Stray Thoughts

A letter to the editor of the Arizona Republic: “President Barack Obama has provided proof that he was born in this country. Donald Trump should now provide proof that he was born on this planet.” I’ll drink to that.

An odd and frightening statistic reported by Time: “247: The number of of people on the U.S. government’s terrorist watch list who bought guns—legally—in 2010.” Hey, NRA members, does that make as little sense to you as it does to me?

Yesterday, as I was driving to Trail Ridge, where I was scheduled to play with our group of Gamesters, I heard a loud noise from somewhere below the cart seat. The belt for the starter/generator had snapped. End of drive to the course. I stood by the cart hoping one of my gamester friends would drive by but no one showed. Finally, a lady stopped to inquire. I borrowed her cell phone and called the course to have someone come pick me up. Then I pushed the cart into the empty Presbyterian church parking lot. My someone arrived and took me to the course where I called Cody, the shop manager at Southwest Golf Carts, and explained what had happened, told him that it was in the parking lot to the west of the church, the only vehicle there. He said they would come get the cart and that I could pick it up after I finished my golf. Good. No problem. But when I got to Southwest Golf Carts five hours later and spoke to Cody, he told me there was nothing wrong with my cart. And when he pointed out the cart, I said, “But that’s not my cart.” Whoa. The yoyo who had come for my cart had seen a cart in the main lot behind the church and picked up the wrong one. Imagine the consternation of the cart owner when he came out to drive home from the church. And sure enough, when I called Posse headquarters, they told me he had reported his cart as stolen They wouldn’t give me his name so I could call him to apologize, but they went on to tell me the manager of Southwest Golf Carts had apologized when they returned the cart to the man’s home. I’m just thankful I wasn’t the one who had to explain the debacle.

And finally, wind. I’m watching our tall arbor vitae trees as they sway back and forth like giant green elephants. This has to be the windiest spring I’ve ever experienced since moving to Arizona. Every day for at least the past month, the winds have blown from 15 to 40 m.p.h. I guess it’s all about the jet stream taking an unusual course through our state, the same jet stream that has been devastating the southeastern states. I shouldn’t complain about what we have compared to what Alabama and Mississippi have had.