Just a really quick update this week as Darla and I are off to Reno to see probably our last Willie Nelson concert. He is 85 years old and still going strong, but he is 85 years old and has subsisted on a daily regimen of pot and booze for about 30 years. I'd think that he will be retiring from touring soon. His latest albums have songs like: "Last Man Standing" and "He Won't Ever Be Gone" and "Still Not Dead" with heavy emphasis on the number of his friends and contemporaries that have passed on. "He Won't Ever be Dead" is a tribute to Merle Haggard, who was a very close find of Willie's. The lyrics to Last Man Standing, read "I don't want to be the last man standing..oh, wait a minute maybe I do." and is about the number of his friends in country music who have passed away. He is a realist and knows that his time left is short. He s an immense talent and really not a shell of the former artist. He plays without a set list and his band goes with his lead. He is playing with his sister and his son, Lukas, who sounds just like his Dad. His sister is a piano player and actually is a year older than Willie. It will be fun. We are staying at the Grand Sierra in Reno and the concert is in their concert hall.
Darla had to rush off this morning to get her jewelry set up in Lodi for the annual Italian Festival. It is one of her biggest events of the year and she has a couple of her team members running the show. She left at 7 to get things set up and she is SUPPOSED to be home at 1 so we can get on the road to Reno. The concert is at 8 PM tonight and I want to be there on time because I really like the opener, Allison Krause who is a musician, songwriter and vocalist. She plays the piano, violin and mandolin and is very talented. You might know her from her songs, "When you say nothing at all" and "Lucky One". One of my favorites of hers is "Down to the River to Pray". We had hoped to get into Reno a bit early and hit the pool after a 2 hour drive up the mountain. You'd think we are getting out of the heat by heading up to Reno. We've had seven straight days now of over 100 degrees and this heat wave will finally break on Monday as that is our last day forecast of 100 degrees. We will cool down to 96-97-98 the rest of the week. Reno is also seeing a heat wave and setting records with temperatures over 100, Today is forecast at 102 and tomorrow 100. The heat is on in our neck of the woods.
Anyone who follows me on Facebook knows the Samson story of this week where Darla woke me up on Wednesday morning at 4 AM and said we had an intruder in the house. There were loud voices coming from the family room and I crept down the hall and quickly realized that the TV was on. We had shut it off the night before. I turned on the light and was looking for the remote to turn off the cable when the channel suddenly changed to ESPN and the sound shot up a few more decibels. I could not find the remote and returned to our room to see Samson on his bed chewing on the remote. That dog will put ANYTHING into his mouth and is the reason he had the THC poisoning in LA. If I don't watch him in the backyard he is up in the Palm garden above the pool trimming back the plants. The Sego palms are toxic to dogs so I have to be diligent to keep him out of those. He is also a water dog and wades into the pool when ever we let him out to pee. I've got into the habit of going out with him and guarding the steps to the pool. It is quicker than having to take the time to dry him off. The vet also told us to rinse him after he's been in the pool because the chemicals are not good for his skin. He is a handful.
The pictures? The top three are of the golf tournament we played in this weekend. There was a 24 man (12 team) playoff horse race and the picture is of the gang on the first tee waiting for the playoff to start. The last two pictures are of Samson meeting Koa for the first time. This is Michelle and Jeremy's new dog. Jordan is thrilled. They said that they went to the SPCA to get a cat and ended up with the Husky mix. He has bizarre greyish/blue eyes and looks a little like a wolf.
Paul and I won our flight in the 4 ball event at Woodcreek this weekend. We shot a 60, which was one shot off of the low round for the day. We actually tied another team in our flight for first. It was a unique tournament in that we played the round in the morning and then had lunch. After lunch they sent out the 12 low teams (four from each flight) to play in a horse race. The horse race is a 4 hole event where they eliminate 4 teams on the first hole, three teams after the second hole and 2 teams after the third hole. The final three teams play for first second and third, or Win, Place and Show. Paul and I played really well and made it into the final hole, but I sprayed our drive left and he had to hit a recovery into the fairway. I then yanked the third shot right almost into the driving range. Paul was able to hit a shot short of the bunker and we laid 4 right next to one of the other teams who was also lying 4. They hit first and knocked one into said bunker. I played a 40 yard chip shot to about 20 feet of the pin and Paul missed the putt. We ended up with a 7 on the par 5 and the other team had 8. The winners had a nice 5 and just watched us hashing around on the final hole. Paul saved us on number 2 when I hit a drive that went a little left and clipped a tree and left us about 150 yards to the green. The green is over water and Paul had to hit a shot that stayed low to get under some tree branches and then jump up over a tree, over the water and onto the green. He put it about thirty feet for birdie and we made the par. It was a fun day.
Work is going well and we should hit our budget numbers this month. My two newer underwriters are a little slow out of the gate, but Renee had a huge month and is keeping us in the game. She is about 40% over budget for the month. Pete is off on a two week Alaskan cruise and his team is keeping the ship afloat while he is gone. We continue to interview for a new team member for Pete and Harvey is being really picky about who we get. We sent him a couple of what we thought were excellent candidates and he turned them down because they scored too low on the numerical reasoning test. He turned one millennial down because she said she uses a calculator to figure a tip at a restaurant. Millenials use their smart phones for EVERYTHING.
That will do it for this week. Next weekend is the start of the Club Championship and I will play the first round on Sunday. I'm not overly confident. I shot 87 on Saturday with a 41+ 46 at Woodcreek. I had a good front nine and helped us to a 29, but a lot of fits and starts on the back. Interestingly the tournament was an 8:30 Shotgun and we started on number 12, so the front was the back and vice versa (sort of). I'll be back at the keyboard next Sunday night. Ciao.
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