A Year of Change

Last night Marty, Max, Jag, Ty and I had burgers on the grill. We also threw on some corn on the cob soaked in water. I had four baked potato’s in the oven and it was a good dinner. After dinner we were hanging out talking and somehow pick up lines came up. Now get this, when Ty was in Nebraska, turns out he said to his waitress at dinner, “I’d like the 8 ounce filet and a side of your phone number”! What? Are you kidding me? And guess what, he got the 23 year old waitresses number! Ha. We spent the next hour throwing around great pick up lines, fun guy time. How about, I lost my virginity, can I have yours! And my favorite (WARNING X-RATED), Fuck me if I’m wrong, but dinosaurs still exist, right!

Earlier in the day I went to the grocery store after dropping Ty at the skate park. When I came home Jag was tutoring Reese, the 13 year old daughter of Barbara, the real estate broker he works for. Before that, the big news of the day was I cleaned out my closet from top to bottom. I took things off every shelf, dusted it and then went through all the crap I had laying around. Amazing how much one can accumulate in 12 months. Today it’s my office. Need to reorg things for Dixie to come out.

Lori and Dixie had a pretty good day. It’s tough being 90 but they’re working through things best they can. Dixie is lucky to have a daughter like Lori who has literally been going out to see her every month for five years. Dixie is a good girl even though she’s a democrat. I think if she understood just what the democrat party stands for these days, even she’d change her stripes. It’s not easy on either of them right now but it’s all part of life. My mom always said, you do what you have to do!

Tomorrow I need to get a queen mattress and all the trimmings. Sounds like Thanksgiving but I mean sheets and stuff. Lori is getting doctor appointments and other details squared away. Not sure when she’s coming out, maybe later this week or maybe another week or more as we’re waiting on oxygen to be delivered. We’ll keep everyone posted. Annette, if you ever need to come out, give me a months notice, ha!

Oh, today my smoker gets delivered between 12 and 2! Of course Lori never reads the blog but she read Monday’s post and called saying “you bought a smoker”? And of course I proudly said, “yes I did”! Here’s the kicker, it’s basically a wood oven that you can even cook pizza on! It’s not really just a smoker. Can’t wait!

Well that’s it. As you can see (or read), life’s in full on in your face mode up here. You know the difference between cattle and bison or buffalo? When there’s a big storm cattle will run from it while bison will turn towards the storm and face it head on. Well we’re buffalo! So bring it on, God Bless.

Lots going on this week. Tons of stuff to do around here to get ready for Dixie to come visit. Meanwhile in California Lori and Dixie have even more to do to get ready to come. Jag has work, (he rolled in around 10:30 last night from Denver) and Ty is getting a job. On top of rearranging the house to accommodate Dix, I have a lot of work to do too. So there you have it. We all get old and it’s our duty as children to take care of our older parents, no matter what.

Yesterday I made a second round of ribs. They turned out better than the day before. I also cleaned every single baseboard on most of the main floor. I have the hallway to the garage and my office to go. I did such a good job on the floors I was dreading letting the dogs back in as I knew they’d mess it up with tons of hair. Mojo did let me sleep most of the night but did wake me at 5:44 am. He’s so skinny on his back end I don’t know how he can get up and down.

Marty and Max are coming over tonight for dinner as Max’s days changed from when he was coming back from his church trip. Think we’ll have burgers.

We also still have smoke in the air. They say it’s coming from New Mexico and Arizona and a little from up by Steamboat. Wish it’d clear out. That’s it, time to move. GB.

Look s like Dixie had a great day yesterday. Jeff and Debbie came over and I think they had a few other visitors too. Only problem there was it was hot, really hot. Anytime it’s over 110 that’s no fun. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in temperatures that hot. Oh well, Fall will be here soon.

I made some ribs for the boys before they took off for Amanda’s Graduation party. They stayed in Vail so once again I was alone here with the dogs. I think today I’ll vacuum the entire house. Marty is coming over for dinner as he’s all alone too. We were thinking we could hook up Marty’s dad and Dixie. Then we’d hang out on the holiday’s! They’re about the same age.

Not too hot up here, I guess high 80’s or low 90’s. We have the Baseball All Star game in town the next few days. Good for Denver, bad for traffic. Think I’ll go to the gym before I start cleaning up crap around here. Have a good Sunday, Que Dieu te bénisse!

Yesterday after a phone call with Dixie and her caregiver, we decided to get Lori on a flight with only 80 minutes to take off. We found a flight out of Eagle to Denver and then to Sacramento. Dixie was a little confused as to what was going on which is understandable at 90 years old. Looks like she’ll be coming back with Lori in a week or so. We managed to get Lori packed, find a flight and jump in the car all within about 16 minutes. Pretty impressive.

So today with no wife here, I’m headed to Denver in about an hour to pick up my new pellet smoker and bbq. This thing is super cool. We’ve been using James’s for years and although I didn’t pop for one as large as his, I did find a dealer in Denver that’s assembling it for me and will have it ready to go this morning. The place that sells them and all things bbq also sells meat but I’ll stop at Edwards for a few racks of baby backs. My buddy Matt was tutoring me on the best way to prep, season, rub and cook them as well as what kind of wood pellets to get. Tomorrow Marty and I will give it a go. Lori told me not to buy a Trager which is the most popular smoker out there, (you’ve probably seen them at Costco) so I didn’t, I bought a Yoder out of Kansas City which is the next level up, ha! And by the way, they’re not that expensive. Our built in bbq was way more expensive.

Can’t wait to fire it up. The way I see it is I’m 64 years old, I don’t drink, don’t do drugs, don’t have a girlfriend, don’t own a boat (yet) so I figure I deserve it. What Lori doesn’t know is everything doesn’t taste smoky. You can cook all kinds of things on this. Guess she’ll think twice next time she blasts out of town leaving me alone, ha.

Jag took off last night for Denver to see Katy. Ty and Preston spent the night in Vail and will be here at 9 or 10 this morning so the dogs and I hung out together. Robert my cousin will come over and help me unload this thing this afternoon as it’s 277 pounds when put together. It’s built like a tank! Tom, you should so get one. Go to Proud Souls BBQ on 25th and Federal right by the stadium. Check out their website.

107 degrees in Grand Junction yesterday, 113 in Sacramento today and 130 in Death Valley, CA, 4 degrees from the all time World record, wow! Nice up here, mid 80’s, same in Denver. All we need on top of the increased crime, the pandemic, the economy and Biden is the weather to start messing with us right? God is sure testing us.

Just saw life expectancy in the U.S. dropped 2 years! That’s the highest in the World, wtf? Remember, live each day, reduce your stress, stay healthy and be safe, God Bless.

Home sweet home. That’s where I am staying today. Of course I will go to the gym and Vail and places locally but no driving to Denver or even Frisco.

Jag got his car back last night. All I need to do is get a new windshield and fix the left rear taillight and we should be good. That kid sure can trash a car. We told him it’s all on him now, we’re through paying to fix anything. His car, his expense. Ty and Preston were around town and were home around 11 pm. I went to James house where we had the ribs he smoked that were amazing. Even he wasn’t sure why they turned out so good. They didn’t need sauce. He cooked them unwrapped in the smoker at 165 degrees for three hours and then wrapped them and turned it up I think to 265 degrees for five hours. He put on a rub of brown sugar, honey from his ranch in California and Famous Dave’s spices. It all caramelized into this gooey sort of black candy finish that was unbelievable. Rob, our buddy from Denver brought up the new Blackened cigars that just arrived from Nicaragua. They were good and gave you a sort of a buzz.

Lori was home alone waiting for me doing some work. Jag stayed at Emile’s house last night. Oh to not be having to drive him around anymore. Time for coffee. Then the gym. I’m trading a camera today for a new watch. My buddy who sells all the pre-owned watches for Hyde Park is driving it up to me and I’ll meet him in Vail. I’m trading that free Leica I got for a IWC Big Pilot which is like a $12K watch I always liked. I’ll meet him at 10:30 so time to go. Enjoy the weekend and God Bless us all.

Last night a little after 9 pm Ty strolled in with Preston. Soon after Sonny showed up and they’re all sleeping now. Ty and Preston had wanted to go back to Nebraska as I guess four new girls showed up at the boat. We squashed that idea as he’d been gone a week and there are a bunch of girls up here waiting for him to get home too, ha. Good to have him home.

I went to Frisco in the morning to take back some lamps that were broken when we bought them. Then after noon I went to James’s to hang out and finalize our hunting trip to Utah. Lori went for injections for her headache around 3:30 and was home by 5. Today I’m off to Denver and Jag is working in Vail. Lori is home and we have the landscaper coming by.

I should be back by 2 and then we’re hanging at James’s tonight as he leaves Saturday until the 30th to go do the guitars for the new album. I dropped some ribs from Edwards Meat Market at hos house that he’ll throw in the smoker about 8 this morning. They’ll be just right around 5 tonight.

Mojo stayed in the very back last night so we managed to get some sleep, thank God. Time to get moving. I might stop downtown today to pick up a new jacket as Lori left a bottle of wine in her car a few days ago and the cork popped out due to the heat and spilled all over my coat. Better than the car but when she washed it, it shrunk. It was my favorite coat, ugh.

That’s it, be well, stay safe and GB.

Up all night, in and out, no sleep, ugh. Our fault letting him sleep with us, big mistake. I was in and out of Denver yesterday in good time. Back down tomorrow. Going to be hot the next few days, especially down on the front range. Ty is headed to Denver today and then will be up here tomorrow. We were invited to a concert tomorrow night with Marty and Melanie but are going to pass. It’s some country duo that’s sort of a B band. Jag worked yesterday and is off today. Hopefully his car is done soon. I have a call with an estate in Macedonia in 40 minutes so time to get moving. Stay safe, crazy out there, God Bless.

Won’t be long, in about six weeks the kids are back in school. In 5 weeks Jag moves in to his apartment! In less than 4 weeks, training camp for the Broncos starts! Wow! Here we go.

Jag and Katy made it up around 4. He goes to work this morning around 10 and she’ll drop him off on her way back to Denver. I’m leaving in about an hour and Lori in two. Ty gets home Thursday. He’ll get back to Denver tomorrow but will spend the night and drive up the next morning so the drive isn’t so long.

It’s gorgeous outside as usual. James made it home from a long weekend in Atlanta and we’re finalizing our elk hunting trip today. We’re going with a former Denver Bronco that has a place in Utah. He’s taking his son and I’m taking Ty. Jag will be too busy as it’s the week before Labor Day.

It was a good weekend. Lots of social events, not much relaxing but we did make it to the gym three times. We found a new rug at 40% off in Frisco that I’ll pick up on my way back from Denver around noon today. It was raining yesterday on and off so we didn’t want to chance it getting wet. I need to be out the door in less than an hour so time to get moving. Be well, stay safe, lots of idiots out there and random crime is surging, God Bless.

Last night we went to a cocktail party at one of the guys home from dinner the night before. A lot of the same people and a bunch of new ones. We were only there for an hour and a half or so which was just right. The boys are having fun. Amy sent a picture of all the kids on the boat. Not sure what the hand gesture means, ha. Jag and Katy are coming up today and I think Ty comes home on Thursday. Preston is then staying with us until Sunday. Hard to believe we’re in the second half of the year. It’ll go fast now, get ready. The news is already talking about kids going back to school.

I think we’re just hanging out today. We did a bunch of laundry yesterday and some cleaning too. Dogs are fine and driving us up a wall as usual. We will head out to the gym pretty soon. We need to figure out when Lori is going to get Dixie. Sometime in the next couple weeks. Time to go. Enjoy the day, especially if you have it off! God Bless.

Imagine July 4th 245 years ago, wow. What a celebration it must have been. Then again maybe it wasn’t a big celebration but rather a day of accomplishment and satisfaction for the peoples efforts. It still amazes me how hundreds of years ago the Founders of our Country had the foresight and ability to craft the Declaration of Independence that would stand the test of time and still be relevant today, even though some have tried to tear it down when they don’t get their way. That’s exactly why they did what they did and fought so hard for our independence. So we would stay a Country of free choice through the toughest times even though these days it doesn’t always seem that way. So Happy Independence Day!

Last night Lori and I headed to Gerry and Marcy’s around 6. There were 12 of us and it’s always a great mix. Gerry and Marcy’s doctor and his wife from Chicago were there, (Gerry and Marcy are his only patients as he’s their private physician, ha), a woman from the Dallas Symphony who is in town playing a concert with the symphony today at the Amphitheater, and a bunch of other fun people from the valley. Food was good but the night was really fun. Lori made her cheesecake which was the hit of the evening. We stayed until about 10. Earlier in the day we went to Vail and walked around and had Lori’s jewelry cleaned at the jewelry store and also stopped in to say hi to Luca and Jen at their store Luca Bruno which was super busy.

Today we’re headed to the gym and then just hanging out. Glad we have another day off after today. We need the time to recoup. Hope all’s well, stay safe and be thankful for the Country we all live in, it’s still the best Country on Earth! God Bless.