With the Nebraska football season on the horizon, and a new Nebraska basketball coach in the wings (the season ticket order arrived this week) it is time to start writing again.

I changed the title of this blog in honor of my paternal grandmother.  She was a great saver of all things important, as the family discovered after her death.  She even had a large plastic bag full of pieces of string.  It was labeled “String Too Short To Use”.  Thus, the title of this blog.  I also changed the focus from Nebraska basketball to anything I feel inclined to write about.

Our church is planning a Best Ball Golf Outing next Tuesday morning.  The Road Runner (Beep-Beep-Get Out of My Way) and I thought we might give it a try.  Since neither of us has played for some time (years) we decided to hit a bucket of balls to test whether joining the Outing was a good or bad idea.

I found our golf bags, both covered with a layer of dust that may have come from the last Mt. St. Helen’s eruption.  The bottom of my bag fell off several years ago and is held on by two bungee cords.  Karol and I have also believed in keeping our sporting equipment up to date.  My clubs are signed by Sam Snead and Karol’s are signed by Patty Berg.

So, we find the golf range, buy a bucket of balls, and head for the tee-off area.  I go first because Karol says there are too many nearby golfers for her to embarrass herself.  My first test is to see if I can stay upright during the swing, what with my new knee and a not-so-good other knee.  Well, I pass the test probably due to the Ibuprofen flowing through my veins   But I almost take the head off a gopher about 25 yards out.  So much for getting loft on the ball, but at least I taught that rodent a lesson.  He probably hasn’t seen anything like that since he had to deal with Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

Karol goes next and only has two whiffs so she hasn’t lost her touch.  We alternate back and forth until we start to see cars stopping on the road to watch.  Finally, we use up all the balls and traffic starts moving again.  Why do people always flock to see disasters?

We decided to try another bucket over the weekend before the sign-up deadline on Monday.  But, we will probably give it a try, if for nothing else than to give the Methodists something to smile about.  They could definitely use a little loosening up.