Survived another CEO Visit and PT Starts tomorrow

 

It was a hectic week last week with a visit from our CEO and the final week of the month for March. We ended the month up marginally (about 3.5% on profit) and it was good timing with Alan in the office. Our CEO has not visited Sacramento in two years and he was due for a visit. He was fairly tough on us as our profit has dropped the last three years from the high of $1,080,000 to last years profit of $683,000. I'm amazed we are still as high as we are as I have 6 former employees out prospecting my agents and going after my business. It is the same old saw and I am committed this year to stealing one of my competitors and bringing them over to work for me.

 

There were a few staff that had not met our big boss and they were all nervous. Most of them said that reality was not as bad as their expectations. He was actually pretty engaging and upbeat during our all staff meeting, but was tougher on the troops in the Producer meeting afterward. He is an intimidating guy and is pretty tough on people that get answers wrong when he is talking to them. One of my people just froze in the meeting and he wouldn't let her up for air. It was brutal.

 

I took him to a lunch with one of my retailers and he asked them how they were doing and how they felt about Burns. The agency principal looked at me and said, "Is this where we say all the good things about you like you coached us?" Funny guy. It was a good lunch and we all enjoyed the visit.

 

The Producers went out for cocktails with Alan on Wednesday night at a local fine food restaurant that has a patio overlooking a quarry pond. The pictures from that event are above. Harvey is  standing next to Peter and Alan is with the ladies in the photos.  It was a beautiful Roseville Spring evening and we had wine and appetizers on the patio. Pete ordered the most expensive wine on the menu and had a glass of it when we arrived. Alan asked me on the drive to the airport if he was taking advantage of the situation and I assured him that  Pete is a bit of a wine snob and would have ordered that even if he was paying the bill.

 

It was nice to get through that visit as it is always hard on the staff and they get nervous when he visits. We went through and looked at a couple of spots for some new art and he is sending us a couple of pieces from his private collection to display. We actually sat in my car after the drinks and went through salaries for the coming year. That was a brutal exercise. He ended up about 45 minutes late for his Net Jets flight out of McClellan Air Park and I left him discussing his tardiness with the pilot.

 

I made it by the golf course on Saturday and visited with the guys as they came in from playing the Masters event. It has been hard for me to know they are out there playing. I only stayed about 45 minutes as I felt like I was out of place. It was nice seeing the guys and I helped post a few scores. It was about 77 degrees on Saturday and I took the opportunity to completely clean the pool equipment and the pool, spraying and cleaning out all of the filters and vacuuming out the pool and getting the chemicals up and running for the new pool year. I also trimmed the bushes around the pool and weeded the flower boxes. The amount of huge weeds and growth over this very wet Winter was amazing. I have a picture of the pool with it's spring flowers above.

 

I had a meeting on Friday with our company owned inspection service at 11 and then an appointment with a tree service at noon at the house. I got a call at 10:30 from the tree guy telling me he was heading to the house. I told him I couldn't go as I had an 11 appointment. He insisted as a tree had fallen on a house and he was meeting them at noon.  Someone needs to explain to contractors what an appointment is and how it works. I ran over and met with him. We are having the front tree trimmed back (you can see a picture of the monstrosity that is a Valley Oak tree). They grow tall and wide and have a bad hair day all the time. The tree is starting to grow over the roof of the house and I want it cut back. I also have a photo of my neighbor's tree that started a s a volunteer and is now a huge tree with a ten inch base and it's roots are starting to infringe on my pool. He will do all of the work for $1000 and the two trees on the neighbor's side yard will be gone. No more leaves in the pool next Fall and he will kill the roots to protect the pool.  I made it back to the office about 11:15 and we had our meeting and Larry, the rep, even took me to lunch. Nice guy.

 

Jennifer got her new job at Cox Communications and now has a full benefit package including paid PTO and a 401 K plan. She is really happy and so is the firm. in fact her boss, Tony, wanted her so bad, he spent about an hour with her prepping her for the interview, giving her the questions and coaching her on her answers. Right before the interview he was promoted to a Director position with Cox, so she is in good with the mucky mucks.

 

Darla and I will be in Vegas over Easter holiday and spend some time with Sam as she is on Spring break. We fly in Wednesday night the 13th and will be in Vegas until Monday the 17th.

 

I also have a picture of Jennifer and her family with a friend headed to Sam's soccer game. We will miss seeing her play soccer this time as the team will be on a break Easter weekend.

 

Well, that is it for this week. I am out of the sling and start my physical therapy tomorrow. I haven't had any pain, but expect that to change as I begin working my shoulder. As the Army says: "Pain is just weakness leaving the body." I hope you are all well and ready to celebrate the biggest gift you will ever be given. Jesus death on the cross to forgive our sins. until next week. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 80-60 Cruise memories,

 

There won't be a lot written tonight as there are SO many pictures to share . Suffice it to say that the cruise was a great hit. It wasn't always perfect and there was more alcohol flowing than Darla and I are used to, but it was a great family time and we enjoyed the visit with Dad and Shirley and the whole family very much. The itinerary was great and to be able to see the islands of the Dutch Caribbean was great for both Darla and I. Holland is on our bucket list and will be one of the first trips we take after I retire. The architecture on the islands simply whet our appetite for the real thing. Dad sent a PowerPoint  presentation on Holland to us today as well.

 

I have my boss in this week and he will look over the office, critique where art is hung, have me make changes and hopefully plan to send me some of his extensive art collection to fill up some empty space on the walls of the office. I have lunch planned with one of my agents on Wednesday and then we will go with the Underwriters to a wine bar for drinks on Wednesday night, before I take he and Harvey off to his Net Jet at McClelland Air Park for their flight to Los Angeles..

 

Our numbers are looking really good this month and our profit YTD is up about 40% (unfortunately that is only about $20,000, but it I something). It is always really stressful for the staff when he comes in and I had one of my filing clerks come in Friday and "practice" her question that she wrote up for the boss with me. I asked each of the employees to prepare two questions for him and she was so nervous, she came in to try it out on me. Funny stuff.

 

We have not seen Alan since 2015 right after Matt left and we've had a couple of tough years since then. Tough is an overstatement as we made profits of over $1.3 million in the last two years, but our best year was 2014 when we made $925,000. It all takes time, but management is notoriously impatient.

 

I will start physical therapy on my shoulder a week from Monday and I look for ward to getting the full range of motion back in my arm. I haven't lifted my right arm above mid chest level for five weeks. I have very little pain, some soreness and I am out of the sling now. I was supposed to wear it 4-6 weeks and finally ditched it this week after 5 weeks.

 

We had Daniel and Becky stay with us overnight. They came into town to watch the Woodcreek state finals basketball game at Golden 1 Center last night. Woodcreek was their high school and is ranked number 24 in the  country. Unfortunately for them they were playing the number 5 team in the country, Bishop Montgomery from Southern California. Bishop ran out to a 20-4 lead and tried not to look back. Our center, Jordan Brown, is a junior and ranked number 6 in the country as a prep basketball player. The record in a Finals game was 25 points. Jordan scored 35 points with 17 rebounds, but we lost 74-67. He will be back for his senior year and there are players all over the area trying to transfer to Woodcreek to play with him next year. It was fun with David and Daniel both coming out to the game. We also got to visit with Miya, who we haven' seen since New Years.

 

 

We also got together with Darla's folks on Saturday for lunch in Folsom. They were traveling to Ripon. Earl will have surgery on Tuesday for a pre Cancer concern and Darla and Alicia are driving up to Paradise to sit with their Mom as he has his procedure.

 

 

 

 

Well, that is it for this week. I'll be back at the keyboard next weekend. I hope all is well with each of you and to Randy, Cake, Cheryl, Darryl, Al, Sherry, Dad and Shirley: Thanks for the memories. We had a great time with all of you! Ciao.

The Blog is off to Vacation yet again

 

A good weekend is in the books. I was complaining last week about being bored and ready to get back to life. I was so tired after work each day this week, it was ridiculous. My stamina was shot. I got some good rest this weekend and only have a four day work week this week, so I'll get through it. The golf club had their second straight two day tournament this weekend and it was actually the first 36 holes of a 54 hole event. In fact they have another event on the Sunday that we return from the cruise and I have to have one of my handicap committee members handle that event for me. The due date is this Friday and it needs to be handicapped over the weekend. I added the picture from our cruise in 2012 and we look forward to making new memories with the family. I also included a picture of Sam from her reading adventure that was set on Dr Suess' birthday

 

Darla, David and I went last night to Stockton to see Woodcreek High school play in the Section championship for basketball. They were playing the number one seed in Sheldon from Elk Grove and they are ranked number 2. Darla had a Touchstone event from 3-5 pm and we were supposed to meet David at his house at 6:30. Darla was afraid that her event would run long and she would be late to pick me up. I told her to let me know as she was close to downtown and I could Uber it to his house if I had to. She texted me at 5:45 and told me that she was still there and I contacted Uber for a ride. I haven't used the service before, although have ridden with people who did order it. I put in David's address, hit "order" and a Scion XP picked me up in about ten minutes. The driver was from Puerto Rico and moved here with his family last year. He had snacks and water in the car and was a kick to talk to. It took about 20 minutes to get downtown and I met Darla and David at his house in mid town.

 

The game was at Spanos Center at the University of Pacific in Stockton. Woodcreek has a nationally ranked player on their team, Jordan Brown, and he is expected to be heavily recruited by Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, etc. Jordan is just a Junior. Sheldon and Woodcreek had both gone undefeated in their conferences, but had two losses to nationally ranked schools in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Woodcreek had lost to a team that Sheldon had beaten, so they were number 1 and Woodcreek was 2. They did not play each other this year. Woodcreek was 28-2 and Sheldon was 29-2. The games was up and down. Woodcreek scored the first ten points and led after the first quarter, but only scored 6 points in the second quarter as their star power forward got mugged by a collapsing defense and was taken out of the game after throwing an elbow at one of the Sheldon players for his 3rd foul. Woodcreek struggled and was behind by five at the half. Sheldon upped that lead to 11 halfway through the third quarter and Brown suffered his 4th foul and was taken out. We kind of gave up hope, but the team pulled together and went on a run of their own and closed down only four after 3 quarters. Brown came back in and played brilliantly down the stretch getting rebounds and drawing fouls. He also had one massive dunk that brought down the house. They went up one point with 8.2 seconds left. Our point guard brought the ball up under a trap defense and passed the ball to Brown in the corner, but behind the basket. He put up a prayer with .1 second left that missed everything, BUT a foul was called. He made both free throws for an improbable 87-86 win. For me, it was nice to get out of the house.

 

We went out to dinner with Charlie and Frieda on Friday night. Darla was supposed to go to lunch with Frieda on Friday, but her job is too busy. She asked to reschedule and somehow we ended up with dinner plans for Friday night at the Claim Jumper. I don't know what I did, but when we got home I had a nerve cramp in my right shoulder that was so painful. Darla had to find the Oxycotin and get it to me fast. I was dying. That was a first. I think we were at dinner for two hours and I had my arm resting on the table the entire time and it just locked up on me.

 

I saw the doctor on Wednesday and I cannot drive for three more weeks. I will begin physical therapy on April 3rd and can lose the sling at that point. Darla will have to drive me until then, which is a pain for both of us. At least we have almost eleven days with the cruise that I will not have to be driven, so that's something.

 

My big boss in Detroit has scheduled a trip up to Northern California the week of March 27th and he will be in my office on March 29th. We haven't had the pleasure of a visit from him since 2015, so we were due. I have four employees who have yet to experience a visit from our CEO. I am working with the staff on knowing the different entities owned by KFG (our holding company and Alan's family business). I have schooled them on sales figures, numbers of employees, number of offices, foreign holdings and our personal budget and top agents, etc. I leave on this cruise and have a week to get prepared for his visit. Pete leaves on the Sunday that we come back from the same port for a cruise down the Panama Canal and gets back on the Tuesday before the trip. He will need to transition from party to work pretty quickly.

 

Darla and I have our final meeting with our trust administrator on Wednesday. We are setting up a family trust that will make our estate so much easier after we pass away. The trust will help our kids avoid taxes and have our estate pass to them quickly and without any headaches. We have needed to do this for awhile and the death of Darla's uncle intestate made up our minds for us.

 

Darla's two jobs outside of Touchstone have been busy. Her job with the social service agency whereby she does visits with the natural families has really picked up. She has a new family and got into a pickle last week when the boyfriend showed up and got into a fight with the ex who is the Dad. It all happened in a McDonalds in front of the kids. Darla tried to get between them, but the guy didn't even acknowledge her and luckily she just went to the kids and tried to calm them down. The police were called and it turns out the boyfriend has a restraining order against him. Those meetings have now been moved to the county offices. She is also trying to get in her meetings with her institutionalized clients with her other job. They are in Stockton and Lodi and her plate is full right now.

 

Well, that is it. We are off to Ft Lauderdale on Thursday night. I got a cheap flight, but we have to fly to New York and then on to Ft Lauderdale. We were supposed to have a three hour layover and be in Ft Lauderdale by 3 PM (after flying out of Sacramento at 11:59 PM the night before). Unfortunately that flight was cancelled and we now have a 6 hour layover with a 2:23pm flight that gets into Ft Lauderdale at 6:05 PM. I have looked into airport lounges and we will stay at the Jet Blue lounge which has showers, a bar, soft drinks, coffee, teas and juices. The cost is $25 per person and includes a voucher for lunch. It will be better than sitting in the airport killing time. The change in planes means that we will miss dinner with the family that night as we won't get to the hotel Friday night until after 7 PM. We will go over and at least have a drink and toast Cheryl's birthday. It's a bummer, but the flights were $248.00 instead of $800 each. The even better news is that our return flight on Jet Blue is direct to Sacramento. I will be back at the keyboard in two weeks with tails of Aruba, Caracao, Bonaire and the crazy Lyon family. Be well. Ciao.

 

 

 

Bored and Ready to Get back to Life

A week later and I'm ready to go play golf or lift weights or do something worthwhile. I even saw some protestors of Trump clamoring and waving signs on Saturday here in Roseville and thought it would be nice to be out in the sun getting some exercise. (Exercising your right to protest?). I was kind of surprised to see them in Roseville as this is an enclave of conservative truth in the cesspool of liberal whackoism in California. Governor Brown came out this week and cut funding to middle class families for low cost educational loans, but kept funding for illegals as he said, "The undocumented need further education more". So, he cut funding to US Citizens, but kept in funding for illegals? Somehow the left always manages to make it sound plausible, but it is completely nuts and makes no sense no matter what plane of logic you try to use. The protestors were out to protest Trump as an illegitimate President and to cry for the illegal immigrants being blocked and sent back home. Boo Hoo.

 

I am ready to get back to work tomorrow. I worked from home Wednesday to Friday/ Gail picked me up Wednesday and took me to an Association luncheon here in Roseville for the annual golf tournament with the Insurance Agents Association. It was just nice to get out of the house and be active for an hour and a half. Funny, though. It wore me out and I had to get a nap in that afternoon. Pete came by on Thursday and we went out to lunch here in Roseville. I also had a committee meeting with the golf group on Friday night and had one of the guys pick me up and take me over. He was supposed to pick me up at 4:45 and there I was outside in my sling and coat waiting for him to come and get me, like a senior waiting for the bus. That was the hardest one of the week as I saw the guys and they are all playing in a qualifier this weekend. One of the guys on the committee had a full shoulder replacement on November 30th and he played golf for the first time on that Friday. Wait. I have rotator cuff arthroscopic surgery and have to wait four to six months to play golf. He has full open surgery where he is in the hospital overnight and is playing in less than three months? I should have had them completely redo the shoulder. Maybe not

 

It was difficult knowing the guys were out playing golf this weekend. I was going to go over and help out either yesterday or today, but chose not to. It's too hard for me right now. I will get over and help with the scoring and skins in a future tournament. The course is still really soggy, but we had a nice sunny weekend. One of the discussion points was postponing the tournament until March and I was strong on playing this weekend. It was sunny and everyone has to play the same conditions. If you want to stay out of the mud, don't hit it in the rough. I'm glad we decided to play as it was a bright sunny weekend and the membership would have come unglued if we didn't play.

 

I added a picture of Jennifer and McKenny with their Bob Marley shirts we bought them in Nine Mile. Also a picture of Sam with her new guitar. I guess Jennifer and McKenny took her out shopping for a musical instrument this weekend and she chose a guitar. Lessons are coming for her. McKenny will be a good influence for her as he is a music hound. Finally, a picture of the protestors and one of the fruitless cherry tree in our front yard that promises that Spring is coming. I put down the crabgrass preventer last weekend and will wait until late March to over seed the lawn after we rototill.

 

Darla and I are planning to have the kitchen cabinets redone this Spring and trying to decide on a color now. We will have the company redo the two guest bathrooms, the hall cabinets and the laundry room. They will come out to give us an estimate and set the date for the job in early April.

 

Darla and I went out yesterday and watched Luke's basketball game in Folsom and then went out to lunch at an Italian deli/tavern in Granite Bay. We had Panini's and Darla had a great Italian wedding soup that was so good we bought a quart to take home for dinner to pair with the second half of our sandwiches that we had left over from lunch. We got home and both took naps. We decided to watch some Netflix while we had dinner and the service is pushing the show "The Santa Clarita Diet" a sitcom produced for Netflix and starring Drew Barrymore. We knew nothing about it and got into the middle of it while enjoying our dinner. Little did we know that Drew Barrymore plays a housewife that is also a zombie. There is a scene where she is projectile vomiting and then one where she eats the guy that played the lead in the television show "Castle". I didn't finish my soup or sandwich. What is the matter with Hollywood? We did settle down and watch the movie "Boyhood", which is a long study of a young boy growing up over a 12 year period. The fascinating part of the movie is that it was filmed over 12 years and uses the same kids as they grow from elementary school kids to college students. It was well done and worth your time if you have three hours to burn.

 

I am having trouble staying sedentary and I went out and mowed the lawn on Friday. I protected my arm, but it did open up one of the stitches and I had some discharge. Not the smartest move I've ever made, but proof positive that I am Art Lyon' son. I did call the doctor's office and they told ne to put a dressing over the shoulder and that was "normal". OK. I went out again today and edged the lawn and my neighbor, who saw me in the sling Friday was amazed/ I told him that I wasn't in a cast or anything and the sling is simply to keep my arm against my side so I don't disturb the staples in my shoulder. He kept staring at me like I had two heads.

 

We were supposed to have company on Saturday as Darla's niece, Taylor, is engaged to her girlfriend and she was coming up from Willets to introduce her to Darla's parents and the family. Daniel was coming up from San Jose with Becky and .Don and Alicia were going to come up after his game. That changed Thursday when Frances had to go into the Emergency room because of breathing difficulties. She was coming down with pneumonia and was put on bed rest. We will meet the fiancé at a later date.

 

I will see the doctor on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to getting started on rehab. I'm sure I won't do much before the four weeks that I'm supposed to keep wearing the sling, but I'm sure there are a few exercises I can start on to help keep my arm from wasting away. I'd like to do some of the exercises while on the cruise as well.

 

Darla and I were off to church this morning and it was nice to see everyone and share in the good news. We missed last week as I was recovering from surgery. I have not used any pain meds since last Sunday and I'm feeling really good. Darla is amazed, but as I told her "the arm hurt before surgery and it has some residual pain now, nothing has changed". I wasn't on meds before surgery and I'm not on meds now.

 

I talked to Darryl last week. He called to see how I was doing and we had a nice visit. I guess they have sold their enormous home in Kansas City and Darryl plans to downsize to a house about 4,000-5,000 square feet. We are in 2100 square feet and thrilled. I told him he should downsize to a Normal house and bank the rest for his retirement. He said downsizing IS going to 4000 square feet. He's in a 850 square foot apartment now. A 2100 square foot 4 bedroom home would seem huge after that. I'm happy for them as I know the house was a burden for them after he took the job in Dallas.

 

I made the mistake about two weeks ago of making a comment about teachers on a Facebook post by Cheryl. It was about how they spend their own money and put in untold hours on their job that they are never paid for. She had tagged Janelle. My comment was simply: "At least they get summers off." Oh my God, you would have thought the world had ended. I had Cheryl and Cake all over me about how teachers work longer hours than me and work harder. Randy was dying laughing as I was attacked. He was texting me back and forth as the barrage hit and I told him that I wish the hardest part of my day was some kid not having a pencil during an exam. Randy got a big kick out of it. Darla and I were in a life group a few years back with a group of teachers and you have never heard a group of people complain so much about their jobs. The complaint were: "The parents are horrible, the kids have no respect, the school districts are broke", etc., etc. I wanted to ask them who was holding a gun to their heads and making them do this horrible job? Darla and I started showing up late just to not have to listen to the verbal diarrhea of complaints. I guess my reaction to the post was experienced based and took me back to a bad place. At least I offered Randy some yuks that night.

 

I have my CEO coming into town on the week of March 27th. He is coming in that week and will spend the first part of the week in San Francisco and the last part of the week in Los Angeles. He hasn't decided if he is coming in to see us or going to Fresno on Wednesday. I know that I will be heading into San Francisco to spend a day with him if he decides to go to Fresno, or we will be putting on the dog in my office. He hasn't been to Sacramento since April of 2015, so he is due. We'll see how it goes.

 

Well, I'm getting tired and ready to take it easy, so I will tell all of you to have a good week. I will have one more blog entry next week and then, believe it or not, we will be off on the cruise. Until then, ciao.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living on OxyCodone and a dream

 

Just a fog of pain and medication over the last 48 hours. I am starting to come out of it a little bit and using less of the Oxy and therefore less of the Colace, which is a stool softener used because the Oxy really plugs you up. I gave out a whoop today when I finally had a moment of silent contemplation in the rest room after three days.  

 

I did not sleep particularly well the night before surgery as I tossed and turned in contemplation of the process ahead. I had a colonoscopy a few years ago and that is as close as I've come to an operating room. It was raining as we packed up and headed off to the surgery center on Friday morning. Darla, being the sweet wife that she is, complained that I had a bit of halitosis (I hadn't eaten anything since nine the night before and it was 11 AM). She gave me a Trident gum which almost blew the whole procedure. I checked in, signed my life away and was escorted back to pre op about 11:30. There the nurse freaked out about my gum and called the anesthesiologist, Dr. Cook to see if we could proceed. I blamed the whole thing on Darla. He asked how long I'd been chewing the gum (1/2 hour) and if I had eaten or had anything to drink since midnight. Nope. They proceeded to shave my chest and my right underarm. Yeah, I'm looking forward to how this will look on the cruise. Darla came in and they started the IV in my left hand and we met with Dr. Tweet, my surgeon. Apparently the surgery would be in Surgery Room D. So, TweetleDee as I put it. He said he hadn't heard that one. Dr Cook came in and offered me a nerve block on my right chest. Dr Tweet advised to have it, but as Cook went through all of "punctured lung, bile trapped in injection site, possible death" I had pause to rethink, but decided on the block.

 

They brought me in to the surgery suite and covered me in cheesecloth, including over my head. Dr. Cook worked on the injection site for the block as I had trouble breathing. I asked if he was going to put me out, but he had to do the block to make sure I didn't have any side effects. He finally finished, was satisfied with my reaction and told me "bye,bye, Mr. Lyon, see you in recovery" and I was gone.

 

I woke up in Recovery and you can see the picture from pre-op with the "thumbs up" and then the picture in recovery where I am "altered" as they put it. Darla told me that I kept telling the nurse that I like soft stools. I don't know why and I'm not sure that I believe her. I came out of surgery with a sling and a bag of ice on the surgery site. I actually have several steri strips over the surgery holes and a large shoulder cup over my shoulder and held down with surgical tape. This will be short as it is hard to type and my shoulder and neck are sore leaning over the laptop. The first day was actually pretty good, although Darla left and went to a party that night. I was pretty sleepy and slept off and on and got the Oxy going before the block wore off. I think I watched some TV and slept in the recliner in the living room. The doctor had suggested that I should sleep in the recliner over night, but I wanted to be in my bed and sort of built up some pillows to help support my brace and sling.

 

Darla got home about 11 and we went to bed and slept in yesterday. David got tickets to the Disney on ice program at the Golden One Center in Sacramento and he offered to take Luke and Darla to the event. The seats were in his company's box at the arena. My nurse was kind of sleeping on the job and David got to our place with Luke about 5 and they were off to the show by six.

 

I watched some television and slept off and on, still hitting the Oxy and Colace in equal portions. I got a text about 9 that Darla's car would not start in the garage and the garage would not allow AAA in as they were only allowing cars out. David got someone to give her a jump and they got it going and back home by about ten.

 

Darla was up early this morning and played with Luke while I rested in bed. I cannot get the dressing wet for the fist two nights so have been showering with a trash bag over my right arm and tied to my neck. I'm not one that likes to go even a day without bathing and washing my hair. Tomorrow, I will lose the dressing and cover the surgical entries with bandages.

 

Darla needed to take her car into Firestone today and had me driving over to pick her up. I'm not supposed to drive for about 4 weeks. Her car will be tested and if we need a new alternator or battery, so be it.

 

My best guess is that I will be down for about six months of no golf, but that time frame could improve depending on my therapy. I will see the Doctor again on March 1st and then we are off to our cruise on March 11th.

 

Well, that's it. This wore me out more than I thought it would. I hope you are all well and I look forward to seeing the Lyon contingent and the Nowakowski's in three weeks, eh? Ciao.