I have been on the road all day.  Dan, one of our readers, was kind to send me an email, which I just read at my hotel, regarding pro golfer Tripp Isenhour.  Isenhour, a journeyman who has rarely popped his head above the Nationwide Tour, was filming an instructional golf video in Florida in March.  A bird in a nearby tree continuously interrupted the shooting with loud squawking, something birds have a tendency to do.  In the ultimate display of how to hit the ball where you want it, Isenhour teed one up, took dead aim at the bird and delivered a direct and fatal hit.
    The bird, it turned out, was a red hawk, which is on the "protected" list.  Charged with animal cruelty, Isenhour pled no contest today and accepted one year of supervised probation, four hours of anger management classes and 100 hours of community service, of which 40 hours will be at an animal shelter or wildlife preserve.  He will also pay a $500 fine.
    No doubt Isenhour learned more from his own instructional video than anyone else will.

    I have just started reading a book called "Leisureville:  Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias."  It is the story of The Villages, the humongous retirement golf community in north central Florida that some of you may have seen advertised on television (Arnold Palmer and Nancy Lopez, two of the course designers for The Villages, are featured).  The Villages includes a few dozen golf courses over its 20,000 acres.
    I'll write a full-fledged review after I finish the book, written by Andrew Blechman, but I feel compelled to share a quote from one of the opening pages.  The author's neighbor, who made the decision to relocate to The Villages with her husband from their quaint New England town, says of her new home:
    "I can only equate it to the movie The Stepford Wives.  Everyone had a smile on their face like it's too good to be true.  But it really is."
    I now understand why my wife, who just completed the book, muttered "ohmygod" often while she read it.  I am looking forward to the rest of it.