Summer is Fading

Although the temperatures this week will top out in the nineties for Northern California, Autumn will make it's annual appearance on Thursday at about 2 PM come what may. The jet ski has been stuck in the garage for the last couple of weekends as we have had some unseasonably cool weather of late, with temperatures in the seventies. Beautiful golf weather, but hardly the kind of day that makes you yearn for the lake and the spray of the lake water on your face. Hopefully, we will have a bit of Indian Summer in the coming weeks and we can get the ski out for some more fun in the sun, before I disconnect the battery and winterize the ski.

We had a fairly marvelous weekend after a busy week. I played in a charity golf tournament on Tuesday and had a ball. One of the morning newstalk deejays was in my foursome and we managed two eagles and eight birdies for an 11 under par total, but alas, the winners were at 19 under and third place was 15 under. We got a great big attaboy. I was smoking my drives and hit two big drivers off the deck to get onto the par fives that we eagled. They had a silent auction and a live auction over dinner that night and it was fun to watch the movers and shakers bid $1000 for Neil Diamond tickets or $4000 for an ad package on the radio. I was a little out of my element, but I enjoyed the day. I got a nice windshirt that is worth about $125. The foursome was $3,500 and included signage on one of the tees. It's nice to know the right people.

I also went to the Giants game on Wednesday, an afternoon affair at SBC Park in San Francisco. We ate garlic fries and drank Anchor Steam beer and had a ball. The Giants lost, but that is another story. Friday, I took Gail and Pete to San Francisco to meet and greet people at the annual NAPSLO (National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Organizations) meeting and we met several of the VPs from Burns and Wilcox as well as a number of company people. It was good exposure and we got some excellent feedback from some of the officers on how Sacramento is doing. I expect to be promoted at the Manager's meeting in October. We'll see. I'm going to push that envelope like a dog pushing his bowl at feeding time. We also were able to get over and see the new San Francisco office of Burns and Wilcox. They just moved to Pine Street from Montgomery.

I did play golf on Saturday in the Consolation (loser's) Bracket of the Club Championship. I managed to shoot 42+38=80 and took "first loser" with the low gross score in my flight. You can file that under too little, too late.

Darla and I are finally moving to the end of negotiations and the start of production on our remodel job. We are both mentally exhausted and can't imagine ever building our own house. It seems a pre-requisite for contractor's to be terrible businessmen. We finally got call backs and will put in a granite slab in the kitchen countertop area and tile throughout the house. We will not be doing the master bathroom right now, but will do all of the other work. The final bid on the slab was $200 more than what it would have cost to do granite tile with the requisite grout. I look forward to getting that process started next week.

We were in church yesterday and heard a sermon on building hedges around our families. The world has become a Sodom and Gomorrah world with pornography, homosexuality, drug abuse and loose morals the norm. It is hard to raise kids in this environment. The pastor said that we must make it a priority to go to church every week (I'll miss next week as I'm going to the Niner-Dallas game in SF). He talked about modeling and if you are a part time Christian that your children will likely will also be. He gave an example of a young boy who when asked why he was a Christian, responded: "It runs in our family." Perhaps not the most inciteful answer, but true. He also told the story of a boy who didn't want to go to church. His Mom was trying to get him out of bed and he asked her to give him two good reasons that he should go. "First, you're 42 years old and you shouldn't even still be living at home. And, second, you're the pastor of the church! Now, get up!!"

David will not play basketball for William Jessup this year, but they want him to play for them next year. They need him at point guard and want David to work on his ball handling skills. Daniel's football team got an old fashioned thumping on Friday night as they fell behind 21-0 in the first three minutes and went on to get routed 49-7. It was a painful sight to behold and the boys likely feel like the Niners feel after getting belted 42-3 by Philadelphia.

Well, I was out so much last week that the work is waiting in droves and I best get at it. Have a great week. I haven't heard from Jennifer since she left here for Kuwait. Darla and I are sending her a care package this week and we hope to hear from her soon. I give thanks for our soldiers daily and I'm so glad that we have a Republican in the White House. At least Terrorists know that we give a damn and will respond to their bullying tactics, and like Saddam, hunt them down like the animals that they are. God Bless. Ciao.