A Year of Change

It’s 6:04 am and in about 40 minutes I’ll leave for the airport in Denver to pick up Lori! It feels like she’s been gone for months! I managed to clean up and put a lot of stuff away. Today is trash day as it was delayed a day due to the holiday last Monday.

Yesterday I picked up my truck in Grand Junction as I had a cover put on the back and some night time driving lights and a bumper that was ordered months ago. James had some work done on his truck by these guys and turned me on to them. It looks nice but most importantly I can now really see well at night. Some of the lights are not street legal meaning they should only be used off road.

I then cleaned up as I said while Ty went skating for a few hours. I hung with James for an hour as we both needed a break from our day. He’s smoking some ribs and salmon today so I’ll stop and grab some.

Jag is doing well. I hoped he’d make it up this weekend but he’s busy with a project. Dogs are fine and so is Ty. Time to move so I can get on the road. Can’t wait to see Lori! I’m sure Dixie will miss her. God Bless.

Remember it? I do well. What a day it was 19 years ago today. Just a reminder so you don’t forget. Never forget!

Today I need to finish cleaning up around here before Lori gets home tomorrow. Jag is working away doing the work of three as his two partners in a project are worthless. Ty has a math session today in the afternoon.

It’s supposed to warm up a bit over the next few days. We’ll take all the moisture we can get. We had a showing yesterday but haven’t heard anything yet.

Dixie is fine. A bit tired from the whole ordeal. Seems like Lori has been gone a month! I miss her.

Time to run. Lots to do. God Bless.

This morning, hopefully early, ADT is showing up to install our alarm system. Then I have a lot of running around to do here locally. Yesterday I drove a bit over 500 miles! First off at 6 am I was off to Grand Junction and then after making it back home by 10 I headed to Denver. I was back in Vail at 5 to hang with James and Marty for our weekly Wednesday hang. Then I picked Ty up at the skate park at 6:30 before heading home. The dogs were glad to see me.

It’s warm here this morning. Mid 40’s. It’ll be in the 80’s by the weekend. As most of you know by now, Dixie is back to square one with Lori trying to figure out what to do. I think she’s bringing Dixie out here in October after I get back from hunting.

When we arrived at James’s last night he said “hey, I have something for you guys”. Marty and I looked at each other not knowing what he meant and he then gave us each these handmade shot shell holders and a tooled belt for bird hunting. He had them made in Texas and they’re beautiful. The kicker was mine had a brass plaque on it that says “I Shot It”. Now this is a longer story but it’s basically because I’m a pretty good shot and most birds that go down, I shot. I looked at Marty’s and it said “My Dog Humped My Hat”! Now this is really funny as a few years ago Marty had this hat made in Fairplay by this old guy who is quite famous and booked up. Marty finally got his hat and took it home and laid it on the couch and a few minutes later he turned around and saw Milton his dog, humping his hat! He grabbed it and the next day took it back to the hat maker who actually yelled at Marty saying “what did you do? these hats take a lot of time and you need to take care of them”. In the end he fixed the hat but Marty told us this story a while ago so that’s why James put that on his shot shell holder. It was funny.

I added to the blog yesterday that it was the anniversary of Mom passing. I have some old voice mails from her saved on my computer and was listening to her voice a few days ago. I miss her a lot. She was everything to me and a lot of people.

That’s it. Time to get Ty moving so I can get back here for the alarm company. Hope everyone is safe and well. Denver was eerie while Grand Junction was normal. I saw a graph and article yesterday saying that the pandemic is almost over. It says herd immunity is spreading fast. The numbers support this but we’ll see. Let’s hope so! Go get your flu shot! God Bless.

Here are our shot shell holder and a picture of the peaks with the first snow!

Well after the big build up, Dixie’s surgery turned out to be a nothing burger. It started alright, pre-op was fine and she went in right on schedule. Once the surgeons had a camera down her throat though they discovered a tear in a flap on one of her heart valves. In short this means that the scheduled repair wasn’t going to do any good. So the three surgeons decided to abort the surgery and close things up. Now we’re basically back to square one trying to figure out what to do. She’s too old for open heart surgery according to those three doctors but is still short of breath. One option could be 24/7 oxygen. Lori of course is very upset and sad as she wanted her mom to travel back here and stay with us for the holidays. I told her she still can, we’ll just need to use oxygen. More to come on this one!

Yesterday I had the ice maker fixed, some chairs delivered and they built the frame out of concrete and cinder blocks for the bbq. They kept blowing our fuse with their concrete saw.

This morning I’m off to Grand Junction early and then am thinking about heading to Denver but will decide later as it’s still snowing and cold down there. We had a winter blast but all in all have only a little over an inch with pretty dry roads. It looks much worse in Denver. Lots of trees were knocked over due to the heavy snow and wind but our trees are all pinon trees which are short, stubby and hearty. Tomorrow it’ll warm up and the snow here is all gone. Jag loves it he said as it’s been hot down there and really smoky.

Last, 3 years ago today Mom passed away. Miss her lots. Was listening to some voice mails I have from her I saved. Wish she was here.

Time to get moving. The dogs were fine outside. I’m not sure if they used their new houses or not. I need to put up a game camera.

Take care, be safe and God Bless.

Dixie is in pre-op right now and her surgery begins around 8:30 MST time. Lori is there of course but it’s pretty stressful. Meanwhile it’s windy and cooler here and they say the snow will be here in an hour or so. Looks like it’s raining with sleet in parts of Denver.

This morning our ice maker is getting replaced and I have a couple chairs being delivered. I need to get to Fed Ex today and run a couple more local errands. The dogs have been fed and walked and are now resting on their beds. The smoke yesterday was unbearable. It was the worst day we’ve had this summer. Ty is home with me and still sleeping.

We wish we could be in California to give Lori support. It’s tough being the one who always has to be the strongest when it comes to her mom. It’s a full time job managing everything from talking with the caregivers to being on calls with doctors. Lori even gets an alert each day when Dixie takes her pills that she tracks. Dixie is still pretty independent but anyone at 89 is going to forget a thing or two. That’s just the way it works.

It’ll be back in the 80’s by the weekend but this is a warning shot from Mother Nature to remind us that she’s in charge. You know what they say, don’t mess with Mother Nature.

Time to get going. I have a few more things to do before my 9am conference call. God Bless.

Well, just me and the dogs. Lori’s in California, Ty in Denver and Jag in Boulder. Ty comes home this afternoon and Jag might come up for a night or two. Either way, I’m getting things straightened out around here. I need to finish up my office today as I have my two chairs and ottoman being delivered tomorrow morning. I can’t wait. I picked up a speaker yesterday and finally hooked up my computer as I stopped into Best Buy and picked up a cord I needed.

They say snow tonight. I guess the front range (Denver) is going to get more than us. I texted Jag to come up for a couple days as the smoke in Boulder from a fire in Ft. Collins was bad when I was there yesterday. I dropped him some food and weights he wanted.

It’s a little hazy up here but I can’t tell if it’s smoke or just haze. Dixie is doing well. Glad Lori is there. She’s gone five more nights! I think I have every bird within 20 miles outside bulking up for winter. Today I’m going to go hang out with James for a bit and go over our upcoming trip. Right now I’m taking the dogs for a walk and then headed to the gym.

Happy Labor Day! Be well and may God Bless and watch over you!

5:30am, leaving in 90 minutes for DIA for Lori’s 11:15am flight to Sacramento. Masks, gloves and more will accompany her on her trip. She’ll head straight to her Mom’s and they’ll quarantine until Dixie’s surgery Tuesday. Then Wednesday she’s scheduled to come home and Lori will stay with her until Saturday when Kristin comes up from L.A. to take over as caregiver. The surgery is pretty common but going under anesthesia is the concern.

We had a nice day yesterday having lunch with Ty’s buddy’s parents. Snow is coming Tuesday with a high of 19 degrees. We’ll see. I did get a new snow shovel yesterday. I also stocked up on some essentials and treated myself to a few new pair of boot socks for winter.

The dogs are fine and so are our birds. I’m rotating the type of food I put out to keep the larger and smaller birds both happy. The chipmunks will eat anything.

I have a few stops after the airport including seeing Jag but should be home by 1 or so. Jeff and Tina want me to come by for a bbq but I think I’ll probably head up the hill. Tomorrow and maybe Monday I’ll be flying solo but that’s ok. I have a lot to do.

That’s it. Make it a great day, and don’t believe ANYTHING political you see on tv or for that matter, much of anything you see on the news. It’s all opinion. It’s funny as every day the news refers to independent “fact checkers”. I have an idea, let’s take all these “fact checkers” and give them their own program and call it the news!

Oh brother, hold on, it’s going to get worse. Please think for yourself, use your God given brain, that’s all I ask. God Bless.

Alright, for the next two months expect a lot of bullshit. In fact we could all do worse than disconnecting our tv’s. On both sides there will be lies and truth twisting like we’ve never seen. On the Dems side they said yesterday years ago Trump disparaged the military, even dead people. They’re also planning a 50 day protest in Washington D.C. starting September 17th saying Trump is going to steal the election. This is funded by a group called Adbusters which is David Brock and George Soros. Two people who should be brought up on charges for sedition. Hillary has told Biden even if you lose, do not concede. Imagine if Trump said even if he loses he won’t leave. The Dems are spinning that now so they can contest the election when they lose. Biden is so out of it he even read the end of his handlers message off the teleprompter yesterday closing a comment with “end of quote”. Good God. This was after a press conference (if you could even call it that) where he was given prearranged questions that weren’t really questions but statements. Wow. The scary thing is I’m not so sure the public is smart enough to see through this charade. So over the next 2 months both sides will be pulling out skeletons from the others closet going back decades. Personally we’re voting for freedom, law and order and the economy as without those three it doesn’t matter what happens.

James and I had a fun trip to Aspen. They locked down the shop for us so we were the only two guys there. Lori worked all day and Ty played all day. CU has detected traces of covid in the waste water meaning the sewer system from four dorms, yuck. Kids are being tested and that included Jag. No telling how long they’ll be there. If I head to Denver today I’ll swing through Boulder on my way home as he wants me to drop him some weights. Ty is headed to Preston’s in Vail as their family is up for the weekend.

Tomorrow Lori goes to California. She’ll be gone a week and miss the dusting of snow. I guess Denver is going to get hit pretty good Monday night into Tuesday and then it’ll gradually warm up each day until it’s back in the 70’s next weekend. Bring it on!

Time to get moving. As I said, get ready for a bunch of bullshit you couldn’t dream up if you tried. It’s already started. God Bless.

Yesterday Lori was changing her World and everyone in it once again. One of her projects was shooting video testimonials of patients who’ve had remarkable recoveries from surgery with Dr. Braxton. The two girls yesterday were our cousin Lee’s son’s wife Lindsey and her friend Laura. Lori took her crew and filmed it at their cross fit gym down here in Eagle. Lindsey and Laura were both told their lives would be limited when they met with Dr. C. (Lori’s former surgeon) a year or so ago but are now stronger than ever and doing anything they want after surgery with Dr. Braxton. Lori was explaining to me he focuses on motion preservation meaning continuing to do everything and move in any way while Dr. C. just fixed whatever was wrong and didn’t worry about what you could do after surgery. I think this is because Dr. Braxton was a military doctor and wanted to get his injured soldiers functioning again. It’s just a more detailed process and goal. Anyhow Lori directed the video’s and they should be up shortly. Our cousin Lindsey (Robert’s wife) is super strong and does things like planks on gymnastic rings and both girls also deadlift hundreds of pounds and more. She said they were amazing and said her back hurt just from watching them! So my lovely wife is now also a film director.

For dinner we went to Mel and Marty’s. Earlier in the day I went to get the dogs their new igloo dog houses. They’re cool, ha. I’m not sure if they slept in them or not last night but they will when it gets cold enough next week. Today James and I are off to Aspen to pick up our cowboy hats from our girl who makes out custom hats. Ty spent the night at Marty’s hanging out with Max. I think we’re hanging with Marty and Mel again tonight.

Work is doing better. We had a good month last month in revenue and in sales in stores to customers which are two of the ways we measure things. Things seem to be turning around. They’re also saying a vaccine is coming soon. Wonder how many people will take it. Apparently only 44% of people say they will get it while many are skeptical about it. If those of you sitting at home, and who have been believing everything they’ve been telling you, won’t take it, that seems strange. Why wouldn’t you get the vaccine? For us, we think we’ll sit back and watch but then again we’ve been living a pretty normal life other than avoiding large crowds in tight spaces. We also try to stay healthy, eat well and get good sleep. We will go get our flu shots too.

Our flock of blue jays are having breakfast. I bought a new blend of black sunflower seeds which they seem to really like. They’re fun to watch and we’re happy we can feed them. Here’s Lori and Dr. B

He’s a really good guy who is really on top of things and everything happening in the field. He has a few patents and some new ones in the works. It’s exciting for Lori as she gets to do all kinds of fun things with a doctor who is building his career, not winding it down.

That’s it, be well and safe and God Bless.

Wow, really? Snow? I need to get the dogs a new dog house or some kind of set up in the garage or in the house. Here we go. Lori will miss it as she’ll be with her mom in California.

Ty has in person school today and Lori is doing some sort of photo shoot at a cross fit gym with a patient who had surgery. I think it’s our cousin’s wife Lindsey. Small World.

James’s procedure went well and was fast too. He was out by 10:15 and we were back in Vail by 11. This time is went better too. Tomorrow he and I are off to Aspen for a quick trip.

Everything is on short supply these days. The news just said laptops are now hard to find. Mike, a buddy who owns a bike shop said he can’t get bicycles. Just about everything is drying up. Remember the toilet paper shortage, well, stock up. Food too. You’ve been warned. We never let up as staying well stocked is now a way of life for us.

The CDC and Dr. Fauci said two days ago that only 6% of the deaths called covid are actually only from covid. That means 9600 out of the 180,000 are directly because of covid. All others, over 170,000, had some other complication that caused their death. Hmm. Does this change your view? For some, yes, for others, they’ve been too conditioned by the news and the hype that they won’t believe it even though a few months ago they were turning their lives upside down based on what these same people, the CDC and Dr. Fauci, said. Funny how people think and process things. A University is doing a study on why people feel this way. It’s pretty simple, it’s because they’re scared.

On top of that, in cities, people are also scared but for another reason. They don’t feel safe from all the violence and protests. This is why Trump will and should win the election. Feeling safe is more important to people over all other issues. Moving companies in major cities are booked out months with people trying to get out. Can’t blame them. Strange times.

Well, time to get moving. Crazy shit going on. I’m breaking in a new holster for one of my carry tools. Lots to do. Lori leaves Sunday. Be well, be safe and God Bless.