USSO :: Day Three

The poor air quality could do nothing to dampen my spirits today on day 2 of practice rounds – and my birthday! 

Of course, my day was made early when I got a picture with superstar hockey player Joe Pavelski! He went to school in Stevens Point and has played SentryWorld. And recently had a crazy amazing season for Dallas! Lucky me!

Of course it was also great to see our friend Rob from Wisconsin Golf in the media center. I think hubby owes him a round at TriCity yet this summer.

Since it was still practice today, I could take some more action pictures with my good camera. Caught a few of the legends I missed yesterday.

David Toms.

Oh and a few more stogies today, too!

Ken Tanigawa.

Finally got to see Vijay Singh in action, too!! 

Driving range was busy all day.

Got to see Colin Montgomerie again today.

You can see a bit of the hazy sky here.

Miguel Angel Jiménez briefly but down the cigar to shoot.

Not the second shot, though!

Right before my volunteer shift started, my cousin Laryn brought over our cousin Leonard Johnson, whoI had no idea lived up the road in Marshfield all these years!

And the star of the day was our friendly fox. First he was sunning himself.

Then after one group teed off, He went to investigate the ball on the fairway.

Well that's one way to move your ball further down the fairway! 

He dropped it out of his mouth.

Pondered playing soccer with it.

Then moved on.

Ted Tryba and his caddy couldn't believe what they just saw!

The picture with the ball in the mouth went a little viral today. I couldn't resist sharing it everywhere!

Kenny Perry teeing off.

And Tom Lehman!

Still didn't get pictures of a few others, but now competition starts tomorrow so my phone will have to do.

Got home and Jim took us down to The Lure to celebrate my birthday. Yummy dinner as always!

Couldn't believe with this haze that we could barely see the other side of the lake!

Stopped at Sand Valley to show Laryn and Lydell those unique courses.

Was hazy there, too. But you know what? I was OK with it. It was a pretty special birthday all around! 

Thanks for all the special wishes and heartfelt messages. Love you all!

Beach, Please

It's Spring Break in the greater Wisconsin Rapids area this week. It means nothing to my personal schedule anymore. I only know about it because of coach's practice schedule–daily but sparsely populated. 

So while the warm sunny beach photos start rolling from parts way south, I figured I'd share some beach picture so my own.

In my search for eagles yesterday, I made a point of stopping at the Petenwell County Park just in case my favorite feathered friends were hanging at the edge of the ice. Not the case. But I walked the "beach" anyway for a bit. And my weird photographic eye caught a few interesting images...

Lovely day for a lake view. Pretty sure that bench will be vacant for a minute.

Not a boat or angler in sight.

Plenty of beach sand here. Can I Photoshop over the Adams County landscape with something more akin to Cancun? Nah.

Got closer to the "water" and when this little ice shelf appeared, I became a bit obsessed with it. In Alaska when we'd see these, it meant running water from a melting glacier was underneath.

Didn't check the water underneath or even see how far away it was from this rock, for instance. But let's assume it was cold. 

Thanks to crouching in the dirt, I might have tried to convince you this was a big ice shove over a mountain for all you know. The magic of camera angles.

I loved how the shoreline snowbanks were breaking apart in pretty consistent sized and shaped parts. Some days we all fall apart, don't we?

Never saw these empty! Just waiting for spring, well LATE spring, for guests.

Ready for a picnic? I'll meet you there. You might have to wait a bit so bundle up!

Seriously, though, enjoy your beach time if you're really on break this week. I can't complain since I still have touches of my Caribbean tan. Your timing is better, though. I had four month of winter on my return and you only have two!