Rain Rain Go Away

After 11 straight days of rain, I am pretending that the rain is going away. We are between rainstorms now and I washed my car yesterday. I was so tired of my rain spotted, dirty and downtrodden looking Mustang that I got out a bucket and some car wash and scrubbed the car clean yesterday. I detailed the wheels and dressed the tires. Darla and I went to the movie (Meet the Fockers) yesterday afternoon and the car shined. It was nice and, in fact, it hasn't raned since, but the clouds outside are slate gray and building and it is just a matter of time before the skies open up and the rains come to depress me and all of those around me once again. BTW, Meet the Fockers is a tour de force for both Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman. Funny stuff. Darla thought some of the gags were a bit over the top, but I laughed my way through that movie and it was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

We were able to officially pack away Christmas for another year this weekend. I snuck out Saturday morning and took down the Christmas lights from the house and then helped Darla on Sunday dismantle the Christmas tree and assorted ornaments and other Christmas decorations and pack them in boxes and settle them back up in the attic to await another season this year. We once again have some room to stretch in our family room and things don't seem as cramped nor as festive as they did when the fibre optic angel waggled her wings at us or the golfing Santa waved his driver at us. The boys return from a week at their Dad's tonight and adding two teenagers over six foot to the mix will help fill that void.

David is well into his last season of Varsity basketball at Woodcreek. They have a good team this year led by their All League 6'8" center, Ike. David is close to 6'4" and they have three players all at or closer to David's height. The problem seems to be the lack of plays. We have a new coach and he doesn't draw up plays. He wants the boys to move and send the ball around the perimeter and look for open shots. Often, two players are running in the same area and trip over each other. When it works, it is a thing of beauty, but when it doesn't it is ugly. The team is 8-8 overall and 1-1 in league play. I don't see them improving over a 50% team unless they get more disciplined on offense. In their last game, they had a five point lead with 90 seconds left in the game and promptly turned the ball over on offense in their next six possessions and lost the game by a point, wasting a 27 point effort by Ike. The coach told the guys they were playing not to lose rather than to win, but the coach needs to find a mirror if he wants to see the problem. Hopefully they learn from that experience and improve. We should be 2-0 in league and you can't afford lapses like that if you want to win in their league. Three of the teams in their league are all ranked in the top 15 schools in Sacramento. Shades of the football season. It is Deja Vu all over again.

David has played particularly well coming off the bench. He should be a starter, but again, David's team attitude has hurt him. When he asked the coach why he wasn't starting, he was told that a couple of the guys don't have the "personality" to be reserves, that they need to start because of their egos. Gee, coach, good reason to start a kid. You know life will beat down that ego eventually, why not give them that life lesson in high school? David is averaging about 18 minutes and six points. He plays tenacious defense and forces a few turnovers each game. He has one dunk to his credit this year, although in the last game he had a steal and a breakaway and had planned on dunking, but got too far under the basket and had to lay it up instead.

Daniel is taking a break from basketball and is instead playing on Darla's volleyball team on Tuesday nights. Daniel is the serving whiz and helped them shut out their last opponent three games to nil.

Darryl called me this weekend to report that he shot an 80 on his home course this weekend. I was happy for him, but would love to have some of his 70 degree weather here. We can play golf year round in Sacramento, but it is quite cold this time of year. I have a tournament on January 22nd at Mather Golf Course and hope that this storm rains itself out by then. I bought a new hybrid "rescue" style club to take the place of my three iron. When I ordered my Wilson "Deep Red" irons, I ordered them with a 4 thru 9 iron and did not order the 3 iron with the intent of getting a hybrid. I bought a Cobra hybrid that matches my 440 driver and look forward to getting back on the course. I haven't had a chance to get out and play yet this year, but did play on December 31st. At least when I do play, it is winter rules and I can bump the ball. Also, all of the other guys in the club are in the same boat in terms of not playing through the rain.

I talked to Dad and Shirley on Saturday night and they are preparing to leave Wednesday for a three week vacation in Hawaii. They are staying on Oahu for the entire trip and will get to relax and enjoy the 80 degree weather and recharge their batteries. Shirley is trying to talk Dad in to bringing the golf clubs and playing. One of the resorts that they are staying at has a golf course and they might play nine holes in the late afternoons a couple of times. I envy them this trip, although they are leaving snow on the ground and temperatures in the thirties. At least here, we still get into the fifties and sixties during the day.

I also talked to Randy this weekend and he's been enjoying having Jenny home for the Christmas break from school. She just got back from Idaho where she spent the better part of a week skiing and enjoying her vacation. Randy continues to criss cross the country in pursuit of his job and will be in Los Angeles later this week after visiting Wisconsin and Georgia last week.

Finally, I had a nice visit with Jennifer last week. She called and just wanted to talk, which was nice. She misses home and doesn't realy have any close friends in Kuwait. She is forcing herself to get out more and spend time with people as well as getting in to running and exercising more. Jennifer aced the Physical Training test and no longer has to get up with her unit to do PT at 5:00 am. She sleeps in until 7:00 am and then gets breakfast at the mess hall before starting work. Perhaps, that alienates her from her unit, but as Jenn says, they just need to ace their tests as well. The unit will start a new mission in the next week where they will be putting in some new communications infrastructure at the base in Kuwait. The mission is expected to last three months and Jennifer is looking forward to getting busy with putting her training to work again. Check out her blog at the link at the bottom of this page.

Well, that is all the news that is fit to disseminate for now. Take care of each other and God Bless the US of A. Ciao.