Golf with the Boys and Wedding is almost here

 

Big week ahead as we head to Las Vegas and get Jennifer all married up and stuff. I'm really looking forward to seeing family and all being together to celebrate Jennifer's wedding. It will be a fun and exciting weekend. Jennifer sent me a text this weekend worried about the weather in Hawaii. They had torrential rains this past weekend and flooding in Oahu. I told her that the weather changes on a dime in Hawaii and can be raining one minute and hot and sunny the next. She'll be fine.

 

I had the joy this weekend of playing golf with both boys for the first time. Daniel and I played together years ago, but David was never interested in golf. Dave went to a work golf outing about two years and got the bug. Daniel has played off and on, but Dave has him out during the week now and playing. They have been asking me to join them and I set up golf this weekend up at Auburn Valley and invited them to come out and join Paul and I. You can see the pictures from our day with a blue heron on the tee box at number 11 and then pictures of me and the boys, also pictures of Paul with an old 55 Chevy Nomad that was parked up in the parking lot when we finished. I also have included the requisite picture of our boy, Samson.

 

We had a blast yesterday and AV was offering a "Master's Special" of a sandwich, beer, cart and range balls for $29. We had to tee off after noon to get the special. I picked Daniel up at 10 AM and then we drove over to the Park and Ride in Roseville off the freeway to pick up David and Paul. We got up to the course about 10:45 and hit balls, chipped and putted and then went in for lunch. The deal was a pimento and cheese sandwich or an egg salad sandwich, which is typical Master's fare, but the restaurant had mercy on us and offered any sandwich, a hot dog or a bratwurst as an option. We all got the bratwurst and had a nice lunch with seasoned French fries.

 

The golf was okay, I played poorly overall, but was happy to be out with the boys. They were nervous and struggled early with 9s on the first hole and some 8s and a 10 thrown in, but slowly settled in and played pretty well. I shot a 48+46=94. Paul shot 87 and the boys both had 115s. It was a 5 hour round of golf, but we never really got pushed even with a fair amount of lost balls and searching for lost balls. I had a really good time with the boys and they enjoyed Paul and Paul was very patient and accepting of the boys. We had fun as a group. I bought drinks at the turn and Paul bought a round out on the course.

 

Paul had his truck stolen from the parking lot at his work a week ago. His truck had been broken into at his home about a month ago and they stole his checkbook and some personal effects. They left his golf clubs though. He had to change his checking account because of the theft. Unfortunately he forgot that his insurance was set up as an automatic payment out of his checking account. He was behind on his mail and missed the cancellation notice from his auto carrier. He turned in the claim after the truck was stolen and was shocked to find out that he has no coverage. The agent told him to go ahead and pay the late installment and they would put in a claim to be considered. They turned him down this week. I told him to contact the Department of Insurance and put in a claim through them. He paid the late installment and there are extenuating circumstances. They may not uphold the loss, but it's worth a try.

 

Paul did lose his clubs in the process. In fact, two sets of clubs as he had just bought new irons and had the old ones in the truck as well. He lost his golf cart and several pairs of golf shoes. The hassle is all of the tees, balls, ball markers, umbrella, coats, shells, etc that you keep in your bag. He is using a borrowed set from a friend of his in the pro shop at Diamond and has some woods from another friend. His new set up weighs about 20 pounds less than his old clubs. I encouraged him to go out and replace his golf club and just turn in the receipts to his homeowners. They are harassing him for receipts or pictures of his golf clubs. He doesn't have to provide any of that. Get out and buy the replacements and let the chips fall where they fall. He's already bought a replacement car and got a 2010 Mercedes 300 from a used car dealer that he does business with. He is a master auto body technician with a local chain of body shops and just turned to his best customers and they hooked him up with a really nice ride for about $10,000.

 

We leave for Vegas on Thursday mid morning. We will drop Samson off at the pet resort in Loomis early Thursday morning and then head to the airport. We arrive in Vegas at 1 PM and will go get checked into the Aliente and then meet Dad, Shirley, Randy, Darryl and their wives for happy hour at the Palms. We have dinner planned that night at the Prime Rib Loft at the Orleans casino off the strip. We will likely do a bit of gambling that night and I prefer the off strip casinos.

 

Friday, I will meet McKenny and his grooms men and we will head over to the Men's Wearhouse and get our tuxedos. Darla and I will wait at the Corbin house for Sam to get off school and then will load her up and bring her over to the rehearsal at The Grove about 4 PM . The rehearsal dinner will be at 5:30 at Maggianos in Summerlin. There are about 45 of us that will be at the dinner, including Dad and Shirley and Darryl, Cheryl, Randy and Cake. The kids are having anyone from the Rehearsal dinner over to the house for pool and a visit afterward, but we will take Sam and head back to the Aliente and get a good night's sleep.

 

Saturday we will relax in the morning and maybe take Sam to the pool for awhile and then the girls will all get ready at the Aliente and the limo will pick them up and take them to the Grove. I will head over to the Corbin house and get ready with the guys over there. The limo will be sent to the house and McKenny and the groomsmen will ride over. I'll bring my car as I will bring Jennifer and McKenny back to the house after the wedding and reception and then drop them off at the hotel near the airport. They leave early Sunday for a week in Oahu. Sam will stay with us Saturday night and we will go visit Don and Alicia over at their resort, Tahiti Village, on Sunday so Jennifer and Luke can play in the lazy river they have on site. We will drop Sam off at John's that night after returning the tuxedos to the Men's Wearhouse. We will stay over Sunday night. I plan to visit our Vegas office on Monday and then Darla and I have a 2:35 flight back to Sacramento and we will go over and pick up Samson before returning home. Busy weekend ahead and we look forward to it.

 

I will see most of you in Vegas. Have a great week and safe travels. Ciao.

 

 

 

Springtime means Sunshine and Rain

 

 

It was an interesting weekend with heavy, pouring rain Friday and into Saturday morning. We had 100 players lined up for the Master's event at Diamond Oaks on Saturday. The forecast showed the heavy rain tapering off early Saturday morning and we informed the members that we would likely be playing. We had 20 guys drop out as the conditions would be cart path only for carts and there were 5 no shows on the day of the event, but the remaining 75 played on a sloppy, soggy course,  but we had no rain. It was actually a warm storm as it was a so called "Pineapple Express" storm from Hawaii. It was about 65 degrees when I teed off at 9 AM. You can see the pictures of the course. There were several holes where the water on that hole had overflowed their banks. The first picture shows number four where the water generally runs under the fairway through a culvert, but when the rains are too heavy and the stream is flowing it goes over the banks and across the fairway. It will be gone by later this week and back to flowing underground.

 

The second photo is of number 6 and the waterfall that I have shown you before. This week the stream completely overtook about a fifth of the fairway. The creek is fed by runoff from the housing development that surrounds the course. The waterfall is actually hard to see in the picture as the water is so high. The third photo is not of Samson, but a dog that greets us every day on the fourth tee box. It isn't Samson as Sugar is about 4 years old and a lab and overweight because about six or eight of the golfers (including Boyd and Neil) carry dog treats in their bags and feed him every time they play. The homeowner has actually asked the players to only feed him one treat as he is getting chubby. Sugar knows the players that feed him and would ignore me when I was playing with either Neil or Boyd.

 

The conditions were sloppy at best and I actually lost a ball on number 2 when I hit it left into the rough. The rough was so long and wet that it likely plugged. Normally you would just drop a ball and take a stroke, but in a tournament you lose a stroke and have to replay the ball from the original spot. I double bogeyed that hole on the way to a 47+44= 91. The scores were generally higher, but two of the players in the field shot 73, so it wasn't that hard for everyone. I finished out of the money, but did have a par on number 17 that was somehow good for both a net and gross skin and $22 in prize money.

 

Both Daniel and David have really got into golf this year and keep asking me to meet them after work to play. I haven't done that yet, but set up a golf game for Saturday and invited the boys to join me. We will play with Paul at Auburn Valley and they have a Masters special for $29 after noon that includes cart, a beer and either an egg salad or pimento and cheese sandwich. I asked the boys and they both jumped at the chance, so we will play this coming Saturday and I'll get some pictures.

 

The golf course picture above is number 13 at Augusta and I bought it this week after Pete and I visited a gallery in Granite Bay owned by the golf artist, Jim Fitzpatrick. Jim was a professional golfer and realized that he wouldn't make much of a living on tour, so began photographing the PGA players as well as golf courses throughout the United States. He is a sketch artist and a painter and has made his living by painting PGA players and venues. He also does commercial work and has made the posters for most of the major golf tournaments each year and works with golf courses throughout the United States on Grand Openings and things like towels, coasters, tiles, etc. I saw the picture that he took of #13 and had it lasered onto metal and signed. It is of dogwoods and azaleas that surround the green and was so lush and just popped off the picture. I will also get one of his sketches soon. They are nice, but pricey.

 

Daniel and Becky had us over for dinner on Thursday night and we had a nice dinner of fried rice and won ton soup that both Becky and Daniel prepared. We didn't at until 7:30 because Daniel and David met for golf that afternoon. He's hooked. It was nice to get together and see their new floors. They had a grey tile installed throughout the living areas of the house. It will be nice to be able to see them on a regular basis, especially once they start having kids

 

We hit our numbers are work this month and I am treating the staff to lunch on Wednesday at the Spaghetti Factory. We were up about 14% in March.

 

It was an absolutely beautiful day today with a high in the upper sixties and a bright blue sky with sunshine. Darla and I slept in today after going to church last night. Darla treated me to breakfast and then we went over and got my car washed. I did the lawn, pool and cleaned up the backyard before sitting down and enjoying the Masters this afternoon. Darla and I took the dog for a walk this afternoon and let him frolic in the park for awhile and he got to zoom around before rolling in the grass and had both Darla and I laughing.

 

This is short, but I'm tired. I already put in all of the scores from the event yesterday and updated Tournament Handicaps. I'm ready for some downtime. We have set up Sam in church camp in July this Summer. W are not doing Almanor, but will spend a weekend in Tahoe with Jennifer, Samantha and McKenny after the camp week. I hope you are all well. Less than two weeks to the wedding. See you all soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Happy Resurrection Day, the biggest gift we will ever receive!

 

 

It was a pretty fabulous weekend, topped off by a great church service today and a surprise announcement that our new Senior Pastor has been hired. Praise God! His message was full of hope and love and one thing he said was to stop saying "What if.." and start living "What will God do in my life next.."

 

My weekend started out with a Good Friday and the bottom pictures are from Rancho Solano Golf Club in Fairfield where Neil and John and I met Bob Pando from San Jose for golf. We left Roseville about 8:15 and got to Fairfield a little after 9 o'clock. We hit balls and then toured one of the nicer municipal courses in Northern California. The course is in a gated community, but is owned by the city of Fairfield. It was $42 with cart to play. The day was fantastic with a high in the low eighties and just a hint of a breeze in the air. It had been a couple of years since I have played Rancho Solano and I forgot how nice the course is. The front nine runs through the development and the back nine snakes through the valley with the hills surrounding the course. We took the above pictures on hole 13 and you can see the hills that turn golden during the Summer months green from the Winter rains. It was one of the better days of golf that I've had in a while and not because I played well (I shot 89), but because of the fellowship and laughs with the guys. I rode with Bob, who is an old friend and we used to host a Bible study group together back ten years ago.

 

We drove back to Roseville and I had time to just relax and unwind before John picked me up for poker. We drove out to Citrus Heights and arrived about 7 PM. Steve is the facilitator of the poker, even though Scott and I have played in the game since we both lived in Fresno (32 years ago). Steve is nuts about poker and is always pushing the guys to stop yakking and play cards. We are in it for the cards AND for the fellowship so just blow him off. We were sitting outside the house and I decided to call Steve and tell him that John and I were tired from golf and were begging out of the night's festivities. He asked us why we played golf on a day that we knew we had poker. I hung up as we were both dying laughing and then went to the front door. The other players all gave me fist bumps for getting into Steve's head. I had a great night at the table winning both early and late and having to borrow a bowl to put my winnings in as they wouldn't fit in the Tupperware I brought. I won about $65 and John and I were out of there about 11:00 as it was so stuffy in the house. Scott wouldn't open the doors, put on the AC or find a fan. We were both still warm from golf and it was too much. Darla was out to dinner and a movie with the ladies and I was happy to be home to rescue Samson from his cage.

 

Earlier in the week, Darla and I went on a date night and saw the movie "I can Only Imagine" and enjoyed it immensely. I've been looking for a Pet resort for Samson for our Vegas trip and someone had recommended the West Roseville Resort and I had contacted them and made a reservation. It is close to the house, so Darla and I stopped and checked out the "Resort". It is located in an office/ industrial park and surrounded by businesses like auto repair, sign shop, construction offices, etc. There was no one around and it was closed up tight.

 

I called the next day and asked to come in for a tour. The "Resort" is a tilt up concrete building with line upon line of animal cages with towels draped over them and dogs barking their heads off. The owner told me that they take the dogs out every two hours for a fifteen minute walk. The girl touring said they take the dog out 4 times a day for five minutes. I cancelled our reservation. Darla's friend, Jan, who is my golfing buddy Rick's widow, suggested the All Pets Resort in Loomis and we decided to drive by and tour it Saturday morning. The first picture is of the front of the resort. The dog runs are 60 x 10' and grass covered. The pens are masonry and about 10 x 8' and have doors and raised beds. The cost is actually less than the industrial park that had a patch of grass about 15 x 20 feet for 30 dogs. Darla and I loved the grounds and the staff and were thrilled to hear that the owners live on site and walk the facility nightly before they go to bed. We have our reservation set at this resort and know that Samson will love it.

 

I was driving home Thursday for lunch and to let Samson out when I could feel a vibration in the 300. I rolled the window down and could hear something dragging. I got home and it was a plastic shield that is bolted on below the engine compartment and helps with air drag. The chassis of the 300 is built by Mercedes and they always shield the engine to reduce noise and make the car more aerodynamic. The problem is that the shield has to be taken off when the car is serviced. Whoever had worked on the car last had apparently lost one of the bolts and only replaced three instead of four. The shield had been wobbling and finally cracked and dropped to the ground. It had two bolts holding it up and the other half dragging on the ground as I drove. I got home, changed clothes and lifted the car up and took a look at the damage. The shield was intact, but the bolt hole on one side was cracked open and the other bolt was missing. I should have pulled the shield off, but decided to Gorilla tape the shield up to the smaller shield underneath the radiator. Bad move. The picture of Samson is from me working on the car and him relaxing in the garage as I worked.

 

After the tour of the Resort Saturday, we drove up to Paradise for lunch with Earl and Frances, Darla's parents. I drove the 300 as I have 103,000 miles on my 2006 and Darla had 105,000 miles on her 2013. We stopped in Wheatland and had a pastry and then drove up to Marysville, where I needed to get gas. About five miles from Marysville I heard the tell tale dragging sound again and knew I'd messed up. The strange thing is that I had driven to Fairfield and back on Friday with no problem. I stopped at the gas station and assessed the situation. I was in brand new shorts and a new golf shirt, bright white tennis shoes and a smile. I could not climb under the car and rip off the shield and my biggest concern is that it would come loose and cause the car behind me to veer and hit another car or a tree. We were about halfway to Paradise and I decided to drive on after Darla talked to Earl. I wanted to go home as I had only nice clothes, but Earl offered me some work clothes and so on we went.

 

The damn shield stayed on and we picked up every little rock and piece of debris as the shield acted like a snow plow as I drove. At least it didn't come off and cause an accident. We went to lunch with everyone and then Earl decided to climb under the car and detach the shield. I drove it up onto ramps, he loosened the two bolts. We pulled the shield off and I dumped it in his plastic recycling bin.

 

We had a nice visit with the in laws. Don and Alicia were there and had spent the night Friday night. Luke had his Easter candy that he had found scattered about the back yard by a large Bunny. Bunny? Eggs? I don't get it and never will.

 

Darla and I went to church this morning and then met the boys and their ladies for dinner tonight. We decided to go traditional Easter fare and had dinner at Cha Cha's Mexican Food restaurant. Odd, but it isn't about the food when you get together with family. We had a nice visit. Dan and Becky have pulled out all of the carpet in in their house and put down laminate in the living areas and new carpet in the bedrooms. We need to get over and see it soon.

 

We hit our numbers at work for March and I'm happy to see us up about 10% over 2017. I was out Friday, but will crunch the numbers tomorrow.

 

We got some GREAT news this week and that is that Samson does NOT have any bone disease and just had an inflamed elbow likely from either a fall or when that dog attacked him in the park. The anti inflammatory drugs worked great and he is back to 100%. We are thrilled as we were looking at about $8000 for surgery. The DVM thought he had Osteocondritus Desacans, a bone disease that causes a loss of blood flow to the joint. She had us scared, but the Radiologist found no major problems with the elbow other than inflammation from a fall or trauma to the joint.

 

That is it for this epistle. The wedding gets closer. We talked to Jennifer and Sam today and I got a picture of Sam coloring eggs from Jen. Have a great week and be assured that Jesus died for your sins. It is a great gift and one you need to embrace. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

The SF Giants came to Play

 

We had tickets Saturday night to the Giants vs. The Sacramento River Cats at Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats are the Giants AAA affiliate here in Sacramento and were at one time the AAA team from Vancouver and were an Oakland A's affiliate.

 

It was an interesting week what with the officer involved shooting and death of an unarmed man in his Grandmother's backyard in Sacramento, The story is that there was a report of a guy breaking into vehicles in South Sacramento. The Sheriffs helicopter spotted the guy and he ran into a backyard. They alerted the Sac PD and said that the guy was armed with a tire iron. The police approached him from the side of the house and he ran at the police with what they thought was a weapon. The two officers unloaded their revolvers and a total of 20 shots were fired. The guy was killed. The cops then turned off their audio and had a conversation. The video and tapes were released this week and all Hell broke loose. We had a visit Thursday night from the Black Lives Matter traveling protesters and they shut down our Interstate 5 in downtown Sac at rush hour and then proceeded to the Golden 1 Center where they locked arms and effectively closed the arena on the night of an NBA game. There were about 3000 people already in the arena (there was a season ticket holder's event) and they stayed to watch the game. The team provided free food and soft drinks to anyone who made it into the arena. The BLM folks stayed until about 8:30 and then dispersed for the bus ride back to Oakland.

 

The protesters came back on Friday and closed several streets as they marched from downtown to the home in South Sacramento where the shooting occurred. They did turn hostile downtown where a guy jumped onto an SUV and yelled at the woman driver, who sped away as the guy jumped off, but not before one of the protesters broker her back window. The protesters also mobbed another woman who was stupid enough to yell at the protesters to "Get out of the street!!". They chased her and threw water bottles on her. The thinking was that the protesters would stay in Sacramento as there was a gun rally Saturday morning and the thought was they would stay around to cause a mess at the Giants-River Cats game. We have season tickets and had not only our seats to the game, but I bought 8 more for a couple of my employees to invite agents.

 

I had golf Saturday morning up in Marysville about 45 minutes north of Roseville. John and I drove up together and had the second tee time. It had rained all week again and it was finally suppose to clear Saturday, although the course would be wet and "Cart Path Only". John and I chose to walk the course and brought our push carts. The course up in Marysville is built in farmland and was originally built by a group of farmers for their own use. It is a nice course, but the rains have played heck with the conditions and it was pretty overgrown and wet in a lot of areas. I have really struggled with my back lately and the wet weather has really caused me to suffer from some stiff joints and a crooked back. I played pretty poorly overall and shot a 47 on the par 35 front nine and a 46 on the par 36 back nine for 93. That included a four putt 7 on a par three on the back. I was tired and wet and sore at the end of the round and told John before we left that I wanted to get back right after golf. I want to get to the ballpark about two hours before the game because the scuttlebutt was that the Black Lives Matter group was going to march and close the Tower Bridge that leads to the stadium at 5. The game was 6:05. I finished par-par-par and hit my stride late. I was disgusted with the total, but it turns out that the entire group struggled and that my 93, net 77 tied for 2nd low net  and I won $33. That strong finish meant a lot as it turns out.

 

John and I made it back in record time and I was able to shower up and we were at the ballpark by a little after 4 PM. We were able to watch the Giant's batting practice and ordered our chicken tenders and onion rings from an uncrowded Pub on site. Darla and I sat up in the Solon Club, which is a private club for season ticket holders until Pete and Vicki got there at 5:15. We met them with their tickets at the gate. We wanted to go back up to the club and I asked Darla to pull out our tickets and she couldn't find them. You have to show your season ticket to get into the club. We had to pull aside and Darla wet through all of her pockets and her tiny purse and we were stuck. Pete and I even checked the purse that held gum and her cell phone and some tissues. I told Pete and Vicki to head up and we'd go to our seats. Darla then found them and told Pete and I we were lame for not finding them. She then found them and they were with her cell phone. She told Pete and I that we were lame for not finding her lost tickets in her own purse? OK

 

We wanted to sit up in the Solon Club because our seats are right behind home plate and although great seats, they are in the shade and it was getting windy and cold. The Solon has seats in the full sun overlooking first base. We found our other employees sitting below us and Connie, one of my Senior Assistants, gave one of the Giant's coaches a big hug and a kiss. It turns out that the Giants new batting coach went to college with Connie. Small world. The Game was really good and our River Cats actually beat the Giants 8-7. The protesters were a no show as I'm sure the BLM does not like to pay overtime to their protesters.

 

You can see the picture of Samson above rolling in the grass at the park across the street. He loves to go off leash at the park and will run in circles and rub himself all over the grass as you can see. The other picture was from Friday night when I was barbecuing pork chops. I was carrying them out in the package to put on the grill and they slipped out of my hands and I tried to grab them but they flew up in the air and hit Samson on the head. The blood is the juice from the pork, not from Samson. The last picture is of Samson after his shower on Saturday morning.

 

I forgot to mention that when I went to pick up Michael last Monday  I decided to skip a potty break before I left as I was running late. Big mistake. The drive out to the airport goes through farm land and then a lonely stretch of highway with no services. I got about halfway to the freeway and a "need" hit me. I had the sweats and my toes were curling up and I was afraid that I'd just have to pull the car over, drop my pants and do the deed. As luck would have it, I pass rice fields as I drive and it is a perfect area for hunting. There was a lone Port-a-potty on the side of the road behind a gate. I hopped the fence and was afraid that it would be locked, but no only was it open, but it had been recently serviced and was clean as a whistle with fresh everything in the shack. That was heaven as I cured my need.

 

Darla was off today with her sister and they took back shoes and dresses and bought more shoes and dresses for the wedding and reception. Apparently this is some kind of big deal as they made a day of it and she modeled all of her purchases for me tonight. I have a tux and will wear a dress shirt and slacks to the rehearsal dinner.

 

Well, that is it for this week. Darla and I are off to see the new movie, "I can only Imagine." on Tuesday night. Next weekend is Easter and the celebration of the biggest gift any of us will ever receive as Jesus died on the cross in place of us to pay for our sins. Happy Easter to everyone. I will make it a Good Friday this week as I will meet my friend, Bob Pando, in Fairfield for golf. I'm bringing Neil and John as well. Ciao.

St Paddy's Day 2018

Well, back at it on a Sunday night. It was a nice and relaxing weekend. It had rained most of the week and the storm would stay around until Saturday night, or so we thought. I had a Best Ball tournament with Paul on Saturday and we teed off at noon. My back had been acting up all week in concert with the weather and I had been hobbled and crooked throughout the week. I was actually somewhat relieved that we would miss golf on the weekend. And then I woke up Saturday morning to sunshine. The game was on. I didn't want to let down Paul. As I turns out he had a really stressful week at work and showed up for my benefit. We played horribly as you might expect. Paul shot 85 and I put up a truly awful 94 and we shot a 73 best ball, this coming three weeks after we shot 61 at Diamond. I actually picked up on four holes as I was in the high rough and either couldn't find my ball or couldn't advance it. The course was a little rough and really wet as they hadn't been able to get out and mow it. The rough was both long and wet. I did see a group of male turkeys courting some females along the way and snapped that picture.

 

The relaxing part of the weekend is that we slept in both weekend days until 9 o'clock, unheard of for us. Samson slept in as well which helped. The problem was we missed church today. Darla felt guilt and bought me breakfast and we then we went to Home Depot to buy some replacement sprinkler heads for a couple that had developed leaks. I got home, put in the sprinklers and then mowed the lawn and went around the house with a big jug of Roundup and sprayed the weeds in the driveway cracks, the sidewalks and in the flowerbeds in both the front and backyards. I took a break to watch some of the golf and then went back out and blew off all of the sidewalks and the driveway. Then I used the leaf vacuum to pick up leaves that had accumulate with the rain throughout the property and cleared out several of the eave points at the roof gutters of leaves and debris that accumulated in the storm.

 

You can see some pictures of Darla and I from last night when we got together for dinner with Phil and Carmen. They are the couple that Darla set up several years ago and they are still together. They are both originally from Mexico and were born about 100 miles apart in small villages outside of Guadalajara, Mexico which is in the state of Jalisco. They are both now citizens of the United States, although Carmen speaks more fluent Spanish and sometimes struggles with English. Their story is a funny one in that Darla thought that Carmen would be perfect for Phil. She brought up the prospect to Phil when we were having dinner together after the junior golf tournament that I worked on and Phil volunteered for. He said, "Oh, I'm really not looking for a relationship and just play the field." When we mentioned that Carmen looked a little like Sofia Vergara, his tone changed. When Darla showed him a picture, he thought it was a joke. Nope. They are still together and struggle with trust issues as they were both in difficult marriages the first time around. They are getting through it and make a cute couple.

 

The second set of pictures are from dinner out on my birthday with Pete and Vicki and Michael, our corporate VP of employee development. We went to Benihana's and had a ball. Michael was in Monday to Wednesday and will be back in May.

 

The next set of pictures are of Samson. The first has him on his new bed in our room. That bed has helped us break him from the habit of jumping up on t our bed. The next two were pictures Darla sent me at work of Samson getting in to the mud and the result of his mud bath.

 

The final set are of Sara's Dad's condo in PV that Jennifer and the girls stayed in for the bachelorette party. Sara is Jennifer maid of honor. The house is in Puerto Vallarta above the Bay of Banderas. It is a 4000 square foot 3 bedroom, 4 bath condo with all three bedrooms with an on suite bathroom. The villa includes 2000 square feet of balconies and the infinity pool and courtyard. They had a great time and after seeing the pictures and the private beach, I can see why. The condo is called Villa Azule Celeste and rents for $600 a night.

 

We went to dinner at Rubinos in Rocklin and were talking after dinner and decided to go over to a wine bar close by. There was a band playing and a small dance floor and we had a bottle of Zinfandel and talked until after ten. It was a fun night, although nothing that we did would have been a clue that it was St Paddy's Day. I don't like acting like a leprechaun on Saint Paddy's day or a caballero on Cinco de Mayo.

 

I'm sure you all saw that Jennifer had a bad reaction to something on Saturday morning and ended up being rushed to Emergency. They applied steroids and Benadryl and the swelling went down. She swelled up on her lips, mouth and fingers. She thinks that she had a bad reaction to salicylate. The only thing she had in the morning were 5 Advil and some orange juice. Both are very high in salicylate.  Salicylate sensitivity symptoms are swelling of the face, lips, hands and feet; itchy skin, hives and rash: and headaches; all of which she experienced. The steroids and Benadryl quickly stopped the symptoms dead in their tracks. She has an Epi-pen now in case she ever experiences those symptoms again. I guess it was pretty scary. She is off ibuprofen now.

 

That will do it for this week. I have golf on Saturday up at Plumas Lakes golf course near Marysville and then seats to the Sacramento River Cats and San Francisco Giants exhibition baseball game at Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats are the AAA team for the San Francisco Giants. I am a season ticketholder for the River Cats at work and we got the tickets as part of our season ticket package. We will go with Pete and Vicki. I will be back at the keyboard next Sunday rain or shine and it is supposed to rain. Ciao.

 

 

Happy to be Springing Forward

Yes. Thrilled to have more sunshine at night so I can do some things around the house after work and so that I can see when I'm barbecuing. I wish we'd do away with the whole Daylight Savings Time. It is so depressing to have it get dark at 4 PM during the Winter. It is 5:30 right now and we are still enjoying bright sunshine and 72 degrees. Nice.

 

Jennifer is happily bacheloretting in Puerto Vallarta in a 4000 square foot house on the Bay of Banderas. She is there with her two bridesmaids, Beth and Sara, and a couple of Sara's friends. They are staying at Sara's Dad's house so the extra attenders are fine. They got there last Wednesday and will fly home on Tuesday so this is a serious trip. You can see by the couple of pictures she has sent us that they are having fun.

 

The other pictures are of Samson. He continues to be a handful for Darla as he loves to chew on things. We thought it was a teething phase, but the guy just loves to chew EVERYTHING. He ran into the house with a mini hoe that Darla has in the backyard for her flower pots and flower beds. He was chewing away at the wood handle. Darla took a picture and sent it to me at work.

 

I have started taking Sam to the park across the street and to a remote area in the back near the school district offices and letting him off leash. I have his remote collar on and if he tries to bolt after people or other dogs I give him a "reminder" buzz and he runs back to my side. He has enjoyed the freedom of running and chasing his ball. We had an incident Friday night where a guy who had his German Shepherd off leash stopped to talk to us and his dog pulled a sneak attack on Samson who was on leash and being held by Darla. The dog launched himself at Samson and clamped onto his rear leg. The owner who happened to be a heavy set dude, tackled his dog and pulled him off Samson. Darla and I were completely shocked at the speed and viciousness of the other dog. He was wearing a shock collar as well, but the owner was too startled to use it and just wrapped his arms around his dog and pulled him off. Samson wasn't injured, but he was scared and whimpering. Darla was really thrown by what happened and was concerned with what she would do if a stray dog attacked him on one of our walks. I sent Kevin a note and asked him what to do if a dog attacks. I assumed he'd recommend pepper spray, but he said to carry an air horn and blast it in the ear of the attacking dog. The pain in his ears will make him unclamp on Samson  and run away. Interesting.

 

I played in the final round of the 54 hole event and Ron and I could not have played better...on the front nine. We had 5 pars, two birdies and two bogeys for a gross 36, net 29. We fell apart on the back and shot a gross 46, net 39 for a 68 and missed the money by three shots. We had three double bogeys on the back side. Ugly stuff. Paul and I will play in the St Paddy's Day tournament at Woodcreek next Saturday.

 

I got a chance to talk to Dad on Saturday night. He is in Texas at Darryl's place and I wished him a belated happy birthday. They have been in Texas for a week and will be heading home on Wednesday. They had visited Randy and Cake for a few days and were at Darryl's place in Carrolton. The whole family was together except for Kal and Jenny as she was working. Janelle and Aaron even drove up from Houston and brought some crawfish and seafood for some kind of Mumbo Gumbo or something. It sounds like they were having a great time. I was able to talk to Cheryl and wish her a Happy Birthday.

 

I got our tickets lined up for Vancouver in May. We arrive in Seattle on Wednesday the 9th and drive up to Vancouver that night, checking into the hotel and staying over Wednesday and Thursday. We are set loose after breakfast on Friday and will have Dad and Shirley bring the sky train into downtown and we will go and visit some sights downtown, have a nice lunch somewhere on the water and then get out of dodge before rush hour, which is hell in Vancouver. We will stay with Dad and Shirley until Sunday night and then drive back to Seattle for a night flight home. Samson will stay at the Dog spa, er Kennel while we are gone. He will get to try out how he likes that during the wedding.

 

Darla and I went to church last night and got the news that they are close to hiring a full time Senior Pastor. We have gone about two years with interim pastors from our Mother church. We have an Executive pastor who is very good, but not a preacher by trade. His strength is administration. The pastor that they are trying to hire is the guy who preached last week from Oklahoma. We liked him a lot, so hoping and praying that God leads him to Roseville.

 

We went out to dinner last night after church to Carmelita's Mexican Restaurant in old Roseville. This is one of the real deal Mexican restaurants in town and they were serving posole, a Mexican soup like menudo made with hominy and simmered cubed pork. I enjoyed it although hominy is an acquired taste. Darla said she could do without next time. We split an order of steak and chicken fajitas and even had enough leftovers for lunch today.

 

I have Michael, our Corporate VP, flying in tomorrow for three days. It is my birthday and we will pick Darla up in the afternoon and head over to Benihana's in Citrus Heights for dinner. Mike will work with my newer and younger staff over the three days he is here and make agency calls and help them work on business plans. I have a new Underwriter who will work the Stockton territory, a new Personal Lines Underwriter from a competitor, a trainee in Personal Lines and one in Commercial Lines who started as an intern and then hired on as an Associate Underwriter out of the University of Arizona. The latter two will start underwriting in July.

 

Well, it is after 6 and I have to barbecue some chicken for dinner. Darla has been baking a birthday cake and my mouth is watering. Have a great week and I'll be at it again next weekend. Getting closer to the wedding and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.

 

 

 

 



A Pause in the rain...for some golf?

 

We had quite a week of wet weather with about 3 1/2 inches of rain in Sacramento and almost 7 feet of snow up in the Sierras. We really needed it as we were poised to re--enter our drought conditions of the last few years. The weather people like to complain that we are so far behind that this storm will do little to bring us back to normal. Fine, but it beats no rain. I had to clean up a lot of downed tree limbs and debris from the winds that accompanied the rain. We even had white out conditions on Wednesday in downtown Sacramento as a hail storm blew in and blanketed the downtown. it looked like snow, but was about 45 degrees outside when it hailed. We didn't get the hail out here in Roseville, just the rain and the wind. The hail was so thick that it looked like snow and many Sacramentans were fooled into thinking that it was snowing.

 

 

Darla and I were able to get out this weekend to see Luke's basketball game in Folsom. We were torn as I was playing golf both days and we wanted to go to church. We were able to get out to his game, watch them play and still make it back to Roseville in time for service on Saturday night. It was nice seeing Luke and Don and Alicia. Don has been diligently trying to lose weight and has lost over 30 pounds and looks good. It will be to his benefit to take off the extra weight and keep it off as he tries to keep up with Luke at 7 years old. Don is 48 years old.

 

The preacher at church was a guest pastor from a church in Oklahoma and a Cowboy fan and he got booed. He talked about Love and how to sustain or find a great partner in life. His point was building a strong foundation and he brought up the story of Mark and Brenda Voss, who retired and decided to build their dream vacation home in Hammock Dunes, Florida in a gated golf community on the ocean in Flagler County. They built a beautiful 5000 square foot, $680,000 5 bedroom 4 bath three story home. Six months after they built the home a survey crew was out in the community and made the discovery that the home was built on the wrong lot. The Voss' own the lot at 23 Ocean View Boulevard and the home was built on 21 Ocean View Boulevard. Well, you'd think that's what title insurance is for, right? Well, the problem is that the title insurance is for 23 Ocean View Boulevard and the home is built on 21 Ocean View Boulevard. There was an owner of the lot at 21 Ocean View Boulevard and the contractor of the custom home was able to work a deal whereby they switched deeds and the Voss' had to pay $20,000 for the increased value of the lot at 21 Ocean View Boulevard. Hard to believe that could happen, but it does several times a year across the country.

 

The pictures above are of the course at Diamond Oaks where the waterfall is that I've shared before. You can see the damage that the rain has done to the Oaks on the course there as they received too much water and rotted from the inside. We need to be careful or they will rename the course Diamond Oak-less.There is a picture from Luke's game as well as one of Darla taking Samson for a walk today as I was working on the yard.

 

Darla and I are struggling with our annual trip to Almanor. We're not sure that Jennifer and McKenny are going to be able to join us. We are thinking of just using our time share and trading it for a week in Tahoe. We want Sam to come up and spend a week or two with us again this Summer and go to the Kids Program at church. We have not saved a spot at Almanor as of yet and want to talk to Jennifer and McKenny and see if that vacation is in the cards for them this year.

 

I need to get my flights arranged for our trip to Vancouver in May. I'm on the board of the Western Insurance Agents Association and we take an Annual Board meeting trip to different places. We have been to Lake Tahoe, Washington, DC and Maine and this year will be in Vancouver May 9 -11.Darla and I will extend our trip and go see Dad and Shirley. We are done early on Friday the 11th and hope to have Dad and Shirley take the Sky Train into downtown so that we can have lunch with them somewhere on the water and maybe visit Gastown before driving back before the rush hour. We will fly home on Sunday and get the dog out of lockup. It will be fun and we will see Dad and Shirley in April for the wedding and then in May in Vancouver.

 

I played with Ron this weekend in the first two days of the 54 hole Team championship. We played best ball on Saturday and I shot 87 to Ron's 95 and we only managed a 68. The leaders shot 60. Today was a two man scramble and Ron and I played much better, posting a 75 and net 61 with our team handicap of 14. The leaders stumbled and shot 69 which ties them with us. The new leaders shot 57 and have a two day total of 122. We are 7 shots back and have about six teams in front of us. The final day is the toughest of the rounds as it is alternate shot and the low handicap guys (say 8 handicap) that team up with high handicappers and clean up the first two days end up getting their just desserts in alternate shot where the 26 they are playing with shoot like a 26, yet only have a team handicap of 15 because we use 60% of the A player's handicap and only 40% of the B players'. So on the best ball when the B player is getting two strokes on 8 holes they are smiling, but when he shanks a drive out of bounds in the alternate shot, the pain is real. Ron is a 14 and I'm a 15 and we get a team handicap of 14. I look forward to Saturday to see how we finish up.

 

Well, the tri tip that Darla has ready for the barbecue will not grill itself, so I had better wrap this up and get to attending to dinner. I hope you are all well. Take care. Ciao.