75 degrees and Sunny

Life is good in Northern California and I feel little empathy for my co-workers who are slogging to work today in a fierce blizzard in Detroit, Michigan. Frankly, they choose to live in the rust belt and I choose to live in California. The weekend was spectacular and I got my first sunburn of the year. I played golf on Saturday in shorts and although I applied sunscreen liberally, I'm a white boy and my winter white skin attracted the sun like honey attracts bears. I spent yesterday outside trimming bushes and plants and applying fertilizer and crabgrass preventer to the lawn. It truly was a spectacular weekend without even a hint of clouds or a puff of wind and it was the type of weekend that makes one very happy to be a Californian. The weather should hold for the first part of this week and then turn to clouds and rain by Thursday. Hopefully, the weekend will be dry as I have a two day qualifier tournament for Spyglass Hill in Carmel/ Pebble Beach.

Boyd and I played Saturday as a tune-up for our partnership next weekend. We will play two days of two-man best ball for a chance to represent our club in the NCGA 2-man best ball championships played at Spyglass Hill in April. Our practice round was played in ideal conditions and we can both say that we got the bad round out of our systems. I shot 45+42=87 and had a sole birdie to go with the rest of the mess of my round. Boyd shot an 80 and we shot a combined 69. We played in the tournament last year and shot 66+66=132 and the winners had 123. We need to be sharp and play good golf to win. Next week is a new week, so we'll see how we do. I will get out and practice this week a couple of times.

We had a small experimental plane crash yesterday in Roseville. The pilot was out doing barrel rolls and stunts way too close to his neighborhood. In fact, his wife was filming the stunts from their front yard when his plane lost control and he crashed into a two story home about three blocks from his house. The plane burst into flames destroying the house and badly damaging an adjacent home. The pilot and his passenger were killed on impact. The family that owned the home was out of town, but their 18 year old son, who graduated with David from Woodcreek High School, was in town and is unaccounted for. The upper story of the home was destroyed on impact and the plane came to rest in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The FAA was to get a crane out to the crash site today to remove the plane and make the house safe for searchers to get into the home and look for the teenager. Hopefully, he was out of the house as the crash occurred at about 11:30 in the morning, when I was driving home from church.

We had a video taped message from Pastor Rick at church yesterday. He is in the middle of a three month sabbatical and the tape showed Rick and his family on the beach and enjoying their time together. He has grown our church in 12 years from a small neighborhood church of 120 people to a 3,300 member mega church and he is tired. We look forward to seeing him back preaching next month.

David finally got his stereo installed this weekend and he's thrilled. Several of our Christian CDs were missing on the weekend and they were in his car. It is Lincoln's birthday today, which is not a federal holiday, and David is off to his job. Darla is off because she gets EVERY holiday off. Daniel is off from school today because teachers are lazy and Darla and Dan will likely go and visit her grandfather who is in his 80's and lives in a retirement center in Ripon, California. He sold his house last year and finally decided to move into the retirement village where he spent a great deal of his time visiting friends and helping out with the church service and special meals, etc. He and his wife, Liz, live in an apartment on the grounds and still have their car. Liz suffers from dementia and Andy is getting older and it is hard for them to care for each other now. We are all happy that they have moved into the home as it gives them a social outlet, but also gives them access to health care and assisted living.

My assistant called to tell me that she has a nail in her tire. Her husband is in Fresno on a job this week and she didn't know what to do. I put her in touch with Pete Morrison, one of my underwriters who lives in her area. Hopefully, Pete will be able to get her over to a Big O tires and get her tire fixed. It was an interesting call and she was looking for guidance more than just calling to tell me she'd be late.

Daniel has finished his driver's education and will be taking his license exam this week. His grandmother is buying him a car worth up to $4,000 and Dan is busy hunting for a new car. We helped David and Jennifer with their first cars and put it on Steve to help Daniel. Lucky for Daniel his grandmother stepped to the plate or Dan would have been stuck with one of the junkers that Steve has at his house. He has a 65 Ford pickup, a broken down 1980's Jeep Cherokee, a 1970's Ford El Camino, as well as his 2004 Chevy Tahoe. None of the other vehicles are road ready and Daniel would have been stuck if not for Grandma. I wanted Steve to buy the car as I want our insurance to be secondary. We already pay close to $4,700 for insurance on three cars. Darla and I used to pay $1,100 for our two cars and then we added David. I couldn't afford to add Daniel, much less buy him a car. Geico, our insurer, will let us add Daniel to our policy for only $100 a month if he has primary insurance with his father.

I haven't heard from Dad and Shirley. I know they were going to be in Texas for a month, but don't know if they have flown home yet or not. I may try to call over to Darryl's tonight. I thought about it too late last night.

I did hear from Jennifer and got her address in Korea. She can actually pick her mail up a the Army Post Office. Her address for now is:

Jennifer Lyon
Das Net Corp
Box 12074
APO, AP 96278

She expects to be in Korea through March and into April as her contract has been extended on the current job. She is enjoying herself and has been into the cities of Korea a few times. I wonder if she has had the experience of eating live octopus. It is a deadly delicacy in Korea and one that I could do without.

Well, that is it for this week. Remember to explore your world around you. God made this world for us to enjoy and to proclaim His love. Ciao.