Post Christmas Ramblings

The Monday after Christmas. The roads were empty and the traveling was quite easy as hundreds and thousands of workers take the post Christmas week as a final week of vacation. Darla is living that dream this week as I toil away at work. The roads were a little slick due to an incessant rain that held off over the weekend, but greeted me as I left the garage at 6:30 this morning. I hope all of you had a wonderful family time over the Christmas holiday and were able to concentrate on the true meaning of Christmas. Darla and I enjoyed the Christmas Eve service at church as each of the pastors and their families were on stage at church and read through the Christmas story in the New Testament. There were Christmas hymns and some tremendous contemporary songs that made you realize what Joseph and Mary were going through as Jesus was to be born and the scorn that they had to endure simply for being chosen by God to deliver his Saviour to a needy world.

We talked to Jennifer on Christmas Day. She actually had to work on Christmas, but was able to enjoy a Christmas repast with her unit on the night of December 24th with a gift exchange and some good food. It was great hearing from her, but she is sure missing home right now.

Darla, Alicia and I were able to make the trek up to Reno on Thursday night for the party. It was COLD in Reno with overnight lows in the twenties and highs only reaching the upper thirties. (For those of you in Canada, that is in the Fahrenheit scale and just barely creeping above freezing.) The party was at some friends' house in Sparks. I don't know the people well as they are friends from Lake Almanor and I only manage a day or two up at the lake every Summer. The house was literally packed with people when we arrived and Darla and Alicia got stuck in the coat room talking to people as I stole away to the garage and a spot by the tv for the Wyoming-UCLA game. I found a cold bottle of Samuel Adams and a vacant chair and visited with the host Bob's father, who lives in El Dorado, a small town up near Placerville in California. We never really had a chance to visit with our hosts as the party was too large and we made plans to have breakfast with them the next morning.

We stayed at the Atlantis Casino, which is our favorite casino. They offered us a free tower room and Alicia was able to get a tower room for $39. It helps to be members of their frequent player club and we receive offers from them about every other month. The nice thing for us is that the Atlantis is located away from the grunge of downtown Reno out near the Peppermill west of town. We met up with Bob and his parents the next morning at the Silver Club in Sparks and had a great breakfast. I won $30.00 on a nickle machine with four threes as we waited and it paid for our breakfast. Bob's father, Frank, and his wife, Joni, invited Darla and I up to their home in El Dorado in the New Year and we will probably take them up on it. El Dorado is an old gold mining town and is rich in the history of California.

This was a bit of an odd Christmas for me as Darla took control of the gift buying, even to the point of buying her own gifts. She told me that given my new responsibilities at work that she'd take that burden from me and she had our Christmas shopping done by December 1st. I had the joy of not only being surprised at opening my own gifts, but also by finding out what I'd bought Darla. I was quite generous this year and bought her a new set of Pampered Chef cookware, several outfits and a new robe. Cheryl bought me a golf shirt as well as a personalized golf hat from their country club, Berrywood. It has my name on the back. Darla received a makeup case and a coat from Darryl. We are still involved in the gift exchange with family and we had Darryl and Cake this year. Darla bought Darryl a new sweatsuit and I bought Cake some handmade Jewelry from the Darla Lyon line. The boys came over about 11:30 on Christmas morning and we opened gifts before hosting a dinner for Darla's Mom and Dad, brother and his family and her sister, Alicia. We had a nice family day and relaxed and talked after a huge meal of turkey and all the trimmings.

We have no great plans for New Years and will relax at home on both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Our tradition is to have a few families over and have a game day on New Year's day.

My staff surprised me on the 23rd by calling me into the conference room and serenading me with "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and giving me a gift certificate to my favorite Lobsterhouse in the Sacramento area. The song and gift were very special, but the words that they wrote in the card that accompanied it were priceless. The staff is happy and looks forward to coming to work and you can't put a price on that. I have a great group working with me and for me and 2005 will be one for the books.

I was contacted last week by the business editor of the Sacramento Bee, Jack Sirard. I entered a stock contest last year and finished sixth in the contest. I had chosen a stock called Waste Industries USA. If you ever have to pick a stock for an annual contest, pick a well managed waste hauler or funeral service or utility, all things that are fairly recession proof. Anyhow, Jack called to see if I wanted to enter a pick for next year's contest. I told him I'd give it some thought and send him an e-mail. This year I picked KKD, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. It is currently trading at $11.75, down from a high of $40 a share last year. The Atkins craze of 2004 is to blame and I see the stock rebounding nicely in 2005, perhaps even doubling in price. Jack called back and said he wants me to come into the Bee's photo studio tomorrow for a photo session as part of his story on January 2nd. They will have plenty of Krispy Kremes on hand and I'll be there. It should be a fun experience. I'll fill you in more next week.

As this year slowly closes this week, it was really a good year for the Lyons here in California. I had some great success professionally and Darla is continuing to excel at her job and to make life better for so many of her clients that can't do for themselves. The boys have both shined not only academically, but in sports as well. Jennifer is literally reinventing herself as a person and as a citizen and she has my utmost respect for her sacrifice for this country. I couldn't be prouder of her and I look forward to watching her progress in life as she finishes her military career and carves a life for herself in the private sector. Her prospects are very bright for her future. David is looking also to his future as he works toward his college plans and decides what he will do with his future. It is an exciting time. 2005 will bring our family trip to Hawaii and we look forward to spending time with the boys in Kauai. 2005 will also bring Jennifer home and in 2006 Darla and I have promised Jen a vacation in Puerto Vallarta at our condo and we have that to look forward to. And all of that is by the grace of our Lord and Savious, Jesus Christ. Amen?

I wish each of you an interesting and exciting New Year with all of the blessings that our Lord has in store for each of you. Take care, be good to each other and I hope to see all of you in the New Year. Ciao.

Christmas Meanderings

Back at it on Christmas week. It will be a short week with Friday off and Darla and I may end up driving up to Reno on Thursday night for a holiday party. It depends on the snow conditions over the pass in Truckee. So far it has been clear, but storms do blow in rather quickly this time of year.

I awoke to a white morning, although there was no snow in evidence. The white of which I speak is FOG. It was a heavy blanket of fog that took hold on Saturday night during our staff Christmas party and stuck stubbornly with us through Sunday and into today. It tried to clear up yesterday afternoon as the sun peeked out for about forty minutes, but quickly gave way to the wet and cold presence that often mars our days this time of year. It is supposed to clear up this week and we should see the sun win the battle later in the week.

The staff Christmas party was Saturday night and we had a ball. The company footed most of the bill for the food and drinks and I bought each of the staff members a gift. I bought Cross pens for everyone and business card holders for the assistants. I had the assistants order business cards when I promoted them to renewal Underwriters and only one of them had seen fit to display the cards at their desk, so I bought each of them a nice cherrywood card holder to display the cards at their desks. I appreciate the support that the staff has shown me in my transition to the manager of the office. We had a great time, singing Karaoke to Christmas songs and playing billiards. We had a gift exchange and plenty of laughs and good times. We ate turkey and ham and Cora fixed an awesome cod and shrimp soup and a medley of fresh vegetables as well as garlic bread and corn bread muffins. It was a feast by any definition. I bought seven bottles of wine, three cases of beer, two cases of water and two cases of soda. Everything lasted except the wine. We ended up opening two bottles of Dinda's wine to fill the gap. All of the staff were able to attend except for Kathy, Gail's assistant and Gwen, our third commercial underwriter. She is not the most social of beings and has yet to attend any of our social events away from work. To each his own, I say.

I was able to finish the enclosure around the air conditioner yesterday. The contractor ended up cutting out two of the posts surrounding the unit in order to fit the new slab in to the space. The problem is that the slab was so close to the edge of the "box" that I couldn't get enough room to tear out the old base for the 4x4's much less dig holes for the new ones. I ended up tying into the two remaing posts with horizontal 4x4s and attaching the upright 4x4s to the horizontal ones with sheet metal anchors. It was a little wobbly until I was able to hammer everything together and add the latticework around the base. I gave it a new coat of the Flood UV Protectant stain and need to add another coat next weekend. I had pulled out the vines that the prior contractor had used to surround the air conditioner as our contractor said that the unit needed air space. I think the unit looks even nicer with just the lattice work around it. This project turned out better than the wallboard job in the laundry room.

Darla and I have been invited to dinner tonight at our friends' house and then they have tickets to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Arco Arena tonight. It is a holiday concert, but includes a light show as the orchestra plays and I've heard some great feedback on the concert. Our friends happen to be our heating and air contractor and his wife. It should be fun tonight. I have several lunches this week with our agents and it starts today with lunch at Benihanas. If I don't gain weight this holiday, it will be a Christmas miracle.

I talked to Jennifer yesterday. It was six am her time and she was preparing to leave for a day at the firing range. As Armorer she has to be present during the certification in case any of the weapons jam or need to be checked. She is actually the assistant Armorer, which she said is better. The Armorer has to check out weapons and be present in the weapons area at all times whereas Jennifer gets to roam the facility and freelance her way through the day. Darla also talked to Jenn and she is also having to be recertified on the M-16, so she was doing target practice as well. Jennifer has updated her blog and she is absolutley thrilled to be back in Kuwait as you'll see by her latest entry, which I think she entitled "Back in Kuwait and hating it" or something like that. Jen will spend Christmas at a party being thrown for her unit. I think she's already looking forward to the holidays next year when she'll be home free. Her unit is currently in lockdown where no one can leave Kuwait until they get back to a "mission" ready unit. Apparently they are short of bodies in the unit. Hopefully, they will not be in lockdown when she is ready to leave next year.

I want to wish each of my family members and friends a truly inspired and faith filled Christmas celebration this year. The greatest gift that any of us will ever receive came from God when he sent Heaven to earth in the form of his son and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, to live and die for our sins. If we have accepted that gift we have nothing to ever want for again. Praise God, eh? Take care of each other. Ciao.

Jennifer back in Kuwait from Germany

Just a quick note to let you all know that Jennifer has arrived back in Kuwait from Germany. Not a surprise, but she had a great time. She flew from Kuwait five hours into Ramstein AFB and then took the Autobahn to a little Army base called Vilsek. She was able to hook up with a group of soldiers and see the German countryside. Her new favorite beer is Guinness and her favorite German food was Donners, a bun filled with shaved pork they serve in the pubs. The temperatures were - 3 degrees Celsius and she did come home with a cold and sniffled through our phone conversation. She received our package and a package from Dad and Shirley that she was THRILLED with, especially the pictures of your cars and Vegas and Darryl's house. She's homesick, but determined. She said her commander is jealous of her trip and has put her on work detail tomorrow on her day off, wrapping presents.

She also had a meeting with the new Command Major Sargeant of the Army Preston, who was visiting from Washington and she was impressed with his speech. There were only thirty soldiers picked to sit in on his speech and she was one of them. It was GREAT to hear from her and she sounds hale and hearty , in spite of her cold. The weather in Kuwait has settled and it is now running in the high sixties.

Another weekend is in the books and the march of time moves on inexorably. Darla and I went to a murder mystery dinner on Saturday night with her gang from work. It was an interesting diversion, but not really good for socializing as the group was spread out amongst three tables. We got to visit with the one other couple from the group at our table (we were at the kid's table from Holiday dinners) and kibbitz with a few of those behind us, but overall it was entertaining, but not at all condusive to visiting with anyone. The dinner started at 8:30 and was over at about 11:15 pm, whereat everyone decided to call it a night and head home. Nice.

We didn't even get a chance to socialize at the bar before dinner as David had the consolation game at a basketball tournament which ended at 8:00 PM and we hightailed it from Folsom to Old Sacramento and I tested the limits of the Mustang as we sped to the gig. David's team finished third out of the ten teams in the tournament, losing to the eventual champion. David had a rough go, getting an elbow to the face in the Friday night game that split his lip. We missed the game as Darla had a home show that she was doing that night and I was just exhausted. When the week ends, my ten to twelve hour days catch up to me and I'm ready for a soft spot on the couch. I actually wish that was true as I painted the laundry room after repairing the hole in the ceiling. The laundry room looks nice freshly painted, but there are some sanding issues with my repair that I may have Earl help me with when he comes by. There is a reason that I am not in the carpentry trade and if you're curious as to what those are, come by and I'll show you the ceiling in my laundry room.

David came by on Friday night and wanted to know if he should go and get stitches in his lip. The puncture actually is in his lip and it was swollen like he'd had a bad cologen injection. There is a half inch wide hole in his lip where his tooth punctured the surface. Saturday night he was again hit in the face by an elbow, this time by Ike, his teamate and he started bleeding again. I had to yell at the ref to get him out of the game as he had blood running down his mouth and onto his chin. He came out of the game for about five minutes and went right back in as soon as the bleeding stopped. We both assumed that the cut had reopened, but David told us yesterday that he now has two gashes in his lip. Again, the lip is swollen and distorted and I told him to ice it and stay away from salt.

The boys came by yesterday on their way to Sunday school to pick up David's basketball schedule. His youth minister wants to come and watch a couple of games. Darla had picked up Krispy Kremes and David didn't want one because he couldn't brush his teeth afterward. There are, after all, girls at his church class. The boys came by about one o'clock in the afternoon sniffing around for the Krispy Kremes and I gave them the box. There were no leftovers this morning, so I just finished my morning ritual of a cup of coffee and an English Muffin. This helps me keep in touch with my heritage. Yes, my Grandfather was from England, but the heritage is a bit of peanut butter and a pudgy waistline.

I played golf this weekend and as I wrote to my brother, who bragged about the Austin, Texas weather at 80 degrees and his 27 holes of golf in shorts, I wore my big boy long pants in deference to the 59 degree weather here in Sacramento. This was the Eclectic Final, the last tournament of the year. The Eclectic is a year long tournament whereby each golfer has his best scores from each hole on the course kept during the year on all medal tournaments. The final is a tournament in itself, but also the last qualifying tournament for the Eclectic. I ended up shooting a gross of 30-33= 63-12(handicap) = 51. I have yet to see the final results, but I think I finished first in my flight with the net of 51. One player in the flight had a 60 with a net of 50, but he will win the low gross and I'll get the low net. It is actually somewhat amazing that I'm even in the running after missing most of the early Summer tournaments with a bad back. I shot 41-45=86 for the tournament and finished out of the running. I had a good start and just fell apart on the back. I ended up tying Mel with 86, by finishing double-bogey, double-bogey, bogey and giving up a solid lead and the $10 stroke bet. I didn't lose money, but I had it in the bag, if I'd just held on at the end. Oh well, that's golf.

I will host the office Christmas party on Saturday night. We are actually having the event at my Executive Assistant's house in Carmichael. She has quite a party house and it is closer to everyone, so we decided to hold it there. I will buy two turkeys, a ham and all the fixins as well as pies, beer, wine, soft drinks and water. I will also have M&Ms and peanuts to munch on and we will do a gift exchange. I am buying each staff member a gift and will also present those at the dinner. It should be a fun night, but I've got a lot of pre-planning to do this week to be ready for the big dinner on Saturday. I also have several lunches this week with my best agents that Anthony and I will be hosting. On top of that, Harvey, our Vice President will be in tomorrow to go over results and planning with me. There isn't really time to take a breath, but isn't that the holiday season in a nutshell?

I haven't heard from Jennifer since she left for Germany and I think she has phone issues. I think she is at an airbase and doesn't have as easy access to the phones as she does at Camp Doha. She should be heading home next week and I should hear from her. I'm sure she is having a blast in Germany. I do look forward to talking to her before Christmas and getting caught up. Remember our brave soldiers this Christmas season that are away from friends and family. Say a prayer for them and give thanks that they are willing to put their comfort aside for the sake of all of us. Even if you live in the the land of the cowards up in Canada.

I saw the Primetime episode interviewing the AWOL soldiers in Canada who chose not to go to Iraq and fight for our country. I don't have a problem with the fact that they chose to not honor their oath to defend our country and skipped to Canada. I DO, however, have a problem if they ever want to come back to this country. I think they are in a perfect place up in the land of the world's ostriches. Folks, you are home. Please stay there. You aren't draft dodgers, you are soldiers with a wide yellow streak down your backs. You are criminals and a disgrace not only to the uniform, but to this country. My advice to them is learn to speak French and stay the hell out of the U. S. o f A. Are my politics coming through loud and clear? Can you hear me now? Good.

As I step off of my soap box, I wish you a great week and much love and good family times this Christmas season. Until next week...Ciao.

Heat, glorious heat. The heater is in and working and even David's room is warm and toasty. Funny how you take things like personal comfort for granted until you go through a period without your home heating system. Even with our fireplace and space heater, it was downright cold in the house. I don't know how the homeless cope in areas like Boston and Green Bay and I give thanks for the homeless shelters throughout the country who take in the homeless and give them a warm bed and a hot meal during the Winter months. Our church participates in a program called The Gathering Inn where the area churches take in the homeless and house them for a few nights and try to give them not only shelter, but also hope for the future. You'd think there weren't many homeless in Roseville, but it is a railroad city and the homeless still ride the rails in the empty boxcars and stop in Roseville.

My heating and air contractor had to cut a hole in my laundry room to fit the new heater up into the attic. I have attic stairs in the garage, but the new heater wouldn't fit..it was too wide for the opening. They cut an extra four inches in the former opening for the attic access that was in the utility room. I went out to Lowes this week and bought a 4'x8' length of wall board to patch the small 3' x 26" opening that needed to be repaired. I closed off the old opening and put a floor over the joists so that no one would take a fall through that opening back into the laundry room from above. I had never done any wallboard and could have used Dad's help in the project, but I muddled through it. My father-in-law, Earl, was a big help in walking me through the process. The thing that seemed to take the most time was cutting out the old wall board along the center of the joists above so that I could tack the replacement board in place. I used a wall board knife and hacked away at the old wallboard and made a Godawful mess on the floor and on the coats hanging in the utility room and all over myself as well. It looked like I was tearing down the room rather than just repairing a small piece of wallboard. I was lucky to catch Earl after I finished preparing the repair with joint mud. I had planned to let the mud dry and then put the wall board tape on. Earl set me straight that the tape was to be applied at the same time as the mud. It is dry now and I will wet sand the finish, add one more coat of mud and then wet sand it again and then texture the final product prior to painting the ceiling next weekend. I don't know how it will turn out, but it will undoubtably let less cold air into the house than the prior configuration. I added some insulation in the attic and, as I said, it is nice and warm in the house now. Unfortunately, I now have a small blood blister on the point of my right index finger that is a bit painful today.

I also had DirecTV come out last Friday and install TiVo in the house. It is the state of the art way to watch television and it seemed that our VCRs were forever having problems recording programs. We went to David's basketball game on Friday night and I Tivo'd the Kings game. We got home just after halftime and I turned on the recorded portion of the show and watched the whole game in about an hour and twenty minutes. Somehow you watch the program from the beginning and it contines to record the game through to completion and you just continue to watch it. Nice.

David is playing Power Forward on his Varsity basketball team and he has been voted a captain on the team by his teammates. He started the last game, but got into early foul trouble and watched most of the game from the bench. We have a chance to do some damage in the section this year as we have a 6'8" senior center who is dominant. He had a slam dunk in the last game that brought the house down. It will be a fun year.

I played golf on Saturday and then we had the Roseville Golf Club Christmas party that night. My golf game was not in high gear as I shot 43-47=90 out at Woodcreek Golf Course. It was in the 40's when we teed off and I hate to play golf in a coat. It was COLD. I played with Mel, Harry Wharff and Mark Konrad. Mark is the guy who always wants to bet me. Well, he made a nice haul this weekend, winning our $5 stroke play match and taking another $3 from each of the golfers on our group bet. He also won $13 in skin money. Mel shot 93, Harry shot 77 and Mark shot 86.

The dinner and party that night were great and I am now officially off the board of the Roseville Golf Club. We had a really fun night with dancing and some adult beverages and a lot of fellowship. Darla and I finally left at 11:30 and took Mark and Pam home with us. Mark had arranged for a limo to take them to the party and asked if we'd drive them home. Strangely, the limo was there waiting for them at the end of the party. The driver had no other fares and was available if they wanted a ride home. The problem was he'd sat in the parking lot watching tv and listening to music and his battery was dead. I had to give him a jump and then Mark and Pamela blew him off anyway. As Mark said, "I didn't ASK him to come and pick us up. I only arranged for travel TO the event."

I haven't heard from Jennifer since she got to Germany, but she did call and talk to her Mom and let her know she made it to Germany and was having a ball. She will be there until December 18th, when she will return to Kuwait. I hope to hear from her soon and I'll fill you in on her comings and goings when I do. I notice she hasn't added to her blog since she left.

By the way, I notice that the blog will surpass 1000 visits this week and although it is the same 3 or 4 readers and some who come in under a search engine, it is still gratifying to see that there are some folks who care to keep up with the Lyons here in California. For that, I am humbled. As I've said before, the blog allows me to purge some creativity from my soul and although I don't have the interactive juice of a pen pal as I did with my Gramp Lyon, who passed away in 1999, I still enjoy the blog and the chance to share my life with you. Take care and know that Christ IS in Christ-mas.

It is a crisp, clear Autumn day and the only problem with the frost on the rooftops is that our new heating system will not be installed until Wednesday. The weather has turned frosty cool with lows dipping down to the low thirties overnight and highs just creeping into the sixties. We did meet with Mike on Monday last and decided to have a brand new air conditioner and heater installed. The existing system is just too small to adequately handle the 2400 square feet in our house. He will check the venting throughout and make sure that it is properly sealed and has no kinks or blockages and has guaranteed that we will be thrilled with the new system. The old system is 15 years old and practically obsolete, in fact the heating manufacturer went bankrupt in the late '90s. The new system is energy efficient and expensive (it will cost us almost $7,000), but with rebates and the savings in our heating and cooling bills, we should be in good shape. Darla and I love the house and plan on staying here for a good long time so we look at the cost as an investment in our future. I look forward to getting the new system installed as when I get out of the shower at 6:00 a.m., frost is not only on the rooftops, if you get my gist.

Darla and I spent Thanksgiving in Monterey. We ended up without the boys because their Dad is a toad. But that is another story for another day. The weather was ideal and I was able to get us hotel rooms at the Hyatt Regency resort for $45 a night through Priceline. Darla's brother, Steve, his wife, Kirsten and daughter, Shea, joined us along with Alicia, Darla's sister. We arrived about nine pm on Wednesday night and I was bushed. Darla visited with Alicia and Steve while I decompressed on the bed and relaxed. Darla and I were up early on Thanksgiving and drove into Carmel for breakfast. Our favorite little restaurant, The Swiss cafe, was closed, so we drove into Carmel Highlands and ate at the Bear Diner. Alicia and Steve are sleepers and wake up about ten each morning, while Darla and I like to get up and on with our day, especially on vacation.

We met up with the gang at Cannery Row in Monterey, where we window shopped and Alicia and Kirsten bought some silver jewelry. Darla was good and didn't buy anything. We drove back and watched the first half of the Dallas game in our room and then went down to the on site Sports Bar, Knuckles, to watch the second half. We sat by a roaring fire and drank black and tans and enjoyed the game and some appetizers. Steve had made dinner reservations for seven thirty at the Chart House, one of the nicer restaurants in Monterey. The problem was that we had snacked so much during the game at the sports bar, that none of us were hungry. Darla and I would have blown off dinner if we didn't have family obligations. Darla and I ended up splitting a Prime Rib and a salad bar and then the whole gang split a Chocolate Lava cake for dessert. We were all claiming to be stuffed until that chocolate slice of heaven arrived piping hot and topped with a melting slab of vanilla ice cream. We tucked into that plate and made short work of it. We had a great visit and enjoyed the company. I couldn't help but think of Jennifer toiling away in Kuwait and stopping to eat a turkey and observe this most American of holidays in the middle of the middle east.

Jennifer called on Thursday night when we returned to our hotel room. It was Friday morning for her and she was supposed to be leaving for Germany on Saturday. Well, as is the wont of the Army, she had been called and told that there were "maybe" two seats available on a plane leaving for Germany that morning and was to report by 11 am with her baggage and gear for the flight. IF they could get her on the plane, they would, if not, she'd be sent back to barracks to await the next day's flight. She was irritated as she assumed it was likely some CO who couldn't make up his mind if he was leaving on his scheduled flight. I never heard back from her, but know that she is in Germany now, one way or the other. I simply look forward to her being home for Thanksgiving next year.

We came back for the funeral on Saturday and there were many tears and remembrances of Jerry. His two older boys spoke at the service and both were reflective and strong, although his older son, Tyler, broke down when he was railing against fate and the fact that he won't be able to share the Kings winning an NBA championship with his Dad or have his Dad meet his wife and be a part of his wedding. It is sad.

Darla spent yesterday at a crafts show in Auburn at the fairgrounds. She was able to get in for only the Sunday portion of the show (because of the funeral on Saturday). She did quite well and enjoyed herself, selling her jewelry.

The Christmas season is in full swing and I will help host the annual Christmas party for the Roseville Golf Club on Saturday night. We will enjoy Prime Rib and chicken , prizes, awards and a DJ for dancing afterwards. It should be a fun night and will mark the end of my reign on the RGC board of officers. It will be a relief to hand the wheel to someone else.

Well, that is it. Dad and Shirley have arrived back in Canada after a tumultuous week in Vegas that found Dad ill and every manner of appliance breaking in their condo, including the toilet, which was not a good thing given Dad's illness. I talked to him briefly yesterday as he was waiting for the shuttle to the airport. Darla and I were invited on the trip and Dad said it was a bit of luck that we didn't join them. I don't know, with Darla along it would have been simply another reason to laugh. Take care. Ciao.

Just a quick update. I talked to Jennifer this morning. She is preparing for a celebration of Thanksgiving in Kuwait on Thursday with friends. She will fly out on Saturday and be in Germany for about three weeks as she trains for her role as the division armorer. She is looking forward to seeing Germany and enjoying the sights and sounds. Give Thanks for our brave soldiers as you eat Turkey and watch football this weekend. I am so grateful to have a daughter willing to put aside her comfort for the well being of all of us.

As to the death of my friend, Jerry. He was killed when he missed a turn at the Off Highway Vehicle park in Foresthill. His bike jumped the embankment and he was thrown 150 feet and landed 40 feet below the embankment in the American River. They are not sure if it was the fall that killed him or whether he drowned. Jerry was an accomplished motocross rider and had riden professionally as a youngster. Again pray for his family as they mourn his loss. Thanks.

I just got some BAD news and I hate to press, but this is a call to prayer. A friend of mine was killed yesterday in a motorcycle accident. His name is Jerry Parsons and he leaves behind a wife, a 20 year-old son , a 15 year-old son and a 5 year-old son. Jerry liked to ride motocross with his kids and he died doing something he enjoyed. Jerry and I were just getting to know each other better and he had played in my poker group. Please pray for his family, in particular his wife, who will be absolutely heart broken. And take a minute today to tell someone you love them. Thank you.

It is another Monday. Thanksgiving Week and a short one at that. I just finished a leftover strawberry filled Krispy Kreme and chased that with a cup of hot coffee and an original glazed Krispy Kreme. There is little wrong in my world at the moment. (Sorry, Jennifer, if you are reading this, but you'll be in Germany soon and enjoying all of the tastes and sounds of that great country).

Football is done and over and there is a bit of a void left. The Friday Nights were a great deal of fun and enjoyment and to watch the kids work with the coaching that they had to get to a 5-5 record was awesome. We finished 5-1 at home and 0-4 on the road. Unfortunately, the league felt that we had to play some of our games on the road, or we might have made the playoffs. Two of the teams from our league did make the playoffs, one won this past weekend (Del Oro ranked Number One in the area and 10-0) and one lost.

Woodcreek had the Football awards banquets last week. Daniel won the coaches award for overall excellence on the field and was tabbed a brainiac by the coaches. David won the Captain's award and another patch for his already crowded Varsity jacket. I'm proud of both boys who play hard and have a real "team" attitude. Both of them help charge up their teams on the field and on the sideline and are both big reasons for the success of their respective teams.

We had our home heating system go on the fritz last week. I was sitting in my office at home working on the computer and felt a draft. I thought someone had left the garage door open and when I went to check, it was all battened up tight. When I sat back down at the computer, I realized that it was the fan from the heater. I went up in the attic and could hear the electronic ignition attempting to fire, but with no success. I turned off the system and checked the gas lines. Gas was flowing, but the igniter was not working. I turned the gas off to the heater, unplugged the system and called a friend of ours who owns a heating /AC business. He said that he could get his guy out there on Friday (this was Wednesday night). I figured the iginiter would be about $250 plus labor. Well, I was right, but the heater is on recall and they have to replace it. The good news is that I don't have to pay for the heater, the bad news is I have to pay labor to have it installed, the cost of the permits for the city and any extras needed to install the new system (piping, wiring, etc.). Mike, the owner of the business, will be out this week to let us know what this will cost. He is "suggesting" that we replace the A/C system at the same time. We'll see. He is also suggesting that we "upgrade" from the builder model heater that will be allowed in the recall. It sounds like someone wants to squeeze me like a sponge. We'll take his advice and make a decision on what to do. The house is 15 years old and some of the appliances are in need of replacement. (If you recall, we replaced the hot water heater this past Spring).

Darla had a Holiday Open House on Saturday and along with some friends who sell clothes, cosmetics, household items, and perfumes/body lotions, she sold her jewelry and some Creative Memories items. Darla did very well and even had Gail from my office come and spend $150 on her jewelry.

I made myself scarce during the Open House and went to....where else, but the golf course? I was due for a little come down from my high on the course and shot a rather pedantic 44-41=85. Boyd, who is a 4 handicap, even got into the swing of things and shot a 79. Usually, Boyd inspires me to play my best, but somehow I dragged him down to my level and we shot a combined 72, which was good for nothing in the tournament. At least it got me out of the house for a few hours.

I went home and cleaned up the last of the leaves from the park trees. We finally got a night near freezing followed by a breezy day and the last of the leaves gave way to the inevitable and came raining down to the ground and were swept by the wind into my yard. I used the leaf blower in vacuum mode and made short work of the leaves. I still have a few trees on the side yard with leaves and the back yard has eight trees that still have leaves left to keep me from getting too comfortable. I know it seems that I have a fixation on Fall and leaves, but when you have 22 trees on your property and a grove of another fifty across the street in the park, it is a full time job to keep up with the process.

The boys left early yesterday for Linden and Darla's folks' house. Both boys are going to Mexico this Easter to build houses for the poor. The cost of the trip is $500 a piece and Darla's Dad is doing a remodel of his home and has agreed to pay the boys $100 a day each for labor on the project. They should both get plenty of money and excellent experience on the building trade. David wants to be a Computer Assisted Design artist and Daniel wants to be an Architect, so the experience should be great for both of them. They drive back this afternoon as David has basketball practice.

We had thought that the boys were spending Thanksgiving with us and had turned down an invitation from Dad and Shirley to join them in Vegas for Thanksgiving. As it turns out, the boys will be with their Dad and Darla and I will try to get away to Monterey for a few days. No tradition here is too strong to break.

Well, that is the news that's fit to print for this week. Jennifer, call me, I miss talking to you. We have your Christmas gifts ready to send and will get them in the mail this week. Be nice to each other. Ciao.

I forgot my glasses at home today. Fortunately I keep a Wal Mart pair of reading glasses here for just such an eventuality. Of course, the "readers" are not perfect and I am just a workday away from a throbbing headache as I will squint and frown my way through a backed up desk. I had our VP, Harvey, in on Friday and we went through the budget for the Sacramento Office in 2005. I'm thrilled to say that Harvey bought in to all of the changes that I proposed in 2005, including the promotion of my assistant, Anthony, to a Junior Underwriter position. We also built in another underwriter position for mid-year. The good thing about that is that we were either going to add another underwriter position OR a Branch Manager position. I will continue to run the office and we will add four new staff in 2005.

Funny how when you are out of work and looking, you can't get a company to return a phone call, but when things are going good and your run at your current job is nothing but positive, that's when the offers come. I got a call last week from Magna Carta, a New York based insurer with a growing West Coast presence. They want to expand into Northern California. They currently have agent representation in NorCal, but the business is written and serviced out of a Los Angeles office. They are looking for a seasoned Manager to handle business out of his or her home in Northern California. The business that they write is principally restaurants, apartments motels and lessors risk only...the same business that I wrote at Republic Western. I talked briefly with the West Coast Regional Vice President and he was simply gauging my interest in the position as they are also working on budgets for 2005. I told him that I'd be open to meeting with him to discuss the possibility of becoming the Northern California Regional Manager, but that I was very happy where I am now. We'll touch base in the New Year.

Football. Amazing how things change in a week. David, who has not had a sniff at the quarterback position in four weeks, ended up starting and playing the whole game on Friday night. The reason is nothing short of classic. It was the last game of the season and the tradition at Woodcreek is that the red shirt is lifted from the quarterback in practice and the guys are allowed to go "live" on the qb. It's all in fun, but Adam has been a world class wimp all year about any kind of contact. That came to a head in the last game when Adam was forced to scramble and found himself wide open and lumbering untouched. He had twenty yards open in front of him and he stumbled along until a linebacker was gaining on him and Adam threw himself down when the linebacker got within ten yards of him. It was truly one of the all time gutless moves on a football field. There was a groan that went up in the stands and more than a few disgusted looks from his teamates. The fact that it was open season on Adam was embraced wholeheartedly by the defense and Adam went under a barrage of hits and shoves where the offensive linemen were telling the defense, "I'll go left, you go right". Finally, there was an all out rush by our middle linebacker where he lifted Adam up and pile drove him into the ground. Adam got up and ran to the coaches and started yelling at them. Apparently, Adam had been muttering a few things under his breath and the defense was incensed. The head coach made the middle linebacker run "down ups" for the vicious hit and the defense complained. The coach then made the whole team run the drill, except Adam who had a boo-boo. He sat on the bench basically crying while the team ran the drill. The captains, including David, had the team yell out "We love football" on every down up and drove the coach nuts.

The upside to all of this is that Adam went home and complained to his Mommy and Daddy that he was being hurt in practice. They ended up sending a strongly worded e-mail to the coach, the principal, the vice-principal and the Athletic Director. The e-mail basically threatened the coaches with reprisals for the hits in practice, that it was considered harassment by them and that they were concerned that Adam may have suffered a head injury. The intent was to get the team to back off. The reality is that the principal benched Adam for the game due to a perceived liability against the school. David was given the starting nod and he played his best game of the year.

Our opponent was Placer, a team lead by twin 6-4" running back/ tight ends. The boys have been written up in the Bee as players to watch in Division I colleges next year. David was assigned as a spy on defense against the running back. David went wherever he went on the field. David and the defense held this 1200 yard runner to 48 yards, a season low. Placer was 6-3 coming in and third in league. David played even better on offense in our 14-6 win. David scored a touchdown on a naked bootleg from 26 yards where he had to juke two defenders. He turned the corner and sprinted to the end zone. I tell you, my throat was raw by the end of the game. We had three runners who all had excellent games, one went for 114 yards, one for 77 yards and the other for 66 yards. David had 44 yards rushing and was 3 of 5 passing for another 60 yards. It was Senior night and Darla got to escort her son onto the field before the game and he presented her with a rose and we took pictures. I also took my digital camera down on the field after the game and got some pictures which I will send to some of you this week. It was a perfect ending to a decent season. We ended the year 5-5 (2-4 in league), David was 3-2 as our starter and better things are on tap for this team in the future.

Golf. Naturally, I played this weekend. We had a Turkey Shoot, which is basically a medal tournament with turkey certificates for prizes (actually supermarket gift cards). I continue to play my best golf of the year and shot a 38-40=78. Unlike last week, that score was good enough for first place and a $45 gift card. Ever since Harry did his Bowen magic on my back, I have been feeling so good and really driving the ball well. I'm routinely hitting 280 yard drives and my irons have all increased by 15 yards. I now hit my pitching wedge about 115 yards, my nine iron 120-130 yards, my 8 iron 135-145 yards, my 7 iron 150-160 yards and so on. The one club I want to add is a 19 degree hybrid iron. That is next on my buy list and certainly on my Christmas list. I had three birdies on Sunday and I am playing with confidence. I play in another Turkey shoot on Saturday and will play with Boyd Robertson as my partner. Boyd shot a 74 yesterday.

The leaves continue to cling to the trees, but about 75% of the foliage is now on the ground. Hopefully the park workers will come and clean them up across the street from our house before the next storm. I have moved all of the leaves on my side of the street to the side street in neat piles to await the city workers who bring in a bobcat with a modified spade claw on the front and they load them into a truck and haul them to the city composting yard. Hopefully they come today or tomorrow as a storm is expected this week.

Daniel has decided to take a break from sports and will not play basketball. He's decided that his sports are baseball and football. David tried out and made the Varsity team this weekend and is expected to start at small forward. So football is over, long live basketball. Daniel's Dad has threatened to disown him because of his decision vis a vis basketball. Steve needs to back off and let the kid make these decisions himself. The problem is that Steve's entire social life is tied up with the kid's sports and this decision puts a crimp in his life. Too bad.

Well that is all the news that's fit to print. for now anyway. Take care of each other Ciao.

It is Monday morning (of course) and time to bring my three regular readers up on the doings in my life. Today is a typical fall morning in Sacramento, with a chill to the air, but a bright blue sky and temperatures that are bound to reach the low seventies.

The trees still cling stubbornly to the red and yellow remains of their leaves and we are just a strong storm from the end of leave raking in this area. The front of my house is choked in fallen leaves from the grove of trees that make up the park across the street. (And this is two days after the boys and I spent an afternoon clearing the leaves and mowing the yard). We live due East of the park and the prevailing winds blow all of the leaves across the street and into my yard. Most of my leave raking could be filed under community service as they are public leaves that I am tending to. I don't get much chance to wield my rake during the week. After ten years of working out of my house, this working in an office deal can really throw a wrench in my yard work chores.

Football. We are winding down the season and the boys actually managed a win this past week. The defense was solid and forced three turnovers on our side of the field. Fortunately, even an inept Adam was able to turn one of those into a score and we prevailed 7-0. We should have won 21-0, but Adam cannot manage to rally the team from the quarterback position. He was 4 of 9 for 38 yards and a touchdown and the team is now 4-5 (1-4 in league), with each starter having a 2-2 record with the first loss being a combined effort between the two of them. David played receiver and had the longest reception of the game, a pass caught over the middle for twenty-five yards. Adam continues to telegraph his passes and I sent the coach an e-mail this week with specifics. When it is a run play, Adam walks out of the huddle and immediately steps under center. When it is a pass play he walks to the line, takes two steps back and surveys the defense and then drops under center. It is so obvious that I call out "pass!" in the stands every time he does it. The fans laugh as I'm right every time. I've pointed it out to several of them and it is a matter of time before one of our opponents figures it out too. There was no change in his setup this week, so I'm sure the coach just blew it off. The coach did mention to Adam that he got a "strange" e-mail from Ken Lyon and did he know me. You can only lead a horse to water...

The great thing for Daniel is that the Varsity head coach was fired last week by the Athletic Director. He will finish out this season and then hang up his whistle. Daniel will be able to play on a team with a fresh new attitude and a chance to win. Our current coach is a big loser in Woodcreek tradition and the 4 wins this year is his best season by far out of the four that he's been here. We play the 11th ranked Placer Hillmen this week and they are a stout squad. Perhaps Adam will feel the pain of a real pass rush. Here's hoping.

Daniel's team has struggled through their last three games (all losses), but Dan has played both offense and defense and lead the team in tackles one week and had another quarterback sack this past week. He will surely be one of the big award winners this year as he has been solid all year. He should start as a Junior on Varsity next year.

Darla was involved in a big open house this weekend at one of my golf buddies' house. His wife was the hostess and Darla showed her jewelry and her Creative Memories scrapbook line. Alicia went along and sold her Southern Living line and Mary Kay. Darla also invited one of her friends that sells Italiam charms. They all did rather well with sales in the $200-$300 range.

As all of that was going on, I went to Allister Mackenzie golf course and played in a tournament with the Roseville Golf Club. I played in a group with Boyd Robertson (a 4 handicap), Mark Konrad (a 15 handicap) and Mel Pediernos (a 12 handicap). Mel is the new member and Cora's (in my office) husband. Boyd shot 75, Mark shot 82, Mel shot 84 and I managed a nice 40-39=79. My net was a 68 and, believe it or not, I didn't win a damn thing. One of the guys in my flight shot a 72 as a 12 handicap and another shot 76 as an 11. I got an "attaboy" for my hard work and $9 from Mark, who always insists on betting with me every time we play. He actually beat me head up, but wanted to play skins and got smoked.

Mel played in his first tournament and played pretty well. He had one hole where he missed a putt for par and then swiped the ball away from the hole where it sat two inches away. Normally, that would be a disqualification, but the group gave him a reprieve. He had a triple bogey on the fourth hole and was so disappointed. I told him to let it go, that all he needed was a birdie to turn his round back to positive. He did me one better by knocking his second shot into the hole for an eagle from 150 yards on the very next hole. He did the "eagle" dance in the fairway. Mel is a great guy and I'm glad he joined the group...and so is he.

My handicap should move down into single digits next month and I will have managed to meet one of my pre-season goals. My goals were to win my flight in the Club Championship (I didn't play because of my back problems), to qualify for the Rose Cup (ditto with my back), to qualify for the NCGA event ( I missed out, but won money in the event), and to lower my handicap to single digits.

Jennifer has just returned from "live fire" manuevers in Kuwait. They had live ammunition and were practicing firing out of their Humvees (Jennifer was a driver and had to brace her M16 over her left forearm and fire out the driver's side window as she drove). They were in the field for four days without real food or fresh water and ate MREs morning, noon and night. As Jennifer said, "that makes the food in the cafeteria bearable". She will be updating her blog this week so check it out.

I believe that Dad and Shirley are in Texas right now. I don't know their exact schedule, but it seems to me that they were heading in that direction. One of you Texas readers give me an update under the comments section. I'll try to call one night this week.

Well, that is the news up to the minute. Harvey, the regional VP, will be in this week to work on the 2005 budget with me and I'll try to press him on some expansion plans next year, including moving my assistant into a junior underwriter position. Take care. Ciao.

Back at it on a Monday. We just finished the month of October at work and actually made a profit for only the second time this year. Not bad for my first month as the acting Branch Manager. I had several calls from home office and a nice note from the Regional Vice President in San Francisco. I will take the office out to lunch at Spaghetti Factory on Wednesday to celebrate. I have set a goal of $95,000 in net income this month. Our goal last month was $85,000 and we hit $96,600 in October. November is a smaller renewal month so we will have to work that much harder. I've made the Underwriting Assistants into Renewal Underwriters and ordered each of them business cards. I've also told the Underwriters to plan to travel with their assistants more and develop a team atmosphere for the agents. So far things are clicking in the office and we have some of the Underwriters and Assistants flexing in and out and everyone so far seems to be drinking the Koolaid.

Football season is winding down and our Varsity team is going out with a whimper. After dominating an overmatched team last week, we played two good quarters against Woodland, actually tying the game with a second half kickoff return for a touchdown to tie the game 14-14. We went on to lose 34-14, as our offense was stuck in the mud and our defense couldn't stop their passing game. I had to work late on Friday night as we were changing out our phone system. The tech finally showed up at 5:45 after being scheduled to be here at 4:00 pm. He took two hours to get the equipment in and then couldn't get the phones programmed. I finally kicked him out of here at 8:00 pm and left for the game. I got to Woodland at halftime and some yahoo on a John Deere "carryall" told me that I couldn't get into the game, that they close the gates after halftime. I told him it was halftime and he shrugged his shoulders. I walked around to the "home" side of the stadium, bought a ticket at the open window, walked in and over to the vistor's side. I walked over to the visitor's gate and told "Farmer Bob" that he was a dumb &%$#@*& and then went and found Darla and Alicia. David played both strong safety and Z back (receiver). He caught two passes and played well. Our qb is still a doofus and had one play where he dropped back to pass and fell over the forty yard line stripe and lay on the ground like a wounded turtle while the defense played "smear the queer". It was a disgrace. Can the coach not see that we need an athlete at quarterback? Spoken like the stepdad of the deposed qb, eh?

I did not get to see Daniel's game this week thanks to the smelly little phone tech. This guy had a horrible case of bo, what Seinfeld called BBO (beyond b.o.). His clothes were dirty, he wore a filthy ball cap pulled to the side and he mumbled when he talked. He was going to record the greeting for us, but I took that responsibility as I didn't want the business to sound like Bob's House of Crack on the phone. This guy was a little pig, but he probably makes $80,000 a year as a computer technician for Nortel, the bankrupt Canadian phone giant.

I played golf this weekend. I have lured one of my employee's husbands into the Roseville Golf Club and he will play in his first tournament this coming weekend at Alister Mackenzie in Sacramento. Mel is an 11 handicap and a really nice guy. I shot 83 this weekend, Dave Armijo shot 85, Boyd shot 76 and Mel 90. It was a beautiful day in Roseville with temps in the low 70's and nothing more than a light breeze. This week is supposed to stay in the 70's all week and this morning is a bright blue sky. Looking out on the grove of trees that surround our office complex and seeing the greens, gold and orange, I'd like to be out playing golf right now.

Saturday night, Darla and I attended a house warming at the home of our Accounting person and my personal assistant, Dinda. Dinda lives in a brand new 3000 sq ft custom home that was planned as a party house. The bedrooms are relatively small and the living area is huge. She has three gazebos in her yard as well as a waterfall. She is Philipino and her husband is Lebanese and they featured a belly dancer for entertainment as well as two rows of hors de oevres and a full bar with servers. It was a great party and Darla heard and shared with me many very nice compliments on the way the office is being run. Darla took pictures and created a scrap book from the party that I will share with the staff this morning.

It is All Saints day today, which I guess was created to help rid us of the image of ghosts, gouls , goblins and devils from the night before. I sat and watched football as Darla answered the door and handed out candy to the neighborhood kids. We had maybe thirty to forty in total last night. The churches do a good job of offering Harvest Festivals for the kids. Our church had rides, games and a petting zoo for the kids and it offers a safe haven for the smaller children to go and have fun.

Jennifer has updated her blog and is a bit cranky with the Army right now. Take a look at her blog, I have a link at the bottom of this page. I talked to her last week and she will be leaving for Germany and training for her role as Armorer on November 29th. We have sent her several packages and I urge you all to do the same. Her address is:

Specialist Lyon, Jennifer
385th SC CO
Kuwait City, Kuwait
APO - AE 09889

I hope all are well. I will add to the blog next week. Be nice to each other. Ciao.

Good Monday to all. Today is a bit of a transition day for us weatherwise. Autumn has hit Sacramento with a frontal assault as we already have over 4 inches of rain for the period with more on its way this week. It rained all day on Saturday and I started trimming plants and trees in the morning and ended up getting drenched to the skin as I collected leaves and branches after the trimming. It was a warm rain, so it wasn't bad, but the weather forecast was for some cloudiness. Well, those clouds were awfully wet.

It cleared up yesterday and I played golf in the annual Past President's tournament. It was a peekaboo sun early on, but the sun finally won the battle in the afternoon and it ended up about 68 degrees with a light breeze. Darryl sent me an e-mail showing that the average high temperature in his area is 90 degrees at this time of year. Frankly, it is so hot here during the Summer, that our current average high of 76 degrees appeals to me much more. The severity of the climate in Texas is something you never get used to. It seems to go from Summer and 90 degrees to frozen rain overnight. I don't know how the body is expected to adapt to that. Here in Northern California we have seasons, and the Spring and Fall are some of the best days of the year.

My golf game was in high gear yesterday and I shot six pars, a bogey and a birdie coming in to number nine. I hit a good drive on the 455 yard par four. My second shot ended up just short of the bunker at the front of the green. I then went on to an "out of body" experience where I hit the chip short into the sand, left the ball in the sand on my fourth shot, skulled the ball over the green into the fence behind the green. I took a drop and proceeded to three putt for a NINE. I finished the front nine with a 41 after being even par coming in to the ninth. It was like falling down a cliff and knowing that it will hurt when you hit the bottom. In years past (pre Prozac) I would have been useless on the back side and probably shot a 45 with the images of the 9th playing over and over in my head and my anger mounting as I played it over in my mind. But the miracle of modern medicine and the regulation of the seratonin in my brain led me to a 39 on the back side and an 80 for the round. I shot eight over par, with five of the over par strokes coming on that one hole. I still managed to shoot low gross in my flight, take $12 from my playing partner, $23 in skin money and the $45 first place money in the tournament. Wow.

Darryl's golf game is improving, he shot an 81 on his home course and is ready to take me on. Hey, Darryl, we'll be in Kauai in June of next year. Come on out and we'll play some golf in paradise. I have a painting of the third hole at the Makai course at Princeville resort, where our time share is located, hanging on the wall above my computer here in the office. It is a 180 yard par three down hill with a pond in front of the green and the Pacific Ocean and Bali Hai in the background.

Football. Some things are hard to explain. David did lose his starting position on offense after the Natomas game. In fact, it seemed like the coach was rubbing David's face in it as he was also dropped from the defense against Roseville and spent his time on special teams only. The brilliant brain trust of coaches had devised a defense intended to stop Roseville's potent rushing attack and pulled our safeties and inserted two additional linebackers. David prowled the sideline like a caged animal and spent time before each special teams assignment stretching and trying to loosen up. We jumped out to a 16-0 lead and carried that into the fourth quarter. I felt sure that the coaches would put a passing defense into the game, but left the slow footed linebackers in as our 16-0 lead with six minutes left turned into an embarassing 20-16 loss as Roseville's quarterback picked apart our defense in the fourth quarter. We were screaming in the stands for the coaches to put our base defense in. The boobs left the linebackers in and we lost the game. Idiots. That game was played on Monday night because of the fires.

Friday night we played a non-league game against a game, but overmatched El Dorado team. David started at strong safety and played the entire game, defending against El Dorado's 6'6" tight end, who only managed one catch for thirty-three yards. David also recovered a fumble in their end of the field that lead to our second touchdown. We won the game 31-6, but had six unsportsmanlike conduct calls against us as the kids just couldn't keep their mouths shut. We must be the cockiest 3-4 team in the Sacramento area. We play the once beaten Woodland team this week and Adam will find out what it's like to play quarterback against a great defense. He had all day to throw against El Dorado and finally ended up 7 of 15 with two touchdowns and an interception, after starting the game 1 of 6. The kid has a great arm, but is a complete wreck when under pressure. If David had his arm, we'd be undefeated...or if Adam had David's heart, courage and desire....Adam is a great practice quarterback and plays his best when he has a red jersey on and the defense can't touch him. Put some pressure on the kid and he collapses like a cheap suit. David seems to have handled the demotion with aplomb. He did say after the Roseville game that he couldn't understand how kids can show up to every game and just play special teams. It drove him nuts. I told David to be ready this week as Adam will probably panic against a big rush and either fake an injury or be picked off so many times, the coach will be forced to put David in.

David and Daniel had their homecoming on Friday at school with the dance on Saturday night. David went stag to the dance and had dinner with a bunch of the football players beforehand. Daniel did not buy a ticket to the dance, but joined his friends for dinner before the dance. Tara had accepted an invite by one of the new kids to go to the homecoming dance. She was then named the Homecoming queen and the kid didn't know what to do. She went to dinner with him and told him that she wouldn't be able to dance because she hurt her back. He ended up going home and leaving her at the dance without a ride. Well, David and Tara hooked up and David danced with her and took her home afterward. She is still sore at him for not asking her to the dance.

I haven't heard from Jennifer in almost three weeks. She tried calling me at work last week, but I missed her call. Hey, Jennifer, if you're out there, call me. I have some company people in today, but will be available all week.

Emery Jensen, my former boss at Republic Western, took Darla and I out to dinner last night. He and his underwriter, Rob, will be in the office today and will take the underwriters out to lunch. Emery now works as a manager with Scottsdale Insurance Company, our largest company in terms of both policy count and premium.

Well, that's it for this week. Be well. Ciao.

Back to the blog on a rainy Monday. Our skies finally cleared on Saturday and I was able to play golf. We have had some terrible fires up in the Sierra, to the point that the boy's football games were postponed on Friday night because of the smokey skies and the problems that presented from a health standpoint. Thursday, there was smoke and ash all over the area and my car was covered with a light film of ash from the Fred fire up in the Pollock Pines area off Highway 50 when I got off of work. The state freeway Highway 50 which leads up to the Sierra and Lake Tahoe has been closed since Wednesday of this last week and is expected to remain closed until Wednesday of this week. With the heavy rains that started yesterday, the fires are no longer a problem, but mudslides are expected.

I did venture out to the golf course on Saturday. I've played golf with Mel, the husband of our policy typist, several times and he called Friday to see if I wanted to join he and a friend for a game on Saturday. I said "absolutely" just let me know the time and place. He said, "well, would you mind making us a tee time?" That was a first, being invited to play golf and then invited to make the arrangements. I set us up with a 9 a.m. tee time at Woodcreek Golf Course in Roseville. I shot 44-44=88 and felt like I could have scored better. It was windy and I only managed four pars, twelve bogeys and two double-bogeys. It was good to be out there again. I have a tournament on Sunday, the annual TOC (Tournament of Champions). Mel told me that Cora (his wife) and the rest of the staff are glad to see me in charge of the office. It was good to hear, even if he was just schmoozing me.

My old boss from Republic Western, Emery Jensen, is coming out to California on some marketing calls and will take Darla and I to dinner in Old Sacramento on Sunday night. He will then visit the office on Monday with his Package Underwriter. Emery is now a Manager with Scottsdale Insurance Company, our largest carrier.

Darla took Friday off work ill and decided (as is Darla's wont) to paint Daniel's room. She painted it a light almond color and is afraid that Dan will think it is too dark. Daniel has trouble keeping white walls white, so this will work fine. We also put some wood blinds up on his window and it looks as good in there as it ever has.

I just took a break for my morning constitutional. As I entered the men's room, there was a rather large man in the room washing at the basin. He had his sleeves rolled up and was washing his hands and arms as if he'd just assisted in the birth of a milk cow or something. The worst part was I then picked a stall and the commode was WARM. It made me want to take a shower. Perhaps you can file this under "too much information".

I've had several people ask why I write a blog. Truthfully, it allows my family to keep up with me, but more so, it is a creative outlet that was severed for me in 1999 when my Grandfather on my Dad's side died. We had been pen pals from the time I was about nine and I could write him several times a month and we kept up quite a dialogue over the years. I still have many of the letters that he sent me over the years. It was fascinating to hear his struggles with his decision to retire and his decision in his late seventies to give up his car and the freedom of having a license. He told me the story of his sister-in-law dying in his home, the confliction that he had over selling the family home and moving in to a condo in his later years. I then got a front row seat in watching his pure joy in being a part of the condo association and all of the friends that he made there. I also suffered with him as Grandma had her stroke and slowly withered away in the hospital. I then laughed with him as he told stories of Dad and he trying to live as bachelors after Gram passed away. My father modeled for me how to handle an older parent as he stayed with Gramp for months after Gram's death and helped him prepare to move into a care home.

Wow, how did I get off on that rabbit trail? I guess the lack of high school football left a void in the blog. I filled that, eh? The boys are supposed to make up the missed game tonight, but the last I heard the district was still trying to get an officiating crew for the game tonight. It could be a soggy mess out there.

I have to head up setting up a booth for our office this afternoon at the downtown convention center. Tomorrow is the Sacramento Insurance Day (Big I Day) and we will have a booth at the show. I've already purchased $200 worth of gift certificates from Home Depot for the drawing. We will have plenty of marketing materials as well as some candy and give aways at the booth. It is an all day event, beginning at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Well, that is the news that's fit to print and even some that isn't. I hope you are all well. God bless. Ciao.

Back to California and I can leave the Jet Lag behind. The trip to Michigan and the annual Branch Managers meeting was a big success and a great opportunity for me. It was long and intense and the jet lag that I experienced was omnipresent. I've actually never experienced jet lag before, but the intensity of these meetings and the long days in warm rooms with panelists and technical jargon lead me to the brink of intense jet lag. I flew in on Saturday night at about 5:30 and we were off to dinner at a local sports bar by 7:30 that night. The dinner was hosted by SRD International, our in house Lloyd's syndicate group that writes some of our toughest risks. I was fine being on California time. What made the trip rough was that we started out the next morning at 8:00 a.m. in a New Managers meeting and went straight through to six p.m. with only a few breaks. 8:00 a.m. in Detroit is 5:00 a.m. in California. I was so tired by that night that I skipped the dinner hosted by the Hiscox group, one of our London affiliates. I got a good night's sleep and was ready for Monday, which is the formal day, with business attire.

I was presented during the awards presentations as the newest Underwriting Manager at Burns and Wilcox. I received a very warm reception from the other Managers and the Home Office Vice Presidents and staff. It was generally a very good meeting with a positive presentation of ideas and success stories. I have an opportunity to run the branch and audition for the permanent job of Branch Manager and I feel very positive about the opportunity and the prospects.

The jet lag really hit me on Tuesday morning when my alarm did NOT go off and I slept right through to 9 a.m. I missed beakfast and the breakfast presentation by one of our companies. I woke up with a start and saw the clock at 8:55. I never sleep in like that and always wake up at 6:00 or 6:30 whether I have an alarm or not. The morning session began at 9:15 a.m. and I dashed up, quickly showered and shaved and made it down to the meeting. Harvey, the San Francisco Branch Manager and Vice-President, was a little miffed, but after I told him what happened, he said it had happened to him a couple of years ago and he learned to set his cell phone, clock radio and a wake up call. It turns out that the maid had turned the volume on the radio off, probably when dusting it. Oh well. I felt bad, but the jet lag was unbelievable.

We played golf on Tuesday afternoon at Tam-O-Shanter Country Club in suburban Detroit. It is an enclave of the rich and richer and was a very tough, but fair test of golf. We played a modified scramble and I found out the extent of the expectations on me when we teed off on the first hole. I played with three of the Vice Presidents from Home Office. Each of them teed off before me and one went dead left, one dead right and the other skulled his shot short of the lady's tee. I had to carry the group and we struggled to 14 pars, two birdies and two bogeys. The modified portion of the scramble was that if you teed off and the group used your tee shot, you couldn't hit the next shot. I spent the day hitting pretty good drives and then having to chip onto the green after the other three hit the approach shots. It was a scramble to make par and the two birdies came on a par three where I put the ball about ten feet from the cup and a par five where I put our third shot from behind a tree about two feet from the cup. The Burns and Wilcox Management group is not embued with golfing talent and we managed to take second place out of twelve groups with a 72. The winning group shot 69 and had a Vice President from Scottsdale Insurance Company who was on the ASU golf team. ASU has year in and out one of the finest college golf teams in the United States. It was fun and I got a nice Tam-O-Shanter golf jacket for my efforts as well as the gratitude of several of the Home Office executives.

I have a lot of ideas and changes that I will slowly bring to the office in the coming weeks and months that I culled from the meeting.

Football. David is suffering a bit this week, after a very tough outing in his last game. We lost 35-20, but David was sacked six times, intercepted once and had three fumbles, two of which were returned for touchdowns. It was his worst showing as a player in four years of high school ball and unfortunately, he lost his starting position at quarterback because of it. He was under intense pressure the entire game and he had a huge problem hanging onto the ball. They blitzed him early and often and our line and backs couldn't control the blitz. David was often running for his life. He is handling his demotion with the grace and character that he always shows, but the biggest problem is that he lost his starting qb slot and he is now second string on defense. I can't imagine that he'll be on the sideline much, because the coaches need his fire and leadership on the field, but you can imagine the angst that he is experiencing. He told me last night that he is playing on both special teams and that he will make big plays and force the coaches to play him. He PLANS to block a punt in the next game.

Daniel's team suffered another loss and the energy at Woodcreek is tough right now. Daniel did play both ways on offense and defense and played well. We play our crosstown rival Roseville High School this week and I'm really concerned with Adam at qb, but it can't get worse than last week. It is Roseville's Homecoming and a big game for them.

Well, I have to get to work, so this is a short and sweet update this week. I'll write more on Monday. Ciao.

It is Tuesday and I'm back in the office after a relaxing and enjoyable weekend in Monterey and Carmel. The trip was a bit rushed because of football and the annual football dinner dance on Saturday night. I skipped the Saturday round of golf at Laguna Seca golf course and had planned on missing that all along, but we had planned on leaving Saturday morning and making a long weekend of the outing. As the week wore on and Darla heard about some of the plans that David had at the dinner, she finally sat down and told me that she was conflicted. She wanted to go on the Carmel weekend, but she wanted to go to David's dinner event as well. We'd already paid for the dinner, as it is required of player's families. We finally compromised and decided that we would attend the dinner and leave for Monterey by nine p.m. The dinner started at six and we should be able to see all of the activities and simply miss the dancing.

The dinner was fun and I'm glad we went. The cheerleaders were there and the Varsity players and they served the dinner this year. In the past, it had been a buffet-style dinner and the lines were ridiculous. This year, a team of three players/cheerleaders were in charge of each table and brought out our food. This event is the largest fundraiser of the year and includes a silent auction of donated gifts (Darla donated some of her handmade jewelry) and an auction of "six packs". A six pack is six players or cheerleaders who are auctioned off to do manual labor for the bidder. They can clear leaves or paint your shed or wash your cars, etc. Each "six pack" had a theme and the players did a little dance routine. They would pick a song like " Wild Thing" or for the cheerleaders "I feel like a woman" and do a dance set and then the audience would bid. It was hilarious and David was right in the middle of it, shaking his rear and trying to get heavy bets. He was in a group with the starting fullback, running back and middle linebacker and they raised $300 just for their group. David also participated in one of the cheerleader group's songs and Tara used him as a prop while singing about being on a "manhunt". It was a hoot and Darla got pictures. David is still being coy about his relationship with Tara, but Tara is anything but coy. She thinks David is it and David is just a little slow to the party. His Dad teases the kids so much that they just shut down and hide everything from him. Funny. Tara came and sat with Darla and I when David was doing his routine. We were able to leave by about nine p.m.

We got to Monterey at about 12:45 after gassing up and making a stop at home for some medication that I forgot. We stayed at the Hyatt Resort at Del Monte Golf Course and had a wonderful time. I teed off at Poppy Hills at 11:08 the next morning so we were able to get a good night's sleep and make it to breakfast the next morning before going to the course. Darla met Gary's wife, Liz, at the course and the two girls spent the day in Carmel having lunch and buying out the town. Darla bought some picture frames at Danske and some wine and water goblets at Villerie and Bosch (I'm SURE I have that name wrong). She also found a new purse that she never would tell me what it cost. Oh well, she had fun and that's what matters. (That's the Prozac talking not me, I'm screaming inside, but calm on the outside.)

I hadn't played golf other than last weekend since July 4th weekend and didn't expect much out of my round. That was a self fulfilling prophesy as I hit a perfect drive on the opening hole, left my second shot short of the green in the greenside bunker. I then went on an odyssey that was almost an out of body experience as I hashed the sand shot over the green and onto the second tee box dead behind a stand of trees. I then skulled that shot over the green and onto the lip of the sand trap. I deposited the next shot back into the sand, chipped onto the green and two putted for an 8. Nice. I shot a very pedantic 47 on the front side and pulled myself back into the game with a 43 on the back for 90, a net of 77. Believe it or not, my 90 was good for second place as the course ate up some very good golfers. My foursome included the low gross golfer with an 81, the low net with a 75 and the second low net with my 77. Amazing. The day was foggy, drizzly and cold. It didn't rain, but the fog was so thick that it made everything wet and clammy. Meanwhile it was 70 degrees and sunny back in Monterey.

Darla and I stayed over Sunday night and took a leisurely drive home yesterday.

Last week was difficult for me and for the office. I was called on Monday by a Vice President in Home Office. He asked me to close my office door and then told me that they had made the decision to let my boss go. He is a good manager, but does not know how to underwrite or produce business. They decided that they could release him, promote me to an Underwriting Manager position and we would lose his salary and maintain our production numbers. I am unofficially in an interim Branch manager position, but officially the underwriting Manager in the office. I had to sit on that news until Thursday, when the regional VP came in to do the deed. The reaction from the staff is positive so far and I've reintroduced flex time and casual Fridays. I've also introduced a contest, whereby if we can make our "nut" this month, I'll buy an Italian lunch for the office. Our nut is about $85,000, the point where we break even on our expenses. We've done it twice so far this year, but fell back last month. Our "nut" with Bill was closer to $93,000, so we have something to shoot for.

I also have to leave Saturday morning for the annual Manager's meeting back in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The meeting includes all of the Branch Managers and three Underwriting Managers. I'm one of the three because our office does not currently have a Branch Manager. So, my blog will be very late next week...Thursday as a matter of fact as I'll be in Meetings until Wednesday. I've also been drafted into the Underwriting VP's golf group for the golf tournament on Tuesday afternoon.

Football. Well, all good things must come to an end sometime and we got absolutely thrashed at the hands of Del Oro. They won the JV game 35-6 and we didn't score until late in the fourth quarter. Daniel got pulled on defense early in the game and only played on the offensive line. Odd, in that he was tied for second in tackles this year and lead the team in sacks with two and a half. David was pumped up and ready to win, but they ran into a team that could probably beat several Community College teams. They jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead on their first series and then our center hiked the ball over our punter's head on the next series where he inexplicably covered the ball on the three yard line. We were all yelling for him to kick it out of the end zone for a safety, but he lost his head and covered the ball. It was quickly 14-0 on the way to a 32-0 halftime lead that included a safety. We beat them 7-3 in the second half, but the final score was 35-7. David threw the lone touchdown pass and we only managed 99 total yards in the game. David played all but the first series on defense and lead the team with 16 tackles in the game. He was also 8 of 15 passing for 66 yards and the score. I caught up to him after the game and told him that he played with heart. He told me that half the team showed up for the game with a defeatist attitude and didn't think they could win. He was furious. They play another undefeated team on Friday night (Natomas High School) and it will be interesting to see if he can get the guys in a winning mindset. At least we play this game at home where we are undefeated this year.

I did visit with Harry Wharff last week. Harry is not only the President of the Golf Club, but he has a Bowen Works office. Bowen Therapy is soft manipulation of the muscles around the spine and joints. It increases the blood flow and allows the body to heal itself. I said last week that I would suspend my disbelief at this notion and give it a try. Well, it is amazing. I am pain free for the first time in months. I can bend over and touch my toes, wash my feet in the shower and put on my own socks. I know, big whoop, but after what I've been through the last eight weeks, the change in my level of physical abilities is nothing short of amazing. I had to be fitted for a new suit on Monday and the tailor told me that I have one arm shorter than the other. I then went to Harry and he massaged the muscle on the left side of my neck and the shoulder dropped. Now, I'll have a suit with one arm too long. Oh well. I'll pick the suit up on Thursday. The Bowen Therapy has been a success in many cases including those who suffer the after effects of Bells palsy. Darryl, there is a specialist in Austin, Texas on Bowen, you might want to look her up. They have had great success in energizing the facial muscles following Bells Palsy and curing the condition. I guess I'm a convert.

Well, that's all the news that's fit to print for this week. I will add to this after the Manager's meeting next week. Ciao.

Back to the grindstone after another glorious Northern California weekend. We had bright blue skies and temps in the upper eighties and low nineties all weekend. I even ventured out to the golf course for a round of golf for the first time since Independence Day. Two months without golf and without boring readers of my blog about golf. I'll fill in the blanks on my Saturday round later in this epistle.

More importantly, high school football was in full swing on Friday and we had mixed results this week. Woodcreek hosted Division 1 powerhouse Folsom, Jennifer's alma mater, on Friday night. Folsom is in a brand new school with a state of the art synthetic turfed stadium. Intel Corporation is a neighbor of the school and contributed the $1,000,000 to build the stadium and we played there last year. This year, Folsom had to come to Roseville and slum with the locals on our grass field and metal bleachers. Daniel's team took one on the chin 17-7 as our quarterback threw three interceptions. Daniel again had a solid game, even sacking the Folsom quaterback for a ten yard loss. Daniel caught him as he tried to scramble and wrapped both arms around his back and drove him into the turf. Daniel then rolled him over on top of him like a rag doll. I asked Daniel what he was doing and he said as he was piling him into the ground, he thought he might get a personal foul so he rolled him over on top of him so it looked like he was trying to hold up. The quarterback got up shaking his head and wobbled to the sidelines. Daniel played on both sides of the ball and made some nice plays. He was up against an offensive lineman who was actually bigger than Dan and had some trouble. He wasn't staying low enough and the lineman kept getting lower than Daniel and flipping him onto the ground. I could see Daniel getting frustrated and on one play where the lineman tried the submarine, Daniel jumped up and pile drove him into the ground. The OL stayed pretty well upright after that move.

David's game was pretty tight early on and David again struggled with throwing the ball too high early on. He missed his tight end who was wide open in the end zone on their first drive. The ball floated over his head. We ended up scoring with our tailback running it in, but a trend is setting in. After starting 0-5 in the last game, he was 0-4 in this game before finishing 6 of 13 for 77 yards. We won the game 23-0 and the guys were sky high after the game. David's best passes came when he was forced out of the pocket and he had to throw on the run. Adam cannot throw when he's moving and this is one of David's strengths. David can't wait for this Friday when we play the number five ranked team in the area, Del Oro. He is convinced they can win that game, which is nuts, but if you don't believe in yourself, you've already lost the game. It should be interesting. We capped the scoring in Friday's game with 4 minutes left in the 4th period with a fake punt that went for a touchdown. This is the first time in four years that Woodcreek has won back-to-back games, so it is a big deal at school.

One of the television stations in Sacramento has a Friday night High School football show and our cheerleaders will be featured this week. The station will also be at our game filming, so it should be a big night.

Darla and I will leave next Saturday morning for Monterey. Our golf club is having a two-day event where we will play Laguna Seca Golf Course in Monterey on Saturday and Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach on Sunday. I signed up only for the Sunday tournament because of football. The games don't end until ten and it's a three hour drive to Monterey. We'll take a leisurely drive on Saturday, have dinner with the gang Saturday night and then I'll play golf on Sunday. We'll stay over Sunday night and then drive back on Monday. I'll see agents Monday morning while Darla sleeps in. We are staying at the Hyatt located on the Del Monte Golf Course in Monterey this year.

Golf. It is a four letter word, but it was so nice to be back out in the fresh air playing golf on Saturday morning. I shot 42-46=88, which is not great, but given the fact that I've been incapacitated for two months, I was happy with the effort and the result. I tweaked my back on the fifth hole during my drive and actually birdied the hole with an approach shot that landed a foot from the cup. I was very sore from then on and really felt some stabs of pain during the back side. Afterward, I had lunch with our President, Harry. He is a Bowen Therapy practitioner and he urged me to come in and see him on Tuesday. Bowen Therapy involves a muscle relaxation technique. The theory is that the muscles on either side of the spine cause the spine to pop out of joint and by relaxing the muscles and causing blood to flow to those muscles, the muscles will relax and the spine will naturally realign itself. It sounds plausible and I'm willing to try anything at this point. He assures me that I'll feel better than I have in months after the treatment. He is giving me the first session for free, but wants me to see him at least twice and his fee is $50 per hour. A session takes one hour to loosen and relax the muscles. I'll reserve judgement on this and let you know next week how it goes.

I was sore as can be yesterday afer using muscles that I hadn't used in months. I was hobbling around and spent most of the day on the couch with NFL football to keep me occupied. I have the NFL package, which is great as I was able to watch the end of the Saints-Rams overtime thriller rather than the start of a 34-0 Niner loss to the Seahawks.

We made it to church yesterday and the pastor gave us a state of the church message. Our church has been highly successful with the nicest new building in the area and weekly attendance near 2000. This has been a tough year for our pastor, Rick, in that he has lost several staff members to other churches. He takes the defections very personally and even considered resigning when one of the staff members left because of conflict with him. He said that God is 'pruning" the church and helping to plant new churches in the area. The toughest loss was our worship leaders, a husband and wife team that decided to plant a new church. Rick told us the story of a man marooned on a deserted island. He started a fire and fanned signals to a ship about a year after being marooned. The ship saw the smoke and sent a rescue boat to the island. While the stranded man was boarding the ship, the captain asked him where the others were. The man said that he was the only one on the island. The captain said that when he had checked his telescope, he saw three huts on the island. The man said that was easily explained. The first hut was his house and the second was his church. The captain asked what the third hut was for. The man replied, "That was the church that I used to attend." His point was that churches often have turnover and the conflict is good for the church as it helps to keep their focus on the real church, who are the members.

Jennifer has not only made it to Kuwait, but she has updated her blog a couple of times and I urge you to check it out. A link to her blog is at the bottom of this page. Her address is:

Spec. Jennifer Lyon
385th SC CO
Kuwait City , Kuwait
APO - AE 09889

Jennifer would like any kind of bath and beauty products, including good shampoos and conditioners, books, cds, DVDs and magazines. And I know that she'd like any kind of homemade cookies, etc. She said the shampoos and body lotions available at the PX are terrible and the desert sand and sun is hard on a woman's body. So if you can find it in your heart to help out a soldier, she and I would appreciate it. There is nothing quite as nice as a package from home.

I hope all is well with each of you. Be careful out there. Ciao.

It is a sunny, clear, absolutely crisp and wonderful Monday morning. The weather in Sacramento is so predictable during the Summer, but we had a storm blow through here yesterday that seemed better fit for Washington State and British Columbia than central California. We received 1.48 inches of rain and most of that fell in a concentrated one-hour period yesterday afternoon. The rain was hitting so hard and so fiercefully that the gutters in both the street and on my house had trouble keeping up with the torrent. The gutters were spilling over from the house and we had a wall of water cascading down in front of the slider in the family room. We looked out front and there was a three-foot wide wall of water rushing down the gutter in front of our home. The aftermath today is leaves and downed branches all over the front of the house and across the street in the park. Sacramento, which is known as the city of trees, took the worst of the storm with over 2 inches of rain and local flooding on the freeways and in the downtown area. One underground parking garage is flooded with spots that are eight-feet deep and abandoned cars are under water in the garage. One poor guy decided to fjord the water on P street and ended up on top of his car with his wife curled up on the back seat with water on the floorboards and rising. We had warning of rain in the form of scattered showers, but not a storm of this intensity. Indeed the rain was scattered as Woodland received no rain and it is only 13 miles northwest of Sacramento.

Jennifer did indeed board her plane on Saturday morning for Dallas, where she sat for three hours waiting for a connection to Baltimore. I told her to call Randy, but she didn't want to bother him. They could have had lunch together as she was there from 11:30 local time until her flight at 2:45. She flew on to Baltimore where she caught up with two other soldiers from her unit and they flew on together to Ramstein AFB in Germany. From there they caught a plane to Kuwait after another three hour wait. They arrived in Kuwait City at 12:30 a.m. local time and it took until 4:30 a.m. to get their room assignments and then had to process into the base and get work assignments and be issued gear and pay vouchers, etc. They warned the soldiers not to sleep all day Monday, but to nap a bit during the day and get up for dinner and then go to bed at regular time on Monday night so as to acclimate themselves to local time.

Jennifer took their advice and was unpacking at 11:00 a.m. Kuwaiti time and decided to call her Dad to chat. 11:00 a.m. in Kuwait works out to 1:00 a.m. our time Monday morning. Darla and I were awakened from a dead sleep to the ringing of the phone. I knocked over some pictures and the television remote and Darla upended a picture and the remains of the ice water that I'd brought her when we went to bed. We finally found the phone and I had a foggy conversation with Jennifer. She has a phone right in her room and can call us at any time by calling the Army switchboard and being patched through to the Sacramento Army National Guard and getting an outside line. As Darla said, it was a novelty talking to her at one in the morning and we were glad to hear that she made it to Kuwait without too much hardship, but from now on let's talk during daylight hours.

Jennifer is almost certain that she will go to Germany almost immediately as the unit needs a new Armorer, as her group is replacing seven soldiers, one of which was the unit's Armorer. An Armorer is responsible for checking the weapons in and out of the munitions room for the unit and they require the Armorer to go through a two-week training class that is held in Germany. Jennifer, as usual, volunteered for the assignment. She will receive her shipped goods in about forty-five days when she is expected to move into a new trailer. She sounded in very good spirits and awake when I talked to her.

The saga of David and his high school football team has a great story this week. David was confirmed last Monday as the starting quarterback of the Woodcreek Timberwolves. Adam seemed to accept his fate with an air of inevitability. David practiced all week with the first unit and Adam ran the opposition's plays with the first team defense. The other side of the coin with David winning the starting q.b. nod is that he lost his starting position on defense. They moved a sophomore into his position and told David that he would no longer play defense.

We played against Bear River on Friday night, a team that we have played every year and failed to ever win a game against. And the series seemed to be destined to continue in the same vein as Bear River took the opening kickoff and moved down the field, scoring on a 41-yard run by their tailback. David came into the game after the kickoff and drove the team down to the four-yard line. He had missed on his first three passes, throwing high and looking a little over-amped. Finally on third and goal he rolled out and found his fullback wide open in the corner of the end zone. He lofted a perfect pass to the back (one of his good friend's Matt Meacham) and Matt ham-handed the ball where it fell to the ground after he juggled it like you would a hot baked potatoe. The team turned the ball over on downs after going for it on fourth and goal. Why we didn't kick a field goal is beyond me. Bear River took over and lo and behold, David was inserted in at free safety. He ended up playing both ways most of the game and lead the team to a 34-14 win against a team that had never tasted defeat at our hands. The coach left David in to work through his difficulties passing and David went 4-0f-5 with a touchdown from then on. David said that he wanted to look over his shoulder when he was missing his passes early on, but he pulled the team together in the huddle and said, "Let's pull together and get a win!" and they did.

The coach was very enthusiastic about the calm that David showed during the game and the way that he very efficiently lead the team to five touchdowns, four of them on the ground from our tailback, Blaine Brown, who was forced into starting when our tailback, Patrick Deloach checked out of the school on Wednesday and moved to Foothills High School. Blaine played great and David ran the offense well, even setting up a touchdown with a long run and optioning to his fullback on one run and then throwing the block that broke the play open.

Daniel played flawlessly again in his game and they won 14-7. Dan was named the player of the game in last week's game and was taken out to dinner by the coaching staff last Tuesday. It's hard to imagine that this is the same player who sleep walked through the season in prior years. He has grown into his body and the maturity that has developed is allowing him to be a dominant force on the field. He is so big, that he is almost unblockable (if that is even a word). He continues to plug holes on defense and open them on offense. So far, this is nothing but fun this year watching the two boys play. Daniel is definitely emerging from David's shadow and is becoming more than just David Lierly's brother.

Well, that's about it this week. We did have a bit of a laugh on Friday night as Tara, one of the Captain's of the Varsity cheerleading squad, came up to Darla and I and told us that she and David were going to the Senior Ball together. She said that she told David that he is going with her and even told him how he is to ask her. They have been great friends all through high school, but Tara has decided that she wants more than a friendship. David is intensely shy and he deflects talk of Tara with a "We're just friends" response, but they are quite an item. I kidded her that she waited until David was named quarterback to put in her claim, that she'd be talking to Adam's parents if it had gone the other way. She laughed. Tara is blowing Darla's preconceived notion of cheerleaders as ditzes into oblivion. She has a 4.75 grade point average and is a gymnast and pole vaulter. Frankly, Jenny Lyon, Randy's daughter, already proved that you can have brains and be a cheerleader.

Say a prayer for Jennifer and all of the troops out in harms way and take care of each other. Ciao.