A Promotion at Work!

True. It is long overdue, but I was finally promoted at the annual Branch Manager's meeting from Assistant Branch Manager to Branch Manager of both the Sacramento and Modesto offices. I still don't know who I was supposed to be assisting, but that is water under the bridge. I was gratified to be the recipient of a long standing ovation as my name was announced and I went forward at the Awards Dinner to accept my new commission. I have been long suffering in my Underwriting Manager days and more recently with my days as an Assistant Manager as I dutifully showed up at the Branch Manager meetings (this was my fourth and first as a Branch Manager) and did all of the tasks and went to all of the meetings that the Branch Managers did, but was somehow not an equal to the rest of the Managers. There were three of us out of 8 Assistant Branch Managers that actually were the de facto Branch managers of our offices. The other ABMs all were "assisting" Branch Managers (what a concept!). All three of us were promoted to Branch Manager. There is one ABM who is still a de facto Branch Manager, but he joined us last January and has to put in his time, I guess. He is in the Houston Branch. I was thrilled to finally get the recognition as a full leader in the management of our $1 Billion company. The fact that my branch has grown from $6,300,000 to $14,000,000 since 2004 when I took over might have something to do with the promotion.

The fun and rewarding thing for me is that I will no longer be compensated on my own production, but now be rewarded on the strength and profitability of my two offices. The company has a lot of new and innovative ways to drive new business and a couple of initiatives with the underwriters to increase new business production in the last couple of months. It was a fun and informative meeting this year.

I came home to a new living room as Darla had painted the walls a soft brown color and painted the mantle on the fireplace white from the stained wood look it had before. It was a surprise, but frankly, I was so tired when I got home last night that I didn't even notice that she had painted the mantle as well. It looks really nice.

I was exhausted by the time I got home at 10:40 PM last night, which happened to be 1:40 AM EST. Darla was understandably chatty and wanted to bring me up to date on what had been going on. I finally fell asleep about 12:15 AM and was up at 6:00 AM and in the office by 7:00 AM. I have to leave early today as I have my permanent crown put on for the tooth I cracked on the trip to Austin. Darla and I will leave tonight for Tahoe where we will spend the rest of the week at a timeshare at the Tahoe Beach and Ski resort. We, at one time, considered buying into the Tahoe Beach and Ski as we like it so much and is a great location in Tahoe, but with our two other time shares in Puerto Vallarta and Hawaii as well as our two weeks a year in Nuevo Vallarta, we have plenty of trading opportunities. This week is courtesy of our timeshare in Kauai. It will be nice to have some down time after the meetings. I flew in last Wednesday and it was nonstop from then on. Part of the true value of the meetings is the networking that the Managers do before and after work hours and unfortunately, they keep us busy until about 10 PM every night. Then, of course, the hospitality suite opens and getting to bed at a reasonable hour is a chore.

I flew through Las Vegas and had about an hour and forty-five minute layover. If it was longer, I would have met Jennifer for lunch, but I didn't want to go back through screening with such a tight window, so I just sat and lost money at the poker machines as I waited for the flight. I did call Jennifer and say "Hi. I'm in town." Darla and I will stay in Las Vegas for the Thanksgiving weekend and it will be good to visit with both Jennifer and John.

Well, this is short and I've actually been working on it all morning, but getting interrupted by staff and payroll, etc. I'll add some pictures next week of our trip to Tahoe. The weather looks great with highs here in the 80's and the 60's in Tahoe. Ciao.

Daniel Home for his 18th Birthday

The pictures are from Saturday night when we all went to Old Sacramento and had dinner at Fultons Underground. The restaurant is famous for their Prime Rib and we ate well. Daniel is now 18 and I no longer live in fear of what he may have done. He is his own adult now and my liability is secure. The pictures were taken at the ramp in Old Sacramento that David designed with his engineering firm. It is an access ramp for the public down to the docks at Old Sacramento. The ramps sit on a barge that floats and the ramps descend at low tide about fifty feet to the water line. The ramps are metal and obviously move with the shifting tide up and down. He also built in a storage building at the base of the ramps and it is a pretty impressive site. I'm sure the Old Sacramento Merchants Association weren't aware that the ramp was designed by a (at the time ) 19 year old boy.

I have suffered all weekend from a cold. I picked up a sore throat on Thursday and made it all the more worse by getting caught in a rainstorm on Friday at Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton. Our Golf Association, The Northern California Golf Association, had their annual meeting last Friday at Castlewood Country Club followed by golf afterward. We had rain Thursday night, but it had tapered off Friday to partly cloudy skies by the time we teed off at 12:30 PM. We got in the first four holes and a slight drizzle started. By the time we finished the fifth hole, the skies opened up and there were rivers of water covering the greens and I was soaked to the skin. Neil, our President, and I hightailed it back to the clubhouse and found some hot soup to soothe our cold. The effect of the soaking was felt all weekend as my throat got sore and then croaky, where it sounds bad, but feels better. Yesterday I was all plugged up and my sinuses were causing me major discomfort. I had aches and pains in my joints. Today, I am much better, but still have a cough and some residual sinus blockage. Hopefully, I'm better by the time I fly to Detroit Wednesday afternoon.

The Managers meeting is on this week and I couldn't have picked a better time to go. My office just completed a quarter where we won the sales contest for the third quarter with a 15% in net retained income for the quarter. Our office for the year is up 21.6% in premium and 17.94% in net retained income. I'm almost looking forward to my meeting with the CEO of our company this year. It is a good story and we continue to thrive in a tough market.

I did play golf this weekend and suffered through a foggy, cold start to the round on Saturday. I wasn't feeling well and managed a 45 on the front side, but was able to pull my game out of dry dock and shoot a 38 on the back for 83. My index has dropped to 9.0 and have little room for error in my game right now. i lost $5 to Mark on a straight up bet, but won $5 in the match play to break even.

The golf club had elections on Thursday and although I ran for President unopposed, I still managed to win the office. We have a good board for 2008 and I will appoint several positions in December. I will have my Friend, Bob Pando, appointed to the board as a member-at-large. Bob will be mirroring our Tournament Bookkeeper and will take over that position in 2009. My proposed new By-Laws were also voted in and we are no longer paying members of the board a salary, but will be paying for green fees in 2009. This is an important change for the club as we have to start filing an informational return to the IRS and we have never had our members claim the earnings from being on the board.

We are going through some pain at church right now as our pastor, Rick, who is so tremendously popular has been asked to step down by the board of Elders at the church. Apparently, his management style is that of a micro-manager and we have lost a number of key staff positions over the years. Rick, so far, has refused to step down. As a member of the church body, my concern is for the teaching in the church and Rick is an awesome teacher, in fact the best I have ever experienced. This is the Devil infiltrating our church and I pray that the leadership reach an amicable meeting of the minds on this issue. I think the church would be devastated if we lost Rick. Our Seniors' pastor, who is about 78 years old, stood up and addressed the church on this issue yesterday and he said, when he first head about the disagreement that he would take an early retirement. One of his friends pointed out that he was about 15 years late. He is sticking with us and hopes to see a positive resolution to a sorry situation.

Well, that is it for this week. I am off to the manager's meeting on Wednesday, but will be back in the office next Monday for one day before Darla and I head to Lake Tahoe for a much deserved rest. We have a condo at the Tahoe Beach and Ski Resort set up for next week. Ciao.

Jennifer is back to Las Vegas..it was a great visit!!

Jennifer's shower was a big hit on Saturday. Of course, I was out on the golf course, but I saw the pictures and heard the stories. Darla and I and Diane and her husband, Bob, went in together on a crib and changing table for the baby's room. Diane ordered the crib online and set up to have it delivered this week to Las Vegas. As it turned out, the crib was delivered on Friday and John arrived home to find the boxes on their porch. He called us to find out what was going on and we told him it was a surprise. He offered to put the crib together and send pictures to us to put in the package for Jennifer. Darla cut out the pictures and put them on a page with the e-mail from John. When Jennifer opened the package and saw the crib pictures, she was thrilled, but when Darla told her to look closer at the pictures and she realized the crib was in the baby's room at their apartment, she started to cry. She couldn't even read John's e-mail to the ladies and her friend, Sara, had to step in and take over. Sara is a great friend of Jennifer's and has two little girls already, so she bought Jennifer a baby monitor as well as a whole bag of things that new Moms need..things like thermometers for under the baby's arm, burp cloths, her own hand made extract for stretch marks, chlorine free diapers, etc., etc. Jennifer thoroughly enjoyed herself and has about $500 of gift cards to Babies R Us and Baby Gap and places like that. She will be busy when she returns to Vegas shopping. Darla's sister, Alicia, and their Mom bought Jennifer the mattress for the crib and she will be able to buy some bed clothes for the crib with her plastic money. Diane is shipping her gifts to her as she had so much she couldn't take it on the plane. Between Texas and here, Jennifer is well set up to welcome baby Samantha into the world.

Jennifer stayed with us last night and, as I write this, Darla and she are on the way to the airport. Jennifer has a 9:40 flight to Vegas on US Air. I paid for her flight home and set her up on US Air. Southwest is great, but it is a cattle call and a pregnant lady doesn't need to be jostled around in that fight for open seating. US Air has reserved seating and will let her pre-board as well. Jennifer and I went out to lunch on Thursday and ate at Fat's Dim Sum Bar in Folsom. We had a great lunch and a great visit. Last night we sat watching some TV and the football game and Jen was trying to get me to feel Samantha kick. She never did for me, but Darla was able to feel a kick as they were sitting there. Jennifer looked over at me at one point and said, "Dad, do you think all of your hair will turn gray some day?" I looked at her and said, "Why, do you plan on moving back in?"

I think Darla and I will head to Vegas over Thanksgiving and visit the kids. We thought about heading up to Canada, but with our Hawaii trip in January, we wanted to be able to spend some time with Jennifer and John and Thanksgiving will be a good time for that.

I played in our club's Invitational this weekend and invited Pete from my office out to play. He does not have a handicap and is probably about a 20. We shot 35+37=72 in the 2 man scramble format. Pete played well and even made a 20 foot putt for birdie on our last hole that saved us both $10 as we had a bet with Steve Matthews and his cousin on the match. They also shot 35+37=72 and we finished well out of the money. We played in the Peoria flight and finished with a net 72. We had two bogeys, two birdies and the rest pars. The course is in great shape as they punched the greens about a month ago and it is in good shape. The course superintendent scalped the fairways last week so he could overseed for the winter. The lunch afterward was great with tri-tip, baked beans, salad and rolls for lunch. The chef at our club was an old Army chef and seasoned the tri-tip on Friday in rock salt, olive oil and marinade and let it sit until Sunday. It was fantastic. I also played on Saturday with Bob, Boyd and a friend of Bob's who was in from Minden, Nevada for the Invitational. I shot 42+41=83 on Saturday. The club gave away hats that said "RGC Invitational" as tee prizes.

This week is the Open meeting where we will vote for the club officers on Thursday night. I am running for President this year and also adopting a change to the By Laws whereby we will no longer pay the board members a salary, but pay for selected green fees as a perk. As president, I will receive 12 green fees a year. It is equivalent to about a $500 perk. We were concerned about running afoul of the IRS by paying salaries to our board and we are, after all, a golf club so what better perquisite that paid golf?

I have the Insurance Day tomorrow at the Sacramento Convention Center. The booth came in on Friday and we will be out there this afternoon to get the booth set up with our flyers and giveaways. I have to go over to Home Depot this PM and pick up the gift certificates. I'll buy 4 $50 gift certificates. This year I'm bringing the whole staff to the I Day. They will meet us there for lunch. The California Insurance Commissioner is speaking this year. After lunch, they will all tour the booths and put their business cards in for the drawings. The exhibitors give away some pretty nice prizes with a lot of gift certificates, but also I-Pods and portable DVD players and such. It will be fun for the gang this year.

I mowed the lawn this week and decided to vacuum up the leaves that fill my yard from the park across the street. The leaf vacuums are great, but always have iffy bags that attach. I was just about finished and vacuuming up the last of the leaves when the bag blew off the vacuum and the fine particles of leaves all blew up my nose and into my throat. I was literally gagging over the mess and hacking up some disgusting bile from my throat. I must have ended up scratching my throat pretty bad, because I'm still hoarse and people think I have a cold. I was bent over gasping for breath after the incident and looked up to see three little kids in the park across the street laughing their little buns off and pointing at me. Luckily I'm old and chasing them and pummeling them wasn't an option. I'll tell you, the life of Lyon is sometimes more than I can take.

I hope all are well. I'm off to Detroit and the Managers meeting for BW next week. I leave on Wednesday and will be back Sunday night. I'll be in the office Monday and then Darla and I have a week at the Tahoe Beach and Ski condos in Lake Tahoe. I look forward to some down time with Darla. Ciao.

Jesse and Lorrie's Wedding Weekend

We got Jesse and Lorie all married up!

It was a great FAMILY time in Austin. We had some great food, good drink, great conversation, played a little golf, and celebrated the wedding of Jesse and Lorie. The weekend went fast and it seems like a blur, but we packed an awful lot into a short time span and we are really glad we went. The only change I'd have made, is that I would have planned to fly in on Saturday and fly back on Tuesday.

Most of my readers were actually at the wedding so it would be superfluous to recite in detail the wedding and the trip, but these are my thoughts and recollections, so I will give you my impressions of the weekend. One of the things that touched my heart the most this weekend was the ladies getting together and throwing Jennifer a little impromptu baby shower. It was huge for me to see the love that you all so easily showered (no pun) on Jennifer and her excitement in being loved so much by all of you. Thank you Shirley, Cheryl, Janelle, Laura and Cake. We are truly blessed to have each of you in our family.

The wedding venue was very interesting and very auspicious. The grounds were beautiful and the weather turned out to be marvelous. The ceremony was just the right length and the party afterward was tremendous. I especially enjoyed the ribbing of "Roy" Brodigan and being able to celebrate their 56 years of marriage at the wedding of his grandson. The drive up to the grounds was a bit bumpy and reminded me of Mexico. I expected some roosters and a burro to come walking along on the road leading to the estate. The decision to bus the crowd up to the estate was a good one as that winding, dirt road was a drunk driving test in action. We had to wait a bit long for the bus when we were ready to leave, but it was a mild inconvenience.

We drove back to the airport La Quinta and Jennifer decided that she needed to get another bag for her trip as her bag was over-weight when she left Vegas and she had a bunch of baby gifts to transport. Her suitcase was so full and heavy that the latch was popping open. They let her get by with it in Vegas, but a tattooed pregnant lady is not so unusual in Vegas. She didn't want to push her luck in Austin, Texas. We found a 24 hour Wal Mart and found a small case that she could pack some things into. The souls that inhabit Wal Mart at 11:30 on a Sunday night are not a crowd that I generally run with. In fact it took us almost twenty minutes in line as the checker was handling food stamps and WIC certificates. We could have gotten through the line faster If I had announced that I was an INS officer and needed to get back to work. The place would have cleared out in a heartbeat.

I was able to get the gals dropped off at the hotel, return the car gassed up to Avis and get back by shuttle to the hotel within about 20 minutes and was in bed shortly after midnight. The girls were chatty and talking about the wedding and other things. I asked for quiet and was rewarded with a stream of water from Jennifer's water bottle for my trouble. Nice.

The office hung in very nicely while I was out and we finished September up in earned premium 124.4% over the September of 2006. We were also up 138% in written premium over the same month in 2006. The office is humming and it is a good time for me to be heading to Detroit for the Managers meeting. I leave on the 17th. We have our Sacramento Big I Day next Tuesday and I'm bringing the entire office out this year for the lunch and to tour the exhibits. I think it is important for the staff to see what an I Day entails and to see how we set up our exhibit. Also, the California State Insurance Commissioner is the keynote speaker for us this year.

It has been fantastic visiting with Jennifer the last few days. She heads over to her Mom's tonight and I plan to have lunch with her on Thursday. I have to go in and have my tooth fixed tomorrow ( I cracked a molar on the trip to Texas). Jennifer's shower is Saturday and I have golf both Saturday and Sunday morning. It is our annual invitational and I have Pete from work playing with me this year. Thank you, Darryl and Cheryl, for your hospitality and it was simply fantastic visiting with the family over the weekend. I hope all are well and in lockstep with the LORD. I will add some pictures from the visit to the blog tonight. Ciao.

The Boys Are Back!!

You can see that I've added some pictures of my office to the blog. I have (surprise) a golf theme to my office with over 120 logo golf balls displayed as well as pictures of the Princeville golf course in Kauai and Pebble Beach. I have pictures of the 7 th hole at Pebble which is the par three on the bluffs that I parred and the 5th hole at Pebble, which was redesigned by Jack Nicklaus after the last squatter on Pebble Beach finally sold their house and the Pebble Beach company was finally able to straighten out the hole. They used to have to play around the home that was built on the bluff, and when the owner finally sold, the hole was redesigned with the tee box where the home used to sit. I have items from St Andrews and The US Open at both Pebble Beach and Winged Foot from 2006 when my boss went to Mamaroneck , New York and saw the US Open and brought me back some memorabilia. The logo balls are 100% courses that I have played. I always have friends that want to pick up a ball at some course on their travels and give them to me, but I only display balls from courses that I have actually played. I learned that from Dad who used to collect beer cans and only would only display cans of a brew that he actually drank. Luckily, he wasn't picky. Just kidding, Dad.

The weekend was relaxing and I enjoyed watching the Dallas Cowboys dismantle the Chicago Bears last night. it looks like the team has finally turned the corner and much of the credit goes to Wade Phillips, who has instilled a more relaxed "team" approach to football, which for some players is a nice change from the drill sergeant approach of Bill Parcells. NFL football players in 2007 are completely different from players in the seventies and eighties, when Parcells was King of the league. I think the players respected him, but some players were afraid to play on instinct and skill because the Tuna would crack on them so hard if they made a mistake. the Cowboys seem to be playing with a freer and more athletic mindset and so far it is working. Fun stuff for Cowboy fans.

I talked to both Cheryl and dad last night as we prepare for our trip to Texas this weekend for Jesse's wedding. Dad told me that Darryl quit his job at FedEx two weeks ago and is interviewing with a firm out of New York and may be moving to Atlanta, Georgia. I knew that Darryl was frustrated and unhappy at FedEx, but didn't know that he walked away from his job. I guess his boss was tough to work for and Darryl had lost 25 pounds and was working 60 hours a week with his facility short staffed. He decided to quit for his health and because he hated what he was doing. I respect that immensely and know how much courage it took to walk away from a high paying job. Darryl will land squarely on his feet, simply because he always gives 110% to the job, and frankly he is good at what he does.

Things here at work continue to go well. We are up for September and should breeze to the sales award this month. Darla and I took the office's number one agency out to dinner on Friday night. The insurance agency is a husband wife team that concentrates on contractor business and we renewed a $300,000 account with them in August and I wanted to reward them. We had a great dinner at Ruth Chris' steakhouse in Roseville. Both of them are very funny and entertaining and Darla had a blast with them. There was a couple in a booth across from us that couldn't keep their hands off each other. It was completely out of place in a fine dining establishment and even more so because the couple consisted of two males and they were perched in the ultra conservative confines of Republican Placer County. I thought that if the barrister had turned a seltzer bottle on both of them, it would have been appropriate.

I did manage a game of golf this weekend, but one of our players arrived at the course and his electric window wouldn't slide back up. We could hear the motor running, but the window was somehow off the track. The weather was iffy with rain possible and he decided to run the car over to the dealer to get it fixed rather than stay and play. Priorities. Both Boyd and I said that we would have played golf and got the car fixed afterward. I would have run to the store and got some saran wrap and taped the window shut and run to the car dealer after golf. Our tee time was 7:50 and we were off the course by 11:30. Mel decided to take his new BMW over to the dealer and get it fixed. Somehow it wasn't covered under warranty and it cost him $400 to have it repaired.

I shot 43+39=82 to Boyd's 39+35=74, but we broke even on skins as I get 11 strokes to his 4. He beat me 1 up on the front and I beat him 1 up on the back with a tie on the overall. We decided to play match play in honor of the Club Championship just completed. My second place finish was worth $75 and I'm still smarting from the defeat. Next year. My only golf goal met this year was getting to single digits in my handicap. I should drop to an 8 after this month''s play. My scores over the last three weeks are 76, 79, 79, 79, 80, 80, 82, 82, 84. I also had an 85 at Whitney Oaks, but the slope is so much higher there. I will play Whitney again tomorrow with my friend, Bob.

Bob and Vicki had a huge scare last week with their daughter, Stephanie. Stephanie is 25 and lives in LA. She went in for a routine ob gyn appointment and they found some problem with her pap smear. They ordered some test, concerned about cervical cancer. They took some sections and had them analyzed and it was a false alarm. The relief is palpable and I offered to take Bob golfing to celebrate. I got a $24 deal with cart at Whitney Oaks and look forward to playing with Bob.

Our life group on Mondays is going well and we are just starting to study the weekly sermon more in depth. We are working on the book of Hebrews, which is heady stuff. Darla has only made it to one meeting and will have to miss again tonight as she has a meeting with her foster agency that she works with.

Well, folks, that is it for this week. The blog will be a day late next week as we will be in Austin, Texas for the wedding. I look forward to seeing the family and especially to seeing Jennifer and her unborn daughter, Samantha Paige. It will be nice to spend some time together. She will fly from Austin back to Sacramento where she will spend a week with all of us, culminating in her baby shower on Saturday , the 6th of October. Ciao.

Beautiful Weather!

This is the time of year when it is so nice to be a resident of Northern California. Our daytime highs are in the mid eighties with light breezes and overnight lows are dipping into the fifties for really great sleeping weather. The temperatures drop pretty fast when the sun goes down and it is really pleasant to sit with the windows open and a nice cool air seeps into the house and makes life worth living.

Darla and I were in the Monterey Bay area Thursday and Friday. She drove down with me on Thursday morning and I played in the Monterey Bay Insurance Agents golf outing. I sponsored a hole for $275 and got an entry into the tournament. The shotgun tournament started at 1:30 PM at Salinas Golf and Country Club and we had run a MapQuest for directions. Unfortunately, and I find this fairly often, the directions given were incorrect and we got stuck in the middle of Salinas hopefully lost. I was not handling the faux paux very well and finally we stopped at a small bank and the manager there got me directions to the course. I arrived at 1:10 PM and gobbled down a cold hamburger (they had a barbecue that was hot and fresh at 12 PM). I played with two guys from the Monterey bay area and one from San Ramon. My putter was on fire and we shot a 61, which won second place and a $50 Visa gift card. Darla had joined me for dinner at the course and the $50 gift card made it in to her purse and I haven't seen it since.

We stayed at the Centrella Inn, a bed and breakfast in Pacific Grove. The picture above was taken with my cell phone as we forgot our camera at home. I also took a cellphone picture of a family of deer that invaded my golf game at Pacific Grove Golf Links. Darla and I stayed in the upstairs bedroom on the corner of the house with bay windows that look over the street. It was a relatively small room with a big claw foot tub and shower, Victorian antiques, a nice queen bed, a beautiful old armoire and, best of all, no television. We slept in on Friday, cleaned up and went down for the breakfast. It was very nice with fresh fruit, cereals, pastries and a choice of blueberry waffles, oatmeal or an apple sausage and mushroom quiche that was out of this world. The inn was built in 1889 and has 23 rooms, including five cottages that can be rented individually. It was very nice and we will stay there again. The inn is two blocks off the ocean and within a block of the shopping district.

Darla and I took a drive down to the beach, stopped and watched three guys fishing for eel and watched one haul one in and then wrestle it into a catch bin. I heard them say they were going to have pan fried eel strips for dinner. It would take five or six of the Budweiser's they were drinking to get me to eat eel. There were two local inebriates on the beach and the local constables showed up and hauled the 270 pound black guy off to the clink, leaving his friend behind. Luckily the guy agreed to go to jail, because he was bigger than the three cops put together. We took a drive down to Cannery Row and shopped the outlet mall there where I got a few new golf shirts at Izod, a hat and some shorts and a new pair of dark blue khakis from Van Huesen. Darla had shopped the day before as I was golfing and refrained from spending any more money.

Darla had been rather upset with me on my last trip to Monterey when I'd left her several times as she was shopping and wandered farther along the shops and she had to hunt for me. She sort of let me have it and let me know that she felt that I was disrespectful for not staying with her or letting her know where I was. She had several articles of clothes and had gone in to the dressing rooms when I noticed the time and knew that our meter was running out. I was torn between feeding the meter and letting her know where I was. Luckily, I sprinted out to the truck just in time to meet the meter reader who was prepared to write me a ticket. I asked him if I was too late as time had run out on the meter and he said, "Do you have a quarter?" I produced the quarter and fed the meter and he said, "It looks like you have time left. Have a nice day." I shook his hand and thanked him. When I got back to the store, Darla was standing with her hands on her hips and a look of exasperation on her face. I quickly explained the situation and she was mollified to know we saved a $50 ticket.

From there we headed back the coast to Pacific Grove and had lunch at the Fishwife restaurant. I drove up the coast to Big Sur and we went into Carmel Highlands and saw the Tickle Pink Inn and the Highlands Inn, along with the spectacular view of the ocean from the cliffs that define Carmel Highlands. I dropped Darla at 5:oo PM at her hostesses' house where she put on a Silpada party. From there I headed back to Pacific Grove Golf Links to hit balls next to the ocean. They wanted $9 for a large bucket of balls and only $20 to play the course on a super twilight rate. I opted to play the course and played the inland front nine with two balls, shooting 40 and 39 on the par 35 nine holes. The course is immaculate and known as the poor man's Pebble Beach.

I also played the final weekend of the Club Championship and played our number one player on Saturday. Ben is an 11, but always comes to play in the match play format. He proved a tough opponent as I shot 39 to his 39 on the front and led by only one hole after nine. I played exceptionally on the back and shot 37, closing Ben out on number 15 (5 and 3). Sunday I played my friend, Steve, in the final and had shot 76 on Saturday to his 86. It seemed a mismatch, but that's why we play the match. I shot 40 on the front Sunday to his 39 and he led the match one up after nine. I parred 10 and 11 to his bogeys to move one up and then parred 12 ,13 and 14 to his par, par and bogey to go two up with four to play. At that point the match was over for the guys playing with us. They elected to continue to play out the round and that was a mistake for me. One of the guys was wild off the tee and kept sculling the ball over the green. It began to get under my skin that this guy was getting in the way of our match. I double bogeyed14 and then parred 15 to Steve's bogey-birdie to knot the match all square. I then pulled this other guy aside and asked him to just let us play. He argued that he'd paid his money and wanted to continue. I told him that when we reached the green, that Steve and I would putt and he could wait until we were through. He then took five shots to reach the green and I had to wait for him to hack his way out of the trees and ended up shanking my second shot into the trees and knocking the ball over the green and taking another double bogey to Steve's par and he had me dormie with one hole to play. One of the frustrating things about the match was that I "lipped out" six putts in the course of the round. I will often have one or two lip outs during a round, but the bug was on me yesterday. I landed on the 458 yard par four finishing hole in three and had a 25 foot putt for par and Steve had a 20 foot putt. I hit a perfect putt that rolled slowly toward the hole. I had my putter in the air and was walking toward the cup when the ball did a complete 360 and stopped on the lip of the hole right at the spot that it entered the hole. I conceded the match at that point and told Steve congratulations and that I was going to my car and head home lest I throttle the idiot that got in the way of our match. He was standing off the green waiting to hit his seventh shot onto the par four when we finished putting. He shot 29 over the last four holes to completely interrupt our match. It was my fault for letting him get into my head, but as I said to Steve on the last hole as he hit his sixth shot toward the green, "Doesn't this idiot have pockets in his shorts? Pick the damn ball up." It was a tough loss for me and even harder to know that If I had won even one hole over the last four I would have guaranteed a playoff. Was it a lesson learned? I don't know. I truly feel that I lost to an inferior golfer and that were we to play nine matches more, I'd win eight of them. I finished with an 82 to Steve's 81, but if even half of the lip outs had stayed in, I'd have shot a 79. Frustrating? I'd say so.

Well, work awaits. Our month is in full swing and we are leading the sales contest for the quarter that ends September 30th. Take care. Ciao.

Hot Days and cool, clear nights..we must be in Sacramento!!

Yep. It is starting to get almost cold overnight. We sleep with the window open on the bedroom and find myself cold in the middle of the night and cuddling up in the blankets a bit more. I drove into the office this morning with the headlights on (that's actually on in the Mustang, not another reference to the cold). That is depressing. I also noticed that it was almost completely dark by 7:45 PM last night. The pool temperature has plunged from a high in the nineties to just over 80 degrees. It is still nice, but I'm sure as the nights stay cool and the daytime temperatures start to drop, the pool will soon be done for the year and we will look forward to Spring again.



Darla took Daniel down to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this weekend and got him set up in his off campus apartment. They drove down Friday afternoon and stayed in San Luis Obispo Friday and Saturday night. The hotel had problems with the air conditioner in their room and instead of blowing cold air, the heater was on and the room was about 100 degrees when they checked in. The maintenance people came in and "fixed" the unit, installed an industrial sized fan in the room and the gang went out to dinner while the unit cooled down. They got back in the evening and the air conditioner had not been fixed properly and was still blowing hot air. They finally shut off the unit, opened the door and windows and ran the fan. They had trouble sleeping as the walls and floor were so hot and the fan so loud. The hotel dropped their price from $189 a night to $109 to compensate Darla and moved them to a new room on Saturday. It didn't make up for the discomfort, but they all slept well Saturday night in air conditioned comfort. I understand they even had COLOR TV in the room. Wow.



Alicia went down with Darla on the trip as our club had our club championship this weekend. Darla's parents, Earl and Frances, were in San Luis Obispo with their fifth wheel and they all met Saturday afternoon and went to dinner that night.



Sunday was a nightmare at the off campus facility, Mustang Village, as all of the incoming freshmen were checking into the facility. They opened at 8:00 AM and there was a line outside the door at 6:30 AM. Darla and Daniel got there about 8:30 and had an hour and a half wait to get his keys and then it was a nightmare of cars and trucks moving everyone in. She said she was glad I wasn't there and nobody is happier about that than me. Daniel met two of his roommates and one of the guys is about 6'3 and 250 pounds, a clone of Daniel according to Darla. This kid ( I don't know his name) has always been the biggest kid in his school and he was thrilled to meet Daniel. The other roommate is 6'4" and probably played quarterback in high school. The three of them made quite an imposing trio. Their fourth roommate hadn't checked in, but is a surfer type with long blond hair.



I had to keep myself occupied, so played plenty of golf while Darla was gone. I played Thursday with an agent at Whitney Oaks, which is a penal golf course designed by Johnny Miller. I humbled myself in fighting through that round of golf with a 45+41=86. It was what I needed going in to the qualifier on Saturday at DO. This was my first year playing in the scratch qualifier and I really didn't want to qualify, I just wanted to get in a practice round. I went four over in the first three holes and then relaxed and shot a 42+37=79 and almost qualified as there were 8 qualifiers and the highest score taken was 77. I was moved back into my own flight and flighted as the number 2 golfer in the flight (out of eight). That meant I took on the number 7 golfer, who happens to be my tax accountant and he was coming off three months inactivity with a broken ankle. What I didn't realize is that he still has the cast on his leg and played with crutches and a walking boot. It was a no win for me as he hadn't played a round of golf in three months and I was expected to beat him soundly. I shot 42 on the front to his 45 and was only up one hole ( I had to give him two strokes and we played match play.) He was sinking 25 foot putts like they were tap ins and he had me worried. I settled down after a talk with myself and shot 38 on the back for an 80 and beat him on the 14th hole 5 and 4. He tired on the back side and shot 46 for a 91. He told me thank you for beating him as he was so tired, he couldn't make two more rounds next week. He hobbled around the course and we had to hold his crutches and get his ball out of the cup. The way he played on the front side, it was like playing the Bionic man or something. As it was, I was needled for taking so long to put away a gimp, imagine if I'd lost. So I am on to the second round and play a guy who was in our foursome and also dispatched his opponent 5&4 on the 14th. He shot 42+38=80 as well so it should be a good match on Saturday. Ben is my opponent and he joined the club the same year I did and has been on the board with me. Bob Pando won his match and is in the hunt for the title of Club Champion in the scratch flight. Boyd lost 1 up on the final hole. Steve Matthews is in my flight and alive for the title. If we both win our matches on Saturday, we will play for the title on Sunday.



My webmaster quit on me last week. I have changed the By Laws of the club to eliminate salaries and make all compensation green fees only. I strongly believe that a volunteer club should not be paying it's board members a salary for their volunteer work. I reworked the By Laws to require the Board members to be at a fixed number of tournaments each year and the club will pay their green fees for those tournaments. The net savings to the club is about $600 a year and the board members who were not salaried will be given a Rose Card that gets them two free rounds of golf and a 10% savings on green fees and food in the restaurant. The webmaster was not at the board meetings where I discussed my proposal and it was agreed to by the board. He went off at the meeting where the proposal was brought before the board for a formal vote. He was particularly upset with me for not calling him to tell him about the By Law change and springing it on him at the meeting. He chewed me out during the meeting to the point that several board members attacked him for missing so many meetings. The proposal passed 13-0, but it didn't stop him from grabbing me in the parking lot and continuing to harangue me. I finally shut him down and went home. He sent the board a message the next day stepping down at the end of the year.



I immediately sent an e-mail to the club soliciting volunteers to work the web next year. I have three great candidates, including the current webmaster for the Department of Justice in Sacramento. I will interview each of them, but will likely pick him. The current webmaster will train him for the rest of the year and the new webmaster will take over in 2008. He will get six green fees during the year as compensation for his work on the board (a $240 stipend).



This week, I will be up in Redding tomorrow for the Shasta I Day golf event. Back in the office Wednesday and then off Thursday and Friday in Monterey for the Monterey Bay Insurance Agents Golf Event. Next weekend is two days of golf in the finals of the club championship. I will be traversing the state this week and will see a good number of our agents in these two events. Darla will go to Monterey with me and we are staying at a nice bed and breakfast in Pacific Grove Thursday night. The Victorian mansion was built in 1889 and we will be staying in one of the Victorian rooms with feather beds and antiques. It will be a blast. The website is http://www.centrellainn.com/.



We start our new Life Group tonight with Bob and Vicki Pando. It will be a mostly social gathering tonight as we get to know the new members of our group and set some guidelines for our group going forward. It will be nice to get back into the Word and being part of a life group after the break this Summer. It's also nice to have football back. I hope you are all well. Jennifer is fat and happy. Check out her blog at the link to the right of this entry. Dad and Shirley should be getting back from their trip this week and we look forward to seeing the family in Austin at the end of this month. Ciao.

End of Summer...Not quite yet!

We spent part of the weekend up at Bullard's Bar, a reservoir above Marysville and outside of Grass Valley. The lakes in our area, including Folsom Lake have released so much water that they are now 5 MPH only lakes and only fishing boats are allowed to dock at the lake. You can see by the picture of a brooding David that even Bullard's Bar is lower than normal as the water line on the dam indicates. The lake was really nice and even has a waterfall about 4 miles up the lake that adds a bit of serenity to the scene. I took the jet ski up to the waterfall and checked it out after some boaters on the lake told us about it. Bullard's Bar has boat camping and is a nice spot to relax. We found a nice flat spot on the shore and set up for the day with Earl's boat and our jet ski.

The outing was not without it's problems as we once again put the ski into the water without the drain plugs being put back in. We were driving from the dock out to the middle of the lake when I noticed Darla and Daniel riding low on the ski. I told them to pull it over to the shore and check the plugs. Sure enough, they were out and the hull was already up to about ten inches of water. David and Daniel were able to wrestle the ski up the bank far enough to let the hull drain and Darla bailed water out. The electrical never got submerged so we dodged a bullet and the ski ran great all afternoon.

I played two games of golf this past week, one on Thursday before our fantasy football draft for the golf club. I shot 40+41= 81 on Thursday and then shot 42+41 on Saturday in the Labor Day tournament. I had three birdies on the backside to go with two double bogeys and walked away out of the money in the tournament, but with $36 on skin money. More importantly, I improved my year long eclectic score to 67, down from 70 with the birdies. The eclectic is a tournament whereby we keep the best scores on each hole throughout the year and then use that score as a final tournament at the end of the year. Right now, with my 9.9 index, I have a net 56 in the tournament. I won it last year with a net 55 in my flight, so have a little work to do yet.

I was in Modesto on Friday and interviewed for a new Underwriting Assistant. I took the gang out to lunch afterward and Darla asked me to stop by her Aunt's house to pick up some jewelry that was sent there accidentally. She also asked that I stop by and see her Grandfather, Andy and his wife Liz, who live in an independent living facility up the street from her Aunt Tracy. I called Andy to ask if it was okay to come by and visit. His hearing is not what it used to be (he is 87 after all) and he couldn't figure out who I was, but finally said, "if you know where I live, come on over". We had a nice visit and I think they appreciated the company.

I have set up my trip to Torrey Pines in November. Darla won't go with me as she is so low on vacation time. I will bring my friend, Mel Padeirnos, along with Boyd and one of Boyd's friends. We fly to San Diego at 8:15 AM on November 9th, play Torrey Pines that afternoon at 12:40 PM, stay overnight and play a course in Carlsbad Saturday morning and fly home Saturday night at 6:00 PM. It is a quick turnaround, but should be a blast. The US Open is being played at Torrey Pines in 2008 and we wanted to have a go at the course before that. It will be more fun to watch the Open next year remembering having played the course. So, this year, I've played Pebble Beach, the 2009 President's Cup venue (Harding Park) and will play the 2008 US Open venue at Torrey Pines in November. It's all good.

I had a waterline break at the house last week. I was relaxing at the house on Monday talking to a friend on the phone, when some neighbors knocked on the front door. A sprinkler valve had worked loose from the inlet and I had a geyser spraying all over the front of the house and filling the front planter with about 8 inches of water. I shut the water down and ended up fixing the break on Friday afternoon. I had to hand water the lawn all week until I got it fixed.

We have once again set a new record at work for production in August and wrote $1,393,605 with $211,909 in earned income for the month. We were up almost 19% in earned income for the month. I will take the gang out to a rib restaurant up in El Dorado tomorrow. We also have Cora, Mel's wife, starting back with us this week in our personal lines department so we will have several events to celebrate tomorrow.

Darla is taking Daniel down to Cal Poly on the weekend to get him set up in his new apartment. They leave Friday afternoon and Darla will be back on Sunday night. I play in the club championship on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is scratch qualifying and I am in the scratch qualifier for the first time this year, but it is more a chance to practice for the championship that starts on Sunday. If I make the scratch flight, I will quickly go down to defeat at the hands of some 3 handicapper like Boyd or a 5 like Bob Pando. it will be a good experience and give me some stellar competition to prepare for the championship.

Daniel is coming by my office today and we will have lunch together. I am buying him a haircut with my Hawaiian barber who gives the best head and neck massage as part of his service.

Well, that is the news that is fit to blog to the moment. Have a good week. Ciao.

Sacramento State University is back in session and traffic is a bear!

This was an advertisement in today's Sacramento Bee for a company that instead of giving you a home equity loan takes a percentage of the future value of your home. I thought the concept was lousy, but the content was funny. How about you, Jen?


It took me forty minutes to get in this morning where it would normally take about 25 minutes on a Monday. Summer was great. I enjoyed the relaxed traffic and the slower pace, alas school is back in session. David headed back to school this morning and Daniel leaves for Cal Poly a week from Saturday. Daniel needs to get back to school. Inactivity doesn't suit him as sleeping and television are two of his favorite passions in life and those two activities are hard to praise as a parent. When I've been gone to work all day and come home and there is a package on the front porch, the empty trash can is on the street still and his lunch plates are in the sink because the dishwasher was done and is full of clean dishes, I just want to smack him upside the head. He is ready to head to college and I am ready to see him go.

I played in a golf tournament last week in the George Lucas area of San Rafael, near his Skywalker studio. The course is called San Geronimo and is a little enclave surrounded by horse ranches and family compounds. We played a shamble tournament in a cheese companies' charity event. One of my insurance agents' insures the cheese company and begged me to come out and play. We took third in the tournament and won $60 a man. The food and wine at this tournament were out of this world. They had food stations set up with oysters on the half shell, a fajita bar, a wine and cheese bar, a Chinese station and a barbecued lamb shanks station. The food was excellent and the wine and alcohol were flowing freely. I had a designated driver so enjoyed the Crown Royal that was pouring at the bar.

I also played this weekend in the qualifier for the Rose Cup. This qualifying tournament has become one of the most competitive tournaments of the year. I shot 39+40 = 79 on the day and was convinced that my net 69 was good enough to qualify. As it turns out there was a 63 which was a 75 shot by a 12 handicap, a 68 and four 69s. There are only four qualifying spots in my flight so after an hour delay waiting for the other groups to come in, the four 69s were back on the first tee for a playoff. I hit the long drive on the hole, but inexplicably duffed my 95 yard 52 degree wedge shot to the green. I played a second wedge to about fourteen feet. None of the other players hit the green on their second shots as the pressure was mounting. Steve chipped on to the green and hit the flag stopping 8 inches from the hole for par. Paul made his 16 foot putt for par and Bill missed his 15 foot par putt. I stood over my twisting left to right breaking putt and willed it into the cup. Bill was eliminated and we headed to number two. I hit a drive past the tree on the right side of the fairway, but came to rest in high grass. Steve hit his under the same tree and Paul went left under a tree on the left side of the fairway. Both Paul and Steve hit great shots up to the par five and were about 60 yards to the green. I should have hit a six iron back into the fairway, but instead took a hybrid 4 and duffed it to the right and into the tree line. I had to pitch out and put it on the green about eight feet for par. Steve AGAIN hit the flag on his chip and stopped about ten inches from the cup for birdie. Paul chipped to within sixteen feet and made the birdie putt. I missed the qualifying by a playoff. It feels bad, but I played my butt off. I even made the putt on the green after it was over. I am the first alternate and I told both guys (literally) to break a leg leading up to the tournament. Usually you can look back and find one hole where a putt should have gone in, but I look back over my 79 and see putts rolling in from fifteen feet and even one from 35 feet on the back side and know that I played as well as I could expect. It wasn't good enough, but I am the first alternate and if one of the four in my flight can't make it on October 5th and 6th, I will be there.

Darla and I had a relaxing day yesterday on the pool, just floating and sleeping and taking it easy. We walked to the video store last night to exchange some films and on the way back, Darla said "Let's jaywalk" as there was no traffic. We waited for the one car on the road to pass and started across only to both notice that the only car on the road was a Roseville Police officer. We both started across and just as quickly stopped as we saw the black and white patrol car at the same time. Here we are salt of the earth law abiding citizens and we almost jaywalk in front of a cop. We had a good laugh as we walked to the crosswalk and crossed the street legally.

I talked to Darryl and Cheryl last night about hotel reservations while we are in Austin. Cheryl has arranged for the Lyon family to stay with them and enjoy some family time before the wedding. I think Darla and I will stay, but get a hotel near the airport for Sunday night as we fly out early on Monday. Jennifer has a later flight and she can stay at the hotel until later. She will fly to Sacramento from Austin. She is coming home for a shower in her honor. I told her she should just stay in Sacramento as she has family here and John doesn't have any claim on her..it's not like they are married or anything. She wasn't completely amused at my prodding.

I have a golf tournament in Salinas on Thursday September 13th for the Monterey Bay Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers. Darla will join me and have two jewelry parties that same weekend. The only problem I have is that the club championship is going on that weekend and if I win my first match, I'll have to play on Saturday. We may have separate cars and I'll be up early to drive back on Saturday to make my tee time. My golf goals every year are to win my flight in the club championship, to qualify for the Rose Cup team and to get my index into single digits. So far, I am one for two.

It is Jennifer's 27th birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday, Jennifer. I hope you are all doing well and keeping God in the forefront of your lives. Ciao.

I saw kids going to school today..Is Summer Over Already?

We are back to work after an extended weekend. I took a mental health day on Friday and went with Darla to Monterey for a jewelry show. We drove down on Thursday night after my twilight league golf arriving in Hollister about 11:30 PM. Monterey had the Concours D' Elegance car show going on and the rooms were over $200 a night. We stayed in Hollister at the Best Western for $100. Friday we drove in to Salinas and had breakfast at the Black Bear Diner which is quickly becoming one of my favorite breakfast spots. The food is plentiful and the surroundings are great. From there we drove in to Monterey and walked around Cannery Row looking at the over-priced fare and having Darla actually buy an over-priced blouse. I'm good for about two minutes in those clothes shop. I'll look at the T-shirts with the sayings like "Am I actually intellectually superior or do I just have stupid friends?" Pretty funny, but not for $19.99. I wandered out of the shop where Darla was shopping and found a shop with country flags and car decals, etc. I was looking for a Canada grill plaque...not to buy it mind you, just to find it. Darla finished her purchase and then couldn't find me and I was in deep with her for about twenty minutes. Yes, I am an insensitive bastard. There I said it.

We went from there into Carmel and stopped at a gourmet deli and bought some Chicken Salad sandwiches to take to the beach. We drove down to the beach at the end of Foam street and relaxed. I fell asleep and Darla woke me to point out two European women who chose to change on the beach rather than use the rest rooms. I thanked her for waking me to see the show.

I dropped Darla at her hostesses house at 4:15 and drove over to Laguna Seca Golf Ranch to see if I could play some twilight golf. They wanted $53 for twilight with a cart. I asked the starter how much for a bucket of balls. There was almost no one on the course and he offered me a $15 NCGA discount and I jumped at it. I teed off at 4:55 PM and managed to get in 18 holes and shot 39+44=83. I struggled on the back as we were hurrying to finish the round. I put two balls in the water on the back and still managed a 44, so not too bad.

I played again on Saturday and actually ended up with a fivesome as one of the guys who called to say he couldn't make it, changed his mind the next day after I'd already filled his spot. We had two tee times and two extra guys, so I set up a third time for a twosome and played with my VP candidate, Rick Rusk. The guys in my original foursome/fivesome played two groups in front of me. I shot 42+39=81 and feel solid about my game right now. I will play in the Rose Cup qualifier on Saturday and hope to qualify for a spot to try to reclaim the Rose Cup for Diamond Oaks.


Darla woke up with a bruise above her left eye and a red dot in the white of her eye Sunday morning. She accused me of abuse, but I don't remember anything. You'd think if I rolled over and smacked her in the middle of the night, she would have woken up. Strange, eh?

Darla and I hosted a BBQ for our life group on Sunday and it was a good time. You can see from the pictures that we had good food, some singing and a nice prayer time. The group is praying for Jennifer and John as they prepare to have my granddaughter. Jennifer's mom, Diane, was in Las Vegas this weekend visiting Jen and John. The barbecue was fun and we even swam a little and got caught up with everyone after the Summer off. The Life Group is breaking in two as the Pandos and Darla and I will take on a new life group effective September 10th.


The boys returned last night from their trip to Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, etc. I hope they had a good time, but its not my idea of a vacation as there is no ocean and not a lot of golf courses on the agenda. They visited the Grand Old Opry, Graceland, Branson and Chicago on the trip.

I am planning a golf trip in November to Torrey Pines in Oceanside. Boyd, Bob, Mel and I will play the famous North course home to the 2008 US Open. We will fly out Thursday night, play Torrey and then spend the weekend in San Diego before returning to Roseville on Sunday.

I talked to Randy this weekend on the occasion of his 47th birthday. Chris is getting ready for his senior year of High School and attended 9 football camps this Summer in preparation for his senior season. His team, Colleyville, opens the season against the Division 2 state champions, one of only 2 teams to defeat them last year. So revenge is definitely on the agenda.

Dad and Shirley are off on their European cruise and will be gone for 23 days. They return home for a week and then head to Texas for five weeks with Darryl and Cheryl. We will see them briefly as we will be there for Jesse's wedding.

That is the news that is fit to blog, so until next week..Ciao.

FANTASTIC SUMMER!!

This has been literally one of the best Summers I can remember in Sacramento. We have hit 100 degrees maybe twice this year. I know that bragging on that fact and the reality that the State Fair starts on Friday will likely bring on a spate of HOT weather, but this has been one for the books. The California State fair traditionally brings on a run of hot weather as the tourists wander the mostly blacktopped fairgrounds in flip flops and sandals indulging in ice cream and fried foods as the temperatures rise and the heat stifles one and all. The forecast for the rest of this week is 94 degrees today, dropping into the eighties for the rest of this week and back into the low nineties for Saturday and Sunday. The fair opens on Friday, so we can expect those temperatures to rise over the next couple of weeks.

I have one of the stunt motorcycle shows at the fair insured again this year. The guy does flips and jumps rows of cars and lets go of the bike in mid air. I insured him last year as well and he dropped the bike when he was doing a no hands wheelie and it hit the fence and slightly injured one of the fair goers who was leaning against the fence. The State fair police are supposed to make sure that the crowds do not stand near the fence, but it is what it is. We closed the claim with a $1500 payout last year. Darla and I may venture out to the fair with the boys next weekend if the weather stays mild.

I was in San Francisco yesterday and couldn't get to updating the blog as we had to leave first thing in the morning and I had to have a couple of items handled by the staff., so here I am today. You can see by the pictures that Darla and I had a good weekend. We went up to Saddle Creek golf course in Copperopolis. It is a tremendous facility with a wonderful practice area and driving range, a beautiful clubhouse and grounds, but one dilly of a golf course. My friend, Boyd, who is a 4 handicap golfer and is used to shooting mid seventies and in June shot his age (67) at a valley golf course, struggled mightily and shot a 39+44=83 on the course. He had the best round of the group as I struggled to a 43+44=87 on the lightning fast greens and it went to 94 from there and on up to 138 for an 18 handicapper. Brutal golf, but just plain fun to be on such a well manicured and exciting golf course. Boyd and Charlie took the $50 first prize with a net 65 on the blind draw best ball and Freida and I took the $30 second prize with a 67.

The ladies went shopping and Darla lead the cavalcade with the purchase of two new belts and tops and a purse. We all met back in Plymouth at the Shenandoah Inn about 6:15 PM and the guys quickly showered and we were over to the Mexican Food restaurant next door buy about 6:45 PM for dinner. There were sixteen of us and we thoroughly enjoyed the food and margaritas as we celebrated Gary's 53rd birthday in style. We walked back to the hotel and all gathered in the pool area for strawberry shortcake. It was alot of fun.

We slept in a bit on Sunday and all met at the Dead Fly Cafe at 9:30 for breakfast before a run of wine tasting. The breakfast was fantastic and most of us left a good deal of it on the plate as they were large and delicious breakfasts. Mel and Cora met us at the restaurant and joined us for the wine tasting. Darla and I are not much for wine tasting. I enjoy a good Merlot with a steak dinner or a good Pinot Noir with chicken or seafood, but I can't tell a good wine from a $2 bottle of chuck. The group that we went with has three wine connoisseurs lead by Mel Padeirnos who used to work for the French government and was charged with importing wines for the commisaries all over France. They can taste the charcoals and oak and hint of berries and grasses. It is all a bit pretentious for me and Darla and I were on our way home after visiting four of the wineries. The group continued on and hit a total of ten wineries on the day. We were happily floating on our pool by about 2:30 PM on Sunday.

I play golf this afternoon at a country club in Roseville with one of my agents who also happens to attend Adventure Christian Church with me. We have been trying to get together for awhile and today is the day. It is a gloriously sunny day today and should be a great afternoon. Darla and I will meet with Bob and Vicki Pando tonight to plan our life group for this Winter. We are splitting off from our regular group and starting a new life group. Darla and I will host a barbecue on Sunday for all of the members of the life group. We will start up again next month and meet three Mondays a month. The members need to decide which life group they will attend.

I played golf with an inspection firm on Wednesday last week at a course in Davis, California (WildHorse) that I had never played. I had a really good front nine followed by a pedestrain back nine and shot 39+43=82. The course was unique in that they had a burrowing owl habitat scattered throughout the course. These burrowing owls are about a foot tall and are the cutest damn things you've ever seen. I was hittng out of the habitat (you can play it, just can't drive a cart into it) and two of the little guys were poking their heads out of the ground watching me. I had to step back and laugh, they were so funny.

Dad was in for a colonoscopy yesterday. He and Shirley leave for their European cruise on Saturday and he wants to make sure he is okay. The doctor wanted to do some precautionary lab work and we should know this week if there is anything to worry about. Pray with me that all is okay and they can get on with their trip.

Well, I need to get on to work as I haven't been in the saddle much this week. Be well, stay grounded in the Lord , and be thankful for the blessings in your life. Ciao.