A Year of Change

Yesterday I went to lunch with my Mom and Uncle T which was nice and then as soon as I arrived home, the misses and I headed up to Vail for our 1 month post op check up with the great doctors we are blessed to have.

It was a beautiful day in Vail with the temp around 75 degrees and the sun shinning. We left the boys with Daniella who took them to Subway and then the pool. We finally got in to see the crew (nurses and doctors) around 3:45. First we see Diane, who’s a nurse, then Eric who’s Dr. Corenman’s long time assistant doc and then finally Dr. Corenman. The long and short of it is that the misses is doing great. Normally they don’t see patients until 6 weeks after the procedure the misses had done as sometimes it takes that long to see any improvement.

After meeting with Eric and Don (Dr. Corenman) they said if she goes back to work, they wanted to further restrict her to only 4 hours a day. When Eric found out she only worked a day or two a week, he asked if she really needed to go back as even though they could release her, the repetitive motion could aggravate and set off her head again. We said our number one concern, more than money is keeping her healthy. After all, you only have one body and one spine. He left the room and said that he wanted to talk to Don. A few minutes later Don came in and the first thing he said is “you should quit”. He went on to explain that if it was his wife, he would recommend this. He said that the motion of checking and bagging groceries wasn’t good for someone with her neck. He said leave that to the 20 year olds with young healthy necks. They both also explained the process of workman’s comp and told us leaving her job in no way has anything to do with her receiving future medical treatment from workmans comp. This was our number 1 concern, getting future medical expenses covered and keeping the misses healthy, that’s it, not the $100 a week they pay although don’t get us wrong, all money helps.

So the misses is in the shower and in about 45 minutes will head over and submit her resignation. We joked that we should buy $5000 worth of groceries right before to save the 20% one more time! We’ll actually miss the discount more than the $10.50 an hour. In the end, we feel we’re making the correct decision based on her medical condition and the doctors advice. We’ll have to figure out some way to make up the lost income and hopefully increase it but we’re pretty resourceful, we’ll think of something. She goes back on July 31st for another follow up appointment with her doctors.

Now onto the other news, I’m happy to say that despite $60 million dollars spent by Unions all across the country, the Republican Governor of the great state of Wisconsin overwhelmingly won the recall election yesterday. You might remember last year he had to re-structure union jobs where school bus drivers were making over $150K a year with pensions of over a $100K a year and the Democrats went crazy. I guess if I was  bus driver making $150K a year, I’d want to keep that job too! Last year democratic senators left the state and went into hiding in Illinois instead of doing their jobs and staying to vote on state policy. Then they organized this recall election with Unions all across the country actually pulling the strings. Well, the people prevailed and did the right thing. The facts are this Governor slashed the state deficit by billions and brought business and industry back to Wisconsin. The only people who opposed him were the ones who were over paid in the first place, I mean come on, a school bus driver making over $150K a year! Enough said.

Now I have nothing against Unions except the fact that it’s usually the workers who don’t benefit, just the big bosses. They even bused in hundreds of people from Michigan and paid them to vote and go protest. You’ll notice Obama stayed as far away from this as possible. He didn’t go to the state to campaign for the democrat and when he tweeted his support, instead of his usual signature he signed it “bo”. Maybe his dog Bo actually was the one tweeting and not him! Oh well, the people of Wisconsin made the right decision and the state will continue on the road of recovery. Hopefully the rest of the Country can follow suit.

Sorry if I offended any of you, I’m really trying to restrain myself but this in your face election with ads and news running 24 hours a day is hard to ignore. Hopefully after the election, the country can begin to come together and heal.

Take care and God Bless.

It’s not easy getting the oldest one up, dressed and to swim team practice by 6:30 but boy is he fast! His long lean body and size 7 feet seem to give him an added advantage in the water. The only hard part is rousting him out of bed at 6:15 and getting him to practice. Yesterday he swam 12 lengths of the pool, alternating between freestyle and backstroke, without stopping. Now I don’t know about you but there’s no way I could swim 12 lengths of the pool non stop.

I kinked my neck sleeping last night and it’s all sore this morning. The youngest is on the couch with me eating a bowl of his favorite cereal, Panda Puffs. He goes to practice at 8am after the oldest is finished.

Today around 1pm the misses and I will head to Vail to see Dr. Corenman for a follow up visit on her neck. It looks like her headache is almost all the way gone, yea, now we just have her sore stiff neck to deal with. Work called her yesterday and she starts back tomorrow and also works Thursday. They’re anxious to get her back, we’ll see how long she lasts.

In the spirit of keeping up with me and trying to clean and purge one room at a time, she spent the whole day on the mud room yesterday. A huge 50 pound plus bag of who knows what came out of there and is now sitting outside waiting for the trash man on Thursday. I threw away a half dozen old pair of shoes but no telling what all she dumped. You can even get into the closet in there now and she says we should all start using that door now. I think she plans on locking us out of the front door to force us to use it. So, my closet and the mud room down, the rest of the house to go. There’s a lot of junk around here we have to just get rid  of.

I’m off to Houston next week for a night and think I’ll make a quick trip to New York the following Monday. I need to sometime get up to Wyoming to drop off some gear and check some fence lines. We might also try to take a trip to Yellowstone or Mount Rushmore sometime this summer. The way time flies, fall will be here before you know it.

Time to run, hope all’s well with everyone, take care and God Bless.

Yesterday was full of fun for the kiddos. The oldest had his friend come over to play for a couple of hours and then go to the pool.  The youngest had the neighbor over as well.  All four of them played outside with nerf swords until the thought of catching snakes entered our oldest’s mind.  The kids tried to catch an elusive bull snake to no avail.  This snake has seen it’s friend “snatched and relocated”, so it only suns it’s tail.  The snake resides under the neighbors concrete slab on the south side of her house.  I think there may be more than one.  The oldest seems to think he’s caught at least eight different snakes at her house…the markings and size are different on the snakes he’s grabbed.  He is really educated on snakes and reptiles, so I don’t doubt him at all.  Happy hunting,

The mister met his friend the saddle maker at the gun show and his friend didn’t bring down the old saddle because it was too oily.  Bummer.  The mister was home early and headed upstairs to purge his closet while I took the kids to the pool.  He did an amazing job on his closet…I wish mine looked like that.

We have to wake the eldest at 6 a.m. to get to the pool at 6:15 for stretching and warm up.  It’s early…I know…but once they get into the rhythm…they really enjoy it.  The youngest doesn’t need to be there until 8, so swim team practice is a breeze for him. I am off to find the swim suits , so the Mister is taking over.  Have a wonderful day.

That’s right, I cleaned out my closet. That means I tried on every stitch of clothing to see what fit and what didn’t. In the end I have some real nice clothes I need to take to a mens consignment store as they’re just too nice to donate. I have some Prada shirts and Armani pants that are in great condition that hopefully will bring in some bucks. Next up is the closet in the spare room.

Work’s going pretty well. I just have to keep the pressure up and monitor the distributors almost daily. You have to treat them like 5 year olds.

Did you see where Anna Wintour, the long time editor of Vogue magazine is running ads trying to get you to bid to come to dinner with her and Obama. I mean really, like that’s going to connect with the average American. Some uber wealthy New Yorker who thinks she’s better than the rest of us. Oh well, pretty typical as Obama thinks he is too. I just don’t understand how anyone can vote for him this time around. I mean can you honestly say he did what he said he’d do? Where’s the transparency? Where’s the working together? Where’s the reducing our debt? Where’s the cutting out the waste? Sorry to those of you I offend, I don’t know why I go into this as if you like him, he could do anything and it would never make you change and the same is probably true of the other side. That right there is the problem, we’re too divided. Where’s a President like Roosevelt, Eisenhower or Kennedy? Ok, I’ll stop now but I fear for our Country if this guy gets elected again. How about the 30,000 drones that will soon be flying over all of America in the name of preventing terrorism? That’s just wrong, how can anyone think that’s ok?

We woke up at 5:15 when Lacey managed to open the kitchen cabinet door and pull out the trash can with her teeth and then proceed the spread trash all over the floor. Nice huh.

Mom’s having a hard time rousting the oldest out of bed for swim team. You can hear him upstairs moaning and groaning plus Mom gave him his little brothers suit. It’ll take a few days to get him in the groove.

Last, Grandma Dixie had a nice comment yesterday, here ya go.

Last night the youngest had his first sleep over at the neighbors. He’d tried before but never made it through the night unless his brother was with him. We hope he had fun.

Yesterday the morning started off with the oldest hot on the trail of a 3 foot snake at the neighbors. He couldn’t quite catch it as it seems they’re onto him. We had a spell of rain and wind that was a bit worse as you go east. Just a good summer mini storm here. The youngest hung out at his friends while Mom, the oldest and I ran some errands and I got a haircut. We were gone for about 3 hours yesterday. We did go to Whole Foods and spent $250 on staples to stock up and got some ribs for dinner. Tuesday we drive up to Vail to see the misses doctor.

Now for a more serious note, today is my Mom and Dad’s anniversary. I’m not sure how many years it would have been but it has to be close to 45 or so. Anyhow, Happy Anniversary Mom. I know you think of Dad daily and so do we! In some ways he has more of an impact on my life now than he did when he was around. By that I don’t mean the last 10 years of his life when he was a shell of who he was, but of when I was a kid and the lessons he taught us and things I remember about him growing up. We all miss him too. He’d want us all to enjoy the day and think of the good times we had together. As I get older I strive to be as much like him as I can. I can’t think of a better role model for any man.

It’ll be in the 90’s today and we might have a little more rain this afternoon. I’m going to try to go to the gym quickly before I head to the gun show to meet my buddy who’s bringing the old mexican saddle down from the mountains. I’ll have to stop by and show my Mom.

Time for me to go, hope you all are well. Take care, God Bless and enjoy the day!

Here’s a comment from Aunt B, it wasn’t necessary as I know when Uncle T comments, he’s doing so for both of you but good to know you two were together doing the same thing!

Alright, here’s 2 more comments from yesterday. I think this is the most comments we’ve received in a 3 day span in 510 days, thanks!

• Tom says:

  May 31, 2012 at 2:46 pm

  Okay, here it is. Saturday went to the inlaws in Longmont with niece and her boyfriend. Sunday we had the neighbors over for Mexican food and patron and you know I cooked chicken and wine for everyone on Monday. lots of food and friends and family.
• Reply
• robi says:

  May 31, 2012 at 5:03 pm

  I had a great Memorial Day Weekend! Sure nice to have a 3 day weekend! Friday I went out for Mex. Saturday I helped Robert plate up a wedding then went to the Peanut Bar for half price burgs. Sunday was poolside at Robert’s condo then steaks on the grill. Monday went to Nordys and the Culinary Dropout (great restaurant)! I agree with Annette – you gotta be careful with Workman’s Comp – they will even hire people to follow you! Yahooie and Yippie to the boys – enjoy summer!

  Well, yesterday at 12:45 school officially ended for the year. Hard to believe it’s already summer. Monday we’ll start the chores, summer school work, swim team practice, etc. The only thing we started right away was the tv restrictions.

  The misses was at school helping with various parties most of the morning while I ran several errands for work. I did stop by a friends shop who sells old indian antiques in Cherry Creek. I dropped him off a sample bottle of wine he likes and he gave me this old photograph from about the 1940’s or so of an indian man herding his sheep in Canyon de Chelly. It’s amazing with the scenery and clouds but didn’t look that great as the frame was as old as the picture. It also wasn’t mounted very well. We immediately dropped it a couple blocks away with our friend Chris who frames art for most of the galleries in town. He said it’s a shame as this photo deserved better. He’ll re-do it for us in a cool frame with matting and we’re thinking of hanging it above the fireplace, wait to you see it, it’s a very cool vintage photograph. It’s fun to rotate art in your house every so often as it gives rooms a completely new look and you get to see pieces you don’t normally notice. Uncle T and my Mom should try this. It seems people hang paintings and then leave them in the same spot forever. Move them around, it’s fun!

  Meanwhile we’d dropped the boys at the Chalkers after school party as soon as they were out. They had a dunk tank, 3 water slides and huge bouncy castle, a hot dog machine, cotton candy machine, sno cone machine and water balloons, and a margarita machine and cocktails for the adults. The kids were in heaven. We ran to the grocery store and while on the way sitting at a stoplight, we witnessed a car run smack dab into an old man crossing the street. The guy who hit him was 80 and gay (not that that matters) and didn’t even see him. We helped the victim up and called 911 and then had to wait for the cops which took 20 minutes or so to arrive. Everyone was on the same page with the details of what happened so we left. We made it back to the Chalkers and after  4 hours at the party, we loaded up the boys and took them home.

  When we arrived home the oldest went out and caught a snake (one of his favorite pastimes) and put it in our garden as the misses keeps seeing a mouse run in her flowers. I’m not so sure a small garter snake can eat a big mouse but we’ll see. The youngest has had a headache on and off for a few days so he slept with us last night. He’s been sleeping in his own bed so Mom said ok. Everyone is sleeping still at 6:30 and will probably do so until 8ish. I need to get the trash out as our pickup was delayed a day this week due to the holiday. Mid 90’s for the next 3 days, uggh.

  Take care, stay safe and God Bless

Here’s a comment from Grandma Annette, that means we’re still missing Aunt Robi, Uncle T and Aunt B, Grandma (my Mom), Aunt Shelly and Grandpa Bob, what did you guys do? Let’s get those comments in, here’s Annette’s,

Just a word of advice, don’t write about L playing paint ball ziplining ect. Workers Comp could use it as a way of saying L was able to go back to work. I worked for a state agency long enough to know how they work. You know how computers are everything is saved forever. Jean and I went to Chico to visit Serena and Matt. We went shopping (suprise) and to our favorite bakery for lunch and wonderful cupcakes. That was the only thing I did over the weekend that was fun. Love the blogs. The ranch sounds wonderful. I would like to go just to sleep in the beds, sit by the fire and eat the food.

Thanks, the misses isn’t so concerned about going back to work or not, our main concern is just being able to have them pay for any future medical bills. We did talk with a lawyer yesterday and have a plan on what to do now, but thanks again for the advice.

Today the kiddos are out at 12:45 and then will officially be 3rd and 5th graders, WOW! We’re slowly implementing the new rules around here, 1 hour max of tv a day, chores in the am, very little computer and ipad time and school work each morning. We want to go slow so it’s not a big fight.

I had two good appointments in Boulder yesterday. It’s good to get out in the field as I usually get stuck behind a desk on the phone. Lots of good stuff going on. This morning I need to deliver some wine for an event and then a few emails. It’ll be in the 90’s over the weekend and the boys will be at the pool. I don’t really like to hang out at the pool but the kids sure do, plus it gets them great exercise. I’d prefer to be riding horses somewhere but it is what it is. At $550 for the summer, it works out to about $6.50 a day which is hard to beat.

Yesterday the oldest had the honor of throwing or smashing a whipped cream pie in the Principal’s face, he’s sure a good guy. It’s now breakfast time so time to run as Mom makes us all sit at the table. Take care, God Bless.

Well Grandma Dixie took the time to comment, where are you? I know you all did something over the weekend, come on, let us know. Here’s Grandma Dixie’s comment in case you missed it.

Pa Don and I surely enjoyed the descriptive blogs that Doug wrote–he
knows how to write beautiful word pictures. We felt as if we were there with you. As for us, we never left the homestead since coming home from our two-week stay on Maui. Frankly we were too tired. Our meals consisted of anything we could find in our pantry or refrigerator–lots of soup and our good neighbor’s potato salad. Thanks for lighting up our lives. We love all of you. Grandma Dixie

Thanks Dixie, we know you’re reading on a daily basis. Yesterday was basically a play day at school for the boys. The misses and I were busy with her going to a couple of doctor appointments where they had the gall to tell her that not only do they need to release her to go back to work but also suggested that we start using our insurance! We called one of her doctors in Vail who said that’s crazy and that he’d dictate a note right away keeping her out of work until at least June 5th when she sees Dr. Corenman at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail. We know they’re trying to get out of paying any more medical bills as work called and wanted her to come in today and sign release papers saying she’s all better, unbelievable. Looks like it’s time to get lawyers involved. As I said yesterday we think work wants to get rid of her anyhow as one of the girls told her when she was in that she was let go. They know they can’t do this without finding some reason or we think it’d be wrongful termination but it’s clear they will try to squeeze her out somehow. Real nice huh, they caused the injury and now they not only want to stop paying to get her back to where she was but also want to fire her. We’ll keep you posted, what a joke.

This morning I have a couple of appointments in Boulder but should be home by a little after 1. The oldest one gets to throw a cream pie in the school principal’s face for being one of the top performers in the school fundraiser. The youngest one actually sold more on his own but Uncle T took the oldest guys order form to the bank and got a bunch of sales for him putting him over the top. Mom offered to let the youngest guy throw a cream pie in her face to make him feel better.

We have some great pictures from the ranch, and a few that aren’t so flattering. The misses and I are back on a strict regiment of vegetables and lean protein. (the not so flattering ones are of us!) It seems the older you get, the tougher it is to keep those extra pounds off. In any case, you now us, we have to try!

Lacey the lab is limping around a bit as she had lots of ball throwing while we were gone. She’s also just getting old. She’s a good dog who still has a sparkle in her eye, it’s her hips and legs that aren’t quite as young as they used to be. Mojo the malamute is frisky as ever. He seems to do ok in the heat but we know he’d prefer snow!

Time for a little exercise as it’s been a while since I did any cardio or weights but I have to tell you, when you’re at a ranch, there’s plenty of exercise. That wasn’t the problem, it was the endless buffets of great irresistible food that set you back. The misses and I said we need to fast for a few days. I think yesterday we had an apple, a salad and maybe a bowl of corn flakes and that was it.

Tomorrow after school our friends the Chalkers are having their big end of school bash. Each year they say they’re not doing it again but every year, they do it. They’re both trust fund kids (in their 40’s) with wealthy parents and they throw a party with all kinds of hired attractions from jumpy castles to performers like magicians and this year I think they’re even bringing in a pool! I mean who hires out a pool? On top of it, they invite the entire classes of both kids plus other friends. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had valet parking as they’ll be over 100 kids. It’s always the Mom’s doing to throw this and her husband Charlie just shakes his head and goes along with whatever she wants. Oh well, the kids love it as it’s an annual right of passage to summer.

We might get some horseback riding in this weekend back up in the hills. We’ll see how the weekend plays out as the kids have no more school. Both boys didn’t get a chance to ride last weekend as they were too busy with paintball. The oldest one wants to earn money this summer for a dirt bike (motorcycle), while the youngest has his sights set on, you guessed it, a new paintball set. I tried to explain to him that there’s no place around here to play but he said he could just play in the neighborhood. I said no one wants splotches of paint all over their grass or house and that we’d have to find some place to play. He’s not deterred though and says we’ll find a place. The oldest guy has been on a dirt bike kick since her rode one last summer at our friend Brad’s house in Boulder. We were hoping he’d forget about it. We’ll keep you posted.

This summer, we have some new policies around her. Each boy will have a list of morning chores they must do before anything else each day. Next up will be the Bridge Books which are school books designed to keep them up to speed over the summer, then swimming practice and then they can play. TV will also be limited to an hour a day. We’re thinking of just unplugging them. I’m ok with that until football starts!

Ok, now I do have to go. Hope everyone is well, take care and give us a call. God Bless.

We woke up around 6am and showered and dressed for our last morning at the ranch. It was 35 degrees, a nice Wyoming May morning. After breakfast, the boys hooked up with Nancy, a new 64 year old fishing guide from Pennsylvania. They took off in a Ranger (4 wheel drive vehicle) for some pond way up somewhere. Meanwhile the misses and I were going to ride horses but she was a little stiff in the neck from paint ball the day before so I decided to stay with her. Instead we moseyed around taking some pictures and checking out some horses and additional cabins. The boys returned around 11:30 and although it was chilly, Nancy said the oldest caught the biggest fish she’d seen on the ranch, well over 20 inches and 5 pounds. Now this is big for a trout if you don’t know. The youngest caught a 15 incher as well so fishing was a success.

We headed into the lodge for lunch before we packed up and headed back to the Denver. By 1pm we hit the road and 3 1/2 hours later were back in the city. The cotton from or cottonwood tree was falling in full force and it was kind of smelly compared to the sage in the mountains. Uncle T made us a great dinner which was nice as we didn’t have the energy to get anything together. Thanks much. The dogs were fine and nothing else much changed down here.

We were all  sitting around on the couch last night and almost in unison, we all said we want to live at the ranch! Now we know this isn’t practical right now but we have to figure out a way so in a few years we can spend more time up there. We all just seem more relaxed, happy and healthier up there. It’s like we’re supposed to be there. There was no tv, no video games, lots of physical activity and it seems just a better quality of life when you look at everyone who lives up there. It also might sound funny but the people are nicer too. Maybe to start we can figure out a way to start spending some part of the summers up there. This year we have a plan to finish up repairing all the fences, putting up some big gates, (the big log ones you see on ranches with the help of some guys at Brush Creek) getting new signs on the fence lines (the old ones are beat and shot up from years of weather and neglect) and finishing off a road, with the help of Ed and Ned. We should have some new signs pretty quick so those will be the first to go up. All 4 wells and windmills are all running again this year which is good meaning that they wintered just fine. We at least know what we want to do and are beginning to make a plan. I’ll always remember all my dad wanted was a place up there to relax and retire or just spend some time. He never got it done and I feel bad for him as I know that’s where he was the happiest, you could see it in his eyes every time he was there. Even when he had Alzheimer’s, he would take off just walking knowing exactly where he was going. We of course didn’t know, but soon found him. I should have done more to help him realize his dream as he started his life there and I believe would have liked to finish his life there. Remember no one is ever on their death bed saying “I wish I worked more!”.  Someway somehow, we will sooner or later get to the open range. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Meanwhile back in the city, we have two and a half days of school left. All the boys will do is play as there’s no real work that’ll get done. The kids are just making up some days lost to snow that the district requires to get full funding. I’m running to Boulder today to help the guys at Brush Creek out with a gun deal for their shooting club. They’d bought 10 new shotguns that were the wrong kind so I agreed to see if I could help them trade them in for what they really wanted in the first place. They’ve been so kind to us, anything I can do to help them, I’m happy to do. We also took some sales packages home with us as we know some people that would for sure be interested in going up for a few days.

The oldest and I saw Grandma briefly last night and she looked good. Uncle T said he made sure to point out that I said she knew all the old country songs because she was old, thanks Uncle T! I made sure she knew what I meant meaning that the songs were just from her generation. The boys are getting sucked right back into tv and ipads and Mom and I are trying to keep them off it. I think swim team starts after school today but am not sure, Mom will have to check it out. She has two doctor appointments today and we think work is going to fire her as soon as the doctors say she can go back as one of the employees told her so. What a crappy thing to do. I don’t think she would have been able to go back to doing the same job anyhow but to fire her after she was hurt on the job just isn’t right.

Oh well, everything happens for a reason so we’ll see what comes next.

Time to run, hope everyone is well. Remember you all need to let us know what you did for the big weekend so we can share with everyone else. Don’t make us chase you down for it, post it now! God Bless

Sunday night, 9pm.

I really don’t know where to start so I guess we’ll start with breakfast meaning more food! The buffet was once again over the top. Bacon, eggs, sausage, green chile corn bread, breakfast pizzas, strawberry smoothies, fruit, cereals, oatmeal and more. After a few days you finally figure out that you can’t try everything at every meal, it’s just too much.

Right after breakfast the morning activities are about to begin. The activity barn is bustling with people getting ready for fishing, shooting, riding, zip lines, mountain biking, hiking and just about anything you can think of. I headed to the gun range for my morning fix of 200 shells of 12 gage at various clay pigeons flying through the air. Meanwhile the boys and Mom were once again headed to the rope course and zip lines. This time Ed and Ned (the two guys from Texas, ages 27 and 29) along with their wives went along. After I finished shooting I drove the extra mile or so to the rope course to check them all out. Ed and Ned did great just like our boys and the misses which was quite a feat as they weigh probably 260 and 280, they’re big boys. Their wives opted to watch until the zip line portion. They have 5 kids in tow between them, ranging from 1 to 5 years old and Ned’s wife is pregnant again! These guys took over a portion of their dad’s construction business and travel around the country building private roads. Both family’s have 5th wheel trailers (they replace every two years) and the wives and kids all go along. They just finished Kathryn Zeta Jones place in Aspen. They’re really good boys who work hard and know no other life as they’ve been helping their dad since they were kids. They’re also just lots of fun.

Soon it was lunch time and of course the food was again great. Then in the afternoon, Mom and the boys played paint ball while I went on a cattle drive moving about 120 head about 6 miles to new pastures. I was lucky enough to ride with the ranch cowboys as I’ve been riding with them for a few years and they felt comfortable that I could handle it. I was on a gelding named Shasta that’s a spunky horse with quick feet that I had rode before. He’s a great little cow horse. The trick is when you have a good horse to just let them do all the work which he did well. After a few hours of herding cows we finally reached our destination. As soon as we closed the gate to the pasture and turned around to head back, a pelting snowstorm, with almost hail like pellets, joined by 30 mile an hour winds hit us smack dab in our face. You had to tilt your head down while holding on your hat with one hand and the reins with the other. Luckily it only lasted 10 minutes or so. We’d had snow on and off riding up with the cows but nothing like this. Thankfully I had on a couple of shirts, a vest and a coat, and chaps along with my neckerchief and hat and gloves. Imagine the old days when the cowboys had to do this in the winter! After about 4 hours in the saddle we made it back to the corral where we unsaddled our horses and loaded them into the trailers. It was a good day of hard work.

Dinner was a 40 pund pig the chef had been roasting since 5am. Of course there also was steaks, venison chile and tiger prawns along with all the side dishes you could dream of. For dessert there was homemade peach cobbler in a cast iron skillet with homemade vanilla ice cream on the side, enough already! After dinner we headed back over to the saloon as they had a 4 piece band and I swear the youngest guy (or gal, there was 1 lady) was 60! They played old time country music that made me think of my grandfather who used to play in a band at that age also. The misses and I both talked about how much our mothers would have enjoyed it as they would have known every song, cause they’re old! Soon it was 9pm and the misses and I are going on a ride in the morning with Ed and his wife Kathryn so time to go. Lisa, our friend who runs the horse program, is arranging for an advanced ride for us rather than just a nose to tail trail ride like most of the guests take. Her husband Eddie was going to go with us but the two gay guys from New York have requested him personally again!

When we made it back to our cabin the boys were begging me to light the pot belly stove. Being the great dad that I am, we filled her up and got her going. We all sat around talking about the weekend and the meaning of Memorial Day as my Mom reminded me to talk about that with the boys, thanks Mom. There’s more to tell you but it’ll have to wait as I need to get some sleep. Oh, I almost forgot, we’re getting a new bed through the ranch at their cost which is about a 70% discount as they buy thousands a year for over 200 hotels! We are so excited, we just mentioned that we want to find out what mattresses they use and they offered to have one delivered to our door, we can’t wait!

Time to go, I need to check the pot belly stove and put some cream on my wind blown face and get some sleep. Everyone else is already out. I do have my clothes in the dryer so I have some fresh dust free jeans for the morning ride. Take care and God Bless,

p.s. Uncle T, please go fix Mom’s computer and I told her to ask you to throw in 12 short ribs for us for dinner! She said don’t count on it but I said you’d do it! ha ha