A Year of Change

Today markets are imploding across the globe. Oil is crashing and the dollar is tanking. I’m installing emergency stop gaps at my work on all payments to foreign producers. I just can’t agree to such wild, abnormal swings in the Euro due to public panic. It’s too late to buy gold (maybe not!) and the markets and the World GDP are forecasted to lose 2.4 Trillion dollars from its economy. The Dow future markets are down over 1200 points mainly on oil crashing to $27 a barrel. Some say ride the markets out, others say get out now. Guess it depends on how old and brave you are.

Cases and deaths are up everywhere as this is now officially out of control. Robi, sadly I’m sure by the 28th the concert will be cancelled. There’s talk here of banning any gathering over 1000 people. I’ll be shocked if it’s not. The govt. says stay off cruise ships as we can no longer help you and do not fly unless you absolutely have to.

On the home front we topped off supplies yesterday and will continue each day with hard to find items. I’ll get some more macadamia milk today which has a long shelf life and is really good. Also getting some extra vitamin D and cold medicine and dog food.

Ty is off to DU for a college tour this morning and Jag starts lacrosse today. Lori will be back at work and I’m purging the garage. Hope you all are well and getting ready. Things will get worse before getting better. This is a fact. Good luck and God Bless.

All good things come to an end and so did our basketball season. It was a great run with the boys going farther than any team from VMS in history. The boys should be proud.

After the game we went to lunch on the way home with Marty and Melanie, and Tom and Jennifer Ebner. This is our crew from the Stones concert. I have a stuffed and runny nose but my sore throat is gone.

Today they locked down all of Northern Italy, 16 million people. This is not good for work so I’m scrambling to get as much wine out of there that I can. It’s in lockdown until April 3rd. This is the first major quarantine of people outside of China. Wake up as it too could happen here. We’re headed down to the house this morning and will make a quick stop at Costco to top off supplies. I’m sure toilet paper and wipes are all gone but we’ll add some canned chicken and tuna to our stash. At this point you cannot have too much. They say we have 8 cases in Colorado which means we probably have 40 or 50. We know of “some” up here that haven’t been reported due to decisions made by people in power not wanting to panic the public. Don’t believe for a minute that you’re getting the whole truth from the govt. Again, watch what they do, not what they say. Word has it, due to the shortage of test kits, we’ve tested less than 2000 people in the whole country! This is way less than we should be able to test or than we need to test. It’s like pulling teeth to get tested, at least up here.

So things are going to get weird, trust me. Go to the store today and buy as much stuff, (food and toiletries) as you can. You are running out of time. No time to wait any longer. Also as soon as you read this, go so you beat the crowds. Social distancing, meaning staying away from groups of people or crowds will soon be the norm.

Good luck and God Bless.

They did it again, the basketball team won 50 to 47. If they win today at 1 then it’s down to 8 teams in the State to determine the championship. Great win.

Seems we have another case up here of the virus. The news doesn’t know yet but it was a case that tested positive at the hospital. They sent the person home but some providers were exposed. Thankfully Lori wasn’t one of those that received a call but did get the email from the hospital late last night. In any case, no hiding from it now as “officially” we have 8 cases in the State but we all know we have many more.

We’ll be back in Clear Creek at 1 for the game today. Jag isn’t getting the playing time he’d like as it seems he challenged one of the coaches which didn’t go over well. He needs to work on letting things go even when he knows he’s right and someone else is wrong. This has happened with a teacher too. Teachers and coaches and people in positions of power don’t like being called out publicly when they’re wrong. Jag knows this and is working on it but I get it, it’s hard to sit on your hands and be quiet when someone is so obviously wrong. Oh well, a life lesson in the screwed up way of the World. Maybe he’ll get to play more today.

Ty came home at 10:30 after a long day at school and lacrosse. Jag is going to play lacrosse too when basketball is over. If we lose any game, it’s over as we’re down to single elimination games.

I’m still kicking my cold and Lori is fighting one off. Our colds are head colds and sore throats which are not related to the virus in case you’re wondering.

Boys, it was a good week considering all going on in our lives and the World. You’re both doing great as usual. Try to take things in stride and don’t sweat the little things. Remember if you’re not going to remember it in 6 months, it’s not that big of a deal.

Take care and be safe, God Bless.

Super, the virus is here. Hell we could already have it. Today they announced 2 confirmed cases, one down in Denver and another up here in Frisco that has now been transferred to Denver. What isn’t public knowledge yet is that we have a confirmed case at Battle Mountain High School which is Jagger’s girlfriends school. The AP Art Class had gone to Venice Italy and returned a few weeks ago. This means those kids and anyone they came in close contact with, like friends, parents and siblings, have all ben exposed and walking around the valley for 2 freakin weeks! One of Lori’s nurses husband is a Vail Police Officer and they just texted that the health department is testing 30 people tonight. Costco is now running out of all the things we bought a few weeks ago. Grocery stores are getting wiped out too of certain items. They did move the basketball game to Evergreen tomorrow night which doesn’t make a lot of sense as lots of people will go down for the game and if one of those is infected they then will infect Evergreen. So there you go, it’s here.

Not much we can do but wait and see. I’m in Denver tomorrow and then I guess we’re going to the game unless more info comes out tomorrow. Today I was also in Denver picking up last minute supplies. Good move by me. The hospital, starting tomorrow, is screening everyone who enters, no exceptions. Patients and employees. The walk in urgent care has been shut down. Sounds like a movie.

I pray we’ll be ok. I think we should but you never know. Point is if this can find it’s way to our small mountain town, it can find its way to you too. So get ready while you still have time.

It was warm in Denver today, very nice. I hope to be up by 1 at the latest so it’ll be a quick trip. Time to go, be safe, be well and be strong, God Bless.

James, Marty and I left at 4:45 am and made it to Kiowa Creek by 7:30. 30 minutes later we were hunting over dogs flushing pheasants and crushing it. We took 25 birds in a super successful day and were done by 10:45. It warmed up nicely and we had a great time. We all made some great long shots and our dogs were great pointers. I don’t think Dennis, our guide, new who James was until we were leaving. It’s nice for us and especially for him when people don’t recognize him. We did stop at Café Rio in Denver West for lunch and the guy at the counter froze in the middle of making our tacos and said “I’m sorry man, I just recognized you, I’m a big fan”. Of course he wasn’t talking to Marty or I and James was nice and that was it.

After we made it home we went over to James and cooked up some pheasant for dinner in an Instant Pot which is like a pressure cooker. They turned out great, sort of like a really good chicken soup. Anyhow we’re going back next Thursday to squeeze in another hunt before the season ends on March 31st. It’s kind of our new thing as it’s a blast and we’re having lots of fun.

Back to life, we have a potential virus case in Frisco about 40 minutes away. I myself am Kicking, or trying to, my cold. Today I’ll take it easy with a some driving but that’s it. Tomorrow I have a 9:40 sales meeting in Denver before the big game at 7 pm. Lori’s back is out and she’s getting a sore throat too. I guess the school is expecting 400 people for the basketball game tomorrow, wow.

Time to get moving, California declared a State of Emergency, not sure what that means to anyone other than a talking point to the news. Everyone should have already been on alert. Oh well, time to go, have a great day, GB.

Picked Lori up around 9 and had her at work by 11:30. Had to laugh as Robi commented to stop worrying so much and get over my fear of crowds as the Eagles concert is in 25 days and I’m not wearing a mask, ha. Well, first off I don’t worry, I just get prepared. Next up, if things are that bad here they’ll cancel the concert. Hope not but could happen. I suspect if things really ramp up it’ll be the Eagles that cancel. Anyhow that’s 3 1/2 weeks away.

I stopped into our doctors office today as I’ve had a sore throat a bit. She said I have a cold virus (not the bad one) and gave me a Z-Pak. I opted to start that today as I’m up at 4 to go bird hunting.

Boys are doing well, so is Lori but she’s tired as she woke up at 3 to fly home. I guess the airport was packed even at 4:30 am. I told her to wear a mask and gloves which she did although she said she was the only one on the plane wearing one. I told her she could also be the only one that doesn’t get sick, bam.

I hit the gym to workout which is always good. Lori threw her back out making her mom’s bed but is working out tomorrow. The Dem’s Super Tuesday is going on and our inept State voted for Bernie, unbelievable.

That’s it, I’m writing this Tuesday night as I won’t have time in the morning, God Bless.

It’s 4:13 am in California and Lori is driving to the airport in California right now to fly home. The only good news about flying is she’s on the first flight out which is hopefully not very full and not very many people will be in the airport. She’ll be wearing a mask and gloves and avoiding places like public restrooms. We haven’t talked about how long this virus can live on surfaces. It normally can hang around for about 9 days but can last up to 27 days! In hotter weather this can be 3 days. Like we need that too. make sure you have Clorox wipes on hand. I’ll take them and wipe down her suitcase when she comes out of the airport before putting it in the car. Same with her shoes. Who’d have ever thought we’d need to take such precaution over anything.

Won’t be long until it’s here too. I think there are 9 people that have been tested in Colorado waiting on results. Some in Arizona too. Wash your hands and about time to start social distancing meaning stay away from crowds and people.

Ty had his Shakespeare Festival at school last night until 8. Jag stayed home and worked on stuff all day. I worked a bunch too and managed to pack up some more things from my closet. Boy do I have a lot of cowboy boots!

I pick Lori up at 9 and should be home by 11. Told her she has to wear a mask for 2 weeks. I have a call in about 10 minutes with Aleks Simcic in Slovenia so I need to run. Be safe, be vigilant and trust your gut feelings, God Bless.

We had some snow but it’s warm outside so the snow is pretty wet. It shovels away pretty easy. Now the big warm up is coming. For at least the next week we’re headed to the 50’s, 60’s and maybe the 70’s. Not sure if it’ll get to 70 up here but we’ll take the 60’s.

Yesterday I did a little more around the house. It’s hard to tell as so much is reorganizing things so it looks somewhat the same but is part of what needs to be done. Our stores are starting to get hit pretty hard. Hand sanitizer has been gone everywhere for over a week and Costco is staring to run out of some items. Apparently people have been going about their daily lives in Seattle while sick for 6 weeks! This means they have hundreds or more people infected and transmitting the virus to others. Watch for a blow up there.

Italy is still a shit show with 2 major airlines suspending flights to Milan for two months. I’m working on supply chain management to make sure wine keeps getting here. Antonio says he hopes he gets out of there on the 9th. No way I’m getting on a plane right now. This will be Lori’s last flight for a bit too.

Ty cleaned a bit before theater practice. I dropped a couple pizzas for the boys around 12:30. Jag went to a theater thing at the Vilar with Madi and her mom. Today he has basketball practice and Ty starts lacrosse practice. Always something.

Lori comes home tomorrow. Looks like Dixie will come here this summer to an assisted living home, yea! it’ll be good to have her close to the boys and she’ll have fun with other people and activities during the day from playing cards to movies and stuff. Lori is looking at where Ali’s dad lives and another place. When she comes we’ll drive out and get her.

Time to get moving, hope everyone is well. Until tomorrow, God Bless.

Yesterday was really our fun day. First up and this is unbelievable, the VMS boys won their championship game! This is the first time in the history of the school that they won anything related to do with basketball. The team beat Meeker in overtime to win the Class 2A Region title. Next Saturday some team from somewhere in the State will come here for a State playoff game. I think the guys are rated number 16 in the State which is a big deal considering all the huge front range schools like Cherry Creek, Valor Christian, East High School and others. Congrats.

Meanwhile Ty was at the mountain all day for the Burton Open. He won some stuff at the Breast Cancer auction when he entered a raffle. In Ty fashion, he gave away two of the four things he won to friends who didn’t get anything. He called me wanting a Casio watch that was a special edition. This event was special as the founder of Burton Snowboards and really the father of snowboarding itself, died from cancer last year.

Today the boys have theater practice from 10 until 2. What fun. That was sarcastic.

I cleaned a bit after some errands and didn’t get as much done as I hoped but still have today. At 5 I went to James’s house where about six of us hung out and ate and had a good guy night with tons of stories and laughs capped off with Cuban cigars around a fire outside until about 10. It was fun and some of James’s stories of course were literally unbelievable but true. I’ll leave it at that.

Lori is doing her thing at her mom’s in Sacramento. The virus is still spreading and things don’t look good. We’re as prepared as we can be and now are just trying to stay healthy. I could list a bunch more facts like the 50 people at a nursing home outside of Seattle that are now sick to the 100 nurses at UC Davis in quarantine as the govt. and CDC didn’t prepare them to take care of people they flew home from China to the new total of 71 cases in the Country to companies and people cancelling domestic travel all over the Country but I think by now we all know how bad it is. Remember about 2 weeks ago Italy had something like 78 cases and now has well over 1000 with sadly people dying. So again, no way to stop it so all you can do is get ready for it to come to a neighborhood near you and try to ride it out. By the way, so far the CDC has been totally incompetent and has made numerous decisions that have resulted in people getting sick or being in quarantine in many places. Good luck and God Bless as you are literally on your own here. Do not, and I repeat, do not count of the government to help or save you. It just won’t happen. In many countries hospitals have cancelled all elective surgeries and are only admitting Covid 19 patients as they are so overwhelmed. The same could happen here once cases multiply. Also you must prepare for the supply chain to be interrupted. This includes everything from food to medical supplies to gas or other essentials you use daily and take for granted. Look around your kitchen and bathroom and take stock of what you need and go get it today!

Boys, glad you had a fun weekend. We’re super proud of you both for making good choices in all the things you do. Keep up the good work. Remember your whole life, no matter what age you look back on it, is all made up of a series of choices you make. We love you both very much.

Make it a great day, be safe, be strong and think for yourself, God Bless.

Finally it’s Saturday. it’s been a long week. Lori made it California, against my better judgement. Jag and the team beat Vail Christian who has owned them for years and will play again today 2 hours west of us in the Championship game. Ty was in heaven at the mountain with hundreds of snowboarders and even won a pair of $400 googles, while I picked up some more supplies, traded for a new shotgun and started on the garage.

Today Ty will head back to the Burton Open today, Jag will head 130 miles west again for basketball and I’m going with Marty to James’s house to eat pheasant, smoke cigars and hang out later today after I clean the garage and hopefully get a good portion of the house or at least my room done too. I need to go get some more vitamins and gas up both vehicles.

We have one little bump weather wise Sunday night with a little snow but then we’re headed to 60 degree plus weather all next week. It’s been a long time coming and I’m looking forward to it. Lori is of course in Sacramento where it’s in the 80’s. She’s back Tuesday am around 9.

Here’s some highlights on the virus as of yesterday,

• Health authorities in Texas and Oregon report 12 new coronavirus cases in US
• WHO raises threat level to highest level available
• California has 10 cases, on verge of blowing up Statewide
• Scientists Worldwide say this is a pandemic, governments refuse so far to try to save economies
• Oregon reports three cases of unknown origin, risk of community outbreak high
• Washington State reports case of unknown origin
• US coronavirus case total hits a minimum of 63
• US issues travel advisory for Italy
• Oregon school employee tests positive, school closes for cleaning
• London’s worse case plans include turning Hyde Park into a giant morgue
• 4 cruise ship passengers on Hawaii cruise rushed to L.A. hospital Friday night
• 2 community transferred cases in California with no know origin
• Google says employee who visited Zurich office has coronavirus
• France confirms 57 cases
• Amazon tells all 789,000 employees not to travel domestically
• Italy reports 3 deaths in Lombardy; nat’l toll now 21; total cases 821
• British man becomes 6th ‘Diamond Princess’ passenger to die
• Two Japanese dogs tested positive for coronavirus
• Mulvaney says school closures, transit disruptions may happen in US
• Mexico confirms 1st virus case
• Fauci warns vaccine could take ‘two years’ to develop
• Kudlow says “no higher priority” than the “health of the American people
• Toronto confirms another case
• WHO says 20 vaccines in development
• St. Louis Fed’s Bullard pours cold water on market hopes
• Netherlands confirms 2 more
• United cuts flights to Japan
• Bill Gates warns this may be the once in a century pathogen we’ve been worried about
• Advisor to CDC says shortage of tests in US creating a “bottleneck”
• Nigeria confirms first case in sub-saharan africa
• South Korea reports more than 1,000 new cases in under 48 hours
• WHO says virus will ‘soon be in all countries’

Ok, if you read all this, you should realize things are not good. The worrisome thing is the community outbreak cases popping up. This means it’s just floating out there in the air so to speak and being transferred to people from either surfaces someone touched or just from being in close proximity to someone who was close to someone with the virus. Once this happens, it’s game on. Right now you need to question going to any place where there are lots of people, unbelievable.

Things sadly will get worse before they get better. I’ve told Lori not to go out anywhere while in California. She’s taking a 6 am flight home Tuesday morning which will avoid a crowded airport and she’ll wear gloves and a mask on the airplane. She thinks I’m overreacting which is fine. I hope I’m wrong and this thing quietly goes away but it’s my responsibility to prepare for the worst case scenario for our family. Logic and facts support preparing now as things look unstoppable.

So what can you do to protect yourself? As I said before, buy extra food and toiletries, and most of all, get healthy. Take vitamins, eat well, get sleep and wash your hands often. Keep your gas tanks full too as if quarantines come or even if things get worse and the people that deliver things like gas and food to stores where you buy it, decide to stay home, things will be gone quickly. Some places are running out of basic supplies. Costco in Hawaii is rationing toilet paper! So today, go get some things you use daily before it’s too late.

That’s it, pray for things to get better and as of today, you still have time to get ready. Lots of people are still ignoring facts and think nothing will happen to them. That’s human nature. Remember again, watch what people do, (governments, officials, people in power) rather than what they say! Funny that all our Congressmen and Senators are telling us to be calm while they are stocking up for them and their families using the excuse that IF it gets bad they need to be prepared so they can continue to make decisions on our behalf, ha.

God Bless.