Graeagle Golf Trip

 

We just got back from our trip a little earlier today and slipped into the pool on this 108 degree day in Northern California. We had 104, 106 and 108 the last three days and the pool is now at 85 degrees. I was on the lounge on top of the pool and roasting and finally jumped off and hung off the side of the pool lounge with my body in the water. Darla yelled at me from the house thinking that I had fallen asleep and slipped off the lounge. 

 

It was MUCH nicer up in the 4500 square foot elevation of Graeagle, Blairsden and Clio, a Northern California golf mecca with 9 courses in a five mile area. The temps were in the 80s and 90s with 50s overnight. We stayed in a three bedroom, three bathroom condo with Charlie and Frieda and Neil and Lilly. I worked a half day on Friday and came home to cool off in the pool before leaving for the trip. I cleaned the pool, did the chemicals and prepared for our departure. Frieda was driving up with us as Charlie was in Shasta for a week with his San Jose buddies on a houseboat. He drove from Shasta, past Lake Almanor to Graeagle Friday afternoon in his 2008 Corvette and met us there. We packed up Frieda with her bags and her and Charlie's golf bags and headed out. It took us a little over two hours.

 

The rental house sat on the 16th fairway of Plumas Pines golf resort and we were able to sneak out on the course Friday night about 9:30 and play glow ball golf up and down the 16th. We went out to dinner at a little restaurant Friday night in Graeagle called Cuccia's. It is an Italian joint and Darla and I split a small pizza and I had a salad and Darla had some leek soup. Neil snuck out before we played glow ball and picked up some soft serve ice cream at the local Frostee to share with all of us. We had a nice evening.

Saturday, the gang was up early and off to play Plumas Pines. Darla and I met her uncle, J.R., at the Graeagle Restaurant for breakfast and then went over to see his condo up at Whitehawk Ranch golf resort. It was nice getting caught up with him and to hear his perspective on the Brexit vote. JR was a superior court judge in Bakersfield and retired about six years ago. He is conservative and we share many of the same values. He, like me, feels that Britain's exit from the EU will ultimately be a good thing for the sovereignty of Great Britain and especially to protect their borders. The biggest issue with the EU isn't the business perspective, but the open borders that exist between the countries. Britain has been flooded with refugees from all of the EU countries and their crime rate has soared. The EU governing body is also a bunch of bullies that will sue anyone on a whim and Britain wants to maintain relationships with their trading partners and not be colored by the brush of the EU. Britain never accepted the Euro and was constantly at odds with the governing body. Sure, it is a short term pain especially for Britain, but the markets will settle again, the pound will rebound and this will be a blip on the radar.

We went back to his place which is a 2100 square foot condo near the golf course with 40 foot ceilings, wood décor and a nice rustic feel with all of the amenities you could want. He blames Darla's folks for him buying up there. He wasn't interested in Almanor and they invited him up to Graeagle when they were camping up there and he fell in love with the area. He looked at houses in  late 2010 and when he came back in 2012, the market had dropped almost 50%. He bought the condo completely furnished and it is absolutely beautiful. We stayed until noon and headed back to the house at Plumas and Darla and Lilly went to lunch. I headed over to the clubhouse and had a nap at the pool. JR came by at 3 PM and picked up Darla and I and drove us up to the lakes area of Plumas County and we saw both Salmon Lake and Sardine Lake, nice mountain lakes with cabins and fishing. Salmon lake has a great lodge and cabins that are only accessible by boat.

JR stayed for dinner and got to meet drunk Frieda, who had been stuck in a cart for five hours with a boorish snob that didn't think women belonged on the golf course. She got in after the round and warned Charlie that she was going to get drunk. She was true to her word and was listing by the time she got back to the house. We barbecued a tri tip and I grilled Italian sausages for appetizers. JR brought a nice bottle of wine. Darla had made potato salad and Lilly had made a broccoli salad and Frieda had corn on the cob and French bread with the dinner. We had a ball sitting on the big deck overlooking the golf course and having dinner and talking.

Sunday we were up early and Neil and I headed over together to the Graeagle Meadows golf course. I decided to play on Sunday and spend the day with Darla on Saturday. These are two day tournaments and Darla and I sort of pass each other in the wind as I'm always golfing. I played only one of the courses in Monterey last year and Darla and I had so much fun together that I decided that would be my m.o. from now on. Neil and I had breakfast together at the course, hit balls and then teed off. We were in the first group as Neil is TD. I had an up and down round, shooting 44+44=88, net 71. I tripled number 17 when we couldn't find my ball. It could have been better, but it was a tough course and I was one of only two that finished net under par, so took second place out of the thirty golfers. I also birdied the 569 yard par 5 11th hole and won $21 in skin money. I won $35 for second place. We had a great day and played with Neil, Charlie and Ron Floyd in my foursome. Ron is one of my agents and my twilight partner.

I did get a chance to talk to Neil about his plans to go to Arizona. I told him my feeling was that he needed to stay closer to friends and family and that as he gets older it wouldn't be fair to leave Lilly without emotional support if she had to be his caretaker. I think some of what I said sunk in and he is coming over tomorrow night to talk to us.

We watched the end of the golf tournament on tape when we got back to the house courtesy of the DirecTV set up in the house and was happy to see Billy Hurley, a navy vet win his first professional tournament at his home course at Congressional CC just outside Washington DC. JR met us again for dinner Sunday night and we drove into Blairsden and had dinner at the Grizzly. He got to meet Frieda for the first time and they had a good laugh about her "condition" the night before. It is a family owned restaurant and the owners met at the restaurant and had worked there for 17 years together before buying it last June. The chef is a master and made the best lamb shanks that Charlie had ever had, the best Fettucuni Carbonara I'd ever had and the best shrimp scampi that Neil had ever had. I told the chef he'd make a fortune in San Francisco and he said, "Yeah, but then I'd have to live in SF". Good point.

We were up early this morning and got checked out of the house and off to JR's place. He has invited us up to play golf at Whitehawk Ranch. It is an expensive Country Club, but has an afternoon special for NCGA members and we will probably go up in September and stay over a night at his place and play golf the next day. JR was a big hit and as Neil said, "It was a pleasure for us to meet "His Honor" and witness his humor, his philosophy about things and the most important thing he is a conservative with a 2 story man cave." We brought over some pastries and had coffee and pastries before getting on the road home.

Well, that is it for now. I hope all are well. Be good to each other and I will be back at the keyboard next Sunday or Monday. It is July 4th weekend, so all bets are off on when I get this done. Ciao.

 

Fathers Day 2016

 

 

Again here I sit at 9:30 at night working on the blog. I have the NBA Finals Game 7 on the TV as I write. It was a busy day today with the above Father's Day Car Show at church. Darla and I worked the Welcome/Check-in table and checked in the car owners as they arrived. We had to make sure their waivers were signed and get them their paperwork for the show indicating their category and number for the judging. We were their second point of contact after the parking team who helped the vehicles into their spaces in the show. We gave them a gift bag with certificates for free food, a NAPA car parts hat and some sunscreen and other items. We had a comedian at church this week, Michael J, from Dallas Texas. He was outstanding and Darla was inviting them to go into service and see the show. There were food trucks and bounce houses, music and barbecue and it was a fun time. We were at the church before 7 AM and left about 10:30. We had gone to service on Saturday night and thoroughly enjoyed Michel J.

 

We came home and I visited with Jennifer on the phone from LA. She had driven up with McKenny to So Cal and stayed in Huntington Beach Friday night and gone to a wedding celebration for one of their friends in San Diego on Saturday. They then drove into LA, had lunch and then back to Vegas. Sam was with John for Father's Day.

 

We relaxed on the pool and I got caught up on some sleep and Darla read her book. I came in, watched the US Open golf and then got cleaned up and drove up to Yuba City to meet Darla's Dad and Mother for dinner at Cool Hand Luke's steakhouse. We had a great visit and I'm always so impressed with Earl's love for the Lord and his spiritual leadership of his family. I want to be more like him.

 

We got home at 8:30 and I called Dad and visited with them and here I sit at the computer with the game on in the background. Darla is on the phone with one of her 19 team members on her new jewelry endeavor. It is the home party portion of Swarovsky Crystal. She decided to join up a little over a week ago and she already has the largest team in California. That's my girl.

 

This illness that came over me in Washington, DC and I contend I caught when the Ice Princess, Hillary, was at the US Capitol while we were there, is still hanging on. She was visiting Elizabeth Warren, the faux Indian princess and they were deciding if they would put the coven on the ticket for the Democrats. I've been sick for a week and still have congestion and ear aches. I took Friday off from work because I was completely run down after a week of work.

 

I played golf on Saturday at Woodcreek with Paul and Rico and we played from the blue tees. I shot 88 and Paul struggled to an 89, while Rico shot 76. It was fun and I relaxed back at the house until we headed to church. Darla and I went to dinner Friday night at String's, the local Italian restaurant chain and then I went by my office to pick up some things that I needed.

 

Darla and I are off to a golf weekend next weekend up in Graeagle, which is in the Northeast portion of California, about an hour west of Reno on Highway 89. I have decided that on these two day golf trips that I will play one game and spend one day with Darla. Darla and I will take Saturday and visit with her uncle who has a home about twenty minutes from where we will be staying on the 16th hole of Plumas Pines Golf Course. We will have breakfast with Uncle Junior and then drive into Reno for the day and have lunch. We will have a group over to the house on Saturday night and have a big barbecue, so we will shop for tri tip and fixings on Saturday. Sunday, I will play at Graeagle. I have played  Plumas Pines, but not Graeagle and decided to play there. I actually had low gross with a 77 about four years ago at Plumas Pines and I'm over it. Actually, I've decided to make sure that golf doesn't define my life and that when we have a chance to take these trips that Darla and I have time together to enjoy the surroundings.

 

The blog will show up sometime on Monday next week as we have our three bedroom rental on the course from Friday to Monday. I will leave work about 2 on Friday and we will drive up to Graeagle. Darla and I are bringing Frieda with us as Charlie is up in Lake Shasta on a house boating trip with his friends and will meet us at the house. I also have to bring her home as Charlie will be in his Corvette and Frieda doesn't handle the road well in his sports car. So, until, next week. Happy Father's Day to all the Dads, especially Kal who is enjoying his first with Master Xander. Ciao.

 

 

 



Back from Washington, DC

 

Back from Washington, DC and unfortunately I spent the majority of the trip sick. I could feel a sore throat coming on as we drove to the airport on Thursday and by Friday night I was sniffling and sneezing and had a congested chest and was overall pretty miserable. I made it through our meetings on Friday and even through dinner on Friday night. Jeff and Linda offered to take us out Friday night on a tour of the memorials at night. I got back to the hotel about 10:30 and told Darla I was OUT on any additional sightseeing. My head was blocked up, I had a severe headache and my nose was sore from blowing it every two minutes.

 

Darla and Jeff and Linda went without me and you can see many of the night pictures that they were able to get. I was with them on Friday afternoon and we went to the US Capitol (where it was blocked off because Hillary was meeting with the faux Indian princess, Elizabeth Warren to see if they wanted to make it an "all witch" ticket on the Democratic side). There were more secret service around and black Suburbans than I've ever seen before. We went over to the US Supreme Court and actually sat in on a docent presentation in the courtroom itself. That was pretty interesting. Darla and I had just watched the movie, "Woman in Gold" and it had a part in it where they were arguing in front of the US Supreme Court and it was neat to be sitting in there. They only have eight seats at the bench right now since Scalia's death. From there we walked over to the US Library of Congress, had lunch at a street cafe and then went over to the Jefferson Memorial. That ended up being the extent of my sightseeing as I slept until 2 PM Saturday and had chills and fever and went to lunch with Darla, but was pretty well out of it. I slept off and on all day and then we were up early this morning for our flight home.

 

Friday night we had dinner at a French Restaurant in Georgetown, La Chaumiere. It was great food and a great time as hosted by Alan Smith, the Chairman of WIAA. I handled my presentation in the morning on our exclusive program for WIAA on Insurance Agent's E&O. It was a little bit uncomfortable as one of our outgoing board members was the founder of CK Specialty and she always felt that it was a conflict of interest to push CK Specialty products to WIAA as a board member. I disagree and feel that if I can bring added value to a product with Burns and Wilcox, I will.

 

I am feeling marginally better now, but had headaches, a neck ache from sleeping on 12 pillows on the bed and asour stomach. I fell asleep pretty quickly Friday night and forgot to purge the bed of the dozens of pillows that it is decorated with. My neck was twisted and sore. I also had a tremendous earache with the altitude change and could hear buzzing in both ears when I blew my nose after landing in Chicago.

 

The other pictures above are from our golf day up at Serrano. My team shot 60 and we took 4th. We pay the first three spots. I did have a closest to the pin and won a foursome to Serrano. I will take Big John, Pete and my twilight partner, Ron Floyd up to play at Serrano. There are also pictures from our team outing to Strikes Bowling in Rocklin. We are going to do quarterly outings and Pete and Linda decided to have us all bowl this time. It was fun. Darla came by for a little while and took some pictures.

 

Well, this is short, but I feel like death warmed over, so will sign off until next week. I hope you are all well. Also hoping that Shirley's teeth are settling in and Darryl's family makes it out to Kansas this week for a visit. Be happy and hug one another for me. Ciao.

 



Ready for Washington, DC

Darla and I are off Thursday for Washington, DC and my responsibilities as a board member for the Western Insurance Agents Association. We get in at 10 PM on Thursday night and are about ten minutes by car from the airport. We are staying in Arlington at the Hyatt Regency which is across the street from the mall in Washington. We have a breakfast meeting on Friday morning and will be turned loose about 11 AM to visit Washington. We have dinner in Georgetown on Friday night at a nice French restaurant and then have the rest of the weekend to tour the monuments and sights and attractions of the area.

 

Last week was an interesting one at work as I had one of the corporate VPs in to work with a couple of my newer Underwriters. Michael has some great ideas and is a whiz during marketing calls. He is Caribbean and you have to force him to slow his speech pattern down or you won't understand him. He has worked as a manager at two successful offices, Tampa Florida and Scottsdale Arizona and is now in charge of Sales and Development for the company. He reports directly to our CEO, which would make some managers nervous, but Michael understands the unique pressures that the Managing Directors are under and the problems that we have as a corporate entity in retaining our younger talent. He is very impressed with the staff that I have, but realizes that you can't lose a top ten producer for the company and replace him right away. It takes time and it may take two or three producers to completely replace his production in the office. It's also tough when those people you lose are out there competing for business every day. We'll see. I appreciate the help that he brought to my office and both of the individuals that he worked with said that he was a huge help to them.

 

We finished the week with a golf outing on Friday to Morgan Creek Country Club. Michael is a lefty and rents clubs when he travels. He took some time to adjust to the Srixon set that was available to him and shot 46+37=83. I had 42+43=85. Our agent, Tabb (who is the tournament director for the Trusted Choice junior event that I'm working in August) shot 80. Pete had 93 and it was his first trip back to the golf course since his triceps surgery six months ago. I had to get back to the office in the afternoon as I had an interview.

 

I still am working on my interviewing skills and the biggest dilemma I have is people with great insurance skill and zero personality. This is a sales business. I interviewed a lady last week that has been with her company for 17 years and is an underwriting whiz. She is as bland and boring as you can imagine. She could take the job and do great, but never move into a production or marketing role. The lady I met Friday has insurance experience from both a company an agency side, but has worked in the financial services industry for the last 10 years. She has a sparkling personality and would be a tremendous marketer for Burns. I am getting background checks on both individuals and will let Harvey meet them and see what he thinks. My inclination is to hire the second interviewee and see how that works for us. She will come at less cost and a higher potential upside.

 

You can see the picture of Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell above. Muhammad Ali is well known for his social causes and his worldwide celebrity, but I remember him for his sense of humor. There is no way that Cosell and Ali should ever have been friends, but Ali loved Cosell and vice versa. Strange bedfellows, but tremendously entertaining for those of us that got to witness it.

 

The pictures of Sammy are there because this is my blog and I like to dress it up with pictures of my granddaughter.

 

I played in the Net Amateur qualifier on Saturday and had the first tee time with Neil and John Parola because we were supposed to go to Luke's 5th birthday in Folsom. Darla's mom had taken a fall last week and wasn't up to travelling so we decided to push it off two weeks until we are back from the nation's capital. I am stuck on 85 like I used to be on 83. I have shot 85 the last three or four times out and shot another 43+42=85 on Saturday. It is a net 71, which gets you an "attaboy" around here. The qualifiers each shot 64 and 65. There were some good scores shot over the weekend. John, who was a mess when he first joined the club, shooting a 116 in his first event with us in Monterey. He is retired now and plays three days a week and is now a 15 handicap. He shot 45+37=82, net 67. I was able to stay and handle the skin contest. We had 39 players in the skins at $5 apiece, so I was working with $195. I almost paid the wrong guy a $40 skin, but caught myself right before handing it to him and saving myself $40. I didn't play skins this week and was just helping out, but avoided calamity. I was panicked for a minute when I realized I was $40 short.

 

Darla and I were up early today and off to church. We are still working with another local church to see if they can help us get back right side up. We were losing $80,000 per month and going into near liquidation. We have since added 1000 regular attenders to our numbers and are breaking even. We are enjoying the strength and skill of our benefactor and will vote on officially becoming the fifth campus for that group in October. It has been a wild ride with the Texas group coming in and then dropping us like a hot potato and our original pastor leaving the church. Things are settling down and we are getting healthy both emotionally and financially. The service was great today and we recapped what Christian organizations have accomplished over the years with the YMCA, SPCA, prison ministries, hospital ministries, mental hospitals and Christian counseling services the first of their kind when they were first introduced. Always proud to see those things.

 

I talked to Jennifer this weekend and talked to her about work. She is happy to be staying home with Sam this Summer and will maybe look for work in the Fall. She had "butt dialed" me and I called and talked to her. What she said touched me so much that I called McKenny on my way home from golf and thanked him for the love and support that he gives my two girls in Vegas. He was happy that I had reached out to him and I was definitely emotional when I talked to him. It was a great conversation and he is such a good man and a Godsend for Jennifer and Samantha. He is one of the hardest workers I have ever met.

 

Darla and I will talk to Dad and Shirley again tonight. This process with her teeth has been a nightmare in getting posts set in her mouth and then the teeth themselves causing serious blisters and sores in her mouth to the point that she couldn't wear the device and it had to be altered, not once, but twice! Obama wants all of our medicine to be controlled by government. No thanks. Darla and Shirley were communicating over e-mail  and it sounds like the latest alteration is good enough that it was still in her mouth from Tuesday. I guess that is a victory. She mentioned that the teeth will still need some tweaking, but may be a go long term. Here's praying that she gets used to them and they fit well and work as they are supposed to. Pour thing. We love you, Shirley!

 

I will be back next Sunday with tales and pictures of Obama's hometown. We also fly through Chicago.