Here it is Monday again. Jennifer will be home by the time I write again. She is REALLY looking forward to getting away from Army life for a few weeks. I think she enjoys her job, but she is ready to do a little down time at home where she can lay by the pool or just visit with friends and family.

Darla hosted a shower for her brother Steve's fiancee, Kirstin, at Darla's Mom's house yesterday. I guess it was family only and there were aunts and cousins and Kirstin's Mom and Shea, Steve's daughter. Apparently the festivities went very well and Kirstin was very appreciative of the shower. Darla went downstairs to the cellar late in the afternoon and tripped on a step and took a header down the stairs!! She has a scraped nose and some sore bones as she tumbled all the way down. Apparently no one heard her fall and she crawled back up the stairs and everyone was shocked when she came back up bleeding and sputtering. We talked about the age thing in the last blog. (Well, at least she didn't break her hip.) She looks a little worse for wear, but she is a trooper and is back at work today.

I spent the day at the golf course and enjoyed myself. I've somehow managed to come up with a nasty case of tennis elbow in my left arm. Apparently, this is the only place in your body where a muscle attaches directly to the bone and does not utilize a tendon. Somehow, I've managed to pull the muscle fibres loose from the bone and it is inordinately painful. Basically a dull ache that reminds you of the malady everytime you use your arm. I have a tennis elbow strap that I use to clamp down the muscle and keep the muscle from moving away from the bone, so that it can heal. If I don't do this and I continue to pull the fibres loose as they attempt to repair themselves, I will end up with scar tissue and eventually need surgery. All of that to say that the act of golfing is contrary to allowing the muscle to heal. I was in some pain during the round, but managed to pull my round together on the backside and shot a 44-39=83. My arm didn't bother me as much on the back nine, due in part to the arm sufficiently warming and partly due to the 20 ounce Bud Light that my playing partner bought me. I played with Harry Wharrf, our Vice President at the golf club, Steve Parino, my twilight golf partner and Bjorn Andersen, my friend from Rocklin. Harry shot a 33-39=72, Steve shot a 42-40 82 and Bjorn managed a 47-42=89. We had a great time and it was a practice round for the Rose Cup qualifying tournament next Saturday.

I'm struggling a little bit at work. I've hit a slow patch and I need to ramp up my marketing efforts with new agents and contact some of the agents that have yet to send me business. I'm also frustrated with some of the referral underwriters that I have to work with. In my prior life, I was able to depend solely on myself for getting the business completed and now I have to depend on others. I've had two different underwriters promise me a quote by a certain date and then let me down. That is the most difficult thing for me. I've always been one who lived up to promises implicitly and I'm seeing how the other half operates and I'm not enjoying it.

Both of the boys started back to school last week and are hard into football practice. David has all but been pushed out of the competition for quarterback and is putting all of his energies into starting at free safety as a junior for the varsity. There will only be five juniors starting out of 22 positions and I told David he should be proud. His coaches feel that David could be an all conference safety because of his size and feel for the ball. David continues to harbor thoughts of being the starting quarterback and it appears that only injury or poor performance by the other two will allow for that possibility. It's too bad, but the fact that he will be a two year starter for his varsity football team is a good thing. Daniel will play lineman for his freshman team. he had hoped to play a skill position, but his size, 6'1" and 200 pounds, has the coaches mouth's watering. It will be interesting to see how Daniel does this year in the shadow of his brother on the varsity team. Daniel's sheer size has earned him a starting spot on the team.

I had my fantasy football draft this weekend and chose fourth. I dutifully picked Michael Vick for my first round choice and watched in the afternoon as he broke his right leg in a preseason game. I hate pre-season football. At least I have Drew Bledsoe of Buffalo as my backup and Brad Johnson of the Super Bowl champions as my third quarterback.

Well, I'll let you all know how our visit with Jennifer is going by next week. I think we'll plan to take a day up at Lake Almanor and let David teach Jennifer how to wake board. We'll also manage a day at the State Fair which is going on. Jennifer's birthday is the 28th and it was brother Randy's birthday yesterday. Jennifer will turn 23 and she is 20 years older than Randy, although I won't reveal HIS age. Nyuck nyuck.