You  might not know it but earthquakes are way up all around the World. The disturbing part of this as that they’re on the tectonic plate boundaries or fault lines.

It’s interesting to note there have been an unusual number of quakes magnitude 5.0 or greater especially near the poles which isn’t good.

Here is a time-lapse daily map of earthquakes of Magnitude 5 or greater these past 7 days followed by an image of them all together.

A report from the volcanology office in Bandung (the capital of West Java province in Indonesia) shows that the activities of Krakatau (world famous volcano) has been on the rise over the past few days, reaching almost 90 eruptions per day prompting officials on Monday to issue a warning for local residents and tourists.

Update: SEP-4
16 magnitude 5 or greater earthquakes have occurred around the Philippines / Indonesia region. These are not just aftershocks, as they are located in many different areas. Something is going on here…

Update: SEP-5
One day later, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Costa Rica! Again, something out of the ‘usual’ is and has been happening of late.

Update: SEP-7

Lots of quakes in rural China in the last 24 hours. Not a lot of info as it’s China and it was in rural provinces. Still, more quakes

If you’re interested in geology, go to this link of the USGS which shows you on a daily basis what’s going on,

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map

Ok, now that you know what’s going on quake wise around the World, here’s what’s going on in Colorado!

Yesterday the oldest slept in and skipped inter-murals but will go today. I was once again in Boulder but home by 11am. I went for a walk at 4:30 am for 45 minutes around the neighborhood, it was really dark! Later in the morning the misses went for a walk with her good friend Carrie. We haven’t seem them much lately as with summer you’re always busy doing what your kids want to do and this year the boys are in different classes. We’ll have to get together with them sometime soon.

The big game is coming up Sunday night, the Broncos and the Steelers, whoo hoo. The oldest and I are going along with a friend from Seattle and one from Boulder. They say 30 million people will be watching on tv! It’s cooler today, only about 70 degrees outside which is the coolest in months. They say the winter will be hard and the trees are already turning in the mountains which is really really early.

I was out of the house early yesterday morning to drop off some wine for a catholic charity benefit tomorrow night and then for a fashion show last night. I also got a haircut at 9am. I try to be selective about who I donate wine to as everyone always asks and they all think their cause is the best. I just can’t help everybody even though I’d like to, so I try to spread it around.

This afternoon Jennifer (the oldest ones good friend) comes home with us as her Mom works until 5 downtown and her Grandma is somewhere. It’s 6am and the oldest just got up with me as he goes for the long jump and triple jump at 7. By the time Mom arrived home from book club, we were all asleep. Hence I have no report on what was discussed or any juicy news.

Let’s hope all those earthquakes are not a precursor or things to come. You may want to make sure your 3 day kit (3 days minimum of food and water) are up to date, just in case. I’m just saying, better to be prepared than not!

Take care and God Bless,

Ok, our main drama friends, who you’ve read about from time to time, had a few issues yesterday. They don’t live very close yet called me to help them with their broken car and a leaky faucet right before the football game was going to start! I had to tell them I just couldn’t come over right now to help but that I’d be glad to help tomorrow. It’s not like they were stuck on the road or something, their broken car was sitting in their driveway! She (the misses) seemed a little put off but I made a joke of it like, “lucky you’re not bleeding to death as I couldn’t come over until after the football game no matter what!”. Oh well, she’ll get over it.

The morning started off with me going to the gym and then hitting the phones. By 9am I was on the way to Boulder and back around 11:30 or 12 noon. I had to go to four accounts and made the loop around town in pretty good time. I’m actually back there this morning after I go to Cherry Creek for a 9am appointment. The misses headache seems to be back, that’s all I’ll say as she doesn’t like me to write about it.

Tonight she’s going to a book club, I have no idea what she’s reading n’or do I even know the lady’s house she’s going to. I think it’s someone from one of the boys classes like the Mom of one of their friends. Oh well, I hope she has fun.

We did get the youngest guy some new shoes yesterday and I couldn’t believe that they cost almost $60! I mean where does Nike get off, kids grow out of them inside of 6 months.

Hard to believe it’s September. It’ll be Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, before you know it. Uncle T has probably started Christmas shopping already.

We didn’t get any comments yesterday or for that matter, for the past few days. Hope the headlines don’t turn you off. Just think you should know what’s happening around the World.

I know, let’s take a vote, who’s better off today than they were 4 years ago? Anyone? Let us know and we’ll publish the results in a few days.

Here’s a few quotes to ponder,

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -George Bernard Shaw

Sounds familiar huh, that’s the democrats plan in a nutshell, and

“Have more than thou showest; Speak less than thou knowest.” – William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616), King Lear, Act I, Scene IV

That’s a good one, especially these days. it’s called OPSEC or operational security meaning don’t tell people your business. Google it for more information, maintaining OPSEC is a must these days.

Alright, time to run, have a good day and God Bless.

Hard to believe that the NFL football season starts tonight. It’ll be the Giants and the Cowboys. I can’t remember a Wednesday night game before. Lot’s going on around here, school’s in full swing as is work. The weather is also changing as we’re expecting cooler temps this weekend.

Here’s a couple of headlines from the news today, check it out,

New “Geo Fence” Technology Lets DHS, FBI and Apple Command Your Phone’s Camera and Microphone,

Now why does the government need to turn on your phones camera and microphone? Why would this be valuable to them, talk about Big Brother or 1984, wow!

Meanwhile over the pond,

Breakdown: Three Tons of Food Looted From Grocery Stores In Spain As Millions Struggle

People are leaving Spain en mass. The wealthy are pulling their money out of the banks (while they still can) and leaving the country, while others are taking food while they can. The police can’t stop them as there’s just too many of them, wow!

Economic shock: global food prices jump 10%

Now this one we are all well aware of. For a few years, companies have just been shrinking their packaging so we think we’re getting the same food for the same money (like we’re stupid) but they can no longer continue to do this and are now raising prices on smaller boxes, talk about a double whammy, wow!

and finally,

June Foodstamp Recipients Hit All Time High As Three Times As Many Americans Enter Poverty As Find Jobs

We left Steamboat around 8:30 am and made it home a bit after 11. We pretty much missed the traffic except for the last half hour when we hit I-70. It took a few hours to unpack and clean up around here and I finally finished the laundry late last night. After a trip to the grocery store, we had Grandma over for some bbq chicken, corn on the cob, salad and home made peach cobbler which is the misses new killer dessert.

The boys played after helping unload the car as all their friends arrived home around the same time. This morning we’re back at it. School, work, blah blah blah. The oldest is having a bowl of Frosted Flakes as he has inter-murals at 7am. They are extra p.e. classes at 7 each morning that he signed up for. Today is the discus and the shot put. The youngest is still sleeping.

Not a lot else going on except we feel like we need a vacation from our vacation. I just noticed they have flu shots at the doctor (on the news) so we’ll have go get one asap. It’s supposed to be cooler later in the week (the 70’s) but is still going to be in the 90’s today.

Time to run, hope everyone is well and had a great last weekend of summer, take care and God Bless.

Ok, everyone on our trip (both family’s) want to move to Steamboat! It’s hard not to want to live in such a beautiful place with such a sense of community. The towns big enough to have all the necessities like good schools, doctors, restaurants, hospitals and an airport (just out of town) with flights to major cities all over the country, yet is small enough so you see people on the street that you know. The weather and scenery is beyond compare and the air is so fresh you can feel it in your lungs. Who knows, maybe someday we’ll end up here.

Yesterday morning we started our day with a side trip 3.5 miles out of town to Fish Creek Falls. It was breathtaking and the kids climbed and climbed all through the rocks and stream below the picturesque falls above them. It was packed being Labor Day weekend. Later in the day after some lunch we took them down to play in the Yampa River. We decided to skip the bull riding as it would have been over $200 for us all to get in which was not in the budget. We finished up our trip with dinner at Carl’s Tavern down by the river, sitting outside and finishing up just in time before the thunderstorms came. A little more pool time by the kids and finally the day was done.

We’ll try to get out of here by 9am to avoid the traffic on I-70 as it’ll be packed. Another side benefit of being up here is you just don’t watch much tv. So no politics as we’ve been too busy doing outdoor activities to stay caught up! I’m sure I didn’t miss anything, did I.

Hope everyone is well and had a great holiday, Enjoy the final day of rest before we all head back to work. God Bless.

Good morning.  The air is crisp with just enough chill in it to be oh, so refreshing.  I’m sitting outside on the deck breathing in deeply and watching the mist rise from the tips of the mountains. Stunning.

We woke early….the Mr. woke early to ask me, “what time it was”….5:40a.m….then asked, “where are the quarters for the showers”…followed by, “where is the key to the bathrooms. ” The kids chimed in with”Good Morning Mommy and Daddy”  5:40a.m….it is.

The lake was gorgeous….mist, mist and more mist!  The water was absolutely still.  Not a ripple to be seen and the mist was eerily rising up from the water.  I thought a dragon might fly over or the Lockness monster would rear her pretty, little head at any time.  We showered (free) made really thick black coffee and headed off to breakfast at the Road House. YUM!!  On the way back we saw a sheep herder’s trailer…yep a real sheep drive!

Ok, fast forward to Sunday am, the misses is making breakfast in our 4 bedroom, 4 bath, condo in Steamboat. To finish up what the misses was saying, it was a real sheep drive! There must have been over 200 sheep with dogs on each side of the herd and a couple guys on horses behind the pack. The boys stood in the middle of them as they went right around them, it was quite a sight. We loaded up the truck after breakfast and were out of the cabin by 11am. An hour later we were checking into the condo where we are now. The afternoon was spent with the kids at the pool and getting settled into our place. We opened a bottle of wine at 5pm and then after a glass, headed out to our friends restaurant Slopeside which is right on the ski slopes. Billy and Michelle met us there at a bit after 6 and the rest of the night is a blur. Billy had arranged a special table under an awning to protect us from the mountain sun and we ate and drank and laughed for the next 4 hours or so. The evening was interrupted by our friends 8 year old getting sort of lost. The kids were playing hide and seek as there’s the ski slopes right outside the restaurant so all the kids play out front while the parents sit and eat. It was dark and the misses jumped into protective mother bear mode and within minutes had servers and bartenders not only from our restaurant but also from the Shearton, looking for him. We soon found him as he was pretending he was camping and building a tepee and stick fire (without matches) under a tree. His Mom was freaked out too. We had just went through this the day before with our youngest and him taking off up at the cabins on a hike also! I told all kids this morning, no more running off as they will be charged for the next search party we have to put together.

I’ve already walked down the road to the store for eggs and bacon this morning. I took the boys with me and we saw a hot air balloon taking off. It’s gorgeous 65 degrees out. Today I think we’re going up to Fish Creek Falls and then maybe to let the kids play in the Yampa River. From 11 to 3 there’s the chili challenge in town with chili cooks from all over the west trying to wine the tope award of the best chile. We’ll have to be trying them all! Tonight we’re supposed to go at 6 to the PBR which is the Pro Bull Riders event at the fairgrounds with Billy and Michelle and their friend who is a bull rider from Walden of all places. We then have dinner reservations at another friends place at 8:30. So a big day’s in store. Time to eat breakfast and then get cleaned up for the day.

Tomorrow am we’ll head down the hill trying to beat most of the traffic but will most likely get stuck in it. Have a great day and take care, God Bless and we’ll talk tomorrow.

We made it up to our cabin by about 4pm after stopping in Steamboat for a bit and picking up some chairs. It was raining just about the time we arrived but we unpacked and set up camp. Our friends were a few hours behind us and arrived around 7:15. For dinner we had green chili , s’mores and salad and boy was it good!

Everyone settled in to bed pretty early for the big day tomorrow. We were up early and made a huge breakfast. The boys of course were infatuated with chopping wood and helping start the fire. We made it to the boat and spent the next 4 hours on the lake. More on this later as I’m short on time. The rest of the day was also fun and steaks, green beans and potato’s for dinner with peach cobbler made in the dutch oven in the fire. This morning we’re having breakfast at the road house. i didn’t know it but we’re only 20 miles from Encampment Wyoming but the catch is the road is only open in the summer time.

More later but eggs are arriving so time to run.

God Bless,

Today mid morning, we take off for Steamboat Lake to go camping. We’ve rented these little cabins (think of a big bathroom) that barely has room for the two sets of bunk beds, for the next two nights. There’s no bathroom, kitchen, or anything else, just two sets of beds. We’ll be cooking over a fire with our cast iron cookware and using an outhouse. They do have 2 coin operated showers (the misses can’t wait to see these!) somewhere at the campsite. On Friday we have a huge pontoon boat rented for 4 hours to cruise the lake and fish. It has a bbq on board and we’ll be cooking lunch on the water. Our new drama free friends are coming with us and have also rented a cabin. They have dentist appointments around noon today so they’ll leave Denver around 3pm. We’ll be up there with a fire and dinner going by the time they arrive. The misses and Rachel have been planning our meals for a week now and it looks like it’ll be quite the foodie event.

On Saturday we head into Steamboat and all check into a giant luxurious condo until Monday am. I’m sure by then a place with a shower and a real bathroom will be pretty exciting, especially for the ladies.

It’s hard to believe it’s September. Im so sick of political ads. Of course we have Obama lying on tv saying the republicans oppose abortion EVEN in the case of incest or rape! Unbelievable! It’s flat out 100% untrue yet they continue to run ads on tv saying so. Divide, divide, divide, that’s the democrats plan. There’s a rising star who’s a mayor from Utah and happens to be a black republican who gave a great speech (that was of course ignored by the media) at the convention. By the time she was through, her Wikepedia page (an on line dictionary) had been hacked calling her a sell out, a whore and other disparaging things. Have you noticed how the democrats are so angry. I was in Greeley yesterday at a buddy’s place who’s a custom cowboy hat maker. He’s made hats for people all over the World and uses all these machine made between 1860 and 1920. Anyhow he made the cowboy hats for the republican delegation going to this years convention. He told me that when he did this he got tons of hate mail! Unbelievable, for making hats! He said he responded to each one telling them that when the democratic convention was here in Denver 4 years ago,  he also made hats for them. He finished his reply to all the “haters” by saying his mortgage was nonpartisan meaning the bank really didn’t care from what party his income came from. I asked him if he received any hate mail when he made hats for the democrats (which could have been possible as Greeley is a farming town that’s heavily republican) and he told me no, not one. A friend of the misses at school (another mom) said she went to a Women for Obama event but was really disturbed and turned off as all the women were so angry. They were so angry that she’s now voting for Romney.

If you think about it, all the dems have done is try to trash the republicans. They’ve tried to paint them as the party of only the rich who hate women, seniors, minorities and the middle class. This is their plan as they cannot talk about what they’ve actually done for the past 4 years as nothing has worked. It’s time they take responsibility for their actions rather than continuing to try to blame George Bush for everything. Those days are long gone. Do yourself a favor and go here and read Condoleezza Rice’s speech, you won’t find it on the major tv networks as they think (and want you to think) ALL republicans are rich white guys. Check it out,

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rnc-2012-condoleezza-rice-delivers-speech-to-republican-national-convention-in-tampa-full-text/2012/08/29/334d8122-f224-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html

Alright sorry for the politics this morning but I think I’ve been pretty good at abstaining for some time now. There comes a time when you just can’t take the division, the lies and the negativity anymore. If Obama wins again, we could enter an era that could possibly destroy the American dream for generations to come. Can’t you see that? Is welfare a hand up or a way of life? Does government give you your rights or does the constitution and God? You have to decide for yourself but if you really look at the issues, I don’t see how you can vote for a second term for the President. Are you one of the angry ones? Do you believe all the lies on tv? Do you really really believe that republicans are really against women, minorities, education, helping the poor and ending medicare and throwing seniors off a cliff? Of course not. Republicans are good people too. They are women, have children, are non white, are hard working middle class and want good educations for their kids and have parents and grandparents. All we want is government to stop spending money they don’t have instead of making false promises that future generations cannot cover. We want the freedoms that our parents and grandparents had and we want to shape our own future, not be compartmentalized into some “class” or station in life. Even a immigrant child who is a minority that grows up poor with uneducated parents should be able to have the possibility of becoming President one day. Don’t you agree? If you do, congratulations as you are a republican, at least for this year. Enough said.

Have a great weekend and God Bless you and God Bless The United States of America.

Here’s a comment from Annette, thanks for being the first, and so far, only one to reply,

We headed out for Vail around 10am and had 1 hour and 15 minutes to make it to our appointment for the oldest ones elbow with the top pediatric hand and elbow doc in the country. Turns out it was a really really smart decision to ask for a referral and go up to see Dr. Viola. This guy is recognized as the preeminent specialist in his speciality in the country. When you go to the Stedman Clinic the walls are lined with photos and jerseys from pro athletes and Olympians from all over the World. We’re very lucky to have these doctors here in Colorado.

We arrived on time and I dropped the oldest and the misses at the front door of the hospital and then took the youngest along with me to renew our p.o.box in Minturn. 20 minutes later we were back and they had already looked at his x-rays. It looked like he may have torn the ligament from the bone so they needed an mri. It was now about noon and the soonest they could get us in was 2:15 so off to lunch we went. The P.A. (physicians assistant) turned out to be my good friend Steve’s wife Heather. They were just at our house 2 weeks ago on the way to the first Bronco game. They own probably the best italian restaurant in Vail called Ti Amo and we’ve been friends and doing business together for years. What a coincidence. Anyhow Heather made sure we received extra special treatment and made the day as easy as possible. After lunch we went back for the mri and the oldest one handled it with no problem. If you haven’t had one, it can be kind of scary. As soon a he was done we headed back upstairs where Heather whisked us right in. It’s all who you know! It turns out that the mri gets sent to doctors in Paolo Alto at Stanford who read it and then confer with the doctors at Steadman. Talk about the best care in the World, doctors at Stanford and Steadman working on his arm. Anyhow Randy (our doctor) came in and put some x-rays up on the screen. He showed us where the break was but told us the ligament was fine. This was great news as it meant no surgery and just a cast for 6 weeks. We were all thrilled. So next up was his cast, he had two options, a regular cast or a waterproof cast. He opted for the waterproof version which has a gore tex pad instead of cotton under the fiber glass casting wrap. Heather took the oldest one into the casting room and let him pick his colors. He chose an orange cast with blue stripes on top for a perfect Bronco colored arm! His arm sure is long and the doctor said thankfully the growth plates were not part of the break but noted that he would be a tall one. Heather told us to come back in two weeks for a cast change but said if he didn’t like the color or anything to just text her and come back anytime, even the next day, and she’d change it. It’s good to have such good friends as you never know how things will work out. Finally at 4:45 pm we were in the car headed home. Aunt B fed the pups and we made it home by about 6. We go back on September 11th for a quick cast change. The oldest is bummed as he is barred from all sports and field day is October 11th. He might make it but probably not. He almost cried when he realized he couldn’t compete in it this year. We’re just all thankful he didn’t need surgery. We had talked to them about docs in Denver and were told the when it comes to kids, the elbow is the most challenging joint to fix in kids. They used to refer some patients to doctors in Denver but are not comfortable doing that anymore as they’ve had to fix too many screw ups from inexperienced docs down here. You do get what you pay for. Just because someone has the title of doctor or lawyer doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing! I don’t even want to think about what the day cost us but in the end it really doesn’t matter, what’s important is that his elbow has been fixed in the best way possible.

Today we’re back to school and I’m sure the oldest will be beaming with his orange and blue striped arm. The youngest will be the first to sign it this morning and he’s quite excited about it. I have a call with the distributor in Virginia at 8:30am and then Seattle at 2pm. Between then I need to run to Greeley which is about an hour away. The misses headache was back in full force yesterday and I think she finally fell asleep around 1am. It hurt so bad she just couldn’t sleep. It was probably the car ride which is too bad as she was headache free just a week ago.

No politics today, lucky you! It’s almost 6am and time to run. Take care and God Bless and we’ll talk to you tomorrow. Oh, I guess no one wants to go anywhere next year, what’s wrong with you people? I mean Hawaii, come on, oh well, we’ll send you all a postcard.