Darla is Back from Convention..Thank God, the Laundry Needs to be Done

Darla got home about 11:00 last night and after she gathered her luggage, it was almost midnight by the time we got back home. I slept in a little bit this morning and got in to the office a little after 8 AM. She had stayed a little later in order to tour Silpada's factory where the jewelry is made and she ended up spending about three hours in the airport in Kansas City waiting for her flight to Denver. It was a long day for her.

Her trip went well, but her recruit, who joined her on Thursday was a bit pretentious. Most of the conventioneers were at the Westin Hotel. Darla had got bumped to the Raddison, which was away from the Westin, but closer to the Convention Center. Darla is a camper and is happy with any accommodations. The Raddison was older, but clean and acceptable. Her recruit showed up late Thursday night and took one look at the Raddison and was appalled. They had dinner at the Westin and the girl excused herself from the table, went to the Westin front desk and booked a room. She came back to the table and told Darla what she had done. Darla was sick. She had reservations at the Raddison for $131 a night with her roommate paying half the fare. They went back to the Raddison and tried to check out, but the front desk told them they needed a 24 hour notice (makes sense to me). The gal told the front desk that their hotel was a dump. Darla was mortified. Finally, she talked to the desk clerk herself and explained that her roomate had made reservations at the Westin and left Darla up the creek. They were nice enough to cancel the reservation and let her off the hook. They had to up and move at 11:00 PM and come to find out that the Westin had the convention rate of $131 as well, but it was overbooked on that rate and the girls had to pay $259 a night. Darla was spitting mad by then. She actually had several power problems and the hotel never changed their sheets and didn't get them a new light bulb for the lamp by the bed. When they checked out Darla raised a beef and they comped them one night. It still ended up costing her about $80 more than the other room would have cost. She has vowed not to travel with her recruit again.

The event was a good time for Darla. She was one of the companies' top individual sales consultant. The top sales consultants sold between $85,000-$100,000 in sales and were recognized in front of the group of 4500 women. There are over 20,000 Silpada Sales reps across the country and Darla did over $72,000 in sales in her first year and this is her third job.

I got along fine without my wife, but I decided I like being married and don't like having to change the cat litter and fix all of my own meals which I ate alone. Marriage is good (and that was not a message for Jennifer and John). I played three games of golf. I thoroughly enjoyed Harding Park in San Francisco, although it was cold and I wore shorts like a doofus. It never got over 64 degrees and there was a constant ground fog that was wet and cold. Our team shot 62 which was good for third place and they paid the top two teams. I also played on Saturday at Diamond and shot 41+40=81 which was highlighted by a chip in for eagle on number 11. I'm still getting used to my new Taylor Made R7 driver. Sunday was the three club and I played alternately good and bad. I shot 42 on the front side and 43 on the back for 85, net 74. I played with a driver, eight iron and putter. The turnout for this tournament was below par for the second straight year and we will have to decide if it stays on the calendar for 2008. We may replace it with another medal tournament as many of the guys don't like to play in a tournament where you can't post a score.

I found out that the Burns and Wilcox Managers meeting is the same weekend as the club's annual Monterey trip. Major Bummer. At least we had the Graeagle trip on August 11-12. Well, interest was limited and that trip got cancelled. I don't believe in getting mad and set up a weekend golf and wine outing up to SaddleCreek Golf resort in Copperopolis. The guys will golf and the ladies will shop and have lunch and then we will all meet for dinner. Four couple are staying up at the Shenandoah Inn in Plymouth, CA Saturday night and we will do some wine tasting on Sunday. SaddleCreek is rated 9th in California for Public Access golf courses and included in that list is Pebble Beach, Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill and Torrey Pines. Good company, eh? I have never played it and look forward to giving it a whirl. So far I have six confirmed and have two tee times at Saddle Creek.

I got home from golf yesterday afternoon and took a swim. I was laying on the raft, half asleep and felt a bug crawling on my stomach. I picked it up between my first two fingers and my thumb and the yellowjacket stung me on my middle finger. I haven't been stung in awhile. That hurt like a son of a gun for about five minutes.

The office continues to do really well and we are actually over budget for this month. We made close to $200,000 for the first six months and are on target for about a half million in net income for 2007. As the manager, I'm thrilled.

Well, this was late, but I wanted to get it out. Jennifer is at the doctor today for an ultrasound and I'll talk to her tonight to see how it went. I hope all are well. Ciao.

Back from Vacation and raring to go!

We had a great time at Lake Almanor and the weather was just great. It never got over 90 degrees and we even had one day midweek with a light drizzle and some overcast. The rain kept us from too much sun exposure and made sure that we brushed up on our card playing and we were able to read inside. Darla and I went into Chester and bought some more books at a thrift store (brand new paperbacks for 25 cents..my inner cheapskate was immensely happy) and made it over to the local sporting goods store and stopped at the library to get caught up on our internet mail and some of my fantasy game updates. We also went into town that night and I bought everyone dinner at a local Mexican food joint. Earl always hosts a pizza night as this vacation coincides with their anniversary (48 years and going strong!). I felt that Darla and I could buy dinner for the group as well to make up for the use of gas in Earl's boat.

It was a tremendous week and my first full week at Almanor. Now that we are away from the resort that was 80 years old and had the sinks falling off the walls and the dirt and dust that was omnipresent, I will be a fixture every year. The new resort is about 25 years old and has things like telephones, televisions, interior heat and a living room. I'm in for the long haul. I was also able to get out and golf with Bob Lombard, our friends from Reno. We play at Bailey Creek, a championship course that is one of the nicest golf courses in the area. I shot 83, with a 40 on the front side and feel really solid about my game. I have a new Oddysey White Hot putter and a new Taylor Made R7 460 Draw driver and really see a single digit handicap in my immediate future.

David and Daniel both made it up to Almanor, although David only stayed until Tuesday and Daniel left at noon on Friday. David had a special project he was working on at the Engineering firm he works for and had to have it completed by last Friday. Daniel was supposed to go on a river rafting trip with his Dad, but that got cancelled. They ended up going to Santa Cruz over the weekend and got back last night. The jet ski had absolutely no problems and started right up and did great on the water. David got in a bunch of wake skating (the newest craze). It is like wake boarding, but wake skating does not have fixed boots on the board and is more like riding a really short surfboard while being pulled behind a boat. The board has a rough surface and you ride it barefooted. I have a picture of him catching some air above.

I read five novels over my vacation, two from John Lescroart (Hunt Club and Nothing But The Truth), one from Sandra Brown (Witness), one from Stuart Woods (Reckless Abandon) and one by Harlen Coben (No Second Chance), all great novels and great novelists. I highly recommend them. I spend alot of my vacation reading and relaxing, often reading until my eyes feel a bit heavy and then giving in to a nap. Not a bad way to spend a warm Summer day.

Two of the cabins at the resort (they are all individually owned) are in bankruptcy and Earl is looking into maybe buying one as an investment. The cabins are each about 850 -1000 square feet and are two bedrooms and one or two bathrooms with a living room. The rent is $1000 a week and includes maid service and general landscaping. There is an on site management service that checks people in and out and handles repairs and maintenance. There are some payments in arrears on both of the cabins and he is looking into it and doing some due diligence. They had looked at moving up to Lake Almanor when he retired, but decided on Paradise instead.

I came back to 169 e-mails and 10 voice mails even though I was specific in my messages about being on vacation. I poured through those this morning and worked my way back above water. We switched over to a new operating system while I was gone (Citrix) and I need to learn the nuances of this system. The big advantage is that I can access my desktop from home and can run management reports offsite. My assistant handled things flawlessly and my numbers look really good this month. In fact our office won a quarterly sales contest and each full time employee will receive a $300 bonus. The troops are pretty jazzed as we just missed winning it in the first quarter and they are all ready for more. From my standpoint, we are getting positive kudos from home office as the branch is up 25% this year and our net retained income is up almost 22%. Nice.

I had my say regarding the upcoming birth of a grandchild and want everyone to know that I am warming to this idea and starting to get excited. I'm not upset about being a grandfather..I'm just upset about having to start sleeping with a grandmother. Jennifer and I talked this weekend and things are going great. She sees the doctor next week and will hopefully have a due date at that time. She thinks it will be in February, but we'll see. She is doing well, has had her bout of morning sickness, but is getting better. She is eating well and trying to stay in the best shape possible. She said she doesn't look pregnant yet, just a little FAT.

I did play in a tournament yesterday and shot 40+41=81 and took second low net. I'm wearing a new green golf shirt with a Timber Creek logo on the sleeve today. My golf keeps me in new equipment and in a new wardrobe. Darla heads off to a national convention with Silpada Jewelry this week (she flies out on Wednesday). I will play golf Wednesday at Harding Park in SF, Thursday in my twilight league, Saturday at Diamond Oaks and Sunday at Diamond Oaks in our three club event. I will use a driver, eight iron and putter. Darla will be back from Kansas City on Sunday night.

I have to get to work, so will leave this until next time. Be well and follow the Lord in all that you do. Ciao.

Jennifer and John, sitting in a tree..

Everyone knows that I'm a conservative SOB, and, hey, when the shoe fits...I wish the news that I had was that Jennifer and John are getting married, but...in truth, Jennifer is pregnant. It is a planned pregnancy and both Jennifer and John are thrilled. (And here I was worried about tattoos!) My concerns are health insurance and the future of both Jennifer and the baby. Both Jennifer and I and John and I had long conversations yesterday and where I stand is not a gray area. I'd like to see the commitment to marriage from both of them and a good home established for my Grandchild. John said all the right things to me, that they definitely see themselves in a married, committed relationship in the near future and that the pregnancy has turned up the timetable on their relationship. I sincerely hope that there is a marriage before a birth, but I can't live their lives for them or force my morals on to them. I can and I have given them my advice and my counsel and always my love. They have some big decisions to make and my prayer is that the Lord can guide them and hold them in His loving arms as they move forward in their lives. Pray for them as they make some tough decisions. And, hey, pray for me as well. I need the peace that comes from understanding.

That nursery rhyme goes: "First comes Love, then comes a Baby, then"...wait a minute. Ciao.

The Heat has finally ebbed..God, it was HOT!

No pictures this week, but I'll make up for that next entry when we return from our vacation to Lake Almanor. The blog and this blog writer will be on vacation next week. We leave Saturday for Almanor and will be gone until the following Saturday. The resort that we have visited for years (Lake Almanor Resort) has closed down and we are staying at a relatively new resort with boat docks, a ramp and new two bedroom cabins. I look forward to the week of rest. I will, of course, take my clubs up with me and I hope to get in two games of golf while I'm there.

This weekend was poker, golf and pool time. Friday night we played poker at Tom's house in Carmichael. Tom is 56 years old and pretty set in his ways. He and Steve Matthews have never seen eye to eye. Steve is an aggressive bettor and a serious card player. Most of us are pretty laid back and if a card accidentally gets dealt up instead of down, we give the receiver of the card the option to keep it or burn it. Steve believes that it is a mis-deal and we should start over. He's right, but none of us are professional card players, so we let it go. Steve and Tom are often at odds and like a couple of bulls, butt heads quite often. Tom had a brutal night of cards, getting cleaned out. At midnight, we always call the game and have one last round of dealing. As midnight hit at Tom's, he said, "that's it, let's wrap it up!" We started to deal the last round of cards and the first guy dealt his round and then the next person began to deal. Tom said, "Wait! We're done, right? Let's wrap it up . You guys need to leave." We all looked at him and shrugged him off and kept playing. Tom stood up and said, "Look, I'm the host and this game is over after this hand." He looked right at Steve and said, "Do you have a problem with that?" Steve stood up, folded his cards and started to clean up his quarters and get his things together. The rest of us played out the hand in silence and cleaned up ready to leave. I was walking out the door and set my cooler down on a table at his front door and walked back in to thank Tom for hosting. One of the other guys brushed by me and knocked my Tupperware box of about $100 in quarters loose from my hands. As I reached to stop it from falling on Tom's new hardwood floor, I bumped my 20 quart cooler off the table and it hit the floor with a loud BANG and spilled the empties, three bottles of beer, a plastic bottle of water, one coke and about three quarts of water and ice onto Tom's floor. I felt horrible and went about picking up the cooler, beers, empties and ice, while Tom ran for a towel and some paper towels. We mopped up the mess along with several clumps of dog hair that had gathered along the front of the house under the front picture window. Unbeknownst to me, Steve and his cousin, John, were on the front lawn rolling in laughter and hysterics. When I finally got the mess mopped up and said my "I'm sorrys and Goodbyes", John and Steve had already retreated to the truck and were waiting for me there. They were my ride home. They were in hysterics in the car, both crying in laughter. We had a good laugh over Tom's bad mood and my accident on his new hardwood floor.

Saturday, I played golf. You'll remember that I tweaked my back last Sunday at Folsom lake on the jet ski. I got a Bowen treatment on Monday, but my hips are out of alignment and I'm still pretty tender. We had a 9:09 tee time and I got to the course about 8:40 ready to stretch and warm up. As I'm walking from the car I hear the starter announce the "Lyon Four" on deck. I walked in to the pro shop and Robert said, "Hey, Ken, I had two cancellations in front of you so we moved you up. I hope that's okay." I didn't even get to swing a club. We got up on the first tee and set our bets and I hit second. As I took the club back I had a back spasm that caused me to take a step back and away from the ball. Unfortunately, I'm not Tiger Woods and couldn't stop my swing. I hit the ball dead left about twenty yards to the left of the first tee. There are no mulligans in golf and I headed into the trees and figured this would be a brutal day of golf. I was stiff and sore, but slowly worked the kinks out and after an opening double bogey, shot 39 on the front and 42 on the back for an 81.

I was sore after the round, but had to help one of the ladies in our life group move. We met at her house at 2 PM and had to move her from Rocklin to Fair Oaks. The truck didn't arrive until almost three and I had dinner plans with friends at 6:30 PM. One of the guys pulled up at 2:30 and hit a sewer grate as he did a U turn in front of the house and popped his tire. We helped him put his spare on, loaded his truck and got the UHaul loaded. We were at her new place by 4:15 and got the items unloaded and several other items in the truck to go to storage. At that point I had to go home to get ready for dinner. I slipped into the pool in the 100 degree heat and felt myself simmer. Dinner was nice and we enjoyed the company.

Yesterday was a relaxing day in the pool. I got the lawn mowed and some plants trimmed and then spent the day relaxing on the pool with a cold drink and a good book. The weather had cooled down to the upper nineties ( I think we just hit 100 degrees yesterday). It was HOT this week and, in fact, hotter than forecast. I played in my twilight league on Thursday night and it was 111 degrees. We all took carts and, like cattle, played from tree to tree trying to stay in the shade. Bob and I actually won our match for a change, but it was brutally HOT! The pool temperature peaked at 92 degrees on that day and has since settled back at 88 degrees. Several friends told me I was nuts not to put in solar heating, but so far, the pool is plenty warm and we were swimming in April this year and will likely swim into October.

I went Friday to see Boyd in the hospital. He never had got out after being admitted on June 26th with his colon swelling. They kept him in because of pain and because he was running a high fever. He was in good spirits when I saw him on Friday and got out on Saturday. In all, he was in 14 days and hadn't eaten any solid foods in two weeks. In spite of that, with all of the tubes and saline and protein being pumped in to him, he had gained 11 pounds of water weight. Thank God, he is doing better and is back home now.

I talked to Jennifer this morning. She is going into work today and will be leaving her job. The weather there is in the mid 110's and she has been pulling PVC and wires in attics for three weeks. Her body cannot take the heat and she is ready to look elsewhere for work. She has other news that I will report later in the week.

Well, work awaits. The gang has all arrived and I need to get on to my day. I will have more to say in a few days. Be well. Ciao.

Here Comes the Sun!

The maiden voyage of the jet ski was Sunday. We met Rob and Cheryl McHone at Folsom Lake and I also had Anthony from my work and his wife, Erin, join us. Anthony is a total techie and he was able to search and destroy the virus on my computer within about an hour. Rob and Cheryl brought their daughter, Jackie and a friend, Sydney. It was packed at the lake and the water was rough, too rough for any wakeboarding or skiing, but perfect for the jet ski. I have a little hitch in my gitalong today as I took one of the waves pretty hard and felt a twinge in my back. I'm hoping this is minor as I am upright and walking like a normal homo sapien, I just have some twinges of pain if I bend down or have to reach for anything. I'm supposed to play in a golf tournament on July 4th so I'm hoping that my back holds up this week. I have a precautionary appointment with Jane Saro, my Bowen Practitioner, at 4PM today.

We had a really good time at the beach and except for a hard start to the jet ski (Anthony figured out that our choke needs to be manually held up when we are starting the ski as it has a tendency to spring back down if we don't hold it). The ski was cranking over but not starting. David finally jumped up on the ski to start it and Anthony held up the choke and it fired right up. We had no problems with it once we put it on the water. Rob and Cheryl had trouble finding us on the beach, though as they traversed the rather large confines of Folsom lake looking for us. We always set up camp in a cove just around the corner from the main beach at Folsom. It is away from the heavy boat traffic and large enough that we can do turns and jumps in the middle of the cove without worrying about traffic. They finally found us after about forty minutes of cell phone directions. Daniel had a ball with both Jackie and Sydney and the three of them ended up going to the Folsom Rodeo last night. Sydney was fairly enamored with David (she just graduated high school this Spring), but David thought she was a nice girl (kiss of death there). Her father is the President of an influential Architecture firm in Sacramento and David likely should try to meet him as that is his interest in life...architecture.

Anthony and Erin enjoyed the outing and really enjoyed the ski. Anthony, Rob and I took a tour of the lake on Rob's new 17' BayLiner and we otherwise relaxed. Rob is pretty intense and got into a conversation with Anthony and Alicia on the pros and cons of socialized medicine. I would have joined in, but I felt a need to shut my eyes for a few minutes and contemplate nothing on a nice 95 degree day in Sacramento. The temperatures are heading up into the Vegas stratosphere this week with 103 forecast for July 4th and 104 and 105 to round out the week. The heat is on in Sacramento. It will be interesting to see how warm the pool gets. We are at 86 degrees now which is comfortable.

Jennifer's friend, Sara Webber, stopped by the house on Sunday as we were getting ready to leave for the beach. Her daughter, Sierra, had a birthday party across the street in the park and Sara came by to say hi. It was great seeing her.

I played golf in Ione this weekend at a tournament at Castle Oaks Golf Club. Boyd was supposed to play with me, but he had a reaction to some bacteria in his system that made it's way to his colon and the colon became inflamed and he had some internal bleeding. Kaiser actually had him in ICU as they pumped antibiotics into his system and treated the swelling. He went into the hospital on Saturday night and didn't get out until Thursday. We are supposed to play in a tournament on Wednesday together and I'll call him today to see how he is doing.

The Castle Oaks tournament was interesting. I took third place with an 83, but the interesting part was how I scored. I started the tournament double bogey, triple bogey and finished the front nine with 42, including a birdie on the 535 yard number one handicap hole. On the back nine, after working so hard to pull my game together, I started bogey-triple bogey and again pulled my game together for a 41 on the back and 12 over 83, net 71. There were some high scores in the tournament with one of our five handicappers shooting a 93. He wasn't much fun to be around after the game. I won $20 in skins and $35 in the tournament and ended up with a nice Antigua logo shirt with Castle Oaks Golf Club on the left sleeve. I was proud of the 83 when I clearly didn't have my A game. I had two double bogeys, two triple bogeys and two birdies during my round. I was all over the map.

Darla worked her hiney off over the last month and qualified for the trip to Lahaina in January. (Hiney for Lahaina?) We will fly into Maui for five days of fun and sun, all paid for by Silpada Designs Jewelry. Darla is a rising star in the company and all food, flight and lodging is paid for by the company. She will get a tax statement with the cost of the trip on it as compensation, but it will still be a fun getaway for us. I will likely play one day of golf while we are there. I'm proud of her. Life sort of stood still for us during that month and she was busy with several parties every week, but it paid off and we are Hawaii bound!! You go, girl!

We have the storage of the jet ski down to a science already as David and Daniel unhooked the ski after I backed it into the side driveway. By the time I parked the Explorer, they already had the ski into the side yard and were setting it into the blocks. I cover it with a tarp to keep the sun off of the ski cover. I'm sure we will have the ski out less this Summer as the boys are busy and with the pool right there, motivation to load up the ski, drop $100 on gas and head to the lake is less pressing when I can just grab a raft, a cold drink and a good book and relax.

Anthony and Erin stayed over for dinner last night and we had barbecued steak and chicken on the patio next to the pool. Anthony and I swam after the ski was put away and he set the computer up for another scan as he was working on the virus. Anthony is such a computer geek that he took a half day of vacation on Friday and stood in line to get one of the new I-Phones. He has it and it is pretty cool. I have a cell phone that I use for phone calls. Novel idea, eh?

DirecTV is coming out this morning to install a new 5 LNB dish and a new HD Tivo recorder. I will now have full HD channels on local TV as well as the HD package that I have (TNT, ESPN, HD movies, HD sports, Discovery and special events). I'm looking forward to watching my local channels in high def.

One of the ladies in the office brought in some Sloughhouse corn this morning and I got six ears of corn for our barbecue on Wednesday. We are having Alicia and Bob and Debbie Hand over for swimming and relaxing. It should be a nice day and if I play golf in the 8 am shotgun tournament, I will be fried and ready for the pool when I get home. Remember, 103 degrees on Wednesday. Well, that is the news to the moment. Stay cool this July 4th. Ciao

Late Again, Saheeb

Back to the salt mines after a day working with the nation's youth at the Insurance Brokers of Sacramento youth golf tournament yesterday. I was a Marshall and the going was much easier this time around. I made a few rulings, helped a couple of the girls determine where to drop a ball that was hit into a hazard and settled a dispute in a group where one player kept hitting ahead of another because the other was so slow. I hit him with the "Ready Golf" slogan and reminded the two boys that they were not playing match play. The tournament was held at the newly redesigned Del Paso Country Club, a country club that shut its doors for two years as they redesigned the course, taking it down to bare ground and redoing all of the fairways and greens. It is beautiful, but confusing as the course designer decided not to use tee markers to help give the course a natural look and feel. The problem is that as several holes come together it is nearly impossible to determine which is the next hole. We had one group of fifteen year-olds that played number 13, 14, then played number 8 and we found them looking for hole 16. We informed them that they had played out of order and ferried them over to hole 15 where the group behind them was just getting ready to tee off. We had to insert them back into their position which didn't sit well with either the other players or their parents. They then played the course around to number 7 and then skipped to number 9. It was a shotgun start and there were golfers walking all over the course looking for their starting holes. What a mess.

We finished the tournament about 1:45 with lunch and the awards presented. We then drove out to Rancho Murietta and played the south course. I shot 87, but was tired.

I did play last week at Woodcreek and shot 84 and had one of my better rounds in the second Diamond tournament this weekend, a modified Stableford event with points for par, birdies, eagles and double eagles, zero points for a bogey and negative points for double bogey or higher. I shot 79 and managed 30 points, which gave me low net in my flight and third place in the Stableford scoring. I'll play Castle Oaks this weekend in Ione and we hope to take the jet ski out on Sunday.

The saga continues with my front desk position as my new employee shut down her computer at ten o'clock yesterday morning and walked off the job. She did not talk to anyone or explain herself. We called the service and they couldn't find her and promised to have a replacement on the job this morning. What is going on with young people these days?

Darla and I had a relaxing weekend with time in the pool and just a lot of down time. The Placer County Fair was going on this weekend and we considered going to it, but it seemed a better time to just relax on the pool with a cold drink and a good book. We are getting good at being lazy lately.

Jennifer continues to work in Las Vegas, but is not yet convinced that this job is the job for her. The hot work of pulling wires and cable in attics reaching 140 degrees in Vegas seems perhaps more than she bargained for. She is willing to ride it out and see if more of her work can be in comfortable air conditioned buildings in the future. She was in Anaheim last week at a home electronics expo, but said that it was mostly boring and monotonous. I guess when you have had business trips to Baghdad and Kuwait on your resume, Anaheim is a bit low key.

Darla and I have a week's vacation coming up next month to Lake Almanor. The resort that we have stayed at (remember the cabin where the sink fell off the wall?) has closed and we will stay at a relatively new resort with boat slips and a position close to the marina with the gas station and restaurants right on the water. We will, of course, take our jet ski up to the lake and spend a week relaxing and taking it easy. We had planned on going to Hawaii this year for Daniel's senior trip, but with the cost of the pool and Cal Poly that plan was pushed out of the picture. Darla is still working on winning a trip to Maui in February of 2008 with Silpada. She is close and has parties through Thursday night in an attempt to meet the target.

Our DirecTV went out this weekend followed very quickly by a nasty worm that got embedded into the start up program of our computer.The virus gives a false warning about a virus attack on our computer and directs us to buy their spyware product. The worm is nasty as I can remove it, but it comes back as soon as I reboot my computer because the link is in the startup registry and as soon as it reboots the virus recreates itself in the hard drive.

The picture above is for Jennifer's benefit as I bought a new lounge chair and clock/thermometer for the back yard with the gift card that she bought me for Father's day. Thank you, Jennifer, now we know what time it is when the temperature reaches 100 degrees in Sacramento. At least I can lie down when that happens.

In truth, it has been a mild Spring and a cool start to the Summer as we have reached the century mark only once in the Sacramento area and our weather this week is supposed to cool into the upper eighties later this week and over the weekend. It could stay like this all Summer as far as I'm concerned. The pool is at 86 degrees and is very comfortable. I jumped in and cooled off when I got home from golf last night. What a great way to relax and cool off.

Well, this is short. I'm sorry I was late with the update this week, but I had the junior golf yesterday and I couldn't get to a computer. I was at the course at 7 AM yesterday and didn't get home last night until 8 o'clock. I hope you are all doing exceedingly well. Ciao.

Father's Day is Done and Gone

Father's day has come and gone and unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to either my Dad or my daughter on Father's Day. Jennifer and I were missing each other all weekend and playing a monster game of phone tag. Dad and Shirley were out when I called last night. Jennifer sent me a gift card for Lowe's and a book on golf inspired by a man who is dying. God arranges for 18 holes with world luminaries and if he wins, he lives. If he doesn't, he dies. Doesn't sound like my God, but it should be an interesting read with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Leonardo Da Vinci playing golf. I will hit Lowes in the next week and see about getting some things for the backyard. I'd like to get a clock and a large thermometer to mount on the house.

This weekend I tended to take it easy as it was fairly warm and I wanted to just relax in the pool and take it easy after Darla was gone last week. We considered taking the jet ski out, but it seemed like a lot of work and Daniel had to work on Saturday. I got a sunburn for my efforts as I fell asleep on a raft floating on the pool and my swim suit hiked up and exposed some virgin white flesh to the rays of the sun. My upper thighs are the color of a taillight right now. It was nice to relax with Darla and just take it easy. We barbecued chicken Saturday night and ate on the patio next to the pool. Darla cut up some fresh fruit including watermelon and we enjoyed our backyard oasis. We have enjoyed the pool so much, we wish we had done it eight years ago when we moved into the house.

As you can see from the pictures, Buddy got his annual summer cut and we were able to get the jet ski moved into the driveway on the side of the house. We had hoped to leave Buddy's hair a little longer, but his hair gets matted along his skin and it is easier for the groomer to cut him short. They did leave a little more hair, but he went from a red dog to a white one overnight.

It is payday today and I have to get the minions paid, so this won't be long. I did terminate the front desk position. The young lady missed three of the first six days and then when I sat down to talk to her about it, she said, "This probably isn't the best time to ask, but I need Wednesday and Friday off." I gave her a permanent time off as I told her it just wasn't working out. She will land another job as she interviews very well. She apparently just doesn't like to work. I have a replacement in working for me now from an agency. The cost is higher, but if it doesn't work out, I just ask them to send me a replacement.

I have had some interesting employees over the years including a girl with food allergies who used a portable fan because she had such bad gas. She also had to sit on a hard surface seat because the soft surfaces caused her to flatulate. She was a very nice girl, but was too high maintenance. She would also fart in meetings and then leave the room, leaving the rest of us gasping. Food allergies, eh? She was with a temp firm and I was able to get out of that one without too much stink.

The pastor continues his series on love and told the story this weekend of the first Husband store in New York City. The store has six stories and the rule is that you can purchase a husband on any of the floors, but once you have moved up from a floor, you cannot go back down except to exit the store. A woman entered the store and on the first floor there was sign that read: "Husbands for sale. On this floor each man has a job." The woman got on the elevator and went to the second floor. On that floor the sign read: "Husbands for sale. On this floor each man has a job and loves children." The woman got on the elevator and went to the third floor. On that floor the sign read: "Husbands for sale. Each man has a job, loves children and is drop dead gorgeous." The woman was excited, but got on the elevator to see what was on the fourth floor. On that floor, the sign read: "Husbands for sale. Each man has a job, loves children, is drop dead gorgeous and is a hopeless romantic." The woman was thrilled and ran for the elevator. On the fifth floor the sign read: "Husbands for sale. Each man has a job, loves children, is drop dead gorgeous, is a hopeless romantic, cooks and does housework." The woman was ecstatic and couldn't wait to get to the sixth floor, where the sign read: "Welcome to the sixth floor. You are the 6,475,325th visitor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely to prove that women are impossible to please."

I did play golf this past week. I played Woodcreek on Wednesday and shot 41+40=81. I also played with Boyd, Bob and Mel on Saturday and shot 42+42=84 at Diamond Oaks. I will play in the second Diamond tournament on Saturday. The tournament is a Stableford scoring event with points for birdies, eagles and double eagles. Zero points for par and negative points for bogey or worse. It will be fun and I play with Bob Pando, Boyd and Mel Padeirnos.

Well, that's it. I have to get on to payroll. Have a great week and keep your white upper thighs out of the sun. Ciao.

Day Off from Work, But Life Is Still One Busy Son Of A ...

I apologize to my three faithful readers, but I was helping out as a rules official at our golf club's annual junior golf tournament. This was our 40th annual tournament and it was named for David Oxley, Jr. who died in 1967 at the age of 15 on a camping trip up to the Mokelumne River. David was a cart barn kid who, at age 15 was a scratch golfer and likely headed to the pro tour. He died while walking along the river when he slipped and was pinned below two rocks on an outcropping at the river's edge. His father was a founding member of the Roseville Golf Club and the tragedy so affected the members of the club that they founded an annual junior golf tournament that is now the third longest running junior golf event in California. The golf as usual was high calibre with the two low scores of 70 in a playoff for low gross. I had to leave at four o'clock for a dentist appointment so I didn't see the results of the playoff. The two playoff participants were a 16 year old boy and a 17 year old boy. They played from the blue tees and shot two under par. The other exciting score was 35 for nine holes from an eleven year old boy. Cameron Champ has been playing golf since he was 18 months old and turns 12 next week and will finally be able to play 18 holes on the junior golf circuit. He played in the State Fair championship last year as an 11 year old and shot 77-79 from the blue tees at Alister McKenzie Golf course in Sacramento. He also played in the Roseville City Amateur and shot 78. Remember the name. The kid is the son of a black father and white mother and has incredible talent (sound vaguely familiar?). He is also (so far) just a great and genuine kid. He came up to me after playing and shook my hand and thanked me for helping out at the tournament.

The day was not without it's problems, mostly caused by parents. On one of the par threes a young man of 9 years of age hit his ball into the water hazard. He quickly re teed his ball and hit another in the water. The other two guys teed off and he then re teed his ball and hit another into the water. He said he wanted to quit, but one of his playing partners told him he could drop up by the water. His Dad approached me and started berating me for not telling him that he could drop up by the water hazard. I told him that the rules are clear. My role is to interpret rules and to make sure that the kids are playing by the rules of golf, NOT to give advice. The kid finally asked me if he could drop the ball up at the water and I then gave him his options..re-teeing the ball, dropping two club lengths from the water hazard, picking a spot on the line from where the ball last crossed the water hazard and the pin and as far back as desired (no nearer the hole), or a point on the opposite margin of the water hazard equidistant from the hole. The father kept on me and I told him if he didn't zip it, his kid would be disqualified. He then backed off, but I heard him refer to someone as an A**hole. I'm sure he wasn't referring to me. I also had several parents challenge me when I told them to stay off of fairways and near the green. They are a gallery and cannot give advice or help their child in any way. Most of the problems occurred around greens when the parents wanted to stand at the green and watch their child putt. One father said, "I have a real problem with the way you interpret the rules." I told him that their was no interpretation, the rules state that spectators must stay off of fairways and 25 yards from the contestants. I explained to him that 25 yards equals 75 feet, not 25 feet. He asked me for my name and I asked him for his. He quickly backed down. Golf parents are like any sporting parent. Most are great, some are jackasses. The funny part is that most of the really good golfers have parents that know and respect the rules and they wouldn't endanger their child's chance at the tournament by breaking the rules or questioning a tournament official.

Neil, who is the RGC President this year, couldn't believe that I scheduled both a Summer tune-up of my jet ski and a dentist appointment on the day of the golf tournament. I told him that I'm a working man and have to take advantage of my days off. We had plenty of help, almost too many volunteers, and the day turned out great. It was about 90 degrees, but the tournament started at 9:00 AM and it was still 80 degrees at noon. I will be running the tournament next year and won't have jet ski maintenance and dentist appointments on that day.

The dentist appointment was to have a crown installed and a filling replaced. The tooth cracked under the filling and he had to chisel it out and refill it. That was not pleasant as he used the high speed drill to carve out the old filling and I was climbing the walls. He had to numb both bottom sides of my mouth and my whole bottom jaw, tongue and chin were numb with Novocaine. When I was finished, the dental hygienist told me to rinse, but to leave the bib on until I was finished. I shrugged and rinsed and saw the water run out of my frozen mouth and down the front of the bib. I came home and laid down on the bed and slept for two hours. I got up, took two Excedrin, hand watered several sections of the lawn and some plantings of ground cover where I took cuttings and replanted it this weekend. I then moved into the study and the writing of this epistle.

It is quiet around here as Darla is in Hooterville, Idaho for a family reunion camping extravaganza. She flew out with Alicia at two yesterday and they flew from Sacramento to Boise and then boarded a puddle jumper from Boise to Lewiston, ID. From there they were forty-five minutes by car up to a campground devoid of power and facilities. I guess people from Idaho call that living. I have another name for it.

She took my cell phone and called me today to let me know they made it to their destination. I had tried calling her and the phone bounces right to voice mail. I think the reception is spotty. She couldn't talk long because she was perched in the top of a tree to get good reception.

I had a fence repair company come out last week and fix the automobile gate on the side of the house. He took one look at the job and tore it down to the posts and rebuilt it. One of the posts had warped and pulled the gate out of alignment. He rebuilt the gates with the proper support and I'm ready to put the jet ski away in the backyard. In fact, I pulled it up to the gate and backed it into the side yard. Unfortunately, I couldn't swing the ski by hand into the spot as the driveway is too slanted, so backed it into the garage to await some help from Darla or the boys. I suppose if I'd worked at it, I could have got it, but Neil was waiting for me and I didn't want to get run over or pinned by my own jet ski. I'm including a picture of the side driveway so you can see what I was facing. This is before the gates were rebuilt, so you can see the bow in the gate.

The Pastor is continuing his series on Love and he continued on the theme of gender for household items. He mentioned that a Glad freezer bag is male, because a man wants to lock things away and keep secrets, but you can see right through him. A vacuum cleaner is female, because it keeps everything around it neat and tidy, but it's a mess inside. The groans were audible by all of us as well.

I did get out and play golf this weekend and shot 42+40=82 at Diamond Oaks. I will play Woodcreek on Wednesday afternoon, Diamond on Thursday in my twilight league, the putting championship Friday night and Diamond Oaks on Saturday. Darla gets home on Thursday and has a party that night for Silpada. She is still hoping to qualify for the trip to Maui in January.

My new front desk clerk that showed up for her first day seven weeks pregnant has missed three of her first six days and I think I'll be firing her tomorrow. Her child was sick with diarrhea today. For some reason, my staff always wants to be specific when calling in sick..."I've been up all night puking, or I have a really bad rash and have to go the doctor", or some other much too personal set of circumstances. I looked back at the blog and can't believe that I didn't mention my new employee. I had interviewed for two solid weeks and hired a 23 year-old single girl who is engaged to be married. She seemed very responsible. She showed up her first day and told me she is seven weeks pregnant, has two other children and that she'd be late on Friday because she has a pre-natal appointment. I was devastated as I certainly couldn't renege on the job offer. Well, her attendance is enough to write her ticket out of there. She even said to me that she understands if I have to replace her. I will let the professionals in our Human Resources department get me out of this one.

Jennifer is gainfully employed in Las Vegas, now working for a Home Audio specialty company that builds and installs in-home theater systems, security alarms, security cameras and even in-home movie theaters. The average home that they work on is $10 to $15 million and their portion is often $500,000 to $1,000,000. She interviewed with the President of the firm in an $18 million mansion that is next door to Celine Dion's house in Vegas. She is thrilled to be working again and will be flying to Los Angeles to attend a convention of home electronics companies in a few weeks. Check out her blog at the link above and on the right.

Well, that is news to the minute. Stay well and keep turning the important decisions in your life over to God. Ciao.

No more bloody High Schoolers in this household!

Graduation is done and over, the party has been held, the cake cut and we are on to new and higher heights. Finally at age 50 with a daughter almost 27 who has seen more of the world than I ever will, has learned to lob grenades, been gassed with a gas mask on, and has served in Kuwait, Iraq and Germany; finally the last student is done with high school. Now, come next January, and by the will of God, all birds will be out of the nest and I can enjoy my empty nest period in solitude and tranquility. We'll see.

Daniel's graduation was Friday night and over 500 graduates filed up and got their diplomas, songs were sung, speeches made by valedictorians and class officers linking pirates to graduates and all of the other nonsense that flows out of the mouths of 17- year olds. It was a long service under blue skies, with a slight breeze and temperatures only in the low eighties. A vast improvement from the 100 degree temperature of David's graduation in 2005. Alas, it was too long, overblown and uncomfortable. Luckily, we sat with Greg Meacham and made snide remarks under our breath.

Saturday I played golf and shot 44+41=85. My index has dropped to 10.5 in June and my handicap is now 11 at Diamond, so I should shoot 83. It was a good time on Saturday and I got to play with Dave Armijo, my old partner from Diamond who abruptly quit playing in 2005 after the birth of a grandchild. Dave shot 88 in only his second round of the year. I checked my card and have played 44 rounds so far this year. After golf, I drove out to Lowes and Home Depot and bought another sego palm for our palm garden over the pool and 10 bags of Ebony bark for the pool area planters. I laid that and went back for another six bags which finished the job. It looks really good, like lava or charcoal.

The party today was a success and we had about thirty people come by including the boys' 88- year old Great Grandfather and Joni, their Mom's best friend who lived with them for five years after Darla's divorce. We had a lot of our friends, including Rob McHone and his 16-year old daughter, Jacki, who hadn't seen Daniel in a year. She and Dan are off to a movie as I write this still catching up on old times. I can't blame Dan as Jacki has really grown up cute with a great personality. David is off to his Gathering college group at church. We played pool, talked, the kids swam and we ate a lot of cold cuts and chicken.

Church was great this morning. We are working on a series about Agape love using the 1st Corinthians 13 text. The pastor told a joke about a computer class that was being taught at the college. One of the coeds (a blonde) asked what gender a computer was. The instructor broke the class into groups to have them decide the answer and this is what they came up with.

The girls decided the computer was male because,

1. A computer has alot of raw data and can't process it.

2. After you buy it, you realize that if you waited, you would have been able to get a much better model at a lower price, and

3. In order to make it do anything, you have to turn it on.

The boys disagreed and said the computer was definitely female because,

1. Every mistake you make goes into long term memory.

2. As soon as you buy it alot of the other computers start looking alot more attractive, and

3. As soon as you commit to it, you spend half your paycheck on accessories.

Darla is off to some remote camp in Idaho next week for her aunt's 70th birthday celebration. She and Alicia fly out next Sunday night and fly home on Wednesday. Darla's folks will be there with their 5th wheel, so at least they will be staying in relative comfort. Darla knows me well enough that she didn't even ask me to go. I can do without a trip to Deliverance.

Well, this is short, but I have the Sacramento Insurance Group golf tournament tomorrow and I am on the committee. The current golf director has dropped some broad hints that they want me to run the tournament in 2008. We'll see. Next Monday, the 11th, is the David Oxley junior tournament at our Roseville Golf Club and I will be marshaling that event. It is definitely Summer in Sacramento. Be well. Ciao.

A Memorable Memorial Day

Darla and I took a short, but relaxing trip up to Lake Tahoe over the long weekend. We left about 2:00PM on Friday and drove up to the lake before the traffic got too heavy. We had planned on staying at the Lakeside Inn, but the room rates were higher for the holiday, so I scrimped and we stayed at the Lake Tahoe Inn on South Shore Drive (Highway 50). The motel was in a good location and that is the sum total of the good things we can say about the motel. The room was small, the furnishings were old, the floor coverings were questionable at best. The bathroom was small and the sink was ready to come off the wall with a good push on the front of it. The strange thing is the floor in the bathroom was always hot like the hot water heater lines ran under the floor. Darla was a good sport about the accommodations, but she would have preferred to be anywhere else I think. I noticed Saturday that she was wearing her shoes as she did her hair in the morning.

We did spend some time at the Lakeside Inn and had their $8.95 Prime Rib on Friday night and Darla enjoyed a free dinner as it was her birthday month and we are preferred card holders at the casino. The restaurant also gave her a free drink. We gambled a bit after dinner at the Lakeside and then moved over to Bills, the small casino owned by Harrahs. It is now the only smoke free casino in Lake Tahoe ( I think the first ever frankly) and it was so nice to sit in a casino in Nevada and not breathe in second-hand smoke. We didn't win anything, in fact we broke even that night, but the smoke free environment was great.

Saturday, we were up fairly early and walked across the Highway to Heidi's, a Swedish restaurant with excellent breakfasts. We went from there to the outlets and Darla bought some things from the Adidas outlet. We stopped after that and got some submarine sandwiches and some chips and a new book for Darla and we were off to the beach for the afternoon. We set up our blanket and towels and an umbrella at the beach and read, ate, slept and relaxed the afternoon away in the 78 degree weather. It was ideal. 78 degrees in Tahoe is like 88 degrees in Roseville as the elevation is so high and the sun's rays more intense. It was a relaxing afternoon.

That night we were back to the Lakeside Inn and Darla had the Tri-tip steak and I enjoyed a cheeseburger. We gambled for awhile and headed back to the room early. I had a noon tee time in the Memorial Day tournament at Diamond Oaks and we had to be up early on Sunday to head home. The "40 Year-Old Virgin" was on HBO and we sat and laughed at that. it is an inappropriate movie with a few good laughs in it. Sort of Like "Borat". You hate to admit you watched it, but in the end, it was entertaining.

We were up early Sunday and on the road by 8:00 AM. I had wanted to eat at the Red Hut Waffle restaurant, which is famous in Tahoe, but there was a line out the door. We settled for Carrow's and a gay waiter sat us in a spot "with a lovely view of the meadow". We were home by 10:15 AM and I netted out the pool and sprayed down the decking before leaving for the course. I struggled and shot a 45+41=86. I was two over on the back nine going into 18 and shot myself in the foot with a triple bogey 7 that included two shots out of the sand. Not my day. I got home and punished myself by washing my car. Darla had found a table and chair set for the backyard that she liked and it was on sale for $99. We went over and picked that up and even had dinner on the new set.

Monday was the type of day that was so busy that the Monday paper was still on the front porch when I opened the door to grab the Tuesday paper this morning. I slept in until about 9:00 AM and then was up and waxing my car and detailing it for about two hours. I then took Darla's SUV to Home Depot and bought some more Sego Palm trees for the backyard. The ferns that we had put in the raised flowerbed were getting scorched by the sun and I moved them into the shade. I replaced those with the Sego palms and now the raised flowerbed is a Palm garden. I still have one pineapple guava plant in the mix and will replace that with another Sego next weekend. The nice thing about the Sego palms is that they only grow 6-8 feet in height and about 5 foot in diameter. So many of the palm trees grow to 50 or 60 feet and can be a bit unwieldy. I also replaced a couple of other plants that hadn't fared so well and planted purple heather in their spot. The back yard is really looking good and we are ready for Daniel's graduation swim party next Sunday. We relaxed on the pool and I spent about an hour scrubbing the tile and grout to clean off the scale that had developed. I also hung some hooks on the fence for the brush and pole and sprayed for weeds in the flowerbeds. I finished a book while floating on the pool and slept a portion of the afternoon away.

Darla decided that we needed another one of the table and chair sets. The set is smaller with a round table, four chairs and an umbrella. We bought that one and now have three table and chair sets on the patio and can handle up to 14 people seated at tables. I walked out last night and told Darla that the backyard looks like a resort. The pool is at 82 degrees and I took a swim at 9:00 PM last night and was joined by a chorus of frogs, two of which jumped into the pool and swam with me. The frogs are full-throated creatures, but no bigger than a half-dollar.

Well agents are calling, the gang is arriving and I am off to the salt mines for another day on a short work week. Daniel graduates from High School on Friday night and begins the next step in his journey come this fall at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

I talked to Jennifer last night and she is enjoying being a Nevada Resident. She now has Nevada Veteran license plates and Nevada driver's license. She continues to look for work and will have an interview this week arranged by a placement firm. It is a company called R2W, Inc. and they are in competition with the firm that John works for. I called her yesterday and wished her a Happy Memorial Day and thanked her and John for their service to my country. I hope you are all well. If so, stay that way. Ciao.

Reno, Golf, Gambling, Proms..yep, just another weekend in the Lyon Household

Yeah, just another weekend. I was in Reno Thursday to Saturday and finally put together two good days of golf. Unfortunately, the guys I was playing with were more interested in drinking and gambling than in the golf. Of the 12 of us, three were golfers and two had handicaps below mine. The majority were 26-36 handicappers that were there because it was Reno. We played Wolf Run on Friday. It is a newer course with some challenging water holes and some 575 yard par fives and 200 yard par threes. I shot 42+40=82 on Friday and the closest golfer to me shot an 88. Wolf Run should be called Marmint Run as the course is literally overrun with marmints, a rodent from the weasel family. They were little fat critters with short legs that left pellets of ...well, pellets all over the golf course. The course was in magnificent shape and we played in 85 degree temperatures.

Friday night we joined Glen Gonfiantini, a local Reno insurance agent and friend of Dan Carroll's at the Santa Fe Club. The Santa Fe is an old style Basque restaurant on Palm Street behind Harrahs. For $24 we ate Beef Stew, Seafood Paella, salad, pasta, bread and butter, french fries, cheese, wine, lamb shanks, New York steak, and Rib-Eye steaks. It was awesome. I actually went with Dan to Glen's bachelor party in Las Vegas in 1992. Glen is an old world Italian from a family that controlled both insurance and banking in Reno back in the sixties. Glen is old money and has a six bedroom $6,000,000 home in Fluer Du Lac on the shores of Lake Tahoe replete with a cigarette boat and three jet skis. Of course, that is just his Summer home. Glen is very non-pretentious and a great guy to hang around with.

Saturday we played Wild Creek, a city owned golf course in Sparks, NV. I knew when we pulled into the parking lot and I saw golfers wearing tank tops, that the round would be completely different from Fridays. The course was a little shop worn and the greens were bumpy and pitted. In spite of the conditions, I actually played better on Saturday and shot 37+40=77, including birdieing the first two holes. I outshot the field by 13 strokes as second best was a 90 and most of the guys were nursing hangovers and lack of sleep.

The weekend was a lot of fun and it was great to spend it with a fun group of guys. We stayed at the Circus Circus in Reno and had about a three hour dinner at the steakhouse on Friday night. Strangely, the cost was $60 a head at the steakhouse and the food at the Santa Fe Basque Restaurant was so much better. The waiters at the steakhouse were in formal suits and ties, while the waitress at the Santa Fe looked like she could have worked at the local truck stop cafe, but ambiance is in the eye of the beholder.

Daniel did have his prom on Saturday night and I arrived home shortly before the gang descended on our home en masse. I jumped into the pool to cool off after the two hour ride home and Dan's Dad and Grandma decided to walk into the backyard uninvited as they were there to take pictures of the prom goers. Steve made some cryptic remark about not wanting to get that picture. I told him to get lost. Daniel enjoyed himself at the prom. His date is a friend from church and they are just friends. They went out to breakfast after the prom and Daniel got pulled over by one of Roseville's finest. The cop said that the light on his back license plate was burned out and made Daniel do a sobriety test on the side of the road. Daniel hadn't been drinking, but the cop wanted to know why Daniel was so nervous. Daniel said, "Because it is the middle of the night and you are suggesting that I've been drinking." Daniel was a little miffed, but I can see the cop's point of view. It must be a hassle on Prom night with all of the 17 and 18 year olds out acting like they are God's gift to humanity. Most of them are drinking and partying to the extreme and causing a headache to the police department.

Our next door neighbor came over Saturday night and let us know that her daughter was having an after prom party at the house. Elizabeth, the Mom was getting a hotel room and letting the kids have the house to themselves. What is with parents? She left us her cell phone number and asked us to call if there were any problems. We just had a hassle with them two weeks ago and let her know that if we were kept awake that she'd be called. Sure enough, about 12:30 the gang showed up with squealing car tires and all went in the back yard with loud voices and hoots and hollers. Darla immediately called Liz and told her to shut the party down or we'd call the cops. Liz didn't answer her phone, but the party was quiet within about half an hour. They all moved inside and shut all the windows. Christian, the 21 year old son, came over on Sunday and apologized for the noise. Apparently there was so much traffic on our street, that the Roseville police set up a sobriety checkpoint around the corner from our house and nailed a few of the partiers.

Sunday was very nice and quiet. We slept through church due again to the interruption in our sleep pattern. I relaxed on the pool in the 86 degree day and spent a very relaxing day sleeping and reading. It was a great way to wind down a busy week.

Darla did get her new wedding ring on Friday and it is very contemporary and classic at the same time. The ring is a total 2 carats of diamonds with a center stone 0f .89 carats and 1.2 carats of diamonds placed in a bezel cut in rows along the side of the marquis cut stone. She is thrilled and I have some leverage for awhile.

Darla and I will be in Tahoe next weekend to relax and recharge our batteries. I will drive back Sunday morning for a golf tournament. I didn't want to miss two golf tournaments in a row and I will miss the June 3rd Net Amateur championship in order to help host a swim party for Daniel's graduation.

Jennifer is hard at work looking for work in Vegas. There is a Job Fair this week and she will go meet some prospective employers in the Vegas area. Some of John's coworkers are also setting Jennifer up with some names of competitors of John's company where she can apply. She is doing great, but says that Vegas is HOT. You think?

Well, once again it is payroll today, so I have to get the masses set up to receive their paychecks on Wednesday. Have a good week

David the Comedian

David was out with his Dad on Friday night and they were looking for a gift for David's Grandma, Steve's Mom. They shopped at Costco and dined on the Italian Sausage and coke for $1.50. As they were walking to the car, Steve asked David what model of truck drove by them. It was a Dodge Canyon, but David didn't know what it was and told his Dad that. Steve said, "Well, for a young guy, you're not very Hip." David's reply was priceless. "Well, I'm hanging out with you on a Friday night. How hip do you think I am?" Steve was not happy with that response, but the family howled when he shared it with us on Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!

It has been 7 years without Mom on Mother's Day and it never really gets easier. I miss her laugh and her smile and her encouragement. What a lucky person I am to have had a Mother with such a great personality and such a winning attitude. She is busy in Heaven keeping everyone in stitches, I'm sure. Darla and I hosted the family yesterday and Earl and Frances met us for church and then brunch afterward. Darla made a sausage quiche and then we barbecued an early dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs. It was a really nice day yesterday with temperatures in the 80's and we laid out on the pool in our rafts and had a nice nap after everyone went home.

I will have another fence contractor out this week to fix the gate on the side of the house. The guys I had build the fence were not very good at building gates and the gates both sag in the middle and one of the main supporting 4x4's has warped. That 4x4 needs to be pulled out of the ground and replaced and the gates rebuilt and supported to withstand the weight of the swinging gate. They used two different hinges on either gate, one is a lap style hinge and the other is just a 4"x4" hinge that would be used on a small door. I'll have the contractor use the lap hinge on both sides of the gate and support the gate with a diagonal support to keep the gate from sagging. My neighbor, Dwight, had the same fence guy build him a gate and he tore it out yesterday and had a contractor rebuild it. I saw the workmanship and asked for his number. Hopefully, he can get out here this week and fix the mess that was left. I need to get the jet ski out of storage at Alicia's and moved over to our house.

I played in the final day of the 3 day Individual championship and finally put up a good score with a 40+40=80, net 68. I don't think I won anything, but at least I proved I can play golf. I leave Thursday for a two night, three day golf tournament in Reno with an insurance Agency in Folsom. We will play Wolf Run and Wild Creek, two courses that I have not played over the years. It's good as I have 104 logo golf balls of courses I have played and just ordered a new 70 ball cherry case. I have 194 balls in collector cases now and need to start filling up the new 70 ball case. This will give me a dozen toward that goal. We leave mid day on Thursday and play golf Friday and Saturday and will stay at Circus Circus in Reno. Pete Morrison and I are both going up as it is Pete's agent that is throwing the shindig. There will be a dozen of us going up for the fun and sun.

Jennifer and John stopped by on Thursday and had a farewell lunch with Darla and I at Benihanas. They had packed up the Uhaul, the cats and themselves and were staying at Diane's on Thursday night. They were leaving after 2 AM Friday morning In order to get into Las Vegas by mid afternoon. It turns out they got up and on the road just before 4 AM and were In Las Vegas by 3:30 PM Friday. They got their keys, moved in a few essentials and then John was off to a bachelor party for his Dad, who was getting married to his long time girlfriend on Saturday. Saturday was the wedding and then they finally got moved in on Sunday and John returned the UHaul. He had rented a Uhaul and a car carrier to tow behind it for his truck and the truck broke down about fifteen miles from the rental center. Jennifer and John had to sit for two hours while the Uhaul service truck was dispatched to pick them up. When he finally got there his wrecker was only big enough for the truck and John had to pull the car carrier with his truck back to the UHaul center. They switched the broken down truck for a brand new truck and gave Jennifer and John a discount and some free mileage to make up for their hassle.

Jennifer followed John in her new TC and they had walkie talkies so they could communicate with each other along the trip. They are both excited about a new beginning and John starts his new job today while Jennifer begins her job search. I wish them well and look forward to their union becoming more official in the coming months.

I had sent out the following Mother's Day tribute to some of you, but add it here for those who didn't see it:

I OWE MY MOTHER

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.'If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.'

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.'You better pray that will come out of the carpet.'

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.'If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!'

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.' Because I said so, that's why.'

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.'If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me.'

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.'Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident.'

7. My mother taught me IRONY.'Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about.'

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.'Shut your mouth and eat your supper.'

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.'Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!'

10. My mother taught me about WEATHER.'This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.'

11. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.'If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!'

12. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.'I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.'

13. My mother taught me about ENVY.'There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do.'

14. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.'Just wait until we get home.'

15. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.'If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way.'

16. My mother taught me ESP.'Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?'

17. My mother taught me HUMOR.'When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me.'

18. My mother taught me GENETICS.'You're just like your father.'

19. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.'Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?'

20. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.'One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you.'

Take care . Have a great week and keep God in your life daily. Ciao.