 Al
Brushwood and his family have a great outlook on life. "We are here
on this earth to enjoy life, and enjoy life is what we do, indeed."
Al is 54 and has already been happily retired for a few years now. Al
and his wife Vicki live on a little piece of paradise on the San Bernard
River. The San Bernard is located mostly south and a little west of
Houston. As my good friend Nick would say when you ask him what’s up
or how’s it going? "Its just another day in paradise." We
aren’t in this world long enough "not" to enjoy life to its
fullest.
Al and Vicki have two sons, Jay and Brian. Jay
develops software for the latest and greatest video games, and Brian is
a magician. Brian and I could really relate because we both have turned
our hobbies and talents into making a living.
You are probably thinking, Magician? Yes a magician.
Brian is not just a magician, but a bizarre, fire eating, sword
swallowing, nail in one eye and out the other kind of magician. This guy
is incredible. I didn’t want to bother him with too many questions
about his unique career, but I did ask him to do some card tricks
because I love "close-up magic." Normally I am able to watch
close and at least have some kind of hypothesis about how the trick was
done, but with Brian I was clueless. He is the Keith St. Onge of magic.
The young buck with incredible skills. To check out what Brian is all
about go to www.shwood.com.
 Friday
night, I was greeted with a pizza party at Allan Groseths’ house. He
has this cool dome house that he built on his own. We had some pizza and
headed out back to what they call "The Dog House". This is the
room above the garage where Allan goes when his wife is pissed. The Dog
House has a pool table, a dart board, a big screen, a bar with two ice
cold taps, and a freezer with frosted mugs. Yes, a place every man can
appreciate. We hung out and talked shop for a couple of hours and called
it a night.
Saturday morning was beautiful. The river was quiet, and
the "customers" had not shown up yet. One of the more funny
things I have ever heard. In the past, I had always heard people say,
"a barefooter never wastes a good crowd". Well these guys call
them customers, and it is so funny. "uh….we got customers".
Laugh my ass off. We had a killer day on the water smoking glass.
Participants were Al, Jay, and Brian Brushwood with Allan Groeseth, Collin
Wigley, and a great young man named Austin.
 The
afternoon is where things really got interesting. We played extreme
croquet. This is croquet taken to the next level. Not only are the
"wickets" over 100 feet apart from each other, there are trees
and rolling hills that make for totally blind shots and interesting lines.
There were also some crazy rules: Anyone who knocks over someone’s beer
mug, that was set down irresponsibly and left unattended, automatically
received a bonus shot. Anyone named Bonnie, the magician’s lovely wife,
pretty much got "ball in hand". We had a freaking blast. I can’t
remember who won except that it wasn’t me, but I’m not competitive or
anything.
Saturday night involved another walk on the
wild side, Extreme Spoons. Yes, the traditional drinking game of spoons.
The only reason we started calling our game of spoons extreme was because
during the game blood was drawn and a chair broken. We got a little crazy.
An evening at the Brushwood compound wouldn’t
be complete without spending some time in the Jacuzzi. Did I mention that
Al has the most awesome swimming pool ever? This pool has got a beach
entrance, all kinds of cool lights, rock formations, water falls, and lots
of tropical foliage. Besides all of that, he has a heater and a chiller.
So when the weather is blistering, he can keep his pool at a refreshing
temperature. Now tell me, how great is that?
Sunday proved to be another great day of
foot’n. We did have more customers, which meant more rollers, but we did
manage to get everyone’s sets in. We finished the afternoon with another
round of croquet. I don’t have to tell you after reading this, that this
clinic was unbelievably fun. What an interesting group of people and what
a cool place to hang out. Thanks Al and Vicki for being gracious host.
Till next time.
Stokeman OUT!
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Al Brushwood
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Jay and Brian
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Paul Stokes ready to go.
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Brushwood
Compound Clinic 2002