We had our first 100 degree day today and it will be the coolest day of the week upcoming. We expect 108 and 109 degrees on Friday and Saturday. We had David and Miya over today and they were in the pool, although Miya just sat with her feet in the water by the steps. David got in and got drenched. They showed up with a new car, a Mercedes Benz Compressor. It's about time Dave got a new car, but it's quite a change from a big SUV to a 2 seater sports car. They had dinner plans so could only stay for about two hours and were on their way.
Darla and I were up early this morning and met Neil and Lilly at Mimi's for breakfast in Roseville. We had visited with them at a party the night before and they are planning on moving to Arizona and we wanted to hear more about it and have a chance to visit one on one. I still can't see a reason that they are moving other than Neil doesn't like the politics in California. They both have children and grandchildren in California and have lived in this area for over thirty years. I asked him where in Arizona they want to live and he said that they have to go and visit the Phoenix area and get a feel for what will work for them. If they go, we will miss them.
We got home from breakfast and I worked on the yard in back, trimming back some of the bushes and cutting some of the older fronds off a few of the palms to let the new growth take over. I also swept and cleared out the small leaves from the surface of the pool and then was in my water lounger fast asleep while Darla cleaned the floors and bathrooms in preparation for David and Miya's visit.
Yesterday was golf, actually it was church followed by golf. I had to leave church at 9:30 for my 10:15 tee time. Pastor Bryce was almost through with his sermon by the time I had to pack up and leave. It was our Memorial Day tournament and it was a warm day. It was the start of the really warm temperatures as we reached 98 degrees on Sunday. I had one of those "what could have been" games of golf. I shot 43+42=85, but missed at least four putts of four feet or less. I did birdie number 17 to get to 85 and a net 71. It was fifth place in my flight which will pay about $25. I also won $31 in skin money for the birdie on 17. Paul and I ended up taking second place in the qualifier last week and I won $57 and another $15 for the closest to the pin on number 15 last week. We will play our fourth tournament in four weeks next weekend as we have the NCGA Individual Net Amateur event. We will qualify 4 players to go on to the regional qualifiers in the area. I qualified last year. I had to come in from the pool and put in the scores from Sunday's event and also do the handicapping for next week's event before David got here..
We had a party at Charlie and Frieda's last night with John and Camille & Neil and Lilly. Charlie and Frieda's daughter, Carin, had about three of her girlfriends over as well, so it was a party. Neil surprised me with several bottles of Twisted Tea. We had enjoyed these alcoholic iced tea beverages in the Reno area a couple of years ago. They don't sell them in our area and he and Lilly were up in Minden last week and he bought some to bring to the party. Twisted Tea comes in lemon, raspberry, Peach and Mango flavors as well as straight iced tea. It's good stuff.
I have one of our Corporate VPs, Mike, in the office Wednesday to Friday of this week. He will be working with two of my newer underwriters, Linda and Theresa. We have a sports night on Wednesday night with the SF Giants game on and a variety of games set up throughout the office with prizes for the winners. I have two of our vendors bringing in food and a bar for the guests. It should be fun. Pete, Mike and I will join Tabb, one of our main retailers, on Friday and play golf at Morgan Creek Country Club in the 108 degree heat as it turns out. We tee off at 9 AM, which should keep us from being too hot.
Darla found out this week that Silpada is closing down. She has watched the transition from the original owners to their daughters and the struggle that they have had keeping sales up and representatives engaged and happy. The whole "home party" sales concept is slowly dying as the younger generation embraces online retailing. Also, it's hard to get some of the Millennials to have parties, partially because they have to ask their parents if it's okay to use the basement. Avon has struggled and Tupperware (as long as they've been in business) have suffered huge shrinkages in sales in the past several years. Warren Buffett bought Pampered Chef a couple of years ago, but even that company is feeling the heat and moving more and more to an online retailing presence, which squeezes out the reps. Darla and I both think that Silpada will move to an online presence once the cobwebs are shaken out of the closure of the company as it is. They fired about 200 of their staff and will close the company on July 31st. We expect to see the online presence re-emerge in the Fall. We'll see. Fuller Brush is still around, but you don't see salesmen traipsing door to door.
Silpada has been a God send for Darla over the years and helped to put the boys through Cal Poly, where they both graduated with no debt. Darla and I also had some amazing trips with two visits to Hawaii, a trip to Mexico, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. It hsa been amazing, but all good things must come to an end and she will grieve the passing of this chapter of her life and move on.
You can see the pictures of Darla in the pool and get a feel for the kind of weight that she has lost on her diet. She told me that taking pictures of her in a swimsuit is a set up, but I think she looks great and I'm so proud of her. Her diabetes is well under control and she has lost almost 25 pounds. As Shirley put it, it's like she lost a 20 pound sack of flour that was tied to her waist and another 5 pound sack of sugar for good measure.
Darla and I will be off to Washington DC in a week and a half and look forward to visiting the nation's capital. As everyone knows, I am not a fan of the current occupant of the White House and his apology to the Japanese people over Memorial Day was a slap in the face to every American that was killed in Pearl Harbor. The nuclear bombs that were detonated in Japan saved 100's of thousands of American lives and brought an end to the war. Obama is and has been an embarrassment to this country. He has fractured race relations in this country, decimated our military, made a mockery of this country in foreign relations and spent millions of dollars taking his troll of a wife and his kids on expensive vacations around the world. Good riddance to this chump. I'm not thrilled with the choices we have this year and would absolutely HATE a Clinton presidency. Trump wouldn't be great, but it won't be another national nightmare.
On that note, I will sign off. I need to fire up the barbecue and get some tri tip grilling. I hope you are all well. By the way, that Mercedes Benz belongs to David's cousin and he was borrowing it for the day. Ciao.
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