Setting off from our condo in Dunedin Florida 5:20 am Saturday mornings for my volunteer Starter job at Chi Chi's Golf Course in Clearwater Florida. Yawn! Time for my commute to Chi Chi's golf course where in 12 minutes and five green stoplights I become Bill Schiers Saturday starter .

Here I stand waiting at the entrance to the cart barn thinking existential thoughts listening to the reptilian overture to dawn.

It is dark. Photosynthesis* hasn't started yet. What is that leafy green thing? Wer ist dort? It is easy to get a bit jumpy out here in the dark. Unusual bird? Audery II? Horns and a long tail demon in forest disguise? Ukufa? Dubu? What kind of life is crawling up out of the ooze at Chi Chi's sanctuary this morning?  Terrestrial snails, snakes, tree frogs, cicadas, crickets, and deceased amateur golfers?  Almost makes me want to begin chanting and whirling in preparation for a new dawn. I'm already wet.  The air is thick with invisible rain, or more often called humidity.  Here I stand on the edge of a small forest listening to the symphony of honking frogs.  Not everyone hears the same thing. People from Vermont and New Hampshire hear harbor bells clanging and foghorns bellowing. They smell dead fish and seaweed. Time to start work. *= (6CO2 + 12H2O + Light Energy → C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O) in case you want to know.

My first job is to walk up and down the rows of carts, pull out the electrical cords, wrap and hang them. There are two of us working this early morning ritual. My current work buddy is Gary. Retired police Lieutenant. The Chargers have been busy recharging the batteries  overnight. Each cart has six batteries. Every so often the snakes slither across the aisle or a squirrel  scurries underneath the carts. They like to tear apart the insulation in the ceiling and make a home  where it is warm.  Unofficial pets aka pests. Time to wrap and hang cords.

The cords have to be rolled up and hung so the carts can be motored  underneath to the starting area. There is a complex  technique to the rolling- up process. The first time I tried it I tied my hands in a Gordian knot. Took the cart barn staffer 10 minutes to free me without electrocuting me. I have seen the professionals do this one-handed.  Not my skill set. I use two hands and manage to do one every 20 seconds.  My mentor Mr. Bob takes about 10 seconds. I don't seem to be improving with experience. I tied one in a Hangman's Knot one day.  Many staff tend to avoid me.

Florida morning. Dawn arrives. Here is Mother Earth announcing the end of one thing and the beginning of another. Early Saturday morning at the Chi Chi golf course where the morning chorus of honking frogs, the flutter of bats, vibrato of crickets,  and the whine of voracious blood thirsty mosquitoes comes to an end. The quiet arrives ever so briefly interrupted by the hum of electric golf carts. Calvin and Dana offer their prayer of thankfulness. Amen. The game is afoot! The procession of golfers begins.

Beautiful blooms near the starter shack. Keep a tree in your heart perhaps a singing  bird will come. Chinese saying. Occasionally a small gator takes up residence in this pond to the awe of visitors from not Florida.

The starter shack aka my office. Most Saturdays heat indexed over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. No electricity, however, I supply my own air conditioning: 1 five gallon bucket. Fill with ice. Fill with water. Submerge wash cloth. Apply wash cloth to head and face every 15 minutes. Replenish ice as needed.

Simple air conditioner housing for under $4.

Air conditioner on Max...er, Bill.

On a hot day if I don’t drink enough the starter shack looks like this.

I photographed this gator at the pond along the 7th hole. Are you feeling lucky? Well are you? I told the woman from  Minnesota who asked, Are gators dangerous? "To you a golf ball is a play thing. To the gator it is bait." Enough said.

Anybody lose an orange ball?

At the pond between the 11th and 12th holes. I recommend a telephoto lens for this shot. So far no reports of missing golfers.

Ethel, is that a log? Photo Credit: Photo by Gordon, fellow golfer at Chi Chi’s golf course.

No pot of gold. I looked. I took this picture from the starter shack. Onward to the next photo op.