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.