Easter Rainfall

 

Happy Easter to my friends and family. We awoke to some much needed rain this morning and I had to drain about four inches from the pool as it was up to the top of the tile. Some of the flowerbeds had also overflowed and there was some bark washed into the pool. I put some fertilizer down on the lawn on Friday, so it was good timing for that. I also worked on fixing the switches for the two fans in our lkiving room and family rooms. The prior owner had wired them together so that the fan switch worked both fans and the light switch worked the light on both fans. Darla and I want to be able to turn on the lights individually and don't need the light on in the living room when we are in the family room. I worked for two hours trying to figure out the maze of wiring in the switch box and now one control works both lights and the fans are on all the time. I need to get one of my electrician friends over to look at the wiring. Jennifer could do it, but I don't know when she'll be back in town. As a Handyman, I often find that paying someone to do the job beats me messing it up.

I received a nice e-mail from Neil today that was touching. He was looking at his life from the standpoint of his recent stroke and how he wants all of his friends and family to realize the sacrifice that Jesus made for each of us and to live our life to the fullest because you never know when your time is up and tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. Darla and I also heard a strong message from her Dad on Saturday night about living our life in faith and to stop chasing the almighty dollar. My life has been blessed by our LORD immeasurably and I probably work less hours than most of my colleagues (other Branch Managers). I try to work hard and smart in the 50 hours that I do put in, but do try hard to have a balance in my life. The one thing that Darla and I need to do more of and make a priority in our life is to get back into a Life Group at church. Earl was pretty convicting and he is taking inventory of his life as he gets older and freely sharing his wisdom with all of us.

 

We went to Alicia and Don's house for dinner last night and watched Lucas find Easter eggs in his backyard that were not very cleverly hidden. Don smoked a tri tip in a smoker in his backyard.The meat was great, but it was a little smokey for my tastes. Darla fixed a turkey tonight and it was a 25 pound bird she bought at Christmas time and it was just for the two of us. It was nice. We had a good weekend watching both "Argo" and "Lincoln". I liked both movies, but enjoyed Argo much more. It was well done and Afleck is a great actor.  Daniel Day Lewis did a great job with Lincoln and brought out his humor and his humanity. The time period and the story itself was just a little gray compared to Argo.

 

We finished a record month at work. I remember talking to the staff at the beginning of the month and we were staring at a budget of $300,000 net retained and $2,000,000 in premium. Both numbers are new records for my office. I warned them to work hard, but not be unhappy if we fell a little short of our goal. Our largest prior month was $1,885,000 in premium and $285,000 in net retained. We closed Friday at $2,180,000 in premium and $322,000 in net retained! I learned never to underestimate my staff. It was incredible and I will take the staff to lunch this month at the Spaghetti Factory. I was very happy with the results and the fortitude shown by my employees.

 

Jennifer is in Vegas with Samantha and texted me the two pictures above. We did Face Time with Sam this morning and she was in a great mood as she hung out with Mommy. There was one bit of sad news as the day played out and that is that Kippy, Jennifer's ex Michael's dog had a tumor rupture in his stomach last night and Michael had to have him put down today. Kipp was 13 years old and had gone blind a month ago.

 

I did end up going and seeing Dale at the Golf course this week and getting a lesson. He spent about five minutes watching me hit 8 irons and told me that I was going WAY TOO FAST. He also noticed that I wasn't bringing the back of my left hand through the hitting area square. I'm working on slowing down, taking a breath before I hit and visualizing my shot. I'm working on a new pre-shot routine and working on bringing the logo of my golf glove through the hitting zone squared up. I've played twice since my lesson and it is a work in progress. I shot 85 on Wednesday at Morgan Creek with one of the Vice Presidents at USLI Insurance. He flew in on Tuesday and found out that his license had expired. He is from Los Angeles and had to take a cab from the airport to Woodland, CA and get a replacement driver's license before he could rent a car. Saturday I played in the Diamond tournament and shot an 88. I was hitting the ball much better on the back side Saturday and shot a 41 to finish the round.

 

We are off to Fort Worth on Friday for Jenny's wedding. We are both looking forward to getting away and seeing family. The venue and the hotel both look incredible and we are excited to see Jenny and Alex tie the knot. Given that we will be gone, the blog will be late next week. I will take a week off from golf and could probably use the break. I hope you all had a tremendous Easter and celebrated more than eggs and bunnies and gave thanks to our Saviour, Jesus Christ, for dying in our place so that we can live life everlasting. Amen to that. Ciao!