Rain Rain .... Go Away!

Actually, we feel guilty about asking the rain to go away.  The water is needed so desperately by the folks that live in southern California.  They definitely have been getting their wishes fulfilled for the last two days.  It has rained by the bucket with at least two more days of storms to follow.  It is incredible to see the amount of water that is running down the streets.  As Oregonians, we are used to dealing with large amounts of rainwater, but the folks here in Hemet aren't so inclined.  Streets are overflowing with water running up to and over sidewalks -- drains to catch the water only occur every three or four blocks, and they are often plugged with leaves or trash.  We can only hope that all the excess water is actually being captured somewhere where it can later be used for crop irrigation or other things.

Diane's foot injury healed in three days and she was back on the court after that.  Even with all the rain the last two days, she was able to play volleyball because the rain held off until the afternoons.   Tim was at water volleyball also.  Many people don't come out on days where they think they will be cold, but the pools are nice and warm and, with only five people on each side, provide a great workout of stretching and jumping.

The sand volleyball group are gearing up for their three hit tournament this Friday, weather permitting.  Diane is excited to be participating in her first serious competition.  Within two weeks there will be the Can-Am tournament when the Canadians take on the Americans.  We are pretty sure that the Canadians outnumber the Americans so they have more players to choose from when forming their competitive teams.  Oh well, everyone still has fun.

We finally got to play golf the other day with friends, Ron and Sandy Mountain.  Tim got to score a birdie on the very first tee shot at Echo Hills when his ball hit a duck that was sunning himself beside the water hazard.  The duck was shaking his head and walking as though he had had too much to drink, but soon flew off to join his friends.  At least he stopped Tim's ball from rolling into the pond.  Ron had a fabulous day golfing, even though this was his first game following his second hip replacement.  He chipped in for birdies on the first two holes, then chipped in for an eagle on the seventh hole.  The rest of us just had fun.  There went Tim's hopes of finally beating Ron while he was still recuperating.

We are sorry that there are no pictures accompanying this posting, but we keep forgetting to take our camera with us when we go places, even though it is hanging right beside our door.  Most of what we have been doing are things that we have previously written about and photographed last year.  We spend most nights enjoying happy hour, dining with friends, playing cards or games, going to dances, or participating in other park activities.  Recently on Fun Club night, we enjoyed a wonderful potluck and learned a new game that we will have to teach others called 52 card bingo.  None of the people at our table won, but a good time was had by all.

Last Friday night we went to the Elks Club for dinner and dancing. Tim ended up filing an application to join the Hemet Elks Lodge, sponsored by Mike and Jack.  The Elks have many nice dances and dinners that we like to attend.  We are not certain when Tim will actually end up being inducted into the group as we will be out of town on the next scheduled initiation day.  Oh well, if it works it works.

We will close for now, but as always we plan to update more frequently, although it never seems to work out that way.   We love to hear from you so feel free to give us a call or drop us an email and let us know what is going on in your part of the country.