Spring Arrives This Week

Actually, you could have fooled me as we have had a week of temperatures in the low to upper 80's and the grasses, plants, trees and bushes are all in full bloom. I finished the sprinkler project in the back yard and we are now ready for a concrete flatwork contractor to pour the driveway on the side of the house and the sidewalk and patio by the shed behind the pool. I will also order 5 yards of topsoil and two yards of compost to add to the flowerbeds and the raised planter behind the pool. Once all of that is accomplished, Darla and I will hit the nurseries to find our trees and plants for the backyard. We have scoured the Garden Books and have a good idea of our decorating plan. Darla wants a tulip tree and I will add a couple of sego palms, some Lily of the Nile, some lavender, photinia, ground cover and small shrubs. We will have a lot of purples and reds in the backyard and it will be fun to see the plan take shape. We also want to put in a shade screen room by the shed that will hold our glass table and chairs and will provide a place to get out of the sun.

I was washing my car last night and it dawned on me that I had finished laying all of the pipe and sprinklers in the yard, but had not tested the system at all. I went out and ran the sprinklers, made a few adjustments on spray and changed a head or two, but it is all working according to plan.

That reminds me of a joke where an older couple (50 years old or so) are sitting in their living room. They both suffer from the onset of Alzheimer's and struggle with basic short term memory. Being old, they eat dinner at 4:00 PM. It is about 8:00 PM and the husband says to the wife, "You know what sounds really good to me right now is some bacon and eggs." The wife dutifully heads off to the kitchen and the sound of banging pots and pans drifts out to the living room. She is gone about twenty minutes and finally emerges carrying a tray with two bowls of Rocky Road ice cream. The husband slowly shakes his head and says, "Honey, you are really getting forgetful. I told you I wanted a scoop of chocolate mint."

Daniel made a dump run last week and got rid of a lot of the extra plants, cement, broken sprinkler pipe, the old toilet from our bathroom, etc. All of the junk that had piled up and we were ready to send to the dump. I needed him to get it out of the side yard, so we could get the cement work done.

Darla and I had our taxes prepared last week and we absolutely got hammered. Darla has three jobs, but in only one of her jobs is taxes withheld from her check. We are making more money than we ever have and seem to have less of it at any one time. Why is that? We are setting up a plan to have Darla pay quarterly estimates next year so that we don't have the same problem next year.

I played golf in the beautiful weather this weekend. It was about 88 degrees on Saturday with a light wind. The Roseville Golf Club is in the middle of a three day tournament that started while we were in Vegas. I set up a tee time at Woodcreek for Saturday and played with Bob Hand, Mel and one of Mel's friends from work. I shot a nice 41+39=80. I was thrilled with the round and had 9 bogeys and 9 pars on the par 71 track. My goal whenever I play golf is to avoid a double bogey or worse and let the pars and birdies come where they may. Woodcreek is a championship course with a higher rating than Diamond Oaks, so it was good to perform. I also collected the most skin money and was home by 1:30 PM after eating lunch at the course. I will play in a Cobra sponsored tournament next Saturday at Diamond Oaks and will be at Pebble Beach in three weeks living the dream of playing one of the world's most famous golf courses.

Jennifer is on her way right now to San Francisco with John for foot surgery. Her surgery is scheduled for 10:30 and they will go into her foot with a two inch incision and shave the bone, insert some pins and straighten her big toe. She has a bunion that is causing her toes to turn inward and this surgery will correct that problem. I talked to her last night and she was beginning to get a little nervous about the surgery. She said she was excited, but is concerned about the long (six week) recovery. The doctor prescribed Vicodin for the pain and her foot will be numb for about eight hours after the surgery. She will be on crutches and have to have her foot elevated during most of that recovery.

Jennifer and John are buying a new car. They looked and shopped and finally decided on a Scion. If you are like me, your knowledge of Scion begins and ends with that "box" car they came out with a few years ago. It is still one of their models, but Scion is owned by Toyota and is a more affordable version of the Toyota. She and John are looking at a TC and I saw one on the road the other day. They are very nice and look like a tight, well built car. Jennifer's Mom owes Jennifer some money and will help her finance the car and make the first year of payments for her. John and Jennifer will double up on payments during that time and pay the car off early. Check out the Scion TC at: http://www.scion.com/showroom/tc/gallery/. Now, doesn't that car look like a Jennifer car?

The office continues to excel this year and we are up 55% on the year and still in the running for the $500 per employee prize for the first quarter. We just added a much needed insurance market (Burlington) to our quiver, we are preferred agent for Colony and we have a 5% running loss ratio with our largest carrier, Scottsdale. Things are really looking up at work.

Well, that is it for another week. I hope you are all well and living a life that is in concert with our Lord and Saviour. Ciao.

Vegas was a Royal Flush!

The vacation and Lyon Family Reunion are history and it was everything that we all hoped it would be. Family, fun and just being together was on the agenda and we succeeded on every level. The boys enjoyed hanging with Chris and Jennifer and John. Darla and I had a great time with Dad and Shirley and definitely hanging with my brothers was a great time. Eric Clapton was as good as advertised, the golf and weather were ideal and I even managed to hit a Royal Flush on a nickle progressive machine for a $416.95 payout on a 50 cent bet. Not too shabby. The last time I hit a Royal on a nickle machine in Vegas was last Summer and it only paid me 4000 coins ($200), but the max bet was only 25 cents on that machine.

Not everything was perfect as the Jockey managed to mess up our reservations in every way imaginable, from initially checking us into a two bedroom suite and then calling up to the room to have me come down and fix their mistake. They then got on me for accepting a two bedroom when I knew it was only supposed to be a one bedroom. The problem with that logic is that I didn't know it was a two bedroom until I opened the door and walked through the room. They also called and harassed Darla when I was on my way down to the front desk wanting to know what was taking so long (the fact that you have to walk a half mile from the front desk to your room is the first of many problems). They also told me that our reservation was not until Thursday and we were a day early. Shirley had sat on the phone for an hour to get our reservation moved up only to find out when they came on the line, that the reservations staff had been in a meeting that whole time. Nice. They ALLOWED us to check in, but only after I let them know that I was already checked into a nice two bedroom suite and would stay put until tomorrow if there was a problem.

I was glad that Daniel is on Steve's insurance as he took over the driving from Bakersfield and when I awoke from a nap, he was doing 90 miles an hour outside of Mojave. It was nice to have some help with the driving and I think Daniel enjoyed it. It took us only 9 1/2 hours to drive from Roseville to Las Vegas and that included two stops, one for about 45 minutes for dinner.

Jennifer's boyfriend, John, was a big hit on the trip for many reasons, but one of the biggest was he allowed us to use his Vegas resident discount for golf which saved us about $30 a person off the tourist rates and he saved the boys money on their trip to the Stratosphere Tower where they rode the roller coasters and thrill rides. John and Jennifer are looking to move permanently to Vegas where they can both use their fibre optic skills to work at the big shows at the casinos.

We had a great time eating out as a family and PF Chang's was a huge hit with the group as we celebrated Dad's birthday on Friday. We went out for Prime Rib on Sunday night before Darryl and Cheryl had to fly back to Austin and when it came time to order, Cheryl who had been drinking vodka tonics in the sun all day, ordered the "Asshole" special from our Chinese waiter. It was so off the wail and we all stared at her, including the waiter who apparently had no sense of humor and perhaps thought she was ordering the Asso special off the Chinese menu. It was hilarious.

Jennifer particularly enjoyed her vacation as she missed the last family get together in Vegas and had looked forward to our return to the desert this year. She bought Dad a beautiful photo album with the inscription "Lyon Family Reunion" and "Happy 70th Birthday Gramp 3-09-2007". We all took lots of pictures to help him fill the album.

Darla and I took almost 11 1/2 hours to return on Monday and the traffic was at a dead stop several times as we headed back into California. It was NASCAR weekend in Vegas and every Bubba in the Southwestern United States seemed to be in attendance at the race. The strip was virtually dummed down in the evenings when these yahoos were out in force, decked out in their colors with the number 3 or 8 in abundance. The traffic was marred by pick-up trucks and fifth wheelers crawling along. The traffic was particularly bad at the Ag Inspection station and at the stoplight on Highway 58 before Mojave.

I was exhausted when we got home on Monday night and decided to take yesterday off and get caught up on the house and get another Bowen treatment in the afternoon. I arrived back in the office today to a huge mess in my office as the staff had covered all of my desk and chairs, conference table, pictures, bookcases and file cabinets in black crepe paper. There was a small coffin in the corner with Ken Lyon's Youth RIP written on it. The floor is covered in confetti and streamers and it was huge mess. It took four of us fifteen minutes to pull all of the crepe paper and pop all of the balloons and straighten this place up so I could work this morning.

Well, that's it for now as work awaits. I will add more pictures from Vegas in the coming days. We had an absolute ball and I had a great time with the family. Thank you everyone for a great 50th birthday.

Bad Backs and Las Vegas on Tap

Yep. It happened again, Lucy. The back that I tweaked on Saturday with the Ditch Witch seemed to be getting better, but took a nasty turn on Friday and I spent the weekend with back spasms and hunched over like Quasimodo. My planned golf game was a casualty of the bad back as I was up early on Saturday morning and took a shower, but wasn't able to bend over to put my socks on. It was one of those glorious late Winter days with a high blue sky and temperatures that would top out in the low seventies. As painful as it was to pass up the opportunity to play, I knew that if I did play, I'd be in even more pain. Reluctantly, I called the guys who were together on the driving range hitting balls and waiting for me to arrive.

Darla took off to do some errands and to spend some time with her Mom and Dad who were at Alicia's house. I sat in my recliner trying to get comfortable and feeling sorry for myself. This weekend was supposed to be my time to finish the sprinkler project in the backyard and get things cleaned up for our trip to Vegas. The other problem is that the pool company is coming out today to redo the transition area between the deep end of the pool and the stamped concrete deck. I wanted to have the sprinkler pipe installed because I need them to bury the flexible hose for the drip system under the flagstone. I guess, in retrospect, I could have just laid the pipe over the path and put a note for them to bury it.

However, I pushed myself up and spent most of Saturday laying pipe and using the purple primer and PVC glue to lay in the sprinklers. I got the main yard done and the risers done in the raised bed above the waterfalls and finally quit for the day at about 5:30 PM. Darla came home in the middle of my project and said, "You're Fired, Ken Lyon!" I figured what more could I do to mess up my back, it was already shot? I asked Darla to clear out the tub in our bathroom (she likes to keep plants in the tub) and to run a hot bath.

I soaked for about 15 minutes as the water was only lukewarm and it seemed to loosen up my back a little. The key word here is "seemed". I agreed to take Darla out to dinner at Pete's Italian restaurant and we got dressed and headed over. My back started to spasm in the truck and I had a huge spasm as I got out of the truck and shuffled into the restaurant. Darla parked the truck and met me inside. They gave us a table close to the door and I pulled my chair out and sat down. Unfortunately, every time I attempted to lift myself off the chair to scoot it into the table, my back would spasm. Finally, Darla just scooted the table over to me and we ordered our salads and some pizza. I suffered through the meal, sitting sideways on the chair to release the stress on my back. I told her to take care of the bill and that I would go and try to walk off the back pain. She pushed the table back and I stood up and had a huge spasm that caused me to fall back into the chair and yell "shit!" I struggled up and left, shuffling along the walkway to the car. Darla came along shortly after and told me that the people at the table next to us were concerned and asked if her husband was okay. Darla replied, "He's fine, he just has Turrets syndrome". Nice.

Sunday we skipped church as I didn't want to walk the distance from the car to the church and then sit for 90 minutes. I did, however, finish the sprinklers in the yard while Darla took off for Ripon (outside Stockton) to visit her grandfather on his "80 something" birthday. The work on Sunday was tougher as I had to trench on the far side of the pool where we couldn't get through with the trencher the week before. My back was really acting up and I took frequent breaks to rest. I ended up hunched over with real pain in my lower back and finally quit after refilling the trenches and bringing the flex hose up to the edge of the flagstone walkway. I left a note on the pipe to have them bury it and also talked to the pool company about what I wanted done. They will be out there this morning and I hope that at least one of the crew can read English.

I called my Bowen therapist, Harry, and he called me back on Sunday and told me that he's booked both Monday and Tuesday and good luck with the back. He also gave me the number of Jane Saro in Antelope who is quickly becoming my "go to" Bowen person. She helped me after Christmas when Harry was on a two week vacation. I called Jane and she had three openings for today and I took the first one available at two-thirty this afternoon.

I probably wouldn't have come in to work today because of my back, but I have a new underwriter starting today. Work is really going well this year. Through two months we are up 38% over 2006 and we're up over 55% in February. We have a contest going on right now where the branch that has the highest percentage of premium gain in the first three months will be rewarded with a $500 per employee bonus. Our New Jersey office was up 66% in January and took a big lead, but we put up a big number for February, so it will be interesting to see how this all filters out.

I talked to Jennifer a couple of times over the weekend. She is in Vegas and the weather is great. John and she got there on Saturday and have been visiting with John's Dad. The golf has taken a little hit as Al decided that $89 is too expensive for golf. I thought about changing our tee time to Thursday, but Randy doesn't get in until Thursday night. Randy is thinking about having Chris join us on the course and if he does then we'll have Daniel play as well. I will try to get out and hit some balls on Thursday. I may be able to talk Darryl into taking Dan's clubs and playing a game on Thursday.

Dad and Shirley are off to Vegas today and Sherry arrives on Tuesday. Darla, Daniel and I arrive Wednesday night. Darryl and Cheryl get there Wednesday night. Randy, Cake and Chris get there late Thursday night, Al arrives Thursday and, finally, David flies in Friday afternoon. We are all off to dinner at PF Chang's on Friday night and the Clapton concert is Saturday night. Fun times are in store and I look forward to it. Dad and Shirley are going to the Circus Soleil presentation of "O" at the Bellagio on Wednesday night. We all chipped in and got them tickets which are four rows from the front of the theater.

Well, this is a little thin, but there is only so much I can write about gimphood. Hopefully, the Bowen treatment today knocks me back into shape and the only concern is having to lift all of my winnings in Vegas. That could knock my back out all over again. Ciao.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

We are in the middle of a major winter storm in Northern California with the requisite howling wind, downed power poles, spin out accidents and even a penguin sighting in Roseville. There were numerous reports on the morning drive of a penguin wandering around near the traffic lanes of one of the major freeways. It turned out to be a black and white duck (which is a penguin isn't it?). Daniel and I spent Saturday installing some much needed drainage in the backyard of the house and trenching for irrigation lines.

We rented a 250 pound Ditch Witch trencher from NationsRent and it made the job so much easier. The problem was the trencher kept getting stuck in the mud and we had to wrestle the machine up and out of the mud. It made some nice straight trenches and if they don't all collapse in the rain, the sprinklers will be much easier to install. We got the 3 inch drainage pipe installed and hooked up to the pipe that was already in the backyard near the shed. Hopefully it works well..we will certainly get a good look at the results after this storm. I got the sprinklers started and finally succumbed to the darkness and a sore back about six PM on Saturday. David helped us after he got back from work in the afternoon. I am tremendously sore still after taking a day off yesterday and resting my aching back. I didn't pull it out of alignment like I often do and I haven't had any back spasms, so hopefully the pain will subside and I can get back to normal in a few days. If not, I'll be off to see Harry and get a Bowen Treatment.

I actually hurt the sciatica because I can feel it down my legs as I walk. I am much better today and can see the pain subsiding, so I can do it all over again next weekend. I will just be laying pipe and doing some residual trenching in the raised landscaping bed above the pool. The problem with my back really came from wrestling the Ditch Witch with Daniel. We got the machine so muddy that we hauled it out into the street and I sprayed it off with my power washer. The guy at the rental place said he'd never seen the machine turned back in so clean before.

I did not play any golf this weekend, but did get out on Wednesday afternoon and play with one of our retailers and a marketing Vice President from one of our companies. We played at the Empire Ranch golf course which borders Diane's home in Folsom. I shot 44+39=83 and managed three birdies to go with some uglier play. I was actually on in two on one of the par fives on the front side and then three putted for par. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the challenge of playing a four handicapper. He is from Philly and hasn't played much golf this winter, so struggled to a 86. Gail in my office also played and had a nice 86. She grew up on a country club in Marin and has a nice game. We played with a retailer who is about a 15 handicap and he shot 90. I did manage to get my golf fix for the week and get the irrigation started in the back yard.

I titled this blog Trivial Thoughts and Recollections and I have been musing lately as I approach 50. I remember when I was about ten going to a 50th birthday celebration for my Uncle Norm in Vancouver. I remember being amazed that this man was about to turn half a century old. It was amazing to me as a kid. My Dad was thirty and seemed so much younger than Norm (of course he was). Norm was a golfer and I had the privilege of playing a few rounds with him as a young adult. He had a metronomic swing and although he hit the ball only about 180 yards, it was right down the middle. Norm has now passed away and Dad turns 70 next month. Amazing to look back on. Norm was married to my Mom's oldest sister, Irene, and Irene was a feisty, fun loving lady. Norm was a bookish, quiet man with a droll sense of humor. Irene liked cocktails and Norm liked chocolate milk. You wonder how couples get together and Norm and Irene were polar opposites. Irene unfortunately smoked like a smoke bomb and was the first of Mom's siblings to pass away. Norm lived for twenty-five years after Irene and spent his final years in a resort area golfing and enjoying his twilight years.

I have to admit that I'm a little miffed at my nephews and nieces. They have all decided to skip the 70th birthday celebration for Dad. All of them have good excuses for not coming, but I think the focus somehow went off of Dad and on to them and their busy lives. When I heard about this celebration, I was definitely on board and we planned to bring the boys and Jennifer and John wanted to come. Jennifer missed the last Vegas blowout and was looking forward to seeing all of her cousins. Jenny was the last one to bail on this and none of Darryl's kids will be there. Chris is coming. I told Jennifer to call her cousins and give them grief for being so centered on themselves and not on Dad's birthday celebration. It's too bad. I will party hearty for them. We have tickets to Eric Clapton on Saturday (Cheryl's birthday) and will play golf on Friday (Dad's birthday). Fun stuff in store.

I have set up the golf. It is pricey in Vegas on a weekend (Friday is considered a weekend). The cost is $89 per player and includes the cart. If you need to rent clubs, call the course at 702-646-3003. We have 9:39 AM and 9:46 AM on March 9th at Las Vegas Golf Club on Washington Avenue in Vegas. The website is : http://www.americangolf.com/coursedetails.cfm?courseid=35.


Well, it is payroll week and I have to get the electronic payroll done by nine AM in order to get all of these souls paid. Be well and live in the Lord on a daily basis. Ciao.

President's Day 2007

And, of course, I am at work while my bride sleeps the morning away. I know Jennifer has the day off and the boys are out of school (although David will be at work today because there is no school). The traffic was very light this morning. I slept in a little and even made a a stop at Home Depot on the way in to work. I still got here before 8:00 AM.

I spent part of the weekend working on cutting up the ten foot swinging gate that the fence guys built on the side of the house. I put in another set of hinges and moved the latch to the middle of the two gates. I cut the gate into two sections and rebuilt the frame of the gates into a box style. The gates are still a little weak in that there is nothing to anchor the gates where they come together. Once the driveway is poured I can install two metal pins that will seat into the ground to give the gates support. In the meantime, I stopped this morning and bought two 5 inch long half inch diameter bolts and nuts with washers and I will bolt the two gates to each other until the driveway is poured. I already drilled two 3/4 inch holes in the two gate boxes (where they come together) and have bailing wire holding the fence together. Right now, if you lean out on the gates they will open. Once the driveway is poured and the pins are placed in the concrete, the gate won't push open. It was alot of work, because I had to complete disassemble the fence boards, rebuild the gate supports and then reinstall the fence boards.

The neighbors all came over to look at the pool when I had the fence down and one of the neighbors has a boyfriend who is a contractor. He looked at the gate that I was building and kind of shook his head. Later in the day, they drove up after a late lunch and he said, "Are you still working on that gate?" I strongly considered giving him the one finger salute, but in the spirit of neighborly relations, I just ignored him.

Jennifer was in town this weekend and we had dinner together on Saturday night. Darla and I took her out to Black Angus and we had Prime Rib while Jennifer enjoyed King Crab legs. We then ended up back home and watched movies on DVD. Jennifer has the latest Ben Affleck movie, "Man about town" and we then started watching "Running with Scissors" and it was a horrifically bad film that made sleep seem a much better alternative to wasting time watching that yawner.

Sunday we were up and off to church. one of the guys that we sit with every Sunday, Ken Campbell, is a burn victim and he told his story on Sunday. Ken was involved in a car accident in 1983 where his girlfriend and her brother were killed and Ken was left with burns over 70% of his body. He was not expected to live. Ken was at the bottom of an offramp waiting for the light to turn green. A gasoline tanker truck pulled up on his right and stopped, but the diesel truck behind the tanker did not stop and plowed into the tanker igniting the 5000 gallons of gasoline. The blast blew out the windows in Ken's car and his girlfriend was 90% burned and Ken 70%. Ken was in his senior year at Northwestern Dental school and his life changed in an instant.

Ken was not supposed to live, but God had other plans for his life and he escaped amputation of his fingers and he worked with physical therapists to walk again and finally to run. (Ken was a marathoner in high school as well as a track star.) Ken was determined not only to walk, but to eventually compete in the Iron Man Marathon in Hawaii and he did so in 1987 at the age of 30 and was featured in both Sports Illustrated and on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Ken is a dentist in Loomis and was the Chairman of the Republican party in Placer County until last year when he stepped down. His story is amazing and one that I did not know until yesterday. When he finished his sermon he came down and gave Jennifer a hug. We were sitting in front of his family and he was obviously emotional.

I did play golf this weekend and shot a 42+40=82. It was one of those rounds that could have been much better, but I stunk up two holes with a double bogey and then a triple bogey with a ball that hit the green in regulation, but then we couldn't find when we got to the green. It was pretty hot coming in, but we should have been able to find it. I had to trudge back to the spot where I hit it and hit another shot (my fourth into the par 4 and then I took three to get in from there). I should have had a 78 or 79, but c'est la vie. I did have closest to the pin on my final hole and won $21 in skin money, so it was a good day. Boyd was in a different group and had an elevated heart rate and left after eight holes. I had left him an e-mail and he didn't respond to me. I called him this morning to make sure he was okay and he was on the golf course, so he's fine. He said he ran yesterday and it was probably more of an anxiety issue than a heart related problem.

I will close the office early today as most of our agents are off and the phone hasn't rang at all so far. Our office is currently in second place in the race for the $500 per employee first quarter contest. Our office was up 25%, but Livingston is up 60%. The second place office gets $300 per employee. We are having a solid February and feel good about our chances.

You have all seen the actual comments on claim forms from Insurance companies. Some of them are hilarious, but this is my all time favorite: "The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth." Sort of says it all.

Well, that is it for now. Dad: Darla and I will give you a call tonight to make sure everything is set for Vegas. Be well and walk in the footsteps of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Ciao.

A Calm following the Storm

Yes..it was quite a storm over the weekend. The rains moved in midweek last week, but the brunt of the storm hit on Friday and Saturday and brought us about three inches of rain and we are up to about 60% of our normal rainfall. We are supposed to get another weak storm system today and tomorrow and it will then clear up and I'll be back to golf on Saturday of next week.

Given the rain, my plans to work on the irrigation in the back yard were put on hold. Darla had returned my ski lodge lino tiles and bought "more appropriate" flooring for the bathroom. I had to disassemble the toilet and tank to place the flooring around the toilet. The job of installing the flooring went pretty fast (you can see that it is a small area (about 38 square feet) and I didn't have to do alot of prep work as the tiles installed right over the linoleum that was there. I only had to cut the lino off the wall where the installer curved the linoleum up and tacked it to the wall as a border. I cut that out and installed baseboards in its place. The hard part of the job turned out to be the toilet. My plan was to reinstall the existing toilet with a new wax ring and be done with it. Oh, the plans of mice and men.

There are four areas that can leak on a toilet. The water supply line on the wall, the inlet to the tank, the seal between the tank and the bowl and the bowl itself where it attached to the sewer line at the base of the floor. I managed in one afternoon to have all four areas leak and never at the same time. I reinstalled the toilet turned on the water supply and the tank was leaking. I again bailed out water from the tank and reinstalled the tank correctly. After refilling the tank, I flushed it and water began running out of the base of the bowl. I quickly realized, after bailing water from both the tank and the bowl, that I'd installed the wax seal upside down. (I have an office job for a reason, folks.) I got that righted and reinstalled the tank and bowl only to have the water inlet to the tank leaking. I bailed the tank for a fourth time and repaired the inlet. The tank seemed a little wobbly and I decided to tighten the bolts on the tank and turned the wrench one final turn and the tank cracked in about ten places. Now thank God for Prozac or the bathroom could have looked like a war zone. I called Darla who was coming home from a show and asked her to get a replacement tank. She was of course none too thrilled to have that errand thrust on her, but being a loving wife agreed to stop at Home Depot (we own their stock) and get a new tank.

Unbenownst to me, the tanks come in both three bolt and two bolt setups and the tank she got was a three bolt. We ate dinner and Darla and I drove back to the Depot to get a different tank. The tanks cost about $57 and the bowls the same. I talked to a Home Depot plumbing guy and he suggested that I replace both the tank and bowl as the holes in the toilet would likely not lineup with the tank. I bit the bullet, but stayed with a round toilet rather than an elongated as the wood toilet seat we have is round. Nice plan.

I decided to rest and watch a movie and tackle the toilet replacement after church on Sunday.

The sermon this week was an interview with Jerry Manuel, a Sacramento sports legend who played and starred in baseball, basketball and football. Jerry was the manager of the year with the Chicago White Sox in 2000 and is now a bench coach with the New York Mets. Our church is affiliated with a Christian College, William Jessup University (formerly San Jose Bible College). The Jessups bought land in Rocklin and moved the University to our area in 2004. Bryce Jessup is the Dean at William Jessup and is a member of our church's leadership council. Bryce knows Jerry as a strong local Christian and invited him to come out to William Jessup to assist him in getting a baseball program up and running. Jerry helped with the planning of the new baseball and sports complex at William Jessup and agreed to help with recruiting. When Bryce asked Jerry to give him some names for possible managers for the team, Jerry offered to run the program. It was announced on Sunday morning that Jerry is leaving professional baseball after 31 years and will be the manager of the William Jessup baseball team. This is the second high profile Christian athlete to leave professional sports to coach at William Jessup. Ruthie Bolton-Holyfield is the coach of the women's basketball team. Both of these Christian athletes said that the opportunity to continue to coach in the game they love while touching young lives for Christ was the reason they agreed to accept the job.

After church, Darla was off to another jewelry party and I tackled the job of installing a new toilet. After bailing the tank for a fifth time and the bowl for a fourth time, I removed the old fixture and began installing the new one, quickly realizing that the old toilet seat had bolts that were corroded and reusing that seat was not going to be an option. As I moved the water supply line for the umpteenth time, the flexible metal tubing broke caused a leak at the valve. I quickly shut off water to the house and headed downtown to the Ace Hardware for some replacement parts. I bought a new water valve and some flexible tubing as well as a new toilet seat for the toilet. I went to Ace because they have "hands down" the best informational help in the hardware business. The Ace employee (all of these guys are in their 50's-70's and are hardware geeks) asked me what length of flexible tubing I needed. I had no idea what size so bought the 12 inch.

The rest of the install went well, but the 12 inch tubing was too long and caused a kink in the line, so back I went to Ace to replace it with an eight inch pipe. The job is done as you can see by the picture, but the two hour job took a full day and left me with sore knees and really sore inner thighs. The squatting and kneeling left me feeling like a middle aged man after the job. I laid down on the couch and watched the Tivo recording of the final round of the Pebble Beach AT&T Pro Am and looked forward to basking in the sunshine on that course in April. By the way, you can double click on the bathroom picture above to see a closeup of my handiwork.

I talked to Jen this morning to share the news that her cousin, Jesse, is engaged and she told me that John is flying home on the 22nd from Afghanistan and will be there for the Vegas reunion. See the picture of Jesse and his fiancee Lorie above. Lorie, why are you covering your face? You're a pretty girl and Jesse won't always be broke.

Well, that's it for now. Today is payroll and I have to get the online time sheets approved to get these employees paid. I had to terminate my broker last week, which is never easy. I think I've had to fire too many people in my days as a manager. It is never easy. Ciao.

Some rain will dampen our area this week

Funny post header? Well, we just finished the driest January in history in Sacramento when we had an official reading of just .45" of rain. Right now since July 1st we have received 4.46" of rain and our average to date is 11.56". Global warming? Well, with all of the frost we've had, I'd argue against that, but el nino is definitely making herself known locally. It looks like we'll get rain on Wednesday and a better chance for hard rain over the weekend. I had planned to put Daniel and David to work on helping me put in the irrigation and drainage in the backyard, but I'm sure I can find some indoor projects for them as well. Darla did exchange the ski lodge faux wood flooring that I bought for the master bathroom and has some lino tiles that need to be installed. Our bathroom is about 75% carpeted, but we have a strip of linoleum that runs from the toilet along the tub and over to the shower enclosure. It is only about 30 square feet of floor area and If the rain comes in as promised, we will get to that project. I did NOT arrange for any golf next weekend as I wanted to work on the sprinklers.

I did spend three days in Phoenix and Scottsdale last week and it was a fast and furious few days. Pete and I flew in on Tuesday afternoon and stayed at the Gainey Suites Resort. The resort price this time of year is $479 for a two bedroom condo and we got the Scottsdale Insurance Company rate of $265. The rooms were nice and had special beds that are made for the resort by Sealy Posturepedic. You can actually arrange to have a bed made for you at the bargain price of $1,995 (shipping included!). Darla and I actually bought the Sealy Posturepedic Four Seasons bed when we replaced our mattress last year. It is like sleeping on a cloud..

We played golf on Wednesday at Eagle Mountain Resort in Fountain Valley (just outside of Scottsdale). The resort is first class with mountainous terrain and beautiful vistas from all over the course. There are million dollar home sites surrounding the course and I saw more "infinity" style pools than I've ever seen before. The problem we had is that this is one of the first times I've ever left Sacramento for Phoenix and had the weather colder in AZ than at home. We were stuck in a high pressure zone with temperatures in the upper sixties and Scottsdale had rain, wind and temperatures in the upper forties and low fifties. The weather was cloudy when we got to the course, but on the first tee Pete turned to me and said, "Ken, I think it's starting to rain." Pete was wrong, actually it had started to hail and we got a good downpour of hail for about five minutes. The front nine was actually fairly benign in terms of weather, it was just COLD. I shot 40 on the front side with rental clubs, but struggled to a 46 on the back side as the rain and wind moved in and made a mess of things. There were golfers packing up and heading in, including the foursome behind us who all had on shorts (probably guys from the east coast in for the PGA tournament and heard that AZ weather was great in January). We stayed the course and finished, partly because we are bullheaded and partly because I knew that Emery had paid $175 for the golf and another $60 for the rental clubs. It was being expensed through Scottsdale Insurance, but we were warriors and stayed the course. We were so cold when we finished playing that it hurt to wash my hands, it felt like my hands felt as a kid after a snowball fight, the warm water stung my hands as I started to thaw out. Emery took us to dinner at a local fine food establishment, where Pete ordered chicken livers and asked if they could deep fry them. This is my top producer in the office putting on his Okey bib and scarfing on liver. Thankfully, Emery knows him. We ate with Emery, his wife and college aged son. We had Emery and Steve (who also worked at Republic Western) over to the resort for Happy Hour, where they served drinks and appetizers. It was a great day.

Thursday, we were up early and headed in to the BW Arizona office and met with Dan Slawson, the Underwriting Manager and a member of the Burns and Wilcox Million Dollar Club. That club has an exclusive membership of five in the company and it is Pete's expressed goal to get there within three years. Our million dollar producers make about $250,000 a year in total compensation. Pete and Dan had a long conversation and Dan told Pete how he grew his book and how he directs a team of three assistants. Pete took copious notes and really engaged Dan in a pretty intense question and answer session.

From there we were off to the Colony Insurance offices to meet with our underwriting team. Scottsdale Insurance is our number one carrier and we had grown from $2,480,000 in '05 to $3,145,000 in '06. Our goal this year is $3.5 million. Colony is even more excited about our growth as we grew from $785,000 in 2005 to $1,575,675 in 2006. Our contract business grew from $533,000 to $1,056,500 in that same time period, so they really threw on the dog for us at Colony. We were taken into the General Manager's office and he fawned over us for awhile and then we sat in two VPs offices and went over the figures. It was great. Our underwriter, Synda Sallee, then took Pete and I to the FBR Open in Scottsdale where we spent the day watching the likes of Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, JB Holmes and Camillo Villegas play. We spent about two hours sitting in the bleachers of the 16th hole and it is the biggest party in golf. The coeds from ASU show up in force and I had never seen so much silicone and so many high heels on a golf course in my life. Why they go I have no idea, but they hoop and holler and drink and carouse like nobody's business. Many of the golfers DON'T like the party as it is loud and pretty obnoxious, but others of the pros, run up and down the fairway ropes slapping high fives and exhorting the crowd to even more noise. You can hear the roars all over the course.

We also walked the course and followed a few foursomes. We followed JB Holmes for awhile. JB is one of the longest drivers on tour and routinely hits the ball 320 yards. On one 418 yard par four, JB hit his drive to about 56 yard in ( a 362 yard drive). He then airmailed his lob wedge over the green where he hit an older woman in the shoulder and the ball bounced high off her up onto a hill behind the green. JB walked up and said, "Where is the lady that got hit?" She sheepishly raised her hand and he said with a smile, "Perhaps next time you could knock the ball forward TOWARD the green, eh?" The gallery got a kick out of that and the lady turned several shades of red.

Pete and I did fly back Thursday night and we were in the office on Friday. The flight was delayed about forty five minutes because an inbound plane from Cancun was delayed and we got home about 11:00 PM. It was nice to get caught up on Friday and able to hit the ground running today.

The Pebble Beach trip hit a snag this week when we realized that Darla would be in Mexico during the week that we were supposed to go to Pebble. The trip has been changed so that we arrive at the resort on Easter and play Pebble Monday at 10:30 and Spanish Bay on Tuesday at 8:40 AM. I really look forward to that.

Jennifer was in town this weekend and I got to see the offending tattoo that she was so concerned about. It is something that people of her generation do. I don't get it, but I turn 50 this year. I did explain to her that as she begins to get tattoos that are visible (she has one on her left bicep that is a "1/4 wrap tattoo" It wraps around her arm) she will begin to suffer some discrimination. I explained to her that I work in a very conservative industry and would not hire someone with a large visible tattoo. Insurance agencies are still owned and run by gray haired men and I have to be careful that my staff is not offensive to the men that ultimately pay the bills. Jennifer didn't like the tone of the conversation, but I think she needs to hear that from someone who hires people. I would deny it to the death, but I would choose someone without a tattoo over someone with a large visible tattoo. It is certainly silent discrimination, but it occurs all the time. I certainly have staff with small tattoos on their legs or arm, but the key word there is small. Jenn, keep the tattoos off your face and neck and hands. I love you unconditionally, but I just wouldn't hire you. Stay in a blue collar industry where you work installing the networking systems and you'll be fine.

The big tattoo that she has includes two hearts one with "Mom" and one with "Dad" in the middle of depictions of fire and wind and calamity all around them. This portrays her center in the storm of her life. It's very nice, but I would have liked it better if there was one heart in the middle and it said "Jesus".

That is it for this week. The Vegas reunion is right around the corner. Dad, send us the itinerary. Jennifer and John arrive on March 3rd and leave on the 11th. We will get there on March 8th and leave on the 12th. Ciao.

Happy Birthday, Frances!

8:00 AMAnother weekend is in the books. It was Darla's Mom's 65th birthday this weekend and we all went out and celebrated Saturday night. Jennifer came in to town (she said she has to get used to driving to Sacramento every weekend while John is gone in Afghanistan) and Alicia, Darla, the boys and I all went to the local Italian restaurant, Pete's, for dinner. Darla fixed a nice Oreo ice cream cake for dessert and we enjoyed our visit. Earl and Frances just got back from Hawaii and a ten day visit with Darla's brother, Steve. They enjoyed the tour of the islands and their visit.

Jennifer and I were able to get the exterior outlet fixed. It turns out that the problem we had was in putting two GFCI outlets on the same line. We disconnected the outside outlet and replaced it with a 15 amp outlet and everything is working great. I knew that I needed a GFCI outlet for outdoors, but if there is a GFCI outlet anywhere on the line, the circuit will automatically trip. The line we were tying into includes the kitchen outlets and already had a GFCI outlet installed. The GFCI will trip the second the line goes to ground. Supposedly, you would be able to jump into the swimming pool with a hair dryer in your hand and the circuit would trip before the electricity hit the water. I was able to hook up the two lights on the side of the house and in the garage (I bought a new garage light) and the entire day long job from last week is complete and everything is working as it should. Jennifer did a great job, it just took us longer than we had planned because of the problem withthe wall.

Jennifer stayed over on Saturday night and we all went to church on Sunday and then out to breakfast at the new Original Pancake House in Roseville. Darla and David walked from church to the restaurant and met Jennifer and I there. There was a huge accident on the main drag into church Sunday morning and the road was still closed at 10:15 AM when church was over. I don't know what happened, but it was BIG.

I am at home this morning waiting for Premier to come out and do an orientation on the pool and equipment, etc. I would have had Darla handle it, but the equipment is a little different this time around (It's been 17 years since I've owned a pool). So I'm working on this now and will probably finish it up at lunch today in the office.

12:05 PM The orientation came and went. The guy actually showed up at 8:30 AM and then went about straightening up the pool, brushing, cutting the waterfall outlets to give a better stream of water, etc. I had a couple of items that I wanted them to fix, including the transition path of flagstone from the deep end. This is the area where they had the stone stop in the middle of the dirt instead of carrying it to the stamped concrete. Well, when they came out and continued the path to the concrete, they left a two-inch gap from the flagstone up to the concrete deck. On the shallow end the flagstone and deck are at the same level. What he found was that there is a leak behind the waterfalls that need to be repaired, there is a leak in the filter housing and it will likely be replaced, and the pool sweep was broken and needs to be replaced. He was going to install the sweep and show us how it operates.

I am sitting and enjoying the remnants of Jennifer's Hawaiian Luau pizza from Saturday night. She left it in the fridge when she headed home last night. It was supposed to be her dinner last night, but I have to say, it made a very tasty lunch today.

I am flying out to Phoenix tomorrow afternoon. I was invited out to play golf with Emery Jensen, my old boss from Republic Western. Emery is now the Pacific Division Director for Scottsdale, our largest carrier. My branch had the single largest increase in premium (percentage wise) in 2006, so Emery is opening the corporate wallet and we will play golf at one of Scottsdale's golf resorts. Thursday I will visit with our Phoenix office personnel, visit the Colony Insurance company branch office and then be Colony's guest to the opening round of the Phoenix Open professional golf tournament. I'm bringing Pete Morrison with me and he will also taste the fruits of our labors in Scottsdale. I will not bring my clubs, but rent a set in Scottsdale. The Scottsdale resorts all rent brand new Callaway clubs. This way I get to try out the new Big Bertha line and have a built in excuse if I don't play well.

I did play this weekend and it was a chance to exorcise some golf demons. Unfortunately, I still struggled on the front nine with a triple bogey and a double bogey for 46. I salvaged some respect and pride with a 38 on the back side for an 84.

Bob Pando and I will play in the first NCGA qualifier of the year this coming weekend. We will play two days of best ball golf for a chance to go directly to Spyglass. Bob and I need to play good, consistent golf with no blowups on the same holes to win. It usually takes 20 under to win this two day event. Bob warmed up for it Saturday with a 78 which included a chip-in for eagle on number 10. I wish he could have saved that as it was a stroke hole for him and would be worth a double eagle in the tournament. I'll let you know how it goes next week.

I will start the landscaping in two weeks when the boys are back (weather permitting). I will rent a trencher and put in both the sprinklers and the drainage lines for the back yard. The boys aren't thrilled, but what can you do.

As you recall, Daniel was going to be a brushing wizard on the pool as he wanted the softest and smoothest plaster ever. Well, Daniel realized that that involved one of his least favorite four letter words, WORK. I was lucky to get him to brush it once a day and had to make sure I was out brushing it ever morning before work. Daniel needs to go out and get himself a job. He is 17 and has never worked a day in his life. Lying around watching TV is not a vocation last I checked.

Well, that is the news to the minute. I hope all are well. We talked to Dad yesterday and Vegas is booked and we are ready to go. I have also finally made my foursome for Pebble Beach. Funny how everyone was primed to go until it came time to dole out some CASH. I do have a foursome and Pebble actually made a mistake and has two rooms booked for the bargain price of $2080. They were supposed to simply change my reservation to two golfers for an extra $550 from the $1530 I'd already paid. The reservation shows that we are paid in full for two rooms and four rounds of golf. We'll see if they realize their mistake. If not, we'll have Bob and Debbie move over to Spanish Bay from the Holiday Inn or wherever they are staying. Ciao.

The pool is filled and now the fun begins in earnest!

The pool is indeed plastered and filled, although not without a few requisite problems. The new faucet that was installed by Premier Pools froze last week and I came home to a small geyser on the side of the house. The brass t-fitting above the faucet had a hairline crack in it that had frozen and become larger and finally erupted. Darla had noticed it a day before, but it was simply a drip at that time and she had thought that I'd left the faucet turned on slightly because of the freezing temperatures. That wouldn't make a lot of sense, but that comes from my perspective. I had to shut the water off to the house overnight and we brushed our teeth with bottled water. I did turn the water back on the next morning and Darla and I took hot showers before work and then I turned it back off for the day. The pool company came out and repaired the broken part and we were back to normal that night. It was a bit odd camping in our house for that one night. The toilets wouldn't flush and we couldn't run the dishwasher or make ice for the ice maker. In all it was a minor inconvenience.

The pool company was at the house at 7:00 AM on Friday to plaster the pool and, coincidentally, collect the final payment on the pool. I was off to work and they were done plastering and on their way by noon. They left the pool filling with the hose in the bottom of the pool with a small white towel taped around the end of the hose and a set of instructions on the door for filling the pool and then brushing the plaster. The note said that it would take about 24 hours for the pool to fill and under no circumstances were we to turn off the water as it would leave a line on the plaster. I was home by 4:30 to see the completed pool and to gauge the fill rate of the pool. The pool filled up from halfway up the first step to halfway up the second step in about five hours and I estimated that the pool would be full by about ten o'clock in the morning. I was up about five thirty to tend to my bladder and it looked as if the pool was about a foot from the tile line. I headed back to bed and woke at 8:15 AM to see the pool already filled up to the overflow in the pool. I was up and draining the pool of about three inches of water within fifteen minutes.

Jennifer came over to help me install two new lights, one for the new trash enclosure on the side of the house and the other a floodlight at the front of the house above the driveway. We also installed a new GFI outlet in the front of the house and that was where the adventure began. Jennifer wanted to install the outlet at the end of a circuit, so she could tie in to the end line. The problem was the end line at the front of the house is in the dining room and the outside wall is brick. We decided that instead of trying to drill through the brick and install an outlet on the brick that we would tie in to the existing outlet and feed the wire through the wall to a spot on the wood siding about 24 inches from the outlet. Great plan, but there was a stud in the wall about ten inches from the outlet and we had to drill through that and then feed the wire through the stud and over to the new hole where we would install the new outlet. Nice plan, the execution was a bit tougher. The biggest problem we had is that the electric tool industry has not designed a home 45 degree drill bit extension. We used a socket set flexible extension, but burned it out and it melted as we tried to cut through the 2x4 stud. I finally went out and bought a 16 inch long 1/2 inch bore bit and we were able to drill through the stud and push the wires through. I cut a second hole in the sheet rock below the new outlet and Jennifer was able to reach her Barbie sized hands into the hole and pull the wire through and then feed it to the new outlet and wire it up. It sounds fast when you write it, but it was an all day project as we attempted to use an electrician's fishing rod to get from one hole to the other. The problem is the small hole in the stud wouldn't allow the rod to turn up so we could reach it and the angle we cut the hole in the stud actually took the fishing line into the brick and past our level. We didn't want to cut another hole in the wall, but finally realized that we weren't going to get the job done without resorting to extreme measures.

The time that it took to complete the outlet left us working in dusk to install the two lights. I re-installed the old light back up on the side of the house and Jennifer installed the new light by the trash enclosure, running a three wire line from the first light through the garage to the new light. Finally, we installed the new floodlight by running wire from the inside garage light along the top of the garage ceiling to the front of the garage. We got it all done and turned the power on and only the new outlets were working. The original lights were dark and the new lights working like a charm. We then checked the front outlet and it wasn't working and the power was out completely to that line. We couldn't figure it out as the whole line was dead. We checked the GFI and it was not tripped. Finally, Jennifer found a GFI in the kitchen that was tripped and kept tripping. We finally disconnected the new outlet and the power stayed on and the GFI in the kitchen didn't trip. Jennifer was tremendously frustrated and wanted to come back on Sunday and fix the problem. I had golf yesterday and told her that I'd talk to one of my buddies who is an electrician and find out what was wrong. I did and it turns out that I'd pulled one of the wires loose from the side garage light. That was an easy fix and it is working fine. The inside garage light is a halogen light and the bulb was blown. I am replacing that light today as the halogen bulbs are just too expensive and the light in the garage was a little harsh. As to the outlet in front, I'd bought a 20 amp outlet and the line has all 15 amp outlets on it. The extra amperage is not the problem as the line is on a 20 amp circuit, what Charlie thinks happened is one of the wires on the new outlet is touching the metal casing and causing the line to go to ground, which trips the GFI. I will look into that this weekend and get the new outlet hooked up. The hard part is done and Jennifer was thrilled to hear the problems are simple. It was great working with her. She is a little bruised up as she totally got in to the project and was up to her elbows in the wall pulling the wire through. It is impressive to see the things that she has learned and can do. It will serve her well when she gets her own house.

Darla and I then took Jennifer out to a lavish dinner at the Elephant Bar to thank her for all of her hard work on the house. We had drinks and appetizers at the bar while we waited for our table and then had dinner. Our waitress had either body odor or was a smoker, because she was covering something up with a perfume that would normally be found only in a strip joint or brothel. It was overwhelming. Jennifer will write about it in her blog, I'm sure. We held our breath every time "stinky" came by the table. We had a ball.

My reference to "Now the fun begins" is that I will be trenching for both sprinklers and drainage lines for the backyard. There were nice drainage lines in the yard that got demolished when the pool was dug. I will pull out about a foot of dirt in the flowerbeds and fill the raised bed behind the waterfalls. I will then bring in 5 to 8 yards of topsoil to give my plantings a fresh bed of dirt when we put in the gardens this Spring. I will build a trellis wall in front of the shed to shield the yard from the shed and put in a climbing vine on the trellis. We will then have a concrete flatwork contractor come in and pour the driveway for the jet ski and put in a stamped concrete sun deck behind the shallow end of the pool that will tie in with the stamped concrete deck that is already there. I will have to pull out the walkway and sidewalk that Dad and I put in when the shed was built and have it all tie in to the new concrete. It will be a lot of work, but I am really happy with the way that the pool turned out. We wanted an island pool and that's what we ended up with. Also, the Tahoe blue plaster is perfect and gives the pool water a great blue look. Once the flowerbeds get put in and the trees and plants are in, we'll have a nice oasis in the backyard.

Daniel came over on Saturday when Jennifer and I were working and was thrilled with the pool. He will be in charge of brushing the pool as he wants the smoothest plaster ever and he is determined to do a polar bear dive into the pool this weekend as he wants to be the first one in the pool. I have been doing the early morning brushing of the pool and will continue that, but Daniel will do an afternoon and evening brushing. They recommend brushing twice a day, but Daniel wants to do it three times. Darla and I kept at that pace this weekend and will let Daniel take over this week.

I usually rush to write about my golf experiences, but this weekend was one of the worst rounds I've had in a while. The wind was blowing about 45 miles an hour and everyone struggled. Boyd shot 82, Ed ( a 5 handicapper) shot 91, I had a 45+51=96 and Bob Pando ( a 9 handicap) shot 98. It wasn't golf, it was an exercise in survival. We played at Lincoln Hills in Lincoln and this was the first morning without a frost delay in three weeks. The wind ensured that the ground didn't freeze overnight. I would have preferred the frost. It was bitter cold. I played with two winter golf gloves, one on each hand.

It is, however, a fresh new week and I am off to write some new business. We are having a GREAT month and it is a nice start to the new year. Our CEO will visit us next month rather than this month, so it is all good. Take care. Ciao.

The pool is ready for plaster and those darn cats have taken over!!

It's Not CANADA, but it's still COLD

It has been an Arctic Blast the last few days with overnight lows in the low 20's and daytime highs barely getting into the mid forties. It has been dry and sunny, but COLD. I'm still fighting a head cold and Darla has been fighting it right along with me. I felt so bad this weekend, that I actually canceled a game of golf on Saturday to rest and get better. Well, that was the plan when I called Mel and told him that I was going to pass on golf. It wouldn't do for me to be out in the 38 degree weather hitting a small white ball around. So, instead, I slept in and then went to Home Depot where I bought two self closing gate springs, a bolt lock mechanism for the auto gate on the side yard, ten gallons of wood preservative for the fence, some linoleum tile for the master bathroom floor, a new leaf blower/vacuum, a canister sprayer for the wood preservative, two sliding door pool alarms (code in Roseville, CA), some replacement screen for the screen door where Buddy had a small fit one night when it was raining, a new side yard light for the new trash receptacle enclosure and a halogen two-light flood light set for the front of the house.

I was able to get the two gate springs installed and the bolt lock put on and then retired to the house with a cup of hot cocoa and a blanket. Sunday, Darla and I again slept in missing church and feeling a bit better when we finally rolled out of bed at 9:30. We had a hot breakfast and I went about the job of applying the wood preservative to the fence. I don't understand how people can spend $5,000 on a new fence and call it good. I got a clear Behr stain preservative and poured it into the gallon sprayer and set out to get the fence done. Unfortunately, the preservative was so thick that it came out of the sprayer like mustard out of a pump bottle. I ended up having to apply the stain by hand. Darla took pity on me after about three hours when I'd only covered the trash receptacle the two side gates and the fence on the side yard up to the inside gate of the back yard. She rolled up her sleeves, poured some of the stain into an empty Fresh Step cat litter bucket and began helping out. I went inside and asked David to help. He seemed somewhat non-plussed which I found out had to do with the fact that he wanted to watch the New England-San Diego NFL playoff game. I told him that I was Tivo'ing the game and he came out to lend a hand. Between the three of us, we were able to cover the area of the backyard up to the shed. I have the side yard fence and gate behind the shed left to do. The job really looks good and the stain really brought out the red in the redwood and the knots in the wood. It should last us 4-5 years. I know the neighbor on my left will also treat her fence, so that will retard the aging process even more.

It is Martin Luther King, Jr day today and this being a seat of state government, the commute this morning was more akin to an early Saturday morning than a Monday. The traffic control lights at the freeway on ramp were not even on when I passed through at 7:30 this morning. About two thirds of our office building are off today and I will likely send the staff home early today.

I just found out that our leader, Alan Kaufman will visit us in Sacramento in the next couple of weeks. He will be in California to buy a couple of new office buildings, one in Fresno and one in San Diego. His real estate holdings with Burns and Wilcox owned office buildings continues to grow now that prices have started to fall. He is a shrewd negotiator when it come to the acquisition of real estate. He had planned to come into Sacramento to appoint me to my new position, but it never worked out. Better late than never. The staff is nervous as our numbers are good, but not great. I actually look forward to him coming in and seeing the change in the office with a staff that is engaged in the process and working together to build something great.

Jennifer's boyfriend, John, has left the United States and arrived in Afghanistan. He is recording his adventures on he and Jennifer's website at www.jswanonline.com/afghanistan. The reading is fascinating with his discussion of the base that he is working on as well as the conditions of the city of Kabul and the locals in general. We are all hoping that John can make it home and come with us to the Lyon family reunion in Vegas in March. Jennifer will be there by hook or by crook, but she would be much happier if John can come as well.

Daniel has been busy helping his Aunt Alicia install a new kitchen and bathroom. Daniel and David did the demo on the old kitchen counter top and Daniel has been charged with getting the new sinks, garbage disposal and faucets put in. It was quite a job as they had to build-up the casement that the sink was installed in and then feed the faucets through the new granite and tighten the whole thing up and install it to the drain line. Daniel and his father ended up at Alicia's until almost 8:00 PM on Saturday and Dan was back yesterday finishing up. The job is done and Daniel has $300 for his efforts. Dan is supposed to get the two pool alarms installed today and we will then have the pre-plaster inspection done on Wednesday. We could have plaster as early as this weekend.

Jennifer will be up next weekend to help me install the lights on the side yard and the floodlight above the garage door. She will also look into adding a GFI outlet at the front entry. Right now I have to plug the leaf blower or hedger way in the garage and run an extension cord from there. Jennifer has become quite handy in the electrical trade and I have to add outlet boxes and we have to "baby-chain" the two lights and other things that are well over my head. She will be in this weekend to help me and Darla and I will take her to dinner.

My efforts at picking out some flooring to replace the small bit of linoleum in the master bathroom fell flat. Darla took one look at the faux wood tiles that I bought and said the equivalent of "over my dead body this is going in my house." I thought it would make the bathroom look like a ski lodge (Seinfeld reference).

Well that is the news that is fit to share with you to the moment. I need to work on some new incentive bonus plans today and tomorrow and get them signed. I will set up my Pebble Beach golf trip this week for the first week in April. I hope you are all well and walking in step with the Lord. Ciao.

Holidays are over, traffic is back to normal

That is one really nice aspect of the holidays, that the traffic becomes so light and easy to maneuver. I've been getting into work in about 25 minutes during the holidays and that was back to about 40 minutes this morning as I slept in a little bit and didn't leave the house until 7:10 AM, arriving here at 7:50. This is Monday which is a telecommute day for many of the state workers, so it was lighter than normal. I will leave at 6:30 tomorrow to beat the traffic and be here in about 30 minutes. I live 16 miles door to door, but most of my commute is done on inner city streets, so I deal with traffic lights. I came in a bit later today as I have a golf meeting at 6:30 tonight and decided to just go straight to the meeting rather than drive home only to turn around and leave right away. Tonight's meeting, the first of the new board, will probably take a little longer than normal as we will deal with new committees and some new functions for some of the board members. It is also our life group night and depending on when we wrap up the golf meeting, I may or may not make it to Life Group.

Peter Morrison, my top underwriter, is back from his vacation and we will swap assistants today. I have had the number one assistant in the office over the past year and a half. I felt that as I was doing both production and running the administrative part of the office, that I needed the best assistant. As Pete's production has met and surpassed that of mine, I've realized that in order to see continued growth for him, I needed to give him the best assistant. Connie is taking ten of my agents with her as I've had her take over a select group of agents for full underwriting responsibilities. I will work with Dinda, who is part time (32 hours a week) and she is in the process right now of moving her desk to the spot just outside my office. Connie never moved down here as she wanted to be part of the bullpen of assistants where she could help train the newer assistants. I think it also had to do with the social aspect of the job. Hopefully, Pete will continue to grow his book and be the leader in new business production month in and month out.

Jennifer and John were in town this weekend. They came in on Friday night and stayed with Diane. Diane had them in to install a new plasma television over her fireplace. Jennifer and John were able to put in a new outlet behind the TV and run all of the wires through the wall to the speakers. It turned out really nice. They will come over to our place sometime this Spring and install a new GFI grounded outlet at my front porch. John will be leaving for Afghanistan on Wednesday of this week and may be stuck there until the end of March. He had put in for vacation the week that the Lyon Family Reunion is scheduled in Vegas, but his bosses are telling him there is a chance they will need him longer in Afghanistan. His current assignment should wrap up in late February, but there is a second assignment that starts about that time and his boss isn't sure he can fill it with someone else. As is, John is leaving January 10th with a return ticket of March 30th. He isn't happy, but realizes that his job comes first.

I'm growing out my beard and my wonderful daughter noticed and said, "Gee, Dad, it looks like your trying to grow out your beard?" Darla and I both jumped her on that comment and I said, "What am I, 16, Jen?" She said she didn't mean it that way. Her trip to Okinawa has been cancelled and she will have foot surgery on February 5th in San Francisco. She has a bunion problem that is forcing her toes to cross and it needs to be fixed. It is quite painful and she hopes to be up and around by the time we head to Las Vegas.

The pool work should commence again this week as they need to finish the pool lights and finish backfilling all of the trenches. We may have plaster and water in the pool as early as next week. Once that is done, I can get a concrete flatwork contractor out to pour the driveway on the side of the house as well as a sidewalk and patio behind the shallow end of the pool. I will wait until Spring to plant the trees and flowers in the back, but will do the sprinkler lines and risers before the concrete work is done. I also have to install a couple of new drain lines in the back as the demo crew messed that up pretty good. The fence guys still have to come out and take the last bit of bushes and debris (sprinkler pipes, drain line and concrete) from the back yard. Art will also build an enclosure for the trash containers on the side of the house. He will put in pavers for the floor and build enclosures back to back for our neighbor and us for $600.

I played golf on Saturday with Bob Pando and two other guys from the life group. I forgot what it is like to play golf with non-golfers and watched both of them duff their drives off the first tee. We had fun, but I again struggled with a 46+42=88. I had to really concentrate on the back just to break 90, but managed another birdie on the par 5 16th, so I had something to remember in a mostly forgettable round of golf. Bob shot 80 and Kim and Karl both shot 110 or higher.

Our pastor is a history buff and he was telling us the story of Andrew Jackson as President. Jackson was fiery and known as a salt of the earth President, who would always speak his mind. Jackson decided to attend a church in Washington that was run by a very charismatic preacher named James Pope. Pope was also very salt of the earth and was known for his loud and very direct sermons. His church board told him about Jackson coming to visit and urged him to tone down his message. On the morning of Jackson's arrival, Pope stood before the congregation and welcomed President Jackson to his church. He spoke about how his elders had urged him to tone down his message for the President. He then said the following, "If President Jackson doesn't repent of his sins, he will surely go to Hell!" He then went on to an eloquent sermon on the vagaries of sin and the only path to Heaven through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Jackson approached Pope at the end of the service and said, "Sir, if I had 100 men with your passion and resolve, we could run the world!" Who do you know that needs to hear this message? I will add more later this week with maybe some pictures of the backyard. I hope you are all well and alive in the knowledge of the Lord. Ciao.