The last day of March is upon us and April draws nigh. I am off to the San Francisco Bay Area to once again tangle with the brainless War protestors in pursuit of simply doing my job. I have a meeting near Union Square tomorrow and one in the financial district and I don't look forward to the disruptive force of morons with nothing better to do than make nuisances of themselves. I support their right to have differing views, but hold dear to my rights to keep these idiots out of my face. Go up to Canada and join the rest of the cowards who don't support the war and speak fluent French.

I made reference in an earlier epistle to the war protestors perhaps getting their just desserts if they attempt to disrupt the opening of baseball at Pac Bell Park. Well, as luck would have it, I will be there to witness the spectacle as I have two tickets to Opening Day. The Giant's website had a drawing and I won the chance to spend my hard earned dinero on some ducats to the game. I didn't think twice as I laid out the $22 each for view reserved tickets at Pac Bell park. There is nothing like the hope and enthuisiasm that infects an opening day crowd. I look forward to one of the rights of Spring next Monday.

When I return from my trip to San Francisco, San Jose, and Salinas, I will have but a day to contemplate my lot in life before Darla and I board a plane at 4:30 Thursday afternoon bound for Las Vegas and a weekend of fun and sun with Dad and Shirley. I've been travelling so much and out of town that it will be good for my bride and I to get reacquainted away from the stresses and mundanity of home life. I reserved tickets for the four of us Friday night at the Catch a Rising Star comedy club inside the Excalibur. It should be four great days of decompression and reinvigoration. Darla and I will bring books to lounge by the pool with. I am working on the fifth "Left Behind" book by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins that chronicle their view of what will happen during and after the rapture of Christ's church and the stories are based on the book of Revelations in the Bible.

Our church is working on a new worship center and the pastor took us on a field trip into the half completed structure yesterday. He was making a plea for money to complete the structure as they are running short of funds due to the economy. Many families have not been able to meet their earlier pledges and there are, of course, cost overruns. The only thing I could think as we walked across boards and around scaffolding was what the insurance underwriters would think of such a sojourn. Darla also mentioned that her Dad, who spent most of his career as a construction supervisor, would have had a small cow as well.The pastor talked about making the best of a bad situation and related the story of Stacey King, who as a rookie with the Chicago Bulls, had a horrific game scoring only one point while Michael Jordan had one of his best games as a pro, scoring 69 points. After the game, a reporter asked him if he felt bad about his showing and Stacey replied, "I will always remember this game as the one where Jordan and I combined to score 70 points." Circumstances are all in your perspective.

I played poker on Friday night with the guys and finally had a decent night, bringing home an extra $80 when all was said and done. Funny how the game seems so much better after you have a good night. I will be hosting the next get together likely in May.

The weather this weekend was nothing short of awesome as we had temperatures in the eighties both days. I was able to get to some long needed trimming and shaping of hedges and plants as well as draining of the koi pond and fresh water being added. I siphoned the pond by placing a hose in the pond and using gravity pull to drain the water. As the hose sat draining, my neighbor who was outside asked if she could have a drink from the hose. I said, "Sure, but it's pond water." She was not amused. I had to get on top of the shed that Dad and I built to trim the hedge along the back fence. The hedge is now six foot tall and about four foot deep. I couldn't reach the back side of the hedge from a ladder in front. The hedge grows right next to the fence and along the perimeter of the shed.

Finally, on a very serious note, I'd like to ask you to pray for my niece, Jenny, Randy's daughter. She lost a friend last week to an automobile accident. It is difficult at age 17 or 18 to have to face mortality. Pray for the young men and women who lost their classmate and friend, pray for her family and pray for her parents who are grieving the loss of their daughter. Her name was Allison. Thank you.

It is a spectacular Spring Monday with a high blue sky, sunshine and temperatures into the low seventies. Nice. The umbrella tree above the koi pond has begun to flower and the geraniums are bright red and pink above the pond. Buddy, our Golden Retriever, is sunning himself on the stamped concrete deck with a smile plastered on his face. All is bliss in his world. I'd like to join him out there, but my boss has these high expectations that I work during the week. Oh well.

I talked to Jennifer last night. As the war plays out on television, I can't help but worry with a daughter in the Army. Her understanding is that her unit will not be going to Iraq. She is in a signal battalion and her specialty is communications and fibre optics. The only scenario where she could end up in Iraq that we can see is once the war is over and the peacekeepers are in place, they could have a need for additional communications infrastructure and she could be called in. That is a long shot, but a father can't help but worry. She is packed and ready to go overseas, but so far she remains safely ensconced in the cocoon that is Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia. She and her roomate were playing Army Monopoly when I called on Sunday night. It is a US Army version of the board game Monopoly. She is doing great and as I said, is ready for her next set of orders.

I played golf this weekend and it is getting to that point in my golf year when my lovely bride begins to get a little tired of all of the golf and being left behind on weekends. We've even had a number of conversations regarding just how much golf I'll be playing on our Fall trip to Hawaii. The condo that we are sharing is owned by my golfing buddy, Dave, and one of his motives in inviting us was to play golf and have someone for his wife, Marilyn, to visit with. Darla has let it be known that she does not plan to be a golf widow in Hawaii. We are deep into negotiations on how many games I'll play while I'm there. She is set on 2, I'm lobbying for 4 and Dave would like 6. I think we'll likely settle on 3, but 2 would not be a surprise.

My golf this weekend was much better than last week. The weather was windy and it sprinkled rain on Sunday morning. This was the back two days of a three-day medal tournament at my club. I limped through the first round last Sunday with an 89, improved five shots to 84 on Saturday and improved another five shots on Sunday to a 79. The 79 could have and should have been a 75 or 76, but I stumbled with two double-bogeys and a triple-bogey. I made four birdies, three in a four hole stretch on the back nine. It is early in the year, but I feel my game coming around. I finished out of the money, but won $35 for low gross in my flight on Sunday with the 79. I have no tournament golf until April 19, but will have another three-day tournament in May and the two-day Monterey/Carmel trip in June. Darla is along on that trip, so I should be okay there. I will play in a Master's tournament on the Sunday morning of Masters. We tee off at seven a.m. and then go to the host's house to watch the final day of the Masters on television. I will miss the next Away tournament as Darla and I'll be in Las Vegas with Dad and Shirley. See, I do sacrifice golf for my wife!

Darla and I called Jim Dodds on Saturday to see if we could take him to dinner and pick up the long awaited coffee table. Well, it has been sent back to the sander to have some hinges re-sanded. Apparently the table is built with several compartments where the table can be expanded and the glides were sticking. I'm sure this table will weigh over two hundred pounds when we finally get it and it will have a built-in wet bar and entertainment center. We need to pick it up soon, before Jim goes nuts working on it. I've never met the gentleman, but I'm getting an initial impression of eccentricity.

I was in the San Francisco Bay Area last week, visiting agents and doing the marketing thing. I was there when the war broke and saw first hand some of the war protestors lining the streets and locking arms in steel cylinders to block traffic. They picked the financial district for maximum impact and made a complete mess of the city and have led to an additional $900,000 a day in overtime and lost revenue for the city. They picked a benign group to interrupt in the business men and women of the city. IF they try this during the opening game of the San Francisco Giants, there will likely be some real violence. Baseball fans do not want to be messed with, especially when they are going to a ballgame to blot out the War for a few hours.

David's varsity basketball team got beat in the state finals by Mater Dei of Santa Ana. Mater Dei is a private school that travels all over the country playing games and their team is led by DJ Strawberry, Darryl Strawberry's son. They had won 19 games in a row and their last loss had come to the Lebron James-led St. Vincent-St Mary's team from Ohio. Mater Dei was ranked fourth in the nation by USA Today. We, of course, were unranked. We had a magical season and beat some great teams along the way and I'm sure the boys will remember this for their lifetimes. As I said after the game, we played well right up until we played a team with a payroll. The Mater Dei team is sponsored by Nike and won their fifth California state championship in the last nine years. Our guys were out-sized and out-played, but our senior point guard led all scorers with 19 points. The final was 88-69, but we were within four points late in the third quarter. Their size and ability finally did us in. Mater Dei has three seniors who will be going on to Division 1 colleges on full ride scholarships. We have none. Darla and I are going with David to the Basketball banquet tonight for all of the Woodcreek basketball teams. Something tells me the night will belong to the varsity players.

Well, folks, pray for George Bush and our leaders. Give them peace and strength for this battle and may it end quickly. God Bless.

I don't usually update my blog in the middle of the week, but circumstances compel me to comment on something that has disturbed me deeply. I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. I've lived in the United States since I was nine years old and I am a naturalized US citizen. Thank God for that. The Canadian government is an embarassment to my heritage. Their "head in the sand" politics with regards to the war in Iraq has me absolutely seething. The booing of the American anthem at hockey games in Canada is overwhelmingly inappropriate and shows the ignorance of the typical Canadian hockey fan. The fact that their sport of choice is hockey says quite a bit about them to begin with.

There are anti-war protests in the United States and it is the right of Americans to express their views. Our men and women in Iraq are fighting for this right to continue. However, if this type of display was made in Iraq, the demonstrators would be rounded up and murdered by Saddam Hussein. Anti- government sentiments are punishable by death in Iraq.

Canada's war efforts in general have been pathetic at best and embarassing in relative terms. If terrorists were to hit any major city in Canada, the first call made by their prime minister would be to Washington asking for help and then to Britain to do likewise. For this government to condemn the United States is laughable. Canada is allying itself beside France and as Jay Leno said, "Why would we expect the French to help us in Iraq, when they didn't help us defend France in World War II". Canada is the home to many diverse government parties including The Communist party, The Marijuana party and The Gay Alliance party. That is all well and good and shows diversity in their government, but if it leads to fractional leadership and ineptitude as it has, Canada is fast becoming nothing more than a joke in the international community. I hope Chretian can pull some strings and clean up his mess in Canada soon or perhaps George W. will not take his call when terrorism strikes in the heartland of Canada.

That's my two cents and it is two cents, not 1.3 cents as it would be in Canada.

It's Monday, so it must be time to update this diatribe on Life with the Lyon's. This weekend revolved around two themes, Rain and Golf, and never the twain shall meet. We finally got some much needed rain and it was a true Pacific storm and all that entails. We had wind, rain and snow in the high country and some major squalls that, along with hail and some thunder and lightning, even saw a funnel cloud spotted in the Sacramento area. I wasn't sure if I went to bed and woke up in Vancouver, British Columbia or Dallas, Texas.

The heaviest precipitation came to us overnight on Friday, with about an inch-and-a-half of rain soaking the valley floor. It was so heavy and incessant that it caused the creeks and ponds on Diamond Oaks Golf Course to overflow their banks and flood the course. I called over early Saturday morning to see if the tournament was on and was told that Steve Hitchcock, our tournament director, had decided to cancel the Saturday round. This is a three-day medal event and Steve had already locked in Sunday, March 22nd as a rain makeup date. Frankly, it was clearing up and looked like we'd get little or no additional rain on Saturday, but the course was drenched and only 14 holes were open. It was the right call, but I was determined to play that day.

Darla was taking David to the DMV to get his driving permit. EGAD...I could miss that. I drove over to the course and saw several of the guys milling about, putting or hitting balls. I grabbed a bucket of balls, and as I hit them tried to implore several more nutcases to join me on the course. I finally got Dave and Gary to agree to play and we lit out on the back nine. We played 10-17 and decided to play 11-17 again. We played two balls in on 18 and then played 11 again. We finished in three hours and eighteen minutes and I shot a 43-39=82. Little did I know that I would wish at the end of the weekend that that score was part of the tournament and not just practice. I was shocked at the level of water on the course. We have had about 600 new homes built around the course in the last three years and many of them sit above the course and drain down onto the course. The drainage is horrible. We had a torrent of water sluicing through the 15th fairway and out through twelve and thirteen. It drained well over Saturday and we were able to play on Sunday.

Sunday was not as agreeable in the weather department. It was overcast and nasty looking, but the tournament was ON. I had a terrible round and had sodden and soaked grips and clubs by the end of the day. The rain started on our sixth hole and rained incessantly from then on. I shot 44-45=89 and walked off the course disgusted with myself and my game. I had several holes when the wet grips almost caused the club to fly out of my hands. I was able to hang onto the club, but not my game and look forward to improving over next weekend, which so far appears to forecast as sunny and warm.

I got off the course on Saturday early and we went with Darla's sister, Alicia, and David and Daniel to Arco Arena to watch David's varsity basketball team at Woodcreek vie for the Nor-Cal Championship in Division II. It was fun to sit in the Sacramento Kings arena and watch our high school boys playing on the same floor as the Kings. They played a see-saw game with a team from Santa Clara and finally went on a nine-point run in the third quarter that helped them to a 65-56 win. They will play at Arco next Friday night for the state title against a team from Los Angeles. We will, of course, be there for the game.

After the game, which ended about six-thirty and included presentations of the winner's plaque and medals for both teams, I treated everyone to dinner at Hamburger Mary's. Mary's is a mid-town Sacramento restaurant that is eclectic because of it's age, it's decor and its clientele. Mary's is located on J Street across from the Memorial Auditorium and directly across the street from The Beat, a downtown music store that caters to the punk scene. I had to talk to the boys before we went in, because Mary's is known to attract the downtown crowd, which includes the gay population. I told the boys to not stare and to just enjoy the meal. Our luck would have it that one of those rather eccentric couples sat right behind us. It at first appeared to be two older women, but quickly became apparent that one of the old ladies was an old man in drag. He was a dead ringer for Mrs. Doubtfire with his large glasses, long skirt, old lady clog shoes and a bright top with tassles and fringe. He was also toting a handbag of gargantuan proportions and had on a necklace, rings and full makeup and painted nails. It was all I could do to keep David and Daniel from going into hysterics. David and Daniel have grown up in conservative Roseville and have had little contact with how the other half lives. They got an eyeful on Saturday night.

I had mentioned Darla's lawyer friend, Jim Dodds, who is building us a coffee table. We had hoped to meet up with him on our way back from Carmel, but he had his phone hooked up to a Fax machine all day on Saturday and we weren't able to hook up (literally) and the wait continues. Jim is in the middle of a big court case and he was hoping for a big settlement and had his phone turned to FAX. Jim talked to Darla on Sunday and said that he was sorry that we couldn't reach him as he's going nuts with the table there and keeps tinkering with it and adding touches. I just hope we can lift it into the truck when we finally do get over there.

I'm off to the San Francisco Bay area this week on work. I'll be in San Jose Tuesday night and Wednesday and Burlingame on Wednesday night and Thursday. I'll return home on Thursday night. I hope you all are well. Buckle in as it looks like Saddam might have his comeuppance sooner rather than later. God be merciful with his soul.

The sun is streaming through the backyard as I look out on a late Winter day. The sky is blue and shorts have finally found there way back into my wardrobe.

Darla and I spent three days in Carmel and Monterey last weekend and had ideal weather. The temperature was in the low seventies with a light breeze and blue skies. We sat out by the pool each afternoon and finally began to add some color to these atrophied white bodies. We both realize that we need to diet rather convincingly in order to be able to stand the sight of one another in shorts. Spring is just around the corner and we can't wait. Neither of us brought shorts to the coast as we thought it would be cooler, so we each had to go out and buy some. This is where the rubber meets the road on defining Darla and I. She went shopping in Carmel on Thursday afternoon as I visited one of the agents in the city of Carmel. She was able to find a nice pair of jean shorts for $38 at Talbots. I waited until Friday after meetings with my Monterey agents and went over to Wal Mart and bought a pair of shorts, some mints, a bottle of water, a muscle shirt, and a CD of Third Day (a Christian band) and spent $28.50. Those who know me well will smile.

Darla and I stayed at a different motel from ones we've stayed in before. It is The Carmel Bay View Inn, a Best Western that has a misnomer for a name save for the occupants of the fourth and fifth floors. We were on the second floor. The hotel is extremely nice with remodelled rooms, a fireplace in each room and tiled bathrooms with large fluffy towels and a nice breakfast in the morning. It is located on Junipero and Seventh street, catty corner from the city park and across the street from Piatti's Italian Restaurant. We were very impressed and will return. Our only flaw for the stay was a large neighbor who snored so loudly we could hear him through the wall and the flue of the fireplace. I woke up about two a.m. and woke Darla so she could hear the droning coming through the wall. We had a good giggle in the middle of the night. It sounded like the guy was up sanding the walls in his room with a power sander.

Darla and I had the early bird dinner on Friday night at Clint Eastwood's restaurant, The Hog's Breath Inn, and the prime rib was made especially delicious at $8 off the regular price. We then took a long walk around Carmel, shopping at one discount clothing store and almost being locked in. We were upstairs at about 6:50 p.m. and the store closes at 7 p.m. We overheard them closing the front door, which is a large wooden door on rails that locks in place. Darla yelled that "we are up here!" to no avail as the door slammed shut. We sprinted downstairs and the place was empty, although the lights were still on. We disengaged the deadbolt on the door and rolled it open and escaped. Again, we found ourselves laughing at the absurdity of our predicament. We don't know what happened to the clerks.

We slept in on Saturday morning and went to The Little Swiss Cafe, a favorite of ours, for breakfast. We both had the plate-sized pancakes and I drank coffee while Darla worked on a cup of hot chocolate. We then decided to take a walk on the beach as the weather was just so ideal. We usually walk south on the beach, but I wanted to get a beach eye view of Pebble Beach. We walked along the beach side of the course and were able to find three golf balls, two of them Pro V1's. It looked like a tremendous day to be playing Pebble and I have to admit that it is one of my dreams to play a round at Pebble Beach in the next few years. I have many like-minded friends and we will simply have to suck it up and drop the $800 that it will cost for lodging and golf in the next couple of years.

We returned home Saturday night tired and relaxed at the same time. The trip was great and helps renew our spirit as a couple. We were able to dovetail this trip with my work and we do that quite often as my home office is Phoenix and I handle The Bay Area, Reno/Tahoe and The Monterey Peninsula. Convincing Darla to take a few days off and join me in paradise isn't a tough sell.

I played golf on Sunday and tipped my cap to my father on the first tee. It was Dad's 66th birthday and I celebrated it on the links. I shot 84 and ended up paying one of my friends, who is a 19-handicapper and he also shot an 84. He is 62 years old and has a wonderful relaxed swing. He just bought a new Cobra driver and he cleaned up in the betting department. I had set up the match as a practice round for the start of next week's three-day medal tournament at the club. I'll be at the city council meeting tonight in Roseville. Parks and Rec has proposed an increase of 25% in the fees at our course and I will be there to tell the council that they are out of their minds. None of the golfers would complain about a 10% increase, but we have many golfers that are retired and on fixed incomes as well as blue collar golfers, who have seen their incomes eroded over the last few years as the economy has suffered. A 25% fee increase is a slap in the face to the hard working citizens of this town. With the economy suffering from stagnation and unemployment woes, the city council will get an earfull tonight.

Darla took a call from one of the local supermarkets on Sunday. They told her that they are closing their doors on Tuesday and that she needed to get in and pick up her film. She didn't recall having any film in for processing, but said that she'd be over to pick it up. It is a roll of film from 1999 that we took in after Christmas when the store was Albertson's. It is now a Ralph's and they are closing as they built a new superstore not far from this outlet. It was odd to see pictures of the boys at 11 and 9 and Jennifer at 18. In fact Jennifer was with a boyfriend that neither of us could recall ever having been at our new house. I know that they were broken up by the time we moved in here. Funny stuff.

Well, that is my installment for this week. My rant today involves the psycho's that are rallying against a war in Iraq and against our President. Why is it that they say that we have NOT found evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq on one hand, and on the other they say that fighting a war with Iraq would put our servicemen and women in jeopardy of death by exposure to chemical weapons? Just Shut Up! Somehow I think that Collin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld know just a little bit more about the situation than these boobs. Now you know my politics. God be with all of us.

As I sit at my desk looking over the backyard and koi pond and all of the plantings that make my work space such a joy to me, I see a very ordered and well trimmed world. I put the boys to work on Saturday hauling and disposing of trimmings and cuttings. I bought a lopper this weekend that allows me to shape and trim the various trees and bushes on my property. I had the fun job of cutting and hacking away at the trees and they had the banal job of gathering the trimmings and cutting them down further and stuffing them in the trash can. The result is a much more neat and ordered set of trees. They were all growing over and into one another and now each tree has its own unique space and the additional light should allow the trees to flourish and fill in even better than before. I accidentally cut the electrical cord to the pump and waterfall in the process of trimming the plantings and had to rewire the electrical afterward. I took the boys out to ice cream at the Cold Stone Creamery last night as a thank you for their help.

Darla is in bed convalescing from a bad cold. She had a sore throat over the weekend that has turned into a wheezing cough and decided to take the day off. Working at home is tough as she enticed me to sleep in a bit this morning and I finally pried myself out of bed and into the shower about a half hour later than usual. I told her she's a bad influence on me. Hopefully, she'll be feeling better after a good rest today.

I played poker on Friday night. The night started out a bit strangely, as John Uno and I arrived at Scott Kolleen's house at the allotted hour of seven p.m. to begin the festivities. John and I were met by Tom Heavey and the three of us were taken aback by the "For Sale" sign on Scott's property. We rang the bell and there was no sign of life at the darkened home. In fact, it appeared that the house was empty. We were all a bit confused as the welcome mat was supposed to be awaiting us and Scott had confirmed the game earlier in the week. About that time, Bill Belcamino came driving by and saw us all standing on the porch looking forlorn and forgotten and called Scott. He answered and said that no one was at his house. He walked outside and I could hear him talking to Bill on the phone, but from a distance. I walked around the garage and saw him standing on the porch of the house next door. I'd trusted John to pick me up and drive me to Scott's house and he'd picked me up and driven me to Scott's next door neighbor. We all had a good laugh before settling in to a night of cards and comraderie. I lost about thirty bucks that night, but came away richer for the friendship and male bonding. Actually, no I lost $30.

I had a slight injury last week and it speaks to my encampment here in the midst of middle age. I'd toasted an English muffin one morning last week to enjoy with my morning cup of joe and the paper. It was rather tasty with a bit of peanut butter and I decided to toast another. I split the English muffin with my knife and I suppose in retrospect that I left a small dollop of peanut butter on the edge of the muffin in the process. The toaster popped up the muffin and I picked it up to carry it to the countertop for the addition of the peanut butter when my right palm began to burn severely. The hot peanut butter on the edge of the muffin scorched my hand and left what would eventually become a blister. Age is a wicked stepmother when you can get injured eating and wake up with a stiff neck after sleeping. At my age it is a hazard to eat and/or sleep. And that is my rant for this week.

Darla and I are off to Monterey on Thursday and Friday. I have to go and visit my agents and Darla decided to come along and enjoy the scenery. It will make my trip a bit more palatable with her along, but depending upon her shopping in Carmel, it could be a bit pricey. We are staying at a hotel on Junipero street in the heart of the business district in Carmel, so she should be fine while I'm off slaving with the agents. We will stay over Thursday and Friday and return to Sacramento on Saturday night. We plan to stop in Stockton on the trip back and pick up a new coffee table to complement our new sofa in the family room. Darla has a friend in Stockton who is a lawyer, but moonlights as a furniture manufacturer and he made us a new wood coffee table. He is attempting to market these through fine furniture stores and I have reserved judgement on the item until I see it. He's been working on this thing since the end of October. I'm anxious to see how it turned out.

My rental home in Galt suffered a wind damage loss in December and I've just found out from my contractor that I have some roof damage. I've conferred with Earl Westra, my father-in-law, on what to expect in the way of an estimate. He spent his whole career in the building industry in Stockton and I called to ask him for a recommendation on a roofer. He gave me pause when he said that of all of the tradesmen in the building industry, he has the least confidence in roofers. He told me that the materials should cost no more than $200, but the installation may cost upwards of $1000 when all is said and done. I'm still waiting for an estimate from the roofer who was supposed to be out at the rental last week.

Well, that is my installment for this week. I played no golf this weekend, but will make up for lost time with a game this Sunday and a three day tournament starting the following weekend that will run Saturday-Sunday-Saturday. It is an individual stroke play tournament, meaning that I can rely on myself alone for scoring and not a partner. Thank the good Lord for that. Be well.