Great memories. Sam is now in San Diego with her Dad on a final vacation before school starts for her on August 24th. Jennifer's Mom will be in Vegas later this week to spend the last of Sam's Summer with her. We had a blast with them while they were here and cherish all of the memories that we made.
If you look closely at the sign next to Sam on the fifth picture down, you'll notice that the sign reads: "Unattended children will be given espresso and a free kitten." That was a sign at High Hand Nursery. Fun times.
Work continues to confound me. There isn't a great deal of patience being shown to me in allowing me time to get the office back on track. I plan to have a conference with my boss tomorrow to ask for some grace. I have a plan and I also have some young, inexperienced Underwriters on the front lines and I'm extremely happy with" slow and steady". We are close this month to equaling our numbers from August of 2014, which is a win for us. I'll get this turned around, I just need support and time.
I didn't play golf yesterday which is rare for me. I went out to Darla's Car Show event with her and helped her set up and then went out and got some pool supplies and nursery items for the house. I planted a new palm in the backyard above the pool and also cleaned the pool backsplash and tile of calcium buildup. I then resealed the backspash with Thompson's Water Seal and did the chemicals in the pool. I tried to get the mower going and failed. I had a Toro Mower for 16 years and finally replaced it with another Toro in March. The front lawn is dormant and hasn't been mowed in weeks. I tried to start the mower last weekend and couldn't and ended up trimming some of the lawn with my weed whacker and decided to work on the mower after Jennifer and Sam were back home.
Darla came home about three thirty and we planned to go to church. I told her we were returning the mower to Home Depot. We loaded it up and enjoyed church and then went over to the Home Depot. They told me that the mower needed to be sent back to Toro to be repaired. I wasn't pleased and they called a Manager in the Garden Center and he came over, saw how new and clean the mower was, checked the air filter and smelled gas. He told me the carburetor was shot and agreed to replace the mower, so we brought a new one home with us.
Today, it was 106 degrees and one of my agents decided it was a good day to play golf. He was bringing one of his buddies who owns another agency that I work with. I had to go, but it was brutal HOT today. I think I drank about two gallons of water out on the course. I shot 43 on the front, but struggled to a 46 on the back and was toast by the time we were finished. Ron himself shot 41+50=91, so that's what he gets for a 10:30 tee time on a day that hits 106 degrees.
We had a lot of laughs on the course today and none more than when the group in front of us left a club on the green. Paul and I drove up to the green they were playing on the next hole. They were all big guys and the largest of them walked up with a quizzical look on his face. I said, "Hey, we've got a bone to pick with you guys!"He put his hands out and said, "Dude, it's too hot to fight." They had a good laugh when we pulled out their club and handed it over, We hadn't had any problems with them, but you always wonder when someone pulls up in a cart and wants to talk.
Darla was waiting for me when I got home and we dunked into the pool and the heat of the day seemed to melt away. I cooked chicken kabobs for dinner on the barbecue and she is making some Silpada calls to clients right now and I'm working on the blog. I finally got her pictures uploaded from her cell to the computer and she didn't have any pictures of Daniel and Becky from breakfast last Saturday and that surprised me. The top picture of Benihana is one that the restaurant takes themselves and I downloaded it from their website.
It is supposed to be HOT the next four days with temps ranging from 109 degrees to 100 degrees on Thursday. It IS the Dog Days of Summer. Thursday is the final night of Twilight league play and we will have our Pizza Night that night at the pizza parlor up the street from our house.
It should be an interesting week of work this week as I have several companies coming in to visit and Pete is out from Wednesday on in Mexico for a four day vacation. I'm continuing to work on the teams in the office and massaging the team players. It is kind of more a science than an art as I work with personalities and individuals.
I brought an idea up to Darla today that I'm toying with and that is eventually selling both our house and the rental and downsizing to a smaller house that we can pay cash for. That is more the idea as I get close to retirement age. Darla and I can both take up to a $500,000 exception on a principal home that we sell and pay no taxes. I would have to take the proceeds from the rental and buy a house that we want to retire in, but rent it for two years and then move into it to avoid taxes on the capital gains from the rental. Funny how hose thoughts begin to seep in as you get closer to retirement age. I'm currently reading a book "Get What's Yours: The Secret to Maxing out Your Social Security." Pretty dry, but it gets into "file and suspend" ideas that will increase the amount that we can make and perhaps even bring in social security payments under a spousal benefit prior to 70.
Well, that's it for this week. I hope you are all doing well. Dad and Shirley, we will give you a call sometime this week. Sunday ends up being our wind down day and it's not a great night to make calls. At least for me. Ciao.
Work continues to confound me. There isn't a great deal of patience being shown to me in allowing me time to get the office back on track. I plan to have a conference with my boss tomorrow to ask for some grace. I have a plan and I also have some young, inexperienced Underwriters on the front lines and I'm extremely happy with" slow and steady". We are close this month to equaling our numbers from August of 2014, which is a win for us. I'll get this turned around, I just need support and time.
I didn't play golf yesterday which is rare for me. I went out to Darla's Car Show event with her and helped her set up and then went out and got some pool supplies and nursery items for the house. I planted a new palm in the backyard above the pool and also cleaned the pool backsplash and tile of calcium buildup. I then resealed the backspash with Thompson's Water Seal and did the chemicals in the pool. I tried to get the mower going and failed. I had a Toro Mower for 16 years and finally replaced it with another Toro in March. The front lawn is dormant and hasn't been mowed in weeks. I tried to start the mower last weekend and couldn't and ended up trimming some of the lawn with my weed whacker and decided to work on the mower after Jennifer and Sam were back home.
Darla came home about three thirty and we planned to go to church. I told her we were returning the mower to Home Depot. We loaded it up and enjoyed church and then went over to the Home Depot. They told me that the mower needed to be sent back to Toro to be repaired. I wasn't pleased and they called a Manager in the Garden Center and he came over, saw how new and clean the mower was, checked the air filter and smelled gas. He told me the carburetor was shot and agreed to replace the mower, so we brought a new one home with us.
Today, it was 106 degrees and one of my agents decided it was a good day to play golf. He was bringing one of his buddies who owns another agency that I work with. I had to go, but it was brutal HOT today. I think I drank about two gallons of water out on the course. I shot 43 on the front, but struggled to a 46 on the back and was toast by the time we were finished. Ron himself shot 41+50=91, so that's what he gets for a 10:30 tee time on a day that hits 106 degrees.
We had a lot of laughs on the course today and none more than when the group in front of us left a club on the green. Paul and I drove up to the green they were playing on the next hole. They were all big guys and the largest of them walked up with a quizzical look on his face. I said, "Hey, we've got a bone to pick with you guys!"He put his hands out and said, "Dude, it's too hot to fight." They had a good laugh when we pulled out their club and handed it over, We hadn't had any problems with them, but you always wonder when someone pulls up in a cart and wants to talk.
Darla was waiting for me when I got home and we dunked into the pool and the heat of the day seemed to melt away. I cooked chicken kabobs for dinner on the barbecue and she is making some Silpada calls to clients right now and I'm working on the blog. I finally got her pictures uploaded from her cell to the computer and she didn't have any pictures of Daniel and Becky from breakfast last Saturday and that surprised me. The top picture of Benihana is one that the restaurant takes themselves and I downloaded it from their website.
It is supposed to be HOT the next four days with temps ranging from 109 degrees to 100 degrees on Thursday. It IS the Dog Days of Summer. Thursday is the final night of Twilight league play and we will have our Pizza Night that night at the pizza parlor up the street from our house.
It should be an interesting week of work this week as I have several companies coming in to visit and Pete is out from Wednesday on in Mexico for a four day vacation. I'm continuing to work on the teams in the office and massaging the team players. It is kind of more a science than an art as I work with personalities and individuals.
I brought an idea up to Darla today that I'm toying with and that is eventually selling both our house and the rental and downsizing to a smaller house that we can pay cash for. That is more the idea as I get close to retirement age. Darla and I can both take up to a $500,000 exception on a principal home that we sell and pay no taxes. I would have to take the proceeds from the rental and buy a house that we want to retire in, but rent it for two years and then move into it to avoid taxes on the capital gains from the rental. Funny how hose thoughts begin to seep in as you get closer to retirement age. I'm currently reading a book "Get What's Yours: The Secret to Maxing out Your Social Security." Pretty dry, but it gets into "file and suspend" ideas that will increase the amount that we can make and perhaps even bring in social security payments under a spousal benefit prior to 70.
Well, that's it for this week. I hope you are all doing well. Dad and Shirley, we will give you a call sometime this week. Sunday ends up being our wind down day and it's not a great night to make calls. At least for me. Ciao.
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