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.