A Year of Change

Ok, no doubt about it, money is tight. We have taxes, high school, college and more and we both took pay cuts. Yesterday I waited for Fed Ex and drove down to Denver and back only going to the drive thru at the bank to deposit a check from Texas that arrived from a few things we sold. So today we are officially accepting donations to the Jagger Fugate College Fund. Feel free to send them on over!

We had snow, not a lot, but snow. I already shoveled the driveway and it seems to have stopped now. It’s a wet snow as it’s not very cold out. Last night we had a Chinese hot pot dinner. This is similar to fondue but with a different broth and all kinds of food. The boys loved it. We did get Jag’s car back. That cost $4,000! I could have turned it into the insurance company but then my rates would have gone up, especially since it was his car, so we just paid it. We stopped at the house on the way home and they were painting. Things are moving along daily.

For 18 days Vail Health hasn’t had a patient on a ventilator and for 5 days, no patients in ICU. They’re even sending nurses to Denver to help out. This is good news and it tells us that social distancing is helping. There’s lots of speculation out there about what things will look like in the Fall and even next year. Some are predicting a resurgence of the virus in the Fall. Others are saying the virus is now mutating much like the flu, meaning different vaccines will be needed each season, and others telling us that this new way of life or some form of it, will be the new normal for some time to come. I don’t think anyone really knows what’s going on as new information comes out every day and it seems their story changes with each new bit of information. I personally think we’re not out of the woods yet and if there is a lull in the action (cases), you should replenish your supplies as best as possible. If I had the cash, I’d buy a place in Wyoming and put some cattle, chickens and get a garden going asap. Sadly I do think we’ll never get back to life exactly the way it was before all this. Oh well, we’ll see what each day brings.

Back to college, while I do think college will start in the Fall, I think it’ll be with kids distance learning from home, especially in the beginning. I don’t think in 100 days give or take a week, things will be stabilized enough to have full classes of kids on campus and stadiums full of fans going to football games. I’m wondering about our Pro football games!

All we can do is try to stay safe, stay prepared, think for ourselves and wait and see what each new day brings. So, make it a great day and God Bless.

Here’s a few pictures for Robi!

We’re down to two colleges, both costing about the same. We hope Jag chooses CU as it just makes so much sense on so many levels. I’m worried that the school, or any school, won’t have a normal beginning to the school year. There are good signs all around though. Numbers appear to be leveling off and they say many have peaked in many of the hard hit areas. Starbucks reopened in Frisco for drive through and inside. This alone almost makes the World right again! Let’s hope for the best but not take our foot off the gas, meaning let’s keep being smart and continue to wash our hands, social distance and avoid large crowds. Maybe then we’ll soon get past this thing although life as we knew it will probably never be the same. So, overall, a bit of good news for the day.

Yesterday I made a run to Denver and will have to make another hopefully this afternoon. I’m waiting on a check from Fed Ex. More snow is headed our way tomorrow. Can’t believe it. We’re done with it and ready for Spring. Ty and Jag are doing well. Lori and I are off to Glenwood to pick up Jag’s car in about 45 minutes. That’s about it for the day. Oh, some grocery stores are limiting how much meat you can buy. Many meat packing plants and cattle and hog operations have been interrupted due to the virus. Hope you have your T-bones in the freezer! Be safe and God Bless.

There’s talk of reopening some States where the virus is flattening. Not sure how they’ll do this but something of this sort has to be done. The key is rolling things out slowly. Some say it’ll take 18 months. If true, this probably won’t work to well as people just won’t stay home for 18 months. Now on the upside to some sort of managed rollout or reopening of the infrastructure, I think people will be cautious of going to places with large crowds on their own until they feel comfortable that this thing is no more dangerous than the flu. The current plan is for more critical businesses to open while keeping places like movie theaters and places where hundreds of people congregate in close proximity closed. One thing is for sure, some things have changed forever and part of our lives will probably never be the same, especially economically. We, meaning all of us, have to be smart about this. If you want a better picture, go back and look at things (businesses) before and after the depression. History never lies.

One thing most are not thinking about is this thing is a virus. Viruses never go away, you just get your body to suppress or control them through lifestyle or medication. Think of herpes, chicken pox, HIV and others. You still have the chicken pox virus in your body, you’re just either immune to it because you had it as a kid or you didn’t have it. As you get older your immune system weakens naturally and via poor life choices like a bad diet, no exercise, bad sleep, etc. and it can come back. This is why some people get shingles. It is from the chicken pox which lies dormant in your body until it decides to resurface. So the point is, this like all viruses will be with you probably forever once you get it. Not good news, I know, but modern science will figure out how to control it eventually and we will build up a herd immunity which is already happening.

Now there’s a lot of articles from Bill Gates on the internet where he’s acting like some sort of savior or great humanitarian by pouring billions into vaccines. You need to be careful here as he and many others, including Robert Kennedy who wrote an article blasting him the other day, say he’s way off base and flat out wrong. You see he wants to, and has for years, create a vaccine for this (which on the surface is good) and thinks the cure to everything is in a syringe. In Africa where his Foundation has conducted human trials on lots of children, (because he can’t get away with it in America) his trials have been questionable at best and are responsible for countless numbers of deaths and complications such as kids being paralyzed and worse. Don’t believe me, Google it. The issue is he, like many other globalists, wants everyone in the World to be vaccinated by his company’s vaccine. This is where he crosses the line. I’m all for a vaccine for the virus but against mandated distribution for the good of everyone. He flat out wants to take control of your body and make choices for you all in the name of what he says is good for humanity. Ask yourself how many times in history has there been something “they” say is good only to find out years later it’s bad. He’s even suggested an id card everyone must have to tell you whether you have or have had the virus and whether or not you’ve been vaccinated. I am 100% totally against this! While I choose to get the flu shot every year, I respect those who chose not to. I am not for a World where you are forced to get a shot. He is also for a one World Global Governance meaning one government runs the whole World. How do you think that’ll work out for you? What if he decides that the World is too crowded and no one over 50 should get any medical care? Don’t think it could happen? Think again. Not good. I’ll stop on this now but you all and everyone out there needs to think for themselves . Also before I forget, the news is touting Apple and Google’s new partnership designed to track you and everyone you come in contact with to stop the spread of the virus. Of course you have to “opt in” for now (like they’re not already tracking you, hmm) but this is the first step towards tracking all of us electronically. I can’t believe they have the balls to blatantly make this out to be some kind of good thing, wow.

Now on to the day. It was a day much like any other day only with a little snow and cold windy weather outside. This morning it’s sunny with a bright blue sky and no new snow. We might get Jagger’s car today unless we wait until tomorrow. We’ll see. Work is work with everyone adapting to new ways of doing things. Ty is feeling all better and Jag is fine. School is great and next week the boys have Spring Break! Sounds funny huh as we think they’ve been on break for almost 2 months!

That is it for now. Be well, be safe and God Bless.

It was a nice Easter, considering all. Lori and I started by going to the gym and then headed home. Ty had a bad headache but it was pretty much gone around 2 in the afternoon when he woke up from going back to sleep. Thanks for the comments, I’m with you Ali, strawberry shortcake sounds great! The sky is blue up here with a good four inches of snow on the ground. Hopefully this is it for the season. We were surfing real estate in Scottsdale yesterday and there are some killer deals down there, with pools for under $400K! Wow!

I’m with Robin’s thoughts too on this whole lock down thing. I’ll give it another 18 days too but then I too will probably be at my end. There are good things that have come from this. Mainly how close we are now as a family. We’ve never spent so much time together. Really proud of the boys as they’re handling this really well. We do have video games going most of the day on and off but we’ll take it. Especially with snow outside.

Jag’s car is all fixed but with the snow I think we’ll go to Glenwood Springs tomorrow to pick it up. Not like we need it, right? This week we need to get some things packed and cleaned out of the basement. I’m skipping virus updates today. If something super important pops up, you’ll be the first to know! I’m also thinking of going cell phone free this weekend. Hard to do it during the week with work but with all this talk of tracking every person via their cell phone, I’m rebelling. So next weekend, you’ll need to email me or call our home phone! I hate cell phones, wish they would have never been invented as life was so much better without them. I get the internet as for all its flaws it has benefits too but I’m tired of being chained to my cell phone like it’s part of my body. Oh well, just me.

Stay safe, be strong and may God watch over you. Build your immune system by eating things with lots of vitamin C like oranges and fruit. Hang in there and let’s count down the days starting today until May 1st! Hopefully if we all visualize that date, things will be all good by then. God Bless.

Just as he said he would, on Easter Sunday Jesus rose from the dead. Christians around the World commemorate the day by greeting each other with the phrase, He is risen. So, Happy Easter to us all!

We have snow! not much, maybe 2 inches and it’s pretty wet as the ground was pretty warm. We’re dying our eggs this morning after the boys get up. We are putting together an Easter basket for each of them that they’ll have to find. We’re going to put it next to the cleaning supplies, they’ll never find them!

Robi commented about Mom’s Easter eggs. My favorite and the one I remember the most was one that she made depicting the Who’s first album. It was a classic and I think, not sure, I have it packed away somewhere. Sure miss her, she was the best mom we kids could have ever hoped for.

Today we’ll hang out some more. I’m not too sure about this whole shelter in place deal. At some point it has to stop. Also not sure if the virus is really as bad as it’s being made out to be. I know it’s bad but so are many others. i read an article yesterday that says like HIV, people that get it might never get rid of it and it’ll just need to be managed. They’re finding out more and more each day and much of what they learn contradicts what they told us was fact a week earlier. I mean at what point do you open America and the World for business again. We can’t go on like this until there’s a vaccine, can we? Can our World survive without an economy for 18 months? I don’t think so. Look where we’re at right now, the govt. can’t handle 17 million people applying for unemployment and the hundreds of thousands of businesses needing help. This requires a financial response. What do you think’s going to happen when millions of people run out of patience, money and food? They’re going to take to the streets to feed their families and it won’t be pretty. You think the government is struggling with unemployment. Wait until millions of people are raiding grocery stores and when those are empty, looking at their neighbors. There are not enough policemen or soldiers in the World to handle that. Besides wouldn’t you, if you were a policeman, be home taking care of your family? I would. Don’t think this can happen? Try leaving the Country or the World shut down for another six months and see what happens. I’m sure if I told anyone 2 months ago you’d be ordered to shelter in place at home and wear masks IF you go anywhere and to basically go nowhere, you probably would have said I’m crazy. Hmmm.

Oh well, let’s get back to today. What’s for dinner? We’re having lobster and hot and sour soup. Lori’s moo shoo pork last night was great but salty. The boys played video games for most of the day. Lori and I went down to the house as painting starts tomorrow. Lori’s making the boys Easter baskets up right now. Have a great day today and remember that God gave his only son for you! You should feel pretty special, God Bless.

What are you doing today? If you’re anything like us, you’re probably doing pretty much the same today as you did yesterday. Well, not me. I’m rebelling. I’m going to take up a new language or learn how to play guitar much better than I do now. I think I’ll dig out our fly fishing gear too so that when the snow that comes tomorrow melts, we can go. We’ve seen lots of people on the rivers. What about you? Anyone read any good books lately? How about a good movie? We watched Jexi on a recommendation from Ali, thanks, it was funny. With no movie theaters open, On Demand is getting no new movies. WTF?

I read where AMC Theaters which owns and operates 1100 movie theaters worldwide is just about to go bankrupt. Makes sense. Sometimes I wonder how much higher the infection and death rate would be if things were opened back up. Soon we’ll all find out as this can’t go on forever. People are getting desperate and in some places the deaths from suicide are higher than those from the virus. Hopefully in a few weeks, around the first of May, this will be fading. We received and email saying school starts up again May 4th. Not sure how they know this or what they’re thinking so we’ll see.

Today we have more sun before 2 inches of snow tomorrow. Guess the big thing is the cold temperatures coming with it, yawn. Then it gradually warms up over the next 3 or 4 days until we’re back to the 50’s. Looks like that’ll be the normal then until about April 25th. As long as we’re stuck at home, some warmer weather would be nice. Oh well, cooler wet weather will keep people from going to the parks.

Dixie is doing well. Lori does so much for her Mom behind the scenes to make sure she’s ok every day. Her caregiver Michelle is a godsend too. I haven’t met her but she definitely has been there for Dixie. When this thing is over, we’re all jumping in the car and driving to California to see Dix. That’s it, have a good day. Who’s dying Easter eggs today? We are! Pictures tomorrow.

God Bless.

Today is Good Friday, the day of the death of Jesus and soon it will be Easter and we will celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. The bible is a remarkable story and I would encourage everyone to read it. Try getting one called The Living Bible. I read it in High School and it’s much easier to comprehend. We need God now more than ever and he is there for each and everyone of us. All you need to do is reach out to him!

At 5 this morning, after not much sleep, I headed downstairs to go to the gym. When I came down I found that Mojo had peed so that slowed me down a bit. He’s old so you can’t get too mad at him. I had to be gone from the gym by 6:45 at the latest so I had to be fast. I am the only one there so no worries about coming in to contact with anyone. I haven’t been in over a week and it was much needed for my head and my body. Snow is coming Saturday night with temperatures in the single digits up here for Easter. I’m ok with this as the horse flys came out last week and this will pretty much get rid of them.

We’re still on lock down, all of us. I know I went to the gym but as I said, I was the only one there and it was at 5 in the morning. It’s better than going out to the park in the middle of the day with lots of people.

Work is going well considering everything. We’re all adjusting to the new normal. Dr. C. is doing virtual appointments and I overheard Lori scheduling a call with someone in Ukraine for this morning. She’s the glue that keeps things going. It seems every hour she’s putting out some fire or fixing some emergency. She’s worth every penny she gets paid as she works much harder than most people I know, including me.

It’s strange not going out to restaurants, the movies, or over to friends houses. There are so many things we miss. Hopefully all this social distancing we’re all doing will pay off and things can get back to normal. I think we might go buy donuts or some food for hospital workers today to help out. We’ll see, I need to check with the doctor in the house meaning Lori.

Guess I’ll go, they say we won’t peak until May here in Colorado which is good news. The daily numbers are misleading as some counties take days to report cases or deaths. Here in Eagle County we only had two new cases yesterday and we know one of the people as it is Lori’s nurse. Hope everyone is well, if anyone wants a copy of The Living Bible let me know and I’ll have one sent to you as I get a deal through my men’s group. Be safe, keep the faith and remember to have patience with everything as we’re all a little stressed out these days. God Bless.

That’s where we’re at, arrggggh. This shit is getting old, let’s cure this thing now. Yesterday was ok. Ty rode his bike, solo, to Vail and back and Jag took a long walk with Lexi as both our families have been nowhere for like 20 something days. Lori’s nurse who they called 2 days ago to tell her she was negative, received a phone call yesterday afternoon saying “whoops, we made a mistake, you’re positive”! I made it through the day eating little and no sugar and basically no carbs. I’m down a pound and a half. The body is pretty amazing. I had a headache most of the day and still have a lingering one this morning. Sort of feel like I ate something bad, although I can’t figure out what.

This morning, in hopefully 30 minutes, I’m off to the warehouse. 6.6 million people have filed for unemployment and things will get worse. There has to be a balance between people being able to work and not spreading this thing. Otherwise things will get much worse. Need to get moving. Dixie had a good birthday. We’re glad for her. Hope you all are well. Be well, be safe and God Bless.

Oh, Andrea Bocelli is singing from the Duomo in Milan Italy, with no one there, on Easter. You should stream it!

Today Dixie is 89 years old, whoo hoo! What an accomplishment. Think of all the things she’s lived through. Pretty hard to imagine. She was born in Shattuck Oklahoma in the height of the Great Depression, April 8th, 1931. Some of the stories she’s shared tell of hard times like those seen only in movies. When you hear about those times, no matter what you’re told, you can’t really understand it unless you were there. Then came World War II as she was a little girl and more. She was the youngest of 8 and life wasn’t easy back then. Think of all the advances and inventions in her life. She’s made it through a lot. Getting a loan and heading to California by herself, she’s a self made woman. Always thinking of others before herself, she influenced, took care of and literally saved countless numbers of people throughout her life. The best thing she ever did was to adopt a little girl she named Lori after a favorite student and give her a home. From me, thank you Dix. So, have a great day, you’re one of those people who have made the World a better place with your presence. Not all can say that! As Lori said yesterday, we’ll have a big party next year when you turn 90!

Today it’s more of the same here. The days are running together. Yesterday felt like a Sunday to me. We did finalize the paint color for the house as they start painting Monday. Things are coming along. Both boys had their virtual parent teacher conferences yesterday and are doing really well. We feel so bad for them as life in Springtime shouldn’t be like this for 16 and 18 year old boys. Frankly it shouldn’t be like this for any of us, right? We’ll do what we need to do as we’re resilient and will adapt but that doesn’t mean we have to like it!

Lori and the boys took a bike ride yesterday after we ran down to the house. That’s ok up here according to the authorities as long as you stay away from everyone else. In fact they encourage exercise up here which is good.

Another nice day up here but some rain and wet snow arrives tonight. Not much, just enough to annoy us. Pray every day this ends soon. As I said a few days ago, no need to go into what can happen next if this gets worse but rest assured, we’re prepared for all scenarios I can fathom. Lori used to give me a hard time for “preparing” but not any more.

Have a great day and again Happy Birthday Dixie! We all love you and wish we could celebrate with you in person, May God Bless you and us all.

I don’t think we made it but we were close. The wind kept us a few degrees short. Maybe today! At 11:20 and 12:30 we have parent teacher conferences. Both boys are doing well as we received their 3rd Quarter Report Cards yesterday.

They say this is the week to stay home. I do need a few things from the grocery store and was going to go early this morning but overslept. I might run down later today or wait until the morning. The boys had pizza for dinner last night as we still have take out available.

We had 16 new cases up here but much more in other parts of State. Hopefully we’re turning the corner. The news is on with newscasters trying to play gotcha with whoever they have on. This morning they asked the Surgeon General if he missed warning signs in January. Let me tell you something, the World missed warning signs in December, January and February! At least Trump stopped all flights from China in late January as these same newscasters called him a racist. Bill Gates warned in 2015 of a coming worldwide pandemic and again, everyone missed it, or rather chose to ignore him. You see that’s how people are, until something hits you personally, you basically ignore it. Guess that’s why I and maybe a few others (who I don’t know) are the only ones in the valley with masks. This is a good spot for a hmm, right!

I talked with cousin Chris in Vermont yesterday. She’s a pastor at her new church and doing well. Julie is still in New York saving lives. It was good to talk to her for a bit as we don’t speak that often. Lori and I are working away. I want her to continue to work remotely even though she might soon be able to go back to work. No point risking it.

Andrea (Bocelli) is singing from the Duomo in Milan on Easter with it totally empty. Italy has turned the corner, they say, let’s hope so as they’ve had a tough time. New York might be too. If we all do our part, maybe we all will. There are still some unknowns associated with this virus such as people being reinfected while others develop antibodies that make them immune. Scary times.

Last, people are starting to lose it. With so many out of work and out of money, food bank lines are miles long and people are losing their cool. There are incidents of shoppers going off on people for meaningless reasons as the lock down and new normal are getting to people. If money doesn’t get in people’s hands soon, there will be more crime and social unrest. If this goes on for months, things could get really tense but we’ll save that “what if” for another time. Hopefully things won’t get that bad. Time to go, be safe, be well and God Bless.