Under a beautiful summer blue sky, the twelfth hole at Jug Mountain Ranch is a sight to behold. The reflection of the barn, trees in the lake, osprey circling makes the tee shot memorable. On this day, I made it over the water and a booming voice from the home behind the tee reminded me, good shot. I want to tell you I would have been fine if the ball had “rinsed” as the announcers say, but a hole like this deserves a dry landing. Earlier in this round on the difficult 6th hole which is all carry over a riparian area, my third drive found the fairway and good putting earned me a quintuple bogey- yes a 9. I still love that hole but it is always there to keep me humble. I appreciate more each day those things that I used to take for granted.
On the drive up to McCall it was a crystal clear blue sky. Karen and I wondered if there are days and locations where the sky is bluer. One may immediately think of the song that claims that the bluest skies you’ll ever see are in Seattle. Taking this one step further why is the sky blue? Simple, molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light because they are a shorter wave length. The color purple is a shorter wave than blue but our eyes do not see purple as well as blue. The ocean is blue for the same reason. The sun is no longer directly overhead and more of the sky is significantly angled away from the light source the sky-an effect called Raleigh scattering—directs more blue light towards your eye while that phenomenon combined with lower fall humidity levels and the sky does appear bluer. You may not need to know this information but I wanted to avoid thinking about the real world as our attention should be on Independence Day.
Thomas Jefferson wrote and Benjamin Franklin edited the draft of “The Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal”. A belief that has endured the test of time. I do lose some sleep as our country is walking back certain “inalienable rights.” I believe we will get it right over time with enlightened leadership.
Enjoy the week end. Mike