Enjoying the New Year

The Pro Bowl is droning on in the background. I enjoyed the first series when 6 Cowboys were on the field at one time. DeMarco doesn't have a contract and left right away as did Tony Romo who is 34 years old. I've included some pictures from dinner with Darla's Mom last night. We met them in Yuba City at Cool Hand Luke's for steak. It was great. I've also included some pictures of California flowers in Winter for those of you whose gardens are dormant. These are African daisies and they grow year round. They are best in Winter and early Spring. They get a little stressed in Summer and start to come back in Fall.

 

I had golf today, our first stroke play tournament of the year. It was the Super Bowl tournament and I actually showed up for the tournament yesterday thinking that the event was Saturday. Oops. The weather was terrible this morning, heavy fog and COLD. It did burn off about 11:30 and we ended up with 70 degrees this afternoon. I was as cold as the weather and shot 48+44=92. I four putted the 9th hole and then chipped in for eagle on 10. It was the only thing I did right all day. I had 65 yards in to the par 5 after driver, three wood and hit a half wedge which bounced twice on the green and hopped into the hole.

 

After hitting balls on Saturday, I drove home and then headed over to Home Depot and picked up a couple of quarter turn inlet valves for the other two bathrooms and a couple of new hoses for the cold and hot taps on the washing machine. I installed the valves that have compression fittings and they tend to have problems seating. I turned the water off and then went out and turned it back on after installing them. BOTH valves were leaking, one from the valve itself and the other from the flex line that runs from the valve tot he toilet. I got both of them fixed, but still had water on the one in the Master. David came home with me after dinner and he took the valve apart, reseated the compression fitting and tightened the nut tighter I hadn't seated the nut all the way on the threads and was afraid to over tighten it. They are working great now.

 

I had a call from my tenant right after Christmas and the sewer line had backed up again. The rooter service ran a camera through the line and saw where the roots from the tulip tree in the front yard had impacted the pipe. They rootered it out, but I needed to have the tulip tree removed, the stump ground out and the roots chased. I contacted a couple of tree removal companies. The first place wanted $800, the second $550 and the last one $450. I'd already called the second company and told them to come out. He hadn't called back to schedule the removal when I got the last quote. I called him and said he could keep the job if he could match the price. He was out last week and his crew cut down the tree and it hit the roof when it was felled. They broke about five tiles and are looking for replacement tiles to have it fixed. They also had to have another crew come out to remove the stump. What a mess.

 

My year has started kind of rough on my paychecks. I get my bonus in the first quarter and drop my 401k deductions from 17% to 12% for the first quarter. I set up to have it changed and somehow they changed it from 17% to 22%, instead of 12%. I called HO and alerted them. They checked their records and said that they would have it fixed. My last check had 27% held out for 401K. Supposedly it will be fixed for the next check to 9% Traditional 401K and 3% 401K Roth. My last check had 9% Traditional 401K and 16% Roth 401K. The trouble with Roth is it is post tax and killed my take home pay. When I was talking to our benefits coordinator last week, she said to me, "It would kill me if I had that much withheld." Really? Really?

 

I was able to get the car washed today, the lawn mowed and fertilized and the pool cleaned. We haven't had rain since early December and I had to actually add about six inches of water to the pool.  It was an awesome afternoon, clear blue sky and a hot sun. Darla had a jewelry party this afternoon and we went in the spa when she got back. It was a cloudless evening with a half moon and stars and we enjoyed catching up on our day. Darla took one of her friends to church with her today. The lady is having open heart surgery on Wednesday and is not a Christian. She believes that all religions lead to God, from Buddhism, Judaism, Mormonism, even Islam. Darla took her to church today and they had a nice philosophical conversation at lunch.

 

Darla and I bought tickets for the Trailer Park Troubadours and will get together with Neil and Lilly, John and Camille, Bob and Debbie and Pete and Vicki this coming Saturday at the Crest Theater downtown. We will have dinner first at a new Italian restaurant in the K Street Mall and then enjoy the show.

 

We have no plans for Super Bowl. Darla is working a Volleyball tournament at Cal Expo next weekend, so we will just relax. I MAY play golf that morning. All of the courses offer early shotgun golf with cart and breakfast for a cheap price. I'll check with Paul to see if he is up for playing.

 

Well, that is it for this week. I hope you are all doing great, enjoying the New Year and your families. Be well. Ciao.