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.
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