I forgot my wallet and phone so you are saved from the blurry photos. Today, I was doing pretty good. Well, better than pretty good. John and I were keeping neck and neck in scoring. But then I started pulling ahead. On hole 10, I threw my farthest shot. So far that it sailed past the hole. But I was able to birdie it on the next shot. I stayed in the lead as was able to win three shots ahead of John.

It also felt cooler out. And the grass seems to have sprung back thanks to a couple of rainy days. We were able to play the course really quickly (within an hour). And when I was driving to the Mexican Ice Cream place, I look up to the temperature gauge and saw that it was 90 degrees out. It was surprising just how acclimated I was to 103 days to think that 90 was cool.

For Labor Day, we went to a disc golf tournament. This was our first tournament since the other one that we tried to attend was rained out. It was the inaugural Blue Skies Over Texas Tournament. We met at Starbucks on 620 at 7 am to carpool down. When we got there, Jon realized that he forgot to transfer his bag of discs to the car! Doh! So he bought a new bag and some discs and borrowed some more.

We entered the novice division. And luckily, I was grouped with John and Jon. It seems that they used alphabetical order for the groupings (Gravitt, Grimm, Hamzy). We were grouped with “Nacho” who was a pro and who was also our guide for this round. He was laid back and fun to play with (and also quite the mary-jane smoker).

Each hole had sponsor signs by the tee box. Beware the Blair Keebler Project!

John lost his disc in a tree. So we invoked Jon’s super powers and got him to climb up the tree. Unfortunately he was not able to quickly get to the top of the tree and we were holding up other golfers. So he dropped down. Luckily, the next group was able to knock it down and gave it back to John.

After we were finished with the round, we went and ate lunch. They provided us with hamburgers and hot dogs. And after that, was the ring of fire. The ring is a contest where everyone gathers around a goal and putts at the same time. Whoever’s disc makes it into the goal gets to putt again. Until there is one putter left and that person wins a prize. Sadly, I did not win any prizes…

After that we still had an hour before the next round of golf started. So we played a game of Tichu and introduced Curt to the game.

For round two, we played the course backwards. They had reversed all of the tees and goals for the course. This created a challenging and completly different experience. Fun! This time I was only grouped with Jon. It seems that they used the scores to create the new groupings.

That tomatoey plant is still there at the Cat Hollow disc golf course. But it is blooming now. Strange. It looks like it has fruits but it is flowering… Doesn’t the flowering come first?

I was teamed with Jon this morning. And he threw a good first throw at hole 6! We were on fire today! According to my records, we birdied five holes! But were were only partly on fire. Jon was not putting well and the weight fell on my shoulders. Unfortunately, me missed a couple of putts for pars or bogies.

Interesting. They moved a hole! A new house was built next to the existing hole and the metal fence was like ten feet away. Needless to say, I bet they got some discs thrown at their new house. So the home owners must have complaned and moved the hole. Well, duh! Don’t build next to a target!

Another course improvement: chairs. Let’s get the party started…

Curt lost a disc in a house’s yard. He left afterwards to go retrieve it…

More disc golf at Old Settlers Park. I was surprised to see some new goings on. There was a lot of white, spray painted, lines with flags stuck in it. They were all around the holes for the disc golf course. But it is hard to guess what they were for. Construction? But what kind? They kind of look like they were following the contours of the ground. But not really. Time will tell…

Do they lead to gold??? If so, I’m diggin’!!!

The group went to Wilco course today. Which is somewhat wooded and shady. But when we were out in direct sunlight, it got hot. We started late with a large group of seven people. This course is pretty tough.

Adam got his disc stuck in a tree.

So we called the big guns in and got Jon to climb the tree to rescue it. Sadly Adam lost that disc for good a couple of holes later.

Old Settlers Park. John celebrates on hole 1. He birdied it from quite a distance (60 feet). And he always complains about not being able to putt…

The city employees were out in force today. Performing maintainence and cleanup.

Another Old Settler’s day. Which is unusual. Since we normally play on Fridays, we do not play it on Saturday. However, Wilco and Cat Hollow were holding a huge tournament today called the Texas 10. So we decided to abort here.

Again Darwin II had another close encounter! In what looks like the same spot. Sigh… I think I am getting worse…

While I had a close scare, Adam unfotunately lost his disc in this dense growth of thorns and stickers. But he did come out ahead. While searching, he found four more discs!

Another freakin hot day of disc golf. It actually rained on the trip over to Old Settler’s Park. Well, about twenty drops… I was wondering about the flag under hole 8. John explained that it was probably the closest to the hole marker. Which is pretty close! That must have been a very lucky throw, since it is a heavily wooded area.

Darwin II had a close encounter today. It would have been in the water if the lake was at normal levels..

Today, we went to Pease Park. I noticed this sign on the board and recognized the name! Hey, I found one of his discs too! But I gave it away to Adam. So, Mr. Rob Feather, if you’d like it back, please leave your number and ill contact you.

Today was pretty bad for me. I think I bogied just about every hole here. Which is the reason why this course is like last on the list of courses that I like in Austin. It helped a little bit that the stream is dry here. No lost discs that way…

I will admit that that is a cool location for hole three! Adam was on fire today and able to make some long putts.

Another protected hole (18). That tree really guards the hole well.

Hrm, a tournament. Over Labour Day. Sounds like a Game conflict. But they offer beer, B-B-Q, and live music. Ed does not do that… well, there is Bratwurst.

Man, its fricken hot out there. I think I may have hit my upper limit on bearable temperatures and 103 may be it. Seems like a new tree was planted out here. With a ribbon even. I don’t think summer is a great time for planting things. Especially when you dont water around here.

I mean, look at this grass. Its dead, Jim! But given some rainfall, and the thing will turn around and perk up. Buffalo grass is some pretty drought resistant grass. And it needs to be to live here in Texas.

I was throwing farther than usual today. And I have a theory about that. Hotter air is less dense and the relative humidity was a low 40%. And there is probably some updraft from the convection as the earth tries to deal with this blast furnace. Umm…. suuuure. But thats my theory and I’m sticking to it.

The lake is pretty low. Low enough to be below the concrete drain they installed here. Fortunately, my disc made it across the water for the second time. Darwin2 keeps surviving…