Memorial Day 2011

This is the day set aside to remember our fallen heroes in the military. Unfortunately, this day has really become the unofficial start of Summer with barbecues and swimming pools, suntan lotion and chaise lounges. As the weather here continues to confound (we had rain yesterday morning and throughout Saturday), I can remember Memorial Days of the past where we had friends over and we all sat in the pool drinking adult beverages and smelling the grill cooking. Two years ago it was 103 degrees on Memorial Day. This year, we will be lucky to eke out 72 degrees and it will cloud up by sundown in preparation for another two days of rain. This is the weirdest Spring I can recall and it goes to show you just how inane Al Gore is with his Global Warming campaign. The last picture I saw of Gore shows that he's actually been bulking up ready for the cold and rain. The guy must be pushing 275 pounds.

I spent a good part of the day yesterday mowing and edging, trimming back the ground cover and cleaning the pool and pool tile. The best way to clean pool tile is from in the pool, but I don't have a full body wet suit, so hung down from the pool edging and cleaned the tile with brush and pool acid. My body is a little sore today. I picked up a cold up in Carson City and that added to my allergies, saw a day spent constantly blowing my nose to the point, that I have a honker that looks like WC Field's: red, raw and sore.

Darla continues to pursue her goal of a trip to Puerto Rico with Silpada and was out at the Folsom Zoo at a vendor event showing off her jewelry. She didn't do much in sales, but booked a June party (her thirteenth June party) and has a potential recruit. She has been gone alot, but is really working her business hard. The end goal is still somewhat of a pipe dream, but she is really making some money right now, which is helping her get caught up on her bills. The pictures above are from an event at the new wine bar in Roseville, Crush 29. Darla rented out a room and hosted some friends for a Silpada event.

I played golf on Saturday and it was cold. The wind was blowing and we had scattered showers throughout the day. I shot 43+43=86 and have earned all 13 strokes that I am now getting. The nice thing is that I added another birdie to my Eclectic score and am down to a gross 69 with 6 events remaining. The Eclectic is the year long tournament whereby we track the best score on each of the 18 holes shot in a stroke play tournament during the golf year. My net right now is a 56 with my 13 strokes and have had a net 53 the last three years and taken 1st, 1st and second in the event. I can tell you this, I'm the only one in the club with a gross 1 on my scorecard. The Net Amateur is next weekend followed by an away tournament at Morgan Creek the following weekend.

I talked to Darryl yesterday and reiterated my invitation to join Neil and I in Monterey on October 15th and 16th. I guess Cheryl works some Halloween store during the month leading up to Halloween and won't be able to get away. I told him to come himself. Our outings to Monterey are pretty legendary and we will play Pacific Grove (the poor man's Pebble Beach). Pacific Grove is a municipal course that winds its way though the ice plant and dunes of the 17 mile drive in Carmel. The front nine is pretty sedentary, but the back nine is a picturesque adventure with views of the Pacific Ocean and the beaches of Pacific Grove. We will also play Poppy Hills, the former course that was part of the AT&T Pebble Beach event before the players complained so much about the tight fairways and heavy woods that they went back to the Monterey Peninsula Country Club. I kind of like playing on a course the PGA pros consider too hard. The cost this year is $75 for Pacific Grove and $105 for Poppy Hills.

Darryl also told me about the mess that they found when they returned from their trip to Vail with Dad and Shirley. Apparently there was a heavy storm that blew rain into the flashings fronting his house and into the interior of the house inundating his office with wet insulation and ruining the walls and carpet. He has fixed the leak (which wouldn't be covered by insurance) and will handle the repairs himself (which his homeowners would cover). What a mess. Well, here is hoping that Darryl can find a way to fly out for the golf tournament in October. Darla and I could pick you up in San Jose on the way and drop you back off on Sunday. Our tee times at Poppy on Saturday start at 7:40, so you could catch a 6:00 o'clock flight back to Denver.

Work continues to go very well and we are up over our May 2010 by 15% with one day left in the month. I've also interviewed a broker about perhaps joining the team. She is a former co-worker of Anthony's at another firm and handles agents in Bakersfield and Alaska mostly writing worker's compensation and environmental insurance. Her book is about $3,000,000, so if Harvey and I can work it out to have her join Sacramento, we could get to the $25,000,000 level sooner rather than later. It'll be a stretch to see if we can take on her book, but Harvey will meet with her next week.

The boys were both home this weekend, Daniel to have an interview for a Summer internship and David because of the three day weekend. They came over last night and we watched the movie "Due Date" with Robert Downey. Jr and Zack Galifianakis, a mindless comedy that had me laughing out loud. My favorite scene (believe it or not) was when the Robert Downey, Jr. character punches a little kid in the stomach. It was hilarious. They will both be back on the road soon after a mid morning breakfast of french toast and bacon.

Jennifer will be car shopping this week and I hope she finds something safe fro her and Samantha. She is looking at Saturns, which are safe cars that run forever. Once she finds transportation, she will be looking at moving into a one bedroom apartment for her and Sam. pray for them as they move into this next stage of their lives.

Well, that is about it for this epistle. Dad and Shirley are back home from their Colorado getaway and Jenny start her new job in Dallas this week (I think). A lot going on in the Lyon world. Be well everyone. Ciao.

Back to the Blog

Finally back to the keyboard after a weekend in Carson City and most of a week suffering from a cold that I picked up in the mountains. The weather was overall fantastic in the seventies, but it started out at 40 degrees and slowly warmed with the sun rising in the sky. My problem was that I stubbornly wore shorts and enjoyed the heat after noon, but our tee times were 9:30 AM and 7:50 AM on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday, I started with sweats over my shorts, but I think the damage had been done on Saturday while I was on the practice range and putting green and the wind was blowing and it was COLD. This has been such a weird Spring with a lot of rain and snow and temperatures on average 10-15 degrees below normal. We have usually been in the pool by this time of year (we actually usually get in in April a little bit and by the end of May it's 100 degrees and we are living in the pool. This Memorial Day weekend calls for temperatures of 72-78 degrees. I'm not loving this. We are probably in for an extra HOT Summer.

Darla is in listening to the final Oprah Winfrey show. I'm not a fan of the Democratic Obama lover and her eunuch boyfriend, Steadman. Oprah is beloved, but is a billionaire that has grown wealthy on the backs of poor blacks who aspire to be her, but continue to live in poverty while their O magazine is delivered monthly. If she had done more for the inner city poor and given less cars away to middle class white women in her audience, I might pay attention to her. People can relate to her with her weight struggles and eating issues, but they don't have drivers and cooks and her struggles are more in line with a lavish lifestyle and less with eating due to depression or life struggles. Good riddance in my opinion.

Darla and I drove up to Carson City on Friday morning and went straight to the Genoa lakes course in Genoa. Darla met up with our friend, Lilly, and they had plans for a fun day. I went to the driving range and realized that I had forgot a hat. I called Darla and asked if she could come and bring me a hat so I didn't burn in the high thin air and blue skies. I had told her to make sure to get gas right away as the car was on 1/4 and my gas gauge is broken. She came back and rode out to the first green with the starter to bring me my hat. When I walked up to the cart I looked at her and said, "That's not the hat I wanted!" She could have and should have smacked me, but the guys got a kick out of the line. Darla headed back and met up with Lilly at a couple of stores and then they headed to lunch, completely forgetting the gas gauge problem. The car ran out of gas as they approached the restaurant and she had to nurse it into a parking lot and have Lilly come and get her. Darla called AAA and sat down to eat lunch. Of course, it was all my fault when I got back to the hotel.

I shot 87, 87 and 89 up in Carson City and was most upset with my Sunday round where I shot 41 on the front. The round started to come apart when I was 3 over after 8 holes and dumped my approach into the lake fronting the 9th green. I stumbled badly on the back and shot 48 with several balls hooked out of bounds from the tee. It was like falling down stairs in slow motion as I watched my tournament round implode. My good friend, Bob, had an even worse experience as he hit four straight balls out of bounds on the par five 8th hole, double hit a ball, hit his next shot into the lake next to the green, dropped and hit his 14th shot onto the green and two putted for a 16. Brutal. I' m blaming that image for my implosion. (Well, it has to be somebody's fault).

We were able to have dinner with Neil and Lilly at B'Sghetti's in Carson City on Friday night. We were supposed to hook up with Bob and Vicki after dinner, but they had gone to see a movie and just spent the night on "couple" time. Darla and I gambled until about midnight and then headed to bed. We went to bed marginally up.

Saturday night we got together with the gang at Red's in Carson City. Red's is an old fashioned bar with great food and over 100 beers on tap and in bottles. We had a great meal and surprised Barbara with a birthday cake and she was thrilled. It was a great time getting together with our golf friends and we went out afterward with Bob and Vickie to listen to some music and dance. We started at one bar that had a good band, but a creepy little old man with a mental disability that was slowly dancing on the dance floor pretending to play the harmonica. We walked across the street to the Nugget and listened to a band that was made up of two keyboard players and a female singer. They were quite good and Darla pointed out when "All my Exes live in Texas" came on, that it was true in my case. We danced a little bit and were amused by a little 4'10" man and three ladies that took turns dancing with him. He was duded up in jeans, a large belt buckle (that frankly was probably normal sized) and a big Cowboy hat. This dude was all hat and no cattle as they say, but he was squiring three elderly ladies to the dance.

Jennifer and Micheal are splitting up. She is buying a car and looking for a new place for just her and Samantha. I have encouraged her to move out on her own and not to introduce anyone else into Sam's life until she is in a committed relationship. Sam doesn't need the constant upheaval in her life and be subjected to the whims of one of Jennifer;'s benefactors. it's too hard on her and Jennifer needs to learn to stand on her own two feet. Her Mom has never been alone in her life having always ended up in new relationships immediately, and it's time for Jennifer to break that pattern. I am strongly supporting her in getting her life together. A life for her and Samantha. I'm sad because I really like Michael, but it is Jennifer's life and I'm more sad for Samantha, who has grown really attached to Michael and his little dog, Kippy. She will be confused, but will love having her Mom to herself.

Well, this is short and sweet (just like Samantha), but I will add more over the holiday. I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day. Ciao.

This weather is starting to piss me off!

You can see the source of my irritation in the pictures above. This was another one of those weeks with mid eighties and sunshine all the way until Friday night. Then, the cooler temperatures, wind and storms blew into the area. What is with the weather? It's like we are being penalized for being productive workers when the weekend rolls around.

I did go out on Saturday to Auburn and play golf, but I was wearing shorts and "little Kenny" got a little cold, if you get my drift. I had a wind jacket in the car and held on for a 42+44=86, but it was one of those days that if you just missed your shot a little bit, the wind took it and blew it across the fairway. I was happy to finish with the same ball that I teed off with and the heated seats in the 300 came in handy on the ride home.

Darla and I also took a trip Saturday night into Concord and met David at the Benihana's and helped him celebrate his 24th birthday which is Tuesday. Darla's birthday is Monday and she is turning, um, seven years younger than me (I'm not an idiot you know. I'm 54 years old....OOPS.) We had a nice visit and enjoyed the food and the conversation. David is enjoying his internship at ROK and even played on their softball team this week and went 3 for 4 from the plate. I told him that that alone is worth a ton to him as an intern, because his value transcends that of a simple worker. Now he's the "Ringer'. Maybe he'll be kept on over the summer, especially if they play Summer league softball. We had a laugh as a group of women came in that were all well over 6 foot tall and that was accentuated by each of them wearing platform shoes. it was probably a basketball team, but it was pretty funny.

We got out of the restaurant about 9:30 and the first of the rain that we were to see today was coming down. It rained almost all the way to Sacramento and then held off. We awoke this morning to a light rainfall and broken skies, with even some sunshine. That all changed about 10:00 AM when a squall passed through and we had penny sized hail fall for about ten minutes completely covering the ground. Darla took the pictures above of the pool and front yard. it was hard to fathom the weather, when I had left work early on Friday and sat out by the pool in the 86 degree sunshine.

The blog will be delayed next week as Darla and I are off to Carson City with the golf gang from the club. I will take Friday off and we will play Genoa Lakes in Genoa, Nevada. The course is about ten minutes west of Carson City and will play host to one of the US open qualifiers tomorrow. We will stay over in Carson City at the Carson Station Casino and I will play Silver Oak on Saturday and Dayton Valley on Sunday. Our tee times at Dayton on Sunday start at 7:30 and the course is thirty minutes South of Carson, so Saturday night will not be a late night for sure. I believe they have vans taking us to the course Sunday morning and then we will meet the ladies later. I will also be out to Serano Country Club Thursday afternoon where we will play the Insurance Association tournament in June and will play a practice round with the golf committee. So, all told, I am playing 4 rounds of golf in four days and will likely get home late Sunday and simply fall into a coma. It will be a great time and I'll get to spend part of it with my good friend, Bob, who moved to San Jose in March and I haven't seen him since. We've talked a few times and are planning a trip to San Jose soon to see his new home and golf course. Right now our weekends are pretty full with Silpada events as Darla tries to win the trip to Puerto Rico in January. It is still a distant possibility, but I don't count Darla out. She is working hard and has a dozen parties planned before the end of the qualifying period. I've got a feeling she will be selling jewelry to all of the golf ladies on the upcoming trip. She's a little fried that I have used up one of her prime weekends for this golf outing.

The rain and thunder have started up again and it is pelting down rain, turning the pool into a froth of raindrops and the surrounding area into a wet mess. This weather is supposed to stay with us until Tuesday and move out for the weekend. The three courses that we are playing next week are all experiencing snow flurries today. I thought it was freaking May.

Dad and Shirley are in Vail, Colorado this week and next as they visit Colorado. They saw Darryl and Cheryl the latter part of next week and they will join Dad and Shirley up in Vail on Tuesday. Darryl is playing at a corporate golf event at Kissing Camels Country Club (and they call Californians weird).

I ordered a new iPad2 for Darla for her birthday. It is pricey, but the iPad is perfect for her jewelry business, as she can show hostesses and guests jewelry that is not in her collection when they want to order it. If any of you get the iPad2, we can do the Face to Face telephone calls. it is a more reliable version of Skype, which hopefully is in for a major overhaul now that Microsoft has bought it. We used it for awhile, but the freezing up of the video link and the poor transmission was a pain in the ass. We just gave up and used the phone. Apple is still a technological leader and the Face to Face is supposedly flawless. I will also definitely download some newer novels onto the iPad and read them there. The cost is about $9 for a new book instead of $25. The unit is being manufactured and engraved for Darla and we will receive it in early June.

Well, that is the news for now. Remember, that the blog will be delayed next week due to my being old and worn out after four straight days of golf. I played twice this week and was sore. I can imagine what it will be like next week. Of course, I was tremendously cold on the course Saturday and that worked into my neck and shoulders. I hope you are all well. Don't forget to wish David and Darla a Happy Birthday. Ciao.

Great weather week, lousy weekend weather...what's up with that?

I have an Old Photo Pro app on my iPhone and like to take selected pictures and make them black and white. This shot of Sam could have been taken in the 50's and is a classic. She is quite a little doll.

Sad news in that Michael and Jennifer are having some problems. Jennifer may soon be moving out and they have been working on their issues. It's not easy with bills and both having been out of work. Relationships are work and they are definitely trying to work things out. Pray for them.

The weather this week got up into the 90's for a couple of days and the 80's all the way until Friday and then it was a cold, windy Saturday morning that finally gave way to sunshine and 77 degrees. Today was just downright cold and I had shorts on going to church and the wind went right through me. It was overcast all day and now, finally, at 4;00 in the afternoon, the sun is out and it is up to 65 degrees. Tomorrow it will be 72 degrees and then back into the eighties with a cold front shown coming in for next weekend. Why is the American worker punished for providing for our families?

I played golf in the first Diamond tournament of the year. These are tournaments NOT put on by our golf club, but put together by the course and open to anyone. They had a 7:45 shotgun with 69 golfers. I shot 41+42=83 with a net of 70 to tie for fourth place. They put a guy in our foursome that was probably 55 years old and it was his first tournament. His wife signed him up probably to get him out of the house. He had no clue what he was doing and shot 114, dropping balls near out of bounds after hitting the ball out. We told him he was disqualified and he just shrugged. He picked up on four holes and took a triple bogey on each of them. We also had a guy who had a hole in one and he refused to buy drinks for anyone. He didn't have the hole in one insurance because it wasn't an RGC event and he isn't in our club. The guys were harassing him and he told everyone they should buy HIM a drink, that the tradition of buying everyone else a drink was stupid. He was quite popular with the guys after the round, the cheap bastard.

Darla is acting like the editor of my blog again as she came in and told me to add some pictures from our visit with the boys and Darla's family last night. The problem is she never takes any of the photos off of her flash card and you have to sift through 200 pictures to find the three to add to the blog. I put her on the task of downloading them to her laptop, picking out three she wants me to add and then e-mailing them to me. That should keep her busy for a few minutes. After that, she can take off the pictures of our Christmas and snow trip with Sam and Jennifer as they have been added to the hard drive already and most are on our iphones as well.

We had the family over last night after my golf game and we were initially going to relax out by the pool, but that plan went up in cool temperatures and windy conditions, so we sat inside, watched the Kentucky Derby and an NBA playoff game. We all watched Lucas totter about trying to turn on every switch on our DVR and TV. Luke will be one next month and is at the fun stage before they start talking or walking, but they are in to everything. he is one happy little boy. I wish that Jennifer and Samantha lived closer, so they could get to know each other better.

I fixed barbecued chicken sandwiches for dinner last night and we enjoyed potato salad and fruit salad while we feted the Moms in our life. I still miss Mom after 11 years without her.

I will be off to Redding on Tuesday as I am taking Matt up to Redding to meet some of the agents up there and turn some of my agency staff over to him. We will have breakfast in Chico and meet two agents in Redding, one of them for lunch, before meeting one of my golfing agents at his country club at 1:30 for a golf game. Matt and I will probably be home about 10:00 that night, but it will be a good trip. He is really doing well for me and is excited about his job.

I have a trip set up for next Saturday to Auburn Valley Country Club. many of the clubs in the area are now open to the public after 10:00 AM because the membership has dropped so badly in the economy. At this point there is no reason to belong to a club because you can get on most of them anyhow. I never liked the idea of being tied down to one club with a $500 nut every month and another $500 quarterly for food and beverages. There are too many courses to go out and play and I'd rather use my golf budget to sample the wide variety of courses in the area rather than be tied down to one. I'm certainly monogamous as a husband, but not as a golfer. Boyd, Matt and Darren will join me on the trip.

The following weekend, we head to Carson City with the club and I will play Genoa Lakes, Silver Oak and Dayton Valley over three days. I'm taking Friday off work and Darla and I will drive up and stay at the Carson Station Casino in Carson City. We have plans with the group for dinner on Saturday and will relax and unwind the rest of the weekend. Darla and the ladies will have a spa day and shop and eat to the heart's desire. We need an away week at this point. Darla has really been working her business hard trying to win the Puerto Rico trip next year. It will be a tough go and she might not make it, but it won't be from lack of effort on her part.

We have decided to Join dad and Shirley and the extended family for a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale next March to Nassua, St Thomas and St Maarten. This is actually the cruise that I have always wanted to go on. I have done Mexico and Jamaica, etc. and Darla and I enjoyed the Bahamas so much on our trip several years ago, so the opportunity fell right into our lap. The price is expensive with accommodations going for about $3,000, not to mention the flights that will be extra, cabs, hotel, etc. But, hey, it's just money.

Well, that's it for this week. I hope all are well and the Mom's out there had a GREAT Mother's Day! Ciao.

Warm Weather has Arrived

More pictures from our trip and one of the pool. I worked my tail off today getting the pool ready for swim season. I took apart the filters and cleaned each of them. I also flushed out the lines, shocked the pool, adjusted the pool sweep, turned on the waterfalls, added some African daisies to the palm garden, trimmed all of the bushes and trees and added fresh shredded bark around the bushes at the front of the pool. I also added bark to the front garden by the walkway and to all of the tree rings on the side yard. Darla was out of town, so I got to work at my pace and get it all done before she got home tonight, Unfortunately, I was also supposed to have this blog done, but her cell phone was dead and I had called her for an ETA and she never called back.

Now I have a half hour to rush out a blog entry. Darla was up in Paradise at a two day community event selling her jewelry and I was home alone. I went out to Thunder Valley yesterday afternoon and turned $80 into $200 and decided to buy some things at Home Depot. The tab was $98 (I also bought some pool shock and acid) so I don't have much left, but the yard is looking much nicer. I also put the $80 back into my work checking account that I use for my expenses. Darla was trying to get hold of me last night and was a little upset that I was incommunicado. I left my cell phone at home and she couldn't reach me until i got home at 9:00. I stopped for some Taco Bell on the way home and ate it there.

Boyd and I played golf yesterday at Cherry Island and had both Darren and Mel bail on us. Darren had to fly to Dallas for his in laws (his father in law was having open heart surgery) and Mel had a gout flare-up. Mel actually showed up at the course and saw Boyd and I. He has moved back to the Philippines and is working his import-export business. He has a cousin in Government and his best friend is the finance minister, so he has the needed contacts to grow his business. Cora is still here as her daughter is a senior in high school and her son goes to UC Berkeley. Her daughter, Gabi, will enroll at Santa Clara next year so they will continue to live apart. Mel always missed home and his business contacts in the Philippines, where Cora is indoctrinated to the US and is a citizen. I hope thing work out for them. It is quite a stress on their marriage being apart. Mel recently sent me some pictures from a weekend in China, where he flew in a private jet with one of his friends and they played golf all weekend. He has an interesting life. I shot 85 on Saturday to Boyd's 78 and I also played Wednesday at Serrano Country Club with two of my agents and shot an 85.

I did get a hole in one frame for my office and framed the card and ball that I used. Neil, our tournament director, was nice enough to make a copy of the card for his records and gave me the official scorecard from the round. It adds to my golf themed office with my cases of balls from courses I've played and pictures of Pebble Beach and Princeville Golf course in Kauai.

The picture of Samantha with Darla and I was from Benihana's in Vegas and she was tired by the time our 90 minute dinner was over. She enjoyed the "dinner show" as she called it, but it was a little over long for her.

Our month at work concluded slightly down from 2010 and it is our first down month of the year. I have been tardy in getting the gang out to celebrate our good March and we will be going out to Rubio's Beach Mex Restaurant on Thursday. One of the typists complained as she doesn't like Mexican food, but as I told her, "I'm not taking the staff out for waffles on Cinco De Mayo".

Well this is short, but the wife needs me to barbecue some chicken and I need clean socks, so I will oblige her. Hope you all have a great week. Stand firm in the Lord. Ciao.