A Ridiculously BUSY Week!

It was a BUSY week with Dad and Shirley here, Alicia's 40th birthday, Darla's 45th birthday, David's 22nd birthday, a big acquisition at work and temperatures at 107 degrees. The pool is up to 83 degrees and I'm sitting in a quickly drying swimsuit writing my weekly blog epistle. You can see pictures of Dad and Shirley and Darla and I at Il Forniao Restaurante in Roseville, pictures of Darla's boot bag in the swimming pool, and pictures from the 40th birthday surprise party for Alicia at Turnbull Winery in St Helena.

Darla was in the pool last weekend and her bag sprung a leak and she ended up having to go back into the doctors office and have a new cast put on. She told the doctor that it leaked in the shower, a little white lie.

Dad and Shirley arrived on Wednesday and we visited with them over a nice dinner. They came to the house about 4:30 and visited with Darla and then went to check in to their hotel. For some reason they don't stay with us when they visit and I think it was the bed in the guest room. Well, folks, we have a new softer mattress, so no more excuses about not wanting to bother us when we are busy with work. The jig is up and we are on to you. Darla and I used to sleep on that mattress and it definitely discourages visitors. I got home about 6:00 PM and had a quick shower and we were off to meet them at the Holiday inn Express. I called dad and said we were on our way and he said to meet them in room 309. We showed up at the hotel and were knocking on room 309 when Shirley emerged from a room farther down trhe hall and said that they were in room 309 the night before. Luckily they were on the same floor or we might have gone to dinner with strangers. We had a great visit and an excellent meal at the Italian restaurant at the Galleria Mall, laughing and talking, enjoying an excleent napa valley wine with dinner and the meals were all fantastic. We ended up bringing them back to our house so they could watch the semi-final of American Idol. They were on their way to Las Vegas and were supposed to visit with Jennifer and Samantha this weekend. I haven't heard from Jennifer as yet to how the visit went.

My company has purchased one of our main competitors in Roseville, a company that has been struggling of late and one that has a principal owner that is 93 years old. We finally got him to capitulate and sell and we are doing our due diligence now and the sale is supposed to close on June 1st. I will be busy this week interviewing some of their staff and making decisions about staffing in my office. This is quite a coup for our CEO and the pressure is on the California managers to make the transition work. It is an exciting time at our company right now and I'm thrilled to be with a company that is making bold moves in a tough market.

The surprise party for Alicia went off without a hitch as Don and Alicia were in Napa for her birthday and took a cooking class at the winery. The class was about how to pair wines with food and they both enjoyed it. The class got out at noon and we were all in the courtyard of the private residence at the winery and caught Alicia completely unaware as they walked into the courtyard to look at the gardens. Darla was in the planning with Don and we picked up the food at a small local restaurant that the two enjoy. We had pasta, salad, pizza and vegetables, along with wine from Turnbull winery. One of Don's friends brought some beer and Darla made a special trip to get another 36 pack of water as the day was 95 degrees, which is absolutely scorching for Napa. Darla's Dad and Mom brought their fifth wheel and are camping at the fairgrounds in Calistoga for the week. Darla was partly in charge of getting people to show at the party and she finagled her aunts and Uncles to come and they all brought their trailers and fifth wheels and were camping with Darla's parents. We did not stay over as I had poker on Friday night and the golf tournament today, so we drove down in the morning and back that night. Joni Minear, a good friend of Darla's and her Maid of Honor at our wedding drove down with us and was glad we didn't spend the night. Darla and I both sank into the pool when we got home as it was over 100 degrees in Roseville.

I bought Darla an IPhone for her birthday and she loves it. I also bought her an FM transmitter so she can play the 200 songs I have downloaded onto her car stereo. She is enjoying having internet connection and pictures of Samantha at her fingertips.

The dreaded 107 degrees hit today and I had the last tee time in the tournament. I almost wilted as our foursome took the brunt of the heat as we teed off at noon. I brought two frozen bottles of water and rotated them in the cooler pouch of my golf bag and the ice lasted until the 15th hole this time. Usually I bring one bottle and the ice is gone by the ninth hole. I also kep a wet towel and used it to wipe my face and arms and hang it around my neck to cool me off. It helped, but the weather was brutal. I struggled in the heat and shot 41+43=84 and finished second in the tournament. A 14 handicapper who was 3 behind me at the start of the round shot an 84, net 70 to edge me by one stroke. He is also the low overall at 209 for the tournament to my 210, so I may still take low net in my flight and he will be the overall winner. The sad thing is, I was sweating so bad that I had sweat in my eyes on the 17th hole and missed a three foot putt that would have at least tied me. Overall, I played a good tournament and finished at seven under par. My total would have outright won the A flight, which I will join next month. Thanks to the 75 I had two weeks ago, my tournament handicap is now an 8. I had fun, but today was flat brutal. I turned in my score, paid my skins and was off to home and the coolness of the pool. That pool has been a huge blessing to Darla and i and she enjoys it as much as I do. It wasn't as big a hit with the boys, who have grown up in the vidoe and video game age (what's fun about being OUTSIDE?), but Darla and I love it. We look forward to having Samantha here to visit and play in the pool. Darla and I plan to fly Jen and Samantha to Sacramento next month.

Randy has let me know that he and cake will NOT be able to join us in Mexico in November. It is the close of his second quarter and our trip is the week before Thanksgiving week, which is traditionally a dead week for his business partners. he can't afford to be away the week before, so we are bringing some friends from Roseville to take their place. I talked to randy tonight and invited he and Cake to Mexico some other year> they will be missed and will miss out on some Mexican style partying for sure.

Darla and I were up for our regular Sunday worship at nine o'clock, but ran out of gas on the way to church. The 300 has a really quirky gas gauge that moves from a quarter full to empty in a blink of an eye. I went out last night and picked up a couple of movies and some food for dinner and the Fuel light went on while I was in the parking lot at Save Mart. I drove the mile home and we left this morning for church and got about two miles from home and the car quit. I was telling Darla about the screwy gauge and wondering how far I could drive as the gauge was past E when the car died. We nursed it around a corner and into some shade and settled in to wait for AAA. The temperature at 8:45 was already 85 degrees on it's way to triple digits. I paid the driver $5 for two gallons of gas which shot the gauge up past the 1/4 mark and drove on to the gas station. Darla and I went back home and settled in the pool while I waited for my tee time. I read a book and swam and was reluctant to get out of the oasis and put on golf shoes and a golf shirt and shorts, but did so only to get beat by a higher handicap. Oy vey.

Next week is Josh's wedding in Dallas and we will be gone Friday - Sunday. I will post on the blog on Monday, Memorial Day next week and have plenty of pictures from the wedding and attendant parties and even some golf with Dad and my brothers. It will be nice to fly home Sunday and have Monday to decompress from the festivities. Things are going to busy for me at work until this acquisition is finalized. Well, that is it for another week. I hope you are all well and living in the pathway of our Lord. Ciao.