The calendar may not agree, but the first 100 degree day is due tomorrow and today was 98 degrees. The heat is on and the pool is open and in use. We went to church this morning and I went into the pool after breakfast to clean the tile. The water is at 80 degrees, which is fine, but I was cleaning the tile from a lounge and when I pulled over to the steps, I went to step out of the lounge and totally missed the step and ended up under the water. It actually felt pretty good. I stayed in the pool and relaxed until we had to leave for Charlie and Frieda's party this afternoon at three o'clock. We are all heading to Bodega Bay in late June and for the first time, Frieda is not golfing the first day and wanted to get everyone together to discuss what the girls would do and who she was driving with. When we finally got to the discussion, we all just said we'd work it out when we got there. Frieda was frustrated. Oh well.
This was a busy week with our annual Insurance Association golf day on Monday at Serrano Country Club. My team shot 62 and tied for third (the first two teams and last place got paid). It was fun. Burns and Wilcox hosted the putting contest again and I had Odyssey Versa putters for the closest man and woman. One of my male agents, Doug, who was playing Pete's group, won the men's side.
Tuesday night Darla and I headed to Walnut Creek for a claim deposition that I was deposed for. It turns out that the plaintiff attorney hurt his back and the deposition was postponed. I already had a hotel, so we went ahead and did the deposition preparation. Darla drove down with me and we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on Main Street. We drove downtown after the deposition and strolled the shopping area before finally picking a restaurant. We ate at an upscale Chinese restaurant and really enjoyed ourselves.
We drove back Wednesday and stopped off in Galt to see the paint job on our rental. The guy did a tremendous job with the repairs and the paint. The rental looks so much better, although the lawn looks horrible. They had to dig up the stump after the tree was removed and the whole left side of the lawn by the driveway is missing grass. I never did pay for the tree removal as they dropped it on the roof and broke some tile. They couldn't find a bull nose end piece for the slope and I had the paint guy repair it. I told the tree guy I wasn't paying for the tree removal until he fixed the roof. He stopped calling me about two months ago and decided to forget my bill as he knew it would cost him more than the $350 he would owe more to have a roofer repair the damage.
You can also see a picture of the palm tree in the backyard of the rental. It was a 2 pound $1.99 Payless special back in 1995 and is now a 60 foot giant in the backyard. I also have another palm that is about 25 feet tall. Pretty amazing.
Thursday morning I was up at 5:30 and off to Eureka, CA for another golf tournament with the Humboldt County Insurance Agent's Association. It was a five and a half hour drive up and I got there at noon for the 1 PM shotgun. There was no parking left as they had a morning shotgun for the members at Baywood Country Club. I had to park out on the course adjacent to the 9th fairway. Most of the cars just parked along the road, but I put my car directly behind a huge tree.
This is the tournament that I played with Matt, my old employee who left for greener pastures with a competitor.
My back has continued to bother me and I pulled it on Monday when I was taking one of the sponsors out to their hole at the Sac Golf Day. The sponsor was a Collision repair facility and they had a margarita machine. That wasn't the problem, i5 was the gas generator with 15 gallons of gas in it. I tried to help lift the generator and I felt a pull in my lower back.
When I finished lunch and made it to my cart, Matt walked up and said hi. He was in the cart next to me and I told him it was the wrong cart. It actually belonged to the group in front of us. He grabbed his bag and moved to our second cart.
Anyhow, I was on Advil and exercise and the 5 1/2 hour drive didn't help at all. My back was killing me. I took two Motrin and it took me about four holes for it to kick in. We ended up shooting a 64 and taking second place in the tournament.
When we finished playing and were putting our bags away, Matt realized that he left his wallet in the other cart. We were all going to dinner afterward and blowing off the buffet and awards. He scrambled around trying to find his wallet. I talked to one of the guys in a cart from in front of us and they said they didn't find a wallet.
We went back in to the clubhouse to say goodbye to everyone and ran into the other two players in front of us and it turned out one of them had put the wallet in his pocket thinking it was his. Really? He gave the wallet back.
We went to Abruzzi's restaurant in Arcata and had the filet mignon and gnocci preceded by clams and calamari. A Regional VP from Blue Shield joined us along with his sales manager came with us, along with the two agents we played golf with. Toward the end of the evening Matt used the restroom and left his hat and wallet on the table. Again? I grabbed it and stuck it in my pocket.
When the bill came, Matt made a big show of paying it, grabbing the bill and reaching for his vanished wallet. His face turned green and he looked at all of us with a confused look on his face. I handed him the wallet and he was relieved. Our agent in Redding, Chris, picked up the bill and we headed to the hotel.
There was an after party at the Red Lion, but I decided to turn in early as my back was sore. I drove back Friday via the Redwood Highway and you can see the windshield pic of the "tunnel of trees" that I drove through on Highway 101. I stopped in Willits and had lunch before stopping to see an agent in Ukiah.
I got home about 4 PM and met Darla on the pool. She had to leave pretty shortly afterward for a graduation at Luke's day care. I had poker that night at Steve's house in Roseville. We had a large storm blow in that night and had strong winds, rain, thunder, lightning and hail as we sat in his backyard and played cards. The hail was particularly loud on the metal roof of his back patio. I had a particularly good night and won about $85 from my friends.
Saturday was our last NCGA qualifier of the year and I finally had the round I've been searching for this year. My handicap is up to 17 and I got 16 because I play from the white tees now. The rating between the blue and whites is a difference of one stroke. I shot 41 on the front and finished with a birdie-par and the par on nine was after a missed 8 foot putt. I shot a 40 on the back nine and finished double bogey-bogey. My 81 less the 16 strokes was a 65 and I was the low qualifier. The other three qualifiers all shot net 66. I will move on to the regional qualifier with the other Nor Cal qualifiers in late August. This is the second NCGA qualifier I will play in as Steve and I will play our Senior 4 ball regional qualifier in July.
Jennifer and McKenny have their tickets for Nuevo Vallarta in December and will fly in with all of us. We are really looking forward to a family vacation with Dad and Shirley at the resort in Mexico.
Well, that's it for this week. I have two new employees starting this week and have several more interviews this week as I look to add one more piece to the puzzle. I'm looking to get back to being one of the star offices of the company. It is a process and it all takes time. Be well this week. Darryl and Randy and their wives are together in Maui this week I wish them all well and am quite envious of their vacation. I plan to post a lot of pictures from our trip in December. Be warned. Ciao!
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