Hello again. A day late and a dollar short. I slept in yesterday morning and got to work a half hour later than normal and it threw my timing off kilter and I had to delay the blog update until today. I apologize to the three regular readers of this diatribe.

The weather over the weekend was hot and sticky with nary a breeze to cool off the denizens of Northern California. I had left my golfing passion up to a friend and he made a noon tee time on Saturday. I prefer to play early and have the day ahead of me when I finish. Also, the REAL golfers are generally on the course early and the later it gets the more young kids are out with their Dads or girlfriends out with their boyfriends who enjoy golf, but like the companionship of females more, so they forego the foursome of buddies and play with their uncoordinated sweethearts later in the day. All of that to say that it took a whopping 5.75 hours to complete our round. I shot 45-40=85 to continue the mystifying poor start/strong finish routine that I've developed of late. I parred the final three holes for the 40 on the back nine. I may actually take a weekend off from golf this weekend, but hey it's only Tuesday and there is plenty of time to arrange a game yet.

Darla and I have started a Spring makeover of our home. We have the wood blinds installed, Darla finished the window treatment in our bedroom, and I installed a new handleset and brass kickplate on the front door. I also restained the door and varnished the finished product with a high gloss varnish. True to form, the should-have-been hour-long project turned into a full day, as the brass kick plate was too large for the door and had to be cut down. My collection of "Barbie" tools proved inadequate and I ended up simply scoring the brass and bending it over to fit the bottom of the door. This required removing the door and the bottom sweep, installing the brass plate and then reinstalling the sweep. The inclusion of the brass plate at the bottom of the door caused the sweep to hit the bottom sash plate and I spent another hour sanding the sash down and tightening the sweep to the point that the door shuts snuggly. I just hope that the door doesn't swell during the winter months or we may be permanently locked into the house. The only item catching now is the rubber sweep at the bottom of the door and I'm hoping that wears down over time to the point that the door swings shut without the need for an extra push to shut it. The door looks great with the new brass hardware, dark walnut stain and high gloss finish. Darla isn't sold on the look of the brass kick plate, but I like it.

We are also having replacement windows built and installed for the front of the house. Our home faces West and the brunt of the sun hits the front and North facing sides of the house. the windows are energy efficient dual paned windows filled with Argon gas for insulation. David will especially appreciate the new windows as he has a broken seal on his window and the room is either stifling hot or so cold he has to have a space heater to warm the room. Several of the windows at the front of the house have broken seals and water has run into the dual panes and ruined the window. The new windows are expensive, but are lifetime guaranteed and we plan to stay in the house until we are wrinkled and old.

Darla and I slept in on Sunday morning, missing the snooze alarm and oversleeping through church. We both hate to miss church and feel like our weekend isn't complete without the addition of some spiritual intervention by our pastor. We used to have the option of a Sunday night service, but that has been discontinued with our new 3000 seat worship center.

Darla and I will be off next week to Monterey and a chance to celebrate Darla's 40th birthday. Yes, I have a child bride and I'm happy for that. I will, of course, abandon Darla during our vacation to play golf at Poppy Hills near Pebble Beach in Carmel. We are travelling with Mark Konrad and his family as Mark and his brother Mike both also turn 40 during the trip and they have arranged a golf tournament. We will go out to dinner on Thursday night and celebrate all of the birthdays. Everyone heads home on Friday, but Darla and I will stay over Friday night and have some alone time to enjoy each other before heading back Saturday night. I bought tickets to see the Christian band, Third Day, on Sunday night in Davis. Sunday will be Darla's birthday, a mere week after she is feted for being a Mother.

Well, that's it for another week. I talked to Jennifer and she is doing well. She had to have her Ford Explorer into the shop for a rebuilt transmission. Thankfully she was able to save money while she was in Iraq and came into some money on a settlement from Ford Motor Company on a car that she had financed some years ago at usury rates. Ford paid her over $4,000 to settle the class action lawsuit. As always, Jennifer lands on her feet..like a cat. Be well.