Kind of sorry I joked about the Dog Days of August last week

Heat. It can be oppressive and relentless and we are on our fourth straight day with a high temperature over 105 degrees. It seems that no matter how moderate the Summer has been, it will always have a stretch of days over 100 degrees. I know it's not Texas or Kansas City with heat and humidity and our humidity has averaged about 30% (It's a dry heat!), but HOT is HOT. Our pool is sitting at just below 90 degrees and it is truly a bit of a bath. Luckily the 90 degrees is only the top foot of water and it is much cooler when you dunk yourself completely. The forecast for the rest of this week is 107 to 103 degrees through Friday and perhaps cooling down to the mid nineties on Saturday.

Heat and golf don't mix well, but my game lately has been as hot as the weather. I played in our twilight league on Thursday night. It was 106 degrees when we teed off and the sky was hazy with smoke from the Belden fire up near Lake Almanor. I went out in the heat and double bogeyed the first hole and then kicked it into gear, going 1 under par over the next eight holes to shoot a 37. I finished birdie birdie and anchored our team to a win over the second place team 14 1/2 to 5 1/2 to move us back into first place. We play the third place team on Thursday. My partner had a touch of the flu and had a wardrobe malfunction before the round, whereby he had to have his wife bring him a new pair of socks, underwear and shorts. You will have to do the math. I pulled into the parking lot and he was standing with his shirt untucked and a sock and shoe off, looking like death warmed over. I guess you can say I carried the team as he shot a 43.

Yesterday was the Rose Cup team qualifying tournament and again the heat was on with a day at 105 degrees. We teed off at 8:55, but it was 100 degrees when we walked off the course. I shot 40+40=80 and my net 70 didn't qualify for the team. There was a 65, two 66's and a 67 that made the four man squad. I finished 6th out of the 14 contenders in my flight with my 70.

Today was just a Power Hour round at 6:45 AM and Darren and I decided to move up to the white tees and play with Boyd up there. Boyd is 72 years old and he managed to shoot his age today with a 34+38=72. I shot 38+40=78 and Darren shot 90. It was nice to get done before the heat hit  and we were off the course at 11 o'clock. Darren stopped Boyd at one point and told him that he was standing too close to the ball on the tee. Boyd just about had me in tears when He looked at Darren and said, "I've really lost my touch if I have to take golf advice from you, Darren."

Darla had a Silpada party at her Mom's house on Saturday morning and then a Silpada gig at a winery up in El Dorado. I was scheduled to go with her and was all set and suddenly, she had one of her reps replace me. She told me Friday I was out and left to my own devices on Saturday night. I took a trip out to the casino for a spot of video poker and some dinner. I took $140 and spent about 90 minutes at a quarter machine and walked away with $363. I had dinner at the Beach Hut Deli, a nice local chain that is now part of the food court at Thunder Valley. I was home by 8:30 and watched some of the Olympics and Sports Center until Darla got home at ten o'clock. Darla had a booth at a wine event at the winery that had music, food and tasting. She was in line behind an older guy and he had two hot dogs that he put two huge scoops or pickle relish on. Darla commented to him that it was a LOT of relish and the guy went off on her about not needing another mother and he knew what he wanted to put in his mouth, etc. She was totally put off by it.

I worked on the pool, cleaning the tile on Saturday afternoon and it is a time consuming and tedious process. I use muriatic acid and a brush to clean the calcium deposits off the tile. As I was working my way around the perimeter of the pool, I got a cramp in my right calf and it tightened up like a steel ball. I dropped the acid and the brush and limped over to the steps and worked out the cramp. Ouch!

Today we just relaxed on the pool and I sat for awhile in the air conditioning and watched the PGA Championship and the Giants game and slept for a little bit. Darla was tired from her busy weekend and a massage she had at noon. I was tired from being up early and all of the sun I had over the two days golfing.

I hired two new entry level employees this week. Both are young, recent college graduates and will bring a lot to the team. One of them, the new data entry person starts tomorrow and the other, an endorsement specialist, will start next Monday. I am up to 23 people in the office now and we are on track to do $20,000,000 in premium writings this year. They would prefer me to do about $1,000,000 per employee, but my goal for 2013 is $25,000,000 and I need to get the horses ready for that run.

Well, again, there is not much news around here. We talked to Dad and Shirley tonight and Neil and Lilly had a great trip to Surrey and Dad and Shirley enjoyed their company. Neil and Lilly had a great time. Here is a note from them to us: "Hi Ken, Lil & I are in Edmonton, a bit of a let down after the fantastic weekend we had with your folks in Vancouver. You are absolutely the most blessed man I know of to have such gracious and caring parents as you. We were treated to one of the greatest and most unforgettable visits that Lil and I have ever experienced." Pretty high praise from two people that I greatly respect. Have a GREAT week. Ciao.