Memorable Memorial Day

The weather has cooled off dramatically and we actually had rain on Saturday. After a spate of record high temperatures, we are now experiencing some record low high temperatures with Stockton hitting a high of just 63 degrees on Monday and Sacramento at 66 degrees. Roseville hung in there with temps in the 70s over the weekend, but we are more used to HOT weather over the Memorial Day weekend than colder weather.

I had to work the Jazz Festival yesterday, so the cooler weather was actually welcome. I worked for the beverage services group which is headed up by Pete's Mom and we did the teardown of all of the bars in Old Sacramento yesterday afternoon. As the venues closed down, we were there with golf cars to pick up the unopened hard liquor and return it to the warehouse. My shift was 12 to six, but when I got there, was told to return at 2:00 PM. A phone call would have been nice as I was already downtown, so I cooled my heels and listened to some Jazz. There was a band from New Orleans playing Cajun jazz that was excellent as well as a band called High Street that played mostly zydeco music with a Latin beat. My back is sore today from hauling cases of booze and mix around all day yesterday. I did score a couple of bottles of Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey and some Red Bull that I brought home. We could only store unopened bottles of booze and most of the venues were pouring out the leftovers. I thought that was a huge waste and took some home. I also brought some limes and celery. They had two cases of limes leftover and a case of celery for the bloody mary drinkers. It was fun to help out (volunteer) and both Darla and I will volunteer next year.

We talked to Jennifer and John last night and tried out Darla's new laptop on the Skype. Her laptop has a built in webcam and microphone so Samantha could see and hear us as well last night. It was nice. Samantha is getting so big and curious. Jennifer's Mom bought Samantha a new walker and she is working that new ride hard. She was jumping up and down and Jennifer had her standing up. She is soooo cute and we have to get out to Vegas soon. Our short term is pretty busy with Mexico next month and Almanor in July, but we will definitely be in Vegas in August.

I played in the Memorial golf tournament on Sunday at Diamond Oaks. I had one of those "could have been great" rounds and shot 43+38=81 with four birdies. I finished out of the money, but won $60 in skin money with all of my birdies. I improved my Eclectic score from 71 to 66. The Eclectic is the year long tournament that takes your "best" score on every hole throughout the year and combines it for an 18 hole score. Boyd and Bob lead the scoring with 64s, so I'm very happy with my nine strokes to be sitting with a "net" 57 this early in the year.

I have a busy golf schedule next week with a marketing golf game on Friday at Rancho Murietta, golf at Cherry Island Saturday, the Insurance Brokers golf tournament Monday at Sierra View Country Club, my league golf on Thursday (we have a bye this week), and then two days of golf at Wolf Run and Old Greenwood up in Reno Friday and Saturday of next week in an agent outing. Fun stuff ahead. I played with one of my inspection company vendors and Mel and Boyd at Apple Mountain up in Camino, California on Wednesday of last week. Camino is in the Sierra foothills above Placerville and almost up to Pollock Pines off Highway 50 That is a tough track in a hilly venue of Sierra pine trees. The guy from Portland was out for his fourth game of the year and shot 112. I birdied the second hole on my way to an 84. Boyd shot 80 and Mel had 94. I really enjoyed the golf course, but would approach some holes differently when I play it again.

I took advantage of the cooler weather this weekend to fertilize the lawn. The heat of last week had stressed portions of the lawn and I'd been hitting those with extra water. After a nice cool weekend, the grass looks stronger and more healthy. It will be a hot Summer ahead and I'm trying to prepare the turf to weather that storm.

Darla and I are both on diets as we prepare for our trip to Nuevo Vallarta June 20-27th. We met with Bob and Vicki, Neil and Lilly and Rick and Jan on Friday night at Cabo's in Rocklin for our final Mexican dinner in preparation for our trip. We are using both of our weeks together and getting two two bedroom condos for the group. We are all looking forward to the trip. Bob and Vicki have never been to Mexico and are in for a treat. We will play golf at the resort which is still undergoing a major renovation by the Nicklaus Company as well as Vista Vallarta (the Nicklaus and Weiskopf courses) and Marina Vallarta (designed by Joe Finger) while we are there. Our goal is to play golf in the morning with the afternoons to sightsee or just lay about by the pool with a cold drink and a good book.

Well, it is closing in on work time. So far I only have one casualty of the long weekend as Anthony has called in with a headache. I have a headache every day and come to work. Often the headache appears after I get to work, but that's another story for another time. I hope all are well. Here is to those brave souls who have died for our freedom! Check out Jennifer and Samantha's blog at the link above. Jennifer has updated it with new stories and some new pictures. That's where I stole the piuctures of Jennifer, John and Samantha above. Ciao.