The BLOG is going on vacation

We are off to Jamaica on Friday. This will be the first of two overnight trips that we make to the East Coast this year.. We are heading to Jamaica and will fly overnight to Charlotte, NC arriving at 6 AM and then take a flight to Jamaica at 7:30 arriving just after 10 AM. We will be in Jamaica 5 days and 4 nights and it is a trip won by Darla through her jewelry business/ They have two dinners at the resort and we each get a VISA card for $75 a day for food and drinks. Breakfast is included every day so the $600 should go far in covering our expenses.

 

The photos above show the downed trees at my home course, Diamond Oaks from the series of storms that we have had. The top photo shows a tree that fell and landed in the pond that surround the 12th green. It is still laying there. Ron is in the red hat and Paul is in the blue shirt. The second shot shows the 11th green and the huge tree that fell behind it. Amazing to me was the shallow roots on that tree. There were enough roots that it pulled up part of the sprinkler system when it fell.

 

I also have a picture of Darla and Luke taken at his basketball game on Saturday night. The games consist of 5 minute periods where the 6 year olds double dribble, travel and often just run like a running back with the ball tucked under their arms. One young player was bouncing the ball about 12 feet high as he brought it up the court. Luke got a goal, but Darla and Alicia were busy chatting and missed it. It isn't great basketball by any stretch and I enjoyed watching the parents watching their kids. We went out to dinner with them after the game in Folsom.

 

The final picture is of a new American flag that I bought and installed at the house. Our old one was on a standard flag pole and the flag wrapped around it in the wind and got pretty thrashed. This one is on a rotating flag pole that turns with the wind and should hold up better. I have flown the colors at my home since 9/11 and will continue to do so, especially now with ISIS and terrorism touching our shores. Things will settle down with Trump. He is instituting ALL of his campaign promises and liberals are about to lose their fricking minds. Nobody can explain to me why a "sanctuary city" (of which Sacramento is one) will not aid the INS in deporting a criminal. How is it that these libs see more value in protecting the rights of an illegal immigrant that breaks the law than for the lives of their citizens who have to live with these scumbags? Someone explain it to me, because liberal logic is no logic at all. Also, I know that there are a lot of innocent victims in Somalia, but why should we take in these immigrants without proper vetting. What you aren't hearing is that there is language in the executive order that allows for 100,000 immigrants to come in from the affected countries once they are properly vetted. Why is it wrong to take time and make sure that terrorists aren't infiltrating our country? They can still come in, they just have to be properly vetted. I see nothing at all wrong with that.

 

I went to the orthopedist on Wednesday and I will have to undergo surgery on my shoulder. The supraspinatus tendon is not only torn, but it has torn loose from the humerus. They will do surgery on February 17th to reattach the tendon and I will be in a sling for four to six weeks and then will be off golf for 4 - 6 months. I will be on the cruise about three weeks after my surgery, so I'm hoping that I can ditch the sling about halfway through the cruise. I'm really looking forward to this weekend away with Darla and the cruise with the family. Both should be a lot of fun. The Jamaica trip will be more about relaxing and enjoying the beach. We may go into town one day and see the waterfalls and have lunch in town. We'll see. The resort looks nice. It is on the northern coast of Jamaica near Montego Bay and they have 600 acres and 2 miles of beachfront property. It looks really upscale and it should be great.

 

I talked to Robert in the pro shop at Diamond on Saturday before I teed off and he said that he had the surgery about ten years ago and it didn't work. He said, you'll be off golf for four months and then a year from now you'll have the same pain and problems. Wow, what a ray of freaking sunshine. I asked him how much physical therapy he did after the surgery. He said that he felt fine and didn't really do any and was golfing within two months. And, he blames the doctors? Jeesh. I will do everything the doctors tell me to do and plan on being 100% after this surgery. I know I hurt the rotator cuff back when I played softball on a men's team and have lived with moderate pain for years. It will be nice to see how I do with complete shoulder health. The doctor said that the shoulder looks solid, no bone spurs or arthritis and I should come out of this with a stronger shoulder and I wonder if it might improve my golf game.

 

Speaking of that I played Saturday and struggled. My shoulder is really sore and I feel it more now than earlier. I think sleeping is the worst thing for me as I'm a side sleeper and I wake up in the night with my whole arm throbbing. I shot 44+44=88, but had a nice birdie to start the day. I got stuck behind a set of trees on the left side of the fairway after my drive. I was able to hit a nice draw around the trees and onto the green that stopped about a foot from the hole. I started the shot out over the right sand trap and drew the ball right back into the middle of the green. That is the big difference in my game as I've matured in the sport. I'm able to move the ball more and play strategically. I'll certainly miss playing golf and probably drive Darla nuts, but I know I need the surgery, so, as my friend Neil says, "It is what it is."

 

Darla and I almost overslept and missed church today, but rushed to get ready after we both overslept. We got there and had to sit in the back of the church which we don't like, but the message was so good and we always walk out of church feeling blessed. Today I relaxed, watched golf, got some handicapping done and now am working on the blog while watching the Pro Bowl.

 

I will be back in two weeks with pictures from Jamaica. I hope all are happy and healthy and living a Godly life. Ciao. 

 

 

Sunday night Musings

 

Just a couple of pictures from Instagram because we haven't taken any pictures lately. The top picture is of David when he was in charge of making jambalaya for his work mates. The bottom picture is from McKenny and is of Mac, Jen and Samantha on their way into the Cirque De Soleil performance of Avatar. Jennifer surprised Sammy with tickets and they went to the show Friday night and had a ball.

 

Donald J Trump is now our President and some people have completely lost their minds. I absolutely could not have handled 4 years of Hillary and her smug, lying, cheating ways. Glad that she got her comeuppance. The middle of this country has stood up and told Washington that they are fed up with business as usual and won't stand for career politicians lining their pockets while leaving the middle class paying for everything.  Hillary won the popular vote and thank God that New York, California, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania cannot dictate to the rest of the country who becomes the President of the United States. Both California and New York are heavily liberal and Democratic and will always vote for the most liberal and progressive candidate. People in Kentucky and Alabama don't want our decisions being made by whackos. It is amazing to me that our founding fathers were smart enough to come up wit the Electoral college. The US Senate is set up as a Republic with all states having two Senators, but the House of Representatives have a disparate number of representatives that are based on population. The House can create proposed laws and mandates to the public, but they have to be voted on by the Senate which has equal representation for all states. It is a unique and incredible system and the kooks that are calling for the abolishment of the Electoral College are nuts.

 

Rant over. It was a good week for us. I had a Bowen treatment on my back on Wednesday and felt great until I got home and tried to get out of my car with my briefcase and a backpack that I bring to change clothes before my treatment and I completely wrenched my back. Our garage is really narrow and we have two big cars. I have very little room on the side of the garage and have a few tools and an edger and blower stacked in the corner. I tripped and really pulled a muscle in my back. I was limping around Thursday and Friday, but was getting better by Saturday and feel great today. It was ironic that I pulled it on the day of (and after) I went for treatment. I'm sure my back is susceptible after an hour of treatment as she always tells me to take it easy and make sure that I don't sit for too long, that I get up and stretch, etc. 

 

The rain continues and it looks like we might finally get a break this week. The drought is a mere memory at this point. I had the pool pump act up on Thursday as a bearing went out and there was a shrill sound as the pump worked overtime to bring in more water. I had a Christian  pool contractor come in and look at the equipment to see if he could repair it. The system is 15 years old and we decided to replace it with a state of the art wireless system that I can control with my smartphone. The system is about $400 more than a two speed system, but the city will give me a $200 rebate for going to a variable speed system. I can set the pump to run at a certain RPM. You run this system longer, but run it for two hours on a high RPM and then 7 hours at a low RPM. The city is offering a rebate because the system will use 50% less energy. So I save twice. Timing wasn't great as we just bought the furniture, but it is what it is.

 

I had poker Friday night with the guys and got killed. I lost about $60 and it would have been closer to $100 ,but I won the last four pots to trim my losses. Darla got together with friends and had dinner and then went to a show and then out to see the same band that Darla and I saw a few months ago. One of her reps has a daughter that plays for the River City All Stars and they were playing in the town that borders Roseville.

 

 

Saturday night Darla and I drove up to Paradise to see her Mom and Dad and have a birthday dinner with her Mom. Her birthday is on Wednesday. We visited for awhile and heard the tales of working through the estate of Earl's brother. It is tough on both of them as they are getting older and it is a lot of work. Darla suggested that they look at the ordeal as a job and check out on weekends. Frances took a 40 minute phone call while we were there and it is just too much. Hopefully they take a break as Darla suggested because it is a ton of work and it is stressful. We drove into Magalia, the neighboring town to Paradise and had dinner at a little café that had a great prime rib special. It was raining pretty good by the time we got out and those little towns don't have many streetlights. It was a dark and wet drive back to their house. We stayed until about 8:30 and then were on our way home.

 

Today we were off to church this morning. It was raining off and on and the wind was howling. It was bitterly cold. We enjoyed service with Bob Goff in as the special speaker. Bob lives 8 months a year in San Diego and has a cabin in rural Canada that is 10 miles from his closest neighbor where he spends the other 4 months. He has used the cabin to bring in negotiators from countries to hammer out agreements. He had one group in two years ago and they were to stay two weeks, but had a problem with the fireplace and burned the place to the ground. He told us about a city in Texas called Lake Jackson. It is a small town and the man that started the town, a Dow Chemical manager named Alden Dow (who was the son of the owner of Dow Chemical), allowed his kids to name the streets. They have streets called This Way and That Way. The church is on His Way and the small airport is on Run Way. It is located just outside of Houston and now has over 27,000 residents. He brought this up to drive home his point of not getting stuck in between This Way and That Way. He went a long way to get there, but I always find the references interesting. I wonder if Aaron or Janelle are familiar with the town.

 

I have my Doctor appointment this week with the orthopedist to decide what we are going to do about my torn rotator cuff. I have most of my pain when I sleep. I'm a side sleeper and will roll over in my sleep and wake up with a dull ache in my arm. It is like a dead arm combined with a bad toothache. I can't lift anything over my head with my right arm and things like reaching from the front seat to the back seat is pure agony.

 

I am set up to play golf this weekend. With the rain finally subsiding I just want to get out and walk 18 holes. The Bowen treatment seemed to help me quite a bit this time, but the pain comes in waves. If I am going to have surgery I'd like to get it done before we leave for the cruise. I'll have to be in a sling for two weeks and I should regain full range of motion within 8 weeks. I have to miss golf early in the year, but I'd like to be back playing by May. We'll see. It took the orthopedist a month to get me in to see him. I wonder how long it will take to have him set up surgery?

 

We will try again tonight to get a hold of Dad and Shirley. He sent me an e-mail early this week that his phone was out of service and the phone company was supposed to be out to fix it on Wednesday. Darryl had his 61st birthday this week and it will be interesting to sit with he and Randy during the cruise and see what their plan are for retirement. So many of my friends are retired already and I hope to be there in about 5 years. Bob Pando will retire about the same time and plans to come back up to Roseville after he sells his insurance agency in San Jose. I'll have a golf buddy at that time. Boyd is 76 now and starting to tone down the amount of golf that he plays. John is 62 and Steve is 61. Charlie is 71 and Neil is 73. All are retired.

 

Well, not much going on this week. I will check in again next week and give you the results of my exam by the orthopedist. Be well and stay strong in the Lord. Ciao.

2017 NFL Playoffs

 

You can see our new furniture that we bought this week. Our old sectional was 16 years old and starting to get stained and shiny from use. We've needed a new sofa for years and we added a new coffee table, end table and recliner to two full sized leather sofas. I had visited a local Roseville furniture store this week and picked out a leather sofa and love seat that I thought Darla would love. She didn't. She didn't like the style or the color. Everything else was good though :-).  I invited her out to see the sofa set that I liked and we spent about two hours at the store and ended up with the pieces that you see above. The coffee table has a section that lifts up for eating and I am working on it right now as I write. I am not a shopper and did not want to spend a month looking for furniture. Darla is more of a compare and contrast shopper. She was a little concerned that the sofas wouldn't fit in our house, but now that they are here and set up, she is thrilled. Could we have found a better deal? Maybe. Maybe not. I saved myself the strain and discomfort of driving all over town looking at furniture to the point that everything starts to run together. Usually you end up buying from a really good salesman and don't necessarily end up with the best deal anyhow. I was prepared to buy something from a local retailer here in town, not a big chain. They were willing to deal and gave me about $1200 off the stated price when all was said and done and included both delivery and haul away of our old set. We ended up with two leather sofas that include two electric recliners on both sofas. We also got a top of the line leather recliner, a big club chair style that lays completely flat. Good for napping. I do like the table lift on the coffee table as Darla and I usually eat dinner in the living room.

 

You can see pictures from today where we enjoyed watching the NFL playoffs . Dallas lost, but played the kind of game that gives you a tremendous feeling of hope about the future. This team is good, but needs more defensive firepower. The officiating was terrible. Dallas was holding a lot on their receivers (especially Claiborne) and the Packers offensive line was holding constantly and it was called once. The refs didn't cost us the game, but a slow start, especially by the defense, cost them the W. Even with all of that, they were one play away from overtime. I did not care for the pass interference call on Brown as he held him before Aaron threw the ball. It should have been a five yard penalty, but it is what it is. Dallas needs to be busy in the off season looking at both drafting defensive players and also being active in free agency, dealing Romo and adding a lot of defensive help. They played above their ability this year and it cost them in the playoffs.I was texting back and forth with Jennifer and Randy during the game and Jennifer was cracking me up. She was totally into the game and stressed. She said she was like me at her age, yelling at the TV and the refs. Randy and I both feel that Dallas is right where they need to be offensively, but their defense needs help.

 

 

 

Darla had an event on Tuesday night and it was pouring rain. She had a corporate person in from her jewelry company and they had an event downtown in Sacramento. They would normally have had 40 or 50 people show, but the flooding kept some away and they ended up with about 12. The corporate person is from Michigan and didn't understand why Californians stayed away. Yeah. I took the opportunity to head over to the casino and play some quarter video poker. I got there at 6 PM with $100 and by 7 PM I was having dinner at the Fatburger on site with $477 in my pocket. My winnings were what prompted me to look at furniture. The $377 profit didn't go far in buying anything, but brought the total down. It was one of those weird nights where I hit 4 3s with a kicker for $190 and then hit four aces for $250 which was DEALT to me on the very next hand. Strange, but true.

 

The picture of the snow shows the Mt Rose highway up outside Lake Tahoe. The other one is from up in Cisco Grove The water running under the bridge is up in Chico, CA near Darla's folks. They received about 14 feet of snow just last week. The storm really hit us hard with over 6 inches of rain last week, causing me to have to drain the pool down three times. It finally cleared up on Thursday and we've had sunshine the last three days. Another round of storms is due I Tuesday night with another 3-5 inches of rain due in. We are officially out of the drought in Northern California. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown has asked us to continue to preserve water as Southern California is not out of the woods yet. Yes, this is a socialist state.

 

The other pictures are from my team building event on Friday at the Quandary Rooms in Roseville. We had teams of 6 and 7 and there were four teams. My group that you can see above was in the Zombie room, which was a mock up of a scientists office. There were six locks on the door and we had to work through clues in the file cabinet, bookshelf, desk, foot locker and other places to figure out where the keys were hidden and what the combinations were. We were given an hour and we worked in groups and it took us 55 minutes to get through the locks and out of the room. Unfortunately, we ended up in a second room and lost the battle and the zombies got us. It was fun and it was interesting to see how people react under pressure. One of the gals was so frustrated with not being able to figure out one of the clues that she threw up her hands and announced we were on our own. That didn't last, but it was telling to see how she reacted. We were finished about 4:30 and met at one of the bars in town. Half the group left as they were in the bar for the last hour while we were in the rooms. I stayed with the group and Darla joined us for appetizers and drinks. It was fun and we may do it again. We do team building events once a quarter and the staff really enjoys it. We work hard and play hard as a group.

 

We do work tomorrow on MLK Day and I will be off to Grass Valley and Nevada City to see some agents along with two of my Producers. It will be a quiet day as many of the companies and agencies take the day off. The three agents that we will see are all working obviously. We will leave about 9:30 to head to Grass Valley and an 11 AM appointment.

 

The first tournament of the year was played yesterday and I passed on it. It was a scramble event and with my sore rotator cuff, I am taking some time off from golf. As a matter of fact, I will miss the second event as well as Darla and I will be in Jamaica February 4-10th for her work. She won the trip and paid my way in, so we will both go and enjoy the sun and sea. The Super Bowl will be played on the Sunday that we are there. The tournament is on the Saturday. I hop to play in one of the qualifiers in late February and then I will miss the fourth event as we will be on the cruise with the family.

 

I have poker next Friday and it is supposed to rain all weekend next week, so I'm not setting up any golf. I will look at the NFL Conference championship games and may sneak out to play golf if the weather improves, I just won't set up a tee time.

 

Darla had lunch with a friend today and I fixed a crock pot meal for dinner that has been cooking since noon. It consists of ground beef, onions, potatoes, cream of mushroom soup, celery and pepper, garlic and thyme. We'll see how it tastes. She will enjoy it because she doesn't have to fix it. I'll have some leftovers for the week starting Tuesday.

 

Well, that is it for this week. I hope everyone is well. We tried to reach Dad and Shirley after the Dallas game, but they were not home. We hope to speak with them sometime this week as we haven't checked in with them since they got back from their year end cruise. I will check in again next weekend. Ciao. 

 

 

 

Hunkered down inside during the storm

There is a major Winter storm going on that has mostly passed by Roseville. We haven't received the deluge that we were promised, but we are only two days into a week long storm. This is what is now known as an atmospheric river, but has always been known as a Pineapple Express. The storm is warmer and the sad fact is that we received about 60 inches of snow in the Sierra last week and it is now raining on top of all of that snow which leads to flood concerns. We have received about two inches of rain here in Roseville, but Grass Valley about 45 miles northeast of here had over 6 inches of rain in 40 hours and several creeks and rivers are over their banks. The rain is right now beginning to slow down and dissipate, but there is more on its way overnight and all the way into Friday of this next week. What we need and it will happen overnight each day is the rain to turn to snow and help to stop the runoff up in the Sierra. Reno was under a flood advisory today and the river that runs near downtown is expected to crest its banks about 9 PM tonight. They are expecting lots of rain and 4 to 6 feet of snow up in the Sierra.

 

Darla and I have taken it easy this weekend, sleeping in both days and relaxing with books yesterday and some golf and football on TV. We have been on a Netflix binge the last two weekends working our way through the first two seasons of  Frankie and Grace and the remake of The Gilmore Girls. We will move on to House of Cards, which we used to watch about three years ago and got away from. We went to church yesterday afternoon and then on to dinner last night at La Fiesta Altena in Roseville last night. We had a Groupon and decided to brave the storm after church and have some dinner. It was a nice.

 

I met with Neil on Thursday, prior to the big storm and played golf at Bartley Cavanaugh , a course in Sacramento near the Delta that I had never played. It was empty at the course when we got there at 8:30 and teed off at 9:30 after having breakfast in the clubhouse. I shot 43+43=86 and my shoulder and torn Achilles tendon are still a concern. I see the orthopedist on January 25th. I had a good time with Neil who is now retired from his position as Tournament Director and is actually slowing down his golf as he will not buy the annual pass this year and will play about twice a month (like a working guy). He shot a 96 on Thursday and we had a great time together just catching up with what is going on in each other's lives.

 

I see that Dad and Shirley are back from their December cruise as I saw they attended Sherry's 50th birthday party on Saturday night. I didn't see any pictures of Dad, but assume he was there as well. I also see Dallas has had their regular crazy weather with 80 degrees one week and snow the next week. I don't miss it. Our weather is pretty predictably cold this time of year, but we get days in the 60's with sunshine and it is nice.

 

There isn't a whole lot going on right now. Darla has a nice pot roast in the oven and it smells good. Work continues and I am trying hard to get everyone on board with ramping up marketing to increase our new business and work on existing and new relationships. I am trying to lead the way in marketing, but I'm busy working on reviews right now. I have several marketing calls lined up with several of my producers in the coming weeks.  I also have a reservation on Friday at an Escape Room venue. There will be about 24 of us that try to work as teams to get out of the rooms. We will break into teams of six and take on the rooms. It should be fun.

 

I am looking forward to Dallas taking on Green Bay next week. Really either the Giants or Green Bay would have worked for me. We still owe Green Bay from the "no catch" catch that Dez had two season ago and the Giants squeaked by in two wins over us this year. New York had a more formidable Defense and Green Bay's offense is more fearsome. We are at home, well rested and ready for the challenge.

 

 

The two pictures above are of my favorite granddaughter. One was of her playing in the leaves from the front yard in front of her house and the other is of her in her Chewbaca mask with her friend.

 

I will be back at the keyboard next week with details from the Escape room event and news of the week. I hope all of you are well. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year 2017

 

An odd assortment of pictures today. I added some of Sammy's 9th birthday party. Jennifer hosted about 18 kids to a day at the Gravity indoor trampoline park in Las Vegas and Sam enjoyed a day with her friends playing on the trampolines and fun pits and whatever else is there to entertain children. She seemed to have a great time. I've also got pictures from Reno, Auburn California, and of our backyard. There are pictures from our gift exchange with the kids from yesterday and one picture of a tent encampment by the homeless just outside of the 9th hole at Cherry Island golf course. I spotted that today while we were golfing.The guy has a wood pit and his dog and a pretty good setup as far as I could see.

 

Darla and I took an impromptu trip to Reno on the 29th and we are glad we did. I had a night's stay at the Peppermill in one of the Tower suites with a $100 resort credit that needed to be used by January 20th We were going to go on January 1st and stay over until today, but there ended up being a wild weekend storm that blew in and the roads in the Sierra are either closed or have chain controls and it is snowing hard. We changed our plans, I took Friday off and we drove up in the bright sunshine to Reno and spent the night. We decided not to use up the credit at the steakhouse as it is one of those $60 for the steak, $12 for a salad, $8 for potato, $5 for mushrooms, $11 for mac and cheese, $7 for a plate and $5 for silverware kind of places. We instead ate at the bistro and had Chinese food, chicken chow mein, sweet and sour pork, soup and pot stickers. It was really good and we then went to gamble, turning $300 into $140 in about 5 hours. We had a blast together and finally hit a big jackpot at the end and decided to have dessert. We were a little shocked to see it was 3 AM and were told when we sat down in the cafe that all of the breakfast items were $7.99 from midnight until 6 AM. We shifted to breakfast and had omelets and Darla had pancakes and then we headed to bed. We slept in until about 9:30 on Friday and then were up and off to home. Darla bought David a shirt in one of the pricey boutiques at the Peppermill that was marked down from $300 to $120.

 

We stopped in Auburn on the way home and had lunch at Edelweiss, one of our favorite coffee shops. We did a bit of shopping and I bought the weather vane for above the pool and the Cowboy hat rack for outside. The shop was owned by a metal worker who has a CAD program and makes the metal signs and hooks. Darla shopped at a Silver store and bought Jennifer a purse and wallet because it looked like Jennifer. We headed home from there and faced a heavy line of traffic.

 

Saturday, we took it easy at home and I did some cleanup around the house. I actually got up on the roof  and cleared the leaves off of the awnings and eaves as well as raked up a bunch of the leaves that get into and behind the plants on the side of the house. I exhausted myself and came in and took a quick nap. We were invited to Charlie and Frieda's house for New Year's Eve at 7:30. I needed to stop at the office to take care of payroll, so Darla came by and I showed her the pictures from our Holiday Party at the office. We got over to Charlie's about 7:45 and they ended up with 6 couples, but had enough food for 30 people as she cooked two hams and we each brought something. We had salad, appetizers, chili, rolls, salsa, tortillas, cake, cookies and lots to drink. They always put on a good party and Saturday was no exception. The girls ended up sitting in the living room and visiting and the guys watched the hockey game and then played 3-13 until midnight. We had a great time and got home about 1:30.

 

Sunday the boys came over with Becky and Miya and we had chicken fajitas for lunch followed by the exchange of gifts. We all traded names and I ended up with Daniel and Darla had David. McKenny had me and gave me a Virtual Reality headset for the i phone. I'm still getting used to it and downloading some games. I am having a little trouble getting the remote to work, but McKenny has the same one and will help me out. He also gave me $15 worth of I Tunes credit to buy some VR games. I'm really more interested in some of the movies and underwater scenes that are available. I already downloaded the VR Google Earth which is 360 degrees 3D, which is pretty awesome. I also downloaded a couple of National Geographic apps with Penguins and places like Papa New Guinea and the top of volcanoes, etc. Pretty cool. Darla got a nice shawl from Miya and some reusable shopping bags that you store in your purse. California is California and now charges 10 cents per bag at the super market. Darla bought David the shirt. Jennifer had Miya and gave her several albums for her phonograph. She had shared that she is a bit of an audiophile and McKenny was all over that. He gave her a copy of his .45 as well. We played Rook after that and enjoyed a nice afternoon.

 

Today was golf for me, but the weather was iffy with rain in the forecast. We teed off at 10:20 and made it through 12 holes before the rain hit. It was spotty at first and just a nuisance, but was sheeting down by the time we finished 15 and we called it a day. The good news is I shot a 75, but had three holes left. I drove home and was relaxing, just starting on the blog when Jennifer Face Timed me. They had Sam and were at a park with her new RC car. They were cruising it back and forth and then the wheel came off. They said they'd call later. Darla wasn't home yet, but she got here in time for the call from their house. They fixed the car and were driving it up and down their cul de sac. Sam had raked leaves into a pile and kept skidding the car into them. It was great to see how much fun she was having and how focused she is when she is trying something new. It will bode well for her in life. McKenny was having trouble getting the RC car started earlier, but went by the hobby store today and they gave him some tips and hints and he is on it now.

 

Good to see Dallas back in the playoffs and unlike other Cowboy fans, I was thrilled to see the team shut down Zeke, Dak and many of their starters in the last game to rest up for the playoffs and avoid unnecessary risk of injury. It was great to see Tony get in some reps and look good doing it. He hopefully will catch on with a winner next year and we may even play him as we have the Broncos and Cardinals on our schedule this year. Hey, Emmitt Smith played for the Cardinals for one year, but is remembered only as a Cowboy. The Boys are off next week and will sit back and watch the teams that they will possibly take on in two weeks beat each other up.

 

We finished the year very poorly at work, actually having our lowest total of all of the months and being under $300 K in income and $2,000,000 in premium for the first time in 2016. We have two new partnerships that start in 2017 and I will have my guys very busy in the first quarter of 2017 getting out and meeting the new agents and getting them signed up to do business with us. I was pretty hard on them this month and let them know this is the new "Trump" based reality. I will tell it like it is and that doesn't mean that I don't support the office or have great respect for what they do, but reality is reality and we have to face up to issues if we want to improve and get better. The new Snowflake mentality of not hurting people's feelings wont work in life or in business. We need to have a blowout January to keep the brass off my back. I will lead the charge on marketing and get out and see agents with each of my producers this month.

 

I will play golf with Neil this week and make up for our round that was lost last week because of frost and my illness. I'm feeling better and the overnight temperatures are up a bit with the cloud cover. We can almost guarantee frost when it is clear overnight. It was colder today and when it first started to rain there was very small sized hail that came down, just to add to the misery. I was soaked by the time we got to the car.

 

We got the results in from my MRI and I have a 1.2 cm by 2.4 cm tear in the supra spinatus ligament in the rotator cuff. What that means remains to be seen as I'll see the orthopedist toward the end of the month. I got the results and turned them into Aflac and they have a $320 check for me. I still feel sore and have trouble reaching over my head, but golf doesn't seem to be affected by it. Darla and I have a trip to Jamaica in early February and the cruise with Dad and the family in March, so surgery if necessary will be scheduled likely after those events.

 

Well, that's it for this week. I hope everyone had a good holiday and a Happy New Year. If there is one thing I'd like to see in 2017, it would be less whining by everyone (liberal, conservative, socialist, gay, straight, black, white, Muslim, etc.). When did we get to the point of just complaining about everything? We lived through Obama's pillaging of our national debt, I think the country can make it through a Trump Presidency. Perhaps this is wishful thinking, but everyone needs to buck up and get on with this thing we call life. Be well. Ciao.

 

 

 

Boxing Day 2016

 

Christmas is fast fading into a memory and New Years is on our minds. It is Boxing Day which has nothing to with pugilism or returning unwanted gifts, but is a holiday for the working servants in the middle ages who were required to work on Christmas Day, but given the 26th off to enjoy with their families. The owners of the large homes would give the servants boxes of gifts to share with their families.

 

Darla and I have both been fighting a cold over the weekend. We attended Uncle JR's funeral on Thursday and their were a queue of older folks there, many of them with colds and flu and we caught a nasty cold. Darla's dad was fighting the bug and we may have picked it up from him. I was supposed to play golf today, Tuesday and Wednesday. I cancelled today and Neill cancelled tomorrow, so all that I have left is Wednesday.

 

I did go into the doctor last week to have him check on my right shoulder. I have had continued pain since I fell golfing about two months ago. I was on a muddy hill and my feet went right out from under me and I landed on my right shoulder. I finished the round with a 78 and didn't think much of it, but I have had tremendous pain if I sleep on my right side (I'm a side sleeper). It has gotten progressively worse and I needed to have it checked. My doctor did a few tests and has concluded that I have a torn super spinatus muscle in my right shoulder. It is actually part of the rotator cuff and I will go in for an MRI tomorrow to have the severity of the tear determined. I'm hoping that it is partially torn and I can do Physical Therapy and have the tear repair itself. The worst case is surgery that will require about three months of downtime. I can work, but won't be able to drive or use my right arm for about eight weeks. I wouldn't be in a cast, but in a sling and it would be outpatient surgery. I'll know more tomorrow.

 

Darla and I are taking advantage of a certificate that I won in a golf tournament in the Summer. We have a one night stay at the Peppermill in Reno with $100 resort credit. I had told her we should use it during the downtime between Christmas and New Years, but when I referenced the certificate, I realized that it expired on December 20th (it was a six month certificate and started on June 20, the day of the tournament). I called and talked to the Charity director at the resort and she agreed to extend the certificate for thirty days, so we will make our way up to Reno on Thursday and stay over until Friday. We will eat at one of their award winning restaurants, either the Bimini Steakhouse, Romanza Italian restaurant or Biscotti's wine bar. We'll see how we feel when we get up there, but it should be fun. We have one of their upgraded Tower rooms with a concierge, so it should be a great time. We'll get out of town before the crazy starts.

 

Our Christmas celebration was pretty toned down because of how we felt, but we did have the family over on Saturday and fixed a nice prime rib roast. It got done earlier than we expected as we were off to church and it had reached the optimum interior temperature by about 4:30. We took it out of the oven, but it continued to cook and was a bit overdone by the time we ate at 6 PM. It is tough when you have an $89 rack of prime rib and it is done early and part of your party is at their church in Folsom. We did attend the candlelight service at Bayside and Darla and I both worked as ushers. I was in charge of an upper tier that had eight rows. I handed out the offering buckets (four of them) and got three back. I was a little exercised, but one of the kids had set it on the floor at the end of his row. Being elevated, the rows only had one side to enter and exit. I likely seemed a little overbearing, but this is God's money and I was in charge. It all worked out, but freaked me out a little.

 

Darla's Mom and Dad went to church with us and it was a great service with carols, a good message, a drama that was acted out (actually a dramatic reading) and then the candles. Our church used to use electric lights as the candles. but we have moved back to actual candles now that we are part of Bayside. It is more dramatic. The pastor had the congregation hold the candles low to our side as if hiding the light and then had everyone lift the candles at once to show what it was like when Christians share their light to the world. It was pretty dramatic.

 

Darla and I got together with Neil and Lilly on Wednesday night for light appetizers and drinks at McCormick Schmick's in Roseville. It was good catching up with them. Neil has finally passed the baton on his job as Tournament Director. It was causing him undue stress and he was making mistakes as he got older. I had planned to step down as Handicapper along with him as we worked so well together, but John, who is the President this year, asked me to stay on. I agreed. We had a nice light dinner with Neil and Lilly and found out all about what is going on with them. Neil hasn't given up his dream of moving to Arizona and they will take a trip in January to scout out places to live. Lilly is not on board with that plan and I'd like to see him give up on it. but he is his own man and will see it through.

 

Darla has been making some pretty incredible steak soup the last two days, using the leftover prime rib. She sort of made up the recipe, but it has potatoes in it, celery, onion and steak and reminds of Stuart's steak soup at Black Angus steakhouse. We will have some hot leftover prime rib as French dip for dinner tonight while watching the Cowboys play.

 

The picture of my Underwriting Manager, Pete, above is from our breakfast on Thursday. It was his birthday and I made the waitress tie a balloon to his wrist and pose by the tree. I sent a note to the staff and told them we'd be in late as Pete wanted to go see Santa.

 

Well, for a sick guy, I made it through this epistle. Sam and Jennifer had a great Christmas and birthday as well. We gave Sam an rc gas controlled car for her backyard and McKenny has yet to get that going. He was going to take it to the rc hobby shop this week to see if they can get it started. It runs on Nitro fuel. I will bid you all adieu and return next week with tales of Reno and our New Years celebration with the boys. Ciao.

 

 

Back From Maui, Hawaai

 

We had a ball in Hawaii and a really great, family time with Steve and Kirsten. They flew over on an island hopper from Kona on Sunday afternoon. It was a little rainy in Maui and we saw rain most days at least for awhile. A little rainfall at 85 degrees is no big deal. We had two days that were completely clear and Darla and I were glad that we had some overcast the first two days as the sun was HOT when the skies were clear. We were able to relax on the beach for the first two days and not be too concerned with sunburn. We were lubed up with sunscreen, but with the clouds, we kind of lucked out. There was on again, off again sun and it was enough. Darla and I took it easy Saturday and Sunday and just relaxed at the resort, driving into Napili on Friday night for dinner at Beach Bums. We stopped after dinner and did some grocery shopping for the week. Saturday, we drove into Lahaina and picked up some beach towels and a birthday card for Sammy. We took it easy out on the grass overlooking the ocean and had a nice omelet for dinner.

 

Darla and I got some bad news when we landed in Hawaii. Her folks left us a message to call and we got the news that her Uncle JR had passed away. He had several strokes in the last couple of years and  they believe that he had suffered another stroke in his bed and died. They found him clutching his fist to his chest. We had been blessed to spend a lot of time with JR in the last year, including our trip to Graeagle and our vacation this Summer in Tahoe. A highlight of that trip was Sam teaching JR to play a Monsters, Inc video game. I'm not sure he loved it, but he was a great sport and enjoyed Sam's instructions. It was a blast. We had hoped to visit him for a golf game at his condo in Graeagle for a game of golf with Neil and Charlie.

 

We stayed at the Papakea resort and it had been ten years since Darla and I had been to Maui. I knew the resort was on the Kaanapali coastline, but didn't really know anything about the resort itself. I booked it on VRBO and did a pretty extensive search on reviews of not only the resort, but the particular condo that we rented. We were pleasantly surprised with both the resort itself and the condo that we rented. It had been extensively updated with new bathrooms, flooring, kitchen and lighting. The beds and furniture were new and we loved the location. It had an ocean view, but looked over the resort grounds (the last picture above is our view from the lanai). You can see the putting green, the pool and barbecue area and the ocean. The resort lights the tiki torches every night and there is a koi pond below our unit with a fountain that gave us the sound of splashing water al day and night and it was blissful.

 

I had left my sunglasses on the plane, so treated myself to a new pair of premium sunglasses. I looked at Ray Bans, Maui Jims and Smith Optical sunglasses and ended up buying a pair of $125 Smith sunglasses. Their styles are close to Oakley and I like Oakleys. The glasses came with a set of rose lenses (for golfing), black lenses and clear lenses (for biking or wind). I got a pair of purple and black frames and may have to fight Darla for them.

 

We relaxed before Steve and Kirsten got there as they had plans to go hiking with us. They had stopped on their way to the condo and had nachos at Maui Brewing Company, so weren't hungry for dinner. Darla and I fixed some eggs again for dinner. Oddly, we ended up having breakfast for dinner a few times while we were there. We were up fairly early on Monday and headed back to Napili to have breakfast at the Gazebo restaurant. It is a small gazebo that overlooks the Napili coast and people line up to eat there. We were in line for about 45 minutes and finally got seated and enjoyed the Macadamia nut pancakes and eggs. It was incredible. We walked the rocky coast afterward over to the cove to see the sea turtles. We got harassed by one of the security guards from the Napili Inn, but the ocean and beaches are not private and we pushed back. He told us to stay off the grass and we shined him on. It was a nice little hike after our meal and there are some pictures above from our trip. We drove back to the resort and did some whale watching. Darla and I have a set of really small 10X binoculars that we use at sporting events, but Steve had some binoculars that were 10X50 that really brought the whales into view as they breached the water. He told us they bought them for $40 at Costco. We cleaned up and went to dinner at the Maui Brewing Company, which is a Brewpub and they have an ice trough at the bar where you keep your beer cold. They should have a little toy Zamboni that scrapes the bar every hour, but that would be my invention. The ice trough is a great idea all by itself.

 

Tuesday we headed into Paia and the road to Hana. We parked at the trail's edge for Twin Falls and hiked up to see the lower falls and the upper falls. You can see the pictures above. The girls wanted to shop in Paia, which is a cute little "hippy" style beach town with bars and shops. There was absolutely no parking anywhere in the little town, so Steve and I dropped the girls and drove around trying to find parking. We got way off the beaten path and the traffic was jammed. We finally made it back into town and found a woman leaving a spot in front of one of the stores and pulled in. We then went into Kahului and went to the Costco and Darla and I bought a pair of the whale watching binoculars.

 

That night we drove home, got showers and headed into Lahaina for dinner. Darla and I wanted to go to BJ's, which overlooks the ocean and harbor from the second floor overlooking Front Street. The restaurant was gone (we visited it ten years ago). It is now Lahaina Pizza Company and owned by the same people. BJ's is a chain restaurant and they tried to get the owner to do the entire BJ's menu, which is huge. The location is too small and specializes in pizza. The owner cancelled his franchise agreement and renamed the restaurant Lahaina Pizza Company. It was every bit as good as we remembered and we enjoyed a late dinner. The girls wanted to shop after dinner and Steve and I should have just found a bar and waited them out. Instead we walked the strip and went into every tacky little beach shop on the strip, where Darla and Kirsten bought tops.

 

Wednesday, we were going to go on another hike, but we slept in and it was overcast. The hike was on the east side of the island and about 5 miles in length overall. It was a view hike and you can't see anything if it is cloudy. We took a drive into town and hit the beach next to the Westin and relaxed. We thought about snorkeling, but the surf was up and the coastline was a little churned up from the rain, so just relaxed on the beach and did some people watching and napped (at least I did). We drove over to the store and picked up some tri tip, which we marinated and then grilled for dinner out by the pool. It was one of our best meals as we had baked potatoes and fruit. It was a nice evening. Darla, Steve and Kirsten drove back out to Lahaina to go the factory outlets and Darla came back with a blouse and a new purse. I rested on the grass above the ocean.

 

Thursday, Steve and Kirsten had to fly back home and we all had breakfast together at a little shop across the street from the condo called Slappy Cakes. We talked about life and the folks getting older and how Steve felt about being somewhat isolated in Hawaii. We talked about the Aunts and Uncles getting older. He said that he would not be at JR's funeral as it would set a precedent. It's sad that he is so far away, but he and Kirsten love their life in Hawaii.

 

Thursday Darla and I drove north up to Kapalua and beyond. We drove up tot he blowhole and enjoyed the show as the water shot into the air as the waves crashed the beach. We stopped a few times to see the coastline and waves. Darla even stopped and fed potato chips to two stray cats that were hanging out on the side of the highway. We drove back through Kapalua stopping at the golf course to get some pictures. The opening tournament of the year is the Tournament of Champions at the Kapalua resort and they are already working on the grandstands. Darla and I went back to the resort and sat on the grass overlooking the ocean and looked for whales. You can see the pictures we took of each other as we watched the waves. That night we went across the street and had Mexican food for dinner.

 

Friday was our trip home and we were up early. I made scrambled eggs for breakfast and we then packed up and headed to the airport. We drove back and I took a detour through Kehei. It is a cute little beach town, but a town that actually flooded on Wednesday night due to the heavy rains. We drove from there over to the airport, turned in the rental and relaxed at the airport as we waited for our flight. There was a sewer break in town and the bathrooms were closed. They quickly realized that having closed restrooms wouldn't work, so they had workers bringing in buckets of water to flush the toilets. I looked for my lost Oakleys and talked to Lost and Found at both the airport and Alaska Airlines. They didn't have my glasses. I found out later that my Oakleys were in my car and I had a $25 pair with me, so no big loss.

 

We had a Christmas party with Phil and Carmine at Phil's place Friday night and thought we might go, but we were exhausted and just relaxed at home when we got in. We did have a Christmas dinner with Julie and Rand on Saturday night. I spent the day cleaning up the last of the leaves as the trees lost the last of their leaves in the last storm. I cleared out the lawn and sidewalks and driveways and piled up the leaves for the last time this season and the city crews will be out tomorrow to pick them up.

 

I played in the last golf game of the year at the club today. It was actually scheduled for last week, but it got rained out, so I was able to get in today. I shot 42+43=85, net 71 and picked up one more stroke on my eclectic score for the year and have a gross of 65, 7 under par for my best score on each hole throughout the year. It was cold and wet today and felt colder having come from Hawaii. The high today was 40 degrees and an overnight low of 28 degrees. We had an hour frost delay this morning and my 9:14 tee time ended up with a 10:05 tee off.

 

Well, Dallas is on SNF and I have to go watch it, so Ciao, baby!