A Year of Change

Yesterday after a late start, we made it to Denver around 11. Upon arrival Ty found out he had three new foreign exchange students from the Middle East. Now we’re the farthest thing from racist but there’s a huge cultural difference with these guys. Their religion, eating and personal habits and other things made it uncomfortable for Ty. Lori marched straight into the office and in her best “I fix things mode”, had him moved to a single lock off room that’s part of a three bedroom unit on the first floor within 30 minutes. There was a incident in the first semester where two of Ty’s roommates had pulled a prank on his other roommate that didn’t end well. The two pulling the prank (they tried to get Ty first until he told them, and I’m using his words, “get the fuck out of here or I’ll throw down on you”) we’re kicked out of school. At that point Ty had requested a single room so we already had things in motion. So, all’s well and Ty is now in a nicer room with two other guys that are a better fit. Lori and I left him and headed to Target for about $600 worth of food and stuff he needed including bedding as he now has a larger bed. That in itself was worth moving.

Meanwhile Jag headed back to Boulder and was getting some groceries for the upcoming week. We did stop at one of Lori’s favorite stores and she found some new clothes. On the way home we stopped to visit with Marty and Melanie and were finally home about 6:30.

Today we’ll get back into our normal kid free routine here at home. We actually do quite well on our own, ha. Lori is still sleeping but we’ll hit the gym this morning. We have dinner reservations tonight at Craftsman. Other than that, all’s good. I’m cancelling my day trip to San Francisco on the 23rd and will do it by Zoom. Too much weather out there and I decided I don’t want to get up at 3 am for a 40 minute meeting.

Enjoy the weekend, Almost half way through the month, get outside! God Bless.

This morning Ty heads back to school. We were going to leave at 7 but I think he was home around 12:30 so I’ll probably let him sleep an extra hour. Jag is going back to Boulder today too as both start classes next week.

Jag has had a sore throat for a couple weeks so Lori made him an appointment yesterday morning. The doctor was shocked to see his throat and asked how much pain he was in saying he hadn’t seen a case like that in years! He almost ended up in the ER to have a tonsil lanced but luckily he just had a steroid shot in his butt and is now on a couple of doses of heavy antibiotics. He has a severe case of strep throat. The doctor asked how he could stand the pain and he said, I don’t know, thought I’d just tough it out.

Lisa Marie Presley died yesterday as everyone probably knows by now. Guess it was a heart attack, so sad. She didn’t look too good a few days ago on tv. Jeff Beck died the day before from bacterial meningitis, super sad! Live each day people!

Lori’s back is out but she went with Adriana to get her nails done while I went to our cigar club. There’s a few of us, 4, that are the original group and sometimes we have as many as 8 or 9 guys. One of our good friends, Davey Gorsuch, showed up last night. Davey is great guy and I’ve known him for years as the kids went to VMS together. His uncle is one of the good Supreme Court Justices. Davey is about the same age as James and me.

My friend at Leica sent me a M10 camera body yesterday as a gift! I could flip this today for $10K but am excited to have it and see what I can do with it. This is my second Leica and Jag wants to learn how to shoot with them. They’re the Rolls Royce of cameras. Super excited but I need to buy a lens which is anywhere between $2500 and $50K! Obviously I’ll start with the $2500 one. My friend at Leica is watching for a demo to come through from a salesman which would be heavily discounted. Maybe I’ll become a famous photographer in my later years, ha.

And I saved the best for last. Poor Joe B has been hiding classified documents in various places for about 7 years as far as they know right now. They all pertain to China and Ukraine, hmm. He and the media are trying to sluff this off but there’s now a special prosecutor and this is actually worse than what Trump did as Joe wasn’t President when he took these. We’ll see how it plays out. I think it came out now instead of when they found them, (4 days before the mid-terms, double hmmm) as now he for sure can’t run for President. How convenient.

Time to go, make it a great day people, here’s a few pics from the past, God Bless.

Dad and I hunting, look at my long legs!

Internet has been out since 3 yesterday afternoon. I think one of the construction crews down the street cut a cable or something. Jag left Boulder at noon and made it here by 6:30! Lots of snow at the tunnel and bad roads. Ty moves in tomorrow, not today as we thought. That’s good as he wasn’t packed up anyhow.

Cleaners come this morning at 9:30 and Lori and Adriana (James girlfriend) are getting their nails done this afternoon while us guys have our Thursday cigar night. On the way home, Jag stopped and picked up sushi from Matsu, which we all love. He has a sore throat and needs to run down to urgent care this morning. He probably has strep.

Time to get moving, almost 7am. Make it a great day and God Bless.

So many jokes, so little time. Yesterday Lori made it to Glenwood to get her hair done but I turned around at Edwards and skipped my Denver trip. The roads were ok to Edwards but something in my gut told me not to go. Trust your gut as it’s usually spot on.

Today I have a call at 9 and one at 10. Ty is getting his stuff together to go back to school and I think Jag is coming up today, weather permitting. We all want to go to dinner for Ty’s birthday as he’ll be in Denver next week on the actual day.

It’s 6:05 and I’m going to try to get to the gym before my 9am so time to go. Make it a great day, God Bless.

In about 45 minutes, Lori is off to Glenwood and I to Denver. We both hope to be back by 11ish. Ty goes back to school Thursday so one more trip this week.

Yesterday we brought Dixie up as she was, in her words, depressed and trying to get to the airport to get a flight to Oklahoma, ugh. She hung out for a couple of hours before she wanted to go take a nap. We had a dusting of snow last night, less than an inch. Hope the roads are not too bad.

We’ll head to the gym this afternoon. Hard to believe it’s January 10th. One third of the month is already gone, time flies.

Time to go, enjoy the day, God Bless.

First full week of the new year, let’s go! I feel pretty good about things and am actually excited. The Bronco’s finished on a high note, I have some really good things going work wise, I feel really good about my eating habits, (yes I still have food issues, ha) and the boys are both in a good place. Ty has been debating whether or not to take a semester off and work but we think he’s leaning towards going back to school. He had all A’s and B’s in his first semester in college which is the best he’s ever done. He needs to decide this morning. Jag continues to crush and impress. We’re so proud of both of them.

Jag is headed to Boulder today for a couple of days. He starts school a week from tomorrow. I think we’re going to meet tomorrow at Neiman’s to have some dress shirts and pants fitted for us. I was going to go today but tomorrow is probably better. We both need a little wardrobe update for 2023.

Dixie came up for 3 hours or so yesterday. She had fun which is good. We always let her stay until she says she’s ready to go home for a nap even though it’s a chore. She still thinks her parents are on a big trip in Germany. No need upsetting her and trying to convince her they’ve been gone for 25 years or more.

No new snow. Still kind of cold but not too bad. Headed to the gym, I’m on a roll. Make it a great day and God Bless.

Jag and I took off a little after 8 in the morning. We rolled into Denver around 10ish and first hit Best Buy. After that we stopped to wash the truck before heading downtown to one of my favorite stores, MW Reynolds. It’s a store that has a combination of shooting, fly fishing and street racer motorcycle gear. In addition to fine shotguns, rifles and fly rods and gear, Mark (the owner) has a ton of cool clothes. One of our favorite brands, Belstaff, which is motorcycle clothes from jackets to shirts, gloves and even riding boots, is well stocked. Jag was looking for a new leather jacket to replace one he received for Christmas that he wasn’t crazy about. The reason Belstaff is so cool, besides the international styling, is that they all have really long sleeves. This is because they’re all designed for motorcycle riders and riders always have their arms stretched out holding the handle bars so they make the sleeves always long. This means they fit us long armed, tall people really well! After and hour there buying some cool stuff and hanging with my buddy Mark, we headed over the the Brown Palace for lunch.

When we arrived the lobby was packed for high tea which is a Brown Place tradition on Sunday’s. Ladies and girls were all dressed to the nines eating finger sandwiches and drinking tea, fun. We headed into Churchills only to discover they open at 2. So off we went to the Ships Tavern in the hotel for lunch. After lunch we drove down to 22nd and Larimer to a cool dive bar/cigar lounge. We hung out and had a good smoke for a little over an hour before we said our goodbye’s and Jag and I headed up the hill. On the way we stopped at the dry cleaners and then dropped in to see Tommy for 45 minutes. Two hours later we were home.

Ty was out at the hockey game and Lori made us fresh mussels and lobster tails for dinner. We also bought some escargot as Tom made Jag some when we stopped at his house and he bought some more when we bought the mussels before heading home.

Today it’s off to the gym. Then some stuff around here. Jag and I had a great day. He ended up with a new cool coat, a sweater and a nice pullover. Better yet was hanging out for the day. No snow, cool but warmer. Lori went to see Dixie and I think we’re bringing her up today. Time to go, enjoy your Sunday, GB

This morning Jagger and I are headed to Denver. We have a stop or two once we arrive and then are meeting my buddy Schultz and his son at Churchill’s in the Brown Palace for lunch and cigars. Churchills is the oldest cigar lounge in Denver and Schultz is a member and has a cigar locker there. We’ve known each other for 20 years and been trying to get together. He just did a $10 million dollar burrito deal with Circle K stores and is hooking me up with the wine buyer. We’ve worked on a couple other start up ideas in the past.

Jag came up around 5:30 last night. I made lamb shanks that were restaurant worthy. Ty made it home around 10:30 after hanging with friends. Lori and Ty are staying home today. Ty needs to start getting ready to go back to school next week, meaning getting on 20 loads of laundry.

No snow here but I think some in Vail. Suppose to be a nice weekend. We’re both through with winter and are already for warmer temperatures and no more snow.

Dixie fell yesterday. They called us in the morning when we were on the way home from the gym and we headed right over. We think she fell between her bed and the bathroom but couldn’t get up. Poor girl couldn’t tell us when she fell or for how long she laid there. I told her that’s what the bracelet on her right wrist with a big button is for but it didn’t register. She had breakfast and went back to bed and was fine by the afternoon. It’s hard to see someone age before your eyes. It happens to all of us though but that doesn’t make it any easier. I’m sure by the time the kids are older, science will figure out a way to stop the aging process. I think Lori is taking her to get her nails done today if Dixie is up to it. Lori is one good daughter. The other so called kids, haven’t seen her or talked to her since Don passed away 8 years ago. They never did care for Dixie and in fact resented her for marrying Don. Dixie and Don were lucky as they were made for each other and married for 29 years. Too bad those spoiled kids put their feelings above those of their dad who adopted both of them. Oh well, people are funny but I just can’t get over how mean some people are. I actually feel sorry for them. Anyhow, Dixie is so lucky she adopted Lori as I can’t imagine what her life would be like without her. I’m sure she’d be gone by now. Lori is truly and angel.

Time to go, have a great weekend, God Bless.

We made it to Denver by 8:30 and were home by 12:30. All good at Libby’s. We hit the grocery store in Cherry Creek before heading up the hill. While on the way we learned that Ty’s car was declared a total loss. I was wondering how much they were going to reimburse us and it turns out it’s about $5K more than we owe. Thankfully when I bought it last June I bought it right! Ty will now go without a car for a while. Even though both of his accidents were not technically his fault, (no tickets but according to the insurance company both are) he needs to mature a little bit before getting behind the wheel again. Next week we’ll drop him from insurance meaning overall we’ll save over $1K per month! He’ll also need to get a job to get his next car as we’re through buying him cars. Some people learn by words, others by experience. Seems as though Ty falls into the experience group. We’re just thankful no one was hurt in either of his accidents.

I think Jag is coming up today. He’s on and off which must mean there’s a girl, ha. Just a dusting of snow outside, nothing to worry about. This morning we’re off to the gym. I’m down about 10 pounds in six days. It was so hard having vertigo for a month as that’s the longest I’ve gone in decades without working out on a regular basis. I’m finally getting back into fighting shape at 207. By the end of the month I should be somewhere around 195 if all goes to plan. However the big news is Tom is down about 70 pounds to 225! Mom would be so so happy. She was always so worried about him and kept asking me if I could help him. I told her people have to want to help themselves and that’s just what Tommy finally did. Tom, you should be proud. I of all people know it’s not fucking easy to eat right! It’s probably the single hardest thing to do as sugar is the most addictive drug out there and is in just about everything we eat, and I mean everything! Great job! We’re super proud and happy for you!

Glad it’s Friday. I gave the Bronco tickets to Kelley and her family who is our egg girl. They haven’t been to a game in 16 years and are so happy. She said “oh my God, I’m giving you eggs free for life”! I told her that’s not necessary and I’m happy they all get to go. Glad I found someone excited to make the drive and go see the game.

Time to get moving so we can get to the gym. 6:40 now and it’s trash day. Lots to put out this week. Have a great weekend. We might go see Avatar 2. God Bless.

Driving down early this morning. It’s 5:15 now. It’s going to be nice and a bit warmer today which is good. Hard to believe it’s January 5th.

Yesterday I took down the few Christmas decorations out front. We still have some lights on the trees out back but will wait until it warms up. The Stock Show starts this weekend. I have great memories of going as a family when we were kids. Dad would always get us rodeo tickets. Maybe we’ll try to get down for a day over the next few weeks.

Time to get moving. Enjoy the day, God Bless.