Thursday, April 21, 2016

Off to the circus...again!

Welcome home. This will be my new home for the spring and summer and I couldn't be more excited. It's like going full circle in my life.

I took a job with Nebraska Game and Parks in the maintenance department at Pawnee Lake, just West of Lincoln. So why full circle? My first job was working on the Hartington Country Club golf course.

My dear 'ole dad loved that place. He helped turn it into one of the most beautiful golf courses in Nebraska. That was a tall order when you consider it was a pasture when they started. Not many of those early town visionaries knew anything about creating a golf course. After they came up with a plan, Gene O'Meara put his big cats and scapers to work and the course took shape.

But, it was still rearranged pasture. This dirt an Augusta National would not make. Dad could see that and he could also see he needed to learn more about golf course management if this course was eventually be something special. Many times, he made the drive to Lincoln to learn more about the fine art of turning greens green. He put my brothers to work planting little saplings so eventually the fairways and the holes looked like individual fairways and holes. (You should see those trees today!)

So, to make a long story a little shorter, this job is a return to my roots and my heart. It's a little golf course maintenance, a little boy scouting, and a lot more time with my beloved dog. And maybe most of all, I can breath fresh air, hike, maybe kayak a little, and not be all that concerned about politics and the social correctness of the day.

After all, if you have to go when you are in the woods, you don't have to find a transgendered bush. Just be careful you don't wipe with poison ivy!