California..you gotta love it. Last week I was prattling on about rain and hoping that the sky would open and give us a much needed drenching. Well, we got our rain, although it was nothing more than a good shower. Today, the temperature is expected to hit 95 degrees and set a record for this date. Last week we were fifteen degrees under our normal and this week we are 20 degrees over it. Yesterday was 92 degrees and I have a bit of a sunburn on my back courtesy of some koi pond maintenance in my backyard. The temperature of the pond water has risen to the point that I had to reintroduce the filter to the water. In order to fit the pump and filter back into the water, I had to pull out the six water plants that I have arrayed in the pond and cut them back. I ended up in the pond moving blocks and placing the filter where I wanted it. The boys were inside watching all of the labor from a soft spot on the couch. We've been talking about having a pool put in next year and Daniel said to David that, "Ken thinks we have the pool already". Wise guy. I'm still debating on the pool. We have such a nice back yard and I hate to upend things with a pool contractor. We'd lose the pond and gain a pool, but I'm concerned that the stamped concrete would be damaged in the process. I will say this, IF we get a pool, it will be a small lagoon style pool, meant more for cooling off and relaxing than swimming. We'll see how my bonus shapes up before taking that on.

Well, praise God and pass the smelling salts, Jennifer is back in the United States of America!! She flew back in on Thursday and was in Texas for all of a day, just long enough to get prodded and pricked (seven or eight shots and a blood sample), turn in her equipment and catch a flight Friday back to Augusta. She was on a plane Friday that stopped in Houston and then flew on to Augusta. She got her car out of hock and reopened her apartment (barracks) and got caught up with some of her friends and fellow soldiers at Fort Gordon. I talked to her Saturday morning and then again last night let the boys get caught up with their sister. Jennifer will be in Augusta until about November and then she will be deployed to her new duty station in Kuwait. She has about a month of vacation saved up and will come home to California for about three weeks in June or July. I am exceedingly proud of Jennifer's accomplishments with the Army and consider her my personal hero for her bravery and love for this country. Like Pat Tillman, who was killed in Afghanistan, Jennifer was profoundly affected by the events of September 11th, 2001 and she did something about it. She was in a position to react to the threat to the United States and rather than simply condemn the American haters, she joined our country's military and she served in Iraq, carrying a weapon at all times and fitting the Coalition Headquarters at Camp Victory with state of the art communications technology. My hat is off to her and my heart is filled with intense pride that my soldier put her life on the line to defend this country. No, she isn't in infantry, but the grenades were exploding around her just the same. God bless you, Jennifer, and all of the brave men and women in Iraq and in service to our country.

I played golf this weekend at Rio La Paz, a course near the Sacramento River in a little town called Nicolaus. I played with three of the true hackers in our club. Gary Krohn is an ex-president and he loves playing golf with me. I prefer to play golf with better golfers than I am. Gary is a 22, his friend is a 24 and the other guy in our foursome is a 19. I shot 87 and watched those three shoot a combined 317. The fact that I managed an 87 while the threesome was hacking and whiffing and shanking their way all over hell's half acre is amazing. I had asked Steve, our tournament director, to put me in with some golfers and I owe him a smack upside the head. It was a beautiful day in Sacramento and I watched numerous families park their cars along the levee and herd the children with inner tubes and blankets and coolers down to the river. I wished I could join them as I often waited interminably in the fairway for the wayward three to join me somewhere near the short grass.

We survived our weekend without Mom and Darla came home yesterday tired and suffering from flu-like symtoms. She was running a fever and slept most of the afternoon. I think she may take today off and get herself healthy. We ate McDonalds on Friday and pizza on Saturday and I barbecued a london broil last night. I took the boys to church yesterday morning. Rick, our pastor, was talking about conflict and how Christians should deal with it. He told the story of a couple who were fighting and just couldn't get along. The husband was fed up and said to his wife, "I was a fool when I married you!" The wife said, "I know, but I was too much in love to notice it at the time." ..........Think about it.

Give Jennifer a call and thank her for her bravery at 310-927-6311 or write to her as follows:

Specialist Lyon, Jennifer
518, 63rd Sig Bn
Box J3
Ft Gordon, GA 30905

It's Monday. The weatherman promises rain showers today, but he's been promising that for three days and the worst we've seen is a light overnight sprinkle that left the ground wet and the lawns wanting a bit more. I played golf on Saturday and when we finished, the sky turned dark and the temperature plummeted to the high fifties, but no rain came. Today the sky is a slate of granite with dark clouds and a forbidding presence...but, alas, there is a hint of blue sky on the horizon and the rain may miss us yet again. There were some isolated showers and some hail on Saturday, but Roseville missed the fun. It is supposed to be showery today and tomorrow and I hope to see some real rain out of this storm yet.

I played in a two-man best-ball qualifier tournament on Saturday with one of our better golfers, in fact he was club champion two years ago. Boyd and I shot 32-32=64 and finished fourth in the tournament. I shot 44-39=83 and I'm beginning to get a little concerned about my slow starts. I need to develop the same rythym and focus on the starting holes as I do on the back nine. The top two teams go on to the regionals locally. Mark Konrad and his partner shot a 61 to qualify. Mark is our webmaster at the Roseville Golf Club and hosted the Masters tournament last week. Mark and Darla turn 40 on the same week in May and we will join them for a trip to Monterey. Mark has a twin brother, Mike, who will also join us. Several friends and family are going to Monterey with Mark. 12 of us will play golf at Poppy Hills in Carmel and we will have a big birthday dinner on Thursday night, May 13th. Darla's birthday is May 16th, Sunday.

Darla and I spent yesterday updating our house with new vertical blinds in the family room and master bedroom and new blinds in the master bedroom. We now have matching white faux wood blinds in the master bedroom on all three windows. Darla will be working on new curtains for the windows over the next week or so. I guess they aren't really curtains, they're window accents or toppers or something like that. Darla's theme for the room is blue and white, which will shock anyone who knows Darla. J/K.

We will also have a new washer and dryer delivered today. Darla has been working with the same garage sale appliances since we got married. The washer and dryer that she had was even worse than mine, so we dumped hers way back when. I think I paid $75 for the pair back in 1990 when I got divorced and they have seen better days. The washer had been rocking so badly due to the spindle being out of balance that the top panel had come loose and Daniel had duct taped the panel back down. With two six-footers in the house who are both athletes, we put the washer and dryer through their paces. Darla will be thrilled to have some nice new appliances to do the job from now on.

I have not heard from our soldier since she called last week. I'm really looking forward to her getting back to the states and back to a ho-hum existence at Fort Gordon. I'm sure Jenn has mixed feelings as she loved the work, but the stress and pressure of Baghdad was a dark cloud over that experience. I hope to hear from her in the next week.

Darla is off to a women's retreat at church next weekend. Pray for me and the boys as we struggle along without Mom. I'm sure we'll thrive and the fast food restaurants will do a booming business this weekend. I have a golf game at Rio La Paz golf course on Saturday and will leave the boys to their own devices that day. Hopefully the house is in one piece when I get home.

I got some pictures from Darryl of a golf cart that he purchased in Dallas and hauled back to Austin. He is reconditioning the unit and doing body repairs, new brakes, tires, wheels, etc. I think Dad's work with his two project cars got Darryl in the mood to work on something. He'll trick out the golf cart and have the nicest set of wheels on the course. Somehow, that body work gene passed me by.

Well, that is another installment of the blog. I hope you are all hale and hearty. Be nice to each other. Ciao.

Just a quick update. Jennifer called me at work today. She was very matter-of-fact with her hello. She said, "Well, hi, Ken Lyon, how are you?" She and her unit were able to catch a flight out of Baghdad at 1:00 in the afternoon on Monday and flew into Kuwait City and Camp Doha. Jennifer will be there for nine days and fly back to Ft. Bliss in Texas for debriefing and to turn in her equipment. She is thrilled to be out of the green zone in Iraq. There was a fuel transport truck that was bombed over the weekend and the thick black smoke hung over the camp. She has fifteen rolls of film to develop when she gets back to Georgia and I'm sure we'll all see the pictures one way or another.

One of the reasons she is happy to be out of Baghdad (besides the obvious) is that she doesn't have to cart her weapon with her at all times now. The camp was on high alert and all soldiers were required to have a weapon with them at all times. The bombs and explosions are a distant memory for her now, but the explosions were quite real even up until the time that they flew out of the airport on Monday. I have trouble even imagining the stress and fear that the troops endure on a daily basis in Iraq.

By the way, anyone who'd like to debate the merits of our occupation in Iraq...just shut up.

Ken

Back to the salt mine after a week of conventions, parties, Easter and some family time on the weekend. A huge "PRAISE GOD!!" goes out today as Jennifer is on her way back stateside. She originally was supposed to stay in Baghdad until April 22nd, but with the increased hostilities and the marshalling of troops into the area, there are more flights available going back to Camp Doha in Kuwait. She was at the airport this morning with her unit trying to catch one of the flights out of Baghdad. Barring that, her unit would convoy out of Iraq on surface roads. I'm praying that she gets or got a flight out and is out of harm's way. I will be able to breathe again when she is back on American soil. She will be in Kuwait for a few days until she can get a charter back to the United States. Her unit will travel back to Fort Bliss in Texas for debriefing and then she will travel back to her home base in Augusta, Georgia. She will soon learn where her PDS (Permanent Duty Station) will be and Jennifer continues to lobby for Kuwait. We shall see. I hope to hear from her soon and I'll update the blog as soon as I hear from her. Thank you to everyone who kept Jennifer in their prayers. She has had more than a few sleepless nights lately as explosions rocked her base and shook her trailer. She admits to being scared and basically being told only what the Army wants her to know. She made the comment to her Mom that "you probably know more than I do, they don't tell us much".

The conference in Scottsdale was nothing short of a big party and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. There are some discussion groups and roundtable conferences, but they simply satisfy the IRS that the conference is a legitimate business expense. The party starts early and lasts late and included a full fledged casino, dance hall, stage review, countless bars, an internet cafe, four different restaurants, a cookout and a full fireworks display that was one of the best that I've seen. The golf was at a world class resort called McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale and it was worth the wait. The course has a lot of sand and water and is immaculate. I also got to rub elbows with a number of senior Burns and Wilcox professionals as well as a number of the top producers. I found that interaction as beneficial to me as the opportunities to meet and interact with the Scottsdale Underwriters. I came back a little sunburned and tired, but was glad for the experience.

I played golf this weekend on Saturday in our annual Master's tournament. This is a tournament hosted by one of the board members of the Roseville Golf Club. There were 14 of us this year and we met at the crack of dawn at The Lincoln Hills Golf Resort at Sun City Lincoln Hills. I started the round double bogey, double bogey, bogey and was 5 over after three holes. I then went on a par barrage and finally birdied number 12 to go four-over after 12 and finished with a 41-39=80. I got hooted by the group as the scores were pretty high at this championship course. I had a net 66 and the closest pursuer shot 71 and then 72. I was pleased with how I pulled the round together after a horrific start. My only disappointment was a double-bogey six on the last hole. I wanted to post a 79. As always, there is room for improvement.

The family was up early yesterday and off to Easter Sunday services at Darla's parent's church in Stockton. We left the house at 7:25 and were in the parking lot of the church at 8:30 for the 9:00 a.m. service. It was kind of nice to be at a smaller church with about 800 attenders rather than the 2500 that were expected at our church. The ease of entrance and exit from their church make our weekly ordeal seem that much more complicated. We then went over to Earl and Frances' home in Linden for a celebration of Easter. The boys were of course with us and Darla's sister and her brother and his wife, daughter and mother-in-law joined us for ham and family time. It was enjoyable.

Their pastor had a story about how human beings deal with death. It is inevitable, but most people tend to regard death as a dirty secret and it ends up being a dark cloud over our lives. Christians do (or at least should) have a diffent view of death as our time on Earth is a beginning and not an end. Anyhow, a man was diagnosed by his doctor as having a terminal disease and he was given six months to live. The man asked his doctor if there was ANYTHING he could do. The doctor told him to sell everything and give it away to charity. The man said, "No problem". The doctor told him to move into tenement housing with no running water or electricity. The patient agreed to do it. Was there anything else he could do? The doctor told him to marry a woman with eight children and move them into the tenement with him. Done. Was there anything else (and this is poetic license on my part)? Yes. Give up golf and all of his friends. "I'll do it said the man. Will this extend my life?" The doctor regarded him and said, "No, but it will be the longest six months of your life!"

Ciao friends. And once again, PRAISE GOD that Jennifer is getting out of Iraq.

I am sitting at home reading my mail and contemplating life with a cup of hot Hawaiian coffee at the ready and it dawns on me that I can update my blog now. I have a 10:30 flight to the land of the sun (Phoenix) and will be staying in Scottsdale for three days at a meeting hosted by Scttsdale Insurance Company. I'll be in meetings this afternoon and tomorrow morning. I will then play in the golf tournament at McCormick Ranch golf course. Wednesday, I'll spend the morning meeting with my underwriters at Colony Insurance and then be on a plane by three p.m. and be back in Sacramento in time for dinner.

We moved our offices from Howe Avenue out to Rancho Cordova on Friday and Saturday. I took Friday off as the tech guys were pulling computers at nine-thirty. I played golf with Gail, Anthony and Mel. We had a good time out at the old Mather Air Force Base golf course. I shot an 84 on the heavily sanded and aerated greens. It could have and should have been a much better round, but I four-putted one of the greens as the ball rolled and hopped all over the greens trying to find traction in the sand and through the waffle-like surface of the aerated greens. I played Mel straight up (he's an 11, I'm a 12). He shot 45-40 as he struggled to find a rythm putting as well. Gail surprised me with her game, which was honed on the links of Marin Country Club in the Bay Area. She shot an 88, which is 14 over on the women's par 74 (two of the par fours are par fives for women). She had two birdies on the par fives and has a straight, smooth swing. It was a good day on the links. Anthony struggled and shot 104 and only because we established a triple bogey maximum for him. Mel's wife Cora invited us all over for dinner at her house. Darla was not thrilled to have to drive across town after a long day at work and reminded me of that fact several times en route to the dinner. She enjoyed herself once she got there. Cora fixed a fondue of tri tip steak with four different sauces and we had a ball cooking up our own dinner. Darla made a nice strawberry salad and Gail brought wine and dessert.

Saturday, Darla and I ventured into the new office and I unpacked my desk and file cabinets. We have all new furniture in the new office and I was able to find spots for all of my various and sundry odds and ends. We have new double-sized four drawer file cabinets and storage space is not an issue as of yet. It was funny in that I had tossed a number of items while I was packing and tossed nearly as many as I was unpacking. A move does allow us the luxury of downsizing. I have to run for my flight, so I'll finish this when I get back from Phoenix.