A Year of Change

We arrived in Arizona at 11:30am after a short one hour and twenty-minute flight from Boulder. The whole flight experience was great! We’ll always fly JSX now if we can. It’s essentially flying private but the best part is no TSA, no long lines, easy parking and more. Upon arrival we walked in to our private terminal and our rental car guys were right there and in less than 2 minutes, we were in our car.

We dropped our friends at Andaz and headed around the corner to AJ’s for groceries before heading to the house. Can’t tell you how many times I went to that store for mom and dad over the years. Brings back memories. The house is fantastic and is right off Tatum and Shea. The backyard is huge with a pool, hot tub, pickle ball court, putt putt golf, boce ball and more. The inside is just as spectacular with everything perfect.

We headed out around 4:30 to pick up Shultz and Jane and went to STK Steak House in Old Town. We were treated like kings and queens as Shultz and Jane know the owner really well.

It is hot. It was 110 and even 96 at 9pm when we headed home. Looks like a mini cool down today or tomorrow, nice. It is already 90 outside right now though at 6am. I think a little rain comes in tomorrow.

Lori is doing well but has moments which is understandable. Today we’ll do a little shopping and Jag arrives at 5. Hope to see Robin and Robert for lunch tomorrow.

That’s about it right now. Think we’ll go skinny dipping in our pool, no need for suits here! Have a great day, God Bless.

What a day. Of course it started at 2:30am with Dixie passing away, but just seemed to all run together after that. We met the funeral home man at 6am and handled all the business. From there, Lori went home and I headed straight to Denver to pick up Ty. Lori decided to go into work for a while, (not sure why, maybe as a distraction) while I went to get Ty. She wanted to get a jump on things with us leaving today for Arizona. I was in Denver by 8am and had Ty and was headed back up the hill 15 minutes later. I had to tell both boys on the phone and they took it pretty well. We were home by 10:30 in the morning. A few minutes after we arrived, Lori called in tears to say she was overwhelmed, couldn’t focus and was heading home. I knew it was only a matter of time before it would hit her.

She made it home 30 minutes later and was fine. Just part of the process. We had Ty hang out and wait for UPS who was bringing James’s birthday present from our leather belt maker in Cody Wyoming. Lori and I headed down to clean out Dixie’s place. It went pretty fast as when we moved in it was mostly furnished. We also gave a ton of stuff to some of the workers there who were thrilled. The new manager, who is a dick, told us there’s a 30-day notice required and that we’d need to pay for another month. Now this didn’t sound right to me as how do you give 30 days’ notice that you’re going to die? We headed back upstairs and kept packing and purging. An hour later he came up and said he was wrong, and we didn’t owe as long as we got EVERYTHING out today! If anything was left, anything at all, we’d get charged by the day. So Lori and I looked at each other and said “let’s do it”. By 3, we were done. Jessie the manager came back up and said “what about all this furniture”? We happily told him, it was all his and was there when we moved in. He said, “it’s going to cost a lot to remove all this stuff” and we said “yup, probably so” and that was it.

Thes rest of the day was spent on paperwork with the funeral home, which was another rip off. They charged $1100 to fill out the death certificate. We of course had no choice as they picked Dixie up at 6 in the morning. After a bunch of other add on fee’s, the bill was about $3K. I told Lori, forget about it, water under the bridge and let’s move on. Lori talked with a bunch of people throughout the day and we spent the early evening packing for our flight this morning. We’re off at 7 for Boulder and take off at 11. Marty and Melanie are now not coming as something came up at work, so we basically have this killer house to ourselves until Jag arrives tomorrow night.

That’s about it, time to get going. By the time we went to bed last night, it had felt like it had been three days or more. Funny how in 12 hours from Dixie passing, we had everything moved out and gone erasing any trace of Dix at her home for the last 2 1/2 years. Lori looked at me and said, “wow, I guess that’s it, 12 hours and you’re pretty much gone”. I reminded her Dixie was gone as soon as she passed, and she’ll live on in the memories of all those who she touched and who loved her. That made her feel better as she knew that was right. So off we go, more tomorrow, God Bless.

Well, in the middle of the night, of course, right, Dixie peacefully passed away. Her body just gave out. We got the call around 2 something and headed right down. It’s 4:20am right now. While expected, it’s always tough, especially for Lori. Yesterday I went down to see her a couple times and took her a milkshake. I had to go to three places as a lot of places are closed on Monday. She was as feisty and fun as ever. Lori decided around 9 last night, just out of the blue, to go down and visit with her mom for a few hours. God works wonders as Lori is so glad she decided to randomly get up and go hang out last night. We had a good visit, but I could tell she was tired. Lori is doing ok right now but it’s always tough. We’ll shower and head back over as the coroner arrives about 6:30. I’m then heading to Denver to get Ty.

Not sure if we’re going to Arizona or not. I think Lori still wants to go but we’ll see how the day goes.

Dixie was an amazing person. She had a great life, and we were remembering how our friend, who is the cardiologist up here, said she’d last two weeks if she moved out here from California. Well, he didn’t know Dixie! I called her the Energizer Bunny as she just kept on going. We’re thankful for the past two plus years we had with her and she with us out here. She loved the boys so much and the black dog with the yellow ball, (that’s how she remembered Harley) and loved hanging out up here even if she wouldn’t remember she was here an hour later. She was tough farm stock and lasted years longer than everyone, doctors included, predicted. She was loved by many and touched so many people’s lives who we don’t even know. We’ll miss her dearly. May she rest in peace and may God watch over and bless her.

Yesterday most of the day was spent with Dixie. She’s taken to laying down on the floor now and then when she gets tired of walking. Sometimes we can’t find her as if she’s on the floor we can’t see her through the cameras, ha. One of the nurses that we hired outside of her place, showed up to check on her and wrap her arm well, where it is all bruised from her fall the other day when she rolled out of bed. She’s feisty as ever and loves joking around with me. The main issue is she’s just losing all her strength as she’s getting so skinny. She’s eating lots of cookies and candy and eating well but just can’t keep the weight on. All part of getting old. Good news is she’s not in pain and is happy, which is great.

We’re leaving Wednesday morning and now Ty is staying home with Harley and working. It’s like $1500 he’d lose by being gone and work can really use him over Labor Day weekend, so he asked if we’d mind if he stays and works. Chandler, his manager at work, changed Sammie’s schedule so Ty and her work the same day, and she’s going to give him a ride to and from work every day. Good news is we don’t have to board Harley now. It’d be fun to have him there, but we understand and admire him wanting to work. Jag is flying in Thursday night as he starts school today.

Lori is working in Vail today. Ty took the bus to Denver last night and I’ll get him tomorrow and then we drive down Wednesday morning for our 11am flight. Robi says it’ll be cooler than it’s been which will be good, but it’ll still be 95 to 100 I think. Costco had Christmas stuff everywhere yesterday when we went to buy Dixie some more of her favorite cookies.

Love my new truck! Wow have they come a long way in just two years as far as technology goes. The Bronco’s looked good winning 41 to 0! The weather is nice, mid 70’s today and everyone is doing fine. So here we go to September. Hard to believe we’re already heading into Fall. Have a good week and stay safe. God Bless.

Man we were tired. We made it home around 4 yesterday, after a long day, or should I say a long week. 3 days until we go to Arizona. Time to get some rest and recoup before the trip.

We dropped Ty at 7 and headed to Denver. We arrived at the BMW dealer and drove a couple cars but nothing excited Lori. In fact, she really didn’t like the cars, hmmm. I told her there’s no pressure and we’re no way buying something she didn’t like so suggested we wait and think about it. She then asked “why don’t we get another Porsche”? I love Porsche’s but her car just doesn’t have enough legroom for me. In any case, I said, “ok, let’s drive down the street as we’re only a few minutes away”. So off to the Porsche shop we went.

I called our guy who was on the way in and went in to see my buddy Lance who is the sales manager. Ezzy, our sales guy, told us he just got back from training on the 24 Cayenne and explained how it is a totally redesigned car. I was skeptical but said, do you have any? Turns out they’re just coming in but they had three. Once I saw one, I knew this was the way to go. It’s wider with more power, more room, and upgraded technology. The first one we saw had a light brown interior we just couldn’t live with. Then we walked back to the backyard where trucks drop off new vehicles and found a new Artic Grey one with a black interior. We instantly knew we wanted this car. A couple hours later we were done. It needs to be “unpacked” as it just arrived, and then needs to have the ceramic coating put on and tinting done on the windows and a few other things, so we’ll get it September 7th. The best thing is Lori is thrilled with it and that’s all that counts. So off we went with her current car as a loaner until we pick up the new one.

On the way home we stopped at Vin48 as I left my Amex card there the night before as we were in a rush for dinner and the show. Turns out they had 7 credit cards people left as I guess it’s common for people to leave their cards. Hearing that I didn’t feel so stupid, ha.

We were so tired when we made it home that we had a quick dinner, watched some football and fell asleep at 9. Lori went to her mom’s to hang out for a few hours while I watched football, as the night before she rolled out of bed. Now we just got a call that there’s blood on her sheets, ugh, probably from her arm, so Lori is headed there right now. What a morning, here we go. At least the next two days we can sleep in. Never stops, ugh, God Bless.

Last night we went to the concert after a quick dinner at Vin 48. Turns out my buddy, Davey Gorsuch was the promoter. Think this was his first show. The singer, who was amazing, was KT Tunstall. She had a huge hit in I think the 80’s. Her big song was Suddenly I See. She’s from Scotland and was masterful and engaging with the crowd. We had a blast and made it home around 10:30. Marci smoked too much pot and was really stoned. She had a little dab pen and apparently took too big of a hit. Funny.

I picked up my truck around 8:30 and was home by 11. It’s amazing how far they’ve come with technology. Today Ty works at 7 and we might run back down to Denver to swap Lori’s car. She’s on with Dixie now who I think rolled out of bed at 4:30. I have Ty’s shirts in the dryer and we need to get out of here in 45 minutes.

Hope Tom’s party was great. I’m sure it was. No big rain up here. Thought they forecasted a big storm. 5:50 now so we have 40 minutes to shower and get on the road. Have a great day and God Bless.

I dropped Lori’s car right on time about 8:20am. My advisor, (that’s what they call service guys at car dealers these days) had a Porsche Taycan ready for me to drive as my loaner. This is Porsche’s electric car that sells for about $130K. After a one-minute tutorial, off I went. About a mile into my drive, I knew I hated this car. On top of things, the service was supposed to now take up to 5 hours due to a couple recalls. Needless to say, the day was not starting out well. I also found out that the service was $1500 and out of curiosity, I asked about the next service. My “advisor”, who’s actually a good kid, told me that would cost about $3K plus another $2K as I’ll need two new tires at minimum by then. Upon hearing this, I drove straight over to the BMW dealer. I found a nice car for about $20K less than what Lori’s cost and might make a move, I’m still deciding. Back to the electric piece of $130K junk I was driving. No way I would ever buy one of these or any electric car! In fact, I wouldn’t pay $50K for this car. I joked with my buddy who is the sales manager when I dropped it off, that my friend Jim and I, who were driving the car around, were afraid someone might see us in that car! I could go on, but no point. The point is, no way electric cars will ever replace the internal combustion engine for me. I’ll hang on as long as I can and never give up my gas engine vehicles. As Nancy Regan said, just say no!

The rest of the morning was spent hanging out with my buddy Jim. We went over to meet his Rolex girl as she could get to know me. That’s the only way to get any Rolex these days, you have to have a relationship with an AD (authorized dealer). I’m not in the market for one but would like to get Jag one for graduation next May so it’s time to get on a list or two. After that we went to sushi before heading back to the dealer.

In an hour I’m off to pick up my 2024 diesel pickup with almost 500 horsepower and a 30 gallon plus gas tank! I can’t wait. There’s going to be a lot of rain the next few days and there’s a flood watch in Denver starting at 9am! My plan is to get down and out by 8:30 this morning. Hope Tommy’s party doesn’t get rained out. We were going to try to make it but just can’t.

Jag is trying to get over his strep throat and Ty works at 8. Lori had a messed-up day taking care of her mom for 4 hours and then had horrible, high maintenance patients all day long. Dixie got her feet wrapped up in her oxygen hose at 1am the night before and took a tumble. She’s fine. Hopefully Lori’s day is better today.

5:34am so time to get moving. Have a great day and weekend. Nice cool temps rolling in with the rain. Will be in the high 60’s or low 70’s up here which will be a welcome change. Be well, stay safe and God Bless.

Our new truck is sweet. Should be ready tomorrow. Today Lori’s car goes in. Have to make sure all vehicles are ready for winter. They gave me a Suburban as a loaner for a couple days and it sure drives nice. Think we’ll order up a basic Tahoe as a highway and airport driver. It should be here by the end of the year.

Think Jag has strep, he’s on antibiotics and resting.

I picked Ty up around noon and we headed home arriving around 2. Lori worked late and was home around 7. I’m meeting up with my buddy Jim Taylor this morning while Lori’s car is getting serviced. Ty works at 8am and is off at 5. Tomorrow night we have another concert with Marci and Gerry, always fun.

Biden is done. I heard 5 dem surrogates yesterday and they all repeated the same talking points word for word. To explain his gaff in Hawaii where he compared his little kitchen fire and almost losing his corvette and cat to the lives lost in Maui, they all said “he’s the best at providing empathy of any President and can relate to the common man”, WTF? First of all, no he’s not and second, he is a common man who’s been skating off society his entire life. In fact, he’s an insult to the common man! What a worthless piece of shit, excuse my language. Anyone who supports this narcissistic old man is just as bad as he is, give me a break. Can you tell it’s 5:20am? Ha.

Time to go, make it a great day and God Bless.

I’m off to Denver and Lori to Frisco. Big time rain yesterday, it didn’t last long but came in strong and dropped a ton of water. I had the cover off the smoker and the rain blew in sideways so with it all wet, I decided to give it a long overdue cleaning. I filled Harley’s swimming pool with water and dawn and scrubbed each grate with steel wool to clean off all the grease. About 45 minutes later I was done. After letting the grates dry, I put everything back together. Now she’s ready to go for the Fall.

I’ll pick Ty up on my way home. When I get down to town, I’m headed to the dealer to drop my truck so they can swap my wheels and side bars and put them on my new truck. They’ll give me a loaner as it’ll take a couple days for them to get all the work done. Tomorrow, I have to take Lori’s car down for her 20,000-mile service. I need to be at the Porsche dealer by 8ish and will grab a loaner and hang out in town until around 11:30 or 12 when her car is finished.

Anyone see Biden in Hawaii? He compared the devastation to a 20-minute kitchen fire he had years ago saying he almost lost his 67 Corvette and his cat! Then he couldn’t remember the name of the island he was on, ah, it’s Maui! Then he appeared to fall asleep at the memorial service for victims and their families. I think that was the last straw. Just watch, the democratic party will take him out of the running for 2024 citing health or some reason giving him a graceful exit. He is absolutely the worst President ever. I actually feel sorry for him as he doesn’t know what he’s doing. It’s essentially elder abuse. Yet the dems and whoever is running him, i.e. Obama, keep on using, or should I say, abusing him. What a mess.

Time to go, have a great day and God Bless.

Here it comes, Taco Bell and KFC are no longer taking cash. This is not good. Not surprising as the govt. has been pushing this for a long time. It’s much easier to print money, (i.e. digital currency) and pay for debt without cash. BRICS, the new group of countries overseas, wants all currency backed by gold and is trying to replace the dollar as the World’s reserve currency, and they just might do it. Our govt. wants nothing to do with that as we’ve printed way more money than we can back, decades ago. If the dollar loses its reserve currency status, look out. Just your economic lesson for the day. Go buy some gold!

Lori works in Vail today, I have a call at 1 and Orkin coming at noon. Then I’ll be working in the basement some more. I’m in Denver tomorrow. I’m taking Jag’s dresser down and then picking up Ty and have a couple other stops too. Hoping my new truck arrives today.

Hot in Denver, 100 degrees today. 90 or so up here but a cool down is coming this weekend with temps in the 70’s. Just like a few months ago when everyone was complaining about too much rain, the heat will soon be gone and then it’ll be too much snow or too cold. Looking at the rest of the Country, we’re doing pretty well. El Nino is the big culprit here. Those warm winds cause the weather which is happening and are predictable. Read the Farmer’s Almanac and get ready. Your grandparents read it religiously.

The news just said schools in Denver are sending kids home at noon due to heat and because schools don’t have A/C. How about just starting school in September as they did when we were kids? There’s a novel idea. Lori suggested that this morning.

People just can’t get out of their own way. Everyone has an idea how to improve life and/or pander to some specific group and when you add it all up, they just make more of a mess of things. Think back to the 70’s, less regulation, less laws, less govt. control and we did just fine. In fact, we did better! Why can’t people see this? You need to vote for smaller government and less control over your life. Wake up now people before it’s too late. Good luck and God Bless.