Mother's Day 2016

Mother's Day and there is always something missing. Yes. I still miss Mom. She was a guiding light that was extinguished all too soon. I love Shirley and she is a wonderful partner for Dad, but there will always be a small hole in my heart that Alice Lyon used to fill. Fun to see a goofy picture of Mom on Darryl's Facebook page today. That gave me a smile. We talked to Jennifer this morning and Sam was still sleeping. They had a fun day planned getting together with some of Jennifer's single Mom friends for dinner. The kids were going to play together and the Moms would drink mimosas or something. McKenny is in Colorado on a job. The picture of Sam above I call Sam and the Dandylyon.

 

 

You can also see the slow turning of time on the bathroom job. We got the new toilet installed this last week and they repaired some damage to the granite and finished off the flooring by the door where the carpet attaches to the tile floor. They measured for the glass surround and that will be installed next Friday. I bought the toilet roll dispenser and towel racks and those will be installed this week. We also had an issue with the clear glass window that they installed in the shower. The two story behind us looks right down into our bathroom. They told us it would be $200 to replace the glass with opaque. We complained (Darla did) and they agreed to eat the cost of fixing the window to privacy glass if Darla gives them a good review and will agree to be interviewed about our experience with the job and the contractor for their website. She agreed.

 

You can also see some new "ouchies" to the exterior of the Explorer. Darla had a little fender bender on Thursday and we are having the car repaired next week. Originally she set up to have Caliber Collision do the repairs, but my good friend from the golf club, Paul, is a master body mechanic and will oversee the job and do a couple of small repairs to sots that have some scratched paint. We take it in next Monday for repair.

 

Finally, you see the picture of David and his girlfriend, Maya, at the River Cats game on Friday night. He finally introduced her to us and they have been seeing each other for about three months. She is a Medical Doctor, an Endocrinologist, and owns her own home in Sacramento. She is about six years older than Dave and they met at the Crocker Art museum in downtown Sacramento at some fundraiser. David was flirting with her and she told him she was too old for him, but that didn't stop him. She is a Christian and a native of Sacramento. She is a very nice girl, an easy conversationalist, smart and attractive and we enjoyed our evening with them. David has dated off and on, but didn't want to introduce any of the other girls as the relationships weren't serious. He really likes Maya, so will be interesting to see where this goes. If anywhere.

 

Darla and I are setting up our replacement trip for Lake Almanor. We found a 4 bedroom condo in Zephyr Cove (on Lake Tahoe) to rent. It is in a private gated condo complex and includes use of the private pool and hot tub. It is a third floor corner unit with views of the Lake. Looking forward to spending time with Samantha, Jennifer and McKenny. The boys have a European vacation with their Dad in June and will only be able to come for the weekend, but we will have a ball. The condo will allow Jennifer to bring Maceo as well. We will be able to go to the lake, hike and relax all week. I'll be coming off a week of handling scoring for the National Trusted Choice golf event at Del Paso Country Club for our state Insurance Agent's group. We have our media day on Tuesday and will meet with the National tournament committee, have lunch and then play golf in the afternoon. Burns is a sponsor of the event and we have two spots in the golf event Tuesday afternoon.

 

Wednesday I have a River Cat's Day game and Pete and I are taking two agents to the game and taking care of their lunch and drinks. Our seats are excellent and a magnet for foul balls. We are right behind home plate and there is a large screen protecting us from flying balls and bats, but high popups tend to fly over the screen and hit the facing of the stadium and careen back near us. I had one whiz by my head in the fifth inning and then actually caught one on a ricochet off the wall in the sixth. David's boss had come over and was visiting us and I gave him the ball for his seven year old son.

 

Darla did get back from her trip with Missy and her family to Monterey and I added two pictures of Missy and Darla to the blog. They had a good time, but were really late getting back from San Francisco on Tuesday. They got held up in the city and decided to wait for the traffic to die down before heading home. It is good to have her back.

 

The one nice thing about the master bath remodel winding down is that they had a cleaning crew come in and clean the bathroom from top to bottom. We in turn were able to get in and dust the bedroom and hallway which was where most of the dust collected from the job. It was pretty grimy there for awhile. Nice to see it finally winding down and I look forward to Friday and the end of the job.

 

I played in the twilight league Thursday night and actually played with Drazen in the pro shop. He is a plus one handicap and shot a 39. I had a 40 and we won again 14-6 and lead the league with 28 points. My partner, Ron, was in Kentucky for the Derby with one of his carriers. Saturday was the first round of our 54 hole Individual tournament. It was raining and I had trouble and shot 49 +41=90 on the day. A good comeback on the back nine, but the rain had stopped by then. I'm not doing great in the tournament so far, but have two more days to go.

 

David, Darla and Alicia all celebrate their birthdays next weekend, so we will get together with family for a barbecue. looking forward to seeing everyone. David met us at church this morning and then took his Mom to lunch afterward. We had Luis Palau as our guest pastor and his message was powerful and dramatic and there were many people who gave their life to Christ after the service. It was great. Luis is from Argentina and is 81 years young and a hoot. He is an evangelist in the vein of Billy Graham.

 

Well, that is it for this week. Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mothers in my life. Be well. Ciao. 

 

Alone Again...Naturally.

 

 

Busy Weekend is in the books. Even busier for Darla as she was in Lodi today at a street faire until 6 PM and then left here about 6:45 to pick up Missy and some of her relatives to drive them to Monterey for two days. Darla often wonders how she gets herself into these things, but it is because she has such a kind heart. Missy doesn't like to drive long distances or on the freeway and Darla agreed to take them to Monterey and then back through San Francisco and home on Tuesday.

 

I played golf yesterday at Timber Creek, a championship venue in Roseville designed by the late Billy Casper. It is challenging and made even more so by the heavy winds that we experienced on Saturday. The winds were sustained at about 25 MPH with gusts of 40 MPH. It was a strange day because the temperature topped out at 86 degrees even with the wind. I struggled in the blustery conditions and shot 47+44=91. I also played the first night of twilight league with my partner, Ron Floyd on Thursday. Ron is the marketing manager for my largest agency in town and we play together in the golf league. We played two 25 handicap golfers on Thursday night and smoked them for a 14-6 win and first place after the first week. Fun stuff. Ron played with me on Saturday along with Paul and Rico.

 

Today, Darla was up and out of here by 6 AM and I slept until about 7:30 and then got up, ate some breakfast and headed outside to work on the backsplash and river rock border around the pool. The rock tends to get pretty calcified over time and I took an etching product to the surface after power washing it. I let the etching product do it's work and went in to town to the Ace Hardware and picked up some aerosol cans of Thompson's Water Seal. I roll on the product, but the vertical backsplash surrounding the pool just drips right off, so I spray that on. I picked up a couple of solar lights for the backyard. The replacement batteries for the solar lights are $5 and the lights themselves are $4.99. They are plastic and tend to disintegrate over time with the sprinklers and intense heat in the valley, so I just replace them. I also picked up some Weed and Feed and a new heat register for the new Master Bath. The old one was dirty and discolored and I want everything new in there.

 

Unfortunately the opening is 10" x 6", but the register itself is 12" x 6". I didn't take it down before buying it and had to return the item this afternoon for the right size. I got back, hosed off the rock and then laid down to let it dry. Rest is an important part of the job..at least that's my story. I got back out there about 2 PM and put the first coat of the sealer on the rock. It took me the better part of an hour and I came in at 3 and slept until about 4:15 (The Rest thing).  I added a second coat at 4:30 and then ran over to the Ace to exchange the register. I got back and was putting it up on the 10 foot ceiling in the bathroom when Darla got home. I helped her unload. We ate dinner together. Leftover tri tip and baked potato for me and orange slices and cottage cheese for Dar. She has lost 18 pounds on the diet and looks great. Her blood sugars have dropped to the point that her doctor is putting her on a once a week insulin dose rather than daily. Very proud of Mrs. Lyon here in Northern California.

 

I cleaned out the garage after she left for Monterey and then edged the lawn and applied the Weed and Feed. I then watered in the fertilizer and weed killer and then came in to empty the dishwasher and work on some handicapping for the golf club. I had to get the handicaps out for the 54 hole event that starts next Saturday. It is an individual event and is our Championship in stroke play. Our Club Championship is in September and is match play.

 

Work continues to befuddle me. I lost two producers this month and slowly watched our numbers dwindle toward the end of the month. Friday was our last business day of the month and we had our biggest one day premium bump in about two years. We added almost $40,000 in income on $215,000 in premium in one day. I went from being behind 2015 to passing last year and getting close to our budget number for 2016. My staff continues to amaze me and it is truly the next man up (although my last two producer additions have been female).  We start May on Monday and the race starts all over again.

 

I added pictures from Samantha's soccer game, some pictures of the tile that got done this week and some pictures of the river rock job complete. I love how the sealant gives the rock a "wet" look and brings out the browns and oranges in the rock. You can also see a picture of our broken toilet and the damage to our new cabinet where it fell. The tile guy put the toilet up on the curb of the new shower enclosure. The curb is only six inches wide and we heard a tremendous crash as we were watching a movie last night. The toilet had fallen against the cabinet and then smashed on the new tile floor. We aren't sure if one of the cats jumped up on it and caused it to fall or gravity caused it to tumble. The contractor has taken responsibility for the accident and will repair the cabinet (it just needs some paint) and will replace the toilet. The cats were pretty freaked out.

 

The job will just about be complete this week. They will measure for the 3/8" glass surround for the shower tomorrow and it takes about a week to get and they plan to install that next Monday. They are out tomorrow to finish the plumbing and install the faucets, shower heads and hook up the sinks to the sewer line. They will also paint the T-111 on the side of the house and install a new toilet. Tuesday will see the baseboards installed and Wednesday they will have a crew come in to clean everything and hang the mirrors. Then we wait for the glass surround to go in. We are almost there and I'll be able to shave and brush my teeth in the new bathroom on Wednesday.

 

That is it for another week. I hope all is well with each of you. Glad to see that Jennifer and Kal finally got to meet Xander and will hopefully all be home early this week. Be well. Ciao.

Loving it in Vegas with Sam, Jen and McKenny

Late Monday April 25th. We got back today early this afternoon. We were up at 4:30 and on the road by 5 AM. I drove the first two hours and my eyes were at half mast most of the time and I finally pulled over outside of Barstow and Darla took the wheel. I was soon fast asleep. I woke up just outside of Bakersfield and we stopped and got some breakfast and gassed up. We stopped again in Livingston for a potty stop for Darla and then on to Roseville. We got home about 2:30, so it was a 9.5 hour drive with stops for food and nature. Not bad.

 

I had chores to do today, so got my hair cut, the lawn mowed, Darla's car washed, the deck hosed down and the pool cleaned. I also drained the pool down near the bottom of the tile in preparation for the etching of the river rock surrounding the pool and cleaning the tile, followed by a wet look sealer. The time got away from me, so this will be an abbreviated blog entry and I will get caught up next week.

 

Our weekend with Sam, Jennifer and McKenny was great. We left Friday morning at 4 AM and arrived in Las Vegas at 1:30 after a stop for breakfast and gas. We got checked into the hotel (Santa Fe Station)  and then headed over to Jennifer's to see her and McKenny and then go over to Sam's school and pick her up before going back to the hotel to swim.  I was very impressed with how Sam made a point to stop and tell each of her friends to have a good weekend and gave the girls a hug. Jennifer and McKenny came over to the hotel a bit later and we met them at the pool. We ended up having dinner that night at a restaurant in the casino, Cabo's, a Mexican cantina. We had a ball laughing and talking and Jennifer had a huge Coronarita, a Margarita with a Corona beer turned upside down and sitting in the drink. You can see it in the picture above. She managed to spill it on her self at one point when it slipped and she caught it, but got drenched. We took a number of pictures that night and you can see Sam with her dessert and her and McKenny and her and Jennifer.

 

Sam went home with Mom that night as she had soccer at 9 AM. Darla and I played some cards and lost about $15 in two hours. We were up early the next morning and off to the park near the Aliente Casino where we wanted to stay, but couldn't get in. We got there right after the game started and Sam was on the bench. She was playing forward and got a lot of action. She was one of the smallest on the field, but is a pretty good dribbler. They ended up losing 1-0 and are now 3-4. They didn't win a game last year, so they are dong much better and soccer is now her favorite sport. We took Sam after the game, stopped and picked up lunch and then headed back to the hotel. We ate lunch and then headed to the on site Century movie theater to see The Jungle Book. It was a great movie with incredible special effects. The movie is completely live action, but the Bear, Cheetah, and other animals are all animatronic and incredible. The effects are quite impressive and Sam said she loved the movie. I made the mistake of letting her buy some bulk candy to take into the theater and didn't watch her. She ended up with three pounds of Skittles, Reeses pieces and Grunts and it set me back $16 for her candy. Darla wanted to put it back, but we saved most of it and she was able to take it home. We also had popcorn and soda.

 

We went over to Jennifer's for dinner and she prepared salmon and asparagus for dinner. I brought a bottle of wine and some flowers for our hostess.Darla is on her diet and had some chicken that she ate. We took Sam afterward and got ice cream at Dairy Queen. Darla was a trooper and sat and watched Sam and I eat our ice cream. We then headed to the hotel where Sam spent the night. We had an incident at the hotel where the neighbors got into a verbal altercation and were screaming at the top of their lungs. It scared Sam and she wanted to go home. We called security and they put a stop to the incident, but it tarnished our stay. That was actually the second issue we had as the shower wasn't working properly the first morning and only a trickle made it from the faucet to the shower head. We got that fixed the next morning. Sam finally got to sleep, but wanted to sleep with us in a queen sized bed. Darla was soon forced to the other bed and Sam rolled over by me and pushed me to the edge to the point that I moved to the other bed with Darla. She woke u in the morning with us in the other bed and we told her she was a "Bed Hog". When we told Jennifer the story the next day, she laughed and said that is Sam's thing. She is a Bed Hog and forces everyone to the very edge of the bed.

 

Sunday, we got up and had breakfast with Sam at the hotel. Jennifer and McKenny had headed in to Vegas to see the Fremont Street video lights that were doing a montage on Prince, who died earlier in the week. They slept in on Sunday. We relaxed in the room and Darla gave Sam her old jewelry making kit and she made several earrings for her Mom. Sam and I went down to get some Panda Express for dinner and Jennifer and McKenny met us a the food court and had a 99 cent margarita while we ate our lunch. We then went to the pool after Sam showed them her fort she built in the room. It was windy all weekend in Vegas and Sunday was no exception. Deck chairs were blowing over and several towels flew into the pool. Darla and I lasted about an hour and then headed to the room to relax. The kids headed back home and we met them later for dinner. We used the leftover salmon and chicken and had build-your-own salads. Sam had taquitos. We played a game and Sam worked on another necklace for her Mom. We soon had to say our goodbyes and gave everyone a big hug and kiss and were back to the hotel about 9. We played some video poker. I lost and Darla won and we broke even over about 90 minutes and headed to bed.

 

We were able to get our resort fees waived because of our problems, but no discount on our room as we had a deal through Expedia. We will work with them to see if they can credit us a free night, especially for the bad shower.

 

That's it for this time. I hope you are all well. I will download pictures from the Canon digital camera and add those to the blog next week. We will check in with all of you soon. Ciao. 

Living in the 2nd Bathroom

 

Using the 2nd bathroom is fine for the boys or for guests that visit for a few days, but I'm ready for the new bathroom. I think using this bathroom for three weeks will make the new bathroom even that much better. I was amazed at how quickly they got going. Wednesday they had three trades on site and the entire wall was taken out and the new window installed and the T-111 put up to complete the exterior. The plumbers were in and jack hammered the slab and moved the drains from the two walls to the center of the shower stall and also did the pre-plumbing for the two showers. Thursday, there were two trades in once again and the hot mop for the shower was completed and the can lights installed and the pre-electrical for the lights over the sinks and they moved the light switches from the outside of the room to the inside. We will have a three way switch for the can lights, vanity lights and one for the whisper quiet exhaust fan that was also installed. Friday, it seemed like not much was done, but they came in and put in the drywall and patched the holes in the walls and ceiling from the old lights, hat racks and the fan install as well as the can lights. Saturday, some guys came out to do the texture on the walls and Monday they will paint. We are on our way.

 

It was a busy weekend with poker Friday night. I had a good night and I took about $85 from my friends. We had a good time and a lot of laughs. I had a better time than some. Saturday was a busy day for me. I had a 10:15 tee time at Castle Oaks in Ione, CA. It is near Jackson and about an hour and ten minute drive from the house. I drove myself as I had to leave right after golf to get home, shower, eat and get over to Bayside church for the Amy Grant concert. It was a great session for me on the driving range and that should have let me know life was about to get complicated on the golf course. I snap hooked my opening drive into the water and finished with a snowman (8) on the opening par five. I then snap hooked my next drive on a par 3 into a lateral hazard and took a 6, and snap hooked my drive on the next par 4 into the water and took a 7. Three straight triple bogeys and I was already 9 over and only get 17 strokes on the course. I pulled it together and shot a 13 over 49 on the front and followed that with a great back nine and shot a 39 for 88. What a weird day. It was slow going and we finished in about 5 hours and I was back on the road home by 3:20. I took a picture of the guys I played with. I don't care for either of them, but they make me look tall. Just kidding. Pamas is on the left and is an FBI agent and a good friend of mine. Chuck lives in the neighborhood and is the secretary in our club and has been for about 16 years.

 

The concert was fun and we ran into Steve Morgan who I worked with at Dean Witter and he was my roommate in New York City and put up with Jennifer coming and crashing with us when she was 16. We had a great visit with him. He is a member at Bayside and was working as one of the ushers at the concert. I made a tentative lunch plan with him for when I get back from Vegas. The concert was great. Amy Grant hasn't been in concert for almost 17 years and it was great to see her out there. She married Vince Gill back in 2000 and basically retired from performing. They had a little girl in 2002 and she raised her while Vince stayed active in music. Her father died a couple of years ago and she decided it was time to start writing and performing again. She was in concert with Nicole Nordeman and Ellie Holcolm and all three performed together, rather than having an opening act, etc. It was great. We left at intermission as the place was packed. I was tired and we wanted to miss the traffic.

 

Darla and I were up early today and off to church. We stopped at the store on the way back so I could get a breakfast burrito and some distilled water that I needed to use with the water based stain. Darla is still on her diet and has lost about 12 pounds to date and looks great. We got back, I ate my breakfast and was on to power washing the deck and then using a driveway cleaner to get the oils and dirt off of the deck surface. I came in and let the deck dry for about 45 minutes and then back out to work. I had bought an airless sprayer to use, but the water based stain was too thin to work and the stain was just dripping out of the sprayer, so we ended up going the roller and paint brush route. The roller really sped up the process and I finished in a little over an hour. I came in to let the first quote dry, looked at the golf, was bored and went in for a nap. I had planned to be up by 4:30  finishing the task, but slept until 5:00. The sun was warm today and made me drowsy. It was about 88 degrees with 90 degrees on tap for tomorrow. I finished up with the second coat and basically used up the stain concentrate. I changed the color slightly this year from a bark brown to a Dark Adobe color which has a little more red in the stain.

 

I had to let the deck dry before we started the tri tip which is on the barbecue right now. The Giant game is on at the moment and I have that on tape while Darla is watching Island Living on HGTV. She is hooked on all of these shows (Property Brothers, Love it or List It, Flip or Flop, etc.). It started with the master bathroom remodel as she would watch the shows to see ideas on the bathroom. Now she has got to know the hosts and is hooked. I'll get out either later this week or when we get back to apply the sealer on the deck. I also have to take an etching product to the river rock around the pool and then reseal that as well as we prepare for Summer and the opening of the pool.

 

Later...Just finished dinner. Darla had her 3 ounces of steak and is setting aside another three ounces for another meal. I'll bring the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I'll have a  busy week this week at work and then off Friday and Monday for our trip to Las Vegas. I have a couple of marketing calls early in the week and then lunch with Alan, the CEO of WIAA, who will host me in Washington, DC in June.

I want to ask him about some of the activities that we can do in DC and also hit him up on our agency E&O products. He has an exclusive program currently and writes about 240 of his agents for their E&O. He has over 350 in his group, so they are missing somewhere on either price or coverage. We have a Center of Excellence that writes nothing but Agent's E&O and I'd like a shot at those accounts as they renew. I also have a golf meeting on Thursday night.

 

Darla and I will leave about 4 AM Friday morning and drive to Las Vegas. We are picking up one of Jennifer's paintings. I'm also really looking forward to watching Samantha in her soccer game. She is pretty active according to Jennifer and it will be great to be there to cheer her on. We'll take her over to the hotel and swim after her game. Darla's diet will compound our options this trip on eating out and she will actually bring the George Foreman grill with us so she can cook her meals. We may go out to dinner and Darla suggested a steak restaurant. Yeah, great place to take a couple of vegetarians. We'll see.

 

Well, the Blog will be late again next week as we are in Las Vegas, but I will return with tons of pictures of the kids as well as further updates on the remodel. The warm weather is here and it is warm tonight. I have the screen door open and the fan on above me. It is 72 degrees at 8:00 PM after sunset. We are expecting some rain the end of the week and we'll be in Sunny Las Vegas.

 

I hope you all are well. I'll be back at the keyboard after our trip. Be well. Ciao.