Top 10 US Places to Visit

We have done #10 so the other 9 must be very impressive! LOVED the Oregon coastline and would do it again in a heartbeat!!!

Hash Brown Sweet Potatoes

… in just about 5 minutes … if you have a food processor! Check it out …

Exxon: Predicting Market Moves?

Watch this video of Jim Cramer discussing how Exxon is currently predicting stock market moves. Hmmm …

Golf SA: Northern Hills

Northern Hills

SCJ Rating: 2 stars out of 5
HLJ Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Greens Fees: $$$ out of $$$$$

Men’s White Tees: 69.3 Strokes, Slope 123

Women’s Tees: 69.6 Strokes, Slope 117

After playing mostly challenging courses (as in narrow fairways) to date, the Northern Hills course finally offered us some room for error! Though able to spray our drives without losing our balls or winding up with unplayable lies, we were not prepared for the speed of their greens!?! The greens were lightning quick. It was common for me to chip up to a green only to have my ball roll all the way off the green on the other side!?! We are thinking that other courses we have played will have greens this fast in the near future since most are still recovering after having been overseeded for winter play. Overall though, this course offers a decent challenge for those who don’t want to have to hit their balls straight down the middle of the fairway.

SA Weather: Cold Nights, Nice Days

On the night of November 15th, the Hill Country saw its first freezing temperatures of the season. Here in San Antonio proper though, it only got down to the high 30s (too much concrete)! However, daytime temperatures still got back to almost 70 degrees and it was very pleasant hitting golf balls in the afternoon!?! Looks like the fact that it is less expensive to play after noon on most courses is going to prove to be an advantage. Not to mention that I get to sleep in late before teeing off for a change! Most of my tee times in Bella Vista were before 10am … ‘nuf said …

Vicks Vaporub for Coughs

From Carol …

During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can ‘taste’ it. 

Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I’ve never heard of this. And don’t laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren’t sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. 

Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. 

My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, ( incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for ho ur s every night that she used it. 

If you have grandchildren, pass this on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed at how it works.

I certainly hope so.  After a winter cold, I can get the WORST cough which doesn’t usually allow me to sleep very well.  I can wait to try this remedy though!  If you have any experience with this home remedy, please let others know in the comments.

The Joys of Retirement!!!

The Joys of Retirement!!!, originally uploaded by hljscj.

Earphone Storage

Spotted on Lifehacker

Golf SA: Silverhorn

Silverhorn Golf Club

SCJ Rating:  4 stars out of 5

Normal Greens Fees:  $$$ out of $$$$$

Player’s Club Fees:  $$ out of $$$$$ … Pay $45 per month (or $65 per month for a couple) for at least 3 months to get special benefits

Men’s White Tees:  70.9 Strokes, Slope 131

Women’s Tees:  71.8 Strokes, Slope 132

After researching courses online, we decided we needed to check out this golf course which sits in the middle of San Antonio about 25 minutes from our condo.  The club offers a Player’s Club monthly membership whose benefits we have not found elsewhere.  They include reduced rates for play after noon and FREE range balls anytime!?!  Since Jake and I will probably be hitting a lot more balls and playing less while in SA, this was a no brainer!  Not to mention that the driving range and course appeared to be green and in great condition in this very dry city.  Other driving ranges we had passed did not appear to be in nearly as good a shape.

The course itself is quite a challenge.  Note that the slopes are higher than those at Olympia Hills.  It was hard for me to believe until we started playing the holes.  The gentlemen we were paired with warned us that the course would be tough and narrow … and it was!  Straight shots are essential on this course if one wants to score well.  Thus, the biggest challenge for us will be just to stay mentally tough as we spray our shots into the roughs and trees.  Did I mention that there are San Antonio sized trees (smaller) lining every fairway with a couple of ponds thrown in for good measure!  Amazingly, I thought it easy to find balls in these roughs since they are brown from being so dry.  Our white balls really stood out.

I have to give props to the getting back to nature feel of this course.  We saw more deer in our first 18 holes than we have seen everywhere else all year long!?!  Many times we had to encourage them to finish sauntering across the fairways so we could hit our shots.  Missy later told us that there are pockets all over the city which are overrun with deer because there aren’t any natural predators remaining.  Maybe the bambis can help us find our balls?  At the very least, they will make the searching a little more pleasant!?!

Did I mention … free range balls anytime?  If we never play golf on this course, we will probably break even just hitting practice balls alone!?!

Golf SA: Olympia Hills

Olympia Hills Golf Course … Universal City, TX

SCJ Rating:  4 stars out of 5

Greens Fees:  $$$ out of $$$$$, especially the Senior rate which is applied at 55 years of age instead of the 60 something which most clubs use!

Men’s White Tees:  71.8 Strokes, Slope 128

Women’s Tees:  72.3 Strokes, Slope 128

We played our first 18 holes in San Antonio yesterday at Olympia Hills which is just northeast of San Antonio.  While looking at sale merchandise in Golf Galaxy, Jake struck up a conversation with a gentleman who suggested we might like the course.  He was absolutely right!  Though almost 40 minutes from our home, the golf was well worth the drive!!!  There are beautiful nature scenes and the course is in great shape … not to mention that it is challenging but not overly so.  Our friend also mentioned that, even at his youthful age, he wouldn’t play the course without a cart.  There are indeed some dramatic changes in elevation which one would not necesarily like to traverse on foot!  We will be playing this course as often as we care to make the drive!?!

This course is also almost due north of Randolph AFB.  As a result, their jets are constantly taking off and flying maneuvers.  It is a thrilling site to see and hear them roar through the sky.  I am surprised my neck isn’t sore from jerking it around all the time trying to find the jets.

Being our first round in Texas in awhile, we were reminded that Texas harbors fire ants!  One has to be careful when walking and placing clubs on the ground.  One needs to avoid the fire ant hills at all costs!!!

We were also pleasantly reminded that our balls fly further in warm, dry air!  It has been chilly in Bella Vista recently so our balls haven’t been going as far as they were in the summer.  Well … the weather is still summer-like in San Antonio!  YAHOO!!!