Darla's 50th in Las Vegas!!

 

 

 

 

 

We are just back from Las Vegas, arriving back at 8 o'clock this morning after getting up in Vegas at 3:40 AM. I actually slept for an hour when we got home because I was exhausted. We had a fun, eventful trip. It was great to see Jennifer, though hard to see her 10 pounds down and using a cane to get around to keep her from bending at the waist too much because of the incisions and swelling from her surgery. She was a trooper as she kept up with us most of the trip, but I could see her getting tired and a bit run down as the days rolled on.

 

The hardest night for her was Saturday as we had dinner reservations at 8:30 and didn't get done with dinner until about 10:15. Sam was great and stayed with us both Friday and Saturday and gave Jennifer a break. She needed it.

 

David, Darla and I got into town at 8:30 and grabbed our rental car and headed over to the Palace Station to get booked into our room. The charge was $15 to check in early and we were only going to check into one room. The lady at the counter checked us into both rooms and didn't charge us at all. The only bump along the way was that dad and Shirley were off the reservation and we couldn't get hold of them to pick them up and take them with us to Jennifer's new home in North Las Vegas.

 

Daniel and Becky drove in about 11:30 AM and joined us at the hotel. I took the gang out to lunch at In n Out burger and we went back to the hotel and visited for awhile. Dan and Becky had a plan to ask Samantha to be their flower girl over the weekend.

 

We headed over there at 3 PM as Darla and I wanted to go to Samantha's school and pick her up. We surprised her and we were able to meet her best friend and have a chance to see her school. It is very nice and relatively new. From there we headed back to the house. They live in a nice gated community, close to Sam's school and close to John. Their house is a two story, three bedroom home, close to 2000 square feet on a large lot. The garage is nice sized as well with a nice work area in front of the cars. They plan to put a fire pit in the back yard and will get an above ground pool for Sam. The heat in Vegas is oppressive and it is almost a must to have a pool. The only problem they will have is keeping the water temperature below 95 degrees as the heat hits in July and August.

 

I had planned to pick up some steak and chicken and barbecue for Jennifer, but she told me that they had left their barbecue in the Bay Area. I guess it was filled with charcoal or something (imagine that). I did some research and found a barbecue place not far from their home. They were not aware of it, but it was perfect. We got a pound of beef brisket, 12 ribs, some mac n cheese, some baked beans and a pound of BBQ chicken, and we added a large order of killer fries made with hot sauce and sour cream. We had dinner for 8 and it cost me less than $8 a person. Dinner was great and we played cards and relaxed with Jennifer in the early evening.

 

We finally heard from Dad and Shirley who had been out shopping during the day and gambling. They called about four o'clock and we headed over there to see them at about 8 o'clock. Sam went with us and we relaxed with them for about an hour and we had to get Sam back to bed. Dad and Shirley plied her with jelly beans and she ended up back at the hotel "bed jumping" between the two queen beds. We finally got her to settle down and to sleep about ten. It helped that Darla and I were exhausted from being up at 4:30 for our 6:15 flight in Sacramento.

 

Saturday we had to take Samantha to her ice skating lessons at noon. We slept in until about 8:30 and then gathered the kids and went out to breakfast at the Egg and I. There was a wait (as always) and we left there about 11:25 for the drive over to the Fiesta casino Ice Rink. It was great watching Sam practice her skating and she seemed to love having us there as well. She is very precise in what she does and works hard to do everything perfectly. She took first place in her show last month.

 

We hung out at the pool in the afternoon in spite of some high winds in Vegas. The pools at the Palace Station are located in the courtyard surrounded by the motel buildings and it blocked the wind pretty well. At one point a dust devil dropped down and picked up some construction material and it flew up into the sky at least 100 yards high. I'm sure it eventually rained down on some cars or people, but it was pretty impressive when we saw the papers and wood flying overhead.

 

Saturday night was drinks and appetizers at Dad and Shirley's where we all put a good dent into his Canadian Mist and Ginger Ale stock. We headed over to the restaurant and had a tremendous time celebrating David and Darla's birthday. We bought the dinner family style and ordered steak, clams and linguine, gnocchi, mushroom ravioli, Italian salad, bruschetta, calamari, spaghetti, crème brule, tiramisu and lemon cookies. We had so much food left over that we brought leftovers back to Dad and Shirley's and actually ate dinner Sunday night on what was left over.

 

Sunday we all met at 10 o'clock at The Black Bear Diner for breakfast. Daniel and Becky were driving back that night and we wanted to make sure to spend the day together. Dad and Shirley went shopping and bought some peppers and onions, some flour tortillas and used the leftover steak for fajitas that night. We went back to the hotel and spent about an hour and a half out by the pool and Sam met some friends and played right up to the point that we headed back to the room.

 

We had an early dinner at Dad and Shirley's. Daniel and Becky took Samantha to frozen yogurt and asked her to be their flower girl. David and Jennifer and McKenny went along with them. Darla and I went with Dad and Shirley to Circus Circus for some adult time.  The kids joined us later and McKenny and Jennifer took Samantha up to the circus area and they played the carnival games. Darla and I gambled for awhile and then went up and joined Samantha to watch a juggling act by a Chinese woman acrobat who juggled with her feet. We said our goodbyes shortly after and headed back to the hotel to pack.

 

Jennifer and Sam did get together with Dad today and they all went to the pool at the Hilton where they were staying. It was a fun trip and both Darla and I are exhausted. Sam is a bundle of joy, but very high energy.

 

We are off to Mexico on Saturday and will be gone a week. I do have wireless internet there and will have some time to work on the blog. I am not bringing my golf clubs and don't plan to play. It is Darla's trip and we plan to do some sight seeing ands a lot of relaxing during the week. I hope you are all well. We missed Darryl and Cheryl and randy and cake on the trip, but did have a great time. Ciao.

 

 

Happy Mothers Day 2014

Happy Mother's Day to ALL of the Mothers out there: Shirley, Darla, Cake, Cheryl, Sherry, Jennifer, Alicia, Frances, Kathy, Caroline, Janelle, Laura, and anyone else that I forgot. Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, Alice, who left us 15 years ago. I can hardly believe that it has been 15 years since she went to Glory.

We just got off the phone with Jennifer and she is still stuck in the hospital with what is now a blockage of the tube from her kidney to her bladder. It is the same tube that they thought was pinched by the mass on her ovary, but it turns out that there is still a blockage. They took her down today to remove the drain from her kidney and put some dye in to make sure that the tube was working and the dye got stopped. She will have a stint put in tomorrow morning and if it clears the blockage, she will be able to go home. She is tremendously frustrated now on her 10th day in the hospital. We talked to Jennifer just now and she had Samantha over all afternoon visiting her. John had just got there to pick up Sam and she said she would call us later. I feel for her. Poor thing just wants to get back to her life. Her visit with Sam today really lifted her spirits.

I had a bad experience today when we arrived at church. Some chucklehead decided to pull over at the back of the church in a no parking zone to let his family out. When I went to pass him, one of his passengers threw open their door and slammed into the right rear fender of my wheel well. We heard a bang as we passed and felt it. I thought perhaps I drove over a rock, but when we parked I noticed the bang in my car. The SUV had moved on after disgorging the family that was apparently too lazy to walk from the parking lot. I was really steamed and upset when we got into service, but Rick brought up Proverbs 19:11 as a side Bible passage in his sermon. Proverbs 19:11: "A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense." I decided to let it go and came home and took some rubbing compound to the area hit and there are no scratches to the surface, just a dent which I may be able to bang out. I am overlooking the offense, but the devil in me hopes their door is banged up pretty good as well.

After all of the golf that I've played lately, my back decided to raise it's hand and let me know that I have been abusing it. I woke up Monday with an aching back and already had a Bowen appointment scheduled for Wednesday. I suffered through Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and got my treatment on Wednesday afternoon. I played in my twilight league golf on Thursday night and I couldn't bend over or hit the ball over 180 yards. I shot 44 and Neil had 43, but we managed to win our match. My next concern was the tournament Saturday and if my back would come around soon enough to allow me to play.

Friday was another bad day and I woke up Saturday with still pain in my back. If it had been the first day of the event, I would have backed out, but I was actually in fourth place overall. I had the last tee time of the day with the other three leaders. On top of the back issue, the wind was up with gusts up to 35 miles an hour. Everyone had the same conditions, but every time I got pushed by the wind and took an awkward step, my back would spasm. I was a mess. I sat and did some yoga exercises before I left for the course that are designed to stretch the soaz muscle, but it didn't help. I hit my first drive really well and actually parred the first hole but took a quadruple bogey 9 on number 2 and ended up 48+44=92 for the day to play myself completely out of contention. It was too bad, but as my friend Neil, says: "it is what it is." I'm not sure if I finished in the money or not, but went from six under to even par for the tournament in one wretched round of golf. I have the Senior Men's Invitational at Serrano CC on Wednesday and a practice round on Tuesday. My back feels marginally better today, but it is a process.

I hurried home and got cleaned up and Darla and I headed over to Sun City for a 60th birthday party for Steve, my golf and poker buddy. He had several kegs of beer, about 40 bottles of wine, seven tri tips and countless chicken breasts for a real party. He had a deejay and we ate, danced and visited until about 9 PM. The venue closed at 9:45 (it is Sun City after all!) and I was tired and my back was barking. We talked to Jen on the way home and she was hopeful of getting out of the hospital today.

Darla has left to pick up her own Mother's Day feast at the local upscale Chinese restaurant, Fat's. We will dine on pork fried rice and sweet and sour pork. David called on our way back from church and took his Mom out to a late breakfast at Café Americano around the corner from our house. I fixed myself some scrambled eggs with ham, red bell peppers, onion and cheddar and sat down to watch the first half of the Player's Championship on TV. I taped the last half, went out into the wind and hand watered the front and side lawn, buffed out the area where my car was hit, and cleaned up the backyard and pool. I then took a nice nap in the sun. Darla joined me later. She and David were working on David's old room, moving furniture and clearing out the closets, etc. Darla is making that room into her new office. I slept on the chaise lounge and Darla read on a floatie on the pool. Our temperatures are going to heat up in to the 100's and cool off by the end of the week, just in time for us to head to the 100's of Las Vegas.

I hear the electric garage door opener, which foreshadows a delicious dinner to come and so will say a quick goodbye. I hope all are well and that you remembered your mother today, whether she is still with us physically or she is just in your heart. Ciao.

Jen Finally Gets Medical Insurance...and a trip to the Hospital

 

Don't wait to go to the doctor until you are in severe pain. Jennifer, unfortunately, had to live that one as she was waiting for her medical coverage to kick in with her new job. She has had some severe, uncomfortable pain in her right abdomen for about a month and went to the doctor as soon as her medical coverage was in force and the doctor did a CT scan and found cysts on her liver and kidneys as well as a mass on her ovaries. The cyst on her kidney was so large that it was blocking the kidney from functioning properly and the kidney was filling with liquid and in danger of dying. Luckily, they were able to go in on Saturday and put a drain into her kidney and lower the size of the mass and hopefully they can make it disappear with the use of antibiotics. They have to do a biopsy of the portion of the cyst that was removed and decide what the next course of action is on Monday. A team of OB GNs is looking at the mass on her ovaries and may have to go in and do another surgery to remove that and have it biopsied. Depending on the size of the mass, they may be able to treat that with antibiotics. In the meantime, Jennifer is stuck in the hospital waiting for the doctors to decide the next course of action.

 

Jennifer had called me on Thursday and let me know that the doctor had seen something that he didn't like on her kidney and she was to have the CT on Friday. Once the CT scans were done, the doctor told her to go home, pack a bag and get checked into the hospital, because the kidney needed to be drained. She was checked in Friday night and surgery was scheduled for Saturday morning. They did the surgery while she was hooked up to a scanner so they could insert the tube into her kidney and have it exit her back and attach to a bag for collection. That is where it stands now. She should have all of the fluid drained and the mass will be small enough to allow proper functioning of the kidney by Monday. They will remove that and may send her home with antibiotics or do more surgery depending on the decision of the doctors and the results of the biopsy. Pray for her. Samantha was a great help in getting her spirits up today as John brought her to the hospital to visit her Mom. She brought her candy and made her a card that you can see on the table next to her bed. Jen's Mom, Diane, is on her way to Vegas and will stay with her this week and help her get through this. We will, of course, be in Vegas on May 16-19 for Darla's 50th birthday celebration. Looking forward to seeing her and hugging her.

 

All of this was going on while I played in the first two days of the 54 Hole Individual Championship at the Club. I was completely distracted as her surgery was at 10:30 and my tee time was 9:30. I considered skipping the tournament, but realized that there was nothing I could do. I stayed in touch with McKenny by phone and text and called him as soon as I got off the course. Jennifer answered the phone, groggy and incoherent and I asked her to hand the phone to McKenny. He said that the surgery went well, that she was resting and frustrated that the doctor didn't come by to see her. I had talked to Dad and Shirley and he said that there was little the doctor could do until the biopsy was completed and the kidney was sufficiently drained. Of course, he is right, but Jennifer had hoped to go home. Her fever was 102 degrees and she still had the bag attached to her. She is in again tonight and hoping to get some resolution from the doctors tomorrow. Her Mom arrives tonight, so she will have her there to help out. We talked to Jennifer last night and I talked to her again this morning. We will call her tonight.

 

I played well yesterday, shooting a 43 +40=83 for a net 70 and a tie for fifth place after the first day. Andy Ortiz played with me and also shot 84 net 70 and we played together again as they had us play in position today. I played with Joe from the club, who has a medical exemption for a bad back. He shot a net 69 yesterday and a net 66 today and I told him his medical exemption is OVER. I shot a 38+43=81, net 68 today and moved into a tie for third with a two day net total of 138. Joe is at 135 and the leader shot a 75 today with 12 strokes for a net 63 and a two day total of 130. He'll be hard to catch, but I should be in his foursome next Saturday. I am very happy with the state of my game right now, although my handicap will dip after shooting the three under total last weekend in the City Am and the 6 under this weekend. I could have really put up a score today, but missed six birdie putts and three putts of three feet today. it was stupid and I got tired at the end of the round and was 7 over par over the last six holes. I got tired and my driver left me. I was pulling the ball dead left and leaving myself impossible second shots. It was disturbing. I got tired after so much golf recently and was ready to relax tonight. One of the players in my foursome asked me if I was going to the range to work out what was wrong and I told him I knew what was wrong, I was spent. it was too bad, but I am in position to win this next week. they pay a low gross and a low net and I am right there for the low net.

 

Darla was in Lodi today for a street faire and did very well with her Silpada. She was up at 4:30 this morning and out the door at 5:30. She and her friend, Missy, drove up together and were in place by 7 AM, setting up there booth. They combined had close to $1300 in sales and did very well. making some good contacts and setting up a couple of house parties for later this Spring. I got home about 5:00 PM today and was out working on the pool when she got home. We visited in the late afternoon sunshine, I took a shower and a brief nap and headed to the laptop for my weekly Blog report.

 

By the way the two lower pictures are of my former assistant, Cora, who moved to the Philippines two years ago with her husband. she was in town to see her children and visit her sister and stopped in on Thursday to visit. This is Mel's wife, who I used to play golf with all the time.  Her sister, Dinda also used to be my assistant. She has moved back to Sacramento and, unfortunately, her husband has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. They are aggressively fighting the disease and travel monthly to Chicago to the cancer Centers of America for treatment. Please say a prayer for JP Yared as he fights this battle.

Well, that's it for this week. We are having a late dinner of barbecued steak and I need to get it on the grill. Pray for Jennifer and I will keep the family updated on her condition this week. Be well. Ciao.

 

 

Roseville City Amateur 2014

Very Happy to report success in the Roseville City Amateur this past weekend. I have stayed away from the event, really because of the sandbaggers that come in from other areas with inflated handicaps and win all of the money. I saw evidence of that again this weekend with a guy who was on the San Diego State men's golf team in 2000 who now plays as a 16 handicap (?!?). He lives in San Francisco and drove up on Friday and stayed the weekend. He shot 87 at Diamond and 84 at Woodcreek and stole third place money. His drives can get a little wild, but he hits the ball about 290 and when he is on and birdie or eagle are always in play. He even shared with me after the event that his handicap will likely come down to about a 9 because of some low scores that he's been posting. Duh.

 

Darla was out of town all weekend up at Paradise at their annual Street fair for Silpada. I had to kill some time and decided to play in the 2014 Roseville City Amateur Golf tournament. The draw for me was two days of golf at the two Roseville city courses and I got to play Saturday with Paul Gonzalez and Brad McKernan, two of my buddies from RGC.  I had a frenetic round on Saturday, one that Boyd would refer to as schizophrenic. I shot 45 on the front nine and every bad break I could get played out. If I hit a tree the ball would drop straight down and land behind the trunk of the tree. If I hit a good long putt it would hit the hole and spin out, often leaving a four footer coming back. I struggled my way around the front side feeling snake bit. The back nine changed everything and after birdieing number 10, kept that moment alive for a 38 on the back and an 83, net 70. Everything changed on the back. I hit the ball into a grove of trees on number 11 and we watched as the ball bounced high and left into the middle of the fairway 150 yards from the green. On number twelve I had a long put that grabbed the lip of the cup, spun around 360 degrees and landed in the center for par. Again on number 16 I ended up under some trees 138 yards from the hole and tried to hit a low wedge, but it ballooned up catching the bottom of the limbs and kicking dead straight and coming to rest on the apron in front of the green. I did come back to earth a little and finished bogey-bogey for the 38, but it was a come back that saved the tournament for me. I was tied for fifth after the first round with a net 70.

 

Today, I played with guys who were third and second going into the second round and beat all of them except for the SDSU college golfer who drove the 323 yard 11th hole and shot 46+38=84, for a net 68. I didn't play spectacularly, but shot 44 on the front with a ball hit out of bounds and one into a hazard. I played the back with three pars and six bogeys for 42 and 86, net 72 (I got one more stroke on Woodcreek today). My 142 total was good enough for a tie for fourth with another golfer who opened with a net 66 and shot net 76 today. My haul was $106.75, which basically paid for my entry fee and golf. The way I look at it, I likely would have played both days anyhow, so I was happy to win money in a gift certificate that I'll have to spend next weekend. It was fun and interesting to see some of the 68's and 66s come back to earth when they have to play the second day with their competition instead of their friends. There is some gamesmanship that goes on. My putter was really strong today and the group was joking that everything I hit from under ten feet was automatic. Little do they know that I often struggle with putts from 8-12 feet.

 

I added a picture of a microwave tower on hole number two at Woodcreek for Jennifer. This is located in a grove of trees and looks exactly like the surrounding trees. It blends in beautifully, well if you're blind it does, anyhow. Jennifer, I know you work with some of these camouflage trees and I have to say that the engineers need to go back to the drawing board on this one.

 

Work should be interesting this week. I'm playing in a charity event tomorrow with two of our agents at Granite Bay Country Club. The event is the Kops n Kids event and it is supposedly a fun event. They start early in the morning with Bloody Mary's and a continental breakfast. They give us a $50 voucher for Oakley and have an Oakley tent on site to sell us $150 sunglasses with a cut of the sales going to the charity. We tee off at 10 AM, have a box lunch and finish with an early dinner at 4:30. The event is basically a drinking event with refreshments at almost every hole. I guess if you drink with the local cops, you get out of any trouble once you get on the road (yeah, right). Luckily, I'm not a big drinker and tend to drink more water and iced tea when I'm on the course. We have a good team this year with Matt from my office who is a 7 and a former college golfer, our agent Chris from Redding, who played golf for Humboldt State and my agent, Gary, who is a 12 and plays at Serrano. Granite Bay is similar to Serrano, but has easier greens. Both Chris and Matt can hit some good 300 yard drives and put us in position to challenge for some prize money.

Also, we are in the process of hiring two new employees. One was in San Francisco with Harvey on Friday and Harvey was as impressed with her as I was. She is a recent UC Berkeley grad and she was on the honors committee there. She works for a small online digital marketing company now and is anxious to make a change. Hopefully we will get those hires done this week. I also have the final numbers on our addition and just waiting for Alan to sign the lease and start the build out. We are behind budget this month by about 10% and if we miss budget, it will be the first time since April of 2012 that we have been below our forecast. It was bound to happen as our budget is really aggressive. We will exceed 2013, but hitting budget this month is a stretch. I don't count this group out, but reality is staring me in the face.

 By the way, I leave for Eureka on June 4th after our return from Mexico and Matt, Chris and I will be defending our championship at the Humboldt County I Day Golf tournament at Baywood Country Club. The tournament is on June 5th and I remember absolutely freezing last year up in the salt air of Eureka in June. I will dress in layers this time around. Chris let me borrow a coat last year and it was a medium and I got it stuck on my head trying to get it off and it took three of us to extract me, especially with all of us laughing. That trip will come two days after the Sacramento Insurance Golf day up at Serrano Country club, where Matt, Gary and Ron Floyd will give it our best effort to win the Ruth Chris gift certificates. I'm on the golf committee for the 13th straight year.

Darla's trip to Paradise went very well and she had a great first day of the event  with over $700 in sales. Today was literally a washout as it rained on them and she finally packed up around noon and headed home. She never took her jewelry out of the truck today because her cases are metal and the display cases are wood and velvet and she didn't want to ruin them. They hung out for about two hours today and finally packed it in. We had no rain here in the valley, but they did get soaked up in Paradise. Darla said that the event should just be a one day event because they do a parade on Saturday and it brings out the families. Sunday is more of a wrap up day, but they don't really have any events set up to entice the families back out.

We FaceTimed with Jennifer, Sam and McKenny tonight. McKenny has given notice with his current firm and is gearing up his new company with business in Las Vegas. He was in Washington DC about two weeks ago doing some pre-planning and they have several jobs starting in San Diego this week. I'm excited to see how his new venture plays out. He is really well connected in the cellular tower world and should do very well. Meanwhile, Jennifer is busy as all get out with her new job with AT&T. They hired another project manager at the same time as her and he didn't work out as he  oversold himself in the interview and struggled with the forecasting  software and report form that are such a big part of their job. Jennifer is doing the work of two people right now although she hasn't been paid any more. Job security, eh?

Well, that is the news that is fit to print this week. I hope all is well with each of you and that you are living in the footsteps of our Lord. I had planned to go to church Saturday afternoon, but got incredibly ill after mowing the lawn Saturday afternoon. I have grass allergies really bad and ingested a piece of cut grass and I ended up sick as a dog. I should wear a mask when I mow, but don't want to look like an idiot. Have a great week. Ciao. 

Easter 2014, a celebration of God's eternal love for us

 

Wow. David making sure that he doesn't date for the rest of his life if he keeps that shag on his face. Luckily, the temperatures are starting to heat up and the 100 degree temps are just around the corner. We had 86 degrees today and it felt really hot. H e said that the Duck Dynasty look is not long for him. I don't understand the trend with so many young guys with these Paul Bunyan beards.

 

It was a really nice day today and we went to church this morning and enjoyed the service immensely. It was crowded and the music and events were a bit different, made to appeal to the church seekers that may have been in attendance. They had a couple of young girls that were raised up above the stage and did some aerial gymnastics with a long drape. I guess it was entertaining, but more something you'd normally see in Las Vegas and not in church.

 

Darla and I came home and I worked on the pool for awhile and fertilized the front lawn. We have some much needed rain that will arrive on Tuesday and I thought I'd feed the lawn while the rain was coming in. We had friends, Vance and Terra Lee, over for tri tip tonight. I ran out of propane right before the steak was done so we had to finish the cooking on the stove. It was delicious and we enjoyed salad, baked potatoes, some cut up vegetables on a tray and broccoli with our dinner. Terra Lee served the broccoli with a hot avocado and sour cream dipping sauce that was excellent.

 

Yesterday we drove up to Paradise and had dinner with Darla's folks and her sister's family. David drove up with us and was there for the feast as well. They had the traditional ham and fixings, including some asparagus that Don fixed in an olive oil and spices that was quite good as well.  Don and Alicia got up there early and Don, Earl and Lucas headed out to lake Paradise with fishing poles and stood around casting for fish for awhile and came home empty handed. I had two big helpings of dinner and found myself on the recliner fast asleep shortly after dinner. The gang went out and Luke searched for the poorly hidden eggs in the back yard. Earl's backyard is absolutely beautiful this time of year. He has a dogwood that is in full bloom as well as many varieties of trees and flowers in bloom.

 

I played two games of golf this week, one with our inspection company sales manager on Tuesday at Woodcreek and one on Friday afternoon at Diamond Oaks. My game is pretty predictable at the moment and I shot 81 on Tuesday and 84 on Friday. I went ahead and signed up for the Roseville City Amateur that will be played next weekend at both Woodcreek and Diamond Oaks. Darla has an event up in Paradise next weekend and I need to stay busy. At least that's my story.

 

I talked to Dad and Shirley, Randy and Darryl over the last week. Unfortunately, Dad and Shirley had a very narrow window that they were willing to go on a cruise within and it didn't work out in our schedule. They were looking at February for the original cruise, but Darla and I will be in the Dominican Republic next February with Silpada. I talked to Darryl and it looked like the best time for each of us was April or May of next year. Shirley didn't want to leave Vancouver during that time of year and they ended up booking a cruise for January. Unfortunately, I am right in the middle of employee reviews in January so it wasn't possible for us to join them.  I think Cheryl has Inventory in January and Randy couldn't make it so soon after Christmas. I think Darryl was going to try to work it out. I told Randy that we would plan a trip to Canada later this year and he is going to try to make it up at the same time. It is difficult to work out schedules for three working couples and I'm just glad that we made it to the Virgin Islands two years ago.

 

Our next trip is Vegas on May 16th and Dad and Shirley are looking to come in during that time. Daniel and Becky and David will be there as well and we will celebrate Darla's 50th birthday in style. We get back to Roseville on May 19th and then fly to Nuevo Vallarta the following weekend for a week. We had started out inviting all of the kids to go with us, but one by one they each dropped out and the Vegas trip became a reality. Darla and I will head to Mexico with just the two of us and I'm actually pretty excited about having her all to myself while we are there. I'm not bringing my golf clubs, but she is encouraging me to play at least one game, so I'll bring balls, tees, a glove and shoes and rent clubs. One of the things that I'll enjoy on this trip is setting our own schedule. We usually travel with another couple and have to take their plans into account and we end up eating later or not at all and we will be in control of that. We'll get the meal deal while we are down there and split dinners. Most of the time we'll do lunch in the room.

 

Jennifer didn't have Samantha this weekend and she and McKenny were in the Bay Area for a reunion with his friends from Hawaii when he lived there. It looks like based on Facebook (which is where I get much of my Jennifer news) that there was a wedding in the Bay Area with two of McKenny's friends tying the knot. Hopefully Jennifer and McKenny took good notes.

 

Well this is woefully short this week, but our dinner guests stayed until 8 PM and I wanted to get this done. Hopefully you are all well, that you took a minute today to celebrate the ultimate gift that God gave us when Jesus came to earth and died on the cross for our sins. HE IS RISEN! Ciao.

 

 

It is still beautiful in Lake Tahoe

 

Back from Lake Tahoe after a fairly quick trip with Pete and Vicki Morrison, my Underwriting Manager and his wife. I had mentioned to him a couple of weeks ago that Darla and I were planning a trip up to Lake Tahoe to see Kim Wilson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds band. Pete was immediately in although I tell it that I never did invite him to join us. We drove up after golf on Saturday and got in to the Lakeside Inn about 6:30 after I sat and watched the third day of The Masters on television. Pete kept texting me on the way up, haranguing me that "The party has started, get up here!" among others. We got checked in and met Pete and Vicki up at the Timbers Restaurant bar for a quick drink before dinner. At least Darla and I had a quick drink. They were late getting to the bar after all of the harassment. Darla had a mango margarita and I enjoyed a Canadian and Ginger Ale. We got seated when they arrived and all enjoyed the Steak and Lobster special.  It was as good as advertised, although the vegetables (carrots and broccoli) were cooked in a cinnamon and coconut glaze and it was definitely an acquired taste.  Thankfully the baked potato was huge and the 6 ounce lobster and 10 ounce steak was plenty, especially with a healthy serving of fresh baked bread as well.

 

We went from there over to the Mont Blue resort, which was formerly the Caesar's Tahoe. We played some nickel poker and then went into the show. The table that I reserved for us was a 8 person tabletop and there were 4 person round tables one level up that faced the stage. All the tickets were the same price, but those seats were so much better. We decided to move to an empty table, but Pete was intercepted by an usher while I was still gathering our drinks. Suddenly, the usher came over and helped me carry the drinks to the new spot. It turns out that Pete had palmed him a $20 bill and suddenly we were VIPs.  The show was awesome as usual highlighted by a 20 minute harmonica solo by Kim Wilson that defies belief. I would be laying on the stage in convulsions after 2 minutes of straight harmonica playing.

 

We went back to the Lakeside Inn afterward and Darla and I played nickel poker until about 1:15 AM. We played $100 in $5 bills and would cash out with each four-of-a-kind that we had. We cashed out our tickets for $92.25 after all of our playing. It was fun and we drank enough Bailey's on the rocks to more than break even.

 

We met with Pete and Vicki for breakfast at the break of 9:30 this morning and enjoyed the $4.99 specials at The Timbers. Both couples really enjoyed the trip and I can see us traveling more with Pete and Vicki in the future because they are a lot of fun to travel with. They had to get on the road and we had plans that day so said our goodbyes at 10:30.

 

Last week Travelzoo had a Tahoe Queen offer for $23 per ticket for the regular $49 fare and I asked Darla if she wanted to go on Sunday and she was in. We met the ship at noon today after stopping and picking up a Subway sandwich. Unfortunately, the owners of the cruise company will not allow outside food or drink on their ship. They had a notice up that made it sound like the Coast Guard wouldn't allow it, but the Coast Guard only requires each passenger to consent to having their possessions searched. We brought the sandwich on board, but didn't eat it and saved it for a picnic for the trip home. I bought us a large bowl of clam chowder on board  to keep the cold out. The weather was nice on Saturday and okay on Sunday. It was sunny, but there was a cold wind that threatened to chill you from the inside out. 

 

We found a spot inside at one of the tables by the window, but did move upstairs when we got close to Emerald Bay and got some pictures, some of which are above. It was a fun 90 minutes. Unfortunately, the trip was two and a half hours. The trip back was a little long and uneventful. The trip in and around Emerald Bay and past the Vikingsholm Castle and the island offshore where the owner had a medieval looking tea room built was worth the full 2 and a half hours. We have seen the Vikingsholm several times from the vista overlook on Highway 89 and I was happy to finally get a chance to see it up close and in person.

 

We drove back around the east side of Lake Tahoe on Highway 28 and through Incline Village. We stopped at the overlook on Highway 28, but the bathrooms were closed for the season(??!!), so we drove on to Incline Village and a softball park with bathrooms. We also ate our sandwiches and chips there. We were home by 5:30 tonight.

 

Golf this past week was good and bad. I joined the guys on Tuesday at Diamond Oaks and in spite of the fairly freshly aerated greens, I shot an 81 and made a few bucks from my friends. Saturday was our Master's tournament and Steve and I played as partners in the two man best ball qualifier. We played with two of my favorite people, Boyd who is 74 and his partner, Andy, who is 78. Both are freaks of nature with muscle tone and good golf ability. Boyd shot 70 and Andy shot 78, both shooting their age or better and shooting a 57 as a team to qualify for the event. Steve and I struggled all day. I shot 88 and Steve shot 86 and our team score was 66. I was afraid that we would have to hang around for a playoff, but we played so poorly it wasn't an issue. Oh well.

 

Friday night was poker and I ended up winning another $50 from my friends. I do enjoy fleecing my buddies on a regular basis. John had fixed a roast beef that he cooked in garlic, onions and peppers all day. He served those on French rolls and it was a hit. I was up over $100 about halfway through the evening, but lost late and gave back half my winnings.

 

This was the start of the" make up" that I am doing for Darla's 50th birthday. We have our Vegas trip coming up in mid May and then our trip to Mexico over Memorial Day. Don't make the mistake of taking your wife to a golf weekend with twins also turning 40 the same weekend. I will live it down, but I will have to work hard to get out from under this one. We had a ball this weekend. I hope you are all well and ready for the celebration of Jesus dying in our place that comes up all of this week. Happy Easter!! Ciao.

 

Spring Weather Settles In

 

Excellent weather for us here in northern California. 80 degrees today with a light breeze. we had the 20th anniversary celebration for our church today and it was great to see some of the former pastors and leaders that have come and gone over the years, most of them moving on to other churches and many to church plantings that we helped with. Our original worship leaders, who served for ten years and are now in the Bay Area returned and lead us in several songs and it felt like old times. it was a great day of reminiscing and seeing the great changes and growth that have occurred in our church over the last 20 years. Darla and I have been a part of this for 15 years and we are blessed to have such a great church family. David joined us today and he was able to see some of the youth pastors who he spent a great deal of time with and spent several weeks in Mexico with building houses.

 

We went out to breakfast after church at our local Café Americano that has become our "go to" spot for lunch or breakfast and enjoyed our time together. David drove over to our house afterward and helped us take down his bed and move his old desk to the front driveway. Darla took pictures and put everything on Craig's list. we had about a dozen calls with people promising to come by and pick the items up. Darla hated to promise somebody the item and have it gone, so it all still sits there as the people who promised to come and get it never showed up. I told her to make it the first person who comes out gets the bed or desk. when stuff is free, people feel like they can just not show up and it is a bit irritating. One guy is supposed to come tomorrow and he wants everything. He has a transitional home in Sacramento for drug addicts and needs to furnish a bedroom. I think we'd prefer him to have it, but we'll have to store the stuff in the garage tonight.

 

I was able to get out and replant some of the ground cover we have around the pool. The frost this year killed out some areas, but this stuff is so prolific that other parts are growing up the fence and up the back of the pool planter. I cut all of that back and filled in the dead areas and hopefully it will all come together soon. I also trimmed plants and cleaned the pool before claiming my spot on a chaise lounge and having a good sleep.

 

The pictures above are of Jennifer in the Hollywood half marathon this weekend. She ran it with her Mom and they enjoyed a weekend together in Southern California. Jennifer is a trooper to run the 13 miles with her Mom with little training. the other pictures are of Sam at her skating competition on Saturday. She took first place in her group for a routine that she skated to Shirley Temple's "Old Straw Hat." Watch the video John took. It is pretty far away and obviously taken with his phone, but you can see how well she is doing with her ice skating. I particularly love the running on ice and when she skates backwards.

The other picture is of the golf course at The Ridge in Auburn. It is an awesome golf course, but like a beautiful woman with a bad temperament, it can make you miserable and that was my day on Saturday. I went with Matt and one of his agents to the Alistair Mackenzie course in Sacramento on Friday and had a good round. I think I shot a 92 back in February when I played it with Boyd and some other friends. I played much better this time around and shot 42+42=84 and felt great about my game. I got a call Thursday night from Bryan, who is the current President of the Roseville Golf club and he had a deal out at the Ridge for $27 with a cart at 11:40 Saturday. I jumped on it.

I had breakfast Saturday morning with Vance, from our old Life Group and he is a former pastor, who is now the Chancellor of the University of Life at our church. Darla and I have struggled since she quit her job and I get discouraged at times and just wanted a Christian mentor to work with to keep me focused and in line with Biblical principles and with my commitment to the church. Vance is a great guy and we really enjoy each other's company and will get together about every other week to talk and have breakfast.

From there I met the boys at the Park n Ride in Roseville for the ride up to Auburn and the Ridge. I had just a nightmare round, where I either had a par on a hole or a double bogey. I never had more than a double bogey, but only had three bogeys the whole round. I had 5 pars and ten double bogeys for a round of 48+47=95. I couldn't make a putt to save my life and the pin placements were in the most difficult spot on every hole. Neil shot 98, Scott, who is a 9 handicap shot 97 and Bryan, who is a 6 shot 87. It was a brutal round for all of us on a nice day. I don't know why we all struggled, but it was like falling down the stairs, I felt every bump on the way down.

They aerated our course this week and we have a two man NCGA qualifier on Saturday and are hoping the greens heal up pretty fast. Our contact in the shop, Robert, reports that the greens will be mowed Monday and are in very good shape. we may get out and have a test run there on Tuesday.

We are starting the celebration for Darla's 50th early and will travel to lake Tahoe on Saturday night with Pete and Vicky Morrison to see the Fabulous Thunderbirds perform at the Mont Bleu resort (formerly Caesar's) at 9 PM on Saturday evening. We are staying at the Lakeside Inn, one of our favorite casinos in the area. It is rustic, with wood paneled rooms and step down showers. They serve a $14.99 Steak and lobster dinner and $4.99 breakfasts and cater to the locals. Our rooms are $99 and we are just a long block from the Mont Bleu resort. I have so much to make up for after Darla's 40th birthday where we ended up going with friends (twins) who were also turning 40 and playing golf at Poppy Hills. Darla will not let me live that down and that is why we have Vegas, Mexico and now Tahoe on the agenda. We will also get together with friends for dinner sometime during the month as well. but that remains to be coordinated.

Well, that is it for this week. I hope you are all well and I will report back in after our quick trip to lake Tahoe next weekend. Be well and stay strong in the LORD. Ciao.