74 degrees with high thin clouds

In other words Perfect Spring Weather. That little Summer front that passed through with high pressure over the area moved out about Wednesday of last week and after a day of light rain during both the morning and afternoon commute, we have happily settled into Spring. I could really go for April to be in the seventies, May in the eighties and June hit the nineties and then it could just stay there for the Summer. I was in Modesto on Tuesday and got home about 4:30 and Darla and I had our first "in pool" day of the year. It was 92 degrees and the pool water was 80 degrees. I splashed about for a bit and then got out the rafts and Darla and I lounged on the pool for about an hour. It was nice and foreshadowed some fun days on the pool in the near future. I had to start the pool for the Summer about three weeks ago and now have chemicals in the pool. That was the weekend that I cleaned the pool filter and cleaned out the pool sweep as well.

I spent part of yesterday and today on the pool deck. The lighter color over the darker from last year is a tough sell because if any of the stain flakes off, the rust color shows through pretty clearly. I took a wire brush and scrubbed several spots where the stain had flaked and re stained it yesterday and then followed up with another round of the Behr "wet look" sealant today. The lighter color really shows the dirt and needs to be sprayed down more often than the darker color. I also put another coat of the sealant on the river rock on the back of the pool and will turn the waterfalls back on this week. I had them turned off during the Winter as the hard water builds up in the caulking around the rocks pretty bad and nobody is out enjoying the pool when it is 40 degrees and raining.

Anthony, my top underwriter and formerly my assistant, just got back from a conference in Scottsdale, Arizona and Anthony was recognized there in a Burns and Wilcox only meeting as the number three producer in the company for new business in 2009. My office continues to hit our goals for production and profit every month and we are having a really good 2009. It is nice to be on the radar of the company for good reasons for a change. We are having a VERY GOOD April and hope to keep the momentum going.

I went out and played golf with Matt, the insurance intern from my office, Boyd and Phamas at Alister MacKenzie golf course in Sacramento on Saturday. MacKenzie is the course where the State Fair championship is contended every year and the Sacramento Amateur. I shot terrible on the front nine after starting double bogey-double bogey, but pulled it together on the back nine and took some money from my friends with a 45+39=84. The greens at MacKenzie are SLOW and I was leaving putts fifteen feet short. I three putted the first two holes. They had a Golf Expo going on and I wandered through the booths and tried a few putters and talked to some vendors afterward. I didn't buy anything as my whole set is relatively new, but would have bought some golf shorts if they had any of the sale shorts in my size (36). They didn't.

Darla has been a fiend this weekend with her Silpada. She had a home party on Friday night. She spent yesterday in Paradise at a street faire with one of her new recruits. This morning she was up early at a baby boutique at the Placer County fairgrounds and this afternoon is in Cameron Park at another house party for Silpada. She was up early on Saturday and out the door by 6:00 AM. Unbeknownst to me she had slipped in the garage when she was getting down a folding chair from the top of one of the built in cabinets. There are four chairs stacked up there, stored for the winter. Apparently, she used a small ice chest to stand on and it slipped out from under her when she was reaching for the chair and she fell and turned her foot. She called me at 7:00 AM to tell me the story. I was oblivious as I was still sleeping in. The last time she slipped was at Sherry and Al's house in Canada and I was in trouble that time. We heard the crash from downstairs and when I asked her if she was okay, she said, "I'm fine." Somehow that was code for "come up here and help me" and I missed the signal. This time I think I scooted by because I was asleep. Her foot is black and blue between the middle two toes and a little swollen. She iced it and took some Ibuprofen and she has soldiered on all weekend. She has twenty some girls working for her now and is constantly shuttling jewelry between one rep or another and it is all her jewelry. I don't know how she keeps up with it all.

I will be booking our rooms in Nuevo Vallarta this week for the Lyon family trip to Mexico in November. Jack Nicklaus and his design people are working on the final stages of the back nine at the Grand Mayan and it is slated to open in September. The Grand Mayan is offering golf at half price this year to all owners and their guests, so it will only cost us $25 a round to play on a course with a rack rate of $160 (the normal owner cost is $50). I look forward to the trip and to spending time with my brothers, my Dad and their wives. It will be a great family week.

I talked to Jennifer this week and she is doing great. She has adjusted her schedule and is taking Sam into day care at 5 AM now. There was talk of them moving to a different day care that is 24 hours a day as theirs just changed to a limited schedule, but that won't happen until it is in John's best interest. I don't know how she puts up with the situation, but she has decided the less contact with John the healthier it is for her. I truly hope that time heals some wounds for John as he ended up being a real shrew. Some of things he has said and done to Jennifer, I hope no man ever says or does to Samantha. On a bright note, Samantha is doing great. Her teeth are coming in one at a time as they are wont to do in toddlers and he she is a happy and healthy 17 month old.

That's it for now. I have the first weekend of a 54 hole individual championship next weekend. It is a chance for us to play a 54 hole stroke play event and see how we can do against the rest of the club. It is not our club championship, which is match play, but probably the number two tournament for bragging rights in the club. We play Saturday and Sunday next week and then the following Saturday before Mother's Day. I hope you are all well and the weather is Spring-like in your area and that you are all healthy and happy and following in the footsteps of our Saviour. Ciao.

The HEAT is On!!

It happens every April and it shocks us every time. We had 91 degrees Saturday and 93 degrees today and the pool water is up to 72 degrees. It is supposed to be warm all week and we will probably be swimming by next weekend. I played golf both yesterday and today and feel like I was rode hard and put away wet. I ventured into the steps of the pool, but 72 degrees is still a bit cool for me. 77 degrees is just about right and our pool has a dark bottom and is a play pool with a depth of 3.5' x 5.0' x 3.5', so it warms up quick. i have two friends with older 9' deep white bottom pools and their water is about 60 degrees. I'm already running chemicals in mine.

We met the Mexico gang for dinner on Saturday night at a new restaurant in Roseville, Cloud Nine. It is an upscale bar and restaurant (with a martini menu) and because the main restaurant was rented out to a 25 year high school reunion, we had to sit in the bar for dinner. We had an excellent margarita and brought our own wine for dinner. Darla had a double crusted chicken and I had the Kobe steak and it was very good. The dessert was even better with a strawberry cheesecake that was the best cheesecake I have ever tasted. The gang was happy to be back together and we had a lot of laughs before finally calling it a night about 9:30 as the bar was really happening by then and we had to yell to hear ourselves. The bar was pretty well taken over by twenty-somethings at that point and the old farts were the 25 year reunion folks at 43, so we decided to beat a hasty retreat. The Mexico gang is the group that went to Mexico with us last year and stayed in our condo.

I've included pictures from our group dinner and from Darla's trip to Hawaii with her brother and sister-in-law.

Friday night was poker at John's house in Roseville. He lives four blocks over from our house and fixed barbecued chicken and hamburgers for us. We played four handed as John worked the barbecue. he started screaming at his dog and we all jumped up to see what happened. His fifteen year old retriever had an albino ferret in his mouth and was tossing it up in the air and catching it. The neighbor popped his head over the fence and asked if we'd seen his ferret. john got it away from his dog and the only thing that saved the ferret's life was the fact that the retriever had been a bird dog and has a "soft mouth" from retrieving downed birds during hunting season. I won about $50.

Saturday I had golf at Woodcreek Golf Course and shot a 41+43=84 in the heat and a 5 1/2 hour round of golf. Today I was able to go to church and then meet the guys for our 10:58 tee time. We teed off at 11:11 and it was a four hour and forty minute round of golf. I shot 40+39= 79 today and my partner, Steve, shot a 91 for a combined best ball score of 67. He was heavy today and struggled tee to green. Boyd also struggled with Bob as his partner, although Bob shot 75. Their combined score was 70. Well, I'm going to leave this until tomorrow. I'll be in my Modesto office tomorrow and likely home early, so I'll continue with this then. Ciao

Monday April 20th

The pool is at 75 degrees and almost habitable. I was thinking about the heat and how it always seems so oppressive when it hits in April. I remembered last week looking at the weather in Denver and seeing 74 degrees on Monday, 58 on Tuesday and 34 with snow flurries on Wednesday. Now, that is a shock to the system. It was a straight shot from tank tops and sandals to parkas and galoshes in 48 hours. I'm surprised any plants survive this time of year. It was 93 degrees today and I have to have the building maintenance crew out to check the a/c in my office. This happens every year. My office has a bank of windows on the west side of the building and the temperature in my office this afternoon was probably 85 degrees at 4:30 PM. I called the landlord and specifically asked to have their guy come out tomorrow about 4 PM. He'll show up at 10:30 AM and it will be comfortable and he'll say "what's the big deal?" If I can catch him, I'll tell him to come back in late afternoon (right before I throttle him). The windows are actually too hot to touch with your palm late in the afternoon.

My boss, Harvey, will be in the office tomorrow and we will tour four of the office complexes we are looking at. My favorite is about a half mile from our current space and the anchor tenant is Zurich Insurance. We would be on the first floor of this class A office space and the lobby is done in marble and smoked glass. It is really first cabin.

I had an e-mail from the CEO's executive secretary and he will be out to see the Sacramento office in June now. I will actually just be returning from a conference in Scottsdale on Tuesday June 16th and he will be in the office on June 18th.

Darla and I just returned from a walk and it is about 8:45 and I need to get to the couch and spend some couple time with my wife. I'll add more this Sunday. Be well. Ciao.

RESURRECTION SUNDAY!!

Yes. It arrives along with Spring. We had 77 degrees today after a week last week of rain and storms that helped bring our rainfall totals up to 14.75 inches. We are gaining on our 18 inch total. Happy Easter to everyone.

Darla and I just returned from a trip up to Paradise and a Saturday night stay with Darla's Mom and Dad. Earl has a 2006 Chrysler 300 like mine with smaller wheels and tires. He has put chrome door edging on his and installed a new front grill and we spent part of the day today installing the door guard on my ride. Jennifer called in the middle of the job and I told her Earl was busy "Pimping my Ride!" Jennifer spent the day with friends and cooked a turkey with all of the trimmings for the holiday. She is taking Samantha to the park tomorrow to hunt for Easter eggs and then going home and coloring hard boiled eggs. Our traditions are passed down from generation to generation. Her house will smell like vinegar tomorrow afternoon. Take lots of pictures, Jennifer.

Darla and I went to Friday night Good Friday service at our church and were shocked by the service. The worship leader came out, did not acknowledge the congregation or the other singers with him. They then sang four or five songs and we were directed to the screens at the front of the worship center where a movie in Bulgarian with subtitles was shown. It was about a man who took his son to his job as a bridge tender and he lifted the railroad bridge over the water so boats could pass. The bridge was up and the train was early and he had to decide to either save his son who was on the bridge or the trainload full of passengers. He chose to lower the bridge and his son was killed as the passengers went on about their life as if nothing had happened. It had a drugged out woman, a soldier and a pair of lovers on the train. It made no sense. The reference to God and to Jesus was obvious, but the movie was a convoluted mess and you ended up mad at the bridge tender for not taking care of his son as he should have. The screens then directed us to Communion and then we all left wondering how we had completely lost that hour of our lives.

Our office closed early on Friday and I had set up with the guys in the office to play golf. I have an insurance intern working for me that had played college golf with the Sacramento State Hornets golf team and he kept telling me he wanted o get me out on the course. It rained Friday morning and cleared up for our golf game. I started birdie-birdie-sandy par and Matt was dumbstruck. He ended up shooting 81 to my 37+40=77. I had told Anthony, my former assistant and now number one underwriter in my office, to bring his old Tommy Armour Silver Scot irons he had bought from me four years ago and I'd exchange them for my Wilson Deep Red fat shaft irons that I recently upgraded to the Taylor Made R-7 irons. I wanted to keep a set in case any of my family comes out and wants to golf. I gave Anthony 10 clubs (the 3-9 iron, pitching wedge, 52 degree wedge and a sand wedge all with brand new Winn grips). He gave me in return a 4 iron, 5 iron, 6 iron, a Mizuno 8 iron, and a pitching wedge. When I asked where the rest of the set was, he said, "oh, I lost those on different courses." This guy is having a child in four months and I'm concerned if he takes his newborn to the park what he'll come home with. As a golfer, I gave him heck for losing his clubs. On top of that the ones he gave me were crusted with mud and a mess. He said he'd make the trade even and gave me a 9.5 degree Cobra driver that I gave to him two years ago! So if any of you come to California, I've got a set of clubs for you.

The trouble with my 77 on Friday was that I had a tournament Saturday morning at Diamond Oaks. Darla stopped me on my way to the course and said, "Honey, you can't compare whatever you shoot today to what you shot yesterday. Just go out and do your best and have fun." She knew we had a ninety minute drive up to Paradise that evening and wanted to hedge her bets against a cranky Ken. I played with two two-time club champions in Boyd and our current club champion, Jay. Jay shot 36+36=72, Steve shot 37+38=75, I shot 39+38=77 and Boyd shot 39+42=81. My round included a closest to the pin on the 185 yard fifteenth hole and only one birdie on a snaking 25 foot putt on the number 5 hole. I was thrilled to put up back to back 77s and did it with one birdie, six bogeys and 11 pars. It was a good day. It is getting late on a Sunday evening and I am going to visit with my wife and will finish this up tomorrow night. Ciao.

Monday 7 PM

You can see I added some pictures, The first picture is of the Chrysler with the door trim that Earl and I added. It is pretty subtle, but maybe Dad will appreciate it. I went online today and ordered a new grill insert for the car. Earl has the vertical chrome and I got a diamond chrome pattern grill from JC Whitney. Hopefully I like it as much as I like his. The girls (Darla and Alicia) had to get pictures as they both showed up at Earl's house for Easter with the same Cabi blouse on. You'll notice also that Darla has been losing weight. It is a slow road with her diabetes, but she's lost about 12 pounds so far and feels healthier and looks great. The other picture is of Daniel, Becky and Becky's roommate, Jenny. Daniel is the one in the middle. Darla took them out to Chinese food while they were briefly in town for the Easter holiday.

I just found out late this afternoon that our President and CEO will NOT be here tomorrow due to weather in Detroit and Chicago. There was a fog bank that covered both cities. He is now leaving tomorrow morning and will fly directly to Los Angeles. Anthony and my Modesto underwriter, Lorraine, will see Alan at the underwriting conference in Scottsdale later this week.

I have another golf tournament this weekend, but this time on Sunday. It is a qualifier and Steve and I qualified last year so we are playing together as we can't qualify. We are, however, playing for money. I will spend part of Saturday touching up the deck. I have to add another coat of paint and then two coats of sealer. I thought the sealer in the paint would work, but parts flaked off when I hosed down the deck last week, so off I go again with the sealer. Does it ever really end? No. That's it for this week. Be well. Ciao.

Warm Spring Weekend

You can see Darla and I bought ourselves a little work this weekend. The pressed concrete was flaking and in dire need of a face lift. I found some Sand colored stain on closeout at Ace hardware for $11.00 a gallon. Mind you the stain that I had used in the past was $69 a gallon and took two gallons to cover the surface. This product is manufactured by Thompson's Water Seal and has the water sealer built into it. I used a gallon of the Quikrete cement solvent which when mixed with a gallon of water and used with a stiff brush completely cleans up all stains, grease, dirt and loose stain. I had to trim back the ground cover that was growing onto the walkway over the long winter and Darla and I set to work. She taped off the house and shed and I tried to use a tank sprayer to apply the product. it was much too thick and clogged up the sprayer although the directions said to apply with a garden type sprayer. I switched to a brush and it took twice as long to apply. In the past it took about ninety minutes to apply the stain and another half hour to put down a second coat. The problem I had with the tank application is that the stain would pool in the crevices of the stamped concrete and dry with a spongy feel to it. The brush method took three and a half hours to apply and another hour and a half for the second coat, but the adhesion to the concrete seems so much better and especially in the cracks and indentations of the stamping process. We now have a white sand beach outside of our pool. I like the look and Darla said it will grow on her. When I pressed her, she said, "Well, when we make changes to the house I like to be involved in the decision." Wow, at least she was honest. I bought the stain when she was on her "working vacation" in Hawaii. it was a perfect weekend to work as the temperature yesterday was 72 degrees and today topped out at 76 degrees.

Darryl mentioned that he loves Denver because it feels like 80 degrees when it is 60 degrees. i love Northern California because it feels 76 degrees when it is 76 degrees, which is often in early Spring. I see Denver had a high of 33 degrees with an overnight low of 22 and snow flurries. how warm does it feel when it's 30 degrees and snowing? I'm sporting a bit of a sunburn today after two days of golf and work on the deck.

I did play golf yesterday and it was one of those surreal rounds of golf. I shot 41+41=82 at Cherry Island, one of the local championship muni courses in the area. I played with Boyd, Darren and Mel. We play a 6-6-6 game where you have a different partner every six holes and I picked my partner by throwing a tee=. Mel shot 51+41=92 and I had him as my partner on the first six holes. He couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and we lost the first four holes right out of the gate and I was down $5. We also play team "junk". 50 cents for birdies, greenies, sandies and polies (a putt equal to or longer than the flag pole for par or better is worth an extra dot. My second partner was Darren , who shot a smooth 34 for the six holes that we were partners. We were actually tied with Mel and Boyd going into the sixth hole and he and I had a stroke against Mel's stroke and Boyd was playing straight up. I had a par, Mel parred it to tie me, Boyd had a 4 and I needed Darren to have a 5 to tie Boyd. he had a double bogey six. finally, I had Boyd on the last six holes and he shot one over and I shot two over for the six holes and we lost to Darren and Mel who both decided to play golf. in all, I lost $15 on the team game and another $12 on junk. $27 lost and I shot 1 under par with my handicap. Mel shot 92, Darren 78 and Boyd 86 and I paid $27! It's just not right. I stayed and enjoyed the pitcher of beer the guys bought and an order of garlic fries before driving home to start work on the deck.

I talked to Jennifer Friday on the drive home and she is doing well. She was laughing and playing with Samantha. She sent us a text picture of Samantha with her hair up in small spikes on Saturday morning. You can view the message until Saturday at www.viewmymessage.com/en/legacy/login.jsp. The Msg Id is h0zsgpc1c and the password is kegs94knit. Very cute. Things seem to be settling down a little bit with Jennifer and John and then it all blows up again. They have to change day cares because their day care is going to a shorter schedule of 5 AM to 7 PM. They were 24 hours. The new day care will be at the MGM Grand on the strip. Jennifer was able to have a civil conversation with John on Friday regarding the day care and she was happy that they could talk about Samantha without any animosity between them. And then CPS showed up at Jennifer's house on Saturday. John is really losing it and desperately needs some grief counseling.

I really am enjoying Spring. I just stopped to put the chicken on the barbecue and it is still light at 7 PM and about 71 degrees out still. Darla and I took a walk about 5:30 out to the local shopping center where she put in some checks into the bank for her jewelry business and then we walked back through the park across the street and watched a soccer game going on as we walked. Good stuff.

I have my company President and CEO coming out in a week from Tuesday. We will view a few new buildings as we will be moving and then meet with the staff. My branch is doing very well this year and we are ahead of budget through three months on the bottom line. We are short of budget on the top line, but it just shows that we have tightened our belts and are doing a good job. The office made a $55,000 profit in March. There are a lot of branch managers in the company who wouldn't welcome a visit from the CEO, but I look forward to seeing him.

Well, that's it. Easter week is upon us. I have a Masters golf tournament next Saturday at the club and ten we will be in paradise with Darla's folks on Easter. I hope you are all well and looking forward to the celebration of the biggest gift you will ever receive: Christ's death on the cross to absolve you of your sins. Ciao.