Another week is in the books.. We were supposed to be hosting Charlie and Frieda tonight for a barbecue and Charlie was going to help me install the new pool lights. We got a call from Frieda last night that Charlie was in the hospital. She was out for lunch on Saturday with a girlfriend and Charlie was working in the yard and had some tightness in his chest and tingling in his right arm. He went to the neighbor's house and they took him to Emergency. Frieda said to Darla that if she was home, she would have told him to lay down and sleep it off. Luckily, she wasn't there as the doctors suspect a blockage in his left side after an EKG. He is still in the hospital and they will perform an angiogram tomorrow.
Charlie is an electrician and I wanted him to help me with the pool lights. With him absent, I decided to follow the directions and videos on the internet and change them out myself. I tackled the job today and pulled out the old fixtures and laid them on the pool deck. There is enough extra wiring to lift the fixture from the housing and set in on the deck. I clipped the wiring from the old fixture and connected that to the wiring from the new fixture, disconnected the old wiring from the switch and pulled it up through the conduit to the J box. I connected the wires, left enough wiring to be able to pull it up when I need to replace a bulb, hooked up the fixture and tested the lights. They work! Charlie probably would have charged me $100 to help, so I saved some dough today. You can see the pictures of the old lights and see that the seals were shot. The entire fixture is supposed to be sealed and air (and water) tight. The bottom fixture not only leaked, but was starting to mold as well. We have been without pool lights now for about three years.
Charlie hopefully will be out of the hospital tomorrow.
Michael did make it in for the week and Darla and I had dinner with him Wednesday night at Il Forniao in Roseville. I had my golf meeting Tuesday night, but met Pete and Mike at McCormick Schmick's in Roseville for drinks and appetizers before my meeting. The two of them love oysters and they have "Buck a Chuck Happy Hour" and these two power through about two dozen oysters. I had some calamari and a cheeseburger and they gave me grief. It was an Angus beef cheeseburger. Darla and I enjoyed our visit with Mike. Home office is still targeting my office because we are flat. The thought is that if you are not up 5% you are actually losing ground. I am and always have been a bottom line manager and we are up almost 40% in profit this year over 2016. Top line doesn't pay the bills and I'd rather write $27,000,000 and make a $1,000,000 in profit than write $40,000,000 and make $500,000. They want both, so I'm still on the "List". We had a good conversation and enjoyed getting together with Darla and visiting.
I had golf Thursday night, my second game back after surgery and it wasn't pretty. I got a couple of the younger guys to take Mike out to Top Golf with a couple of agents and he had a blast. Ron, who invited me to sub for his partner in the twilight league must have questioned his wisdom as I shot a 53 and was all over the course. We ended up winning the match against Cody and his wife, Kristen. Kristen shot a 65. My play gave me pause with the tournament this weekend on Saturday. I want to be out playing with the guys again, but I don't want to embarrass myself.
Luckily, I was right back out on the course on Friday as we took Ron from Placer Insurance out for a day on the golf course or as I call it, "Sports Marketing". We played Morgan Creek and you can see some pictures above including a family of turkeys that crossed in front of us on number 2. I shot 44+41=85 and with my 17 strokes shot a net 68. I turned it up on the backside and had two birdies coming home. Mike shot a 78 using rental clubs and shot 36 on the back after a 42 on the front side. That gave me some hope for Saturday's tournament.
Saturday I played with Rico, Pamas and Paul and witnessed Rico shoot a 71 and Pamas a 76. Paul couldn't do anything right and shot 95. I shot 42 on the front side and felt like I was ready for prime time, but the three rounds caught up with me on the back and I started double-double-double before finally parring a par three. I followed that up with another double and was eight over after five holes. I shot one under from there on, birdieing number 16 from 40 feet. I ended up with a 43 on the back and 85 and took low gross in my flight and won $65. That was my first tournament of the year and I'm already qualified for the Tournament of Champions in November. I also won two skins and another $31. It is GOOD to be back with the guys and I enjoyed myself completely.
I will play in the first Diamond Tournament next Saturday with Neil. We had lunch together about a month ago, but haven't played golf together in a while. The tournament is a two man best ball event with net and gross individual prizes as well, so should be fun.
Darla ended up pulling a muscle in her back yesterday and I had her take my cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) and she seems to be better, but still sore. She hung on the inversion machine yesterday and is just sore today. I can certainly relate to her malady. Hopefully she feels better as she leaves Thursday for her annual meeting with Touchstone. She will be back on Monday, so I'm batching it next weekend. I have poker Friday night and golf Saturday, so set up for the weekend already.
I have the tree company coming out Wednesday to do an injection into the tree with Imadacloprid to try to control an infestation of beetles that are attacking the trunk and bark of the tree. The tree is massive and we had it trimmed this Spring, but need to have the beetles eradicated now. It's always something when you own a home.
By the way, the first picture above is of two bridges that cross the Feather River and we see that view every year when we drive to Almanor. Darla was ready this year and was able to get that picture from the passenger side of the car as we drove the canyon. It's a great picture and reminds us of our vacation. The upper bridge is Highway 70 and the lower bridge is a train trestle bridge. There are also massive electrical wires that work there way down the canyon and cross over the highway. It is quite a sight.
I will be back at the keyboard next Sunday lonely and hungry as my wife is off with her work cohorts living it up. Have a great week. Ciao.
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