A Year of Change

Well last night Lorenzo and I headed down to the World famous Broadmoor Resort where we, or should I say he, entertained about 100 people. I of course was along to meet the Vice President of the resort who recently came from 22 years at the Greenbriar. I also schmoozed with the other people I needed to know like chefs, restaurant managers, and Bucky, the wine buyer. It was a great night with fantastic food, wine and company. I did meet one older man who is a small banker in the Springs for 30 years. He knew who my dad was and has insisted he host Lori and I for a lunch at the Broadmoor in the future.

Meanwhile Jag was at his baseball game and wouldn’t you know it, was sent in as pitcher! I didn’t expect this as he only had about 20 minutes of pitching practice in his whole life! I was texting back and forth with Mom getting the play by play. One strike, two balls and on it went. Soon it was “he struck him out!” Then “he caught a ball hit back at the mound and threw the guy out at first”, then “he hit a double and had an rbi”, all while I was not there. Mom said he was nervous and might have been more nervous had I been there so at least he had his debut and now he’ll be more comfortable in his next game this Friday. Mom and I sure are proud of him. He could be the next Randy Johnson who was a Hall of Fame big league pitcher who was 6 feet 10 inches tall!

Today I’m taking Lorenzo back to my favorite traditional archery shop. We have one of the best in the country right here 10 minutes from home. Lorenzo had mentioned how he’s always really wanted to get into it and learn the skill after he saw Jagger shooting arrows in the backyard over the weekend. You see it’s very difficult to own a gun in Italy and he, and all other wine makers, have a wild boar problem. They (the boars) eat about 1/3 of the crop of grapes each year and he figures with a bow, he can reduce that substantially. Plus he wants to acquire a new skill set. Now of course when I heard this, I was super excited so I called Tommy, the owner of the shop, and took him straight over yesterday morning after my work calls. He had about an hour of personal instruction and as Tommy said, was a quick learner. They have an indoor ranger and he was put through the works shooting various bows and learning all the proper steps and technique. He was thrilled and I’m sure will be sore today. Anyhow this morning he’ll shoot a few more and is then going to buy a couple bows. He’ll send one straight to Italy with a couple dozen custom made arrows (you have to buy the ones that fit your draw length) and then a second to take back to New York. He’s all excited and so am I for him as it’s great to see someone take an interest in one of the great arts. You see traditional archery has been around since the dawn of civilization. This afternoon he and the boys and I will shoot in the back yard when they get home.

Well time to go, lots to do, laundry, clean the kitchen, etc. Hope everyone is well, God Bless

Here comes a busy week. Today Lorenzo and I will head down to Colorado Springs around 3pm, about an hour and 15 minutes away, for a wine dinner at 6pm. We’ll then drive home after it’s all over rather than spend the night as Lori is staying home since Jagger has a 7:30 to 9:30pm baseball game. Before that we all have either work or school.

Yesterday though was Easter! It started out with the boys hunting for their baskets and a box each from Grandma in the house. Then it was outside to look for all the colored eggs. We quickly hurried to shower (Lori and I that is as the boys already did) to go get Lorenzo whose plane was 30 minutes early. We picked him up and headed to brunch at Le Central. Our brunch was fantastic, mussels in wine and garlic, escargot, eggs, lamb, french onion soup, croissants, champagne and more and all for about $20 per person! It was really good food, very little money and much fun.

We then headed home, ran to Lowes to buy a new door handle set for the front door which broke the night before, and then were off to Grandma’s to let the boys hunt for another dozen eggs and to see her and Tom and Ali. We stayed for 45 minutes or so soaking up the sun and then all drove down the block to see June who was at her house as her estate sale just wrapped up. My Mom came along which made June very very happy as they’ve known each other for probably 40 plus years. I took the boys and Lorenzo and we walked home and left my Mom and Lori down there who soon followed.

Then we hung out and relaxed for the rest of the day. We all skipped dinner (except for the boys) as we were too full and tired from brunch. Today Lori and I will get back on our pre Belize way of eating as we’ve kind of been cheating on and off since we returned home. It’ll be good to get back to clean eating. This of course means no alcohol for me tonight at the wine dinner which is fine as I’m driving anyhow.

Jagger is up with me now at 5:45 while everyone else is still sleeping. I think we’ll go to the gym but we’ll see how he feels in a few minutes.

Hope everyone is well. One thing I need you all to do for me, just humor me. Buy a little extra food this week, just think of it as if you won’t be able to go to the store for one week. See if you can do it. I’ll bet none of you can even go one week without going to the grocery store. Don’t believe me, give it a try. Shop today and see if you can make it until next Monday. We bet you can’t, you’ll see how dependent you are on everything being available to you whenever you want. I dare you!

God Bless.

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

– Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, 1929

Today although we celebrate the Easter Bunny and hunt for baskets and eggs, let’s not forget the true meaning of the day.

Easter is the day when we celebrate Jesus Christ rising from the dead. Jesus is the Son of God and heroically gave His life to die for our sins. On the third day after He died — the day we now celebrate as Easter Sunday — His friends went to His grave, and found that He had risen from the dead. They saw an angel who told them, “Don’t be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead, just as He said it would happen.”

I won’t go too much further as I don’t want to preach to you but there are a few simple things you can do that will bring God into your life and allow you to be saved by Him. He offers you the chance for your sins to be forgiven and the gift of eternal life. Here are the four principals that tell you how you can receive the gift of God in your life.

1. God Loves You!

The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”

The problem is that

2. All of us have done, said or thought things that are wrong. This is called sin, and our sins have separated us from God.

The Bible says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God is perfect and holy, and our sins separate us from God forever. The Bible says “The wages of sin is death.”

The good news is that, about 2,000 years ago,

3. God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.

Jesus is the Son of God. He lived a sinless life and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. “God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

Jesus rose from the dead and now He lives in heaven with God His Father. He offers us the gift of eternal life — of living forever with Him in heaven if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.”

God reaches out in love to you and wants you to be His child. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name.” You can choose to ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and come in to your life as your Lord and Savior.

4. If you want to accept Christ as Savior and turn from your sins, you can ask Him to be your Savior and Lord by praying a prayer like this:

“Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.  Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life.  I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior. I want to serve you always.”

Hope you have a great day, take care and as always, God Bless!

Yesterday Ty’s friend from school came home with us to play until 9pm. Jag had baseball so I took all three boys with me and Ty and his friend played at the park while I helped out with baseball. We all made it home around 6:15 and Mom was already here. We bbq’d up some hamburgers, hot dogs and bratwurst for dinner. After dinner we made a small fire in the fire pit out front so the boys could roast some marshmallows. All in all, a fun night.

It’s supposed to be warmer today but looks overcast right now. Jagger and I and maybe Mom and Ty re joining Ethan from Jag’s baseball team and his dad at a great bbq place for lunch. Turns out Ethan’s dad is also paleo meaning he basically eats what Lori and I eat which is just about everything except gluten. Ethan invited jagger to spend the night but we have lots going on this weekend so we opted for lunch and some play time instead. The coach asked me to coach first base Monday night at the game as our assistant coach is in Hawaii but I’ll be at the wine dinner in Colorado Springs.

Our house is spotless and I’m going to try to keep it that way at least through tomorrow. I spent the better part of the morning cleaning it up yesterday. I need to go buy some small flags and stick them in the lawn on the sprinklers in the next 2 hours so we can have the grass arreated but first will have to pick up some dog poop!

So time to go, hope everyone is doing well, God Bless.

Last night after all of us had a long day, we had a long long baseball game. Of course the game before us lasted longer than expected so we had a late start. Finally at 10pm we were done. On top of it all, it was really cold out. We were all wrapped up in down jackets in the middle of April. Jagger played outfield, 3rd and 1st. He had two great plays at 3rd where he tagged two runners out in the same inning! Then he also hit a bullet into the outfield and stole 2nd. Overall we had a really good game but lost to a team with a pitcher that was Triple A who threw about 60 miles an hour. But our kids battled hard, never gave up and made a game of it.

This morning everyone is running late as we (the boys) had homework before and after baseball. It’s now 6:30 and we need to get going. Lori and I are up but both boys are still in bed. We (Lori, the boys and I) along with Lorenzo are going to Easter Brunch downtown on Sunday as we are all too tired to cook and clean. My Mom is going to Tom and Ali’s and her parents are joining them. We would have had everyone here but with Lori working so much and our house a mess, we just couldn’t swing it. Tom and Ali’s is too small to have us all, so brunch it is.

Guess I’ll go so I can get moving on cleaning the house. Have a great Good Friday and Easter weekend. God Bless.

It’s 4:32 and the coffee is on and the day is started. I’m up early so I can get to the gym and back before everyone else rises. Work is work and school is school. Jagger had a good practice last night while Ty did some homework, ran to the grocery store with me and lobbied for new tennis shoes. He just got a new pair less than 2 months ago but due to skateboarding and just being a kid, they already have a large hole in the toe. Luckily I have a rewards coupon for $38 that will cover 2/3rd’s of the cost. I told him today after school I’d take him for new shoes. After that and after dinner, Jagger has a baseball game. It starts at 7:30 and goes until 9:30. It seems awful late for a kids baseball game but that’s what’s on the schedule.

Tomorrow is Good Friday which kicks off the holiday weekend. I’m abstaining from politics but just so you know, things are still pretty much screwed up. 6 out of 10 registered voters say the Pres lies about important things. Maybe there’s hope for us yet as people seem to be waking up. I’d better stop as the mere mention of politics, even by me, seem to get me going.

Lori is doing an amazing job at work. Some of the things she is responsible for and figuring out on her own are things others go to school for years for. They’re really lucky to have her.

Well my coffee just beeped so time to run. We hope everyone is well and has fun plans for Easter. Not sure what we’re doing besides church and getting Lorenzo from the airport. I’d better call my Mom today. Take care and God Bless.

Jag was first up this morning at 6. Lori and I rolled out of bed at 6:15 and Ty is still sleeping. Everyone has lots of work to do today, it never seems to stop. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we’ll get our Wednesday baseball practice in and our game tomorrow.

I need to wash the cars but it’s suppose to snow again tomorrow so I think I’ll wait. My phone is buzzing alerting me to incoming texts so I need to run. Hope everyone is well, take care and God Bless.

It seems like it’ll be much warmer today than the past two days, thank God. Jag had inter-murals yesterday after school so I picked up Ty early and then we ran to the store before heading back to pick up Jag. Mom made it home by 6:15 or 6:30 after a long day. Today is clinic day so no telling when she’ll get home. She’s also going to Las Vegas for a conference mid June. She’ll only be gone one night but Dr Rodgers and two of the other girls will be there for a few more days. We’ll pick her up and head straight up to Aspen from the airport as we have the Aspen Food and Wine kick off party that night that’s hosted by one of our close friends from back east. So June is already filling up!

Today is more of the same, work, work and more work. Baseball was cancelled last night due to the mess the fields were. Hope we get Thursdays game in. I need to walk Mojo today and am trying to get him out more for exercise. We also need to go through our dressers and closets as we have clothes everywhere and probably don’t wear half of them. Maybe we can make this this weeks project. Of course Sunday is Easter and then Lorenzo arrives and we have a wine dinner on Monday.

That’s about it, have a great day and God Bless.

“Social order at the expense of liberty is hardly a bargain” Marquis de Sade

When all seems lost or you’re really down, what can you do? I say think positive! Think about it, you have only two options, get dragged down or lift yourself up. I’d rather be up. We’re kind of in that position now, swimming in bills, bills, and more bills, due to medical expenses and taxes and a few thrown in unexpected surprises and it’d be real easy, in fact expected, for us to get down. But I refuse to do so, instead I’m going to get more determined to get out of this mess. Don’t know if we can but what’s the alternative, to be all depressed and do nothing? Nope, we will stay positive.

Now to the day, baseball was cancelled due to the snow so Ty went to Vinny’s around 10:30. I ran to the store after a long workout at the gym and then made some chili. Jag wanted to go to the movies so we picked up Ty and Vinny and all headed out to see Noah. It was ok but not so much a kids movie. But the kids still enjoyed it. They all three then played until around 6:30 wen we took Vinny home.

Tonight we’re supposed to have a baseball game but I don’t see how as it’s 18 degrees out with a blanket of icy snow on the ground. I’m sure the field will not be in any shape to play ball. Even Mojo is in sleeping in bis bed. That’s about it, time to get positive and come up with some ideas to keep the checking account in the black. Take care and God Bless.

Well is started out calm enough but soon the day turned hectic. Mom and Ty ran out of the house by 8:09am and were on the way. Jagger and I had to go buy a new dishwasher, get some fuel (lunch) in him for his games, get some food for dinner and then head off to the ball fields. We made it there by 1 and the boys started stretching and warming up for 4 hours of baseball. Soon it was 2 o’clock and our first game of the season started. Now these games don’t count in our standings as we opted into a tournament to get some extra  playing time. The two teams we played were really good as we “played up” meaning we opted to play against stronger teams than those in our division. The second team in particular was from Canyon City which is a good three hour drive south of Denver. These kids had been together for 3 years and came up through a “club” or system that starts at 8 years old and goes all the way to high school. They all had wrist bands with plays on them just like professional players. The catcher looked 18 years old and had an arm to match. We started off by getting two runs in the first but that was it.

Meanwhile Mom called and Ty and his team did really well and would soon be on the way to join us. They arrived by 4pm for the second game. They had hopes of winning State but it wasn’t to be. They still did a great job. Truthfully it worked out well as if they had won State, then they would have gone to Globals in Nashville Tennessee which would have cost each family something like $6000 which we just don’t have. He was disappointed but shouldn’t be as they did really well to get this far.

It’s 5:15 and raining but I just got an email saying we have a game at 8am! I think (hope) they’ll cancel this in the next hour as the rain is supposed to turn to snow in a few hours. We’ll see, maybe we’ll be rushing out of here soon. It looks like a rainy week around here until next Saturday when it’ll dry out. Easter is next Sunday and we have Lorenzo coming in from New York as we have a wine dinner on Monday the 21st at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

Guess I’ll run in case we’re off to play ball in a few hours. Hope everyone is well, God Bless.