Construction Update January 7-13

I have a lot to be grateful for this week... not the least of which was watching some incredible golf on TV. This week started and will end with golf tournaments in Hawaii.

It was 1995 when Shirley and I played on the Plantation Course where Steve Stricker won the Sony Open this past weekend.  What a wonderful golf course!  To see the scenery again on TV brought back some wonderful memories... like the birdie on No. 2 par 3.

This weekend it is fun to see more of Hawaii... the Wailea with it's famous #16 fairway.  I took this off the TV since it reminded me of the very first movie I ever saw in a theatre as a teenager... "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World." I never have laughed so hard in my life... but it is under this Big W that the treasure is hidden in that movie.

On Monday I bought 64,000 pounds of coffee.  No, I don't plan to take delivery... it was on the advice of my futures broker, who told me that there is a seasonal opportunity on coffee, so I picked up a few contracts.  On Thursday he called me and said he thought we should sell it since it had gone up so fast, we should take profits and could likely buy it back for a lot less and still enjoy more lift... so we sold it all and I put in another order to buy it back at $10 less.  Sure enough the order was filled after hours Thursday night... so we are hoping it will be good for another run.

What a crazy business.  An old farmer living on an island buying and selling coffee on the telephone... and he never drinks any of it.  Does that make any sense?  ...128,000 pounds of coffee in a week!  I'm guessing that would be over a dozen grain trucks full of coffee beans.  Can you imagine how many pounds of coffee Howard Schultz buys for Starbucks every year?

Trivia:  Did you know that in the last 50 years the stock market has gone up 57% of the time on Friday the 13th?

This year it went down.

This week in the mail my Kreg Jig tool arrived... and it couldn't have come at better time.  I bought if off one of those TV Informercials that run in the middle of the night... i saw it when we were in Kelowna... and it finally came... it sure works slick.  I love it!

Here I am putting together the frame for a cabinet that goes in the pantry.

After drilling the pilot holes it is pretty easy to join pieces of wood with self tapping screws.

I put in all these shelves using the Kreg Jig system... and in less than five minutes after the shelves were in place Shirley was putting stuff on the shelves.

As you know Shirley's word for the year is "Patience..."   and mine is "Faster."  She needs to a little more patience... and I need to go a little faster!

I invented a hidden hatch latch this week.  Since the hatch is mostly under the cabinet, the latch to lift it would not look very pretty in the middle of the floor where we always will be walking.  So I made a simple latch that attaches to a wire the both hide in the crack along the side of the hatch lid.  There is a 10-inch drawer just under the counter top... so when we need to go down there... which is likely next to never... we can remove the drawer to give a little more space, howbeit still pretty skinny access.

The guy who put the stupid access hatch there didn't know there was going to be a cabinet over it.  We had a totally different layout in mind in the beginning... but Plan A didn't work.  Neither did Plan B or Plan C.  We are on Plan D now.  Why is that Plan A never gets built?  I guess we all have to start somewhere.

Another first for me is the aluminum L-trim that I put to keep the tile and grout in place when the hatch lid is moved.  This will keep the grout from getting chipped away if it gets bumped in handling when opening or closing.

On Wednesday we picked up our new refrigerator and freezer for the pantry.  I also brought 15 bags of insulation... and here the cowboy is roping them all tightly together for a safe trip home.  Every time we bring home another load I am thankful for our truck... it has done a lot of work for us.

On Thursday we were thankful to take delivery of our windows.  We had the liners stained... but since I neglected to specify the stain be sealed, we had them delivered into the cabin where we can Varathane them.

There are 36 windows in all... and at this point we have about 16 of them done.  That cabin has been a real blessing... it is great to have a place where we have heat and space to work.  Next year we hope to have heat in our garage... but that doesn't count for this project.

This is the bathroom window on it's side for sealing.  Vented windows take twice as long to do.

On Friday I ordered a granite countertop for the pantry cabinet... and just to be sure we get the same colour match, we are going to do a new laundry counter at the same time.  We did a lot of shopping for various countertops with pricing all over the place between $380 to $2,000 for just the pantry top in either Corian or granite!  No we didn't buy the $380 one... it was a remnant and not Tropical Brown... but it sure was tempting.  It just wouldn't have matched the rest of our countertops.

On Wednesday when we were in Victoria I just happened to see this place called Stone Trends in Sidney.  So I stopped and invited them to quote on our countertop.   I had just been to Capital Glass to have them fix a leak that we thought was coming from around the windshield.  Turned out the leak was because of a plugged drain hole in the sunroof.  Did you know that sunroofs have drainage?  Me either.

This next week I hope to see our pantry completed.  We will pick up the cabinet doors on Monday... which we will have to stain and then lacquer.  I have two drawers to build and install... and the floor tile to set and then grout.  I have most of the tiles cut out to fit... just seven square feet not yet done and that is the part under the refrigerator and the hatch access door.

My quote of the week is very appropriate for me.

"Some mistakes are way too much fun to make only once."


It seems far too often I find myself doing things twice or three times to get it right.

Return to Arizona National

We enjoyed the Arizona National so much we returned for another round.

Lorne and I on the 5th green.  Today we played our game exceptionally quickly... only 3 hours and 10 minutes when usually it takes between 4 to 5 hours.

We took no pictures between the 5th and here on the 18th today.  It was my best round of golf so far this year... and the only game I scored less than Lorne.  I used the same ball for the entire game... rare.

When we took back the cart I asked permission to take it back around the golf course just to take photos... which they were ok with.  There were several beautiful homes around the course... this one not only sees the green, but it overlooks most of Tucson.

Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed this golf course... and there are lots of bunkers... which I fortunately managed to stay out of today.

Lorne composed this photo using my iPhone while I was using my Nikon.  In another week there will be countless more cactus blossoms.

My good friend Stanley says this White Wing Dove is only here for a short time, an indication that spring has come to Tucson.

I was able to slowly creep closer to this dove, who from this top of cactus perch, enjoys an awesome view of life below.

I have wanted all week to get a photo of the ocotillo blooming.  What a bonus to focus on this flower and have a hummingbird fly into the picture.  What are the odds?

This ocotillo bloom is very well protected by it's thorny stem.

This bird on the cactus was right next to the cart path and after driving by him, I walked back "To Shoot a Mockingbird."  I wish I would still be here when this cactus breaks forth in bloom... it will be awesome!

The course winds thru some hilly mountainside, which opens up some special views of the city and the golf course.  Behind the lake is a most beautiful club house.

Doesn't this look like a giant Arizona asparagus... but really we think it is a Century Plant.

Apparently the Century plant only blooms once in 25 years... and then completely dies.

This little bunny was so close to our golf cart I did this photo sitting down behind the wheel.  You can see the blood vessels in his ears!  Hundreds of these little bunnies make the golf course their home.

The grasses not only add to the beauty, but provide protection for many creatures... like the countless quail which were too quick for me to catch.  Lorne also took this photo with iPhone.

This is one of the most beautiful times of the year to be able to take pictures in the desert.

Over the next few weeks most all the cacti will be in bloom... what a great time to be here.

To see more photos taken at Arizona National click here.  Or to see more desert flower photos taken here last week click here.

"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers." 
-Claude Monet

Welcome to Quarry Pines

I played Quarry Pines last year a couple of times and really loved it, so this course was one of my "must play" courses for Tucson this year.

I marvel at the creativity of taking this old gravel pit and transforming it into one of the most challenging and beautiful golf courses in Tucson.  It reminded me of how our favourite "Butchart Gardens" in Victoria was once a rock quarry that was redeveloped into a magnificent garden.

Lush fairways wind around in a place where nothing grew... it was once just a place to get sand and gravel for construction.

A lake and water feature adds to the beauty on a couple of holes.

Since our tee time was right at noon, we packed a gourmet picnic lunch... a turkey sandwich, an crisp apple, a Fuze drink, baby carrot sticks, corn chip scoops, trail mix and granola bars.  There was plenty of time to enjoy our lunch as the pace of golf turned out to be about 5 hours... and we started out as a twosome.

Part way thru the round we invited Jack and Donna, a couple who were following us, to join us... and that helped to get  us more in sync with the pace of the course.

Notice the Palo Verde in full bloom behind our new golfing friends.

There was plenty of time to take pictures and not cause any delay in the game.

On the 14th hole this hummingbird watched us all tee off and never flew away... so I took his picture at least 20 times.  He put on quite a little show for us, sporting the red feathers on his neck.  But after looking at more than 100 different kinds of hummingbirds online I could not find the name of this make and model.  Can you help?  Maybe my birding friend Stanley well tell me later today when we get together.

Here are a couple more of my shots of this hummingbird that may help.

Our round here at Quarry was the best round so far this year for both Lorne and me.

It was my first game under 100... I shot an 88... with two 8's on a couple of par 5's.  And Lorne shot 81... finishing with a birdie on #18.  He drained a 40-foot put from off the back of the green!  Truly an awesome way to finish the game on an awesome course.

There is nothing like a good round to keep you coming back.

I have decided to adopt the Golfers Diet:  "To live on greens as much as possible."

Golfing in the Desert

Welcome to a very different golf photo story.  Welcome to the Arizona National in Tucson.

There was not a single hole on this course that I did not take photos of either the views or the flowers.  One must be very careful about getting too close when photographing cactus or their flowers... they have been known to jump out and get you!

Sunday I golfed with Lorne and Ted at Arizona National... one of the area's most beautiful desert golf courses... designed by my favourite golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr.

I had played here many years ago when it used to be called The Raven.
Notice the red flowers behind my friends above...

Please tell me the name of this flower, if you know it.  I tried to Google it up... but no cigar.

Thank you Shelby... you get the prize!  This flower is aloe saponaria fireworks.  The name fits... it looks a lot like fireworks.

We saw these orange-red flowers in bloom along the fairways and tee boxes.  I thought they would compliment this spectacular view from the Par Five 18th tee box, so I climbed around some cactus and thorny bushes to get behind them to make this shot.

I only wish my tee shot from here would have turned out as good as this picture did.

Immediately behind the lake is a first class club house facility.

There are some unique hazards when you go golfing in the desert... it is a little different playing around cactus compared to playing around trees.  Your golf ball doesn't bounce off the cactus like it does from most trees.  Look closely at the largest Saguaro cactus in the foreground.

It is very difficult to play your second shot when your ball is driven right into a cactus.  It is also pretty tough to play anywhere except on the fairway.  A search for a errant ball could have you in a confrontation with a rattle snake.

The golf course is home for thousands of the cutest little jack rabbits... often we came upon whole families of these cuddly little bunnies munching on the fairway grass.

The Arizona National lies in the Sabino Canyon... with a backdrop of spectacular mountains, where cactus abound and mountain lions hide.  So far they have hidden so well the only place I've seen them is on warning signs.

After 18 holes I paid off my golf bets, which confirmed this quote by evangelist Billy Graham...

"The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course."