Nice Visit from Dad and Shirley

You can tell we had a good time based on the bottles of vino on the table. Lilly fixed some margaritas on the rocks that had me a little woozy before we finally tied into the tri tip and dinner. They got here about 5:15 PM after the commute from Los Angeles. Dad came in looking like someone who just got caught wrecking his father's new car. He was perspiring so heavily. We had 98 degrees that day and the '46 doesn't have air conditioning. They quickly changed and were in the pool with rye and ginger ale in hand. The gazebo worked out perfectly as the sun was low enough that we were all in the shade when we ate dinner. The pool water is now at 87 degrees (at least the top foot of water is) and we all sat in the pool and ate hors d'oeuvres of shrimp and tortilla chips with salsa and some roll ups that Lilly brought. It was far too short of a visit, but a good one as we were able to visit for a good five hours before saying goodnight to everyone. Neil told me yesterday what a great time he had and what a great family we have. I have to agree.
I did finally get my Bowen therapist to call me. She apparently works in Roseville at a clinic Monday mornings and didn't have a call back number for me. I finally got in to see her at 2:30 and felt some relief for the first time. I really knocked it out of whack this time because generally within two days after treatment I am back to normal, but this time it is still stiff and sore almost a week later. I had a golf tournament yesterday and shouldn't have played. It was an 8:00 AM shotgun and I got out there after seven and hit a bucket and a half of balls. I felt no pain, in fact the hardest thing was bending over to put the ball on the tee because of residual stiffness in my lower back. I played, but my golf game was nothing like normal. I couldn't hit full shots and was constantly clubbing up to offset the weaker swing. I shot 45+43=88, but actually DQ'd on the final hole when we couldn't find my drive. I was done as far as hitting balls and just took a double on the hole for score purposes (posting of the round). My net 75 wasn't going to win anything anyhow. Boyd shot 74 and won the low net with a 67 in his flight. I played with Boyd and Neil and a guy named Andy from the club. It's hard not to play when you have looked forward to it all week and you feel okay.

The other shoe dropped this morning when I woke up hunched over and in pain. Darla went to church without me because I couldn't straighten up without pain. My back has slowly stretched out over the course of the day, but if I'm still struggling tomorrow, I'll make another appointment to see Jane. This is getting old.

David came over this afternoon and swam in the pool. Darla was reading her book and I sat and rested on one of the reclining water lounges. Darla mentioned that her lounge was leaking air and all of a sudden it exploded and shot air and water all over the place. She was laughing as she almost fell off the raft, when a second rupture hit and actually tore the lounge in half, Darla was sitting on the deflated chair portion of the lounge and the leg portion which was still filled with air floated away from her. We had a good laugh and David and I had a few theories on why it broke that if I shared here would have me banned from the master bedroom.

Our weather has been nothing short of marvelous with warm days 88-92 degrees and comfortable nights of 54-58 degrees. As soon as the sun goes down, I open up the doors and windows and turn the whole house fan on for fifteen minutes and it truly does cool the whole house. We don't turn the air on unless we are in the upper nineties and at 100 degrees as the house stays relatively cool (probably 80 degrees), but once the temp hits HOT, the house gets hotter and we turn on the a/c. I have attic fans that automatically turn on at 100 degrees and pull the hot air out of the attic. Overall, the house stays comfortable.

Darla and I will have a pool party next Saturday night after golf. We have our firecracker tournament and Bob is coming up from San Jose. We are going to invite them to stay with us Saturday and maybe go to church together on Sunday. We will cook shish-ke-bobs of steak and chicken with peppers, mushroom, onion and tomato. Each couple will bring a side dish or salad or dessert and we will have a party. I think the visit with Dad and Shirley got both of us ready to start entertaining by the pool again. It is supposed to warm up into the upper nineties by Friday and Saturday of next week. We will have a three day weekend and I'm ready for it.

Work is going great. We won't hit our lunch goal this month because we lost our biggest account, a $430,000 auto account that moved to another carrier to save a few $$. We will however probably exceed our income from a year ago. The problem with large accounts is that they really eat into your top line, but you collect so little in income and fees, because of the competition. Everyone wants the large accounts because of the prestige. I'd rather write 40 $10,000 accounts than one $400,000 account. Our owner and CEO would like us to target larger brokers and larger accounts, and I will, but my focus will always be on the middle and small accounts because of the margins they bring and the overall profitability of the spread of risk. We will be down about $250,000 in premium this month, but up about $20,000 in net retained. In my mind, we've mitigated the loss of the large account and set ourselves up better for the future with a much higher renewal retention. My guess is we will get that account back next year.

David and Daniel are both hard on the job seeking trail. Daniel will have an interview this next week at Kohl's for a job where his cousin works. David has been sending his resume out to design and architecture firms and hopes to land something that will keep him busy this Summer. Neither of them worked last Summer and it is important that they experience life in the real world and not just the world of academics.

Darla is off at another party tonight and has a retirement sale tomorrow at one of the local restaurants. It is more likely that she won't hit her numbers and make the trip this year, but the last two months have re-energized her business and she is focusing on next year at this point and if Puerto Rico happens, it is God's will.

Darryl sent me a note last week regarding his possible trip here in October to play in Pebble Beach. He is in the middle of a few possible changes in his job and much depends on what happens there. We certainly would love to see him come out and play some golf. I know he'd have a great time. Neil would really like to see him as well.

Well, that's it. My back is starting to tighten up from sitting to long, so I'll say Adieu. Be well, be strong and enjoy life to the fullest. This isn't a dress rehearsal. Ciao.

Father's Day...a day late

It will be an interesting Father's Day as Dad will actually be here today on his way home from The Pomona Hot Rod Car Show in SoCal. The blog is a day late because for the first time in about two years, I wrenched my back over the weekend and have been pretzled ever since. I've been trying to get into my Bowen therapist. She offered me a 5:30 slot tonight, but Dad will be here for dinner, so I begged her to get me in sooner. She said she'd call if they have any cancellations. I have been fine since going on a maintenance schedule with Jane of treatments about every two months, but now that I need her, I get bupkus. This is the reason that I left Harry, who was my original Bowen therapist. He'd make me wait days in extreme pain before I could get in for treatment. You'd think that they could squeeze you in for an emergency. I'll get to see Dad today for the first time in 10 months and I'll be hobbling around bent over like a hunchback and looking twenty years older than him. Damn.
I should have waited another day to work on this and put in some pictures from their visit, but I am home now on a sick day bored out of my mind and the monitor was beckoning. The old 46 doesn't have air conditioning and Summer has arrived in Sacramento with 99 degrees on tap for today and 104 tomorrow. They have to drive up through Redding tomorrow on their way home and the forecast there is 108 degrees. Hopefully they get here early today and can stop driving before it gets too hot tomorrow, although they will be into Oregon and hopefully cooler temperatures by tomorrow night.
We have our adopted brother, Neil, coming over tonight to have dinner with us. Neil and Lilly came to Mexico with us two years ago and took Randy and Cake's spot on the trip and the joke has been he is the other brother since then. Darryl: Neil is still expecting you in Pebble Beach come October 15 and 16. I told him that Cheryl wouldn't be able to come and he said, "Well, that's one less flight he'll have to pay for." He'd like to go up Friday and play Pebble Beach or Spyglass. Let me know if you are considering this.
I'm not sure how I wrenched my back. It was sore Saturday when I played golf and even a little tender on Friday night during the Putting Championship over at Diamond Oaks. The guys at work (all younger than me) have been harassing me about riding the Lifecycle at lunch during the week at the gym while they all work out on weights. I finally gave in on Wednesday last week and worked upper arms, chest and back with them. I stayed right with them and they work out three days a week on the weights. they were impressed as was I, UNTIL the next day when I was doing a John McCain impression ( I couldn't lift my arms over my head). It actually got worse on Thursday as my shoulder blades hurt and my upper arms were on fire. It calmed down a bit on Friday, but my back started to stiffen up. The coup de grace was putting together the gazebo with Darla on Saturday. I was hoping the boys could do it, but they were off with their Dad doing something and we wanted to get the gazebo up for tonight. I woke up yesterday morning with a bit of a sore back, but when I bent over in the shower to dry my legs and feet, I spasmed and have been crooked ever since.
I did play golf on Saturday and I think my handicap index of 12.1 is accurate. I got 14 strokes at Woodcreek and shot a 43+43=86, 14 over par. It was the first time playing at Woodcreek, since they shut down to 9 holes for two months to rehab the front nine greens. The greens are in awesome shape and the two months without play have left the fairways thick and lush. Matt shot 78, Neil 96 and Darren 91. I have a golf game on Saturday ( a tournament) and hopefully, my back will be on the mend by then.
The boys will be back tonight and able to help us eat some tri tip. Darla has two full tri tips to be barbecued. Neil is bringing Cabo Wabo tequila and will make margaritas. I also have a nice Wattle Creek Triple Play red wine, a varietal with three different grapes and relying heavily on the Syrah varietal. I have really been enjoying the blended wines recently and will serve this tonight with the tri tip.
We are gearing up for our trip to Lake Almanor and will get the jet ski in on Thursday for it's annual Summer tune-up. John is trying to block Jennifer from bringing Samantha on the trip. I sent him an e-mail and asked him if he needed her back by Friday or Saturday and he sent a reply that I was aiding and abetting Jennifer in kidnapping her to California. I ignored him and will leave it to Jennifer to deal with his insanity. We bought the tickets to bring them out for a few days and hopefully cooler heads and strong meds will prevail in the end.
Well, I will add some pictures during the week of our visit tonight. So far, no call or even acknowledgement of my voice mail to Jane this morning. I'm a little grumpy over the whole thing. I hope you are all well, have good straight spines and are living a life you can be proud of. Ciao.

Spring Has Arrived One week before Summer!

Jennifer was kind enough to forward some pictures of my favorite granddaughter and I have posted them above. We will see them in about 4 weeks as we get ready for Lake Almanor. I have to get the jet ski in to have it Summerized for the trip. I will get Samantha and Jennifer's airline tickets this week. I'm really looking forward tot he trip this year. There will be some extended family from Darla's side here, so it will be good for Samantha to see family. I plan to take a walk with her every day and have some special time. It will be fun.

Spring finally arrived this week with temperatures in the mid eighties all week. It did cool off to 80 degrees for Saturday (the law of the working man), but it was nice as I played golf and it was very comfortable. It is supposed to stay in the eighties all of this week and in to next weekend so Vancouver and Seattle's weather seems to have been diverted back north where it belongs. I hope we have some extended Spring and don't bounce right into the nineties and above.

I spent the day today working on the yard and putting some "wet look" sealant on the stonework around the pool and on the stamped concrete on the deck. I used a 5 inch stain brush and did all of the work by hand. It turned out great, but my back is killing me. We are slowly getting ready for Summer in the backyard and went out last night and bought a new gazebo for the backyard. Our gazebo was left up over the Winter and a strong wind toppled it and knocked it twisted and torn into the pool. I was set on getting a large offset umbrella this year. but Darla won out last night by saying she REALLY wanted the gazebo instead of the umbrella. The fact that the 11'x11" gazebo is $199 and the offset solar umbrella was $299 probably swung the argument in her favor. If I was going to strand on my decision, I couldn't very well spend $100 more and have her not like it. It's not that I don't like the gazebo, it's just that I had a bad experience this year. I think I'll take the fabric down this Winter and it won't be blown around. We had cinder blocks to hold it, but the winds just lifted the whole structure up and tossed it ten feet into the pool.

Darla continues hard on her quest to win the Puerto Rico trip. She has had one cancellation this month, but added two more June parties so she is on track. She had one of her reps over this week and they were working on a party in the evening. Kat called out and apologized for interrupting our evening. I told her I don't expect to get my wife back until July 1st. She had parties yesterday and today and got home about 5 PM both days and just hit the pool wit her iphone both days.

I played golf yesterday and the course was tough. It is Morgan Creek Country Club here in Roseville. I shot 42 on the front and skidded on the back nine putting up another 9 on the par 5 tenth hole and finishing with a 48 for 90. I did have two birdies including ne on a 178 par 3 dead into the wind. I stiffed a 5 iron and put it 3 feet from the hole for a birdie. I won $40 in skins and my net 76 took 4th place for another $28. I shot 90, was ticked at myself and still pocketed $68. I took Darla out to Strings for dinner last night and then we went over to the Home Depot and loaded up on essentials (pool chemicals, a new flag for the house, some sprinkler parts, a new outdoor clock for the pool, the gazebo, the sealant for the deck and pool, and a few other odds and ends). $400 later we were on our way home. I wasn't crowing about my golf, but it did buy us a nice dinner out I had lasagna pastry and tortellini and Darla had the brushetta chicken special. Good times.

I went out to lunch on Thursday with my boss and his wife, Rosie. They are a very cute couple and when Harvey went to the restroom, she was hitting me up for ways to get him to cut back to three days a week. I told her with his job it was impossible, but that she should be working on him to be home by 7 at night and work only 5 days a week. That would be a huge improvement. She agreed. They were on their way up to a conference at the Ritz Carlton in Lake Tahoe until Saturday. Good to see them get away. Harvey needs it.

The boys are both heading home for the Summer and (Please God!) jobs this Summer. Daniel has a line on a job through his Dad and David was going to knock on doors at Architecture firms to see if he can intern this Summer.

Well, this is short, but the Mavs are on the tube and the chicken on the counter isn't going to barbecue itself. Dad and Shirley will be here for a late Father's Day celebration next Monday and we will celebrate with Neil an Lilly. Neil is our adopted fourth brother and went to Mexico with us when Randy and Cake opted out. I hope all are well. Dad and Shirley are on the road to Pomona and a car show next weekend. Shirley was cut from a falling mirror in their master bathroom on Saturday and I think she used up all of the bad luck by standing next to the mirror when it fell off the wall. We look forward to seeing them next week. Ciao.

Happy 1st birthday, Lucas Hochanedal!

Mr Lucas turned one this past week and had a birthday celebration on Saturday. You can see from the picture to the immediate left that he likes cake. Whenever I'm around Lucas it makes me wish that Jennifer and Samantha lived closer and I am looking forward to next month and our trip with Jennifer and Miss Samantha to Lake Almanor. Lucas is a great little guy with a great personality. He was a little overwhelmed with all of the people and gifts and wanted to just play on the stairs. Now there's a one year old for you. He did perk up when the cake came out and didn't know what to do with himself while we were singing to him. He did hoe into his cake and make a complete mess of himself. Don tried to teach him the meaning and drawbacks to fire when he lit the candle on his cake and Lucas reached out to grab the flame. Alicia panicked and Don said that he just needs to learn. I would think second degree burns would probably not be a good lesson for a one year old, but that's just me.

I was supposed to play golf on Saturday at Woodcreek, but it poured rain all day. Boyd and Darren both opted out early for our 8:44 AM tee time, but Phamas called me at 8:00 AM and said he was over at Woodcreek and the course was empty (nice observation Sherlock, it's pouring rain!!). He tried to talk me into joining him for some mud golf, but I deferred. I went back to bed and slept in. When we finally got up I took Darla out to a late breakfast/early lunch and we both went with the lunch option. We then drove over to Alicia and Don's for the birthday party and then over to a used book store to reload and from there to church for the 5 PM Saturday service. We watched "Conviction" last night, a great little under the radar movie with Hillary Swank based on a true story. Two thumbs up from Darla and I.

The rain finally abated overnight and although spitting this morning, I was able to get in our Net Amateur tournament at Diamond oaks. It was a case for me of what could have been. The bunkers were wet and crusty and I was 3 over after five holes. On the 6th, I hit a booming drive to the edge of the canyon and then topped a three wood into the water, took a drop, hit my next shot into the bunker where I tried to play an explosion shot. I almost put the ball in the water behind the green, when the blade bounced off the sand and sculled my shot over the green. I took four to get in from there and put up a nine on the par 5 hole. I did mange to go even par over the final three holes with a birdie, a par and a bogey for a 43. The back nine was worse where I was one over after 15 and went bogey, double bogey, double bogey (the dreaded devilish 6-6-6) to finish with a 42 and 85 for a net 72. It was a case of what could have been as I limped home with a 5 over finish the last three holes. Our handicap chair will adjust my score to 83 when he posts it.

Tomorrow is our Insurance Golf day and we have had some interesting weather and events leading up to the tournament. Gail from my office was on the golf committee with me this year and volunteered to take care of getting the 144 sleeves of golf balls for the check in table. I walked by her office on Wednesday and she had a carton on her desk. When I asked what it was, she said the balls for the tournament. I asked where the rest of the balls were. She got 12 dozen balls which is 144 golf balls. In her confusion, she asked me, "well, how many balls in a dozen?" I looked at her and then told her to Google it. She had to go out and buy another 24 dozen balls, which luckily the committee was willing to pay for as I wasn't. I also ordered 12 dozen personalized golf balls for our office in March and when they hadn't arrive by the Friday before Memorial Day, I called our marketing group. They told me they had been on back order, but finally went through production and would be in my hands by Thursday. I looked online Thursday afternoon to check the tracking order and saw that they had been signed for and arrived. A "Chin" had signed for them. I don't have a Chin in the office and when I looked closer saw that they had been delivered to our San Francisco office. Harvey was nice enough to have them overnighted to us which cost close to $100. These are Callaway Warbird balls. At the cost spent, I could have had ProV1 balls personalized locally and saved about $75. The balls are for the players in our three foursomes and for the raffle tomorrow night. The forecast for tomorrow is light rain early clearing off in the afternoon and getting back into the eighties by next weekend. It's about time.

Darla is still hard into her quest for Puerto Rico. it is an uphill battle but she has 14 parties planned in June and was even in Monterey on Friday night at a home party. It is still almost out of reach, but she is putting a hard rush in to qualify. Darla is one focused young lady when she puts her mind to something. she is amazing.

Today was overcast and warm with highs in the seventies. It felt like being in the golf course in Hawaii after a rainstorm. The ground was wet and the humidity was high and when the sun came out, it was sweltering. Tomorrow will be a similar day. I'm heading in to the office in the morning and then will head over to the course about 9:30. My only responsibility this year was to buy the prizes for the golf and got Ruth Chris gift certificates for first place, McCormick and Schmick for second, Olive Garden for third and Strikes Bowling certificates for last place.

Here's hoping the weather improves. We had a funnel cloud on Wednesday (hard to call it a tornado), but winds were 120 MPH and it destroyed a barn in Sutter County. We then had another round of hail, heavy rain, lightning and thunder. I posted on my Facebook that if I wanted to live in Kansas, I'd move to Kansas and then shoot myself. I forgot my brother-in-law was from Kansas and he was offended. What he needs to realize is that people in California are not lining up to move to Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Wyoming or Oklahoma.

Well, that is the Blog for another week. I hope all are well, living a solid life and being nice to each other. Ciao.