Hey and hello. Back from the long weekend refreshed and relatively relaxed. I lost a big account last week midterm and the loss of premium on the return premium has my figures in the red so far this month. I'll have to work extra hard to get caught up. All that and my assistant, Anthony, ate too many deep fried twinkies at the California State Fair over the weekend and called in sick today.

On the bright side, Jennifer is back home for two weeks. She survived her drive home with her Mom from Georgia (just barely) and is trying to jam a year of fun and good times into a ten day period. She has checked out of her base in Georgia and most of her supplies and uniforms, etc. have been shipped ahead to Kuwait. She brought just a few personal items with her and some items to store until her return in 14 months. Her boyfriend, Ryan, arrived last night and Jennifer picked him up from the airport. Jenn was waiting for Darla and I when we returned from Almanor with her feet up and relaxing at our house. We have a remote entry for our garage door and all of the kids know the code, so she was able to get in. In fact, she stayed there Sunday night after partying in Chico with her friend, Jason. Jennifer asked Jason if he wanted to meet Ryan and he said NO. I think Jason still carries a BIG torch for Jennifer.

Almanor was great. The temps here were in the 100's and were in the upper 70's and low 80's in Almanor. We relaxed and read books, talked by the campfire at night and basically slept alot. We didn't even take the boat out until Monday morning when we took a tour of the lake and looked at several lakeside homes. Darla's parent's, Earl and Francis, are contemplating buying a home in Almanor. The ranch is wearing Earl down a little (he has to return in a couple of weeks to oversee the harvest of almonds) and Francis is ready to sell the ranch and move to Almanor. Earl's bout with prostate cancer and treatment scared the family and we would be thrilled to see them really retire to a resort area. Almanor does get snow in the winter, although a foot on the ground at any time is about the extent of it. Earl and Francis would travel with their 5th wheel during the worst of the winter and return in late Winter/early Spring. I hope they manage to find a nice home with some room for all of Earl's toys (boat, 5th wheel, etc.). The Lake Almanor area is an area that they both love and have had family vacations there dating back to when the kids were very young.

I enjoyed the trip as much as I possibly could. NOT being in a tent and being able to sleep in the 5th wheel, on the hide-a-bed was nice. The bed was not ideal, it had a bit of a hump in it and wasn't overly firm (which I need now with my bad back), but overall it beat tent camping. Alicia, Darla's sister, ended up in the tent outside and we got to hear in the morning how cold and uncomfortable she was each night. I took a conciliatory tone with her, but was glad it wasn't me as I likely would have been stuck prone after a night in the cold. Darla really enjoys the trips to Almanor and has very fond memories of family vacations past with her extended family in tow, much like my family's trips to the Okanogan in days gone by. I can still recall the red cream soda in pop bottles and the creamsicles that were orange sherbet filled with vanilla ice cream. I have yet to manage a week in Almanor with the family because of my job situation. Next year may be the last Westra family vacation to the Almanor Resort, but if Earl and Francis do buy a home, the vacations will simply shift to the family estate.

Alicia has a client with a vacation home in the Lake Almanor Country Club and we took a trip to see the home. It is older and dated in it's decor and amenities (the house has a Kelvinator refrigerator in it!), but it overlooks the lake and sits on about two parcels of land. It is a definite fixer-upper with a wood shake roof and only six-inch logs for insulation (it is a log cabin style home). The home is "A" frame and two stories so the roof doesn't get much wear. The linoleum will have to be replaced as well as the shag carpeting. It has a beautiful stone fireplace with a built-in heatilator and three bedrooms. We took the owner of the Almanor Resort, Frank, with us to look at the home. He is a licensed real estate broker and Alicia wanted to get an idea of the worth of the property for her client. Earl said that if he was ten years younger, he would buy the place and renovate it. Unsaid in all of that, is that if he were ten years younger, he'd still be working.

Earl and Francis have a neighbor who lives in the trailer adjacent to their site who is 94 years old. His wife is in her eighties and a spry thing. They have a cat that takes walks on a leash. It is hilarious to see this little old lady walking her cat around the resort. She leaves him on the grass in front of her trailer tied up to a leash and the cat catches squirrels. Kay, the lady, makes her cat give up the squirrels instead of eat them.

Jennifer will be busy this week. Her boyfriend, Ryan, is from Pittsburgh and has never visited California so they will go to San Francisco and he wants to see an Oakland A's game. Jennifer wants to take him up to Lake Tahoe and show him all around her hometown area of Sacramento-Folsom-Roseville. Darla and I will take them to either Great America ( a theme park in San Carlos) with the boys on Sunday or Santa Cruz, which has a beach boardwalk with rides and amusements. It should be a great visit.

David and Daniel will have their first football games this Friday. Daniel will play offensive and defensive line and David will play quarterback and free safety. David has completely outplayed his competition at qb, Adam, but Adam has threatened to quit if David is named the starter, so the coach is trying to mollify him. I'd kick him off the team. David will start the first quarter, Adam the second and the better player will play the second half. Huh? Make a choice and stick with it, coach. If Adam quits, he's not a team player. David was in an article in the local paper on Sunday and it's link is: http://www.thepresstribune.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=16&ArticleID=4967 . The article in the paper has a picture of David at quarterback. Too bad it's not in the online link.

Well, I will write more next week. Stay well, be nice to each other and buy or rent "The Passion of the Christ" now that it is available. You will never look at Communion in the same way again. Ciao.