You can see the mess to the left that I had to clean up from Tuesday and Wednesday's storm. The pool was full of leaves and branches and blown dirt. The patio had an abundance of leaves scattered throughout the backyard and I'd forgotten that Darla and I had quickly stashed the chairs umbrellas and tables into the shed on Monday night when we got home. That was also waiting for me Saturday. I had a good sleep in on Saturday as I still don't have my new clubs and was up playing poker the night before. Darla left for a Silpada gig about noon and I ventured out to mow the lawn, rake leaves, clean the pool and clean up branches that had blown into my flowerbeds and plantings surrounding the house. Darla came back from one event and was off to another and I continued working until 4:30 when I finally came in to get a shower before meeting the guys for a Kings game at Arco Arena Saturday night.

I had one extra set of tickets and we offered them to Alicia and Don, who are both ill and then to Darla's parents, who jumped on them. They drove down from Paradise and met me in the parking lot of Arco Arena before the game. I had sold tickets as a fundraiser for the IBA Sacramento group and ended up only selling 72 tickets (it's a tough sell for a team coming off the worst record in the NBA with only 17 wins last year). There were 40 of us at the preseason game and we had a good time. One lady had won the drawing and I brought her a signed Peja Stojakovich jersey from his days with the Kings.

I played golf today at Lincoln Hills. I used Boyd's second set of clubs and struggled with the slotback blade Nike irons. It was windy and cold and Boyd shot 81, Neil 93, Joe (a 7 handicap) 98, and I shot 44+42=86 and struggled with distance with the blades. I did have a nice birdie on the back nine with a long drive on a 368 yard hole. I put the approach within 5 feet and made the birdie. It is the only thing worth remembering about the round. I left right after the round and told Neil to collect my skin money and get it to me next week.

I will play in the Member-Guest Invitational next week and will play with Matt from my office. Matt is the insurance underwriting trainee and is a 3.7 handicap. He will join the club and play in tournaments with us next year. Bob has a friend coming in from Nevada for the event and we will play a practice round on Saturday and the tournament is a 7:30 shotgun next Sunday.

My clubs will arrive early this week with the bag, fairway woods, irons and driver due in tomorrow and the putter on Tuesday. I'm thinking of upgrading my cart as well as i have money on the books at the club from prior tournaments and want to get a Clik-Gear cart. It is a three wheeled cart like the Sun mountain that I have now, but the tires do not have tubes and it folds down smaller in my trunk. I received my replacement shoes this week along with 4 dozen Titleist Tour Prestige golf balls that should last me into next Summer.

It was Daniel's birthday on Tuesday and he turned 20. He spent part of the weekend last week in the Bay Area and was on hand to see his 49ers lose big to Atlanta at the 'Stick last weekend. Things are progressing for the boys at school and I look forward to the big raise that we'll get when they finish up at Cal Poly.

Darla is well and her business continues to grow and she is busy. We missed each other most of this weekend as I had poker Friday night and she had an event last night and then my golf this morning, so I better finish this up and go make dinner for my wife, I'm a lucky guy. Stay well, enjoy each other's company and ask God to help you through life's hardships. Ciao.