Lake Almanor is Paradise, but actually is closer to Chester, CA

Another successful vacation in Almanor is in the books. The weather was excellent, in the nineties every day and the water was warm, calm and fantastic. The cabin was near perfect, except for a lousy sofa bed that they insist on leaving in the cabin year after year.

 Jennifer almost didn't make the trip because she had a couple of checks that hadn't cleared her bank and couldn't rent a car for the trip. Her truck has a few mechanical issues and broke down recently on a trip to Los Angeles and she didn't trust it on that far of a drive. Her brothers and step-mom came to her rescue with a loan and she was able to get her little rental Hyundai Elantra and get on the road. I was golfing when all of this came down and they were able to help her out of her jam. She left for Roseville about noon Saturday where she spent the night at our house and was to meet up with Daniel Sunday for the trip to Almanor.

I played in our Firecracker event, shooting a 79 and taking second low net with a 68 before heading home, showering and getting on the road to Almanor with Darla. We drove up, stopping for dinner in Oroville and got to the resort about 7:30 PM. Jennifer was still on the road and I took a picture of the lake from the deck and texted it to her with "Hello, Almanor". Her response was, "Hello Fresno!" Nice.

David and I got the ski in the water Saturday morning and drove it over to our little beach below the cabin. Earl put his boat in and also moored it along the beach as they had a few dock spaces that were damaged in the wind the week before and space was at a premium. Almanor is calm and smooth as glass in the morning, but the wind comes up nearly every afternoon and the chop starts and by mid afternoon it is whitecaps and waves pounding the beach. The ski was taking a pounding and David swam out and put in the anchor from Earl's boat and we hooked the ski up every evening to the anchor, where we left a buoy tied to the clasp end of the rope. That problem was easily solved and I will get an anchor for the ski next year so we are set.

The ski ran well all week and I'm guessing we went through about 50 gallons of gas and two gallons of oil for the week. We tend to get the teenagers and young adults over from the gang and they want to use the ski. Funny, Jennifer got in about 1 PM Sunday and I was cooking sausages for lunch and they were almost ready. She took one look at the lake and changed into her swimsuit and was on the ski before you could turn around. I guess she didn't drive 13 hours to eat.

We did have one unfortunate incident on Jennifer's last day at the resort. She was out wake boarding and took a bad fall and we think injured her eardrum. She had a bad ringing in her ear and then some blood that came out. She googled the injury and ended up packing her ear with cotton balls and keeping water out of it. She is supposed to see her doctor tomorrow, but as of yesterday was feeling much better and had regained hearing in that ear. It was very painful for her and scared her as well. Hopefully she is okay.

The boys just came by and helped put the jet ski back in it's spot behind the shed and in the backyard behind the double gate and driveway on the side yard.

They are both ready to get serious about finding jobs and will be working and networking this week on jobs, internships and opportunities in their respective fields. Robert, who is married to Darla's cousin, Carol, was up at the reunion this year and his brother is the main engineer for the Modesto Irrigation District and is looking for an intern, preferably with a degree in civil engineering from Cal Poly. Daniel will follow up with him this week. Robert said that he has trouble getting any interested students to move to Modesto.

I did play golf at Bailey Creek again this year. Initially we had two foursomes and that whittled down to 5 players, but when it came time to play, only Robert and I made it to the course. I got us a 7:50 tee time on Thursday and they paired us with two very good golfers, one from Napa and the other from New Brunfield, Texas. One shot a 34 on the front side and 75 for the round, the other shot 76. I managed an 83 and Robert shot a 105. It was a lot of fun and the course was in excellent condition. Robert and I stayed afterward and had a drink and ate lunch at the bar.

Jason and his girlfriend, Lucy, came up and spent Tuesday night with us. David took them out for a boat ride with Earl's boat and it broke down. The starter was bad and Jennifer had to tow them back with the jet ski. Earl had the boat fixed by the time we left, but the waves were so bad on the shore during the week that they had worked his swim dock at the back of the boat loose and he has to fix that now. What do they say about boats? It is like digging a hole in the ground and throwing money into it.

I grew a beard during the vacation, actually starting it when we were in San Francisco and letting it grow up until we got back from Almanor. I shaved it off this afternoon and with it the mustache that I've had for the last 38 years. I should have shaved it off before Almanor, because now I've got a light line around my mouth and upper lip where the sun hasn't been able to tan the skin completely. Oops.

I did play golf again today with Darren, Boyd and Andy. We teed off at 6:50 AM. I shot 43+40=83. Sounds decent, but my index has dropped on 7/15 to 8.7, which gives me a 9 on Diamond Oaks. Now I have to shoot 81 just to shoot par on the course. It is my lowest index so far.

Darla leaves for Kansas City and her conference with Silpada on Wednesday morning. She plans to call Darryl and Cheryl and see if they can get together while she is there. We will give you guys a call tomorrow night to see if it works out for Darla to see you and maybe come by the house.

Well, that's it for this week. Pray for me as I will be batching it for the next week. Darla gets home on Sunday. I hope your week is wonderful. Be well. Ciao.