Father's Day...a day late

It will be an interesting Father's Day as Dad will actually be here today on his way home from The Pomona Hot Rod Car Show in SoCal. The blog is a day late because for the first time in about two years, I wrenched my back over the weekend and have been pretzled ever since. I've been trying to get into my Bowen therapist. She offered me a 5:30 slot tonight, but Dad will be here for dinner, so I begged her to get me in sooner. She said she'd call if they have any cancellations. I have been fine since going on a maintenance schedule with Jane of treatments about every two months, but now that I need her, I get bupkus. This is the reason that I left Harry, who was my original Bowen therapist. He'd make me wait days in extreme pain before I could get in for treatment. You'd think that they could squeeze you in for an emergency. I'll get to see Dad today for the first time in 10 months and I'll be hobbling around bent over like a hunchback and looking twenty years older than him. Damn.
I should have waited another day to work on this and put in some pictures from their visit, but I am home now on a sick day bored out of my mind and the monitor was beckoning. The old 46 doesn't have air conditioning and Summer has arrived in Sacramento with 99 degrees on tap for today and 104 tomorrow. They have to drive up through Redding tomorrow on their way home and the forecast there is 108 degrees. Hopefully they get here early today and can stop driving before it gets too hot tomorrow, although they will be into Oregon and hopefully cooler temperatures by tomorrow night.
We have our adopted brother, Neil, coming over tonight to have dinner with us. Neil and Lilly came to Mexico with us two years ago and took Randy and Cake's spot on the trip and the joke has been he is the other brother since then. Darryl: Neil is still expecting you in Pebble Beach come October 15 and 16. I told him that Cheryl wouldn't be able to come and he said, "Well, that's one less flight he'll have to pay for." He'd like to go up Friday and play Pebble Beach or Spyglass. Let me know if you are considering this.
I'm not sure how I wrenched my back. It was sore Saturday when I played golf and even a little tender on Friday night during the Putting Championship over at Diamond Oaks. The guys at work (all younger than me) have been harassing me about riding the Lifecycle at lunch during the week at the gym while they all work out on weights. I finally gave in on Wednesday last week and worked upper arms, chest and back with them. I stayed right with them and they work out three days a week on the weights. they were impressed as was I, UNTIL the next day when I was doing a John McCain impression ( I couldn't lift my arms over my head). It actually got worse on Thursday as my shoulder blades hurt and my upper arms were on fire. It calmed down a bit on Friday, but my back started to stiffen up. The coup de grace was putting together the gazebo with Darla on Saturday. I was hoping the boys could do it, but they were off with their Dad doing something and we wanted to get the gazebo up for tonight. I woke up yesterday morning with a bit of a sore back, but when I bent over in the shower to dry my legs and feet, I spasmed and have been crooked ever since.
I did play golf on Saturday and I think my handicap index of 12.1 is accurate. I got 14 strokes at Woodcreek and shot a 43+43=86, 14 over par. It was the first time playing at Woodcreek, since they shut down to 9 holes for two months to rehab the front nine greens. The greens are in awesome shape and the two months without play have left the fairways thick and lush. Matt shot 78, Neil 96 and Darren 91. I have a golf game on Saturday ( a tournament) and hopefully, my back will be on the mend by then.
The boys will be back tonight and able to help us eat some tri tip. Darla has two full tri tips to be barbecued. Neil is bringing Cabo Wabo tequila and will make margaritas. I also have a nice Wattle Creek Triple Play red wine, a varietal with three different grapes and relying heavily on the Syrah varietal. I have really been enjoying the blended wines recently and will serve this tonight with the tri tip.
We are gearing up for our trip to Lake Almanor and will get the jet ski in on Thursday for it's annual Summer tune-up. John is trying to block Jennifer from bringing Samantha on the trip. I sent him an e-mail and asked him if he needed her back by Friday or Saturday and he sent a reply that I was aiding and abetting Jennifer in kidnapping her to California. I ignored him and will leave it to Jennifer to deal with his insanity. We bought the tickets to bring them out for a few days and hopefully cooler heads and strong meds will prevail in the end.
Well, I will add some pictures during the week of our visit tonight. So far, no call or even acknowledgement of my voice mail to Jane this morning. I'm a little grumpy over the whole thing. I hope you are all well, have good straight spines and are living a life you can be proud of. Ciao.

Spring Has Arrived One week before Summer!

Jennifer was kind enough to forward some pictures of my favorite granddaughter and I have posted them above. We will see them in about 4 weeks as we get ready for Lake Almanor. I have to get the jet ski in to have it Summerized for the trip. I will get Samantha and Jennifer's airline tickets this week. I'm really looking forward tot he trip this year. There will be some extended family from Darla's side here, so it will be good for Samantha to see family. I plan to take a walk with her every day and have some special time. It will be fun.

Spring finally arrived this week with temperatures in the mid eighties all week. It did cool off to 80 degrees for Saturday (the law of the working man), but it was nice as I played golf and it was very comfortable. It is supposed to stay in the eighties all of this week and in to next weekend so Vancouver and Seattle's weather seems to have been diverted back north where it belongs. I hope we have some extended Spring and don't bounce right into the nineties and above.

I spent the day today working on the yard and putting some "wet look" sealant on the stonework around the pool and on the stamped concrete on the deck. I used a 5 inch stain brush and did all of the work by hand. It turned out great, but my back is killing me. We are slowly getting ready for Summer in the backyard and went out last night and bought a new gazebo for the backyard. Our gazebo was left up over the Winter and a strong wind toppled it and knocked it twisted and torn into the pool. I was set on getting a large offset umbrella this year. but Darla won out last night by saying she REALLY wanted the gazebo instead of the umbrella. The fact that the 11'x11" gazebo is $199 and the offset solar umbrella was $299 probably swung the argument in her favor. If I was going to strand on my decision, I couldn't very well spend $100 more and have her not like it. It's not that I don't like the gazebo, it's just that I had a bad experience this year. I think I'll take the fabric down this Winter and it won't be blown around. We had cinder blocks to hold it, but the winds just lifted the whole structure up and tossed it ten feet into the pool.

Darla continues hard on her quest to win the Puerto Rico trip. She has had one cancellation this month, but added two more June parties so she is on track. She had one of her reps over this week and they were working on a party in the evening. Kat called out and apologized for interrupting our evening. I told her I don't expect to get my wife back until July 1st. She had parties yesterday and today and got home about 5 PM both days and just hit the pool wit her iphone both days.

I played golf yesterday and the course was tough. It is Morgan Creek Country Club here in Roseville. I shot 42 on the front and skidded on the back nine putting up another 9 on the par 5 tenth hole and finishing with a 48 for 90. I did have two birdies including ne on a 178 par 3 dead into the wind. I stiffed a 5 iron and put it 3 feet from the hole for a birdie. I won $40 in skins and my net 76 took 4th place for another $28. I shot 90, was ticked at myself and still pocketed $68. I took Darla out to Strings for dinner last night and then we went over to the Home Depot and loaded up on essentials (pool chemicals, a new flag for the house, some sprinkler parts, a new outdoor clock for the pool, the gazebo, the sealant for the deck and pool, and a few other odds and ends). $400 later we were on our way home. I wasn't crowing about my golf, but it did buy us a nice dinner out I had lasagna pastry and tortellini and Darla had the brushetta chicken special. Good times.

I went out to lunch on Thursday with my boss and his wife, Rosie. They are a very cute couple and when Harvey went to the restroom, she was hitting me up for ways to get him to cut back to three days a week. I told her with his job it was impossible, but that she should be working on him to be home by 7 at night and work only 5 days a week. That would be a huge improvement. She agreed. They were on their way up to a conference at the Ritz Carlton in Lake Tahoe until Saturday. Good to see them get away. Harvey needs it.

The boys are both heading home for the Summer and (Please God!) jobs this Summer. Daniel has a line on a job through his Dad and David was going to knock on doors at Architecture firms to see if he can intern this Summer.

Well, this is short, but the Mavs are on the tube and the chicken on the counter isn't going to barbecue itself. Dad and Shirley will be here for a late Father's Day celebration next Monday and we will celebrate with Neil an Lilly. Neil is our adopted fourth brother and went to Mexico with us when Randy and Cake opted out. I hope all are well. Dad and Shirley are on the road to Pomona and a car show next weekend. Shirley was cut from a falling mirror in their master bathroom on Saturday and I think she used up all of the bad luck by standing next to the mirror when it fell off the wall. We look forward to seeing them next week. Ciao.

Happy 1st birthday, Lucas Hochanedal!

Mr Lucas turned one this past week and had a birthday celebration on Saturday. You can see from the picture to the immediate left that he likes cake. Whenever I'm around Lucas it makes me wish that Jennifer and Samantha lived closer and I am looking forward to next month and our trip with Jennifer and Miss Samantha to Lake Almanor. Lucas is a great little guy with a great personality. He was a little overwhelmed with all of the people and gifts and wanted to just play on the stairs. Now there's a one year old for you. He did perk up when the cake came out and didn't know what to do with himself while we were singing to him. He did hoe into his cake and make a complete mess of himself. Don tried to teach him the meaning and drawbacks to fire when he lit the candle on his cake and Lucas reached out to grab the flame. Alicia panicked and Don said that he just needs to learn. I would think second degree burns would probably not be a good lesson for a one year old, but that's just me.

I was supposed to play golf on Saturday at Woodcreek, but it poured rain all day. Boyd and Darren both opted out early for our 8:44 AM tee time, but Phamas called me at 8:00 AM and said he was over at Woodcreek and the course was empty (nice observation Sherlock, it's pouring rain!!). He tried to talk me into joining him for some mud golf, but I deferred. I went back to bed and slept in. When we finally got up I took Darla out to a late breakfast/early lunch and we both went with the lunch option. We then drove over to Alicia and Don's for the birthday party and then over to a used book store to reload and from there to church for the 5 PM Saturday service. We watched "Conviction" last night, a great little under the radar movie with Hillary Swank based on a true story. Two thumbs up from Darla and I.

The rain finally abated overnight and although spitting this morning, I was able to get in our Net Amateur tournament at Diamond oaks. It was a case for me of what could have been. The bunkers were wet and crusty and I was 3 over after five holes. On the 6th, I hit a booming drive to the edge of the canyon and then topped a three wood into the water, took a drop, hit my next shot into the bunker where I tried to play an explosion shot. I almost put the ball in the water behind the green, when the blade bounced off the sand and sculled my shot over the green. I took four to get in from there and put up a nine on the par 5 hole. I did mange to go even par over the final three holes with a birdie, a par and a bogey for a 43. The back nine was worse where I was one over after 15 and went bogey, double bogey, double bogey (the dreaded devilish 6-6-6) to finish with a 42 and 85 for a net 72. It was a case of what could have been as I limped home with a 5 over finish the last three holes. Our handicap chair will adjust my score to 83 when he posts it.

Tomorrow is our Insurance Golf day and we have had some interesting weather and events leading up to the tournament. Gail from my office was on the golf committee with me this year and volunteered to take care of getting the 144 sleeves of golf balls for the check in table. I walked by her office on Wednesday and she had a carton on her desk. When I asked what it was, she said the balls for the tournament. I asked where the rest of the balls were. She got 12 dozen balls which is 144 golf balls. In her confusion, she asked me, "well, how many balls in a dozen?" I looked at her and then told her to Google it. She had to go out and buy another 24 dozen balls, which luckily the committee was willing to pay for as I wasn't. I also ordered 12 dozen personalized golf balls for our office in March and when they hadn't arrive by the Friday before Memorial Day, I called our marketing group. They told me they had been on back order, but finally went through production and would be in my hands by Thursday. I looked online Thursday afternoon to check the tracking order and saw that they had been signed for and arrived. A "Chin" had signed for them. I don't have a Chin in the office and when I looked closer saw that they had been delivered to our San Francisco office. Harvey was nice enough to have them overnighted to us which cost close to $100. These are Callaway Warbird balls. At the cost spent, I could have had ProV1 balls personalized locally and saved about $75. The balls are for the players in our three foursomes and for the raffle tomorrow night. The forecast for tomorrow is light rain early clearing off in the afternoon and getting back into the eighties by next weekend. It's about time.

Darla is still hard into her quest for Puerto Rico. it is an uphill battle but she has 14 parties planned in June and was even in Monterey on Friday night at a home party. It is still almost out of reach, but she is putting a hard rush in to qualify. Darla is one focused young lady when she puts her mind to something. she is amazing.

Today was overcast and warm with highs in the seventies. It felt like being in the golf course in Hawaii after a rainstorm. The ground was wet and the humidity was high and when the sun came out, it was sweltering. Tomorrow will be a similar day. I'm heading in to the office in the morning and then will head over to the course about 9:30. My only responsibility this year was to buy the prizes for the golf and got Ruth Chris gift certificates for first place, McCormick and Schmick for second, Olive Garden for third and Strikes Bowling certificates for last place.

Here's hoping the weather improves. We had a funnel cloud on Wednesday (hard to call it a tornado), but winds were 120 MPH and it destroyed a barn in Sutter County. We then had another round of hail, heavy rain, lightning and thunder. I posted on my Facebook that if I wanted to live in Kansas, I'd move to Kansas and then shoot myself. I forgot my brother-in-law was from Kansas and he was offended. What he needs to realize is that people in California are not lining up to move to Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Wyoming or Oklahoma.

Well, that is the Blog for another week. I hope all are well, living a solid life and being nice to each other. Ciao.

Memorial Day 2011

This is the day set aside to remember our fallen heroes in the military. Unfortunately, this day has really become the unofficial start of Summer with barbecues and swimming pools, suntan lotion and chaise lounges. As the weather here continues to confound (we had rain yesterday morning and throughout Saturday), I can remember Memorial Days of the past where we had friends over and we all sat in the pool drinking adult beverages and smelling the grill cooking. Two years ago it was 103 degrees on Memorial Day. This year, we will be lucky to eke out 72 degrees and it will cloud up by sundown in preparation for another two days of rain. This is the weirdest Spring I can recall and it goes to show you just how inane Al Gore is with his Global Warming campaign. The last picture I saw of Gore shows that he's actually been bulking up ready for the cold and rain. The guy must be pushing 275 pounds.

I spent a good part of the day yesterday mowing and edging, trimming back the ground cover and cleaning the pool and pool tile. The best way to clean pool tile is from in the pool, but I don't have a full body wet suit, so hung down from the pool edging and cleaned the tile with brush and pool acid. My body is a little sore today. I picked up a cold up in Carson City and that added to my allergies, saw a day spent constantly blowing my nose to the point, that I have a honker that looks like WC Field's: red, raw and sore.

Darla continues to pursue her goal of a trip to Puerto Rico with Silpada and was out at the Folsom Zoo at a vendor event showing off her jewelry. She didn't do much in sales, but booked a June party (her thirteenth June party) and has a potential recruit. She has been gone alot, but is really working her business hard. The end goal is still somewhat of a pipe dream, but she is really making some money right now, which is helping her get caught up on her bills. The pictures above are from an event at the new wine bar in Roseville, Crush 29. Darla rented out a room and hosted some friends for a Silpada event.

I played golf on Saturday and it was cold. The wind was blowing and we had scattered showers throughout the day. I shot 43+43=86 and have earned all 13 strokes that I am now getting. The nice thing is that I added another birdie to my Eclectic score and am down to a gross 69 with 6 events remaining. The Eclectic is the year long tournament whereby we track the best score on each of the 18 holes shot in a stroke play tournament during the golf year. My net right now is a 56 with my 13 strokes and have had a net 53 the last three years and taken 1st, 1st and second in the event. I can tell you this, I'm the only one in the club with a gross 1 on my scorecard. The Net Amateur is next weekend followed by an away tournament at Morgan Creek the following weekend.

I talked to Darryl yesterday and reiterated my invitation to join Neil and I in Monterey on October 15th and 16th. I guess Cheryl works some Halloween store during the month leading up to Halloween and won't be able to get away. I told him to come himself. Our outings to Monterey are pretty legendary and we will play Pacific Grove (the poor man's Pebble Beach). Pacific Grove is a municipal course that winds its way though the ice plant and dunes of the 17 mile drive in Carmel. The front nine is pretty sedentary, but the back nine is a picturesque adventure with views of the Pacific Ocean and the beaches of Pacific Grove. We will also play Poppy Hills, the former course that was part of the AT&T Pebble Beach event before the players complained so much about the tight fairways and heavy woods that they went back to the Monterey Peninsula Country Club. I kind of like playing on a course the PGA pros consider too hard. The cost this year is $75 for Pacific Grove and $105 for Poppy Hills.

Darryl also told me about the mess that they found when they returned from their trip to Vail with Dad and Shirley. Apparently there was a heavy storm that blew rain into the flashings fronting his house and into the interior of the house inundating his office with wet insulation and ruining the walls and carpet. He has fixed the leak (which wouldn't be covered by insurance) and will handle the repairs himself (which his homeowners would cover). What a mess. Well, here is hoping that Darryl can find a way to fly out for the golf tournament in October. Darla and I could pick you up in San Jose on the way and drop you back off on Sunday. Our tee times at Poppy on Saturday start at 7:40, so you could catch a 6:00 o'clock flight back to Denver.

Work continues to go very well and we are up over our May 2010 by 15% with one day left in the month. I've also interviewed a broker about perhaps joining the team. She is a former co-worker of Anthony's at another firm and handles agents in Bakersfield and Alaska mostly writing worker's compensation and environmental insurance. Her book is about $3,000,000, so if Harvey and I can work it out to have her join Sacramento, we could get to the $25,000,000 level sooner rather than later. It'll be a stretch to see if we can take on her book, but Harvey will meet with her next week.

The boys were both home this weekend, Daniel to have an interview for a Summer internship and David because of the three day weekend. They came over last night and we watched the movie "Due Date" with Robert Downey. Jr and Zack Galifianakis, a mindless comedy that had me laughing out loud. My favorite scene (believe it or not) was when the Robert Downey, Jr. character punches a little kid in the stomach. It was hilarious. They will both be back on the road soon after a mid morning breakfast of french toast and bacon.

Jennifer will be car shopping this week and I hope she finds something safe fro her and Samantha. She is looking at Saturns, which are safe cars that run forever. Once she finds transportation, she will be looking at moving into a one bedroom apartment for her and Sam. pray for them as they move into this next stage of their lives.

Well, that is about it for this epistle. Dad and Shirley are back home from their Colorado getaway and Jenny start her new job in Dallas this week (I think). A lot going on in the Lyon world. Be well everyone. Ciao.

Back to the Blog

Finally back to the keyboard after a weekend in Carson City and most of a week suffering from a cold that I picked up in the mountains. The weather was overall fantastic in the seventies, but it started out at 40 degrees and slowly warmed with the sun rising in the sky. My problem was that I stubbornly wore shorts and enjoyed the heat after noon, but our tee times were 9:30 AM and 7:50 AM on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday, I started with sweats over my shorts, but I think the damage had been done on Saturday while I was on the practice range and putting green and the wind was blowing and it was COLD. This has been such a weird Spring with a lot of rain and snow and temperatures on average 10-15 degrees below normal. We have usually been in the pool by this time of year (we actually usually get in in April a little bit and by the end of May it's 100 degrees and we are living in the pool. This Memorial Day weekend calls for temperatures of 72-78 degrees. I'm not loving this. We are probably in for an extra HOT Summer.

Darla is in listening to the final Oprah Winfrey show. I'm not a fan of the Democratic Obama lover and her eunuch boyfriend, Steadman. Oprah is beloved, but is a billionaire that has grown wealthy on the backs of poor blacks who aspire to be her, but continue to live in poverty while their O magazine is delivered monthly. If she had done more for the inner city poor and given less cars away to middle class white women in her audience, I might pay attention to her. People can relate to her with her weight struggles and eating issues, but they don't have drivers and cooks and her struggles are more in line with a lavish lifestyle and less with eating due to depression or life struggles. Good riddance in my opinion.

Darla and I drove up to Carson City on Friday morning and went straight to the Genoa lakes course in Genoa. Darla met up with our friend, Lilly, and they had plans for a fun day. I went to the driving range and realized that I had forgot a hat. I called Darla and asked if she could come and bring me a hat so I didn't burn in the high thin air and blue skies. I had told her to make sure to get gas right away as the car was on 1/4 and my gas gauge is broken. She came back and rode out to the first green with the starter to bring me my hat. When I walked up to the cart I looked at her and said, "That's not the hat I wanted!" She could have and should have smacked me, but the guys got a kick out of the line. Darla headed back and met up with Lilly at a couple of stores and then they headed to lunch, completely forgetting the gas gauge problem. The car ran out of gas as they approached the restaurant and she had to nurse it into a parking lot and have Lilly come and get her. Darla called AAA and sat down to eat lunch. Of course, it was all my fault when I got back to the hotel.

I shot 87, 87 and 89 up in Carson City and was most upset with my Sunday round where I shot 41 on the front. The round started to come apart when I was 3 over after 8 holes and dumped my approach into the lake fronting the 9th green. I stumbled badly on the back and shot 48 with several balls hooked out of bounds from the tee. It was like falling down stairs in slow motion as I watched my tournament round implode. My good friend, Bob, had an even worse experience as he hit four straight balls out of bounds on the par five 8th hole, double hit a ball, hit his next shot into the lake next to the green, dropped and hit his 14th shot onto the green and two putted for a 16. Brutal. I' m blaming that image for my implosion. (Well, it has to be somebody's fault).

We were able to have dinner with Neil and Lilly at B'Sghetti's in Carson City on Friday night. We were supposed to hook up with Bob and Vicki after dinner, but they had gone to see a movie and just spent the night on "couple" time. Darla and I gambled until about midnight and then headed to bed. We went to bed marginally up.

Saturday night we got together with the gang at Red's in Carson City. Red's is an old fashioned bar with great food and over 100 beers on tap and in bottles. We had a great meal and surprised Barbara with a birthday cake and she was thrilled. It was a great time getting together with our golf friends and we went out afterward with Bob and Vickie to listen to some music and dance. We started at one bar that had a good band, but a creepy little old man with a mental disability that was slowly dancing on the dance floor pretending to play the harmonica. We walked across the street to the Nugget and listened to a band that was made up of two keyboard players and a female singer. They were quite good and Darla pointed out when "All my Exes live in Texas" came on, that it was true in my case. We danced a little bit and were amused by a little 4'10" man and three ladies that took turns dancing with him. He was duded up in jeans, a large belt buckle (that frankly was probably normal sized) and a big Cowboy hat. This dude was all hat and no cattle as they say, but he was squiring three elderly ladies to the dance.

Jennifer and Micheal are splitting up. She is buying a car and looking for a new place for just her and Samantha. I have encouraged her to move out on her own and not to introduce anyone else into Sam's life until she is in a committed relationship. Sam doesn't need the constant upheaval in her life and be subjected to the whims of one of Jennifer;'s benefactors. it's too hard on her and Jennifer needs to learn to stand on her own two feet. Her Mom has never been alone in her life having always ended up in new relationships immediately, and it's time for Jennifer to break that pattern. I am strongly supporting her in getting her life together. A life for her and Samantha. I'm sad because I really like Michael, but it is Jennifer's life and I'm more sad for Samantha, who has grown really attached to Michael and his little dog, Kippy. She will be confused, but will love having her Mom to herself.

Well, this is short and sweet (just like Samantha), but I will add more over the holiday. I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day. Ciao.

This weather is starting to piss me off!

You can see the source of my irritation in the pictures above. This was another one of those weeks with mid eighties and sunshine all the way until Friday night. Then, the cooler temperatures, wind and storms blew into the area. What is with the weather? It's like we are being penalized for being productive workers when the weekend rolls around.

I did go out on Saturday to Auburn and play golf, but I was wearing shorts and "little Kenny" got a little cold, if you get my drift. I had a wind jacket in the car and held on for a 42+44=86, but it was one of those days that if you just missed your shot a little bit, the wind took it and blew it across the fairway. I was happy to finish with the same ball that I teed off with and the heated seats in the 300 came in handy on the ride home.

Darla and I also took a trip Saturday night into Concord and met David at the Benihana's and helped him celebrate his 24th birthday which is Tuesday. Darla's birthday is Monday and she is turning, um, seven years younger than me (I'm not an idiot you know. I'm 54 years old....OOPS.) We had a nice visit and enjoyed the food and the conversation. David is enjoying his internship at ROK and even played on their softball team this week and went 3 for 4 from the plate. I told him that that alone is worth a ton to him as an intern, because his value transcends that of a simple worker. Now he's the "Ringer'. Maybe he'll be kept on over the summer, especially if they play Summer league softball. We had a laugh as a group of women came in that were all well over 6 foot tall and that was accentuated by each of them wearing platform shoes. it was probably a basketball team, but it was pretty funny.

We got out of the restaurant about 9:30 and the first of the rain that we were to see today was coming down. It rained almost all the way to Sacramento and then held off. We awoke this morning to a light rainfall and broken skies, with even some sunshine. That all changed about 10:00 AM when a squall passed through and we had penny sized hail fall for about ten minutes completely covering the ground. Darla took the pictures above of the pool and front yard. it was hard to fathom the weather, when I had left work early on Friday and sat out by the pool in the 86 degree sunshine.

The blog will be delayed next week as Darla and I are off to Carson City with the golf gang from the club. I will take Friday off and we will play Genoa Lakes in Genoa, Nevada. The course is about ten minutes west of Carson City and will play host to one of the US open qualifiers tomorrow. We will stay over in Carson City at the Carson Station Casino and I will play Silver Oak on Saturday and Dayton Valley on Sunday. Our tee times at Dayton on Sunday start at 7:30 and the course is thirty minutes South of Carson, so Saturday night will not be a late night for sure. I believe they have vans taking us to the course Sunday morning and then we will meet the ladies later. I will also be out to Serano Country Club Thursday afternoon where we will play the Insurance Association tournament in June and will play a practice round with the golf committee. So, all told, I am playing 4 rounds of golf in four days and will likely get home late Sunday and simply fall into a coma. It will be a great time and I'll get to spend part of it with my good friend, Bob, who moved to San Jose in March and I haven't seen him since. We've talked a few times and are planning a trip to San Jose soon to see his new home and golf course. Right now our weekends are pretty full with Silpada events as Darla tries to win the trip to Puerto Rico in January. It is still a distant possibility, but I don't count Darla out. She is working hard and has a dozen parties planned before the end of the qualifying period. I've got a feeling she will be selling jewelry to all of the golf ladies on the upcoming trip. She's a little fried that I have used up one of her prime weekends for this golf outing.

The rain and thunder have started up again and it is pelting down rain, turning the pool into a froth of raindrops and the surrounding area into a wet mess. This weather is supposed to stay with us until Tuesday and move out for the weekend. The three courses that we are playing next week are all experiencing snow flurries today. I thought it was freaking May.

Dad and Shirley are in Vail, Colorado this week and next as they visit Colorado. They saw Darryl and Cheryl the latter part of next week and they will join Dad and Shirley up in Vail on Tuesday. Darryl is playing at a corporate golf event at Kissing Camels Country Club (and they call Californians weird).

I ordered a new iPad2 for Darla for her birthday. It is pricey, but the iPad is perfect for her jewelry business, as she can show hostesses and guests jewelry that is not in her collection when they want to order it. If any of you get the iPad2, we can do the Face to Face telephone calls. it is a more reliable version of Skype, which hopefully is in for a major overhaul now that Microsoft has bought it. We used it for awhile, but the freezing up of the video link and the poor transmission was a pain in the ass. We just gave up and used the phone. Apple is still a technological leader and the Face to Face is supposedly flawless. I will also definitely download some newer novels onto the iPad and read them there. The cost is about $9 for a new book instead of $25. The unit is being manufactured and engraved for Darla and we will receive it in early June.

Well, that is the news for now. Remember, that the blog will be delayed next week due to my being old and worn out after four straight days of golf. I played twice this week and was sore. I can imagine what it will be like next week. Of course, I was tremendously cold on the course Saturday and that worked into my neck and shoulders. I hope you are all well. Don't forget to wish David and Darla a Happy Birthday. Ciao.

Great weather week, lousy weekend weather...what's up with that?

I have an Old Photo Pro app on my iPhone and like to take selected pictures and make them black and white. This shot of Sam could have been taken in the 50's and is a classic. She is quite a little doll.

Sad news in that Michael and Jennifer are having some problems. Jennifer may soon be moving out and they have been working on their issues. It's not easy with bills and both having been out of work. Relationships are work and they are definitely trying to work things out. Pray for them.

The weather this week got up into the 90's for a couple of days and the 80's all the way until Friday and then it was a cold, windy Saturday morning that finally gave way to sunshine and 77 degrees. Today was just downright cold and I had shorts on going to church and the wind went right through me. It was overcast all day and now, finally, at 4;00 in the afternoon, the sun is out and it is up to 65 degrees. Tomorrow it will be 72 degrees and then back into the eighties with a cold front shown coming in for next weekend. Why is the American worker punished for providing for our families?

I played golf in the first Diamond tournament of the year. These are tournaments NOT put on by our golf club, but put together by the course and open to anyone. They had a 7:45 shotgun with 69 golfers. I shot 41+42=83 with a net of 70 to tie for fourth place. They put a guy in our foursome that was probably 55 years old and it was his first tournament. His wife signed him up probably to get him out of the house. He had no clue what he was doing and shot 114, dropping balls near out of bounds after hitting the ball out. We told him he was disqualified and he just shrugged. He picked up on four holes and took a triple bogey on each of them. We also had a guy who had a hole in one and he refused to buy drinks for anyone. He didn't have the hole in one insurance because it wasn't an RGC event and he isn't in our club. The guys were harassing him and he told everyone they should buy HIM a drink, that the tradition of buying everyone else a drink was stupid. He was quite popular with the guys after the round, the cheap bastard.

Darla is acting like the editor of my blog again as she came in and told me to add some pictures from our visit with the boys and Darla's family last night. The problem is she never takes any of the photos off of her flash card and you have to sift through 200 pictures to find the three to add to the blog. I put her on the task of downloading them to her laptop, picking out three she wants me to add and then e-mailing them to me. That should keep her busy for a few minutes. After that, she can take off the pictures of our Christmas and snow trip with Sam and Jennifer as they have been added to the hard drive already and most are on our iphones as well.

We had the family over last night after my golf game and we were initially going to relax out by the pool, but that plan went up in cool temperatures and windy conditions, so we sat inside, watched the Kentucky Derby and an NBA playoff game. We all watched Lucas totter about trying to turn on every switch on our DVR and TV. Luke will be one next month and is at the fun stage before they start talking or walking, but they are in to everything. he is one happy little boy. I wish that Jennifer and Samantha lived closer, so they could get to know each other better.

I fixed barbecued chicken sandwiches for dinner last night and we enjoyed potato salad and fruit salad while we feted the Moms in our life. I still miss Mom after 11 years without her.

I will be off to Redding on Tuesday as I am taking Matt up to Redding to meet some of the agents up there and turn some of my agency staff over to him. We will have breakfast in Chico and meet two agents in Redding, one of them for lunch, before meeting one of my golfing agents at his country club at 1:30 for a golf game. Matt and I will probably be home about 10:00 that night, but it will be a good trip. He is really doing well for me and is excited about his job.

I have a trip set up for next Saturday to Auburn Valley Country Club. many of the clubs in the area are now open to the public after 10:00 AM because the membership has dropped so badly in the economy. At this point there is no reason to belong to a club because you can get on most of them anyhow. I never liked the idea of being tied down to one club with a $500 nut every month and another $500 quarterly for food and beverages. There are too many courses to go out and play and I'd rather use my golf budget to sample the wide variety of courses in the area rather than be tied down to one. I'm certainly monogamous as a husband, but not as a golfer. Boyd, Matt and Darren will join me on the trip.

The following weekend, we head to Carson City with the club and I will play Genoa Lakes, Silver Oak and Dayton Valley over three days. I'm taking Friday off work and Darla and I will drive up and stay at the Carson Station Casino in Carson City. We have plans with the group for dinner on Saturday and will relax and unwind the rest of the weekend. Darla and the ladies will have a spa day and shop and eat to the heart's desire. We need an away week at this point. Darla has really been working her business hard trying to win the Puerto Rico trip next year. It will be a tough go and she might not make it, but it won't be from lack of effort on her part.

We have decided to Join dad and Shirley and the extended family for a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale next March to Nassua, St Thomas and St Maarten. This is actually the cruise that I have always wanted to go on. I have done Mexico and Jamaica, etc. and Darla and I enjoyed the Bahamas so much on our trip several years ago, so the opportunity fell right into our lap. The price is expensive with accommodations going for about $3,000, not to mention the flights that will be extra, cabs, hotel, etc. But, hey, it's just money.

Well, that's it for this week. I hope all are well and the Mom's out there had a GREAT Mother's Day! Ciao.

Warm Weather has Arrived

More pictures from our trip and one of the pool. I worked my tail off today getting the pool ready for swim season. I took apart the filters and cleaned each of them. I also flushed out the lines, shocked the pool, adjusted the pool sweep, turned on the waterfalls, added some African daisies to the palm garden, trimmed all of the bushes and trees and added fresh shredded bark around the bushes at the front of the pool. I also added bark to the front garden by the walkway and to all of the tree rings on the side yard. Darla was out of town, so I got to work at my pace and get it all done before she got home tonight, Unfortunately, I was also supposed to have this blog done, but her cell phone was dead and I had called her for an ETA and she never called back.

Now I have a half hour to rush out a blog entry. Darla was up in Paradise at a two day community event selling her jewelry and I was home alone. I went out to Thunder Valley yesterday afternoon and turned $80 into $200 and decided to buy some things at Home Depot. The tab was $98 (I also bought some pool shock and acid) so I don't have much left, but the yard is looking much nicer. I also put the $80 back into my work checking account that I use for my expenses. Darla was trying to get hold of me last night and was a little upset that I was incommunicado. I left my cell phone at home and she couldn't reach me until i got home at 9:00. I stopped for some Taco Bell on the way home and ate it there.

Boyd and I played golf yesterday at Cherry Island and had both Darren and Mel bail on us. Darren had to fly to Dallas for his in laws (his father in law was having open heart surgery) and Mel had a gout flare-up. Mel actually showed up at the course and saw Boyd and I. He has moved back to the Philippines and is working his import-export business. He has a cousin in Government and his best friend is the finance minister, so he has the needed contacts to grow his business. Cora is still here as her daughter is a senior in high school and her son goes to UC Berkeley. Her daughter, Gabi, will enroll at Santa Clara next year so they will continue to live apart. Mel always missed home and his business contacts in the Philippines, where Cora is indoctrinated to the US and is a citizen. I hope thing work out for them. It is quite a stress on their marriage being apart. Mel recently sent me some pictures from a weekend in China, where he flew in a private jet with one of his friends and they played golf all weekend. He has an interesting life. I shot 85 on Saturday to Boyd's 78 and I also played Wednesday at Serrano Country Club with two of my agents and shot an 85.

I did get a hole in one frame for my office and framed the card and ball that I used. Neil, our tournament director, was nice enough to make a copy of the card for his records and gave me the official scorecard from the round. It adds to my golf themed office with my cases of balls from courses I've played and pictures of Pebble Beach and Princeville Golf course in Kauai.

The picture of Samantha with Darla and I was from Benihana's in Vegas and she was tired by the time our 90 minute dinner was over. She enjoyed the "dinner show" as she called it, but it was a little over long for her.

Our month at work concluded slightly down from 2010 and it is our first down month of the year. I have been tardy in getting the gang out to celebrate our good March and we will be going out to Rubio's Beach Mex Restaurant on Thursday. One of the typists complained as she doesn't like Mexican food, but as I told her, "I'm not taking the staff out for waffles on Cinco De Mayo".

Well this is short, but the wife needs me to barbecue some chicken and I need clean socks, so I will oblige her. Hope you all have a great week. Stand firm in the Lord. Ciao.

Back from a wonderful trip to Vegas

A Bunch of pictures, the top ones from our Vegas Trip and the bottom two from our trip to Paradise today for Easter. It was a whirlwind week. We got back from Vegas at 9 AM on Saturday, I was on the golf course by 10:30 and we were in the car on the way to Paradise by 4:30 PM. We decided to stay over in Paradise and go to church with Earl and Frances today, but I was so tired that I pulled over outside of Marysville and Darla drove the rest of the way where we met her parents for dinner at a favorite Mexican food joint in Paradise.

The trip to Vegas was incredible and we had so much fun with Samantha and Jennifer and Michael. We flew in Wednesday morning and grabbed our rental car which turned out to be a silver HHR, which is a gutless little wonder. It is like the PT Cruiser, in that it was a concept car that was a good concept, but they put 4 cylinder little cheap engines in them and made them almost useless to men. We drove over to Jennifer's house and spent some time there before taking a run over to Weinerschnitzel (Sam wanted hot dogs for lunch) and then over to the Luxor, where we checked in, changed and headed to the pool. The temperature during our stay was a consistent 85 degrees, and perfect pool weather. Michael was working on Wednesday as they now have separate days off (Michael has Thursday Friday) and Jen has Wednesday Thursday). At least they share the Thursday off. We lounged by the pool and came back to the room, where we all showered and readied for dinner.

After we got ready we headed for the car. Sam was always wary of getting into the elevator with other people. If it was empty, she'd walk right in, but if someone was in there, she would hold back. Darla and I got on the elevator and she held back with her Mom and the doors closed. We could hear her crying as the car went to the ground floor. They came down a few minutes later and she was still teary eyed and said, "You left me and I cried when the "Alligator" doors closed." Her word for elevator is alligator.

We met Michael at Benihanas, a favorite restaurant of ours and a good choice for Samantha as she enjoyed the show. Samantha had to tell the waitress that we left her behind in the alligator and she cried. The waitress looked at us like we were nuts. Why did we have an alligator near a 3 year old? The kids packed up afterward and headed back to their place and Darla and I headed out on the town. We had a funny incident at the valet, when a family came up with us and Samantha had met them when she was looking at the fountains and other artifacts in the Benihana's. Samantha was saying goodbye and the little girl, who was maybe five, came over and gave Samantha a big hug, so big that the two of them tumbled to the ground. Darla and I went to the Orleans casino and played nickle poker for a few hours, turning $80 into $200 before calling it a night.

Thursday, we were up early and had breakfast at the cafe in Luxor and enjoyed a slow morning. We met Michael and Jennifer at the pool about 11:30 (we had given them our extra room key so they could get into the pool). Samantha had a great afternoon playing with both Michael and Jennifer in the pool and hanging out with us. We had some lunch by the pool and all had smoothies, ours alcoholic and Samantha's a virgin variety. They said their goodbyes about 2:30 and Darla and I walked over to the Aria Casino to pick up our Elvis show tickets. It was a long walk and Darla wore the wrong shoes and ended up with blisters on the tops of both feet. I thought I was going to have to piggy back her back to the Luxor, but she was a trouper and soldiered on.

We met up with the kids back at their apartment where Michael fixed us tri tip and chicken with potatoes and salad. They had a friend come over for dinner as well and he has an 8 year old niece who joined us and Samantha was in kid heaven, showing off her room and toys to Amy. They had squirt guns and were shooting each other, riding bikes, playing tag and hide and go seek. It was a joy to hear Sam's laughter all night. Darla and I changed into nicer clothes and left about 8:45 for our 9:30 show at the Aria. I know Dad has seen the Circus de Soleil Beatles show and I will sign up for that on our next trip, but the Elvis show was phenomenal. The costuming, sets, acrobats and singers were excellent. The show followed Elvis' life as narrated by Colonel Tom Parker and it touched on his birth in Mississippi, his discovery in Memphis, his recording career, his tour in the Army, his movie career and of course his life and comeback in Las Vegas. They talked about his early death, but did not dwell on it or embellish it at all. The show really ended on The Elvis portion of his career and showed his famous comeback concert where he threw a kerchief into the crowd. That scene was paused and 100's of kerchiefs fell from the ceiling into the crowd. It was awesome. The show includes some acrobats bouncing off trampolines in the floor and walls and they look like spider men as they stop on the edge of the wall and scale it to the top. Very, very well done and highly recommended. It will make you appreciate Elvis for his music, talent and celebrity all over again.
Friday, both Jennifer and Michael worked. Michael had a side job with a friend that paid him cash. Michael dropped Sam off about 8:30 and we took her out to The Black Bear Diner, the first restaurant she ever went to as a baby. We had a great time with her and she wowed the crowd there. We then went out shopping as we wanted to get her a new Easter dress and a Leapfrog Tangled game. The dress was a slam dunk and she picked out a princess dress and a matching purse. The game was sold out everywhere we looked. We had bought her the Tangled DVD when we showed up and she wanted a Tangled Rapunzle doll. It was fibre optic and cost $35. We agreed to get her a Rapunzle dress and she wore that to see her Mom that night and then over to John's.

She loves princess dresses and gets all sorts of comments when she is out. She is so petite and cute and the old ladies swoon over her. I think that's why she likes the dresses so much. We went back to the room and then down to the pool. It was Friday and they had a DJ and some of the models from the fantasy show down at the pool in gold bikinis and it was really loud and after swimming Sam wanted to go back to the room. Sam found my snore guard container and wanted to know what it was. We told her. I later fell asleep and I guess I was snoring because she woke me up and handed me the snore guard. We went back down to the pool and set up far from the DJ booth where we could relax and it wasn't near as loud. Sam swam and we then ate lunch at the pool deli.

We picked Jennifer up from work at 5PM and she said goodbye to Sam as we drove her over to John's house. We had a great visit with her. She is growing up so fast and saying some funny things and having independent thoughts. It is a great age.

Friday night we took Michael and Jennifer to Bautista's Italian Restaurant, the famous Vegas restaurant that was a mainstay of the Rat Pack. The food was incredible and included house wine and a great cappucino for after dinner. We gambled with the kids for awhile at Bill's casino and then headed back to the room for our early flight on Saturday. Jennifer and Michael seem to be doing well. Samantha has a great life with the two of them. Darla and I both like Michael a lot. He is very patient with Jennifer and cares about her so much. Jennifer is very lucky to have such a great partner in her life. Michael is very laid back and responsible and Jennifer, well, isn't. It is a match made in heaven.

Well, Darla is calling me for dinner and with all of the pictures, this blog episode will be huge. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We love you. Ciao.

Finally, I am off the Schnide!

Darla asked why I put such a drab picture of the flowers in the blog last week. It is "sometimes" fun being married to my editor. She often corrects me or questions why I put a certain story in the blog. I told her I'd be happy to help her set up a blog if she was interested. Anyhow, I went out this morning in the morning sun and took a picture of the pool and took a little better picture of the flowers in the planter above the pool. Darla also had taken a picture of the Iris by our bedroom window which is in full bloom.

Yesterday was warm, sunny magical and fantastic all rolled into one. I did finally get off the schnide by hitting my first hole in one after 41 years of playing golf. Better yet, I did it in a tournament on a closest to the pin hole and the ace actually helped salvage what was turning into a bad round of golf. I was 5 over par after four holes and not hitting anything crisp, rimming putts out and basically stinking up the joint. We had wind in our face from 139 yards so I clubbed up to an 8 iron from a 9 iron and absolutely nutted it. The hole was tucked behind a sand trap to the left side of the green and I hit the pin on the fly. Normally, that isn't a good thing as the ball ricochets away from the hole, but I hit the pin low near the hole and it jarred into the cup. Great day, although wit an open tab in the bar it cost me $150, which is coincidentally the amount the club pays me in hole in one insurance. I was really amped after the ace and drove the next par 5 in two and just missed an eagle putt, but settled for a birdie. Unfortunately, the course was set up in championship form for the Roseville City Amateur with tight pin placements and I finished at 84 for a net 71. I picked up two shots on the first round leader and sit in third place going into the final today. I'm working on this now as I have one of the last tee times as a leader in the tournament. Hopefully, I can pull it together today and win this thing.

Darla and I are really amped about our trip to Vegas this week. Jennifer had taken Sam out to the Town Center in Vegas to play on Wednesday and when they passed the Luxor casino, she pointed it out for Sam and said that Papa and Grandma will be there next week. When they finished at the park, Sam asked if they could go to Papa's house at the Luxor. She didn't get the concept that we will be there next week. we had planned to use Jennifer's van while we were in town, but it has been having some problems and now has a recall on it for service work, so they have it in the shop. I managed to find a Dodge Sebring for $22 a day and we will rent a car this trip. We fly out Wednesday morning and fly back Saturday. We will spend Easter with Darla's folks up in Paradise.

We did book our Almanor trip again this Summer and are planning on Michael, Jennifer and Sam coming out to stay with us for the week. We got the two bedroom house with the private beach again at the North Shore resort. It was perfect for us last year, sort of away from everything and really private. it will be a perfect location for Samantha. Some of Darla's cousins and family will be there again this year. They enjoyed the 50th wedding anniversary trip so much last year that they are coming back. It will be good for Jennifer and Sam to see family and there are a couple of kids close to Samantha's age. It will also be good for Jennifer and Michael to take an actual vacation. They have both been working hard and didn't have any vacation with the union.

Work continues at a frenetic pace. We are having a solid month, although we likely won't hit our budget number this month. Our budget is tremendously optimistic, but we hit our nut the first three months of the year. We had a great year last year and only exceeded budget three times all year. This start to the year has been extraordinary.

Well, I will finish this up tonight after the final round of our tournament.

The best part of my day today was breakfast out with my lovely wife, Darla. The golf that I played today can only be categorized as , uh..."inefficient"? I started the round in second in my flight and blew up with an 89 to finish in fourth place. I went from 6 under par to 2 under for the tournament. It took 5 hours and 20 minutes to complete which is the best reason that I can give for my play. I am a rhythm golfer and need to keep moving. When there are three groups on a tee and I have to sit and wait, it all goes bad. I shot 48 on the front and came back with a 41 on the back (when it picked up), but too little too late. I will take the warm feeling I had from my hole-in-one and concentrate on that as I look forward to, and prepare for, our trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday.

I was thinking of Darryl when I got my hole-in-one. He has a plaque in his office that says "I've never had a hole-in-one. (I'm looking forwards to the day that I can give this damn plaque away!)." If I had that plaque, I would be looking for a new owner for it. Darryl has the game to get an ace and I'm sure he will. I've been playing this sport for forty years and I have only one. BUT I HAVE ONE! I hope you are all well. I will return next week with pictures and stories from Las Vegas. Be well and Happy Easter to every one. Ciao.