Indian Summer in Sacramento

The temperature actually hit 100 degrees today on September 30th. It is supposed to hit 101 degrees tomorrow and then start a slow cool down that will see us down into the mid eighties by next weekend. I washed the car about a 1/2 hour ago and I'm still sweating. You can tell it is Indian Summer when you look at the leaves beginning to turn brown and fall from the grove across the street in the park. I watched the Ryder Cup meltdown by the Americans and NFL football today from my seat on the couch. Darla spent about an hour on the pool reading the latest Nicolaus Spark's novel. I was out on the pool yesterday afternoon after the golf and woke up in the shade that now hits the pool by about 4:00 PM.

I played golf yesterday with Darren, Boyd and Neil, having a good front nine (41) and a terrible back nine (45) and Darren and I lost $15 to Neil and Boyd. Boyd shot a 75 and Neil shot 88. Darren, my partner struggled to a 92 and we went down in flames. We did play the Power Hour special at 7:14 AM for $35 with a cart and range balls. Luckily I was flush after taking over $100 from my friends playing poker Friday night. There were only five of us and I won $110 and Steve won $150. The other three each lost precipitously. I had lost the last two or three games, so I didn't feel bad taking their money.

Darla and I went to dinner last night at Benihana with Neil and Lilly and we finally got to see their pictures from their Canada trip and visit with Dad and Shirley. Neil invited me to play Squaw Creek golf course next Sunday, so we will make the 90 minute trek up to Squaw Valley and the golf course. They close on the 15th of October for the season and Neil was given a free foursome that has to be used this year. I usually like to watch football on the weekends, but Dallas is off on a BYE week next week and I always like to try new venues.It should be beautiful.

Darren also told me that he won a $1400 golf package that includes foursomes at five of the top courses in Northern California as well as some golf equipment. he has invited us to join him at courses in Portola, the Capay Valley, Redding, Almanor and Graeagle. I look forward to those trips and we will take care of the travel and all of Darren's expenses on those trips.

In two weeks, we will take our annual trip to Monterey and will stay in Pacific Grove for two nights. The golf club is playing Poppy Hills (they will close for a full season next year as they upgrade and redesign a few of the holes on the course and put in a new sprinkler system) on Saturday and Carmel Valley Ranch Country Club. I'm planning to get there early on Friday and play 18 holes at Pacific Grove Golf Links as well. Darla always looks forward to this trip as she gets together with the wives and has lunch and goes shopping. We are staying at the Sunset Inn this year which is across the street from the Asilomar Conference grounds and near the hotel we stayed at with Darryl last year.

We closed out our month on Friday and finished September up 16% on the bottom line and about 7% on the top line. I now have 23 employees working for me and apparently we are making good use of the extra staff as the extra cost of their employment hasn't affected our bottom line. It is what Alan said to me when he visited the new office. His comment was I got you a top notch office, now you have to go out and recruit high grade employees and fill it up. I am really pleased with the last group of hires I have made and can see that those college graduates have really lifted the office to the next level. It is a much more professional group of employees. The younger folks are plugged into a social networking group with other young professionals put on by the Roseville Chamber of Commerce. they get together once a month for cocktails and appetizers at a local restaurant. they also have one learning event each month. In fact the chamber had a brown bag event this past Tuesday and I attended. The topic was "How to talk to your employees and how to coach them to greater success". It was interesting, but I met a partner at the largest architectural firm in Roseville and put David in touch with the firm. He is still looking for work.

My heel seems to be slowly getting better. It's still sore in the morning, but my doctor told me it would be like arthritis, in that it will be sore until I can walk it off in the morning. I still spend all day at work in my walking boot.

Darla finally got a call from our spa service and they were able to find a part for our spa and it will be in by mid week. We are both really looking forward to getting back into the spa, once the weather cools down. It is already much cooler at night and we actually haven't had our air conditioning on for the last month. It is nice to open the windows once the sun goes down. We run the whole house fan for about ten minutes and pull the cool air into the house and the warm air is forced out. You can stand in the foyer by the open front door and feel the breeze as the air is pulled through the house.

Well, that is the news that is fit to print this week. I hope all of you are in good spirits and ready to vote Obama out of office in November. Please. Wait, half of my audience are freaking Canadians. Jeesh. Ciao.

Is it Golf or is it Risking your Health?

 

The question is am I risking further injury to my heel by continuing to play golf? I suppose I'm not helping it to heal, but I have had it wrapped each day that I play and I wear the boot when I am at work or out in public. I don't have the boot on now, but I have been sitting on the couch all day watching football and napping. I am not kidding myself that I'm not slowing down the healing process, but honestly I can heal the ankle once the rainy season gets here.

 

The pictures above are of the home of the pre-invitational party that I attended on Tuesday night. The home is owned by one of the members at Serrano Country Club and is nothing short of fabulous. The home includes a four hole putting green, a 69 yard chipping green, a garden chess set with three foot tall chess pieces, a bocci court, a tennis court, a shuffleboard court, a pool house with three stories and includes a full kitchen, screening room, a second floor exercise room and a third floor outdoor patio with a fireplace in the center with 360 degree views of the country club and grounds.There is also an Olympic sized pool and a 12 person hot tub. The cherry on the sundae is a 3/4 mile two lane go kart track that was officially built as a running trail as the building department denied his request to build a go kart track. The owner is about 62 and has been retired for about 14 years since selling his successful dental lab business that he built up using talent from the Philippines to craft dentures. He became well known on the west coast for his perfect fit dentures and eventually sold out his business for 29 million dollars. He has since taken on a couple of more businesses, but still has plenty of time for golf. He had a putting contest and we put in $20 when we checked in and I was able to win 4th place and take home $100.

 

Gary and I struggled in the Invitational for the second time and decided that we will not play in it again. The big problem for both of us is the 6 and a half hour rounds of golf. I am a "tempo" golfer and play my best golf in about 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours. The 30 minute wait on tee boxes just ruins my momentum and destroys my continuity. I shot 85, 88 and 84 over three days and Gary and I finished 9th out of 12 teams in our flight. Gary shot 89, 92 and 90 and is a 9 handicap the same as me. Our club has a slow play rule and we enforce it by using time clocks and holding our golfers to 4 hours and 40 minutes OR you must finish within 15 minutes of the group in front of you. If you don't, you are penalized 2 strokes per player. At SCC, the owners are GOD and the pro and his staff have no control over the owner members, who can hire and fire him at will. IF I had played in the Invitational as a prelude to joining the club, I wouldn't. I told Gary to tell them that I was considering joining the club, but when the rounds were so ridiculously long, I backed out. By the way, don't ask me to explain the picture of Gary with the coyote. I just took the picture and who am I to judge him? It was taken on one of the holes where there were five groups backed up on a par three.

 

Work is going well and I'm off to the Manager's meeting next month in Detroit. Matt will join me this year as he is one of the Management Program participants and they have all been invited to the meeting this year. He asked if he had to sit in on the Sacramento review with Alan this year. He won't. Matt called me on Friday as I was playing in the Invitational. One of the employees had accidentally pushed the button on our coffeemaker twice and it overflowed and kept running. The shut off valve for the water is under the counter behind the built in dishwasher (well designed, eh?). They ended up calling the property manager and they came up, pulled the dishwasher and turned off the water. The coffee service came out and reset the coffee maker and the water was turned back on after the overflow was extracted and cleaned up. At that point, the property manager couldn't get the plug for the dishwasher plugged back in and the message for me was that the plug was too short. Really? It's all plugged in, they unplug it, pull it and then the plug is too short when they go to put it back together? I told them to have the TIB contractor come back out if they couldn't get it fixed and magically, they were able to get it to work. That HAD to happen while I was out.

 

We are still waiting for the part for our hot tub and Darla, who was off Friday, went over to the spa service and raised some noise. They promised to get on their suppliers this week and we'll see. As soon as the weather cools, I will be ready for the spa, so they better get on it.

 

I agreed to one more year on the golf club board as the handicapper. Neil was asked to be Tournament Director again next year and he agreed on the condition that I continue on as the handicapper.We were asked to serve by the Vice President. This was all a bit premature, but the Vice President of the club was elected President on Thursday night for next year and we are now on the hook for this again. I enjoy working with Neil and vice versa.

 

Darla was gone for two nights Monday and Tuesday in Pasadena for her job with Alta. She was able to have dinner with Daniel's girlfriend, Becky on Monday night. She was home by 7:30 on Wednesday night and I got home shortly after as I had to go sign in over at Serrano for the Invitational. I received $175 credit with Titleist as a tee prize and bought two shirts, a pair of shorts, a dozen Pro V1s, a golf glove and a pair of socks for my money.

 

Darla and I did go over to the Country Club on Saturday night for the final dinner and awards and we only stayed about an hour. We don't know many people at the club and Gary didn't show for dinner. The women were over dressed and the men were over served and we had a drink, enjoyed dinner and got out of there. I don't think we are country club people. Neither of us are particularly self important and don't really fit in with the crowd.

 

Well, that is it for this week. I hope you are all well. I'm back to the boot this week and hope to have this cured by mid October. be well. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the road to recovery

Just a couple of pictures of Pete and Vicki from our Sports bar trip last week and a new armoire Darla bought for the kitchen to hold our toaster and toaster oven as well as other kitchen related gadgets and linens.

Football was a little more fun last week than this week with Dallas laying an egg against a pretty bland Seattle team. I'm watching the game and relaxing and get a text from my brother in law saying "Go Seahawks!" Who does that? Oh, I guess someone who is a Kansas City Chiefs fan and has no team of note to root for, so knocks every one else's team. I already de-friended him on Facebook, now I guess I'll have to blacklist him from my cell phone.

This week was a real test for my Achilles as I had three golf games. Frankly, my heel was sore on Tuesday after the golf, less so on Thursday after golf and I had no pain after yesterday's round of golf. It was all scramble golf, which is not my favorite, but fun in a business sense. We shot 61 on Tuesday and were out of the money, 62 on Thursday and were out of the money. Both of those were 4 man scrambles. Matt and I played in a 2 man scramble on Saturday and won low gross for the entire 72 man field with a 64. I did take a cart in each of the events which kept the stress off my foot. I showed up Saturday and had my push cart ready to go, but the starter in the pro shop told me that I had to take a cart as Matt had already told them i had a bad foot and we would be riding. Nice to have my Mom out there with me.

I will be playing three days again this week with one of my agents, who has invited me to his Invitational event at his country club in Serrano. The event is a lot of fun with betting, three days of golf, tee prizes galore including golf shoes, sunglasses, shirts, hats and golf balls. It will be fun and all starts with a pre-tournament party on Tuesday night.

Darla was at a Chili cook-off and car show on Saturday. The event charged $75 for the chili chefs or $300 for a vendor, so she decided to cook chili and then have her jewelry available for sale as well. She went out and bought about $75 worth of ingredients and loaded up our camp stove, the tank of propane and her tables, pots, pans and chili ingredients at 6 AM. When she and Missy arrived in Rocklin, they began to set up their little table and camp stove and pretty soon they had shade all around them as the food trucks and mobile restaurants started to set up. Their neighbors had full kitchens with generators and chef costumes and paces to sit and enjoy their chili. Darla was the only chili vendor there with a camp stove and 5 quart pot. The others had multiple burners, 50 quart pots and giant cans of tomatoes and sauces. She said she had never felt so out of place. She quickly packed up her gear and Missy and her were laughing uncontrollably on their way out to breakfast. I guess it was a lesson learned.

Darla leaves for Pasadena tomorrow and a seminar for her work. She will be there until Wednesday. She has tomorrow night free and will meet Daniel's girlfriend, Becky, for dinner tomorrow night.

Darla and I have set up a trip to Hawaii in November for the boys. We promised them a vacation and have it worked out with Dan's work to go November 12-19th. We will be in Kona at the Kona Pacific Condominium resort in Kailua-Kona, HI. It is a 2 bedroom, 3 bath condo a block up from the ocean. We'll be on the fifth floor and have a view of the ocean (see below). We'll also be about a mile from Darla's brother's house and a ten minute walk to Wal Mart and town. Darla's parents will also be in town so it will be a chance for the boys to have a last family vacation with their extended family (other than our annual trip to Almanor, which hopefully they will plan for). We fly from SF on 11/12 and return the following Monday. We had hoped to bring Samantha and Jennifer, but they needed some financial help with bills and her car, so maybe next time.

Jennifer was moving in with her friend in Vegas this week and I hope that goes well for her. I have some reservations about the whole move, but she is 31 years old and makes her own decisions in this life.

Well, that is it for this week. I need to get to a nice tri tip that Darla has waiting for me to grill. I will check in with all of you next weekend. Be well. Ciao.

Taking it Easy, Trying to stay out of a Cast.

It has been a boring weekend without golf. The weather is nice in the low nineties and I've enjoyed relaxing on the pool both yesterday and today. Darla has been in absentia parts of both days, yesterday with an event at a local hospital and today at a home party in Auburn. I went yesterday and met her at 5 PM, so I could help her load her jewelry back into the car. She had two cases and three bags of jewelry and couldn't leave it sitting in the lobby. I drove over and helped her load up. we came home and then went to church. I spent Saturday in my light brace and my foot was sore this morning, so I spent today in the boot and it feels much better. Obviously, with the metal braces built into the boot, the support is much better. I've been really good this week only taking the boot off to drive to and from work and to sleep at night. I've put the light brace on when I'm driving.

This week will be a tougher test as I have golf on Tuesday up in Redding and on Thursday. Both are scrambles and I'll be in a cart, but hopefully I don't undo all of the good that I've done this week.

I took the staff out this week for our budget lunch. We went to Buca Di Beppo and enjoyed two salads, two pasta dishes served family style with bread and drinks. Some of the staff really enjoyed it but I heard some buzz of a few complaints. It still amazes me. It may just be the way I was raised, but when I first started in business, if my boss took us out to lunch I was thrilled. When it was announced I don't recall asking where we were going or what the menu was. The attitude of entitlement never ceases to amaze me. I guess they are all Democrats.

Our hot tub is still on the IR as we are waiting for a diverter valve from the manufacturer to be delivered to the spa repair facility. Darla and I are anxious to get back on our spa schedule as a nice hot soak before bed helps both of us sleep. I talked to the repair place last week and they have no idea when the part will be delivered. Nice.

Darla has been doing a lot of work with her jewelry business lately. They have a sales incentive on that will pay a $15,000 bonus if she hits it. I wouldn't put it past her. She finally had one of her consultants reach a Star Leader level, which increases the consultant's rate of pay and gets Darla closer to another level with the company.That consultant will also join us in Hawaii in January. She continues to do well.

The two parties' conventions are now in the books and the difference between the candidates is crystal clear. It is partly the party lines with the Dems being Big Government and the Republicans ideal of small business as the answer to our problems. BUT...Obama is the embodiment of a government employee who believes that the government should run everything and knows better than the populace. Romney is a man who has run businesses and knows that the well being of a populace is based on their ability to work and take care of their family. It isn't standing in line for a government hand-out that gives a person a sense of accomplishment, unless you have grown up in a family that was on welfare and on the dole. Then you don't know any better. Obama has created an entire generation of people that have been on government assistance for years. He has worked hard to take the work element out of Clinton's Welfare to Work program. It is astonishing that people still want to hear what he plans to do to improve the economy. He's had four years and has failed miserably. It is time for real Hope and real Change. Political Ads have changed from discussing issues to being about attacking your opponent. The one thing that is missing in those ads is TRUTH. It is now all about winning and not campaigning. It is disgraceful.

Obama decided to tell the convention hall that they are now better off than they were four years ago. About the only people who believe him are union workers, the unemployed and illegal immigrants. IF he is re-elected there will be alot more illegals, union workers and the unemployed. The sad fact is that there are now a whole group of adult Americans that are nothing but a drag on the system. The more we give them the more they want and they refuse to give anything back or work for their handouts. The DNC spent a lot of time crowing about Obama saving GM, but if you look at the facts, he was pandering to the auto unions. IF GM had gone into bankruptcy, they could have dissolved their union and then started paying their workers a living wage and dropped all of the guaranteed pensions. Instead, we paid billions to the car companies and the unions still threaten to strike for more pay and better pensions. I think we just delayed the death of the auto system by ten or twenty years.

It has been a good first week of the NFL, with Dallas beating the Giants in an upset and several other decent upsets, including the Niners upset of the Packers. Darla had a party at the house on Wednesday night and I got thrown out. Luckily, the young folks in the office all planned a night at a sports bar and they let the old man show up as well. I came home about 9 PM and was hoarse. We had a great time.

Well, I don't have much. I'll be back next week with tales of my travels this week. Hopefully my Achilles holds up well this week. Be well and I'll check in on the blog next weekend. Ciao.

I have been warned to stay off my feet

I guess it is more of the same on the pictures, but a couple more to keep our memories fresh. I did bang my Achilles again in Vegas and needed to see my doctor this week. I originally injured my foot playing racquetball with Darla over four months ago and was hoping that the injury would heal itself. I wake up every morning and limp into the bathroom and stay with my right foot essentially frozen until the blood starts flowing and everything un-stiffens. My doctor said it is the same as arthritis where the joints are so fused in the morning that people can't even use their hands. I had banged my heel on the door jamb of the rental car and a fresh round of pain coursed through my body and I decided it was time to get some help. I went to the medical center on Wednesday and she sent me down to x-ray to get a look at the heel. Essentially the Achilles has come loose from my heel and is "floating". She wanted to cast my foot right then, but I had the 18th week of my twilight golf league on Thursday night and then the Labor Day golf event on Sunday. She wasn't impressed with how seriously I was taking the injury and told me that I had three weeks to see some improvement in my heel or she would put me into a cast. The Achilles needs to rest and hopefully it will reattach itself if I can stay off of the foot and not work it loose again. I am wearing the walking boot whenever we are out and I keep my foot up when I am at home.

We were out to church and then dinner on Saturday night and when we went into Mary's Pizza Shack, we sat in a booth next to a woman in a walking boot. I leaned over and said, "I can feel your pain" as I walked past. I excused myself and went to wash my hands and Darla was giggling when I got back. Apparently, the woman had a complete heel replacement 15 years ago and has been in her boot ever since. Leave it to me to insert my walking boot into my mouth when we are in public.

Steve and I did play for first place in the league againts a husband and wife team going for a three-peat in the league. We beat them pretty handily closing them out on the 8th hole with two pars and winning the league. We all went out afterward to pizza and I put my walking boot on and kidded them about losing to a gimp.

Darla and I were supposed to go to a Labor Day barbecue this afternoon, but Darla has events every night this week and wasn't feeling up to being gone tonight. I think if the event had been held over the weekend, we would have been there. The hosts both played in our Labor Day golf event and decided to have it today at their house in Granite Bay.

The Labor day golf tournament was different for me in that I used a power cart in order to stay off my foot and I had the heel bandaged with an Ace supporter. I must have looked like quite the athlete, with a tendinitis brace on my left arm and an ace bandage on my right leg. Age is somewhat humbling, but I recall Darla telling me to play racquetball because I didn't work up enough of a heart rate when I golf. True, but I had never injured myself golfing either, other than the tendinitis, which actually started years ago when I still played softball. I managed a 42+42=84, which wasn't really bad or good and gave me a net 74 with my 10 strokes (I'm at a 9.8 index now).

It will be difficult, but I will lay off golf next weekend and wear the walking boot for the next three weeks and the Ace bandage when I can't. I have two charity golf games next week, one in Redding and the other here in Roseville and I will take carts at both of those. My biggest concern is that one of my agents has invited me to play in the Serrano Invitational again this year. This is the three day event that cost $1800 per team to play and includes shoes, shirts, golf gloves, golf balls, sunglasses, cigars, pens, hats and all the free food and drink you can consume while you play. My agent, Gary's, wife will be out of town during the event, so we will go stag this year. Darla, Kelly and Gary and I were going to attend a pre-event party at a 21,000 square foot home at the country club, but now Darla will be in Pasadena at a work conference on that date. I think it could have been a great event for Darla's Silpada business as those ladies will drop $1000 on jewelry without batting an eye. Oh well.

I need to be serious about healing. If I end up getting a cast, I won't be able to drive as the cast will be on my right foot. Darla doesn't seem all too thrilled about the concept of chauffeuring me around town. I'm sure I can get a ride home from work, but she would have to drive me each morning. I'd like to avoid that as I would have the cast on for a month.

Darla and I spent some time on the pool today reading and relaxing after the golf finished up this afternoon on TV. I was winding down finishing up my chapter in the shade of the umbrella in the far end of the pool when I heard Darla yell and then a splash. A bee had landed on her and stung her thigh and she overreacted, flipping her pool lounge over and dropping her book into the water. She was not too thrilled that I found the entire episode slightly amusing.

Jennifer and Samantha ended up in Southern California this weekend with her mother at Disneyland. Sam had lunch with one of the princesses at Disneyland and Diane and Jennifer ran in the Disneyland half marathon on Sunday. Jennifer has been working every night up to when she left on Saturday morning and she texted me that she had worked 15 hours on Friday and another 16 hours on Tuesday, her birthday. It seems like it is feast or famine in her job.

We finished the month of August up another 12% at work and the additions to staff have all panned out pretty well. I have one issue with one of the new employees and attitude, but seemed to get through to her that a pleasant demeanor with one's work mates is the smartest road to happiness in the work place. Her argument that " I thought I got paid to work, not make friends" didn't go over very well with me. I reminded her of her interview and the focus that I had on TEAM and that any additions to staff would have to mesh well with the team as we had things really rocking. she kind of shrugged and said, "oh, yeah." I told her this was an opportunity to do a U turn and make amends with her coworkers and I saw her doing just that on Thursday and Friday. Hopefully, that continues. I've been very lucky in my recent hires and it is hard to hit a home run every time. I will take the staff out to lunch this Thursday at Buca Di Beppo in Roseville to celebrate another month of being above budget. I suppose a $300 lunch is  cheap price to pay for continued success.

I put some items for sale this past week. I had two golf clubs, two golf bags and two golf carts. I put the clubs on eBay and the carts and bags on Craig's list. I had a Cleveland 7 wood that I thought I'd be lucky to sell for $25. I had put it up on Auction with a Buy It Now option of $69 and it sold the first day. I have a lightly used Titleist Vokey 60 degree spin milled wedge for $89 BUY It Now or auction and it went to auction with a 5 bids and a current price of $50 with one day to go. I hope to get $75 for it. I sold one bag Saturday for $25 and the rest of the lot yesterday for $100. So, for a bunch of left over golf equipment, I should hopefully clear $269. Not bad, and I cleaned out the garage.

Well, there are two seasoned rib eyes sitting on the kitchen counter awaiting my barbecue skill, so I will work my way over to the kitchen and out to the gas grill in the backyard for some medium rare deliciousness. Be well and I will check back in next weekend. I'll be bored, so prepare for quite an epistle.

Back from Las Vegas

 

Back from Sin City with great memories and a good visit with Jennifer and Samantha. Jennifer has woken up and smelled the coffee and realizes that she cannot leave Samantha and has to work out her debt issues the old fashioned way, with hard work and perseverance. Our trip was great and the venue at Circus Circus was perfect for Miss Samantha as we got to enjoy the circus acts, midway and games. It is far enough from the busy section of the strip to actually feel like you are at a resort rather than just another notch along Las Vegas Boulevard. the weather was HOT (it is the desert after all), but there was some wind and even overcast on Saturday as a small band of monsoonal moisture moved over the Vegas area.

 

Our trip started out early on Friday morning as we were up at 3:45 for the drive to the airport and our 6 AM flight. Even leaving that early it was almost too late as we got stuck in the luggage line, the shuttle line and then the security line. we finally made it through about 5;45 and were running to catch our plane. We got the absolute back seats in the plane and were surrounded by 30 something revellers who were hooting and hollering at 6 AM. They started drinking Jack Daniels and soon their language devolved into cursing and the guy in front of me kept going into the back kitchen area and stealing bottles of wine. The flight attendants were all busy and he kept getting up and putting the little wine bottles into his hat and bringing them back to this gang. He thought he was quite the Man and at one point, one of his friends leaned over and apologized to Darla and I as we were trying to sleep. The thug leaned over and yelled, "You don't apologize for partying, dude!! Vegas, Vegas, Vegas!" All very immature and a little embarrassing. His wife was turning 30 and he was emotionally turning 14 apparently. 

 

We got into Vegas at 7:30 and Jennifer was just getting off her graveyard shift at work. She laid down to sleep and Darla and I got the rental car and headed to breakfast. We went to he Black Bear Diner and then out to buy groceries for the room (fruit, water, chips and snacks). We then drove back to the strip and parked in the garage and took a nap, waking up drenched in sweat and running the a/c. We finally checked into the hotel at noon and then headed over to see Jennifer and Samantha. Jennifer was having her truck worked on by a friend and would join us for dinner, and we packed up Sam and headed over to the Circus Circus and we went to the pool. Jennifer continued with her car problems and had to cancel dinner with us. They finally got the car running and she went in to work. We went to the pizzeria at Circus Circus with Samantha and then went up to see some circus acts. We ended the night with some ice cream and Sam was all smiles. We told her that she could have ice cream if she ate all of her pizza and she hugged us both.

 

Jennifer came over to the Circus Circus about 1:00PM on Saturday and we spent the afternoon together. We took Samantha out to breakfast and then went shopping for a new dress and shoes for her. We bought her the blue dress with the blue hair band.

 

Saturday afternoon we also met Linda, Jennifer's next door neighbor and her daughter, Ashley. Jennifer is getting out of her apartment and they are moving in together into a three bedroom apartment. Sam and Ashley will share the master bedroom and Linda and Jennifer will each have their own room. Ashley is 13 and loves Samantha. Linda is 52, a former fitness instructor who is now disabled because of back and neck injuries. Linda is willing to watch Samantha for Jennifer and save her over $350 a month in child care. They will also save $175 each on rent and share expenses.

 

Linda and  Ashley came over and we all relaxed by the pool before heading to dinner at the Rock and Rita's cafe in the Circus Circus. That is a picture of Samantha and Jennifer on the commode at the entrance to the restaurant. We went up to see some circus acts after dinner and Jennifer treated Sam to some midway games. Jennifer tried to pop a balloon with a dart and when she couldn't, Sam tried and popped the balloon to win a Shrek stuffed animal! They tried skee ball and those blasted rings that you try to throw onto a Coke bottle that never works. We were leaving and there was a game that had rubber chickens that you had to launch from a catapult into pots turning on a stage. We all tried and failed and then Ashley won Samantha a little stuffed animal that was her favorite. She kept showing us and telling us that "Ashley won this for me!" At one point Jennifer called the guy over and said she was missing one of the chickens, it was three tries for a dollar. It turns out Sam grabbed it and though it was her prize.

 

Jennifer had to go into work again and she was back by about 5:30 Sunday morning. We all got up and headed to breakfast and then to church. Jennifer went to the church on Easter and Linda wants them all to start going on a regular basis. We went back to her apartment afterward where we planned to spend the day relaxing by the pool before going to dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy on the strip. Jennifer got called into work and we had left her truck at the casino garage. I ended up driving her to North Las Vegas where she had to pick up a "sniffer" (a sensor for gasses). I then drove her to her office where she picked up a truck and then headed over to her warehouse to get 2 blowers for use clearing out a vault where communication lines are installed. I headed back to the apartment about three and Jennifer was back by 4:30.  Jennifer thought she would have to work Sunday night, but the job got called off, so she was able to hang with us after dinner.

 

Monday, we were driving to breakfast with Jennifer and Sam following us and Jennifer's car started acting up again. She wanted to take it to a mechanic a friend of her knew, but I told her to take it to Firestone. They found a loose ignition wore and tested the electrical to find a bad fuel pump. I had them replace it with a new one and paid the bill for her. She promised to pay me back, but I will stand in line behind her other creditors. we dropped the car and I took them to lunch at Marie Callendar's. We ate lunch and then had them bring Jennifer a cupcake with a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday. We went to the pool for about an hour and then went back to the apartment to watch a movie (Tangled) with Samantha. We then had to head to the airport for our flight back.

 

It was a good trip. Sam is doing well. Jennifer is struggling financially as most single Mom's do, but her work has two new contracts that should keep them busy through the Winter. She has started night school and is back on days at work with weekends off as the fiber side of the shop has a new big contract and that is Jennifer's specialty. We are praying that the relationship with Linda and her daughter will be a good one for Jennifer and Sam and she will be able to dig out of the hole she is in. Jennifer and Sam head to Los Angeles this weekend and w=Jennifer will run with her Mom in a half marathon and Samantha will go to Disneyland for the first time and have lunch at  the castle on Saturday with Tinkerbell (or some other character). It should be fun for her.

 

Well, it is late on Wednesday night. Darla is due back from a party soon and I worked on the lawn, pool and garden this evening and haven't even eaten dinner. I should have something light before bed. I hope you are all well. We miss you. By the way, did you see that I hit 10,000 visits on the blog? Pretty amazing over the last 10 years. My first blog post was December 16, 2002. Ciao.

VEGAS next week

I will be happy to be in Vegas next week. Jennifer has been having a rough time of it lately. Her hours have been spotty at work and she has had a tough time making her bills. She feels like she just can't catch a break and it's been hard for her to be on her own completely with no one else to help with the bills. She has been enticed with an opportunity to go overseas for several months and make some good money, but conflicted with leaving Samantha behind. She is scared and stressed and needs some time with family to sort things out. I will be there to listen, give advice if it is asked for and just to love her and Sam unconditionally. I feel for her stuck in Vegas with John and his family entrenched in Sin City, a city that has really felt the pinch of unemployment, the housing crash and a slow economy. The failed policies of Barrack Hussein Obama are felt more keenly in a town like Vegas, a city that has little to no economic activity outside gaming and the infrastructure that supports it. She has needed our help to get by recently and is embarrassed and frustrated and wants a quick fix to a problem that has been long in the making. We will sit and talk next weekend.


Hopefully a change is coming in November, but it is hard to be positive as this administration has been one large teat, using our kid's inheritance as a sucker for the unemployed, the welfare recipients and even the big banks that created their own problems. Obama has the lower class, the blacks, the Latinos and the government employees in his hip pocket and it is a long, uphill battle for the Republicans. The answer to our problems is support for small and mid sized businesses that will be the engine that drives employment and prosperity in this company, not taxation of the rich and middle class. That doesn't work and our spending policies are out of control. The current administration is a serious concern for the future of this country as a super power. The one thing keeping us alive right now is the US dollar's use as a trading currency. That is in real jeopardy as China, Saudi Arabia and other countries are refusing to accept dollars as a trading currency instead using the Euro to complete their international transactions. Most oil is now priced in Euros as OPEC has abandoned the US dollar as a trading currency. It's scary and you wonder if the Manchurian candidate Obama is reeling us all into his plan to destroy America. This is all documented in the new movie "2016" that is having a limited showing in cities with a population of thinking Americans. It is getting heavy play in conservative areas like the Midwest and south. The Republican ticket may not be perfect, but the alternative may be the end of America as a super power in world politics.

That is a sunny beginning to a blog entry, eh?  I have serious doubts about the intentions of one Barrack Hussein and see ObamaCare as a huge ticking bomb that will implode in this country and take away all of the democratic and American freedoms that this country represents. Once a government begins to dictate to the people and we lose our free will, we become servants to the government, instead of the government being there to serve us. We have veered way off on the wrong tack and we are drifting toward the rocks. I pray that we can save this country and the future of our kids and grand kids before it is too late. Obama is popular, but so was Hitler and Mussolini.

We had an interesting sermon this morning on the perils of ignoring the teachings of the Bible and doing things our own way. Pastor Rick had an interesting point that Buddhism mirrors the thoughts and viewpoints of Siddhartha, Mormonism follows the thoughts and viewpoint of Joseph Smith and that the Muslim faith follows the teachings and viewpoint of Muhammed. The only religion that has a differing viewpoint is Christianity, it teaches good and evil and warns against having false gods in our lives. CS Lewis wrote: "Anything we make into a god eventually becomes a demon." So true.  All of this ties into what is happening in America today. Moral and religious confusion leads to war and civil war. Civil war leads to loss of life and loss of life leads to loss of personal rights. We are traveling down a slippery slope right now and need to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

I'll climb down off my soap box now. I saw Neil yesterday and we played golf together. We rode together in the same cart and I got the Reader's Digest version of his vacation. they had a total blast up in Vancouver with Dad and Shirley and he couldn't stop raving about them as a couple and as hosts. They got to see Langley and enjoyed the car show in Cloverdale immensely. Neil was retelling the story of driving the 44 Mercury to the car show and how careful he was and then the crush of humanity as they left the show later and how his heart rate spiked as   he drove the several miles back to Surrey. He loved the car show and the time spent with Dad that day. Shirley and Lilly took off and shopped the stores of Cloverdale and the whole gang ate both breakfast and lunch in Cloverdale. Dad and Shirley talked them into staying an extra night and they got to take the SkyTrain into Vancouver and saw the steam clock and other attractions. Neil was tickled pink with the trip. another highlight for them was Mount Rushmore that Neil said was a stirring sight at night when they turn the light on the mountain and play the National Anthem. They enjoyed Yellowstone National Park, but it was really smoky from the forest fires. Neil asked one of the rangers when the smoke would clear and the answer was "not until the first snowfall". Wow.

We have a line of smoke that encircles the valley, but the high level winds have cleared out our skies and it is blue above us, but you can see a ring of smoke to the West and north of us. It is odd.

I did play golf three times this week. Wednesday I played in a scramble event following a Continuing Education event at Timber Creek golf course. The golf started at 1PM and took 5 hours to complete. There wee about 22 teams, but only about 15 actually finished and turned in cards. I played with Gary and Stan and Vicky. I had planned to play with Gary and hook up with two others, but I saw Stan and Vicky when I was registering them and got us all in the same group. We shot a 66 and took second place, which is a $50 gift card. The marketing rep will stop by this week and drop off our winnings. There were only two ladies in the group and Vicky won the closest to the pin for women and one of Pete's agents won the ladies long drive.

Thursday I played in our twilight league. We only have two weeks left and Steve and I are in second place. We are three points behind first, but don't need to move up as the final night will be 1 vs 2 and so on, so we need to stay in second to get a shot at winning the league. I shot 39 on Thursday and Steve shot 42.

Saturday I played power Hour with Neil, Bob and Darren and shot a nice 36+41=77. I thought I had a chance to put a really low round together, but ran out of steam on the back side. I will play in a Tuesday day event this week and twilight league Thursday before boarding the plane Friday morning for Vegas. I decided to play in the Tuesday event when I found out that one of my carriers is coming in that afternoon and wants to have dinner that night. We will go out to the Chinese Food restaurant in the Thunder Valley casino.

I will add the final piece to my work puzzle tomorrow when Kennah starts. She will be an endorsement specialist and eventual assistant to Connie, my newest underwriter. Connie is putting some serious constraints on when and how Kennah will be used as she will be training her and wants to make sure she isn't inundated with work. This will be a real boon to the office as several of the teams are buried in endorsements.

Well, the blog will be on vacation next week, but will return with pictures of Jennifer and Samantha next week. I hope you are all doing well and will add pictures next week. Be well. Ciao.

Kind of sorry I joked about the Dog Days of August last week

Heat. It can be oppressive and relentless and we are on our fourth straight day with a high temperature over 105 degrees. It seems that no matter how moderate the Summer has been, it will always have a stretch of days over 100 degrees. I know it's not Texas or Kansas City with heat and humidity and our humidity has averaged about 30% (It's a dry heat!), but HOT is HOT. Our pool is sitting at just below 90 degrees and it is truly a bit of a bath. Luckily the 90 degrees is only the top foot of water and it is much cooler when you dunk yourself completely. The forecast for the rest of this week is 107 to 103 degrees through Friday and perhaps cooling down to the mid nineties on Saturday.

Heat and golf don't mix well, but my game lately has been as hot as the weather. I played in our twilight league on Thursday night. It was 106 degrees when we teed off and the sky was hazy with smoke from the Belden fire up near Lake Almanor. I went out in the heat and double bogeyed the first hole and then kicked it into gear, going 1 under par over the next eight holes to shoot a 37. I finished birdie birdie and anchored our team to a win over the second place team 14 1/2 to 5 1/2 to move us back into first place. We play the third place team on Thursday. My partner had a touch of the flu and had a wardrobe malfunction before the round, whereby he had to have his wife bring him a new pair of socks, underwear and shorts. You will have to do the math. I pulled into the parking lot and he was standing with his shirt untucked and a sock and shoe off, looking like death warmed over. I guess you can say I carried the team as he shot a 43.

Yesterday was the Rose Cup team qualifying tournament and again the heat was on with a day at 105 degrees. We teed off at 8:55, but it was 100 degrees when we walked off the course. I shot 40+40=80 and my net 70 didn't qualify for the team. There was a 65, two 66's and a 67 that made the four man squad. I finished 6th out of the 14 contenders in my flight with my 70.

Today was just a Power Hour round at 6:45 AM and Darren and I decided to move up to the white tees and play with Boyd up there. Boyd is 72 years old and he managed to shoot his age today with a 34+38=72. I shot 38+40=78 and Darren shot 90. It was nice to get done before the heat hit  and we were off the course at 11 o'clock. Darren stopped Boyd at one point and told him that he was standing too close to the ball on the tee. Boyd just about had me in tears when He looked at Darren and said, "I've really lost my touch if I have to take golf advice from you, Darren."

Darla had a Silpada party at her Mom's house on Saturday morning and then a Silpada gig at a winery up in El Dorado. I was scheduled to go with her and was all set and suddenly, she had one of her reps replace me. She told me Friday I was out and left to my own devices on Saturday night. I took a trip out to the casino for a spot of video poker and some dinner. I took $140 and spent about 90 minutes at a quarter machine and walked away with $363. I had dinner at the Beach Hut Deli, a nice local chain that is now part of the food court at Thunder Valley. I was home by 8:30 and watched some of the Olympics and Sports Center until Darla got home at ten o'clock. Darla had a booth at a wine event at the winery that had music, food and tasting. She was in line behind an older guy and he had two hot dogs that he put two huge scoops or pickle relish on. Darla commented to him that it was a LOT of relish and the guy went off on her about not needing another mother and he knew what he wanted to put in his mouth, etc. She was totally put off by it.

I worked on the pool, cleaning the tile on Saturday afternoon and it is a time consuming and tedious process. I use muriatic acid and a brush to clean the calcium deposits off the tile. As I was working my way around the perimeter of the pool, I got a cramp in my right calf and it tightened up like a steel ball. I dropped the acid and the brush and limped over to the steps and worked out the cramp. Ouch!

Today we just relaxed on the pool and I sat for awhile in the air conditioning and watched the PGA Championship and the Giants game and slept for a little bit. Darla was tired from her busy weekend and a massage she had at noon. I was tired from being up early and all of the sun I had over the two days golfing.

I hired two new entry level employees this week. Both are young, recent college graduates and will bring a lot to the team. One of them, the new data entry person starts tomorrow and the other, an endorsement specialist, will start next Monday. I am up to 23 people in the office now and we are on track to do $20,000,000 in premium writings this year. They would prefer me to do about $1,000,000 per employee, but my goal for 2013 is $25,000,000 and I need to get the horses ready for that run.

Well, again, there is not much news around here. We talked to Dad and Shirley tonight and Neil and Lilly had a great trip to Surrey and Dad and Shirley enjoyed their company. Neil and Lilly had a great time. Here is a note from them to us: "Hi Ken, Lil & I are in Edmonton, a bit of a let down after the fantastic weekend we had with your folks in Vancouver. You are absolutely the most blessed man I know of to have such gracious and caring parents as you. We were treated to one of the greatest and most unforgettable visits that Lil and I have ever experienced." Pretty high praise from two people that I greatly respect. Have a GREAT week. Ciao.

The Dog Days of August

Strangely, in spite of the calendar, we had a cloudy day Saturday that started out cool (in the 50's) and ended up overcast with a sprinkling of rain which hit while we were at church. It was cool when we teed off on Saturday and I had a light jacket on for the first two holes.  The weather did turn back to seasonal today and we were back close to 100 degrees and a cloudless blue sky.

Darla and the boys went up to Paradise today and surprised Earl and Frances at church. They all went out to lunch afterward and Earl pulled Darla aside and told her that they made her mother's day. They all went to the house after lunch and visited. Darla was home by about 5:45 and met me on the pool.

I missed the trip because I had a tournament at the club today. It was the two man best ball blind draw tournament. I ended up with a partner, who happens to be the office manager for one of my big retailers. I played poorly on the front side and had problems with my putter early on, three putting four of the first nine holes. I pulled it together and had a strong backside, shooting 44+39=83. Ron, my partner, struggled and shot a 91 with his 16 handicap for a 75 net. I had a 74 net with my 9 strokes. My handicap did go up to 9.1 on August 1st and I now get 10 strokes at Diamond Oaks, but this tournament used the 7/15 handicaps because the deadline was last Friday. I don't know what score Ron and I ended up with as I headed home to get in the pool and cool off. I'll find out tomorrow when Joe sends me the scores to post. Joe is filling in for Neil as he is on his Canada vacation.

I did go and play Woodcreek on Saturday for Power Hour and got the $30 green fee and cart special. I played an okay round of golf and shot 42+41=83, only to be usurped by my playing partners, Matt (75), Pamas (79) and even Darren (81). Darren gets 16 strokes and played really well on the back nine with a 39. It was nice to be done early, although Darla was out with Darren's wife, Marisa, signing her up for Silpada. Darren and I stayed at Woodcreek in the sports bar and had lunch and a beer. Darren set up another Power Hour tee time next Sunday. I have a qualifier on Saturday with a tournament that will decide the Rose Cup team for Diamond Oaks. I agreed to play on Sunday as well, but only because it will help Darla with her Silpada business. At least, that's my story. I will be done by close to 11 on Sunday.

Work continues to go well and we were up about 14% in July over the same month last year. I promoted my main typist to an Underwriter Assistant position and I have been doing interviews for the last three weeks for an entry level position. I had narrowed the candidates to two. One young lady graduated in June from Westmont in Santa Barbara in only three years. She had so many honors classes in high school that she entered college as a sophomore. Very smart girl. The other is one of my good agent's daughter. She just graduated from Sac State with a degree in Communications. I had both of them Skype with my boss in San Francisco on Thursday. Both of the ladies did really well, were articulate and engaging and it was really hard to make a decision between the two of them. Harvey and i talked about it on Thursday night and he asked me if I wanted to hire both of them. I'm a big bottom line guy and told him that I wasn't sure and wanted to mull that over. When I shared it with Pete, he almost came unglued and wanted me to call Harvey back and hire them both. He just finished a $95,000 income month, which is our biggest individual month ever. I told him what I would need from the office from a bottom line income standpoint to hire both and he agreed that we can make it. I slept on it Thursday night and Harvey and I decided to make offers to both ladies. I'll know tomorrow if we will add both of them to staff.

The boys are over tonight and have me watching some of the Olympics and it is interesting. we watched Misty May Treanor and Kristi Powell crush the Italians, we watched some women's diving and now are watching the 100 meter men's semifinals. Again, the Olympics aren't high on my radar, I've been watching the Giants play lately as they work toward the end of the regular MLB season and a spot in the playoffs. I have watched a few events, some swimming and the women's gymnastics events, but it's too much and it's not live. If by chance, I've seen the results, I don't waste my time.

Daniel is busy working on some blueprints fro his job in the Bay Area. He is already talking about the fact that he'd like to move to the Bay Area if his boss can guarantee him at least 30 hours a week. He will show her what he is made of before broaching the subject.

Well, not a whole lot of new news this week. Darla and I are really looking forward to our trip to Vegas at the end of the month. Have a great week. Ciao.

Nice Relaxing Weekend

Temperatures in the mid nineties, but cool overnight and in the early morning. The overnight low in the upper fifties is great sleeping weather and I actually wore a jacket when I teed off at 6:25 on Saturday. This is often the "Dog days of Summer" and the beginning of "Hot August Nights", but we have been lucky this Summer with relatively mild weather. We had two heat waves that came and went. There is a possibility that we will move back to the 100's next weekend, but initially the heat was moving in mid week and that has been pushed back, so we'll see. Darla and I have been enjoying the warm days in our pool with cold drinks and water lounges.

I spent today thinning out the ground cover and plantings around the pool, cutting back the agapanthas and fertilizing and watering all of the plants. I also drained the spa into the pool and put fresh water into the spa and did the chemicals for both. The African daisies that are so beautiful in the Spring with their vibrant purple blooms, get heat stressed and weary in the Summer and need to be pruned back and thinned out. I removed some of the dead and dying plants and hopefully with the fertilizer and thinning, they will get a second life this Summer. Those plants will come back in the Fall and give us another burst of color before going dormant in the Winter.

I played golf on Thursday with our local US Reports representative. Us Reports is a Burns and Wilcox sister company, also owned by Kaufman Enterprises. Aaron took Peter and I out to Morgan Creek Country Club and we had one of Pete's agent's, Phil join us. Aaron played one year of college golf and shot a 77 using nothing but a five iron to tee off with. I can see why he only played one year with his driver issues, but it was impressive to see a 5over with irons off the tee. I struggled and shot 43+41=84, but had a great time. That course is so nice and well maintained. I then went home, did some work from the house and played in my twilight league and shot 39. Steve and I are in first place among the 18 teams in the league. It is close and we will have to continue to play well to stay where we are.

The Olympics are in full swing and I think I've spent a total of about thirty minutes watching the event. I think I've grown tired of the whole spectacle. I know Dad and Shirley loved the Vancouver Olympics and it was civic pride, but the whole overblown opening ceremonies where they try to showcase how savvy they can be in making the crowd turn into a big TV screen is embarrassing. I saw some scene of a bunch of kids in their pajamas singing with Mary Poppins-looking women flying in the sky and turned over to a tivo'd episode of 20-20 and was eminently more entertained. I guess it is fun for some people, but I don't need to see Eskimos singing or nannies dancing. What does any of that have to do with sporting excellence? If they want to showcase London, show bad teeth and an outdated monarchy system that has been usurped by Parliament. Also, what is with NBC tape delaying Michael Phelps first medal attempt on Saturday? Did they honestly think that anyone interested would not look at the internet or ESPN to see who won? Very strange decision making by the number three network. I will catch bits and pieces of this Olympics, but there is absolutely nothing compelling to me about the games this time around.

Darla and I had dinner with Neil and Lilly last night at Sabores restaurant in Roseville. They only have a beer and wine license and both Neil and Lilly love margaritas. Thgey were already seated when we got there and Neil was drinking a diet coke. Darla and I had a diet coke and iced tea respectively, but Lilly was only drinking water. The servers kept coming by and asking her if she wanted anything and I think it irritated her. Finally on about the third time they asked, she said, "yeah, I'd like a shot of tequila!" A few minutes later the waitress returned with a shot glass filled with Los Cabos tequila. When I asked how they had tequila, she answered that they make wine margaritas. Huh? I think she poured a shot of the bootleg tequila that the boss keeps in the cupboard. We had a good laugh over that. They leave Wednesday for Eugene and will be in Seattle on Thursday and Surrey on Friday. Dad and Shirley will have lunch ready for them and they will go out and see (I'm guessing here) Fort Langley and White Rock Friday afternoon. They also have a car show on Saturday and Neil has already been drafted to drive the '39 over the the park. He is REALLY excited about being not only at a car show, but part of the show itself. I'm sure he and Dad will have a ball together and dad will introduce him to all of his buddies in the BC Hot rod club. They will be there over the weekend and I think Neil plans an afternoon trip Sunday up to Whistler. I know that Dad and Shirley have tickets to Yanni on Sunday night.

Well, some good news on the job front for the boys in that Daniel has landed not one, but two jobs. He will be working with a civil engineer from Lafayette doing some piece work for her. This will be part time. Daniel also got a job at Kohl's department store and will be working in sales. Congratulations to him.  David continues on the hunt.

I did also play golf on Saturday and we once again enjoyed Power Hour, the first hour of tee times in the morning that are $30 with a cart. I shot 40+43=83 on Saturday. We will play Power Hour again on Saturday and then I have a tournament at Diamond Oaks on Sunday. Darla had a retirement jewelry party on Saturday from 10-12 at the house, so I stayed a little late at the course and enjoyed a meal of pulled  pork and cole slaw sandwich and a beer. I got back right before noon to a houseful of women frantically shopping over the racks of jewelry in our living room. Shawna, my assistant, was there as well and freaked out because she had come straight over from yoga and I saw her. Darla made her feel better by letting her know that I hadn't showered before golf that morning.Thanks, hon.

Boyd made it out for golf in spite of some problems at home where his ex daughter in law had committed suicide and left her kids behind. His son is single and it will be a hardship for him to do on his own. Boyd and his wife will end up having to pick up the pieces for him. His wife insisted he get out of the house and play golf on Saturday.

We have made our reservations for Vegas and I will miss the Club Championship this year. We fly out August 24th and will stay at the Circus Circus in Vegas for three nights. We got a Southwest vacation deal for the flights, room, resort credit of $50 and a rental car for $700. Sam will like us staying at the Circus Circus and we will take her down to see the circus acts. We can also take her over to the amusement park as well. we look forward to seeing them and really missed Samantha at Almanor this year.

Well, that is it for this week. I hope everyone is doing well. I was happy to see the blog top 10,000 hits this week. I have been doing this for thirteen years now and what is more amazing to me is that we have been without Mom and Gramp Lyon for that amount of time. Hard to believe. Be good. Ciao.

I Survived another bachelor week

Darla decided to dump me again for a week and flew off to Kansas City for her Silpada conference ("I'm sick to death of hearing about Kansas City!"). I guess it was an ungodly heat wave there which, combined with the humidity, made the weather absolutely dreadful. As for Texas, Kansas City, Vegas, etc: I LOVE California. My brother in law is from Kansas City and spends hours singing the praises of the mid west, but it is hard to sell a Californian on the wide open spaces. When someone mentioned to him that Kansas City is a big town in the middle of nowhere, his comeback was, "Yeah, well Omaha is close by." I think he was making my argument for me. When you live 90 minutes from both San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, you never want to leave. The parenthesized quote above is from my sister-in-law, who had enough of hearing about Kansas City and let him have it.

I did survive my five days of bachelorhood and got some things done around the house. I cleaned up the laundry room and made room for more hanging coats and clothes to be cleaned. I also cleaned the kitchen and both bathrooms, even sweeping and washing the floors. Darla will be happy that I went to the effort if for no other reason than I saw first hand the uselessness of our vacuum and ordered a new Hoover Wind tunnel vac that will arrive via Amazon on Tuesday. I also worked on the yard and was able to spray some lawn weed killer for a bit of clover that was creeping into the side yard.

I received my quarterly green fees on Thursday night for acting as the club handicapper and used them promptly on Friday to have the 300 detailed. I had a number of swirl marks and some light scratches on the hood and trunk space. I took it into the hand car wash by my office on Douglas and talked to the detail manager. He said that a regular hand wax wouldn't do the job and suggested a $300 hand sanding and wax treatment. I balked and we finagled down to $150 for the detailing and $75 for two rock chips to be repaired. The total of $225 was expensive, but I can get the $75 reimbursed by my car insurer. The result was incredible. They took out all of the swirl marks, removed the light scratches and did the complete Maguire detailing, including use of a clay bar and a hand buffed gloss finish. They also treated my dash, seats and header, cleaned my mags and put tire dressing on the tires. They topped it all off with an application of Rust-oleum clear coat polish applied with an electric buffer. The car absolutely shines and moist people wouldn't get it, but it is so nice to have the mirror finish back on my car. Do it yourself is great until you just need professional help.

I played golf early today, Power Hour is the first hour open and the cost is $30 with a cart. We played Diamond Oaks and I struggled a bit today shooting 43+41=84 and paying my friends $15 for our 3-3-3 bet. The most you can win is $15, but the most you can lose is $15. I did have a birdie on both sides, but also a double bogey on both as well. Next Saturday, Darla has a Silpada gig at the house and we have the Power Hour deal at Woodcreek at 6:28 AM. I hope to play the first 18 and then play a second 18 for $16 with cart. We'll see how crowded they are when we finish.

Darla and I spent the balance of the day on the pool. It was 102 degrees today, but we stayed cool on the 86 degree pool. There was a light breeze that felt hot in the sun, but was refreshing on the pool when you were wet. we both really appreciate the pool and use it religiously.

Jennifer did go into  her doctor today and they confirmed that she did rupture her eardrum in the wakeboarding fall. The doctor expects it to heal itself, but did refer her to a specialist as well. She got Sam back on Wednesday and was on cloud 9. The ten days that John was in Colorado was the longest she has ever been apart from Samantha. I will call them tonight to see how they are doing.

I went to a Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Friday. We are new to the chamber and the City Manager was giving a speech on the state of the City and some of the new businesses moving in to the area. I ended up sitting at a table with the CEO of the Chamber, the Mayor of Roseville and the City Manager. They asked me to lead the pledge of allegiance and also allowed me a two minute commercial on Burns and Wilcox. It was good PR as I had three agents approach me afterword to get more information on BW. I made the comment during my talk that I was proud to live and work in a city in California that wasn't going bankrupt and got a round of applause for that. Ray Kerridge, the City Manager also mentioned in his remarks that BW as new to Roseville and stopped to say, "boy, Ken, this is turning into a commercial for your business." I did find out that Sammy Hagar is opening a new Sammy's Rockin' Island Bar and Grill in Roseville on September 15th and will open the restaurant with a free concert in the street on Saturday afternoon. Sammy lives and works in Marin and will make the trip up to Roseville along with may of his musician friends to put on a concert. Neil Thomas is a big Sammy Hagar fan and we will go to the opening with Neil and Lilly in September.

Speaking of my good friends, Neil and Lilly, they leave August 1st for Canada and will visit Dad and Shirley over the weekend and go to a car show. Dad and Shirley have tickets to a Yanni concert one night and Neil has decided that they will take the train up to Whistler that day. they are both really looking forward to the trip and I know that Dad and Shirley will enjoy their visit. Neil is such a car buff and Dad is plugged in to the BC Hot rod Club and Neil will be in Pig Heaven  when he is at the show with Dad. Dad and Shirley are in Southern California this past week for a Disneyland trip with family. I know that Kathy and Cameron and their family are along on the trip because i saw a Facebook post from Kathy last weekend.

Darla did see Darryl and Cheryl and their new monstrosity of a home in the suburbs of Kansas City during her visit to the Silpada annual conference. She loved the home, but thought it was inordinately large. we love our 2100 square foot home. Large enough to stretch out and small enough to clean easily. It also is located in California, which is a plus for us. They had a good visit, did some shopping ( I heard Darryl spent 45 minutes in a Victoria's Secret store), and had lunch together back at the house. I don't know that I will see the house as I'm not sure how long they will be in Kansas. Our next trip is to Vegas at the end of August to see Jennifer and Samantha.

Well, that is the news that is fit to print. I think dinner is around the corner and I've worked up an appetite. I hope all are well and living a good life. Ciao.

Lake Almanor is Paradise, but actually is closer to Chester, CA

Another successful vacation in Almanor is in the books. The weather was excellent, in the nineties every day and the water was warm, calm and fantastic. The cabin was near perfect, except for a lousy sofa bed that they insist on leaving in the cabin year after year.

 Jennifer almost didn't make the trip because she had a couple of checks that hadn't cleared her bank and couldn't rent a car for the trip. Her truck has a few mechanical issues and broke down recently on a trip to Los Angeles and she didn't trust it on that far of a drive. Her brothers and step-mom came to her rescue with a loan and she was able to get her little rental Hyundai Elantra and get on the road. I was golfing when all of this came down and they were able to help her out of her jam. She left for Roseville about noon Saturday where she spent the night at our house and was to meet up with Daniel Sunday for the trip to Almanor.

I played in our Firecracker event, shooting a 79 and taking second low net with a 68 before heading home, showering and getting on the road to Almanor with Darla. We drove up, stopping for dinner in Oroville and got to the resort about 7:30 PM. Jennifer was still on the road and I took a picture of the lake from the deck and texted it to her with "Hello, Almanor". Her response was, "Hello Fresno!" Nice.

David and I got the ski in the water Saturday morning and drove it over to our little beach below the cabin. Earl put his boat in and also moored it along the beach as they had a few dock spaces that were damaged in the wind the week before and space was at a premium. Almanor is calm and smooth as glass in the morning, but the wind comes up nearly every afternoon and the chop starts and by mid afternoon it is whitecaps and waves pounding the beach. The ski was taking a pounding and David swam out and put in the anchor from Earl's boat and we hooked the ski up every evening to the anchor, where we left a buoy tied to the clasp end of the rope. That problem was easily solved and I will get an anchor for the ski next year so we are set.

The ski ran well all week and I'm guessing we went through about 50 gallons of gas and two gallons of oil for the week. We tend to get the teenagers and young adults over from the gang and they want to use the ski. Funny, Jennifer got in about 1 PM Sunday and I was cooking sausages for lunch and they were almost ready. She took one look at the lake and changed into her swimsuit and was on the ski before you could turn around. I guess she didn't drive 13 hours to eat.

We did have one unfortunate incident on Jennifer's last day at the resort. She was out wake boarding and took a bad fall and we think injured her eardrum. She had a bad ringing in her ear and then some blood that came out. She googled the injury and ended up packing her ear with cotton balls and keeping water out of it. She is supposed to see her doctor tomorrow, but as of yesterday was feeling much better and had regained hearing in that ear. It was very painful for her and scared her as well. Hopefully she is okay.

The boys just came by and helped put the jet ski back in it's spot behind the shed and in the backyard behind the double gate and driveway on the side yard.

They are both ready to get serious about finding jobs and will be working and networking this week on jobs, internships and opportunities in their respective fields. Robert, who is married to Darla's cousin, Carol, was up at the reunion this year and his brother is the main engineer for the Modesto Irrigation District and is looking for an intern, preferably with a degree in civil engineering from Cal Poly. Daniel will follow up with him this week. Robert said that he has trouble getting any interested students to move to Modesto.

I did play golf at Bailey Creek again this year. Initially we had two foursomes and that whittled down to 5 players, but when it came time to play, only Robert and I made it to the course. I got us a 7:50 tee time on Thursday and they paired us with two very good golfers, one from Napa and the other from New Brunfield, Texas. One shot a 34 on the front side and 75 for the round, the other shot 76. I managed an 83 and Robert shot a 105. It was a lot of fun and the course was in excellent condition. Robert and I stayed afterward and had a drink and ate lunch at the bar.

Jason and his girlfriend, Lucy, came up and spent Tuesday night with us. David took them out for a boat ride with Earl's boat and it broke down. The starter was bad and Jennifer had to tow them back with the jet ski. Earl had the boat fixed by the time we left, but the waves were so bad on the shore during the week that they had worked his swim dock at the back of the boat loose and he has to fix that now. What do they say about boats? It is like digging a hole in the ground and throwing money into it.

I grew a beard during the vacation, actually starting it when we were in San Francisco and letting it grow up until we got back from Almanor. I shaved it off this afternoon and with it the mustache that I've had for the last 38 years. I should have shaved it off before Almanor, because now I've got a light line around my mouth and upper lip where the sun hasn't been able to tan the skin completely. Oops.

I did play golf again today with Darren, Boyd and Andy. We teed off at 6:50 AM. I shot 43+40=83. Sounds decent, but my index has dropped on 7/15 to 8.7, which gives me a 9 on Diamond Oaks. Now I have to shoot 81 just to shoot par on the course. It is my lowest index so far.

Darla leaves for Kansas City and her conference with Silpada on Wednesday morning. She plans to call Darryl and Cheryl and see if they can get together while she is there. We will give you guys a call tomorrow night to see if it works out for Darla to see you and maybe come by the house.

Well, that's it for this week. Pray for me as I will be batching it for the next week. Darla gets home on Sunday. I hope your week is wonderful. Be well. Ciao.