More pictures of Samantha

On our last day, Darla lost her cell phone. It is her lifeline with her three jobs, especially with her Silpada Designs Jewelry business. She realized it on the plane and asked me to call her phone. I called the number and it came up with a recording and I remembered that I had to dial our area code. The phone rang and a distinctly African American female voice answered. Darla said that she had her phone. The woman immediately had an attitude with her and as Darla said, "the only reason to cop an attitude is if you are in the wrong". They argued for a minute and the woman said she's had that phone number for three years and Darla was "craaazy". She hung up on us and when we called her back it would go to Darla's voice mail. Darla called Verizon and had them turn off the phone. She was stressing over it when we got home. When I was in using the computer the night we got home, she was checking on other phone carriers and trying to figure out what to do. After a half hour she walked in and sheepishly showed me her phone. It had been packed in our luggage that was checked. How we got someone else's phone number is a mystery, but I guess the other reason to cop an attitude is that some "craaazy lady" is claiming you stole her phone. Funny stuff. Here are more pictures and I will add more still next week. I love you all. Ciao.

Back From Vegas..OH MY GOD, Samantha is a doll!!!

We are just home from Vegas and came home with 788 pictures of young Samantha. Now Darla is a photographer, but about 600 of those came from Jennifer and John's computer. These three pictures are from my IPhone. The first is of her playing with her Fisher Price drum set, the second is of her in a new walker we bought for her while we were there and she is on the new area rug we bought for Jennifer's birthday, and the third is from today at the Tommy Bahama Tropical Cafe at the Las Vegas Town Square shopping center.

I only have about a half hour to work on this. I have a golf meeting tomorrow night, but plan to add more to this Thursday night with many more pictures. This is to wet your appetite. We had a full on blast in Vegas. Jennifer and John have a beautiful house and have made a great home for themselves and our precious Samantha. Samantha, like Jennifer, is wearing size 3-6 months clothes at the age of 8 months. She is so strong and is pulling herself up on everything and on the verge of holding her own bottle. She is too short to get both feet on the ground when using the new walker, but is motoring around on one foot. She sleeps from 8 PM to about midnight, wakes up for a bottle and a changing and then sleeps until about 6 AM. She takes a nap about 10 AM for forty five minutes and then takes a final nap about 3 PM. She is such a happy baby, but at the same time she knows how to turn on the tears to get her way. If she is being held and wants to crawl, she'll give you a little cry and as soon as she is put down, she is back to happy-go-lucky. We only had one night in five when she was fussy and it was a night we were out to dinner at Chili's. It was also the night John chose to take the long way home to show us the spot where the new elementary is going in near their house. Jennifer was also a little pouty over that maneuver. Jennifer and John are both great parents, very protective and patient with Samantha. John is probably a little more over protective, but I'm happy to see him take a strong stand on making sure Samantha is safe at all times. He is definitely wrapped around her little finger and she is Daddy's little girl. He made a remark at dinner the second night at Joe's Crab Shack that had Darla in hysterics. He said that, " the ladies at the day care don't want to come right out and say it, but Samantha is their favorite." Darla played that theme with John for the rest of the weekend.

We got to know John much better this trip, there's nothing like living with someone to get to know them. He is a great guy with a good sense of humor and very serious when it comes to his work and to his family. We had a good laugh with him one night when he was talking about their new dog and how he needed to train him the right way from the start. The dog was jumping up and John said, "We'll just have to nip that in the butt." I looked at him and said, "Did you say, 'Nip that in the "butt"'? He said, "yeah, you know the saying you stop a problem by nipping in in the butt?" I explained the derivation of the saying with regard to a flower and "nipping it in the bud". We continued to have a good laugh at his expense and he got to know the Lyon family perhaps better than he really wanted to.

Their home is in far North Las Vegas about thirty minutes from the strip. John was offered a new job on Friday with a firm that he had interviewed with previously. It is a company that specializes in home security systems, alarms, etc. They will also do full entertainment systems and video surveillance, etc. and are looking for someone with John's expertise beyond the normal scope of just alarm installations. He is thrilled to have been offered the position and went in this morning to take care of all his paperwork. He starts on a new project tomorrow.

Jennifer's job is going great. I totally misunderstood her when she explained her job. She is working on a new project in Las Vegas called "City Center". It is the new casino complex next to the Bellagio and sandwiched in the middle of it is the Jockey Club. We saw the project from it's beginning as back on Dad's 70th birthday we saw what the boys described as "ground zero" outside the Jockey on what used to be their parking lot. Jennifer is working now on the mezzanine level of one of the buildings on the project pulling wiring and handling all of the low voltage work. She has a crew of apprentices that report to her and she handles some of the project management on her portion of the job. She absolutely loves her job and works 6 AM to 2:30 PM daily. Actually, she is Union, so they begin packing up at 2 PM and have what is known as a "15 minute walkoff" starting at 2:15 PM. She just got a great raise effective September 1st. John is non-union and the advantage to him is vacation and sick time. Jennifer does not get paid if she doesn't work, but her per hour is significantly higher. She also has excellent health, dental and vision benefits for her and Samantha. John will make the going rate if he works on union jobs. The kids are doing really well and I'm ready to plan a wedding in Vegas come Spring, eh Jennifer..John? They are talking about it and I'm thrilled.

We had a really good intense visit with the kids and Samantha. Jennifer wanted to get her mother-in-law to watch Samantha and go out on the town one night. Maybe next time, this time was Samantha Time. We went to the park near their house for a barbecue, we went to the YMCA swimming pool on Saturday and watched Sam swim, we went out to dinner and lunch a couple of times, visited the Town Center complex today with it's park in the center and kid's play area. It was tough to say goodbye today, but we left with full hearts and some tremendous memories and look forward to going back soon. I'll add more pictures Thursday. These were from today:

Up next, Vegas and a visit with Samantha...and Jennifer and John, of course.

Just a quick update. I will add more to this later in the week, so check back. Darla and I visited with Dad and Shirley before walking to the video store and then watching the movie when we got home and the night sort of got away from me. Becky and Daniel are coming over tomorrow night for Chinese Food, so adding to this then won't happen, but I'll get to it before we leave for Vegas.

The pictures above of Samantha are some of the ones John sent to me to add to my new IPhone and they are adorable. The ones of Becky and Daniel and Darla and I were taken at dinner on Saturday night at Scott's Seafood on the Sacramento River. Daniel couldn't decide what to order and finally decided on one of the appetizers, The Tsunami Tower. It had three levels of shrimp, calamari, oysters, mussels and other seafood. He sat eating it, making faces as he forced down the uncooked oysters and gagged over the mussels with a greenish hairy spine. It was quite entertaining. Becky is a Junior at Cal Poly majoring in Psychology and she keeps up with Daniel in intelligence and in spunk. She is quiet around me, but keeps Daniel in line and I like it. She lives in San Jose and is home for the Summer and spending this week in Roseville with Daniel. She is staying at Daniel's grandmother's house while she is away in Montana.

David is on the road back from his three week trip to Yellowstone, Glacier National park and Canada. He left Vancouver on Monday and spent a day on Vancouver Island, two days in Seattle, two days in Portland and two days with his cousins in Willets, California. Taylor leaves tomorrow for Cuba and he wanted to see her before she left.

Dad and Shirley had a grand time with David and enjoyed his fresh take on life and his helpfulness while he was there. They saw many sites and he helped out with the car show, driving the '39 over to the picnic and back in spite of his trepidation. I look forward to seeing him and hearing about his adventures, and of course seeing the pictures.

Dad is planning a celebration of Shirley's 70 years of life in November and we have already booked our flights for Seattle. We will meet Randy and Cake in Seattle and drive in together. Darryl is looking into joining us at the same time and all of us driving into Vancouver together. We get into Seattle at noon on November 14th and spend the weekend.

Well, it is bedtime and I will add more to this hopefully Tuesday night. Hope you are all well and keeping Jesus close to your hearts. Ciao.

Tuesday 7:25 PM

I added more Samantha Pictures, of course. This is just a teaser, wait until next week.

Patiently waiting for my wife to make up some turkey tacos. They are better than they sound, actually. We swam until 6:45 and then I went out and hand picked a few broad leaf weeds in the lawn. I had been spraying them, but it left a big brown spot in the lawn, so I go on the hunt about every two weeks for weeds. Daniel is off shopping, having dinner, and going to a movie. David heard we were having turkey tacos and made himself scarce. Funny thing is he loved them when Darla fixed them one night and didn't tell him what they were.

With the trip to Vegas on the horizon, my golf game will take a break and it can't come soon enough. I played in the qualifier this past week and had my worst round in a year. I shot 45+44=89. Steve shot 91 and we finished the two man net game at 38+33=71. I had to back that up with a twilight league game that night and shot a 41. Who knows. I shot 84 on Saturday in the Rose Cup qualifier and finished out of the top 11. I need a break. I've actually played 69 rounds of golf in the calendar year 2008. I won't play again until the start of the Club Championship on September 7th. I will go out and hit balls and I may actually play on September 6th as a warmup, but this is either the thing I need to do, or it's a mistake. We'll see.

I talked to Jennifer today. They are ready for our visit. David has decided not to join us in Vegas as he needs to get prepared to leave for Cal Poly in two weeks. We will take Jennifer out to dinner for her birthday at Joe's Crab Shack on Friday night and may not even see her when we get in on Thursday as she works so early in the morning.

John has left his job with the intention of getting on with the union. Unfortunately things are slow right now for the low voltage techs and he has interviewed for a position with another electrical firm in Vegas and his prospects look good. In the meantime, Jennifer is the breadwinner in the family.

Things at work are progressing. We are actually up about 10% in policy count, but down about 10% in premium volume. I have less people, so they are all working harder and gaining less. It is a bit tense at work and some of the staff can get a little snippy with each other. We will have a little team building meeting tomorrow. My receptionist who was out on maternity leave decided not to return, so I hope to fill her position. It is a bit tough at the moment, but we just need to tread water and wait for the tide to turn, as it always does eventually. The blog will be late next week, but full of pictures of my gorgeous granddaughter. Ciao

Taylor Home before leaving for Guantanamo Bay

Taylor (our niece) is home from boot camp and advanced training with the Navy. She leaves for 16 months working with the MPs at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on August 25th. She joined the Navy in order to get training as a military policeman with the goal of getting out of the service in 4 years and joining the CHP. She has to be 21 to join the CHP, so she decided to get some training and be ahead of the game when she is old enough to join. She is 18 now. Taylor is on the red raft in the bottom picture. The others are Kristi, her step-sister from her mother's first marriage and, of course, Shea. It was nice to be able to host the girls this weekend. They hadn't seen Kristi in a year (she lives in Lodi). Darla's parents came down from Paradise and Darla's sister came to visit as well. The girls stayed with us Friday and Saturday night. Daniel made it home from his camping trip Sunday and was able to visit with the girls for a couple of hours. They left Sunday about 3 PM and Daniel made a quick turnaround and was off to Paradise where he will work with Earl this week as they continue with the reconditioning of their house after the water damage.

They have new carpets being installed today and they worked last night moving furniture out of the rooms that carpet will be installed in. He will be there to move the furniture and help Earl with projects around the house. So far he has put in laminate flooring and new linoleum. Daniel and Earl will be working on putting in new baseboards throughout the house this week.

David has made it to Vancouver and he and Dad & Shirley are having a great time together. He made it in last Tuesday and will be leaving for home today. They went to a car show together yesterday and Dad was trying to get David to drive the '39 to the park while he and Shirley drove the '44 Merc. David wasn't thrilled with the prospects of driving Dad's baby and I don't know how it turned out as we didn't talk to them last night. We talked to dad last Thursday and it sounded like they were having a great time. They had taken a hike up Grouse Mountain with Al and Sherry and their boys. Dad and Shirley took the tram up the mountain and waited for them at the top. They had also stopped at the Capillano Suspension bridge and David even coaxed Shirley out on the rope bridge for the first time in her life. David has been getting a bunch of pictures and we are anxious to see them. Unfortunately, Dave had to miss Taylor, but he may still go visit her when he gets home.

My golf game has been frustratingly pedestrian lately. I played Turkey Creek and Timber Creek this weekend and shot 86 both days. Nothing to see here, folks. Boring golf ahead. I am off work today and have a meeting of NCGA club Presidents at Catte Vadera Country Club at ten today followed by an afternoon golf tournament. Thursday I will play in the second round qualifier for the NCGA four ball championships at Turkey Creek. This is a tournament of teams that all qualified at their local courses for this event. If we are lucky enough to move on from here we will play two days in the Carmel bay area at Poppy Hills one day and Spyglass Hill the next. I would be in golf heaven if we made it through this qualifying round, but I'd have to raise the level of my game to make it.

Jennifer called yesterday afternoon as Darla and I were relaxing on the pool. Things are going well with them in Vegas. The only concern is that John has left his job and has yet to get a call from the Union for work. They both seem unconcerned about things as the big construction project on the civic center will require a lot of electrical work and the high voltage electricians are hard at work now and that will leave a lot of work for the low voltage techs in the coming weeks. he hopes to get on a job within a couple of weeks. In the interim, Samantha gets to enjoy spending time with Dad. Jennifer was off for the better part of a year, so now she can work while John waits for his call from the union.

They are enjoying their house and have met all of the neighbors. One of the neighbors was away on the first weekend that John and Jennifer moved in and the police had to come out and break up a party that got out of hand for the 17 year old girl that was left home alone. They are walking at night and taking Samantha to the park to play. They've enjoyed barbecuing in their backyard and relaxing in their own home.

Well, I need to get going pretty soon. I should eat something before I go. The days are getting shorter and I've noticed that I need my headlights on when I go to work at 6:30 in the morning. it is dark now at night by 8:15 PM and soon Summer will give way to Fall. I will miss the warm days and cool nights. Summer is my favorite time of year. Be well and keep looking to the Lord for direction in your life. Ciao.

P.S. I forgot to mention some good health news. My doctor was very concerned with my high triglyceride readings and put me on a drug called Gemfibrozil, I take two 600 mg tablets a day and I finally went through almost a three month supply and was retested last week. My cholesterol has been running in the mid 200's and the triglycerides have been mid 500's, often too high to get a correct reading on the cholesterol. In fact, she told me that I was "pre-diabetic". Bottom line is I tested at 149 for triglycerides and 201 for cholesterol. Still room for some improvement, but a huge change for the better. The diet has helped and I still don't exercise enough, but I'm stoked at the changes. Good stuff, eh?

Back from Monterey to Hot August Nights

It is the dregs of Summer with warm nights and Hot days. It was so nice to relax in the natural air conditioning of Monterey and put on a warm up jacket in the morning while heading to breakfast. The fog would roll in at night and back out by late morning leaving sunshine and 75 degrees. The weather was absolutely perfect, but my golf game left something to be desired. I have a second round NCGA qualifier next Thursday and perhaps I'm saving my good rounds of golf for there. I shot 43+44=87 at Laguna Seca, 43+46=89 at Poppy Hills and 40+45=85 at Del Monte. Del Monte was the tough one because I was one over par after five holes and limped home with a 40 and then fell apart on the backside with dumb shots and poor execution.Del Monte is the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi. It has small greens and holes very close to each other.
We had a great time and Darla and I took Friday night as a date night. We went out to an old fashioned Italian Restaurant in Pacific Grove called Vito's. Vito was there along with his ex-wife who was our server and just off the boat from Italy. Darla got such a kick out of her. She barely spoke English, but chattered away with Darla. She brought us extra appetizers and bread and Darla a soup when she raved about mine and had ordered a salad. At the end of our meal, the waitress (owner) asked is we wanted a Happy Ending. I almost fell out of my chair until she brought us a homemade sorbet ice cream with blackberries compliments of the house. It was a great night out. We sat across from four little old ladies who laughed and carried on throughout their meal of pasta and red sauce. At the end of the meal they each passed around a Tide stain pen to blot up the red stains. It was adorable.
We went to Monterey with Steve and John and their wives and went out to dinner at The Fish Hopper on Saturday night. it was ahoot with four couples all laughing and carrying on. The maitre d brought us complimentary calimari appetizers and John and Steve had brought three bottles of wine into the restaurant. They had taken a cab and so were able to drink a lot of cab.
Our hotel was nice, in a great location close to the Pacific Grove Golf Links. It was older, but well maintained and a good price. It is walking distance to the ocean and close to the main drag on Lighthouse in Pacific Grove. We had breakfast at a little cafe in Pacific Grove on Saturday before Poppy Hills.
We have heard from David. His trip to Montana, Yellowstone and Glacier National park went well. He is on his way now to Banff and then will spend a week with Dad and Shirley in Vancouver. David said dad told him he'd need five days for dad to show him everything. I know David is really looking forward to it. I added a couple of pictures that David sent us from his trip.
I haven't talked to Jennifer in a while with us being gone. We'll touch base sometime this week and be in Las Vegas the end of the month.
Work continues going okay. The market is tough. I renewed my largest account on 8/1. When I wrote it four years ago it was $327,000. This year we renewed it for $122,000. That is the market. It is a home builder and he is putting off building anything but a custom home for an owner. He refuses to build anything on speculation and I can't say I blame them. The one thing the smart builders are doing right now is buying up land and getting ready for the turn in the economy. it's coming, it always turns around.
That is it for now. pork chops and potatoes are smelling ready and it's already 7:30 on a Monday night. hope you are all well. Ciao.

Next weekend: Carmel and the Monterey Peninsula

It keeps getting better. We will escape the valley and head to the coolness of the oceanside golf courses of the Monterey Bay. This is our annual trip to Carmel to play Poppy Hills. We usually play another course in the area and this year it is Old Del Monte, the oldest of the courses owned by the Pebble Beach company and perhaps the least exclusive. I have never played Old Del Monte and look forward to it. darla and I will head down Friday morning, stopping in San Juan Bautista for me to play San Juan Oaks golf course. We may still switch back to Pacific Grove golf course. They chemically treated their greens last month and burned the greens on the front side of the course. It would be more convenient as Darla and I are staying at the Sea Breeze Inn in Pacific Grove on Friday night and it is about ten minutes from Pacific Grove Golf links, but we'll see how well the greens have repaired. I'm going with Boyd and two of my poker buddies who also play in the club, Steve and John. Steve and I will play in the NCGA second round qualifier for the two man championships for Northern California in about three weeks.

Darla is sitting in the backyard with her best friend, Joni, who has moved to Roseville from the Bay Area. Joni came over to swim this afternoon and took a dunk when she was trying to reposition herself on the floating raft, We looked up and she was underwater. She came up coughing and looking like a drowned rat with her sunglasses still on her face. They have been visiting non-stop since she got here and I had trouble sleeping on the pool, so finally headed inside to get some work done. I ordered two newwheel assemblies for the jet ski trailer. The one that we refilled in Almanor is flat again and I'll take it in to be repaired once the new wheels get here. I'll keep the two we have as spares in the event that we get another flat. I got two of them online for less than $100 through tiredepot.com.

David has made it through his camping experience in Montana. They hiked for six days through the National Park in Montana and he is back at his Aunt's house visiting with relatives. He will be off later this week for Canada and a visit with Dad and Shirley. They will each have a great time as David has a real fondness for Dad and Dad has always praised David's maturity. I'm sure they will each come away from the trip with some fun memories and I know Dad will proudly show David my birthplace and perhaps take him over to the island as well. Hopefully the weather is good. Dad, you might see if you can get up to Cultis lake and see Aunt Glad as David still remembers his trip from so many years ago.

I did, of course, play golf this weekend and competed in the PGA McGladrey Team Championships. We played a three man team using 50% of our handicaps and I played with Bob and Joe. I shot 80, Joe, a 9 handicap, shot 79 and Bob, a six, shot 74. We managed a 65, but the winning team shot 60. We got a nice tee prize of a PGA travel bag and a six pack of Titleist golf balls. I got to the course at 9:30 for my 9:58 tee time and my phone rang in the parking lot. They had sent the teams out in sixsomes, instead of threesomes and they were running early and my team was on the tee. I asked the pro shop guy how that was my problem. He told me to just "Hurry Up". I showed up on the tee with no warm up and put my opening drive out of bounds. As I said, I managed an 80 (40+40), so it didn't hurt me too bad, but this is the kind of thing we put up with at Diamond Oaks a lot.

Work is going well as we struggle through a tough economy. My Sacramento branch was up year over year in July and I will host a pizza party for the staff on Wednesday. Modesto was down and the economy is particularly bad in the central valley of California. We will survive.

Jennifer and John are in their new home now and Darla and I look forward to visiting them over Labor Day. David may fly in as well as he continues his party tour Summer of 2008 before starting in earnest at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the Fall.

This is short, but I'm on the laptop as I'm having connectivity issues with the desktop computer in the office. Comcast will be out tomorrow to fix that. We had a guest speaker at church today who was almost hanged in Saudi Arabia for preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. He was pleased to announce that eight of his captors came to Christ after he was abducted. He is still a wanted man in the Middle East and cannot return there. It was a compelling story and we had a lot of families come forward during the altar call today. Be well. Ciao.

Andy's funeral: Darla did just great on the Eulogy

Darla was understandably a bit nervous before the funeral, but what a great and understated job she did explaining her grandfather's roots and what made him so special to her. When she read the eulogy to me two nights before the funeral, she was emotional and cried and I told her that she had to work through those emotions. That if she was emotional during the eulogy, all that anyone would see or hear would be her discomfort. If she wanted to do her grandfather justice and be able to tell his story, she had to relax. Darla was genuine, relaxed and even extemporaneous in her comments. She laughed at some memories and stressed some points about his grace as a husband when his first wife suffered from Alzheimer's. She had a strong set of themes in the eulogy and touched on each of them extremely well. I was very proud of her courage and her delivery that day. She heard many good comments from friends and relatives and it went off well.

I was a pallbearer, along with both boys, two nephews of Andy's and Darla's brother, Steve, who flew home from Hawaii with his wife, Kristen, for the funeral. We headed from the funeral home to the graveside service, where Andy was buried beside his parents and next to his first wife, Effie. Andy's widow, Liz, attended on her first foray out of the convalescent home. She was gracious and extremely alert and touched by the funeral. Her comment on Darla's eulogy was "Beautiful!" There is a picture of Liz in the silver car above.

I was able to meet Darla's Uncle Gene and his partner, Jim, for the first time. We also were able to visit with members of the extended family that I haven't seen for years and others that I met for the first time. The reception afterward was nice with jello and ham rolls, potato salad and orange punch and cookies. I went over to my Modesto office afterward and checked in with them before heading home.

We hosted the family to a barbecue and swim outing at our house the next day. David had left for Montana, but his cousin, Shea, was there and Daniel came by for lunch before heading to work. We had Darla's folks here as well. Their house is still torn up from the water damage and they are working on laying wood flooring in the entry, kitchen and family room. The carpet will follow later and the interior office is framed and sheetrocked. All of the sheetrock is done and painting will come soon. Earl has decided to have his cabinets redone during this process. They obviously couldn't host everyone, so asked if we would. I barbecued hamburgers and we relaxed in the pool afterward.

I played golf both Saturday and Sunday and struggled a bit both days. I shot a pair of 84's, but it was how, not how much that was the problem. In today's tournament, I fell apart on the front nine with four double-bogeys and limped in with a 45, but pulled it together on the back nine with three bogeys and six pars for a 39. I hung around and helped with the scoring for the blind draw two-man best ball. If I'd shot 39+45 instead of the other way around, I would have been in the parking lot turning over cars. Saturday was 41+43=84 at Woodcreek in a "fall down the stairs" back nine that included four "lip out" putts. We teed off at 6:28 AM on Saturday which allowed me to get home in time for the barbecue. I had a strange experience when I approached the tee at 6:20 AM to drop my cart and walk over to the putting green, the starter stopped me and asked me if I was Manuel Fernandez. Apparently he was waiting for the fourth player in that group. I looked at him and said, "Do I look like a Manuel Fernandez?" I think I'm getting too much sun this Summer.

I forgot last week to mention the hassle we had getting out of Almanor. I went down early to pull our jet ski out of the lake. When I pulled it up to the cabin it was dragging and I found out we had a flat tire. Darla and I drove out to Chester and picked up a can of "Fix It" flat repair that did the trick. 45 minutes later, Alicia pulled Don's boat out of the water and also had a flat tire on the trailer. She drove into Chester where they found a defective valve stem and had her on the road in 30 minutes. That was a strange end to a good trip.

Samantha called us on Saturday while we had the gang over and I visited with Jennifer for awhile. She and John were moving into their new home. She was stoked. By the way, when I say Samantha called, it's true. She got ahold of Jennifer's phone and speed dialed my number. I'm guessing it wasn't by accident. I told Jenn to update her blog and get some pictures of Samantha on their as well as more pictures of their new house.

Well, it is Sunday night and Darla is waiting for me on the couch. Gotta go. Ciao.

Almanor is in the can, Basil Cell carcinoma is zapped off my back and God rest your soul, Andrew Keuning!

Darla's grandpa, Andrew, died last night at the age of 89 from complications of pneumonia. He had the car accident on June 24th and had made great strides toward recuperating. In fact, he had been released from the hospital last week and was put into a convalescent home along with his wife, Liz. Unfortunately he had heart disease and swelling in his extremities. They moved him back into ICU at the hospital on the weekend and his heart finally gave out. Andy was a wonderful Christian man and he will be missed at our family gatherings. I enjoyed his prayers that were always spiced with many thees, thous, yeahs and yees and spoke of a simpler time. Darla and the boys had planned to go to Modesto and see him today, but they were a day late and now the funeral is Friday.

You can see smoke on the water in the pictures of Shea (Darla's niece) and Darla above, but the weather on our trip to Lake Almanor was mostly outstanding. Darla proved that she is still one tough mother by wakeboarding this year. I rode the jet ski and managed to (shocker!) get in a game of golf while we were there. I still bore the imprint of the sliced and diced mole on my back and had it covered with a bandage during the trip. Darla cleaned it and scraped it a little harder than I thought she needed to each night. I did spend a good portion of the trip on the dock reading or on the boat (while it was moored) sleeping, but Darla made sure that I was appropriately lubed and SPF'ed before I let my fresh meat out into the sunlight. Darla's parents came along on the trip, but arrived a day late and left on Wednesday.

Earl and Frances suffered a loss on their home during the fires. They were evacuated twice from their home because of the fire and on their last evacuation, a pipe burst in the inside atrium of their home and water poured throughout the house and downstairs and finally out of the garage. Someone finally noticed it and got the water shut off, but the inside of their home is a mess. The firefighters pulled back the carpets and pushed all of their furnishings to one side of each room and Frances was rather exercised looking at the mess that was her home. Earl has met with the contractors and they are in the process of pulling the old floor coverings and doing repairs to the sheetrock and baseboards. They are rebuilding the house to eliminate the atrium and make that area a small office.

Daniel came up with us from Saturday until just Monday as he has a job working in a warehouse testing and then packaging the credit card swipe machines. His job pays really well, but will end on July 31st as the contract will be fulfilled by then. He may have a chance to continue with them beyond that if they get another contract, but perhaps not. He works from 3 PM to midnight daily.

David has left his job at the engineering firm and plans to do some traveling this Summer. He will leave for Montana and a visit with aunts, uncles and cousins on Friday after the funeral. They have a backpacking trip in Montana planned leaving on Sunday. He will stay about two weeks and then will drive north to Canada and a visit with Dad and Shirley. I think Dad will be amazed at David's maturity and depth of character as they visit together. David is a 21 year old that will make it well in life. He has a great foundation in the Lord and a good work ethic, both are things that are sorely missing in today's generation and highly sought after by employers. His coworkers at Haulsten took David to lunch on his last day and presented him with a steel holder for his architectural drawings. David has spent the last three years designing docks, gangways and metal walkways and awnings and the holder was built out of the material used as the undercarriage of the walkways. It is about 2 cubic feet in total size and probably weighs twenty pounds. They will miss him and I think he will miss the job. He knows that they will welcome him back next Summer, but he wants to perhaps branch out and work with a different architectural firm or engineering company in the San Luis Obispo area next year.

I got home from Almanor and in the mail waiting for me were the results from the biopsy and I have (or had at this point) a basil cell carcinoma on my back. They had me scheduled for electrosurgery at 11:15 AM today at the dermatology clinic. I wanted to reschedule as the timing is terrible for me just coming off vacation, but Darla put her foot down and said, "I don't think so, bucko!" I went on the internet and googled basil cell carcinoma and after experiencing far too many pictures of bleeding moles and red rimmed protrusions on faces and necks, heads, arms, backs and shoulders, I found out that basil cell is the most common form of skin cancer with over 500,000 cases handled each year and also is not a melanoma, which is the cancer that lead to Mom's premature death. I went into the office this morning and got the call from Darla about Andy. I then worked until 10:45, eating three turkey tacos about ten thirty to ward off the possible fainting spells that come with loss of blood. The procedure was mostly benign (good word, eh?) with the most pain coming from the sting of the shots into my back. The doctor scraped and branded my back with an electric prod, burning the skin and cauterizing the cancerous cells. There is nothing quite as exciting as the smell of your own flesh burning..sort of like chicken. I will go back to the dermatologist in six months to make sure the cancer is gonzo, but this procedure takes care of over 95% of the cases, so I feel good about my prognosis.

I did play golf in Almanor at the Bailey Creek resort course, playing as part of a six man group and shooting the low score of 84. It is a tough course with a lot of sand, water and hills. Darla got home this weekend and hosted a jewelry party and kicked me out of the house. I went over to Diamond Oaks and hooked up with two other singles who I spent the round trying to get them to join our club. I managed to shoot 40+38=78 for my best round in a couple of months. It was a great day with temperatures in the low eighties and no smoke in the air. It was nice to shoot a good score and be striking the ball so well. I finished with four pars and a bogey for the 38 on the back side.

Jennifer and John will likely be in their new home this weekend. They are approved and the holdup has been some repairs on the home. They have a freon leak in the a/c (that's BIG in Las Vegas) and that is scheduled to be fixed this week. They also have a portion of the roof that is damaged and needs to be repaired. Right now the escrow is being held up and they finally agreed to move forward with money for the repairs held out of the loan amount until the repairs are complete. John should sign on the house this week and they plan to move in over the weekend. Jennifer is very excited.

Darla and I have booked flights to Vegas arriving on Jennifer's birthday, August 28th, and staying over the Labor Day weekend and arriving back home on the 2nd of September. I really need to get my Samantha fix and look forward to seeing the kid's house and having Jennifer show me around her workplace. Jenn is working with the union and doing electrical wiring on the new civic center in Vegas located just off the strip. Her team works in a basement area and she has several apprentices working for her. John plans to also join the union and work on the civic center after they close on the house. His job has slowed way down as he is working on entertainment centers and home theaters in upper scale homes. He can come into the union at a team leader level and make some good money. Jennifer enjoys what she is doing and doesn't want to work on John's team. Good call, baby girl. I'd leave Darla off my work team as well. It gives us something to talk about at night instead of our combined work.

Well, that is it for now. We'll be off to a funeral on Friday and I'll touch base with my satellite office in Modesto after that. Take care and be well. Ciao.

Vacation, Smoky skies and Skin Cancer

Quite a title, eh? Darla noticed an odd skin growth on my back while we were in Mexico. I set up an appointment with my physician and she took one look and sent me to a dermatologist. That scared me a little bit with what happened to Mom. I went to the dermatologist on Thursday afternoon and he immediately did a shave biopsy, where they numb the area and cut it even with your skin line with a razor blade. I bled like a stuck pig and then started to shake and almost passed out. The nurse said my face went white as a sheet. They brought me some cranberry juice and I was fine five minutes later. I was sweating like a teenager on his first date and clammy hot. It didn't help that our air in Sacramento is smoke filled from all of the fires in our state and it was 108 degrees on Thursday. I will get the results next week, but the doctor confirmed that it is skin cancer and he may need me to come back in and do a "scrape" of the area. I had only eaten a tuna fish sandwich all day and that likely compounded my problem with fainting. I'll make sure I have a rib eye or something if I have to go back for the scrape, which really doesn't sound too pleasant, does it?

We are off to Almanor tomorrow and have to drive about 90 minutes out of our way to get around all of the wildland fires. There are still over 300 fires burning in our state. Some have suggested that the fires are because the state allowed gay marriages effective July 1st, but I have a merciful, gracious God and He wouldn't punish innocent homeowners because gays want to get married in this goofball state of ours. We will drive up to Truckee and then take Highway 89 across the top of the Sierras to Lake Almanor. The 3.5 hour drive will be closer to 5 hours tomorrow.

Well that's it for now. I'll add more next weekend after our trip. Ciao.

I can't get used to working..we're going back on Vacation

Yes. Believe it or not, we leave for a week up in Lake Almanor next week. The fires right now are threatening the trip as Highway 70, the Feather River Highway, is closed due to remnants of the fire having caused a weakening of the hills next to the roadway and the potential for rockslides. Cal Trans is working on the problem and hope to have it fixed soon. We will take the jet ski with us, but I told the boys that I will pay for the first tank of gas (about $175 for the tank and two five gallon containers of gas) and they are on their own after that. David has more money than the local government and Daniel seems terminally incapable of finding a job.

Darla's grandpa, Andy, is doing amazingly well after his accident. He is out of his medically induced coma, has been on his feet and is out of the woods medically speaking. He still hasn't seen his wife, Liz, as she is in a care facility after the accident. Darla has been to Modesto several times to see both Andy and Liz and they are both doing miraculously well. He wants to go home, but I'm not sure either of them will ever be able to return to their little home at the retirement facility. It is more than likely that they will require a convalescent facility with 24 hour care.

The other picture is of the back yard. The cement stain that I put down several months ago was beginning to wear out in spots as I didn't seal it. I sealed the stain last year with a solvent based sealer and it turned out terrible. I talked to the rep at the Spec West facility (they specialize in concrete applications and products) and he said that I should try a water based sealer, but that he only had 5 gallon pails in the store at $106. I went to Home Depot and got three gallons of the Behr "wet look" water based cement sealer and it worked like a charm. It gives the stain a "wet" look and seals it from water and the elements. It even has a UV blocker and is supposed to last for two years. I own stock in the parent of Behr, MASCO products. They also have Delta faucets, Kraftmaid cabinets, Millgard windows, Liberty Hardware, Arrow Fasteners, American Shower and Bath, and Cobra Products, among many others. Buying Masco was like diversifying into the entire Home Improvement products industry.

You can also see the ground cover around the pool that has grown unbelievable this Spring and Summer. The ground cover has grown as high as two feet in some areas and I have to be constantly pruning it. It has little red flowers on it and the bees come from miles around to taste the nectar. You can also see a little white planter full of the red plants that used to grow in front of the pool. Those plants died off in the winter, but we still get hundreds of little volunteers sprouting up in the ground cover and I decided to plant some of them to see if they would grow and amazingly, they did.

Darla and I were up early this morning for church, but the boys played the part of heathens and slept in until noon. I have trouble praising that sort of laziness and just shake my head when they finally stumble out of bed and look to their Mom for food. The sermon this morning was about Faith and Hope, the crux being that without a faith in God there is no Hope. Christians are often criticized, but materialists who live just for today are dead inside. There is no hope for the future, because there is no future. Sad isn't it?

I played golf yesterday at Cherry Island and shot 42+41=83, a frustrating round that could have been much worse save for about four putts that I made of over 20 feet. I have several golf excursions planned for this year including Monterey in August, the Serrano Country Club three day invitational in September, the NCGA second round qualifier that I play in August 21, a President's NCGA meeting and golf outing at Catta Vadera CC August 18th, and then the coup de grace, a three day outing to Bandon Dunes on the coast in Bandon, Oregon the first week in October. The three Bandon courses are all rated in the top fifty course in the United States. My golf tour of the United States continues. Next year: Myrtle Beach?

We had so much fun in Mexico this year. I really hope we can get Darryl and Cheryl, Randy and Cake, and Dad and Shirley to join us next Fall. The Nicklaus redesign will be done and we can play golf and relax in paradise. We talked about doing it this year, but couldn't get a commitment. What is it we all work for, but vacation and relaxing. I know that Darla and I will be back and hope you can all work it out in your schedules as well.

Little Samantha continues to grow and prosper. She is now crawling and watching her on the Skype is more of a challenge as she toddles to and fro in and out of the camera range. She is adorable. Jen put her in a baby "jump up" that hangs from the door jamb and Samantha was kicking and jumping like a jumping bean. There is a reason that babies are born to younger women as we watched Jennifer chase her down and bring her back to the camera. Jennifer and John will close on their house this week and hopefully be moving in next weekend. Darla and I will be there in August to see them and celebrate Jennifer's birthday. We are looking at being there perhaps the 14th - 18th, so if Dad and Shirley want to plan a Vegas outing near then, we will be in town.

Well, again, we will be in Almanor next week, but I will try to get to the blog sometime during that week. Be happy and content in your lives. Ciao.

Fun in the Sun in Nuevo Vallarta

We are back from Mexico and we had a grand old time. The group that joined us is (using the Pipi's picture with the guys wearing the hats: Bob and Vicki, us, Rick and Jan and Neil and Lilly. It was a great group and we all got along famously. Often these trips are great on paper and then you get to your destination and find out someone is a PIA and complains about everything. We had our share of struggles and trying times on the trip, but the couples were all great and Darla and I were thrilled with the gang.

The trip started out with a 4 AM call from the airline telling us that our Sacramento flight to Phoenix was delayed three hours which would cause us to miss our connecting flight to Puerto Vallarta. Rick and Jan and Neil and Lilly were on our flight. Bob and Vicki, who have never been to Mexico were on a flight out of San Jose and had no problems. We stood in line at the airport for an hour and a half at 5 AM trying to work out a solution to our problem. Neil and Lilly managed to get on a later flight to Puerto Vallarta, but Rick and Jan and Darla and I were stuck in Phoenix overnight. We tried hard to get on another flight and even worked with the corporate office in Phoenix, but we were screwed. Neil offered to give up his flight to us, but US Air was not accommodating and did not allow that. All of the reservations and rooms were in my name as the owner at the Grupo Mayan. I called them and they asked me to FAX a list of our guests along with a copy of my ID and they would check them in. US Air tried to FAX that information to them, but their FAX machine does not allow international faxes (they fly all over Mexico and Latin America). US Air originally told me that they didn't have any rooms available for Darla and I in Phoenix and we'd have to book and pay for our own rooms. I raised a bit of a loud stink and amazingly they got us into the same hotel as Rick and Jan at no charge. We checked into the hotel about 11:00 AM and spent the first day of our vacation in the 114 degrees of Phoenix, Arizona. The amazing part of the blast furnace of cactus and desert is that some people CHOOSE to live there. It is a great place about four months of the year and a hell hole the rest of the time. We read books and sat in the pool and waited for the cooling 104 degrees of sunset to go to dinner.

Rick and Jan had a 10:00 AM flight and Darla and I caught the 12:00 PM flight to PV. Funny that we were the hosts in Mexico and got there last. We finally arrived at the resort about 27 hours late and were ready to relax and enjoy our vacation. We went to dinner at Brasil, a restaurant in Nuevo Vallarta that serves food in a Brazilian fashion. We ate salads and some appetizers and then the show started. They brought us meat on swords about every ten minutes. They served rib eye, chicken, New York steak, pork loin, sirloin, filet mignon, potatoes, onions, peppers, and more. The funny thing was when they finally stopped and we said, "No mas!", the waiter came out and asked us what we wanted to order after all of the "samples". We had a good laugh and I ordered another serving of the filet, which was excellent. True to Mexico, the fare for the dinner was $22 a person. Amazing.

We played four rounds of golf while in Mexico and only ended up playing one away from the resort. The resort course Golf Vallarta, is so immaculately maintained that the fairways are like carpets. Every group has at least one caddy and the caddies work hard to repair ball marks and replace divots and fill in sand mix in lower divots. The course was amazing. We had planned to play three rounds in town, but cancelled those right away. We did play the Nicklaus course up at Vista Vallarta in the mountains east of Puerto Vallarta. It was about a thirty minute drive from the resort and as lush and green as you could imagine. It rained almost every night and Monday we awoke to 85 degrees and a constant drizzle. We decided to push on and drove up tot Vista Vallarta where the rain was supposed to be heavier and the rain stopped and it was partly cloudy and about 89 degrees the rest of the day. I shot 91 at the Nicklaus course and Bob shot 85. Our companions were both over 100 as the rough is as thick and impossible as Torrey Pines. It is Bermuda grass and the grass is about four inches long and too soft to support a golf ball so it buries in the rough and being Bermuda, has fingers of roots that tend to grab and hold the club as you swing through. It was a frustrating day of golf and as one who works for a living, the penal rough at Vista Vallarta was too much. I shot 84, 83 and 82 at Golf Vallarta and enjoyed the rounds much more.

Bob picked up a case of Montezuma's revenge on Tuesday night as we went into town and had large Edsel sized margaritas and chips and guacamole made table side. We then walked down to the beach side restaurants and shops, finally catch a taxi and having him take us up to the El Panorama restaurant, which sits in the hills above the city of Puerto Vallarta and provides a perfect view of the sunset. Our reservations were for 7:30 PM and we arrived shortly after 7:00 PM and were seated on a window table where the sun was blazing on us for an hour before sunset. The gang were nice enough to host our dinner that night in appreciation of our planning the trip. The small restaurants and bars in Puerto Vallarta have questionable water supplies and Bob had some ice for his soda and likely picked up the bug there.

He missed golf Wednesday morning after being up all night on the throne. We finished nine holes and saw Bob waiting for us. He was sitting on the steps next to the 9th green with his arms resting on his legs. Rick said, "that's probably the position he was in most of the night." He was still suffering the effects of the "curse", yet managed somehow to shoot a 36 on the back side and clean us out on bets.

Darla ran into a group leaving the resort on Wednesday morning and they had bought the "meal plan" that works out to about $22 per dinner or lunch and provides an appetizer, a main course and dessert at each meal. We had bought into the plan, but only had three dinners or lunches per couple. The group leaving gave Darla another 12 dinners/lunches and six breakfasts. We ended up staying at the resort the rest of the time for dinners. They have an Italian restaurant, Tramonto, that served Chateaubriand for two and rib eye steak, seafood and pasta dishes. We also ate at a beach side restaurant whose specialty was seafood and ate the rib eye and lobster tail surf and turf that was listed on the menu for $54. The half lobster was $72 and several of our party availed themselves of that. The meal plan is the best way to go as you can eat really well and not worry about the prices on the menu. The appetizers, salads and soups were excellent and the service absolutely top drawer.

The gang met every afternoon at 4:00 PM at the pool bar for happy hour. The couples would go off and do things alone or in groups of four, but meet every day for the two-for-one drink specials. The first picture above was taken by our bartender at the pool bar. The second picture was taken at one of the restaurants at the resort when we ate outside. The third and fourth pictures were taken at Pipis and the final picture was taken at the balcony of the El Panorama restaurant.

The only real problem with the vacation was the flight problem out of Sacramento. The rest of the story is that the flight crew had arrived late the night before on a flight from the Midwest and FAA regulations require the crew to have a minimum of eight hours of rest. Southwest Airlines would have brought in another crew, but US Air is not quite that savvy. The airline industry is hurting in a huge way and flights are being cancelled routinely now if they aren't full. Our way of traveling will have to change as people will miss weddings and meetings as the airlines dictate how and when they will fly routes. Most of the major airlines have already reduced service, put in baggage charges and cut routes deeply in some markets. American Airlines just pulled out of eight airports including Oakland. it is a sad state of affairs, but none of the airlines are making money and the cost to put fuel in an airliner is incredibly high.

We did have some bad news while we were gone. Andy Kuening, Darla's maternal grandfather was in a car accident on Tuesday. He was driving to the Waffle House as he does every day with his 88 year old wife, Liz (Andy is 89), He turned across traffic and did not see another truck that was doing 45 miles an hour in the 35 MPH zone and was tee-boned. His wife was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown under the dash and her right foot was severed. Andy was thrown into the steering wheel (his 1986 Accord did not have airbags) and broke multiple ribs and suffered a hairline crack in his neck. His kidneys were lacerated and his lung was bruised. He had been in a medically induced coma until today, but is now awake and in a great deal of pain. His wife is in a different hospital and had her foot reattached and is in a cast. She is doing surprisingly well and Darla visited them both today. I went with Darla yesterday to see her grandfather. Pray for God's mercy and God's will in this situation. It is very difficult.

Well, there will be more to follow and more to say as the weeks stretch on. It was a marvelous vacation and even so, it's good to be home. I hope you are all well and happy. Ciao.