We thought the heat was over, but 107 today says, Not So Fast!

 

The heat is back. We had a nice six or seven days of cooler weather with cool nights and highs in the 80's and low 90s. Not so fast, bucko. The heat is on with 104 yesterday, 107 today, 109 tomorrow and 100's forecast until next Monday. Yuk. At least we don't live in Houston. Hurricanes are a fact of life and one of the reasons that our Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Carolina offices are among our most profitable. We are not an insurance company so the inevitable losses will hit the insurance companies and wind deductibles and premiums will skyrocket for awhile. We just make commissions off our sales of policies.

 

I wouldn't live in one of those areas because hurricanes are a fact of life for them and the devastation we are seeing now is an expected fact of living there. I especially question New Orleans, which is a city below sea level on the coast in a hurricane belt. Do I feel sorry for them? Sure. I feel sorry that they rebuild only to lose everything again within another 20 years. If there weren't computer models that forecast hurricanes to hit the same area over and again, I'd say I'd feel more for them, but this is a part of their lives that they CHOOSE to be a part of. The same is true of earthquakes in Napa and Santa Cruz, San Francisco and LA. Theses folk know the risks that they live under, so feeling truly sorry for them when tragedy strikes seems somewhat silly. As a Christian, I feel sorry for the suffering and especially for the kids that are in the middle of the devastation through no fault of their own. The parents act like they are shocked, yet had to opt for insurance that excluded wind damage because they live in, wait for it, a HURRICANE ZONE and couldn't afford the premiums. The pictures of trailers flipped over and boats upside down and twisted on top of docks is sad, but what idiot left his boat in the water when they knew a hurricane was brewing in the Gulf?

 

The top picture is part of the Engagement series that Jen and Mac had done last week. Their "Save the Date" cards should be going out soon, but the date of the wedding is Saturday April 21, 2018 in Las Vegas.

 

The pictures of Samson are from "new parents" Ken and Darla. I had a poker game Friday night hosted here at the house and I didn't want him running around and causing trouble as a non housebroken pet. I also didn't want to put him in his cage, so we arranged a "play date" with the neighbors. They just had to turn their dog over to a rescue as he bit their 13 year old son. The kids have been missing the dog and Jeremy, their Dad said that they would love to watch Samson some time. I dropped him off at 6 with his bed and a backpack of his toys and his seat belt. Michelle had to take their 13 year old son, Gavin, to his first school dance at 7:30 and Gavin wanted time to spend with Samson before he had to leave. Their daughter, Jordan, who is one of Sam's friends from her visit this Summer, was at a friends house until 7:30 and Michelle packed up Samson and brought him in their SUV to drop off  Gavin at the dance and pick up Jordan. They also stopped at her in-laws to let them meet Samson. They have suggested we put a dog door in the fence between our houses. They really enjoyed sitting him and her text to me, said "This is the sweetest puppy ever, he can hang out with us anytime." Nice to have that option, but we will probably pay the kids to watch him in the future.

 

The poker game itself went really well and it was good to get together with the guys. I won about $45 Friday night and the fellowship is always fun. We had six guys and I had carved meats and fixings for sandwiches. Darla fixed a nice potato salad and we enjoyed the meal.

 

I had golf on Saturday and was playing with Phil, the agent who is   a business partner with Mark, who I played with last year. Mark is a member of our golf league and plays in our twilight league. Phil is a good friend and we set him up with Carmen, one of Darla's girlfriends, and they have been together for over a year now. Phil ended up signing up for the league on Saturday as we offered new members a one day only opportunity to join at our renewal rate of $83 rather than the new member rate of $98. Pete in my office is joining as well and they will team up in the twilight league next year.

 

I set up a practice round on Thursday afternoon for Phil and Mark's Invitational partner, Phil Lee, who is an agent in their office. Pete joined us as Mark had league and couldn't come out. We had a nice late lunch at 1:30 and then teed off. We played 12 holes and Phil Lee had not been playing great, but nothing horrible. I could tell he was frustrated. On the twelfth hole, a par three over water, he shanked his tee shot into the water. He said loudly, "That's it! I'm done!" He got in the cart with Pete and rode down to the green and as we headed to the green to play the hole, he unhooked his bag from the cart and walked off the course. I was shocked as frankly he isn't good enough to get that upset. We soldiered on and I shot a nice 84. Pete shot 87, which is GREAT for him. Phil shot a 93 and he doesn't have a handicap (YET).

 

I showed up for the Invitational on Saturday and was playing in the Peoria flight as Phil doesn't have a handicap. Mark and his partner were also one of the 5 teams that were playing Peoria. What I didn't realize is that not only had Phil Lee walked off the course, but he quit the Invitational as well and he was the guest of his boss. What?? I told both Mark and Phil that I, as a boss, would have a huge problem with that kind of attitude in an employee and especially for a salesman. Losing is part of the process and you have to learn to deal with it. I was frankly, a little offended that he walked off the course after I paid his way. We'll see how he does with them as a producer. He's been with them for about four months and his stripes are beginning to show.

 

Phil and I played well together and we ended up shooting a 74, which would have given us a net 56 if he had a handicap. As it is, we had a net 71 and finished out of the money. Mark and his replacement partner shot 72, net 69 and won $62. We had a great time and the tri tip sandwiches afterward were outstanding.

 

Darla and I are trying to set up our Vegas trip and we have gone from Labor Day (can't go because Samson hasn't had his third Parvo shot),to September 22 (Darla booked a party that weekend)to October 14th (which it turns out is our Monterey trip with the club) to October 7th. We will hopefully stick with that. We are also booking a trip to Canada to see Dad and Shirley over Thanksgiving. We will fly in on Thanksgiving arriving at their house by the time the Cowboy game starts. We will stay until Tuesday. We needed to talk to the boys and then make sure we can get Samson in for his Obedience training with Darla's friend, Dale Roberts, who has a 39 acre training facility in Lincoln, the next town over. Dad and Shirley wanted to go to Mexico with us again in December, but we are saving our discretionary income for the wedding next year.

 

Well, that is it for this week. We are having another big month at work and hopefully we end up hitting our goal of a 10% increase over last year, which was our biggest month ever. I will check in again next week. Stay safe the family in Houston, although Aaron is posting videos of his kids in Kayaks on the streets, so they are somehow enjoying the crazy. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

Dog Days of Summer

 

Back from the gold country where we saw Willie Nelson, who at 84 is still an amazing performer. He still has the iconic deep gravelly voice and can stand and play for 90 minutes and remember all of the songs and all of the lyrics. He is amazing. We set this trip up with Bob and Debbie Hand way before Samson was even a possibility. David was going to watch him, but he had a guys weekend up in Lake Tahoe or Reno and Miya, David's girlfriend offered to watch him. She loves dogs and absolutely fell hard for Samson. He apparently was really good with her and although he anointed her house with a squat, she was unperturbed and loves Samson. She told us he could come over and stay at her place any time. She lives in a gorgeous older home in the McKinley Park area of Sacramento, really close to the Fabulous Forties, which is an upscale older section in downtown. Her house is small, but completely remodeled with a cute kitchen with an island, new floors, bathroom, plumbing and electric. The home was likely built between 1910 and 1940 and has a nice backyard with a carport that Miya uses as an outdoor eating area. Very cute. I wish I had the sense to take some pictures.

 

The concert was great. I had golf that afternoon with three of my agents following a Continuing Education class in the morning on Hoarding: An Insurance Nightmare. The class was great with awesome pictures and stories of the claims nightmares presented by hoarders. The key fact that came from the seminar for me is that there are 25,000 homes in the Sacramento area that are home to Hoarders. Most hoarders are single, but some are married to people that just put up with their addiction. 80% of hoarder's homes have at least three major appliances that don't work due to an inability to reach or access the appliance. This includes ovens and washing machines and dryers. Many hoarders have no way to clean their clothes and just buy new ones. It is a sad affliction, but the worst of it is that many claims at hoarder locations are denied as there is no working plumbing or electricity in the house and many of the claims occurred years ago and weren't known because of the piles of junk. Most hoarders have at least three rooms in their homes that are not accessible due to clutter. Also, the majority of injuries that happen to hoarders are due to the piles of junk they have caving in and falling on top of them.

 

We did get out and play golf and I was a winner at the driving range as one of the sponsors of the tournament is a windshield repair firm and they had a windshield out at the range set back about 40 yards and you were given two shots at the glass. The closest to the bulls eye painted in the middle of the windshield won the prize. I was the tenth person to attempt the shot and no one had hit it yet. Both of my shots with a four ion not only hit the windshield, but also hit the bulls eye!! I won a beer package with a case of New Belgium beers in all of the different varieties (ale, Heffleweizen, shanty, etc.)

 

 I have been frustrated with my game and subbed for one of the leading teams on Thursday night in twilight and shot a 50! I was so frustrated when I left the course. Friday, I was nailing my driver and had 12 of the 18 shots in my foursome's Scramble event. Now, mind you two of the golfers are in my golf league and the other is joining and is about a 19 handicap. Ron is my biddy and a 14 and Mark is a 15. I'm now a 17. We had 14 pars, two birdies and two bogeys for a 72.

 

 I bolted as soon as we were done playing as I had to meet Darla and the Hands up in Sonora. Debbie is a Willie Nelson fanatic and I didn't want to make her late to the concert. They ended up going out to dinner and I rushed up there and met them at the restaurant about 7:15 and their food hadn't even arrived. I ended up going to the hotel and getting a shower. They met me back at the hotel and Bob drove us the 30 minutes to Murphy's and the Ironstone Vineyard Amphitheatre. We got there about 8:30 and the concert started at 8 PM. The opening act was Kacey Musgraves. She was good, but forgot the lyrics to one song that we heard as we were walking to the gates. Ooops.  Willie came on at 9:30 and played until 11. It was a great concert in a beautiful amphitheater up in the foothills.

 

You can see the picture of the parking lot gridlock after the event. We got there late and so were at the very back of the parking area and our line of cars were not moving. One of the attendants came by and told us to work our way to the far right and the traffic was moving. I was driving as Bob finished the majority of a carafe of red wine and gave me his keys. We were stuck from about 11:20 until almost midnight when I began weaving my way to the right and we got out and back to the hotel by about 12:50 AM. 

 

Darla had a busy Saturday with an event at 11 AM at a salon followed by the final concert at the winery in Lodi. So, we were up at 6:30 and on the road by 7. I stayed home and worked in the yard and watched the Dallas Cowboys preseason game on NFL Network. We didn't want to leave the pup again after Friday overnight. Darla had a great weekend of sales, including a party today. Her weekend haul was almost $2400, although she split $1000 of that with one of her reps. She is amazing. She is working on earning a trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. We went there with Silpada and loved it. I look forward to returning.

 

She had an event in Lodi today and we had breakfast together and then were off to church. We went to late service as we overslept. My car would not start and it hadn't been driven since Friday morning when Darla had it out. She had left an interior light on and I was able to put it on a trickle charger for about an hour and get it going. Darla was not pleased that I pointed out that she had driven it last and left the interior light on. I thought that was simply a FACT, but marriage doesn't work that way. I stopped before church and picked up 5 square meters of grass sod and laid that out in a small area in the backyard behind the gazebo as a potty spot for Samson. You can see the picture of the new grass above. 

 

Work continues going well and I will host the staff to a lunch from Boudins, the San Francisco sourdough company that has a chain of restaurants. The sandwiches will all be with sourdough and then I am bringing in ice cream and fixings for a sundae bar in the office. Our profit this month was very impressive and we are tracking for another very good month. I've got to tell you, I am VERY HAPPY to be off the radar of management. For now.

 

I did go and see the dermatologist this past week and he felt compelled to cut something else off my thigh and burn a few other spots with his freezing "implement of death". As soon as he took the sample from my hip/thigh, he said it was nothing. He could tell just by looking at it. Randy texted me and asked how it went and I told him at least I'm losing weight. My doctor was very happy with how things looked and changed my follow up from 4 months to six months. Our pool looks like an umbrella garden as Darla has eight umbrellas surrounding the pool and the sun has a hard time finding the surface of the water. My approach to the sun is completely different now as I will not go out until about 4 PM and then sit in the shade on the water and read or sleep. Sun bathing is not in  the cards anymore. I will sit by the pool on a cruise or at the beach, but just on vacation, not in the backyard. He zapped me on the forehead in a couple of places and on my ears.

 

I've lost about 8 pounds in the last two weeks and it concerned me a little bit, but when I look back, I've been cutting back on food, eating smaller portions and often eating just a half a sandwich for lunch. Don't weep for me as I'm still 197 pounds. My appetite has not been especially robust, but I'm healthy.

 

Darla and I are trying to plan our trip to Vegas and considered going over Labor Day, but Samson doesn't get his final Parvo shot until September 5th, so we will go later in the month or early October. We hope to see one of Sam's soccer games while we are there and will bring Samson on the trip. Sam is anxious to meet him.

 

I will close this up as dinner is almost served (chicken and rice) and I have to do the handicapping for next week's Invitational. I am playing with Phil Castro, one of my agents and the guy we set up with Carmen. They have been together for a year now. It is a 2 man Scramble and we will play with his business partner, Mark, who is already a member of the club. Mark's partner is a new salesman in their office.

 

Have a great week. Ciao.

 

 

Samson is a Baby Dog

 

 

 

It is quite a job to house train a dog and even more so, when you both work. Some frustration is bleeding in as we take him for walks, outside, in the backyard and then bring him in and he pees or poops on the floor as soon as we look away. He seems pretty good overnight as he sleeps in his crate and gets up about 6 or 6:30 and goes outside and immediately pees. We have had only one accident while he is in the crate and that was when we were gone for 6 hours. He is slowly figuring it out, but it is a process. He doesn't know to ask to go outside, he just squats and we've got issues. We are working hard to get him to figure it out and give him treats when he does his business outside. We'll see how long it takes him.

 

Darla and I have a Willie Nelson concert on Friday night and will be gone overnight. David offered to take him, but called back and said that he has a commitment up in Tahoe. His girlfriend, Miya, has offered to take Samson. I'm concerned that Samson will be a handful for her. She wants to get a dog and perhaps this visit will talk her out of it. We are really considering any trips right now. I have a golf trip to Monterey in October and we hope to bring Samson with us and stay in a dog friendly hotel.

 

We will be up in Jamestown and Sonora Friday night. David is picking up Samson Friday afternoon and taking him over to Miya's house. We will stay over in Sonora, but be up early Saturday morning and back to pick up the boy. Darla has two events Saturday, one a house party and the other another concert up at the winery in Lodi. I think I will pass on going this time around as I want to keep the training up with Samson.

 

I have a golf tournament on Friday afternoon which starts at 12:30 and I will get out of Rancho Murieta about 5:30. If the tournament runs longer, I will have to leave. The concert in Jamestown is 8 PM and the doors open at 7 PM. We are going with Bob and Debbie, our friends from Lincoln, CA. Darla will drive up with them in the afternoon and get checked into the hotel. I will drive up after the golf and will get to Sonora by about 7 PM. Debbie is a HUGE Willie Nelson fan and they will probably want to be there as soon as the doors open. Willie is 2 years older than Dad, but he is pretty well preserved by years of marijuana use (Willie that is!). I'd like to get a quick shower and we will get to the concert by 8 PM. It is a Willie and Family concert and I believe his son opens for him.

 

Darla took Samson in to the groomer this week and got the flea dip. The groomer washed him, cut his nails and gave him a flea bath. The groomer told Darla that were there no fleas present. We don't know why he bites himself and he has a vet appointment tomorrow and we may get some idea of what the issue is if any. He will also get his third Parvo shot and we can more confidently take him out to the park and on walks and not worry about him catching the Parvo virus. His third shot is his last until his booster at one year old.

 

The golf this weekend was unfortunate. I awoke Saturday with a bad back and ended up taking a Flexeril. It was warm and I had the "lefts" pulling the ball left off the tee and on fairway shots. My opponent had me down 4 holes after 5 and although I hung on until hole 16, he eventually beat me 3+2. I wish that I had felt better, but it is what it is. I had the same issues today and took another Flexeril. I think the drug makes you drowsy as I almost fell asleep in church this morning. We came home and I slept another hour and went on the pool about 3:15 after watching some of the PGA Championship and read for a bit and took another hour nap. I should feel refreshed, but still feel really tired.

 

We have a combo oven and microwave oven and the microwave went out this weekend. The cost to replace the wall unit is about $2,700 and we aren't ready to drop that kind of dough right now. We checked with Craigslist and picked up a fairly new Hamilton Beach microwave for $20 from a guy in Antelope, the next city over from Roseville. It works fine and at least we can defrost meat and heat up leftovers. We will probably wait to get a new oven unit next year after the wedding.

 

Diane was in Vegas this weekend and she and Jennifer went out and bought her new wedding dress yesterday. They immediately saw one that Jennifer liked and tried that one on and looked at six others before coming back to the original one she saw and buying that one. It is a pretty traditional wedding dress with a veil and train. Sam starts fourth grade on Tuesday and Diane also took her to Justice (a kid's store in the vein of Macy's) and spoiled her with new school clothes. I'm happy she could be there for Jennifer and Sam.

 

 

 

Sam just got back from Hawaii and apparently had a blast. She got back yesterday and we didn't want to call and interrupt Diane's time with her, so we will call tomorrow and hear about her exploits and wish her well on the new school year. We will be in Vegas next month to visit with them and will bring Samson for a visit.

 

I have dentist and doctor appointments this week. I have a follow-up with my dermatologist for another cancer screening and I think he wants to do a skin peel treatment on my forehead. He had talked about doing it the first time I was in, but we were seeing Sam the next week and didn't want to scare her. I wear a hat constantly when I'm in the sun, but I guess the years of sun exposure are catching up with me. I will be out of the office Friday with a morning Continuing Ed class followed by the golf event and then the trip up to Sonora.

 

We are going to level out part of the garden by the atrium and make it into a small grass area for the dog. It is only about 42 inches wide and about four feet long, but will give him a spot in the backyard (which is mostly cement and flower gardens) to do his business. He uses the ground cover by the pool right now and is really wearing out that section.

 

Darla had him in the pool again on Saturday when I got back from golf. She had a friend over and they were each on a raft and Samson had his own raft. It is pretty funny to see a puppy out riding a raft in the pool. He loves water.

 

I see that Sherry is setting up another cruise for Shirley's 80th birthday. We would love to go, but the wedding countdown is on and all of our discretionary income will go the wedding in 2018. We plan to take a trip up to Vancouver maybe in November and will board Samson for that trip, which will be a long weekend. We will fly into Seattle and drive down to Surrey probably on a Thursday to Tuesday trip. We will call Dad and Shirley and firm up plans on that in the next week.

 

Well that is it for this week. I'll let you know how the concert goes and how the pup did with Miya next week. I hope you are all well. Ciao for now. 

 

 

 



Samson is in the House!

 

 

 

Yep. Darryl and Cheryl bought a new Cadillac and we ended up with a new baby Golden Retriever. Darla and I have wanted a dog since Buddy died 8 years ago and our travel schedule has forced us to wait. We both decided that there would never be a perfect time for us to adopt a new dog and we made the commitment that we will kennel him whenever we travel. We both have wanted an English Crème Golden, but they cost about $3000. Samson is a cross between a Golden Retriever and an English Crème. His color is white with brown markings and he will probably darken as he ages. He look really white in bright sun, but takes on more of the brown highlights in artificial light. He is cute.

 

Darla already has him in the pool and he thinks it is fine to just jump in the water when we are on the pool. He will get up on her raft and take a long nap and stay still until she is ready to get off the water. He is a baby and has his accidents. We had a jewelry show at the winery in Lodi on Saturday and he had to stay in his cage for about seven hours. You can see the picture of Darla with her new haircut hamming it up for the camera above. He completely ate his "puppy pad" that is an absorbent liner that is used in his cage to take care of accidents. He also messed on the bed that we have in the cage. We expected that. He also had an accident on our bed and peed through the comforter this afternoon.

 

I had golf this morning and Darla went to church, I put him in his cage and she came home about 45 minutes later. He had no issues and she was able to get him outside and he was fine. When he came back in he went in his cage and wouldn't come out. Darla went in to fix herself breakfast and when he didn't come out he was up on our bed resting in the pillows. You can see the pictures above. I was hot and tired after golf and just wanted to relax on the pool with an iced tea and my book. Darla went into town to go to the bank and run some errands. I was no sooner on the pool relaxing than Samson made a swan dive into the pool and scrambled up on my raft with me. Darla is already spoiling the dog.

 

We named the dog Samson in honor of our granddaughter. We didn't want to name him Sam as that is confusing, but decided on Samson as he was a hero in the Bible. His downfall was women and Darla is already working on that with our Samson. Darla..Delilah..?

 

We got Samson from a breeder in Utah that also sells here in Sacramento. The breeder happened to be in town this weekend and we were just going to "look" at the dog. We all know how that works. Samson is the offspring of the Sire, Remi and the Dam, Lily. Both are AKC registered and Samson will be as well. He wasn't cheap, but we were both convinced that we wanted a crème and this really was the next best thing for us. I did get the breeder to drop her price down a couple of $100 dollars and we used that savings to buy his cage, dog food, leash, vest and bed. He is adorable and we will have our hands full for awhile. Sam and Jennifer want us to come out right away so they can meet him. Sam is in Hawaii with her Dad and she has sent us a few pictures and is going crazy over Samson. I think she loves that he is named after her. I have a picture of Sam from her zip lining adventure in Hawaii.

 

The golf today was the start of the Club Championship. The flights are set up in 8 man flights and we finish within three matches. The problem comes when we end up with an odd number of players and that happened in my flight. I ended up with a bye into the second round and will play the winner of my friend, John Parola's match against one of our former Presidents Steve Hitchcock.  I played with them today and was a marker, but got to see how they played and let them see my game as well. John shot 91, Steve shot 89 and I shot 87. Steve beat John 3 and 1 in the match play event and I will take on Steve next week. The other match will take place in our foursome and has Steve, one of my headaches against Dave. I'd like to win my match and the dream would be to play Steve and beat him. Steve has a lot of physical problems. He is overweight, has bad legs, bad circulation, a sleep disorder and looks a lot like Bluto from Popeye. The issue I have with him is that he asked for and received a medical handicap from me and my handicap committee and we gave him a 21. He was coming back from being off for two years and played in a 54 hole event and promptly shot 82, 83 and 81. ALL of the membership were up in arms and calling for my head. I had used an average of his last ten rounds and felt like I was buffaloed by Steve. He was ungracious in victory and was pissed at me because I wouldn't let him win the overall prize because he was playing with a medical handicap. It would be sweet to stare him down and beat him. He has a 14 Tournament handicap and had four birdies in his match today that he won 6 and 5. His GHIN handicap is 21, but he has to play to a 14 because his low rounds are still in his Tournament Handicap. His opponent at the end of the round was calling him a bagger.

 

I had Harvey in the office this week and we had a good conversation about how things are going. We are trending up the last two months and we have a good start to the month this month. He and I went out and saw an agent in Elk Grove who is on our national retailer list. It was an interesting call in that the agent was very blunt in letting us know that the service on the personal lines side was lacking. I promised them that they will get preferred service from here on out. I had told the current underwriter that I wanted Pete to handle the agency as he lives in Elk Grove, works from home on Fridays and can see the agency regularly. The underwriter told me that their relationship with this agency is excellent and they work together well. When I asked the agent how often they see the underwriter she told me that it had been at least ten years since she saw them. Pete takes over the agency on Monday. Always fun when you are with boss and reality strikes.

 

Well, that is it for this week. Darla is gone overnight tomorrow night and Samson and I are on our own, He will be in his cage most of tomorrow, but I'll come home at noon and walk him. He will be my new walking buddy. Darla has been having trouble with her feet and we haven't been able to walk lately. Samson and I will get our exercise. Have a great week. Ciao.

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