Where's Darla?

This will be the last of the Almanor pictures. All great things must come to an end. It was a blast and we enjoyed seeing everyone and we'll do it again next year.

 

Darla has been gone all day on a Silpada event on a houseboat in Lake Oroville. She told e she'd be home about 6 PM. I talked to her at 6:30 and she was waiting for a tender to come and get them off the houseboat and bring them back to the dock. She told me to go ahead and grab dinner. She went with her friend, Denise, and it was an all ladies event. She texted me about 8:15 and said that they were stopping at Red Robin for dinner. What's the matter with fast food? I thought she'd be anxious to get home ad see her stud husband. I guessed wrong. Should I be worried?

 

I have been struggling with this finger all week. I played golf on Thursday night in league and thought that the finger wouldn't cause me any problems. The middle finger of the left hand doesn't touch the shaft of the club in a golf swing. What I didn't realize is that when I strike the ball, that finger tends to make contact with my right wrist and Thursday night I broke open the nail bed and it got bleeding again. I shot lousy.

 

I've been in the market for a new driver for awhile. The spring like effect on the face tends to diminish over time and you slowly start losing distance. I've been looking at the new Fly Z plus Cobra drivers as both Boyd and Andy hit those and hit them long. One of the guys in the shop has all of his clothes and cubs supplied by Puma/Cobra and he is usually dressed like Ricky Fowler. He told me that the price on the Fly Z would drop on July 15. It did, but dropped from $425 to $329. The Titlist 915 D driver dropped from $499 to $299 and I bought a D2 on Thursday night with the book money I have in the shop. I didn't play with it Thursday night and wanted to get out this weekend and give it a run.

 

The scratch qualifier for the Club Championship was today and I asked Gary to put me in if there was an open slot. I had no intention of trying to qualify, but wanted to play with the guys and give the Titleist a run. It was a nice day today, but I struggled with approach shots and putting and shot 46+46=92 for a net 74. There were no handicaps in play today as it is the scratch qualifier and I moved back to the blue tees for the fist time in a year. There were 14 of us and the seven qualifiers shot 71, 73, 75, 76, 76, 78 and 78. I hit the driver long, but was both left and right and need to tweak the setting on the head. I hit a bucket of balls after the round today and was straightening out the drives.  

 

I had some fun in the office this week with a couple of personnel issues. My people are my most important pat of my work life and at times, my biggest headache. You know my struggles with the younger crowd and how they want everything handed to them and they want it now. This had more to do with some behavioral issues and some conflict on one of the teams. it all worked out in the end, but it was a tough week and there were some feathers ruffled. This coming off Monday, when we closed early and I took the whole gang out bowling as a team building event. It went over fabulously and everyone had a great time.

 

It will be a short staff this week with my assistant in Lake Tahoe until mid week, Pete in Virginia to see his daughter on her return from Bosnia (she is in the Navy and flies in a helicopter unit). I will be playing in a golf tournament in Santa Clara on Wednesday. It is the Senior 4 ball qualifier that Steve and I made it into earlier this year. The temperatures are supposed to head up into the 110 degree range by mid week and the weather in the Bay area is much milder, although they are slated for the lower 90's on Wednesday. it will be nice to get out of the heat. Steve picked the course as he knows it well from his days in San Jose.

 

Friday night we were invited over to Charlie and Frieda's for dinner and games. The games never happened, as dinner was served at 7:30 and I was beat by about 9:30 when we finished our dessert. We called it an evening at that point. We did get to swim and their pool with solar is actually warmer than ours. Our pool is at 85 degrees and going up this week with the heat headed our way.

 

 

I saw on the weather channel that Dallas was supposed to have its first 100 degree day of the year this week. It must be nice, we've had at least  a dozen days over 100 and the next week is forecast for another 6 out of the 7 days. Tomorrow is slated to be 97 degrees. Darla and I will go to church in the morning, have breakfast out and then relax in our pool. That will be the plan most of this next week, but she has a Silpada dinner meeting on Tuesday and I'll be in Santa Clara on Wednesday, hopefully home late afternoon and then I have twilight golf in the 108 degree weather on Thursday.

 

I didn't play in the twilight league this year, but Ron Floyd's partner quit mid year and I decided to help him out given that he is one of my agents. The league lasts only another four weeks and then we'll have a pizza party. Our team is in 5th place out of 14 teams.

 

The numbers at work continue to be down and I continue to get pressure from HO. You can't lose the 6th highest producing underwriter in the company and expect to replace him right away. My goal is to get back to where we were last year and approach our budgeted numbers in November and December. My two new underwriters are doing well, but they are brand new. It will take time and I don't feel like corporate has any grace for the situation that I'm in. It is a bottom line business.

 

Well, Darla finally showed up and she is staying and not moving out, so I guess she isn't changing teams. :-). I hope you all have a GREAT week and I'll be back at the keyboard on Sunday next. Ciao.



Midweek Update

I wanted to add a few more pictures from Almanor and bring you all up to date on things that happened over the weekend. I love the picture of Jen on the jet ski getting some air and of Sam, David and Luke on the kayak on the lake. The last picture is Darla's boganvillas in the back yard. Her babies.

 

Darla went to and enjoyed her annual conference in Kansas City. I dread the humidity in the south and Midwest and feel like I'm trapped in a room where someone just washed a dog while I'm toiling in the humidity. I can't imagine that that type of oppressive air adds to longevity. I digress. Darla traveled with one of her reps that has rheumatoid arthritis. Unfortunately, she also struggles with the internet and computers and when she made her flight, she took a flight out of Sacramento that went to Dallas and Darla flew a half hour earlier on a flight to Denver. They were to meet up in Kansas City and Darla was to arrive about 90 minutes before her rep. Darla is a dealer and when they offered anyone $500 to take a bump on the flight, Darla bit. She called me and asked what to do with her rep. I told her to tell her you got bumped. Now Darla was coming in 90 minutes AFTER her rep. It all worked out as her rep's plane was delayed two hours and they showed up within 30 minutes of each other. As Darla said, it was meant to be. Now we have $550 in credit with Southwest for our next trip to Vegas.

 

I took Darla and her rep to the airport at 4:30 AM and headed back to get another 90 minutes of sleep. I worked that day and then had to pick up one of the Managers from HO for a visit to my office. I picked her up at the airport at 6:30 and we drove over to the Morton's Steakhouse in Sac for dinner with Pete. We ate like bandits and I started to put the weight on that I lost on vacation. How sedentary is your life when you lose five pounds on vacation?

Thursday morning, I picked her up at her hotel in Roseville and we met Pete and one of his agent's for breakfast. I was back to the office for a half day and then off to Walnut Creek for the second round of Deposition Prep with our lawyers. Darla and I had stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on our last trip to WC, but the same room this time was $188. I decided instead to roll the dice on an Expedia "Hot Rate" listing for a 4 diamond hotel within 20 miles of Walnut Creek for $144. I ended up with the Lafayette Park Hotel, an absolutely grand old hotel in Pleasant Hill, 5 minutes west of Walnut Creek. It is an old English style hotel with marble staircases, wood walls, large overstuffed beds and furniture as well as wainscoting and rich crown molding and heavy carpets throughout the property. They also had five different courtyards built into the hotel design. It was absolutely decadent and I loved it. I got there early enough to relax by the pool and enjoy the charm of the spa and wait service on site. I have a few pictures above of the grounds.

 

The deposition on Friday was about three hours and the lawyer really grilled me. I think I kind of egged him on, because most of my answers early on were, "I'm not a claims person, nor a coverage expert." At one point he asked me that with a premium of over $9,000, wouldn't the insured expect to get some premises coverage at the apartment complex? I told him that our insured was by definition a named insured under the apartment complexes' insurance policy (and the lawyer's client), so it was more in his interest to be insured under that coverage form. He seemed to think that was an "A-HA!" moment as he jumped in and said then what was the property manager's insurance going to pay for? My answer was "the frivolous lawsuit that we are defending at the moment". He was not pleased! I think he kept me there about an extra hour just to make me pay for being a smart ass. It was a good experience and I got good feedback on my testimony by our lawyers.

 

Saturday, I was up early and Paul, John, Russ and I piled in the Explorer for a trip up to Marysville and our away event at Plumas Lakes. It is an old style golf course with shorter holes, but narrow, tree lined fairways. We had 34 players and the average score net was about 8 over par. I shot a 46+42=88 for a net 70 and took second low net. I won $48 in skins after picking up $30 from the prior tournament that was in an envelope waiting for me. Adding in the $35 for the tournament innings as well, it was a good day for me.

 

I got home a little after 5 and relaxed in the pool on a hot night. Darla called and told me that her flight that was supposed to arrive at 11:00 PM had been delayed three hours because the plane coming in from LA had been hit by lightning and taken out of service. They had to wait for that plane to arrive in KC and then take it to Vegas and on to Sac. The new arrival was 2:05 AM. I got a call from the husband of Darla's rep and he asked if I could bring her home rather than back to our place. He has MS and doesn't do well in the dark. OK.

 

I was getting up from my chair by the patio table next to the pool and used the armrest to push myself up. My left hand was gripped around the plastic armrest when it broke in two and the full weight of my body crushed my fingers between the plastic grip and the two metal tubes forming the arm of the chair. I was able to quickly sit back down, but the blood began running and my finger throbbed. I ran into the master bathroom and grabbed a towel to use as a compress and held it over my head. They say five minutes is a good time to get the bleeding to stop, but every time I looked, it was still spurting. I was afraid that I'd have to go to the Emergency room and that was the last place I wanted to be on a Saturday night. I finally got it to stop bleeding and inspected the wreckage. I have a large hematoma under my nail. The nail bed has torn loose and the length of my first knuckle was ripped open. I called a Physician's assistant with our Medical provider and she told me how to dress the wound and clean it. I kept it in gauze and bandages and decided to see how it looked Sunday.

 

I picked Darla up at the airport, we transported the package to Citrus Heights, dropping her at her door and then got home about 3:30AM. I fell into a deep sleep. Sunday morning I was up by nine and checked the damage. It looked better and had stopped weeping (so had I by then). I re wrapped it and Darla and I spent a lazy day watching golf and relaxing by the pool.

 

I will leave this again until Sunday and bring you up to date on what is my crazy life at that time. Be well. Ciao.

Almanor 2015

 

 

I am back at the keyboard after a glorious week away in Almanor. It has been a busy week since I got back with Darla off to Kansas City and her annual conference with her jewelry business. I had a visit from a Home Office Manager and went to Walnut Creek for the claim deposition that I've been preparing for over the past month. I was off to a golf tournament in Marysville today and Darla's return flight from Kansas City has been delayed from 11:30 to 2:30 tomorrow morning because the plane they were going to use out of Los Angeles to KC was hit by lightning and taken out of service. The planes in LA were grounded for 6 hours while the weather past.

 

Almanor was a different vacation this year as the weather was pretty iffy all week. We arrived on Tuesday and you could see the clouds building as we approached Chester and the Lake. Jennifer called and they were driving through Reno and the weather there was heavy rain and wind. They were delayed about 90 minutes as the rain was driven so hard that the road speeds were down to about 35 MPH.

 

It was dark in Almanor when we arrived, but so far no rain. Well, that didn't last as the cell landed right over us as we finished unpacking and wind came up, a little rain and then some heavy hail. I could hear the hail hitting the Plexiglas bubble in the second bathroom. I ran to the back bedroom to look at the car and saw Darla running like a crazy woman through the pelting hail and throwing a beach towel over the front end of the car. I opened the window and yelled that. "You're crazy!!". She just wanted to protect the car and the hail was about the size of ping pong balls.

 

McKenny and Jennifer got there about 4:30 and we ran out in the rain and helped them with Sam as McKenny carried Maceo, the dog, into the cabin. We visited for awhile and the weather finally died down so we could get them unpacked. We had a great visit, enjoyed dinner and played some games that night.

 

We woke up the next morning to sunshine. We had breakfast and took the jet ski down and put it in into the water. Jen tied it up to the slip while I ran the trailer back up to the cabin to store it. We ran the ski a bit, but the weather was turning again by shortly after noon and we had rain by 2 PM.

 

McKenny had received a phone call about a new contract that his firm was signing and he found out he had to be in Washington DC on Monday. Their plan was to stay until Tuesday, but they had to leave on Sunday so he could get on the plane Monday morning. Sam was not understanding of the change in plans. The boys and Becky were supposed to arrive Wednesday night and that got changed as David had extra work and had to be there all day on Wednesday. Sam had a little event on Wednesday night because of the two disappointments. She carried on and Jennifer really handled her well. I was very impressed with the way Jennifer stood her ground with Sam and settled the situation down.

 

The next day the weather was overcast and iffy and Jennifer and McKenny decided to go into town and do some shopping. Darla and I stayed with Sam and the dog and played cards and games. Sam got bored about mid morning and said to me that she wanted to "build" something. I took her out into the woods and we started gathering wood and built a teepee. Sam gathered moss and made a carpet for the floor and used pine cones to frame the carpeting. It was very creative.  

 

 

 

 

The boys and Becky arrived in the afternoon and it was a grand homecoming as Sam was really excited to see the kids. The weather turned sour again and we sat and played games and visited and made a huge dinner.

 

Friday Jen took the ski out in the morning and then Darla and I went out in the afternoon and ran the ski. The reeds in the water were really high and the water intake would get clogged. We had to get in the water and pull the reeds out of the intake to get the ski going again. The water was really shallow around the docks and in spots near the shore. We had to take the ski out about a half mile to get into deeper water.

 

Saturday Don put his boat in the water and David, Darla, Sam and Don's family took the boat over to get gas and then found a nice spot to pull the kids on the blow up raft behind. Sam was a little concerned about leaving Mom behind, but wanted to be with Luke. At one point she turned to Darla and said, "I didn't know this would be so much fun." When she was on the raft with David she told him, "This is the BEST day of my life!" Pretty dramatic, but pretty funny.

 

Saturday Darla's brother came into town and Earl and Frances, Darla's parent's took us all out to pizza on the peninsula, which is a tradition. They were celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary. We all had a great time and Sam and Luke played the whole time, coloring on the paper covering on the table and playing with Becky.

 

We went back to Don and Alicia's to visit and Earl took the opportunity with his whole family there to share his faith. He said that he and Frances were getting older and there was no guarantee that they would be with us much longer and it was important to him to make sure that we all knew Jesus Christ as our personal savior and that we turn our lives over to Him and assure our futures in Heaven. I was touched by his sincerity and by his courage and faith in sharing his inner hopes and prayers for his family. He told each of us that he prays for our salvation every day. It was powerful stuff.

 

We left about ten thirty as Jen and McKenny had to take off early that next morning. I went to bed about 11 and was pretty emotional saying goodbye to them. I'm very proud of how Jennifer is conducting her life. She is a very good Mom and McKenny and Jennifer are really good together. They work things out together and always discuss everything together. I was very impressed with McKenny's work ethic as he was on the phone every day preparing for their new venture, hiring workers and setting up appointments. They were up at 4 AM and I heard them as they were leaving. I got up to pee and said goodbye to Jen again as she was getting Sam into the car.

 

The boys left on Sunday afternoon as Daniel and Becky had an 8 PM flight. Darla and I had lunch in town with Don and Alicia and Steve and Kirsten. We went out on the water that afternoon and then had dinner at Don and Alicia's with Steve and Kirsten, Earl and Frances and Darla's aunt Tracy and uncles Stan and Junior.

 

Darla and I were up early on Monday and it was a glorious day and we ran the ski hard. Don and Alicia came out and Darla rode the ski out to deeper water and we tied the ski up to the boat and just floated for a few hours in the 80 degree heat. Darla and I called over to see how much cleaning we had to do at the cabin. The old owners gave us a small book that required cleaning the floors, the bathrooms, the kitchen and the deck. The new owners wanted us to wipe out the refrigerator. That's it. In fact they sent someone over to the cabin when we were packing up to make sure we weren't cleaning. I like the new owners.

 

We had dinner over at the Plumas Pines resort on the way out of town and the gang that was left joined us for dinner. It was a great visit.

 

The drive down the mountain was a little hairy in the dark. At one point we saw a deer on the side of the road and it freaked me out. He could have darted in front of the car and jet ski. I was pretty tense driving down the mountain and it turned out I was right to be as we came across two more deer that were jogging along the side of the road. As much as I thought I was prepared, I still swerved and luckily we kept the truck and ski from fishtailing, although it freaked me out pretty good.

 

I will leave it here and perhaps add more about the rest of my week later. We were able to relax at home on Tuesday and take it easy before Darla left for KC on Wednesday. I hope you are all good and I'll touch base again in the next day or two. Ciao.



The Blog is going on Vacation

 

The blog will miss a week next weekend, but the good news is that we will have an Almanor vacation with Jennifer and Samantha, David, Daniel, Becky and maybe McKenny as well as Darla's parents, her sister and family and her Hawaiian brother and his wife. I will come back with plenty of stories, pictures and memories of a fun time with family.

 

The pictures above are of our friends from church, Rand and Julie. We decided to have them over as we just spent tie with Neil and Lilly and Frieda and Charlie. We weren't sure if they were swimmers and let them know the rule..if you come to a Lyon pool party, you are expected to get in the pool. They told us they would be over at three. I spent Saturday morning cleaning the pool, trimming in the yard and putting a coat of water repellent on the back splash of the pool. I did not take a shower in the morning and it as a hot 100 degree day and I sweat through my work clothes, stripped them off, put on a swimsuit and spent about two hours in the pool. I got out about 2:30, took a shower and then sat down to get caught up on the professional golf tournament that I had taped. Darla came in about three and we waited for them to come over. I watched the golf and the recording was over and I was up to speed by 3:30. At 3:45, they called to tell us that they were stopping at the store to pick up some chips to go with the guacamole that Julie made. We visited a bit and I went out and sat by the pool and got a drink. They weren't here at 4:15, 4:30 ad we were perplexed. They finally showed up at 5:00 PM and we went out to the pool with drinks, chips, dip and swimsuits. All except Rand, who showed up in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. Darla and Julie floated on the lounges and Rand sat on the steps, while I sat in the pool on the long bench that is a continuation of the second stair in the shallow end of the pool and wraps around the end of the pool.

 

We had kabobs made with tri tip meat along with pork fried rice and potato salad. After dinner we sat and talked and waited for the fireworks from the Placer County Fairground about ix blocks from our house. We can sit in the back end enjoy the show, seeing only the higher fireworks that are shot up into the sky. If we had a seat up on our roof the view would be perfect. The finale was worth the wait as the sky lit up in color and light.

 

I played golf Friday and Sunday. Our regular group that plays every week welcomed about six guest and there were 22 of us playing in a blind draw for partners and total net score. I shot 42+41 for 83, net 66 and my partner, Chuck, shot net 67 and we won the $30. The weekday guys don't like us working stiffs coming in and taking their money, which made me enjoy the day even more. I got to play with Boyd, Andy and Neil.

 

I played again today and struggled with my drives on the front, shooting a tough luck 46. I figured out my problem with standing too far away from the ball and grooved my drives on the backside for a 41 and 87, net 72. I was tied for 4th place when I left. I should finish in the money. There was a little wind today and the scores were coming in well over par. I stayed on and helped Gary put in scores and finally begged off at 3:30 with five foursomes still on the course.

 

Darla and I had our car broken into on Wednesday night. We left the Explorer outside hooked up to the jet ski as we had a appointment with Yamaha on Thursday for Summerizing the ski. They change out the spark plugs, tune up the engine and make sure the engine is purring. Darla had left a small amount of her retired jewelry in the SUV and some degenerate broke the rear passenger door glass and helped himself to the jewelry. There were two boxes and it looks like the bonehead dropped one on the floorboard and took off with the other one. The car alarm will only go off if the door is opened.

 

Darla cleaned up the mess and got the ski in for its service. I called the insurance company and they arranged for Safelite to come out Friday to repair the window. David was to pick u the ski when it was ready and I called and left a message at 3:30 that it was ready. Darla tried to get hold of him and I headed to a Bowen appointment at 4 PM. When I got out of the Bowen treatment at 5:15, Darla called and couldn't get David on the phone. He had helped us get the ski out of storage in the side yard on Wednesday night, but apparently forgot 20 hours later that he was supposed to pick it up. I got home at 5:30, switched cars with Darla and ran over to the Yamaha service center to pick up the ski. Unfortunately the turn signals and brake lights weren't working on the trailer. The Yamaha guy thought that it was the ground on our Explorer. U-Haul put our hitch and wiring assembly on so we called them today and Darla rant the ski over at 4 on their advice. She got there about 4:20 and the place was jammed with trucks being returned from the weekend. She never got in and we plant to have her take it in at 8 tomorrow morning.

 

Jennifer is coming up to Almanor on Tuesday and we will arrive then as well along with Darla's parents. David will pick Daniel and Becky up from the airport Wednesday and head up after that. Darla's sister checks in on Thursday and her brother arrives Saturday. It will be a fun week.

 

Well, that is it for this week. I will be back in two weeks with all the pictures, stories, and news that is worth sharing with all of you. Be well. Praise God that w live in a free country and have a Loving God that helps to direct our paths. Ciao or now.