A little golf in God's Country (Napa, California) and some hard work by the boys and Darla on the stamped concrete patio this week and weekend. I challenged the boys with a big project of stripping the stain from the concrete patio surrounding the pool. I made the mistake of applying a latex stain over a colored stain without removing the prior color and complicated that by applying a light color over a dark color. The result was one good season and now a flaking mess where the rust colored stain is bleeding through the sand stain and flaking off. It was a huge job and I agreed to pay them $400 to power wash the stain off, but they would only get the full $400 if they completely stripped the stain and cleaned up after themselves. My goal is to get the concrete back to the original state and then acid stain the cement to get a permanent terra cotta color. The problem is that the acid stain will not react if there is any sealant or stain in the cement at all. They did a good job and got about 95% of the stain up. I will treat the concrete with a methylene chloride based stripper and get the rest of the small stain marks out of the concrete. The boys did a good job, renting a power washer for four hours the first day and then working with my power washer and their Dad''s after that. They bought some plastic sheeting and wood stakes and protected the pool and the plants from the power washer and stripped stain. They also bought a few quarts of soy based stripper and used that on the tougher spots. It took them three full days to get the stain up and there were sections that were really hard to remove, especially on the newer concrete that was poured when the pool was built. You can see the result in the first picture above. In fact, there is a crack in the decking that had been repaired with a concrete filler several years ago and the power washer even stripped the filler out. I'll be refilling that today.
Darla is sleeping in today as apparently (What?) I kept her wake snoring last night. I put the snore guard in, but she was awake and it took her two hours to get back to sleep. I got up at 8:30 and told her to sleep an hour and it is after 10 AM and no sign of her yet.
I took the boys down to Napa and Eagle Vines golf course for an outing yesterday. Eight of us were on the road by 7:45 AM for our 9:45 AM tee times. I invited seven friends and all seven joined me on the outing, which (frankly) is why they are my friends. Boyd, Neil, Rick, Mel, Darren and the two Bobs (Pando and Hand) joined me in Napa and it was fabulous. The course is built in and around the vineyards of Napa County and there isn't a house and nary a car that interrupts your enjoyment of the golf course and the beauty of the environment. They have built a beautiful hillside on their signature hole (number six) , which is a 192 yard par three island hole. They put the flag out on the point at the far reaches of the green and dared us to go at the pin, some twenty feet from the water's edge. Only Bob in our group took the bait and he hit the pin on his tee shot and ended up nine feet from the flag. You can see the island hole behind Bob, Mel and Boyd who are posing in the picture above. Bob and Boyd shot 82, I shot 86 and the rest of the crew were in the 90's and we had one 100 (no names mentioned to protect the innocent). It took us the better part of an hour to get to the course and we are all anxious to go back as there are several quirky holes that we would play differently on our next adventure.
I was in Modesto this week and have to close the office down by April 30th. I still have desks, file cabinets, book cases and files in the office. Matt and I went into the office on Thursday to fill twelve 90 gallon shredder bins with files. We got most of the work done and they will pick up the bins this Thursday. I also had a trucking company come and pick up one of our copiers and they will deliver that to Rancho Cordova on Monday. I will bring Pete with me on Thursday and we will make a dump run with his truck with the extra paper and "non privacy" files of company rules, underwriting guides, etc that need to be disposed of. It will be nice to lose that bill every month for the lease of the Modesto office. I'm a little concerned about clearing out all of the furniture, but will offer it free to anyone who will haul it on Craigslist.
We get very few extra holidays at work, but one we do get is a half day on Good Friday and the guys in the office will once again make a run to the local Mather Golf Course Friday afternoon for our annual Good Friday golf outing. I found a rate of $17 with a cart at the course, with a tee time of noon.
Saturday I have a tee time at the former Rio La Paz golf course in Nicolaus, California. It is now called River Oaks. I remember playing that on Darryl's 50th birthday as I called on my way over to the course. I guess I'm playing too much golf when I start to use it as a marker for events in my life. Mel, Boyd and Matt will join me on that outing.
We have our Reno trip coming up next month and will play De'Andrea and Wolf Run (The UNR home course). Big John, our neighbor and friend from the club has set us up with two nights at Silver Legacy for $75 through his connections up there. John played football for the University of Nevada Reno and has many contacts up in Reno including the sales manager at Silver legacy. Darla and I have invited John and Camille to join us in Las Vegas in May when we go to see Samantha and celebrate Darla's birthday.
Well, I think Darla is finally stirring after her sleep in today, so I better get some breakfast going while she gets ready for the day. I hope you are all doing well. I have a prayer booklet on my desk and it reads today "Take time for your friends today. Do something together! Then rest in the confidence that your Father will grow and sustain your friendships." Yesterday was just that for me. Be well. Ciao.
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