Golf Billiards

Finally done! Golf Billiards is here. We saw this at a KOA park we stayed in near Atlanta. I thought it looked like a fun game to add to the park. I began suggesting it every time I could work it into a conversation with HeWho sometimes tunes me out.

When I saw astro turf on sale a few months ago, I encouraged HeWho to get a piece. 18' X 12'. It sat on the front porch in a roll for some time, until I finally told him it was in my way and needed to be spread out flat. After deciding where we wanted it, we spread it out on the ground and anchored it so that it would no longer want to roll up.

The very next day I happened to be out side when I noticed that it was all wadded up. I watched in fascination as a woman let her dog try to tear it up! I walked toward her, all the while telling myself to choose my words carefully. The dog was not on a leash, despite the many signs and the warning on the brochure. "Ma'am, the dog has to be on a leash unless you are in the dog park." I say as I begin to un-wad my future pool table. She informed me that her dog did not like to be on a leash and that he was a good dog and obeyed her every command. Not the first time I have heard this. I wanted to ask if she had commanded the dog to try to destroy something that was not hers to destroy. I didn't. I smiled sweetly and told her that I really didn't care that her dog didn't like the leash, that the rules were in place for the safety of all the people staying in the park and that perhaps she should take the dog inside. Sniffing loudly she told me that my dog park was not convenient to the playground. She hooked the leash that was in her hand to the dog.

Relaying this episode to HeWho procrastinates, I suggested that the easiest way to keep the astro turf in place would be to finish the project.

Imagine my surprise when I returned from my last visit to see my kids when all the supplies had been purchased to complete the project!! Did it go smoothly? Of course not!

HeWho bought the putters and 2 sets of Bocce balls, 8 cans of spray paint, and masking tape. He decided that I could paint the balls, stripe half of them and then number them. Thrilled to see progress, I agreed. But first I returned most of the paint, as I already had the colors in my paint closet. The balls were blue and red, so I painted the stripe on a red and a blue first. The taping of a round object is tiresome. They looked okay, but amateurish. I painted the white stripe on half of them, thinking it would be easier to tape the white stripe to paint the color on the rest of the ball.

I needed something to hold the ball while it dried. I used Styrofoam cups and painted one half at a time. Worked great until I pulled the tape off and the white paint came off with the tape. Yes, I used the right kind of tape. Not only that, on some of the balls the styro had melted into the paint when the paint made contact with the cup.

This was a lot of work with no reward. Besides that I was worried about the weight of the bocce ball. Would the putters get bent? So on to plan B. HeWho thinks tennis balls will be easy to paint. So I get 4 balls out to paint purple. I have decided white tape can be put on the balls that need stripes.

Just in case you might be wondering, tennis balls do not do well with paint. Having ruined 2 Bocce ball sets and 4 tennis balls, it occurs to me that we could just buy billiard balls. Why did I not investigate this possibility first? They aren't that expensive and the weight is just right. I was not keen on tennis balls being whacked to the outer regions of the park. Hit with enough force they could break a window or hit someone.

 So, we bought billiard balls. Here are some of my favorite kamper kids trying them out. They really didn't know the rules of the game, but they had fun.

Brothers and sisters. Love these kids! The oldest is a charmer. Cannon always has time to chat when he comes in the office. Little brother Bentley is more reserved, but a sweet and gentle personality. His sister, Skye shares the middle child status with him and is a quiet one. Remi, the youngest, is full of herself!! She has an opinion on everything and is not afraid to share it! She reminds me so much of my youngest daughter. I bet you can pick her out. I told her parents that she will not outgrow this. I know this to be true!!