A week until our Canada trip

 

It is always good to go home even if that hasn't been your home for 50 years. I left Canada when I was 9 years old and became a US Citizen when I was 33, but the Canadian Immigration officials always welcome me home when they see that I was born in Vancouver. I need to prepare myself for the rain as I see the forecast is pretty wet during the weekend that we are there. 

 

We had rain in the forecast up until today for this area. We were supposed to see a storm in on Thursday and then rain returning on Sunday through a big portion of next week, but that has dropped out of the storm track. We still need rain. It has been in the 70's for about 8 days and you start to get concerned after 5 years of drought. We have an above average snowpack at the moment, but that could slip at any time if we don't get more storms in the Sierras.

 

I played golf on Tuesday with the retired guys and they are all glad that I am still working. It was a blind draw and I show 84, net 68 and got paired with Boyd who shot a 76, net 69 ti win the $30 first prize. There were 6 groups that showed up and I had my friend, Bob Hand, who is retired join me and play with Boyd and Andy. I also played on Saturday and struggled with my putting stroke all day. I was pulling the ball left and ended up with a 45+44= 89. I had a good time with Charlie, John Parola and his daughter's boyfriend, Justin. I hope to play golf on Thursday as I have one of our Inspection company representatives coming into the office. We will meet one of our agents for lunch and then play golf at Morgan Creek Country Club here in Roseville. He works with US Reports, which is an owned entity of our parent company, Kaufman Enterprises. Gail and her agent, Ed, will join us. It is the one =day that was forecast to rain, but now just shows as cloudy. We'll see.

 

Darla and I fly out early Friday morning for Seattle, where we will rent a car and be up at Dad and Shirley's place by lunchtime. I'll buy the requisite bottle of Canadian at the border before crossing over. I look forward to helping Dad celebrate his 79th birthday. Next year is the cruise, his 80th and my 60th. Fun stuff.

 

Darla and I met with another contractor, Valley Home Construction, on Tuesday and he met ALL of our requirements. We will have a large shower with two heads, one on either side. One will be a rain shower head and the other an adjustable stream head. We will put in a tile floor that will mimic hardwood in a white/grey color. The two cabinets will be white with a white and gray marble look granite countertop. We will remove the two windows that are behind the shower and tub and put in a 4' x 1' slider high on the wall. We will have a nice mosaic floor in the shower and tiles all the way to the high ceiling. We will have a shower door in the center of the shower. We were going to have an open entryway if we went with the one showerhead. That changed and I think we'll like the double shower. Darla and I went out last night and looked at tile and fixtures. You can see the picture of the tile décor that Darla liked (It matches her jewelry). The place that we went is called Floors and More and it is a HUGE showroom that formerly was a super store called Food 4 Less. We were there for over an hour looking through tiles and flooring.

 

This morning we went to church. Our church has changed from 3 services to 2 and the new 11 AM service has about the same amount of people that we had at the 9 o'clock service. I guess when you make an announcement that you are getting out as the pastor and church, people get out and find other churches. I was really upset aster the last service and the announcement, but have had time to reflect and I'm in for staying for the new iteration of our church. I guess in looking at the Texas ownership they either cut and run when things get tough, or they realized that they made a bad investment. Either way, it hurts for the long term church members.

 

Darla and I went out and looked at more tile and fixtures this morning before church and then afterward went to a flooring store in Roseville. It is owned by an Indian family (from India) and it is the most cramped, crowded and messy retail store that I have ever stepped foot in. And their prices were about 50% higher than the box stores. Darla and I have a good idea of how our finished project will look. We have appointments on the Tuesday and Thursday that we get back from Vancouver and will pick our granite countertops and do our pre site meeting with our designer and contractor.

 

I did work on the yard today and added some topsoil and grass seed in the bare areas of the yard. The grass is bright green and looking good after the wet January that we had and the warm, sunny February. I sprayed for the early season weeds and added fertilizer and Ironite to the lawn. I was planning on the coming rain to help with the seed and fertilizer, but will likely have to water the lawn.

 

The blog will be late next week, but I will be back with pictures from our trip to Canada. I hope all is well. It was a Happy Birthday for McKenny yesterday and the March birthdays begin this week. I hope you all have a good week. Be well. Ciao.

 

Just Chillin' on a Sunday

I mentioned the fruitless cherry tree last week and how it is in full bloom here in mid February. It is pretty well flanking our house and leaving white blossoms all over the lawn and sidewalks. We did get back to rain this past week and had three days of good storms. It rained right into Friday night and cleared for the weekend and our 36 hole NCGA qualifier. The above pictures were taken Saturday morning as I prepared to leave for golf. It was a transition day as the day started out overcast  with low level clouds. It was breezy and downright cold. The sun finally came out about 2 PM and warmed us up. Today was the start of a stretch of days in the mid seventies and it was borderline hot today as I played in shorts and a golf shirt. It was a Chamber of Commerce day with no wind and a high sun in a cloudless blue sky. I was able to get the lawn mowed yesterday and the pool cleaned and the backyard vacuumed of leaves and other detritus. I also had a chance to vacuum the car out, wash and spot wax the car. I had a couple of scratches that were in the handles of the car that I was able to buff out and clean up.

 

Our bathroom remodel is coming along. We have a budget of $20,000 and one more estimate to come in and one more contractor to see on Tuesday. I m taking the day off work and playing golf in the morning and meeting contractors in the afternoon. I think Darla and I have a good feel for who we will use, but I want to do my due diligence before signing a contract. I'm also talking to a contractor on Tuesday afternoon that specializes in re-facing cabinets and getting a quote for the kitchen cabinets. The old honey oak cabinets that were all the rage in the 80's look yellow now. We will get a quote to have them refaced and painted antique white with new hardware. Darla is really leaning toward having two shower heads installed in the new shower and having the entry in the middle of the two. I'm concerned about pressure and how often we would use them at the same time, but she knows what she wants. (Hey, she married me, she has good taste!).

 

I played poker Friday night and won about $65. I couldn't win a hand early on, but it is always best to win late in a 4-5 hour game of cards. Carl hosted and we had seven players, which is perfect. My golf partner for the weekend, Steve, had a horrible night and lost about $120. He was crabby and mad that we had a tee time at 8:16 AM. He likes to sleep in and plays better after 9. What?

 

Saturday was the first round of our 36 hole qualifier and Steve was not on his game. He had five holes where he picked up and left me to play on my own. It was a two man best ball tournament. We ended up shooting 37+34=71 the first day, but that doesn't tell the story. I shot 86 and had a decent round, nothing spectacular. I received 13 strokes. Steve had 12 strokes and shot a blistering 101. It is not fun to play yourself out of the tournament on the first day.

 

We had an 8:23 tee time this morning and I got to the course about 7:45 and Steve was at the driving range hitting balls. When I joined him, he was talking to one of our members and telling him that he had to play a "little" better today. I corrected him as a little better would be breaking 100. I told him I needed an 84 out of him. We teed off on time and I hit a big drive down the middle and Steve....hit his drive out of bounds into the driving range. What??!! He settled down and shot an 88. I had an 85 that included a birdie on 16, where I was on the par five in two and just missed an eagle putt. We finished the day with a 65 for a two day total of 136. The winners had 129, so we needed a 64+65, which wasn't to be. Steve asked me if I was available or the Senior 4 ball in April and I was non committal. It may be time for a new team.

 

I have been interviewing at work. One of my underwriters lost her second assistant to a young lady. His girlfriend is a fitness instructor and is going to work at a gym in Colorado Springs and he is going with her. He was never really an insurance guy and a bit of an odd duck. He liked to play on the dance reality machines in bars and the bowling alley and liked stuffed animals and was a soft soul. I need a few tigers at work. I interviewed a couple of very bright women this last week, but both are socially awkward and one I think has a speech impediment that she has overcome and now pauses a painful amount of time before she responds to a question. She spent Summers in England and went for a semester to Scotland where she actually worked for the Scottish government. She has a background in insurance, but is young and only has a few years of experience. The other is a graduate with a degree in mathematics. She has worked for a couple of firms in accounting and finance and Pete wants to hire her for his team. She had another offer and the hands of time turn slowly when we are interviewing, so I'm guessing she probably took the other job.

 

I am done with the employee reviews this year and just have the compensation package that I sent in to be approved. Once that is complete, I will meet with each of the staff members and do salary reviews. Each of the underwriters now do performance reviews with their teams and I do only the production staff and the managers. It makes life much easier for me. I put in some fairly aggressive compensation plans for my staff, so we will see how it all pans out.

 

Darla and I went out to dinner Saturday night at McCormick and Schmick's steakhouse and ran into an old friend. Rob and his wife Cheryl were very close friends of ours once upon a time and we spent many weekends together when our kids were younger. They were a blended family like us and we had a lot in common. Darla and I pulled away from them when Cheryl kicked Rob's daughter, Katie, out of their house. She was 13 and rebellious, but we really liked her and the rules were different for Rob's kids from Cheryl's and it bothered us. They ended up moving away to Washington state and we kept track through Christmas cards. We had heard that Cheryl had pancreatic cancer and Rob let us know that Cheryl passed away in October. It is sad and he retires next year. I feel for him and it makes Darla and I cherish our marriage all the more. Cheryl's son, Nick, was there with his fiance' and came by and said hi to us as well. It was good catching up and seeing that the kids all turned out.

 

Well, that is it for another week. We are in town next week and then off to celebrate Dad's birthday in Vancouver the following week. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your weather. I see from both Darryl and Randy that some nice weather has hit both Kansas City and Texas. Surrey, I'm sure. has some nice days to go with the rain. Be good to each other. Ciao.

El Nino

A good weekend is in the books. What happened to our rain. 77 degrees is forecast for tomorrow after 75 degrees today. I played golf on Saturday and got a little burn as the sun was so high and warm and I'm such a white guy. El Nino is not over, but taking a break right now. The temperature of the ocean in the Pacific is so warm and still in control of the weather, but right now the storms just aren't out there, s they aren't coming our way. We are expecting a little storm to roll in Wednesday and last until Friday. Hopefully it brings some good rain. My fruitless cherry tree (which is an oxymoron, btw) is starting to bloom now. Our sunsets have been incredible as you can see above.

 

I took a day off on Tuesday and played golf with the retired guys. I ended up shooting 42+43=85. I won $5 and bought myself some chicken breast at KFC on the way home. It was nice and I had a coupon for $20 to play with a cart. I also saw the old center for the Kings, Brad Miller out playing behind us. He's almost 7 feet tall and hit the ball about 300 yards. It was fun to watch him pound the ball.

 

Charlie and Frieda both called us this week and wanted to go to dinner on Saturday night. They had thought they were going to dinner with us last Saturday night and wanted to make up for lost time. I played golf with Charlie on Saturday and then had another remodeling contractor out to bid the master bathroom. We are completely gutting the bathroom and putting in a new walk in shower, new cabinets, new mirrors, new granite counter tops, fixtures and tile. Our first quote was $40,000 which was ridiculous. He dropped his quote to $30K, but we are looking at other contractors. The guy we met with on Saturday is about 38 and full of energy. He wants to put in a walk in shower with mosaic tile on the floor and 24X36 tiles on the walls all the way to the ceiling. He will fill in the two windows that we have now and put in a rectangular slider above the current window line now. He should have us a price on Wednesday. I will meet with another contractor on Thursday and one more and then make our decision. We are taking out the tub in the room and putting in a shower that runs the length of the back wall. What I mean by a walk in shower is that there will be an opening at the far end, but not a shower door. The controls for the shower will be moved to that side so that we can turn on the shower without having to step under the head.

 

We went to PF Chang's with Charlie and Frieda and had quite a feast. We met at 4:30 and were over to their place by about 7. We were going to play a game and Darla decided she wasn't in the mood. so we ordered a movie, The Butler. It was a fun night and an excellent movie.

 

I did play golf with Paul, Charlie and big John Parola on Saturday. I had a good front nine with 41 and a bad back with 45 for 86. I did have two birdies on the day, which was encouraging. I have a two day tournament this coming weekend and it is an NCGA qualifier. Steve asked to play with me again and I agreed. We'll see how we do. I had to get the handicapping for the event done this afternoon. It is difficult because I have to do it by teams, so hard to work from an alpha standpoint. Then I use 90% of the lower of the GHIN or our tournament handicap for our course (which I keep on my computer). And is the two players have more than an 8 point differential, I take another 10% reduction. It is time consuming and my Valentine was good enough to help me.

 

We had an e-mail from our pastor this week announcing that we were having one service this weekend and an announcement would be made. Darla and I attended. After 18 months ago being bought by a Texas church corporation out of Amarillo, thy have decided that the purchase wasn't to their liking and they are looking to sell to a big church in Granite Bay. Our Pastor, Tommy, was reached out to by our former pastor, Rick, and things moved pretty fast. Tommy, who is 49 took over the church and the corporation in Texas assumed our debt burden, which is significant. From the time we completed the new church building and school 12 years ago, the attendance, membership and giving has dropped precipitously. I sat and listened to the explanations and the discussion and left feeling completely abandoned by our pastor. Darla says that I'm looking at it all wrong, but I can't shake the feeling that the Texas group has come to the realization that they made a bad play and are cutting their losses and getting out. i was really steamed when we left. Tommy took over for a senior pastor who was with us for 20 year and he wasn't up to the task. The church that is looking to take over is the church that Darla and I left 22 years ago because we didn't like the ego of the senior pastor. Time will heal these wounds, but it colors my feelings about my church right now. I need to pray about this and come to terms with it.

 

I received the final figures for 2015 at work and we ended up making just over $800,000 in profit, down from over $1,000,000 last year, but not bad with all of the turmoil that we experienced last year. 2016 will be a great year for my branch and I'm very comfortable with the staff that we had. We are still looking at the possibility of bringing in a high profile competitor and that will happen in the first quarter if it pan out.

 

Darla and I have bought our tickets for Vancouver and we will be with Dad and Shirley for Dad's 79th birthday. Well, we won't actually be there on his birthday, but we will celebrate the weekend before. After that, we have to set up our next trip to Las Vegas. We are both  ready to see Jen and Sammy soon.

 

Well that is it for this week. I hope all is well with all of you and you are staying close to the Lord and letting him lead your way through this life. Be well. Ciao.

Super Bowl Weekend

 

 

A great weekend is in the books. I was batching it at the end of the week as Darla was away at a Christian networking conference in Lodi on Thursday and Friday. She then worked a volleyball tournament over the weekend and I played golf.

 

Friday night I headed over tot he casino for dinner and played some video poker. I lost about $100, but that included $12 fir dinner at Fatburger. I had a nice run in the middle of the night and ended the evening on a horrible run. I should have headed home about 9:30. I was up about $80 at that point.

 

Saturday, Darla was up early at her hotel and off to Cal Expo for the volleyball and I had a 9:15 tee time in the Super Bowl tournament. We had 96 players signed up for the Super Bowl, which will probably be our biggest turnout of the year. I played with Paul Gonzalez and Neil didn't put me in with Boyd and Andy for some reason. Andy had been rushed to the hospital on Thursday with congestive heart failure. Andy is 79, so I was worried, but he got out Friday and played golf on Saturday in the tournament. I had an up and down round, missing three foot putts and making a 40 footer for par. I shot 42 on the front and 43 on the back for 85, net 71. I walked off feeling that I left a lot in the tank and figuring I might take 5th place or so. I know from the other players in my foursome that the course was playing tough. I was the only one under par net. As it turns out, this was one of the highest scoring tournaments that we have ever had. Gary Krohn shot 66 net, but there were many, many players that had nets in the 80s and 90's.. My net 71 was better by four than anyone in my flight. I didn't win 1st place net though as my 85 was the low gross in my flight, so I took 1st place low gross. Neil took low net in my flight with a 75.

 

Charlie Aichele played on Saturday and we had a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party for he and Frieda that night a Cabo's Mexican Restaurant in Granite Bay. He had to leave early as he was "going out with his two girls for dinner". I asked where they were going for dinner and when he said "Cabo's", I told him that Darla and I love Cabo's. He invited us to go with them and I told him that it was family time and we'd do it another time. I laughed with the other guys going to dinner. Charlie texted me about 45 minutes later after he'd talked to Frieda and they decided we HAD to go to dinner with them. So, we had to play along, checking in that night with the group in the banquet room and then heading to the bar to meet them for dinner. We met their daughter Karen for the first time. She is the blonde in the family shot. We know Jennifer as she is a golfer and has played in our club before. Karen was at the restaurant getting things prepared for the party and planned to meet her parents for dinner. We met her and were sitting at the bar visiting when they came in. They had NO clue that there was a party planned. Karen told them that she wanted to show them something in the back room before we got seated and the gang was all there to surprise them. Charlie jumped right into the party, but Frieda was shocked and stood in the hallway and cried. It took some encouragement by her daughter and I to talk her into the party. Once she relaxed and got over the shock, she had a great time. We enjoyed fajitas and rice and beans for dinner as well as a nice cake for dessert. The party started at 6 PM and we were home by 9. Darla and I enjoyed the spa and got caught up on each other's lives.  

 

The weather tuned warm the middle of the last week and we had 70 degrees yesterday and 72 today. The rain really helped put a dent in the drought and the picture of Folsom Lake tells quite a story.

 

 Darla was up and off to the second day of the volleyball event today and I headed off to the Super Bowl tournament at Woodcreek. They had a nice breakfast buffet with a Bloody Mary bar followed by a hosted driving range. We teed off at 9 AM from the 16th tee playing a four man scramble with Paul, Bryan and Jesse in my group' We birdied the first three holes and then went on a five hole stretch of pars. When we turned the corner from back nine to front nine, we stopped at a Margarita Bar hosted by 1800 tequila. It was great and I had a grapefruit raspberry margarita. It was awesome. We ended up shooting a 62, which was 7 shots off the lead. We were 8 under on the back nine, but only two under on the front. We finished up and had a great appetizer bar of crispy shrimp, Thai chicken wings and Buffalo chicken legs. It was a great day and included a sleeve of Super Bowl 50 golf balls and several ball markers and ball mark repair tool. We also got 3 squares in the Super Bowl pool that paid $320 total.

 

I got home right before Super Bowl and actually taped the game and watched the playoff at the Phoenix Open between Ricky Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama that Hideki won on the third playoff hole. Darla got home about 4:15 and we put on the DVR recording of the game. It was hard to catch up to the live game as we wanted to watch the commercials. Honestly, there was nothing that excited me about the commercials. I was pleased to see Peyton win his second Super Bowl in 4 tries. I am not a fan Eli Manning and didn't like the comparisons between Peyton, one for the greatest of all time and Eli,  bland quarterback that isn't even in the top 10 of quarterbacks in the league, much less all time. It was a very well played Super Bowl, especially by the two defenses. Well done. I ended up winning $100 in my office pool for winning the third quarter, which was nice.

 

Well, it is getting late and Darla wants to hit the spa. I'm in on that and say goodnight to all of you. Darla and I will call Dad and Shirley this week and set up our Canada trip. I hope all is well. Ciao.