Kitchen Renovation Under Way

The blog is having some serious problems this morning. I spent forty minutes composing an entry only to have it gone when I tried to publish it. Hey, it's just part of my life I'll never get back, what the heck?

As the title implies, we are finally underway on our kitchen renovation. The boy's helped me tear out the kitchen countertops and backsplash this weekend. We had white tile and took hammers, sledges and crowbars to remove the tile. I had no idea what I was doing and began by slamming the tile in the middle of the counter only to have Darla stop me and explain that we needed to remove the bullnose from the edges and then peel back the tile in sections. We masked off the kitchen and Darla removed all of the drawers and things from her walls and counters that are now piled in the living room awaiting our granite installer to get moving on the installation. Our installer, Vasil, who's best friend is in the hospital in Lake Tahoe after losing both legs in a boating accident last weekend, needs to get going on the job now. His focus has not been on getting his work done as he is suffering along with his friend. We were able to get the tile removed and the backsplash within about an hour and a half and the tile peeled off in sections once I figured out how to do the work. The boys were a great help although we ended up knocking a couple of holes in the wallboard where the backsplash was removed. I am leaving the holes there until our tile setter can look at the job. He may be using an underlayment and I don't want to fix something that I don't need to. Hopefully, Darla can get on Vasil and have him come out to do the final measurement, get the slab fabricated delivered and installed. I'd say she is motivated with her house torn apart.

This weekend was a busy weekend dominated by work related activities. Saturday night Darla and I attended a surprise 50th birthday party for my biggest agent, Jeff Barnett. Jeff worked with me in my first insurance job back in 1980 when I was a package underwriter and he was a casualty underwriter. I ran into Jeff again two years ago. He wrote about $50,000 in premium with Burns and Wilcox mostly in personal lines. We now write about $900,000 with Jeff's agency. His wife Linda, paid for dinner and drinks for 35 at one of Folsom's nicest restaurants. I didn't know many of the people at the party as it was mostly family and friends, but Darla and I sat with Jeff's assistant Shalini and her husband over dinner. I've know Shalini for two years, but Darla was able to determine within 5 minutes that Shalini has an autistic child and she uses Darla's agency for services and support. Leave it to a social worker.

Sunday I spent with one of my agent's in San Francisco at Monster Park watching the Dallas Cowboy's come from behind win over the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. It was like a home game for Dallas as about a third of the crowd were dressed in silver and blue and cheering for Dallas. In fact, on the last drive of the game as SF was trying to tie or win, the players could not hear the signals being called by the quarterback and he eventually threw an interception that essentially ended the game. I dressed for SF weather in jeans and a sweatshirt and the day was beautiful with highs in the low eighties. I was able to leave the sweatshirt in the car and wore a short sleeved shirt, but roasted in the direct sun all afternoon. It was a great game if you like offense. I missed church and I truly do miss it when I'm not there. There is a void.

Darla and I will be in Carmel this weekend. We leave Thursday afternoon and will play Poppy Hills on Friday and Laguna Seca on Saturday. We are staying at a little inn in Carmel close to the shopping and restaurants. This year, Cora and Mel are joining us as well as some friends of Darla, Debbie and Bob. I look forward to getting away to relax this weekend. Our fourth will be Boyd Robertson, who is a 4 handicap and who won the club championship again this year for the fourth time. We will return home on Saturday night and be in church on Sunday.

Check out Jen's blog at the link below. She is finally in countdown mode with 33 days left of her active service. It will be fun to see her plan her life going forward.

Well, this may seem short, but the website is having some real problems this morning and I've had to rewrite this three times, finally saving to draft every five minutes so as not to lose what I wrote. It may seem short, but it seems three times as long to me. Keep your footsteps in the footprints of our Saviour Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Ciao.