want to get out and see how I might do. The year before I did horrible my first few times out and was actually in a funk for about the first three months of the year. I wasn't hitting the ball at all good and wasn't getting any distance when I did hit it good. I took a lesson and that didn't help at all, something was wrong that even a club pro wasn't able to see. He said that my swing was good and gave me a couple of ideas of what to try, but they honestly didn't help. I surpised him on how good my swing was, but why wasn't I getting any distance? I don't know what I tried or ended up doing, but I was able to get everything together last year and won the first tournament I entered. It was in a division with other crappy golfers have you, but I still won. I actually golfed pretty crappy too, but still won. I still wasn't hitting the woods very good and when I did connect I wasn't getting any distance?
This year there is no such funk, knock on wood. I did have three horrible drives, but overall everything was pretty good. I shot an 84, which is lower than the scores that I shot to win my first tournament at the same course (Sage Lakes). I didn't get very good distance with the driver, but I hit it pretty good nonetheless. I kicked Henry's butt by 5 strokes, even though he scored his best round yet for the year. The first 7 holes I was 10 over par, the next 8 holes I played at one over par. I doubled 16 and bogeyed the last hole to shoot a 40 on the back nine. Henry and I had $150.00 worth of bets last year along with skins. He won $3.75 on the skins for the year, but with the other individual bets, I was up $70.00. I have not claimed that money and hope that he has forgotten about the bets because I don't want to take that much from him. Plus he and Barbara always watch Triton, and I am sure that Henry paid my way into State Championships (bowling) a few years back. We are only playing a dime a hole this year, because I am seriously doubting that he will beat me at all. I don't want to take that much from him, and even if I were to never lose, the most I think that he would owe me playing a dime a hole might be $20.00.
Speaking of bowling, State Championships for this year is already here. We bowl this Saturday in Burley. I am hoping to bowl average, but again like city, that won't be enough to cash. Averaging over a 200 and barely hitting average just doesn't pay, so wish me luck that I bowl really good. Not that I would win that much money anyways, I have placed first in doubles and team before and first place for doubles in the state was only $350.00. It was a lower division at the time we bowled it, but first place in division A last year was only $250.00. A lot of that had to do with the tournament being held in Coeur 'd Alene, not too many people wanted to travel that far to bowl. This year it is in Burley and should have more entries. Nationals however is a different story, if I were to bowl average there, I would make more than my money back. That is where I am hoping to finally bowl average. Nationals is in Vegas this year and the oil pattern on the lanes at Nationals is always tough and thus the reason that hitting average will make you money. We don't go to Vegas until July, going to suck being in Vegas in the middle of summer, but it was all that we were able to get. We will be down there during the World Series of Poker, of course I won't be playing in it, but it would be nice right? I did however split first place in a local poker tournament this past week. Profited $105.00, and gave the other person more of the prize pool because she had me out chipped. I am a nice person like that, and was happy with taking home $120.00. There might have been a chance that I could have come back from that 5 to 1 chip lead, but it was already late in the night and like I have said before I am unlucky. I was lucky one time and that was the reason that I even made the money. The final table consists of 6 people fighting it out for the top three spots. Only the top three places are paid. When it was down to 4, I was all in with an inferior hand, but won the hand to double up. I had to double up once more to get me in the money. As soon as the 3rd place guy dropped off collecting his $33.00 I suggested a split with of the rest of the prize money. I would have suggested a split with the three of us, but I forgot. Most of the time the blinds are too high to play much skillful poker at that time, so a split is a smart thing to do when finally in the money. Sorry Kevin for not thinking of splitting until you were out.

Mother Bear

Last week while at work I get a phone call from Sheri. She was going to be dropping off Triton at my work within a few minutes, so why was she calling? She is somewhat hysterical, but I figured it was nothing. She then claims that she had caught this spider, and blah blah, make sure that I kill it when I get home. She wanted me to make sure that it wasn't a black widow as well. I have only seen one black widow at our house (actually my mom's house) in 18 years or so. My mom had also claimed to have seen one on the front step, but I didn't see that one. Thus I was skeptical about this being a black widow. Sheri hates spiders and won't even catch a jumping spider, so how could she of all people catch a black widow?
The black widow spider is just about the only spider that creeps me out? I can see a hobo spider and be fine, any other kind of spider really doesn't bother me. I kill hobo spiders and mostly just leave the other's to themselves unless it looks anything like a recluse! I sometimes will take them outside if Sheri is home and demanding that it be killed, but if it isn't a hobo or a recluse, why kill it? The black widow creeps me out big time? I don't know why. Maybe it has to do with the first time that I ever seen one. The spider was in my own bedroom when I was probably 16 or so. I entered my room, which was always dark, and the sunlight peeked in and shown a hint of light in the room. I never used my dresser growing up, everything was usually on the floor or in a hamper after being cleaned. Might have been a great thing that I didn't use my dresser. One of the drawers was halfway open and I discovered that something was hovering in the opening area, in a web. It was for sure a black widow, for some reason I knew it right off. Shiny, black and much bigger than I would have imagined it being. I vaguely remember why I used a single rod to try and kill this spider? It might have been the only thing near me at the time and it was long enough to keep my distance from this creature. I used what must have been a broom without the actual broom head. It might have had the head, but I can't
remember for sure? I remember poking around in the drawer with whatever I had and in an instant the spider being gone. I look down and this spider was probably 5 inches from my hand. It had crawled all the way up the handle in the matter of a few seconds. Pretty sure I dropped the broom and was able to kill the spider. While it was hanging in it's web in my drawer I could clearly see the red hour glass on it's belly. This experience might be the reason that black widows creep me out?
Back to the spider in the container at home. Triton and I get home about an hour later. I am somewhat apprehensive about what I might find. I put the actual percentage of the spider being a black widow to be about 3%. Sheri was getting ready for work and was by the phone in the kitchen and looked down to see a spider crawling on Triton's dirty clothes hamper. She probably freaks out but realizes that she had better not leave this spider for me to kill, because it might be gone by the time I return home from work. She runs over to get a shoe to kill it and upon returning back to the hamper it is gone. Okay it wasn't gone, but it had moved from the upper outside edge of the hamper to the inside almost down in the clothes. I guess that she figured that killing it with a shoe was no longer an option, so she caught it in a Tupperware container. She then called me to let me know it was there, and to see if it was for sure what she thought was, a black widow. I walk over to the kitchen counter grab the bowl and I am not able to see a spider in the container? It was able to crawl up the sides and made it's way to the upper portion under the lid. I shook the bowl around until this spider fell to the bottom. I could see that it wasn't shiny, but it was bigger than I thought it was going to be. Even though it wasn't shiny it was indeed a black widow. Even through the container which is scratched and really not that transparent I could make out the red hour glass on it's underbelly. I took it outside a little while later and stepped on it. It wasn't as big as the one that was in my room some 12 years earlier, but it still gave me the creeps. I have been shaking my shoes before attempting to put them on ever since seeing it. I have been making sure that no blankets have been touching the floor. Again, not sure why black widows are the only spider that weird me out like that? I feel the same way about scorpions, but they are in the desert and I don't have to worry about them being in my shoes!!
I am proud of Sheri for protecting her son in a time of crisis. It is way surprising what you will overcome and accomplish when protecting your own children. Sheri of course has been wicked creeped out since, but it still doesn't take away from the fact that she did something I didn't think that she could. Moreover, I am grateful that Triton wasn't the first to see it. Black widows are the most poisonous spider in the North American region. They are not the cause of most spider fatalities though. I guess it is because when and if they are forced to bite a human, they don't inject very much toxin. This doesn't mean that Triton wouldn't have been severely sick or worse had he been bitten, but all we can do is be grateful that he wasn't.

The Range

We didn't feel like golfing a 6 hour round of golf at Sand Creek on Friday, so we decided to hit the range at Sage Lakes. Both were open for the first time for the year. Sage Lakes was only allowing people on the range and not the course. I have been stoked all winter about taking Triton to the putting green and capturing his first putt on video. This is his third putt that he made, but you can just pretend that it is his first that you are witnessing. The first video would have been a bit long to download and make you sit through, it was cute though. He placed the ball right next to the hole and hit it in. On the first minute and a half video, he also had his first three putt from about 5 feet. Hope he doesn't turn out to be like Phil Mickelson in that aspect!!!

The range was better than I thought it would be, for me at least. I did struggle with the driver and three wood, not a clue how to hit those, but every other club was surprisingly good. I have the hardest time with the way a 3-wood and a driver feel, I think the weight distribution causes me to turn the club face in and I lose distance and control? I am hoping that will come around this year? Who knows?

Online poker blows, but I have said that before. I have been able to run every site up over $40 and one over $50. I was hoping to update when all 4 sites were over $50.00, but that is taking longer than I thought. With my attitude and the way the cards are falling it may never happen! Might lose it all in a night of rage?

Triton is seen below on the couch watching his favorite show (Little Einsteins). You would think that as much as he watches that and Sesame Street that he would be learning how to talk, but no...

Something Sweet

On Friday nights we bowl on a league and Triton is always with us. Some nights a friend of mine who bowls on the same league brings his two daughters as well. The youngest being a few months younger than Triton. Not sure how to spell her name (Kelbee?), but she was there this past Friday. Triton runs the place while he is there, getting in every one's way and then smiling at his victims afterward. Upon arriving at the bowling alley before the lanes were switched on to practice Triton ran over to the snowmobile game. He loves playing on that machine because it is outside of the arcade room. We do not allow him to go in the arcade/pool room because it can get rather crowded. In the radius of the snowmobile game is a soda machine, a vending machine, a pinball game and a stuffed animal claw game.
Barbara, my uncle's wife, usually always spoils Triton and purchases something from the vending machine for him. Henry and Barbara are on our bowling team, this is way nice because we get to be with family weekly and they help out so much with watching our little devil. I believe she had already bought him something, but he was back to his play area again. Bowling had just begun and we were bowling Bill's team. Bill being the father of Kelbee. Thus we were around him and his daughter's more than the usual with them being the opposing team on this night. Triton and I were next to the snowmobile when Kelbee walked over to the vending machine and peered up. She has been able to walk for maybe 2 months now. Triton walks over next to her and takes a look up at the goodies as well. While looking at the yummy treats, his left hand is rifling through his pants pocket? Bill and I took it upon ourselves to do the talking for Triton after seeing him searching his pockets for what must be money! As if we were guests on masterpiece theater. I then say as if Triton is speaking, "I know that I had some money"! Bill pitches in with, "Hold on sweety what do you want me to get you", as if Triton is saying this to Kelbee. Adults had their cheap laugh at the expense of the young ones, but the funniest thing had to be the fact that Triton actually had money in his pocket! I don't have a clue where he happened to find it, but he had a dime in his pocket. I just thought it to be the cutest thing, him going to the vending machine after Kelbee. Searching through his pocket for the magical coins that he knows to cause the candy to fall from their neatly perched homes.

Weekend, Late Anniversary

>As I mentioned in the previous post, March 3rd was our anniversary. Sheri and I both had to work that day and were forced to treat it as any normal day of the week. We were, however, able to be alone and celebrate for a few hours on Saturday. Shalee came over and watched Triton from 11:15 until she had to leave for work at 1:30, that is when Crystal (Sheri's sister came and picked Triton up and took him from then until about 5:30.


What we were able to do is this; we took in an early matinee of (Watchmen) at 11:50 and from there we drove to Pocatello for some Red Lobster. I know that Sheri likes lobster a lot and it had been a while since we had been out and even longer than she had a chance to have lobster. Let's start with the movie, boring!! I had high hopes for this movie, and have wanted to see it for a long time. The fact that I had such high hopes for the movie, isn't the reason for it being a flop. I imagine that it will take in plenty of money, but I can guarantee that there are going to be a bunch of people who feel the same way I do. It was wicked slow for one thing. Hardly any action which of course is misleading with the previews. It drug on and on, I mean the movie is over two and a half hours long and there is maybe 20 minutes of action, and that is the only part that is worth watching.
Now to Red Lobster. I am not a person who likes going out to eat unless it is Puerto Vallarta or a place that serves enough food (Big Juds). I just do not think that restaurants are worth the amount of money that is being spent on the amount of food that is actually served. So, I didn't have any hopes as far as Red Lobster. I figured it wasn't going to be worth the drive there, and I knew that it wasn't going to be worth the money being spent, but Sheri loves lobster and she is the one who is worth it. I ordered the steak and lobster. I love the steak and all you can eat shrimp at Sizzler, key word on the menu is (all you can eat), so that is why I chose the steak. I was in the mood for beef, thus the reason for the steak. We had to order an appetizer, because I figured that the meal wasn't going to be big enough for me. It of course wasn't and here is what I ate. We started with coconut shrimp, 6 pieces I had 3 and a half of those, next was the salad (caesar) it was pretty good, followed by the meal. First time I ordered a steak rare, usually I go with medium rare, but had my mom on the mind and figured I would salute her taste. It was pretty good, nothing wrong with going rare. I of course finished off the plate along with three biscuits and 4 glasses of Sprite. I was almost able to finish off Sheri's caesar salad as well before finally filling up. I am not a fan of lobster, I don't think it has any taste and why should something that has no taste be so expensive? There were two things that were yummy and they were of course the coconut shrimp and the biscuits were surprisingly good. The caesar salad was okay, but the steak was a steak (nothing special) and the lobster had no taste! It was nice getting out with the wife though. She finds in hilarious that I pause everything I am doing if I don't have everything at the table at once. I was forced to stop eating twice because I didn't have any soda, put on hold another time because there wasn't any steak sauce brought to the table with the meal? A-1, it's that important..

March 1st

Yesterday was Josh's birthday, he is in Boise attending BSU. I thought that I had some pictures of him, they must have been lost somewhere so you will not be able to see him at this juncture! So, Happy Birthday Josh. Know that we love you and hope that you are doing well. He has recently broken up with his live in girlfriend whom he had been dating for over 5 years or more. He has already turned his interest to a new girl who I guess has two children of her own. He thought that I would think he was crazy for dating a woman who has kids? I told him nothing like that should matter. It is just a bit funny because I guess that this girl's youngest isn't even a year yet, and Josh wouldn't even hold Triton until he was almost a year and a half old. He said he was scared because Triton was my child? He held our other cousin's new born just a few days before finally holding Triton, but acted as if Triton had the plague for the first 18 months of his life? I understand his fear though. I don't really care for holding other's young ones, and was surprised at how well I was around Triton. I guess the fatherly instinct that took over, because I was never really worried about hurting Triton. Maybe it was the fact that Triton was able to lift his own head a few hours after he was born? Of course he wasn't able to hold it up, but he was able to lift it off your shoulder when trying to burp him.


Man vs Food is a program that airs on the Travel Channel and it has to be one of my favorite programs at the moment. Adam Richman is the host of the show and every week he visits a city that has amazing food and at the end of the program has to take part in some unusual challenge that only a few people out of thousands have been able to accomplish. I love food and watching him eat the local food and most impressive is how much he is indeed able to eat. This inspired me to go back to Big Juds this last Friday because I have been wanting to go for sometime, I either forget or don't have the time. Sheri returned home from work earlier than normal around 3:30, so I asked her if she would be up for going to Big Juds. I was pleased when she agreed to go. I remembered how to get there, just needed help finding that first turn off the highway after the railroad bridge. I remembered the location being directly after some trees and if you aren't looking carefully enough you will drive right past it. That is indeed what happened as we rounded a corner and started heading south. I remember Big Juds being on a road that is east to west, not north to south, so we turned around. It, of course, was directly behind the trees that made us miss it. During the short backtrack drive Sheri had the nerve to ask if we were going to split the big jud? Ummm no! I always have to eat a whole on myself and have been able to every time that I have been there. I informed her that she would be ordering for her and Triton, while I would tackle the big jud myself. We did share my fries, which kind of sucked because they weren't that good and there wasn't very many. I had already eaten two bowls of cereal this day and was wondering if I would be able to finish the big jud. I had only had one problem finishing a big jud before, but I did manage. This was probably my 5th time eating there in my lifetime, but I was hungry and figured it wouldn't be a problem. The fries arrived at the table first, I guess this is something new, but Triton was pleased. He loves french fries. We decided to put a bit of fry sauce on his plate so that he may dip his fries. It was mega cute, because of his unique style of dipping. On the average, 8 out of 10, he barely dips the fry in the sauce, puts the fry in his mouth backwards, thus the small amount of fry sauce that he has on the fry ends up on his fingers. He tries his darnedest and it is adorable to watch. My burger finally arrived and it was the same size as I remember, but I didn't remember the buns being so thick! I was very happy to see that it would for sure fill me up, but after the first quarter piece I was a bit worried about the bun. I sped through the first quarter and limited my soda and fry intake. Midway through the second piece I actually felt more hungry than when we arrived? It was a rather weird feeling, but I am sure that I would have been able to finish it no matter what. I just didn't want those last few bites to take forever like they had once in the past. I did have to put a bunch of extra ketchup on the last few bites because the bun was a bit dry as well as thick. There wasn't any struggles, and I was disappointed that the fries sucked because I would have loved to have had the normal chaser after a big bite of hamburger. I finished my soda and figured if I had to I could have finished another half a hamburger until I would have reached that miserable stage of fullness.


Sorry about the last blog, it was a bit dark and ventful, but results and experiences speak for themselves. Happy Birthday again to Josh yesterday, I hope that you received my text? Also Happy Anniversary to Sheri tomorrow, I love you as well.


Triton, happy dragging his first big pot...
Triton the multitasker! Sitting in his toy box as he finishes his Gold Fish.