The blog will be on vacation next week, but the good news (as always) is that we will return with plenty of pictures of Samantha, Jennifer and Mac. We are driving so we can bring Samson and introduce him to Sam and family. He'll also get to meet Maceo and maybe learn something from him. He is sleeping on the wood floor right now as I work on this. The Cowboy game has just ended and our tremendous offense was once again let down by our pedestrian defense. I know that Jerry is trying to get the help we need there, but you can't completely overhaul your secondary in one year and expect to slow down a stud quarterback like Aaron Rogers, who was passed over by the 49ers for Alex Smith. I think one more year and a few more tweaks on the defensive line and they'll be ready to go. Perhaps he will spend money in free agency and surprise me. I hope so.
We had our office picnic on Thursday and had a good time. It was also our goodbye to Linda in my Personal Lines department. Linda is the blonde in the pictures above. She was the product of huge change for me in my office when she took a dysfunctional unit and molded them into a team. She accepted a position with an MGA that is starting a new Homeowners program. She will do great and I am happy for her and sad for me. I have a requisition in for a new Personal Lines Underwriter. I found Linda and I should be able to find another capable underwriter. It is the personality and work ethic that concerns me.
Darla and I went out to dinner last night at Rubinos in Rocklin. I love their gnocchi and it is the best gnocchi in the area. I have had gnocchi both times that I had visited in the past, but wanted to add chicken to the gnocchi. The waiter did me one better and had me order chicken parmigiana with the gnocchi as a side. Fantastic. The restaurant owner had spent the day at the eggplant festival in Loomis and they were trying to sell us the fried eggplant appetizer. We chose instead the fried calamari with oil and garlic glaze. I had played golf during the day and Darla had offered to pay for anything above our $30 Groupon that I paid $10.50 for. She had a party on Saturday and another one today.
We just had the neighbor's ring the doorbell and they brought over a Halloween costume for Samson. It is a pumpkin and includes a mask and a pumpkin vest. I guess the mask is a Mardi Gras mask. It also has a spike collar that is too big for him.
We will bring them to Vegas and maybe Sam will be able to get them on him. The neighbors are great.
I did play golf yesterday and it was Paul's 63rd birthday on Friday, so I hosted him over at Cherry Island. I had a 10:54 tee time and got there about 10:15 to find out that they were running almost an hour behind. They offered us free range balls, but my coupon included range balls. They ended up giving us a free foursome with cart to use at a later date. Jesse and Rico joined us. Both Paul and Rico shot 79s, Jesse had an 85 and I shot 89.I was really hitting my drives well but struggled with my short game. We teed off a little before noon and finished up about 4:45.
We did not have church today as the church was doing community service this weekend. I saw some of our folks working at the elementary school across the street spreading sand and bark when I left for golf. They were also working today, but we missed services last week and never got signed up for the work service. We will be gone again next week.
The tragedy in Las Vegas was horrible and I learned about it last Sunday night and sat in silence watching the images on my television in bed. Jennifer was pretty shook up and one of Sam's classmates lost an Aunt and Uncle in the tragedy. Mac's mom called him on Monday morning and told him to sit Sam down and tell her what happened. Jennifer had already left for work, so Mac had a crash course in parenting. Mac's mom was correct that they needed to let her know before she went to school. Good that he did especially in light of the classmate's loss.
The leaves are beginning to fall and I had to take all of the lounges and rafts off the pool and clear the leaves from both the surface of the water by net and the floor of the pool by leaf cleaner. I also cleaned the artificial grass with an organic cleaner and watered it all down. He uses it to pee and it was getting a little rank. It was fresh and clean when I finished the task.
Darla and I are able to take Samson for walks each night and it seems he is much better at night if we walk him and let him work up a little lather and get some "antsyness" out of his system. We take him either just around the block or along the perimeter of our neighborhood. He loves his walks and gets excited when we get his harness and leash out. He has yet to actually stop and pee or poop on his walks. He is way too excited to check everything out including anyone we see walking along the way.
It was breezy again today and my job of clearing leaves looks like it was a waste of time. The surface if the pool is once again covered with leaves and they will soon sink and leave me with the same job to do all over again. I will do it later rather than fight that battle while the wind is blowing.
We will leave early Friday morning for the nine hour drive to Vegas. I plan to get on the road by 4 AM and we should be there by about 2 or so. We will have to stop at either drive thrus or dog friendly restaurants where we can sit outside on the porch. We will probably stop, pick up sandwiches and eat at a park or rest stop. Darla took him up to Paradise a few weeks ago, but that is only a 90 minute drive. This will be interesting to see how he does. Rico said to me, "I don't know why you'd EVER drive to Vegas." I responded, "Wait until you're a grandparent, THEN you'll get it."
Darla has some bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches waiting for me, so I will wrap this up. I was promised turkey tacos, but I think she wasn't in the mood to make them. Her home party today was cancelled at the last minute. The lady had three people coming, but unfortunately Darla and her friend Joni were two of the three and the third one cancelled, so the party was postponed. Not before Darla showed up and took a fall in her driveway when she was unloading. She tore her jeans and scuffed her knee.
I will be back at the keyboard in two weeks. I hope you all have a healthy and happy couple of weeks. I'll check in when we return. Ciao.
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