95 Degrees in Roseville..Pool Time, Baby!

Yep. The heat was on in Roseville over the weekend and even golf couldn't compete with the need to cool off in our new pool. Jennifer and John were in town on Sunday as Jen has a girlfriend who was having a baby shower. John came over to chill at our house while the gooing and gawing were going on and I put him to work. I am making a dump run next weekend and I wanted to get in and clear out some old furniture and odds and ends from my shed. I still had a bunch of marketing materials from Republic Western that were literally gathering dust in the shed and taking up space. John and I completely cleared out the shed and then swept out and sprayed down the interior before putting only the needed items back in the shed. The shed itself is 120 square feet, so plenty big, but it was stacked with lawn chairs and old furniture, etc. I had put several old chest of drawers in the shed thinking the drawers would be a good place for storage, but the furniture just took up so much space that I couldn't move a wheelbarrow or my mower or edger without banging in to things. Most of the old furniture is now sitting in the back of the shed waiting for a dump run this weekend. I kept two of the smaller chests and have the extra sprinkler parts and some yard lights stored in it with a tool kit sitting on top of it. The other chest has drills and bits and other supplies in it. The floor is clean and I have plenty of room for the bikes and all of the other yard tools. I am, like most men, easily pleased and it feels good to have the shed cleaned out.

I did have golf this weekend, in fact a two day city of Roseville Amateur championship. I teed off Saturday at 11 AM in the heat of the day and suffered through a six hour round of golf. I played alternately poorly and pitifully and when I hit a wayward drive on number 14, decided to invoke the "God's Will" playing card and said that I would not hit a provisional ball and that if I couldn't find the ball, I would DQ out of the tournament. God was gracious and the ball was lost. I opted out of the Sunday round and, in fact, relaxed and played the last four holes in one under par, even putting my second shot 18 feet from the cup on the number 16 525 yard par five. I missed the eagle putt, but tapped in for birdie. I shot an 89 with a self imposed 6 on the par three hole that I DQ'd and would have had a net 76. The leaders were at 71, but the weather was so hot all I could think about was my new pool back home and how I'd like to be in cooling off. The fact that the round was so slow and the players ahead of us so slow and methodical, I was glad to be done with the tournament.

The fact that John and Jennifer came into town and are leaving in two weeks for Vegas made the decision an easy one. We had a blast in the pool relaxing and enjoying the sun. The pool water was 80 degrees and I finally got a chance to get in to the pool and use a pumice stone on the tile. This was also our first chance to check the bottom of the pool and see if our sweeping made a difference on the texture of the bottom. For the most part, the plaster is very smooth and that three times a day sweeping paid off. Some friends bought us a floating bar with a big surface for drinks and chips, etc and three smaller floating bar stools. It is a cute gift and you can see Darla and Jennifer floating on the bar in the pictures. You can also see how much the plants have grown since they were planted a few weeks ago.

I'm excited for Jennifer and John with their move to Las Vegas and the new opportunities that they will have there. As a Dad, I'd like to see a more formal commitment between John and Jennifer as it is a real leap of faith that Jennifer is taking, quitting her job and leaving her family support system to follow John to Vegas. I've counseled both John and Jennifer about making sure that Jennifer has medical insurance after she leaves Das Net. I want them to learn from Jesse's accident where he had no medical insurance and make sure that Jennifer is covered while she is looking for work. They seem to hear me and they say they will arrange insurance for Jennifer before she leaves Das Net. It sounds like John's new job will be a very good one for him. He is taking a big cut in pay, but gaining the assurance that he won't be traveling away from home on a regular basis. His new job only requires travel of about 5% of his time (about one day a month) versus 75% of the time with Das Net. Jennifer will put her job search into gear as soon as they land in Las Vegas. It is a great city to be in for someone with their skill sets as they are both adept at installing large video displays and Audio Visual systems. Vegas is the AV capitol of the world with every Vegas show requiring complicated audio and visual effects. Hopefully she will land on her feet and she has John to provide for her until she does.

We had Family Sunday at church this weekend with Baby dedications and all of the kids crammed into the church. I thought we just did this a few weeks ago and I missed it on purpose. The saving grace this week was Cindy Morgan, who was the music guest. She is a Christian artist of which Darla and I have several of her CDs. She is from Tennessee and now lives there half the year and the other half in Canada as she married a Cannuck. She is a piano player and has several excellent ballads that she played as well as a couple of countrified hymns that she played. It was great. For some untold reason they also had the world's tallest dog on stage, I 'm guessing it was to keep the kids entertained. We had squirming and squealing youngsters all around us and one little girl who kept getting loose from her Mom's grasp and running all over the church. As I've said before, I'm a big fan of family, just not other people's families.

I will be running for President of the Roseville Golf Club this fall and we had dinner with my VP choice and his wife on Saturday night at Fat's Dim Sum Bar in Roseville. I also have to replace the tournament director and the tournament bookkeeper and have two men in mind for those positions. Bob Pando is considering the bookkeeper position and I will try to get him free golf at our tournaments next year as the job takes about 20 hours a month. We pay $25 a month to do the job, but it isn't enough for that kind of time commitment. I will also get free greens fees next year as President.

Well, it is time to get to work. The last day to book premiums for April. We are up about 30% this year, but only up 15% in April. Perhaps we can increase that percentage with a good final push today. Take Care. Ciao.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo: The attack on our pocketbook begins

We spent the weekend in San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay at the Open House for California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo. We were able to line up Daniel's housing, see the University facilities, meet with other parents of incoming freshmen and hear from many of the departments and faculty of the engineering school. Daniel will enter Cal Poly as a Civil Engineering student.

The pictures above are of Daniel and Jenny, a friend from church who attends Cal Poly and runs a Campus Crusade bible study in her dorm room. Jenny is a teaching student who is very studious and makes good grades. She showed us around the campus on Friday afternoon and we took her to dinner with us. They also had a Collegiate Interscholastic rodeo on the weekend and Cal poly SLO is a big rodeo school with some of the best student rodeo athletes in the country. We went up to see the senior outdoor living exhibits and had to walk a trail up about a mile to the hill site where the students built their housing units. They were camping out and most of the housing had solar energy and had their housing built up off the ground. One of the units shown above had sod growing on the roof of the unit (supposedly for cooling) with a sprinkler system set up to water the lawn once a day with bottled water. Another of the units had a flooring system set up with pulleys and cables that allowed the students to change the slope and altitude of the flooring. That one was built by the architectural school at Cal Poly, but they couldn't explain why the changeable floor was a good thing. It was very interesting. David wants to gain entry to Cal Poly's Architecture program in the winter quarter next year. I think he is a bit green with Daniel's acceptance, but David has straight A's at community college and should get in to the 5 year Architecture program this December.

You can see from the picture above that the nicest building on campus is the College of Engineering and this is what Cal Poly is known for. They have a nice Business College and a great Agricultural and Animal Sciences college, but at Cal Poly it is all about Engineering. Forbes Magazine describes the school of Engineering at Cal Poly as "An Ivy League education at California State University prices". The estimated cost for a year of education with housing, books and tuition at Cal Poly SLO is $18,000, a far cry from the $55,000 for Harvard.

We got Dan into an off campus housing by the name of Mustang Village. He will be in a dorm of four men with one and a half baths, a kitchen with dishwasher, refrigerator, stove, oven and microwave for $450 a month and it is walking distance to campus. He will not bring his car for the first semester and the plan would be to have David and Daniel room together next year. School starts on September 17th and he will be there on September 10th for WOW week, which is a week where older students help indoctrinate the freshmen into school life with activities, tours, picnics, beach outings, community service, etc.

It was a good weekend and I think Daniel got to see a lot of the campus and hang out with Jenny and her friends and get a taste of college life. He is excited to start his college experience this year.

The San Luis Obispo area is very nice. It is a beach community and has great restaurants and an eclectic feel. Darla and I ate dinner at a restaurant in Morro Bay that overlooks the harbor and boatyard. We also ate at a Mexican restaurant in SLO and thoroughly enjoyed our weekend. They had a drawing at the parent meeting on Friday night and Darla won a tee shirt with the Open House 2007 wording and a great picture of SLO on the back.

Darla had arranged for us to stay at the San Luis Obispo Inn and Suites through Expedia, but upon check-in we were bumped. The entire town was sold out with 7000 people in town for Open House, so we ended up going to a brand new hotel in Morro Bay and staying there. Morro Bay is about 12 miles from SLO. Darla was miffed, but , frankly, the hotel in Morro Bay had two rooms and a King bed in our room versus two queens in one room at SLO. We actually scored by not having the Expedia room. She will let Expedia have it today.

Well, it is time again to do payroll and I need to get on that. I had no golf this weekend and I'm beginning to break out in hives. It is supposed to get into the mid eighties this week and I feel a marketing call coming on some afternoon. Be good and play nice. Ciao.

I won't promise, but perhaps the last pictures from Pebble Beach!

Bob Hand finally forwarded his pictures to me, another 78 pictures to go with the 143 from Greg, so 221 images of history. I have hung two pictures of Pebble in my office, one of the 7th hole from the Pebble Images gallery and one of the 5th hole from Stonehousegolf.com, which has some awesome framed photographs in cherrywood frames of famous golf holes. I have also ordered a three ball display of black acrylic with the Pebble Beach resorts lone cypress logo for display of the balls from Pebble, Spanish Bay and Poppy Hills. Realistically, St. Andrews is a few years off, but I'd like to go to Myrtle Beach in two years and spend a week golfing there. We'll see. Darla will have to take the game up soon. I did go out and buy her a new wedding ring, a .80 center stone in a setting with 1.16 carats of "invisible" stones. This is a technique whereby they bevel cut the stones and lay them side by side with no gold between the stones, so it looks like a solid sheet of diamonds on either side of the center stone. The center stone is again a marquis cut diamond and she will pick up her new ring in about two weeks. I told you I was appreciative of the trip to Pebble. It's good to be Darla right now. Ciao.

Of course, I have more pictures of Pebble

I decided to add some of the scenery pictures as I am still coming down off the high from the trip. I was looking at some of the 143 pictures that Greg took (he's part Japanese) over the weekend and I walked out and gave Darla a big hug. She looked at me with a smile and said , "What was that for?" I said, "For letting me live my dream at Pebble Beach." She just laughed and pushed me away. Non-golfers really don't get it. Boyd's Mom never understood how he could waste time out on the golf course. I'd implore anyone to take a look at these pictures and imagine yourself out on this course playing a game that you love. It is pretty awesome. These pictures alone prove that there is a God.

The weather this weekend which was heavy rain Saturday followed by heavy winds on Sunday make me realize how lucky we were at Pebble. You set something like this up way in advance and pay your money and just pray that the weather cooperates. We had some heavy wind in the afternoon at Pebble, but overall as you can tell from the pictures, it was great weather. Saturday was our Masters tournament at Diamond Oaks and we awoke to drizzly rain. It wasn't too strong, but the rain was incessant. I had a late tee time as they wanted me to work the table checking the guys in and I got to the course about ten o'clock to relieve Bob Pando at the table who was there at nine o'clock. Our tee time was 11:06 AM.

The rain actually slackened between ten and eleven and had stopped raining by the time we teed off. I thought we had skirted the rain as the forecast was for showers in the morning with partly cloudy skies in the afternoon. I birdied the first hole with a chip-in from off the green and felt like a good day was ahead. The rain, however, had other plans and started up again on the second tee box and stayed with us the rest of the day. I ham and egged it and even managed to finish par- par for a 41 on the front nine, but it was pouring by the time we finished nine and the tournament director called for a one hour suspension of play. Several of the holes on the back nine were under water and as we sat in the bar alternately watching the golf on TV and the weather channel, it was apparent that a heavy cell of rain was over us with more to come. Reluctantly the tournament was called off. I went in to the pro shop to get a nine hole rain check and the pro said, "nope." I asked him if the course was open and he said, "well, we'd prefer you not to play." I told him we'd prefer him to give us a rain check and trudged out to the number ten tee and played the back nine in a slight monsoon. I shot 45 on the back, but there were about four holes with a half inch of water covering the green and the flagstick under water. We played a two putt maximum, but there were holes where if you were six feet away from the flag, you couldn't move the ball two feet. We were crazy, but it beat going home and sitting inside and watching someone else play golf. Boyd's Mom was turning over in her grave.

Today is sunny with nothing but a light breeze blowing and great golf weather. Our twilight golf league starts on Thursday night and Bob and I are partners.

I was able to get the wires from the low voltage lights buried yesterday and I had to move the automatic sprinkler control for the back sprinklers from the garage out to the wall by the actual controls. Somehow, in the construction, the wiring was cut from the sprinklers to the control box and rather than rewire the whole thing, I simply moved the box out to the back yard. I added some more topsoil to the planter as the soil had settled over the couple of weeks since I had planted back there.

The grass seed is coming in slowly on the side yard by the new driveway. The weather over the weekend will help as a good soaking is great for new grass seed as it helps it settle deeper into the soil. I fertilized on Friday night in anticipation of the rain and it was perfect.

I am dropping some serious cash today on my tax bill. Darla's three jobs combine to really impact our tax bill. She has not paid any taxes on her two part time jobs until this year. We will have her pay estimated taxes this year to help keep us out of this predicament next year.

Darla, Daniel and I will leave Friday for freshman orientation at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The events will be Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. We will stay over until Sunday as the hotel requires a two night minimum and we want to get a look at SLO and the Pismo Beach area. We will drive home on Sunday. This will be an expensive school, but it will set Dan up for a very good job down the road. His Dad and Darla and I will pay for a piece of his schooling, but we will make him pay for part of it as well with student loans. He needs to understand that a great education is expensive and be engaged in the process.

Daniel did finally land a job and will be working at Togo's, making sandwiches and minimum wage all at the same time. The nice thing for him is that he lives in California where the minimum wage is $7.50 an hour and will increase to $8.00 an hour on January 1st of next year. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Dan will be working for a friend of ours. Darla worked with his wife for years and Chris has played in my poker group before. He is the manager of the store. It will be good experience for Daniel and give him some pocket money.

Bob Pando had to bring his dog to church yesterday. It was interest group Sunday and they had bikes and horses and an ATV and some dogs all on stage. I asked Bob how his dog did in rehearsals and he said fine until the horse took a dump on the stage. They called the janitor over to clean it up and he said he didn't think that was in his job description. One of the ladies said to get some paper towels and the janitor said that the job wasn't a "paper towel" job.

Well, on that note, I have to get back to work. I hope you all have a great week. Ciao.

Still more Pebble Pictures

More Pictures of Pebble

Pebble Pictures

Here are just a start of the pictures from Pebble. These are a few from our camera.

Pebble Beach was a Dream Come True

Pictures will follow as we just got back last night at nine o'clock and I didn't feel like sitting at a computer downloading pictures when I was already exhausted. Greg Wanee and Bob Hand did a great job of taking pictures on the course and as soon as I get their pictures on disk or e-mailed to me, I'll add those as well. My initial thoughts on returning from the three day extravaganza is that every golfer should be able to experience the thrill and awe inspiring aura that is Pebble Beach. The vistas and smell and sound of the ocean crashing just feet away from the world class golf course that you are playing on is hard to explain. The course itself is so immaculately maintained and so lush and so well tended that it is hard to find a bad lie in the fairways. On top of that, the service and attention to detail that the staff give you is incredible. We were truly treated like royalty from the check-in at the Spanish Bay resort to the experience at Pebble Beach and at the Spanish Bay golf courses.

The weather was mostly ideal, with a mixture of sun and clouds and temperatures in the mid to upper sixties. Monday dawned overcast and misty with fog along the coastline and a definite chill in the air. We didn't tee off at Pebble until 10:30, so the fog actually burned off before we teed off. I eschewed shorts that day for long pants and a wind jacket. We all met for breakfast at Roy's, the restaurant at Spanish Bay. Boyd was a little late to breakfast and looked pretty solemn when he came in. He told us that his 87 year-old mother had passed away overnight. She was a pioneer woman and never understood Boyd's passion for golf (to her it was time wasted) and there he was in Pebble Beach playing golf. That was definitely a bit of a downer way to start our trip, but Boyd was prepared for her death as she had recently taken a turn for the worse and they had moved her into a critical care facility.

We were over to Pebble by nine fifteen and they shuttled us over to the driving range where we hit balls and did some chipping and putting. It was fun to be putting on the big practice green as tourists wandered around and pointed at the golfers. The weather held for the front nine, but got windy on the back and I struggled to a 46+44=90 round. I wanted to break 90 so bad, but finished double-bogey, double-bogey with the wind blowing off the ocean at 30-40 MPH. It was hard to even stand up, much less hit a golf ball and it was a disappointing finish. I was primed for an 88 and a back nine of 42 with just two bogeys to finish, but alas...

I did manage to par the famous number 7 par three green which hangs over the ocean on three sides and is always a tough test at the AT&T championship. My experience from the gold tees at Pebble makes Tiger's 19 under par score in the US Open at Pebble that much more fantastic. The trip was definitely a dream come true and every golfer should experience standing on the tee at number seven on Pebble with the wind blowing in off the ocean, the waves crashing on the rocks below and hitting to that tiny green 107 yards away and praying you land on the green. I did and just missed my birdie putt leaving the ball on the cup. I went into the shops at Pebble and bought a picture of number 7 taken from an aerial view and it hangs in my office across from my desk to remind me that I lived my dream.

Tuesday dawned sunny and bright with a bright blue sky, a high sun and not a breath of wind in the air. It was the kind of day that you dream of in Pebble Beach and if I could have had my way, I would have flip flopped the days and had the better weather for Pebble Beach. We played Spanish Bay in ideal conditions and I shot a 39+44 = 83 and even birdied the opening par five hole for grins. The course is set up as a 35 front nine and a 37 back nine. The course is a links style course with large undulating greens whereas Pebble has postage stamp sized greens with little elevation change. Every night at 5:45 PM the bagpiper walks out of the clubhouse and stands on the number one tee box and plays several cat screeching songs and then walks to the Spanish Bay Inn lodge where he plays at the fire pits out side the lodge for another half hour. Boyd and I met on the putting green at Spanish Bay on Sunday night and we listened to the bagpiper on the adjacent green as we practiced putting. It was a fantastic way to spend an Easter Sunday night.

Darla had a good trip as well with several shopping forays into Carmel with her friend, Debbie Hand. Sunday night we went to dinner with Bob and Debbie to the Hog's Breath Inn in Carmel for New York steak and Prime Rib. We all met on Monday night for dinner and went to, of all things, a Chinese restaurant for fried rice, four entrees, pot stickers and soup. Boyd's wife, Jo, did not join us as she had been on the phone all day making funeral arrangements and was exhausted.

Darla and I drove back through Walnut Creek and had dinner with Jennifer and John. They have a great apartment and live close to restaurants and shopping. Jennifer served hors de ouevres and we sat and visited for an hour. Jennifer's cats are very skittish about interlopers (which we were) and both hid the whole time we were there. Jennifer couldn't find the bigger cat and was afraid she had snuck out of the apartment. We were looking for her in the courtyard when John came out and told us he'd found her. Somehow she had clawed her way into the arm of the sofa from below and was hiding out in the furniture. We walked down to an eclectic little restaurant called Tiki Tom's, which is a Hawaiian style restaurant. It was Taco Tuesday and Darla, Jennifer and I all ate tacos, while John had the Triple Cheeseburger in Paradise and Darla had some French onion soup. Afterwards, we all walked down to the shopping mall and walked off dinner. Jennifer is doing amazingly well with her post surgery, although her foot still gets sore and she is still wearing a splint and a walking shoe. It was a great visit and I'm glad we stopped by to visit. Their apartment is in a very expensive community in Walnut Creek with townhomes and $600,000 condos across the street. There is a small park across the street from their complex and shops, movie theaters, stores and restaurants all within an easy walk of their home.

We were home sort of late and I have a lot of work to do, so will add more to this with pictures in the next couple of days. I hope all are doing well and are happy with their lives and strong in their walk with the LORD. Ciao.

I'm Batching it this week

Yep. Darla and Daniel are in Tijuana living in tents and using a bathroom that is no more than a trough in the ground. They are with Daniel's High School group from church building huts for the homeless of Mexico. The houses are about 400 square feet and two rooms with no electricity or plumbing, but a door and a window. I think Dad and I built the same thing in my backyard a few years ago, but I call it a shed. Actually, I built it with electricity for lights inside and on the outside, so I guess it's a condominium in Tijuana. I joke, but I'm proud of them for going and serving the needy in Mexico. I'm just glad I didn't have to go.

I will miss Darla greatly, but will take advantage of being on my own with 6 days of golf in the 8 days ahead. I will play Mather GC tomorrow, The Ridge in Auburn on Thursday for their $50 golf and Prime Rib special, Timber Creek in Roseville Friday (We get off a half day for Good Friday), Diamond Oaks on Saturday and Pebble Beach Monday and Spanish Bay on Tuesday. Whew! If my back holds up I'll be in Golf Mecca. I played golf on Saturday morning at Woodcreek with 38+42=80 against Bob Pando's 78 and Boyd's 70 (look at the company that I'm keeping). Woodcreek is exponentially tougher than Diamond Oaks, so it was nice to score on a tougher track with Pebble looming in a week.

The one problem that I'm having with Darla being gone is remembering to eat. I think I have alot of Dad in me as he was the same way after Mom passed away. Saturday I played golf in the morning and was up too late to eat breakfast. After golf, I rushed home to work on the backyard. Jennifer and John came by and I checked out her new car (NICE!), and then worked on staining the stamped concrete patio. I got a Desert Sand stain that mixes with four parts "distilled" water and is applied with a pump sprayer. When I finished with that I barely had time to shower and it was 6:30 with a Texas Hold'em poker game that one of my RGC buddies was holding at 7:00 PM. I called ahead and told him I'd be a few minutes late because I had to eat something. I finally sat down at 6:55 PM for my first meal of the day.

The poker tournament was a bit of a letdown as I was the second player out after going all in with an Ace high straight and losing to a well hidden Full House of queens over tens. The winner had pocket queens and I played three hours and never saw a pair in my hand. Oh well, that's cards.

Sunday I missed church as it was Baptism Sunday with baby blessing and kids in attendance in the church. I like family time, but not other people's families. I had to mow the lawn and then put a high gloss sealant on the deck and the flagstone around the pool. The sealant was not cheap..the stain was $180 for three quarts and the sealant was $215 for a five gallon drum. I'm thrilled with the look and it really brings out the reds and golds in the flagstone. It is a 'wet' look and the pictures above are with the deck and pool dry. I like how the flagstone looked and the deck right after I sprayed it down and now it looks like that all the time. The only problem I had is that the sealant, which is a red label product, tended to pull the dirt up and out of the stamped deck. I power washed the deck to clean it and open the pores of the cement (their words, not mine), but the sealant as it dried pulled the old dirt up and out of the deck and settled it over the stain that was put on. If the sealant had dried with the look of the stained concrete I would have been much happier. the new concrete didn't have fifteen years of built up dirt in it and looks great. The older portion of the deck looks fine, but does have a film of dirt that is now sealed onto the top of the deck. In fact, the sealant was so strong that the first pump sprayer blew out at the plastic hose when it was sitting under pressure. I used a cheap sprayer as I knew it would be eaten up by the sealant, but I was still shocked.

I still plan to buy a fabric gazebo to go over the patio table and give us a place to get out of the sun. I'm happy with the plantings and the landscaping in the backyard and I'm overall thrilled to be ready for the summer. I have one more dump run to make and then I'll have room for the jet ski on the driveway behind the shed and we'll be ready for Summer. I bought two lavender plants and some more ground cover, some dwarf Lily of the Nile and several other small tropical plants and believe it or not, I'm done with the back yard.

Jennifer's new car is really nice. It's a beautiful black pearl metallic ( I don't even know if that's a color, but it describes it perfectly). The car has a dual sunroof, with one for the front seat and a smaller one (that doesn't open) for the back. You can't really see it in the pictures because she is hiding it, but she has a walking shoe for her post surgery foot. I'm concerned that she is up and about too soon, but her foot is healing great and she is going today to have the stitches removed. She is off her crutches and still keeps her foot raised when she is relaxing. She is driving as her car is an automatic, so she doesn't have to use her left foot. When she has the same surgery on her right foot, she'll have a longer recovery and won't be able to drive. She looks great and is in good spirits.

Well, folks, my next update will be late as I'll be in PEBBLE BEACH next Monday and Tuesday. I'll let you know how that goes in my next epistle. Take care and give Glory to the Risen Lord!! Happy Easter.