It is one of those dreary, rainy Sundays where a blanket and a warm spot on the couch seem to hold the most allure. It has been a warm storm with about three inches of rain so far. We hadn't seen rain here in the valley since early December, so this is very welcome locally. Unlike Vancouver where it rains incessantly, we actually cheer the rain here. The only complaint I have is the weather folks who want to throw a wet blanket on things by complaining that this storm is a tropical storm and doesn't include much needed snow for the mountains. Well, the local reservoirs will go from half full to overflowing with the heavy rains from this weekend and we'll take it. You don't break a drought with one storm, but you can put a dent in it. I know when this finally slows down that I'll be out draining about four inches from the pool. You can see in the bottom picture through the pouring rain that the pool is getting near the top of the tile. It rained heavy on Friday and Saturday morning and we were actually between storms yesterday. I took the day to clean up around the house, wet mop the tiles floors and wood floors and do a bit of yard work. The fertilizer that I put down last weekend is getting soaked into the turf this weekend.
I don't mean to say that I do all of the housework around here, far from it, but Darla had a Christian Women's conference up in Grass Valley on Thursday and Friday and has been at Cal Expo the last two days at a girl's volleyball tournament. I usually play golf over the weekend and had a tournament planned up in Marysville today that was postponed because of the rain. I considered playing out at Diamond today if it didn't rain and you can see by the pictures how that worked out for me.
Darla and I did get caught back up with one another last night as we headed to church at 5 Pm and then went out to an early Valentine's Day dinner last night. She has another volleyball event up in Reno next weekend and I will join her up there. I had a gift card for McCormick Schmick's in Roseville and we decided to go out and celebrate the holiday a week early. We'll likely find a nice prime rib dinner in Reno next Saturday and enjoy a bit less of a fancy dinner. Our tag came last night and it was $71. When it came back to us it was $51. We brought it to the waitresses attention and she said it was correct. When we checked the bill, it showed a trout dinner and a pasta dish. Darla and I shared a rib eye and shrimp meal with a clam chowder bowl and an appetizer of calamari. The waitress was so busy, we couldn't hang around to argue, so we just paid the bill and got out of there. I don't feel you should have to fight someone to pay them more money.
Samantha has to have her two front teeth removed. The baby teeth are not coming loose and the permanents are starting to push through, so the dentist set up an appointment to remove them. He wanted to do it that same day, but Sam wanted to wait so she could prepare for it. She will have them removed on Friday. Jennifer probably should have had him do it that day and then Sam wouldn't have to think about it.
I had my new Personal Lines Underwriter start on Monday and I took Linda and the unit out to lunch. We tried to go to Sammy's restaurant downtown, but they were closed on Monday and we ended up at the new brew pub, Monk's. I only mention it because they have a British style pub food menu and I tried duck fat fries for the first time in my life. If my cholesterol wasn't so high already, I could see living on these things. They are crispy fried on the outside and when paired with a brioche arugula burger, life is good. I'm excited about the opportunities that we have with Linda's experience in Personal lines. She has sold insurance for 25 years and knows her stuff. We will write $30,000,000 in premium this year and we only had $2,800,000 in Personal Lines premium. My office is way behind in PL writings and I want to get our numbers up. We should be writing about $10,000,000 in the Personal Lines unit.
Our next couple of weeks are starting to look a lot like Dad and Shirley's schedule. As I mentioned, we are off to Reno next weekend and then we have Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic the following weekend. Darla and I fly out on a red eye on Thursday night and fly through Atlanta. We catch a 9:30 AM flight to Punta Cana and arrive on the island at 2:30 in the afternoon. Most of the crowd arrives on Saturday, but Darla and I are checking in a day early to enjoy a bit more fun in the sun. We stay until Wednesday and wanted six days and five nights instead of five days and four nights. We are staying at the Paradisus Resort in Punta Cana. The weather this time of year in the Dominican is mid eighties daytime and low seventies overnight.
We get back from that trip and two weeks later we are off to Scottsdale, AZ for Spring Training and Pete and my annual trip to see our carriers. We are bringing the girls this year. Pete and Vicki fly in on Friday and she will stay until Sunday night. Darla and I are driving in and will stay over until Wednesday. Pete flies back to Sacramento on Tuesday night. Darla and I will relax at the apartment on Wednesday if the weather is good and then drive on to Sedona for Wednesday night. From there, we drive on to Las Vegas and a weekend with Sam and Jennifer. We are not staying on the strip this time and will stay either at the Station Casino near their house or the Alliante Casino near there as well. Jennifer invited us to stay with them, but Daniel and Becky will meet us in Vegas and stay with Jennifer. Sam likes staying over at the hotel and we will get a room with two queen beds, so she can stay over and have a staycation. David may fly out as well and make it a real party.
I also bought a voucher for a two night stay at the Olympic Lodge in Pacific Grove. Darla and I both love the Monterey Peninsula and Groupon had a deal for two nights with breakfast for $139 and we couldn't pass it up. We will likely head to Pacific Grove in April and we also have a certificate for $99 companion flight to Dallas and will set up a date with Randy to come out for a visit and a bit of golf. Busy times.
The weather has stopped for a moment and I think I'll get out and drain out the pool while I have a chance. We expect a bit more rain tonight and into tomorrow and then it is supposed to clear up and warm up with 70's on tap for Saturday. Dad and Shirley were due back in Canada yesterday and we'll try and call them tonight and see how their vacation went. I hope everyone is happy and healthy. Be well. Ciao.
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