Labor Day 2009

Labor Day. The unofficial end of Summer and I'm not ready. I enjoy Summer more than any other season. I enjoy the long days and the warm Summer nights. I enjoy the pool having water that is almost too warm, the excellent conditions on the golf courses, the family times that come with good weather and the vacations and long weekends that add to the fun. The days are getting shorter and the nights are cooler. The pool water has dropped back to 80 degrees and cooler and some of the infernal leaves from the park across the street have started to drop from the trees and end up in my alcove at the front of the house and stuck in my bushes.

We have had a good weekend this weekend with some pool time, some golf for me, and a night out with friends last night at Benihana's. I am a member of their Captains table and get offers all the time. Their offer in September to celebrate their 45th anniversary is Their Rocky's Choice meal for $19.64 (they started in 1964). So , we went out last night, drank a few Asahi's and enjoyed shrimp appetizers, onion soup, oriental salad, chicken and steak cooked on the teppanyaki table. We had a few laughs and enjoyed each other's company. The group got a big kick out of the fact that I thought diverticulitis was what happens when a skin diver surfaces from the ocean too fast (it's the Bends).

Bob and Vicki picked us up and drove us to dinner and they have a new 2007 Tahoe LTZ. New, of course, to them. it only has 30,00 miles on it and is a champagne color. beautiful car. Bob has always been a new car guy until he heard my explanation of buying newer model cars with about 20,00 miles on the odometer. I said that I'm inherently frugal (my word) and can't stand driving a new car off a lot and losing $10,000. He apparently took my words to heart and bought used this time. The car looks absolutely brand new.

I noticed a break in my front window when Jennifer was visiting. Apparently some Yahoo with a bb gun shot at our house putting a hole in our front window and the bb was still in the dual pane frame. What possesses some punk that doesn't even own a house or likely a car to do that? I'd have preferred that he paintball my garage than shoot at my house with a gun.

I am taking the club championship off this year. It starts next Sunday, but the following weekend we are hosting Darla's parents, Earl and Frances to a week in a condo in Lake Tahoe. We had some extra RCI time on the books and booked a two bedroom condo with a third loft bedroom up near Heavenly Valley. Darla and i are going to drive up Saturday morning (the 19th) and meet them for lunch and then check into the condo. We will stay over Saturday and Sunday nights and then they'll have the condo for the rest of the week.

I did play this weekend and had a great front nine on Saturday. I shot 82, but had a 37 on the front nine (YOU do the math for the back). I left the course frustrated and stewed Sunday. I decided to get out and play early this morning and play the par 60 course in Elverta. We teed off (mel, Boyd and I) at 6:50 this morning and were off the course by 9:45 AM. I shot 36+32=68 and feel much better now than I did on Monday. Sometimes you just have to erase a bad memory. I played with Boyd, Bob, and our current club champion, Jay, on Saturday. one of us had a hole-in-one and you know I would have lead with that in my blog, so congratulations to Jay. It is the second hole-in-one that I have witnessed in my group and I enjoyed my part of a pitcher of Fat Tire beer at the end of our round bought by jay. The club pays $150 for his drinks and I think he spent short of $100, so he actually made some money. We had the third to last tee time, so most of the guys were gone when we came in at 5:30 Saturday night.

We are off to a backyard BBQ this afternoon at Charlie and Freida's, friends from the golf club. We will get there about three and stay until 6 or 6:30 and have some part of the evening to ourselves.

I had a rough week at work and had to terminate a couple of employees this week. I'm now in the Modesto office two days a week and it is slowly wearing me out. I hope to have a replacement in place within a month. Our numbers in Sacramento are stellar and I took the gang out to lunch at Chevy's last Wednesday.

Finally, Darla and I are toying with a trip to Denver to see Darryl and Cheryl in early October. The cost of flights to Denver are cheap and Darryl is dangling the carrot of golf at Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton. I hope to talk to him today and see when would be a good time to come out and then look into booking our flights.

That is it for this week. Be good, love one another and look to the Lord for answers everyday in your life. Ciao.