We have just endured a weekend of temperatures over 100 degrees. I had my assistant, Anthony, and his girlfriend, Erin, meeting us at our house on Saturday afternoon. Darla and I were treating them to a concert at the local Placer County Fairgrounds and Anthony wanted to see the koi pond and our backyard. That, of course, motivated me to be up early on Saturday and work on trimming, re-filling the pond, cleaning and spraying down the entire backyard. It took me about four hours to tidy up and make the yard presentable, but the good part of all this is that I worked hard, yet was still standing when I was finished. The drugs that Kaiser provided worked their magic and my back is finally beginning to allow me to walk, talk and work like one of the homo sapiens again. The concert on Saturday night was a benefit put on by the local Roseville Active 20-30 club. Being that I'm nowhere near 20 or 30, I felt that we'd be safe to invite Anthony (27) and Erin (23) to the concert. We had a blast and my boss, Bill, and his wife, Storma, joined us at the concert for dinner and the show. The Trailer Park Troubadours, who are quickly becoming our favorite show band, were headlining and they brought down the house. They came on about 8 p.m. when the sun had mercifully dropped behind the National Guard building, which is on the fairgrounds site. We stayed until the end of the concert at 10:45 and Darla's name was called for a T-shirt and a Sizzler MVP card. They told her that they would mail the items to her. We are both curious what a Sizzler MVP is. Neither of us has been to a Sizzler restaurant since we were married, so unless they give her a crown and let her eat free, I doubt that it will command much attention in our household.

The boy's had their first open scrimmage of the year at the annual "Meet the Timberwolves" night at their school on Friday. They played an intersquad scrimmage and David totally outplayed his competition at quarterback. David threw for two touchdowns and directed drives that resulted in four touchdowns. His friend and fellow quarterback, Adam, threw three interceptions and was sacked three times. He was inconsolable after the game and David definitely looks like the opening game starter at this point. David is confident that he has outplayed Adam throughout the practice schedule and looks forward to the start of the season. The highlight of David's year so far was when he picked off Adam during practice (David plays offense and defense) and ran the ball back for a touchdown. Adam tried to tackle David at the goal line and David lowered his shoulder and took Adam out. The whole team was oohing and aahing at the colllision. Daniel did not come off the field during the JV scrimmage and played both offense and defense. Dan is 6'2" and 215 pounds now. The coaches know they can't afford him not being on the field. I noticed some real hussle in Daniel on Friday and he has really grown into a football player. David has always worked hard at sports and been the best he could be no matter what he played. Daniel always just went along with the flow, never doing anything more than he needed to in order to get by. That is changing gradually and Daniel will be a star this year.

Jennifer will leave for home on Thursday. Her Mom is flying to Augusta and they will drive her Explorer home. Jennifer has processed out of her home base of Fort Gordon and will be leaving Georgia for good on Thursday. She had some of her belongings shipped to Kuwait and will only bring what she can carry onto the plane to Kuwait. She will drop off the rest of her clothes and personal effects at the house. Her Explorer will be here waiting for her when she gets home. She will leave for Kuwait from Sacramento in mid-September. Jen turned 24 on Saturday

I talked to Dad and Shirley last night. They just got home from a week of vacation with Shirley's daughter, Sherry, and her family. They rented a 2800 square foot home on a lake in Canada and unfortunately it rained most of the week that they were gone. Dad and Shirley may not be able to join us in Kauai as they are taking a three week vacation to Hawaii in January. I didn't know that until he mentioned it last night. They are keeping the idea on the back burner for now and may decide to join us yet.

Darla and I will take the long Labor day weekend and visit her parents up at Lake Almanor. It's a long drive, but it will be nice to get away and enjoy some time at the lake. They have a fifth wheel with two slideouts and we will sleep in the double bed that makes up in the galley. The boys were at Almanor this weekend with Darla's sister, Alicia.

Well, work beckons with an unending flow of business just waiting for my attention. My post for next week will be a day late as we will be in Almanor for the long weekend. Ciao.

Monday night and I thought I'd get to this at home. After vacation last week and being in San Francisco today, I'll need ALL of my work time just to dig out of the pile of work waiting for me. On top of that, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow with Kaiser. This back thing is getting worse, not better and I think I need some medical attention. The chiropractor has been great, but I'm trying to treat a broken arm with a bandaid and an aspirin. Time to call in the professionals.

As mentioned, I spent today in San Francisco meeting with an agent, my main Navigators (Contractor market) underwriter (for lunch) and then in the San Francisco office to meet with and get some marketing and underwriting tips from their underwriters. I spent the majority of the drive in pain, alternately cramping up or waiting for another spasm to hit as I sat scrunched into the Mustang. I stopped for gas on the way home and had a particularly strong spasm that knocked my legs out from under me, I fell back into the car and landed on the horn, startling not only myself, but the other poor souls who were stopped for gas. They all kept their eyes on me as I dispensed gas into my car. This is really getting old and I'm ready to get the problem fixed. I also spasmed during lunch with the underwriter and fell onto my chair when I went to get up. We'd talked about my medical problems, but she got to see it firsthand. The waiter rushed over to see if he could help. I was straightened up in pain as my back just gives out and I had to hold up my hand until the pain passed and I could again communicate like the other humans.

Our trip to Tahoe was fantastic. We did NOT do the trip down to the castle as my back was giving me fits. The weather was incredible and Darla and I enjoyed our time together. It is, by the way, our eighth wedding anniversary today and our relationship just gets stronger and better every year. We went out to dinner and lunch several days and spent a little bit of time at the casino. Our luck was not as good as the first morning when I hit the $100 jackpot and we lost probably $50 over the course of the week. We had dinner again at the Lakeside Casino on Friday night, our last night in Tahoe. We both enjoyed another slab of the "Best Prime Rib at the lake". After dinner we decided to try our luck at the nickle slots. I lost twenty bucks in about half an hour and was ready to pack it in. I decided to play for a half hour more and if my luck didn't turn, I'd call it a night. Darla was treading water during my losing streak and was game for whatever I wanted to do. I moved to a new machine and decided to play "Triple Bonus" poker. The machine got hot and I hit four-aces four times over the course of the next three hours and we walked out of the casino at after midnight with over $300 in our pockets. The jackpots were all hand pay as they were 1200 nickles, so I got to know the casino employees. Darla and I were laughing at my luck, not because I was hitting four-of-a-kinds, but because they were all aces, which paid the most. My last set of aces came right near midnight and it was dealt to me. Unbelievable luck. We also left the casino with a new personal grooming set on our points. David has been walking in and taking my groomer and doing God knows what with it. I think he missed the point on what a personal grooming kit is. I gave him my old one and took the new one.

I read over my blog and see that I didn't share my stepson story with you. I've had this bad back for the better part of a month. A week ago last Sunday I decided to wash my car. My car is hard enough to get in and out of and our garage is small and made even smaller by a buildout of garage cabinets on the South wall. I asked David to pull my car out of the garage so I could wash it. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I am extremely particular about my car. It always has a fresh coat of wax on it and the tires are dressed and the wheels are polished. For those of you in Canada, think Art Lyon. Enough said? David took my keys and I went to put on my shoes, which is an event worth watching with my back. I grunt and sigh and reach and moan, finally reaching my shoe laces. I see why old men always wear slip-ons. Anyhow I walked out and saw David leaning over the rear driver's side quarter panel of my car. He looked at me and said something like, "I think I screwed up." He had hit the fender while backing out and had a huge scrape on the fender. It was about six inches long and four inches wide and looked like it had scraped to the bare metal. I told him it was no big deal and to be careful and meanwhile I was screaming inside. I took the rubbing compound and was able to clean off the area, which was mostly white house paint from the trim piece on the garage door. There was no paint from the car that was scraped, but there is about a tablespoon sized ding in the fender, David was absolutely beside himself knowing what a nut I am about my car. Darla came outside and said Dave was beating himself up pretty good. I told her to have him come out and showed him the almost invisible ding in the car. He was mighty relieved as was I. In the midst of the panic, Darla came out and I was muttering about kids and incompetence and she said, "Honey, it's just a car." My response was, "Honey, he's just our son."

Darla and I are getting a new digital camera with our winnings from Tahoe. I haven't had a digital since I left Republic Western. (Oh, yeah, they fired my a#@!!) I like the digital imaging and like to see the picture right away. Darla much prefers the SLR camera, so I'll be the digital photographer and she'll get the photos.

Well, my daughter is taking a chip off the old block and has created her own blog. You can access her blog at JennDayz.blogspot.com. Hopefully she will keep up with it after she gets to Kuwait. The girl will be home in time for Labor Day. She is driving her Explorer home and will leave for Kuwait on September 20th or 18th or something like that. Check her blog for exact details. She will be bringing her soldier boyfriend home with her. This is the young man that she introduced to me by describing him as Young....21 years old, but he looks even younger. I guess I'll find out what that means. The only picture I've seen of him was from Baghdad and he was giving the finger to the camera. I take it he's a classy young man. Just kidding, Jenn.

Our vacation to Kawaii is growing as Darla's folks have signed on and now Darla's sister is coming as well. I still haven't talked to Dad to see if they were able to get accomodations. Hey, Lyon family, come on down, the more the merrier.

I did cause extra strain on my back on Sunday as I mowed, edged, trimmed and laid sod in the back yard. I decided to trim the large hedge that fronts the fence beside the shed on the side yard. I trim the top of the hedge from the roof of the shed as the hedge has grown to shed height. I climbed up onto the shed and when I pulled the cord on the hedge trimmer it caught the ladder and knocked it over. Darla was inside doing house work and I was stranded on the roof with a bad back and no ladder. Luckily when I was done trimming, she was done vacuuming and came running at my beck and call. She looked at the ladder laying on it's side and me perched on the roof of the shed and laughed. I didn't see the humor in the situation.

Well, that's it for this week. Say a prayer over my back problem as I turn myself over to the medical professionals. Ciao.

This is the kind of work week Monday morning that you look forward to. Today is Monday and tomorrow is Friday. I'll be back in Lake Tahoe Tuesday night thru Saturday and, frankly, I can't wait to get back. The resort is wonderful, the room is spacious and it even includes a Jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom that has already worked it's wonders on my aching back. We had a great time with the boys. We were able to get in on Friday night, although we squeezed into a suite with Darla and I in the lone bed and the boys in sleeping bags on the sofa sleeper next to us. It was tight quarters, but saved us a late arrival on Saturday and a shortened weekend. Saturday, the weather was ideal, about 84 degrees with some light clouds in the sky that drifted over ocassionally and cooled us off. We spent the afternoon at the pool and then out on the beach. The boys played catch with the football and David caught a group of batchelorettes that were resting on the beach before their big night on the town. The best looking girl of the bunch approached him and asked if we would claim them as ours if someone from the resort asked them for proof that they were staying there. It is a private beach and they were using some of the resorts' chaise lounges. David seemed pleased to claim them as part of our family.

We went out to dinner at the Lakeside Inn, which is one of Darla and my hangouts in Lake Tahoe. It is a smaller casino that caters to the locals and we like it because of the service. The waitresses are plentiful when you are gambling and the food is inexpensive and very good. We all had Prime Rib and baked potatoes and really enjoyed our dinner together.

Sunday dawned overcast with a chance of thundershowers. We were up late and headed back to the Lakeside for breakfast. The wait was about forty minutes for a table, so we gave the boys $5 and sent them to the arcade, while Darla and I sought out the nickle video poker machines. I hit four Kings in my first four plays for $10 and then hit four aces-with-a-four for $100 about fifteen minutes later. It was a lucrative wait for breakfast. I even allowed the boys to order off the menu instead of just the $2.99 specials. I know, I'm a big spender. They both had a ham steak that was the size of their plate with eggs, hash browns and toast. Darla and I stuck with the specials, two eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns for me and two eggs, sausage and pancakes for Darla.

The weather unfortunately left us high and dry at the resort, although Darla and the boys played tennis. I stayed back and rested my aching back. The toilet in the master bathroom decided to act up and wouldn't flush. When Darla got back, I told her to try it again and it came rushing over the top and flooded not only the bathroom, but flowed out into the room. I was stuck with my aching back on the bed, laughing my fool head off. Darla was yelling at me about a set-up, me baiting her into flushing the toilet when I knew it would flood. David had to use a pen to wedge against the plunger handle to get it to stop flowing. I was alternately laughing and holding my back in pain. Somehow I have yet to grow up. Bathroom humor still gets me laughing. Darla was so mad and it just got me laughing that much more.

We left about four yesterday afternoon and drove back via Highway 89 and the west side of the lake. We stopped at the rest area and were able to see the island at Emerald Bay and the castle that a Scandinavian couple built in the 1920's from the vista site. The castle is open for tours, although you have to walk down the hill a mile to the castle site. Depending on my back, Darla and I might go by the castle later in the week.

I still am not over my back problems (obviously). The intense pain has subsided, but now I have muscle spasms periodically and I'm stiff and sore if I sit in one place for too long. Luckily at a desk job, I don't have to sit for long periods of time. Oh, wait, I do. Well, this won't work.

I have played in the Rose Cup golf tournament three of the four years that it has been played, but I will not even attempt to qualify this year because of my back. The qualifier is on Saturday. I'm really disappointed because it is one of my yearly goals in golf. I want to get to a single digit handicap, win the club championship in my flight and qualify for the Rose Cup team. Now I have two goals left. The Club Championship is in September and my handicap is currently at 10.8.

We had the brass in here last week, as the CEO and COB of the company, Alan Kaufman, flew in to see the new office and to speak to the staff. My boss, Bill, was just a tad uptight on the day of the visit. When I came in on Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m. he was in the file room staring at the walls. I chided him for not making coffee and he stormed into the kitchen and grabbed the pot. I said, "Hey, Bill, I was just kidding." He insisted on making the brew and when he spilled water all over the counter when he was trying to fill the coffee maker, he lost it and slammed the pot on the counter. When it inevitably smashed into pieces, he looked at me and said, "Can you believe that broke?" "Uh....yeah." I told him to relax and chill a little. He was way overamped and was able to cool his jets as he drove over to Wal-Mart to buy a new Mr. Coffee.

The visit was tense, but much needed as Alan was able to convey his opinions of the office and our under performance based on company standards. He talked about the tremendous potential of this office and that's what I took away from the meeting was the future. The past was not of my doing, but I am saddled with those results as we all are and can only look forward and perhaps learn from the past. Anthony and I were lucky in that we had booked the $156,000 account the week before and were able to skate a little on that accomplishment.

Well, it is work time. Tomorrow is my Friday, so I better get at it. Have a good week.

Better late than dead, eh? I missed work yesterday with what has become a recurring back problem. I've been treated by a chiropractor for the better part of a year, but things are getting worse. I drained the koi pond on Saturday and trimmed and cleaned up the plants in and surrounding the pond. I did manage to kill ALL of the resident gold fish (see last week's blog). I removed the filter and UV light and the pump. It was getting hot, so I took a thirty minute break to look at the golf on television and my back cooled off as I was lying in a twisted position and my back locked up. I spent Saturday night, Sunday and Monday suffering from intense muscle spasms. If I moved the wrong way, it was like shoving a knife into my spine. I slept on the couch Saturday night, because every time I tried to move to get up, my back would spasm and bring tears to my eyes. Finally, the call of nature got me at about two-thirty and I was able to roll onto my stomach and off the couch onto my knees. I made it to bed and spent a sleepless night turning and spasming. Sunday was more of the same. Darla abandoned me and went to a San Francisco Giant's game with a friend and I spent a pathetic day on the couch and on the bed.

Finally, Monday I was able to see the chiropractor and he told me about hurting myself laying down (Now, I know for a fact I'm getting old). I saw him in the morning for an adjustment and electro-therapy and then again late afternoon. Darla had to help dress me, put my socks on and help me with my shoes. She said that was good training for when I get old. I said, what training, you're doing it NOW? I feel well enough to be back at work today, but will see the chiropractor at 3:30 today and 5:30 tomorrow. Hopefully, he can get me lined back up and in good shape before our vacation this weekend. It took almost a week last week to calm my back down and I was well for all of three days before messing myself up again. As I've said before, I have a congenital defect in my spine, where one of the verterbrae did not fully develop in my spinal column. It has never been a problem when I was a helathy young buck, but now that my spine is shrinking with age, the defect is beginning to tell noticeably. I will likely have back problems the rest of my life and it is really threatening my golf game. I haven't picked up a club in three weeks and with the pain, have no intention of seeing the teebox at any time soon. If I can get healthy, the toughest thing I'll be lifting is a soda at the beach at Lake Tahoe.

I talked to Dad on Sunday and he and Shirley are seriously looking into joining the family in Kauai next year. We will be in Kauai from June 12th -23rd of 2005. We will spend a week in our timeshare at the Makai Club Cottages, although we upgraded from a one bedroom to a two bedroom. We will then move for three days to the Kauia Beach Resort near the airport, where the boys can snorkel and perhaps even take surfing lessons. It should be a fun trip and one of our last family vacations with David graduating from high school. We have also invited Darla's Mom and Dad to join us in Hawaii next year, so it should be fun.

The boys started school yesterday and are back in football practice and all that entails. David was up with the roosters and at school by 5 a.m. for a senior tradition of watching the sunrise on the first day of school. They ate muffins and drank orange juice and coffee. Sounds like something out of the Lord of the Flies. The Seniors always seem to have odd traditions.

We will be on vacation in Lake Tahoe this coming weekend, but it will be a mishmash vacation as we have to return the boys for school on Monday. Because of my limited vacation, I will work Monday and Tuesday and then Darla and I will return to Tahoe to see the week out. The resort is breathtaking, right on the beach at Lake Tahoe and within a mile of the casinos at Stateline, Nevada.

Hot August Nights ended it's run this past weekend in Reno. It is the largest car show in the Western United States and unless I miss my bet, I expect to see Dad and Shirley there next year. The other big one in California is the Fortuna Car show in Fortuna, California on the coast. It is more of a 40's-50's style car show, but they have all classes of cars. Dad's two rides are both sharp and expensive. I'm looking forward to hearing his stories as soon as he begins to show his cars.

Well, this is short and sweet this week. I have tons of work to do , having missed Monday, so I better roll up my sleeves (I'm wearing a golf shirt with short sleeves) and get to it. God bless.

It is another Monday morning. Today has an overcast sky and it is cool. We have had mornings like this for the last week. It is very similar to weather that you see at the coast with a morning overcast that burns off by noon. Our sky has been clearing by about 9:30 and we have temperatures that are unseasonably cool with highs only reaching into the mid-eighties. It is tremendous weather.

Darla and I took advantage of the fine weather and took a trip up to Nevada City after church yesterday. The boys surprised their Mom and were at church when we arrived yesterday. We saw David's Mustang parked in my spot at church and Darla got excited. She feels tremendously blessed when the boys show that their relationship with Jesus is not something that is an obligation of being part of our family, but something that is a part of them. David decided to go to church and Daniel was right there with him. Daniel left even more of an impression on his Mom as his name tag from church was plastered on her back when we went to breakfast in Auburn. The cook at the restaurant asked Darla if she taught Sunday school. She looked at him funny and he said that she had a name tag of "Daniel" on her back.

We drove up Highway 89 after church and decided to go visit the Empire Mine, a state historic site in Grass Valley. The mine was the largest solid rock gold mine in California and was bought out by the Newmont Mining Corporation in 1925 from the owner, William Bourn. Bourn was the son of an industrialist from New York who moved to San Francisco in 1870 following the California Gold rush. Although Bourn did not come to California to prospect Gold and came simply to provide all of the necessities of the prospectors, clothes, supplies, etc., eventually he bought the Empire Mine as part of his holdings. He lived in a mansion in San Francisco. He died in 1878 and his 17 year-old son was forced to take over the mine and run his father's various businesses. In 1895 he built a 4600 square foot cottage on the grounds for his use when he was visiting from San Francisco. He sent one of his spinster maids to the Empire site to live in the cottage and run the household.

The mine itself closed two months before I was born after producing almost 6 million ounces of gold, which would be worth over $2.5 billion at today's prices. The most amazing thing is that geologists have determined that the mine stripped only about 20% of the total gold out of the mine and 80% of the gold remains. Most of the mine shafts are now flooded and all of them are closed.

The grounds are tremendous with restored gardens, clubhouse, pools, ponds and the mine itself. Darla and I walked down into the main mine shaft about two stories into the ground and I leaned over and asked Darla what would happen if we had an earthquake right then. She gave me a look. The tightness of the mine shaft was so narrow that the miners could not stand up, but had to lay down to move down the shaft.

My back decided to lock up again last week and I'm still stiff and sore. The pain was so bad on Thursday that I had to leave work and seek solace in some pain medication and a chiropractic ice bag. The problem was that I had a huge account that was due to close that afternoon. It is a brokerage account meaning that the company underwrites the account and I act as broker on the file. I tried to stick in there, but was getting physically ill from the pain in my back. I couldn't stand up straight and it hurt to breathe. Three months ago I would have been sunk if I left, but now with Anthony as my assistant, I was able to turn the account over to him and he was able to work with the underwriter and the retailer to get them a quote. Long story short, we closed the account on Friday when I was back to work and we sold a $156,000 account. My average month has been about $250,000 in premium, so you can see how this will affect my August. I am starting the month with almost $200,000 in premium already booked and close to $12,000 in income to the company. My old assistant would have wet her pants and gone home with a migraine. One of the reasons that I'm willing to share my bonus with Anthony.

Well, I managed to do a good impression of Heinrich Himmler this weekend as I instituted death for most of my goldfish by adding too much PH decreaser (another word for acid) to the pond. Several of the fish immediately began to float sideways and bite the big one. I reread the instructions on the bottle and it said not to change the chemistry of the water by more than two points or it would cause stress to the fish. I dropped it about 12 points in a fell swoop. I lost about fifteen of the sixty fish yesterday. Darla called this morning to say that the top of the water looks like a fish graveyard with some thirty fish floating on the top of the pond. We have had too many fish for too long, but I had not planned to commit goldfish genocide. I'll see how many fish (if any) remain. A pond of our size should hold no more than about 25 fish. The problem is the little buggers use the pond as their own little sex lair and the fish population continues to expand.

I talked to both Darryl and Randy last night. We all have free nights and weekends on our cell phones, yet rarely do we talk to one another. It was nice getting caught up with both of them. Randy has bought some property at a country club about an hour outside of Euless, Texas. He took a week last week and vacationed at a condo on the country club. He played golf several days and it strikes me that I am the golfer in the family and now Dad, Darryl and Randy are all country club members and I'm not. Something seems off in this equation.

Well, I have to get to work. We have an audit starting this week with two people in from home office. Ciao.