Be the ball Danny. Be the ball.

Saturday was our second annual fort irwin golf tourney held in Apple Valley. I helped with registration then headed out to the links with the boss and our AER director Bob. Bob and Doug both are guys without filters, you know the old crotchety types that grumble and mumble a lot. Constantly casting aspersions on your mother and what not. Fun to be around as long as you don't get offended too easily. In other words, men's men. Thick skins only please. I was off the clock, so I gave as bad as I got for the most part. The three of us are fairly bad golfers, okay, we sucked. luckily we picked up a ringer for our fourth. A guy that lived on the course and just wanted to golf. It was hot, not by Mojave Desert standards but still cooking in the upper 90s and scorching in the sun. I was constantly encouraging Joe to park us in the shade. Which he obliged more often than not. There were some notable shots throughout the day. I sunk a 50 put from the short grass off the green. We got a couple of 'tosses' as part of the tourney. One toss I did out of a bunker found its way into the hole giving us an Eagle for the hole. I had a hell of a chip that ended up within 3" of the cup from about 40' out. We also played a handful of my drives, pitches, chips and putts as well. Not bad for loaner clubs and not having played golf in a number of years. All in all, there are much worse ways to spend a Saturday. Ever hear of 'yard' work. Ick.

Carted up in the shade. 

All of the holes are pretty straight affairs, no serious doglegs here. 

Bob

that green green grass.

Every bit as grumpy as he looks.

Doug and Bob. Scowls of contentment.

The 2 Colonels and CSM in front of us spent a lot of time looking for their golf balls, we eventually played through on our twelfth hole. 

Sitting in the shade.

Too many cervezas.

The crew stocking back up on cervezas and red bulls.

Thank goodness for carts. 

Pretty little trees. 

Take all the Dam pictures you like.

Ryan, a good friend since high School, his wife Lori and their friends from CAT Ron and Lara (sp?) all headed out to Vegas to celebrate Lori's 40th birthday, or better known as the 11th anniversary of her 29th birthday. I picked them up at Caesars and we headed out to Hoover Dam. We took the power plant tour and checked out the old bridge. It's a pretty interesting place if you've never been, it is worth the stop while in Las Vegas. After the tour, we hit up Pawn Stars for a look around then off to Fremont Street for a little gambling and ambling. Then it was back to Caesars. For dinner, we hit up Forte, a little Bulgarian tapas joint, for lots of tasty morsels and a few drinks. They had tickets to a Cirque show so I dropped them off at New York, New York and headed to my hotel. Saturday, I cruised around checking out some of the crap Vegas has.Ii looked in a go-kart track, one of the many machine gun shops, and Bass Pro and gambled at the Silverton Casino before getting a hold of Ryan. I caught up with Ron and Ryan and we found the girls in the Atrium shops at Caesars and did some shopping. We stopped at one of the random drink shops and I grabbed an absolutely wonderful mojito. Oh so tasty. We played some slots then chilled out for a short bit before it was time for dinner. Fogo de Chao was awesome as only a Brazilian steakhouse can be. The highlight in my opinion were the lamb offerings. For those that have never been, you start with an amazing salad bar with all of the goodness from around the world. Artichokes, Lox, salamis, mushrooms, cheeses, excellent salad makings. Then the servers start to hover with their large skewers of meat. Beef cuts, lamb, pork, chicken, all roasted marvelously, polenta sticks on the table, yum, yum and more yum. You eat until you burst, then eat some more. Then the meat sweats come from devouring so much protein. No wonder Brazilian cowboys had no problem sleeping out on those chilly South American nights. It's a dream for anyone who actually use their canine teeth for their intended purpose. Nom nom nom, good.

After dinner, they were headed out to a club since they are married and don't get to do that stuff too often but my liver had had enough for the weekend, so it an I headed to a blackjack table at the Jokers Wild near my hotel. Sunday, everyone slept in. I hit up a little coffee joint in my neighborhood and then did some walking and shopping. I saw a Williams Sonoma and stopped by to look at hand hammered Italian copper pots well out of my price range. They're pretty but I'll never need them. Just nice to look at. I happened to be there when a cooking demonstration for some sauted chicken dish started so I watched that with the other old ladies. Finally, I decided I'd give Ryan a call to see if lunch was a possibility, but they had already eaten, something about Lori not feeling bad after a bottle of vodka and staying up until dawn. Probecito. 

I hit the road instead and straight into LA traffic. I could tell it was a pain so I pulled off at Whiskey Petes and played about 4 hours of blackjack, at one time going up around $250. I ended up only winning about $150 which put me even for the whole weekend at the gaming tables. Not a bad trip all around.