Mother's Day 2009

You can see how I spent part of my Mother's Day. We went up to Paradise last night and stayed with Earl and Frances. I rushed out of my golf tournament, showered and we were on the road by 5:20 Saturday night and up to Paradise by 7 PM, where we enjoyed a meal of barbecued pork chops. Earl and I prepped the grill for installation that night. We took the old grill off and masked it and painted it black. We also took the new grille which showed up with a ding in the upper right corner and straightened it. Earl wasn't thrilled with the result, but he's a perfectionist and it looks fine. We let the old grill dry overnight and went in to play some cards (3-13). Sunday morning we were up for Earl's famous Sunday morning pancakes and eggs and then off to church. I took the gang out to lunch at La Posada in old town Paradise and then Earl took us on a nickle tour of Paradise, showing us the large homes that overlook the canyon that runs down to Chico. They have some friends from church that have one of the nicest lots in the area and looks right down on the city of Chico from the mountainside. Typically, they are unhappy with the heat that emanates up from the valley and their house is always hot in the Summer. One of the charms of Paradise is that it is a mountain community and is usually ten to twelve degrees cooler than the valley. It was 90 degrees in Roseville today and only 82 in Paradise. We returned home to fasten the new chrome grille overlay to the old grill. We painted the old grill black so it can't be seen behind the overlay. The overlay is a billet grille style with horizontal billets 1/2 inch apart across the front of the grille. It attaches right to the old grill shell and uses the original Chrysler emblem along the top of the assembly. It was funny that the grill was only attached using two screws. Either the dealer or the original owner took off a chrome grill and replaced it with the original factory grill. The Stull version of the grille that I bought sells for $289. I bought mine on E-Bay motors for $65 and it was manufactured in Korea. It took us about twenty five minutes to install the overlay and attache the grille back onto the car this afternoon. I drove home and washed the car tonight and it is ready for the showroom. Earl continues to be the Pimp Daddy as far as getting my ride ready for the big time.

I mentioned the second round of the golf tournament. I played in the last group and the difficulty for me as a ten handicap is that my flight goes up to 16 and the second place golfer (Steve) had shot an 84 last week which gave him a net 68. My 75 gave me a net 65. Saturday, he matched me shot for shot on the front and shot a 38 to my 39. Of course, it was his best nine holes EVER. He settled back into his handicap on the back and doubled both par threes on his way to a 44 for a BEST EVER 82 and a net of 66. I ham and egged it, double bogeying the last hole for a 41 and a round of 80, net 70. I'm now in second place with a two day total of 135 to his two day total of 134. I think he fed off my play, especially on the front nine. I didn't have my A game and double bogeyed the first hole before running off six straight pars, a bogey and a finishing par. I did birdie 16 again, but struggled on the back to five over. (I guess I actually played to my handicap on the back nine). We will finish the tournament on Sunday next week so I am able to make it. Steve said he has family in town and will have to miss the last day, but I expect to see him. I'll give it my best shot next week no matter what.

Darla and I had a strange week. She thought at one point that she'd dropped a sunflower seed down her cast. She was in the bathroom blowing a blow dryer into her cast trying to loosen the seed. It never came out, but whatever was sticking her was gone and she is back to normal. Friday night, one of the cats came into our bedroom and ran up the bed and used my bare back to turn around and head back out of the room. I was in a dead sleep and jumped when the cat dug it's claws into my back. Darla was also awakened from a dead sleep and said she felt something wet on her head and when we turned on the light, she had a four inch scratch along her hairline that was bleeding. We can't figure out if I swiped her when I was flailing in pain or the cat got her as well. We both ended up tending to each other's wounds with peroxide in the middle of the night. The door to our room will remain closed for a while.

I talked to Jennifer tonight and she just hosted her Mother for the weekend. They had a nice visit and John even agreed to switch weekends with Jennifer so she could have Samantha over Mother's Day. I'm not going to say anything about change in their relationship as CPS will be on Jennifer's doorstep again tomorrow, but it was a nice gesture. By the way, John has password protected Samantha's site, so you'll just have to stay tuned here to get your Sammy fix. We plan to fly Jennifer and Samantha out here for a weekend in June.

Well, it is late on Sunday evening ( I took a break to eat and to visit with my wife), so I will wind this up. I'll let you know how the tournament turns out next week. I'm just thrilled to be in the hunt at nine under par.