A Year of Change

For most of the afternoon and evening, we had a mix of off and on rain showers. Rain in the mountains is always nice unless it’s too much! Thankfully it was just right.

Lori hosted the baby shower from 5 until about 8. Becky is so poor and appreciated it so much she was crying at the end of it as she was overwhelmed with all the presents she received. This girl drives from Leadville to Vail and back every day to go to work. For those of you that don’t know, that’s about 35 miles up and down Tennessee Pass every day, which is a slow two lane road through the mountains from 7500 feet in Vail to over 10,000 feet in Leadville. And on top of that, her and her husband only have one car so he actually drives her up and down the mountain each day. I guess as my Mom says, you do what you have to do. Anyhow it was a good feeling to do something for someone who needs help so bad. Remember, character is how you treat people who can do nothing for you! And my Lori clearly has a lot as she didn’t have to take on all the extra work of organizing a baby shower!

It’s 5am and my back is a little sore from hitting the gym hard yesterday afternoon. We have lots going on as I said yesterday and need to stay in our groove.

Eleanor commented last night, glad you’re still reading! Hope you are doing well, enjoying your family and life! Good to hear from you.

Dixie is home resting well. As you can imagine, she needs a little rest. Annette went over to stay with her for a few days which is really nice. She just needs to slow down a bit. I get the staying active thing but sometimes she does too much for a woman of her young age.

Guess I’ll run, but wait, there’s good news! Hillary’s doctor says she’s ok, physically and mentally so I guess we should all just take her word for it and relax. Ha ha. So let me get this straight, here’s a campaign that’s been caught lying to us for years, avoided going to the ER the other day as they didn’t want regular doctors to have access to Hill and now we’re supposed to believe that, in the words of her doctor, she’s fit to serve. On top of that, Colin Powell’s emails were hacked and one said, and I quote,

“I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect, She’s a 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still dickng bimbos at home”

WOW, nice, huh, and that’s a nice one.

And here’s one I just can’t resist, California is now taxing tampons and diapers! As one woman said, she’s glad her uterus can bear the fiscal responsibility for the State, hmmm. That’s sarcasm folks.

Remember people, no free nation has ever been conquered without first failing from within! That’s a fact, and we are well on the way to keeping that trend alive, unfortunately. God Bless.

Dixie is feeling better. I think she’s staying one more night and then will go home. She’s just been on the go too much. She was in L.A. for a week, home for a bit over a week and then in Hawaii for 2 weeks and had her cousins in for 5 days. That’s a lot for an 85 year old! Glad she’s ok.

Lori’s back was out yesterday and today has a baby shower for one of her girls at work. I guess there’s 35 people showing up at a restaurant where we do a lot of business so the owner gave her a break on the cost. Jag has b ball again tonight after cross country and Ty has Art Club after school. The boys are busy.

We slept in as it’s 6:45 right now. I was a little tired yesterday and was happy to sleep in. Lori not only has Becky, who is having the baby, taking off in November, but now Kristin, another girl, needs neck surgery at the end of this month. That means she’ll be off for two weeks. All this means Lori is short staffed and will be filling is as part time scheduler, part time nurse. By the way, Lori really is almost like a doctor. All the stuff she knows is amazing. She could probably pass her P.A. exams with all she’s learned. She really is making a difference in so many people’s lives.

My Mom yesterday said that we aren’t spending enough time together. This made us laugh but we know what she means. We’re all so busy but when not working are together 100% of the time. It’s just not necessarily “fun time” like vacation or anything. Maybe we’ll go for a spa day as Lori gets free spa packages from all the hotels trying to woo her for business.

Speaking of busy, today I have to zip down to Denver,  As I said, Jag has cross country and b ball, Ty, art club, then the baby shower with work and school weaved in between.

Tomorrow more sports and clinic. Friday there’s something but I can’t remember now, oh I’m driving a few hundred miles to check on the ranch! Saturday, one soccer game and three basketball games and Sunday the Bronco game. So there you have it, guess we are busy. Take care and GB.

Yesterday morning I guess Dix was feeling kind of punky and then had a hard time breathing. The nurse next door came over and they decided to call 911 and take her to the hospital. Lori did talk to her last night as they were doing a battery of tests on her. Lori said she sounds tired. For those of you that don’t know, Dix had heart surgery years ago so she doesn’t have the strongest ticker. Not sure if or when we’re going out, we’ll know more today, as she spent the night there.

Jag had cross country after school and was beat when he came home. Ty and I saw all the kids run in and of course, Jag was first. Then he had to work on his homework before heading out to basketball from 7 until 9:15. Boy is he tired. Ty is going to play some goalie at soccer starting this weekend. He’s excited but Mom’s terrified.

Jag has three games in Denver (Thornton to be precise) this Saturday. The first one is at 2pm, then one at 6 and one at 7, meaning we’ll get home about 10pm. Ty has soccer at 9am so we’ll be up and out the door from 8am on doing the sports thing all day long.

Lots of other things going on, too numerous to go into to. I’ll stop now, hope all’s well, take care and GB.

Well let’s see, it’s about 103 days or so until Christmas, time for Uncle Tommy to get his tree up! Hard to believe it’s already September 12th. Before you know it, it’ll be October.

Yesterday we hung out around the house. Later in the day we did run to Costco but that was about it. This week we’re all super busy.

Hillary is sick, and I don’t mean with the flu. Yesterday she stumbled like she has MS or some brain abnormality. The press pool, that’s supposed to be allowed to follow her everywhere, was kept far away while they whisked her off in a van. They then came out and said she was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday yet she was hugging a little girl earlier in the day. If that’s true, the pneumonia part, she shouldn’t be hugging anyone, especially a child. This is just another lie people, wake up! No way she has pneumonia, nice try by her handlers. If you watch the video you can tell she has something seriously wrong with her. Wow, what a game changer. On top of that, the other day, she called half of all Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables” and said they are “irredeemable”, nice. Great way to bring people together, insult 25 million people or so. And some want that for a President?What a freakin sick, twisted sociopath loser she is. Do you really believe she cares about you or anyone but herself? If so, you too need some help. Sorry, but that’s just the truth as it’s clear as day she only cares about herself and power. Face it before it’s too late. God help us if she somehow gets elected.

I need to get to the gym today and get back on the program. That means mostly get back to a good diet. When you’re hunting you’re eating all kinds of junk like cookies, mashed potatoes, gravy and more. You need the calories for all the trudging up and down the mountains you do but Connie (the camp cook) doesn’t cook the healthiest food.

I think I’ll go to the gym after my conference call at 9am. Guess I’ll run, I think we’re changing cell phone companies as our company is just too expensive. I don’t know why we all need cell phones anyhow. How did we ever survive before them? I could go off on a tangent here but I’ll stop as society in general is not headed in a good direction. This has been going on for a few decades but of course, everyone has been too consumed with their tv’s and self gratification to notice what a generation of pussies we’ve raised. Throw in that they all believe they’re entitled to free stuff from the government just for being born, and you have a recipe for disaster, especially when the gravy train stops. Trust me, it’s nearing the end of the line, time to get ready. Oh well, you either believe this or you’re a Hillary supporter who believes everything is alright and the govt will continue to take care of you and all your problems. Sorry but she just makes me sick to my stomach, I’m out, GB

I still remember 15 years ago today. I can see the planes crashing into the Twin Towers in New York clear as day. Although we’d experienced a few attacks prior to that day, 9/11 was really the beginning of the war against Christianity by Radical Islam. Hard to believe how now it’s a regular part of our daily lives, Islamic terrorism that is. I’m not going to go into it but they’re much more committed to their cause than we are to ours. Most people don’t even know we have a cause. Do you? Ask yourself, what’s our cause or to help you out, what’s your purpose in life? What do you believe in more than anything else? The majority of us wander around trying to please ourselves by buying things others don’t have.  It’s like a race or contest to see who can have the biggest house or fanciest car. Sadly many think their purpose is to accumulate as much stuff as they can and party as often as possible. People’s values and purposes have for the most part vanished from their way of life. Say what you will about the Islamic terrorists, but they are 100% committed to their cause. They eat, sleep and live it 24 hours a day. In case you don’t know, they hate us for our religion and our way of life. Until we embrace our values or find our identity (of which religion needs to be a central part of) and chose to defend our way of life, we don’t stand a chance. They’re even infiltrating our communities that we live in by imposing their laws, their churches, and their way of life, and thus changing America (through spineless misguided politicians here and abroad) to become a different Country. Not to get political but this is mostly led by Democrats who are being fooled by believing that muslims will eventually assimilate into our way of life. Nothing could be further from the truth. You see, they want to have their own schools, own churches, own communities and even their own system of laws here in America. While not all muslims are terrorists, fewer than 20% of them will denounce Radical Islam, hmmm. What does that tell you? We’d better wake up or we WILL lose the battle, and yes folks, it is a war. If you don’t see that, God help you, as I assure you, they see it as a war, and a long one at that, that they’re willing to take time to win. We worry for our kids and their future and what kind of World and Country they will live in. Enough said.

It’s cool up in the mountains in the mornings. In just the past week, the colors have drastically changed. At soccer yesterday morning we were all wearing coats for the first half until the sun warmed our backs then making it too hot to wear them in the second half. After the game, I loaded up Luke’s elk in the back of my truck and drove to Frisco to meet him as he drove up from Denver. Ty went to Sonny’s and was gone all day and spent the night. Jag was here and then around 8:30 last night went to his friends until who knows when as we were asleep when he came home. Ah to be young again, going out at 8:30!

We didn’t make it to the car show as the day just got away from us. Today I’m cooking beef bourguignon which is beef in red wine with glazed carrots, onions and mushrooms. You then serve it over rice after it cooks for about 10 hours. I’d better get busy so it’s done by 6pm.

Lori and Jag are both sleeping. I guess I’ll have a second cup of coffee and get moving. Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless and take a moment today to reflect and pray for the families that lost loved ones in the senseless tragedy 15 years ago this morning.

Here we go, soccer starts this morning. We need to leave in an hour for Ty’s 9am game.

Yesterday I drove to Craig to pick up two elk. I made it back just before noon and just managed to fit mine in our two freezers but did have to give some away to our neighbor. The other one, which is Luke’s, is in coolers in my garage and he’ll show up in about 3 hours to pick it up.

Lori had a couple of girls come over last night that she works with. Before anyone knew it, it was after 11pm and time to go home. They had fun hanging out talking about work.

After soccer we’re going down to the Eagle Airport where there’s a big car show as our friend Peggy from Aspen is in it. We also know another guy who has a car in it.

Time to run as we need to leave in 52 minutes. Have a great weekend and God Bless.

Just when no one thought we would win, we won! America’s Team, the Denver Bronco’s, with a QB that had never thrown a NFL pass, beat the favored and hated Carolina Panthers. It was just a good old knock down football game. We’re sure tired this morning though as it’s 4;54 am and I texted my brother Tom around midnight when I was finally was getting ready to go to bed.

This morning I’m off about 5:30, (better get moving!) to drive to Craig to pick up my elk. If I have it figured right, I should be home by 10:30 so I can still get in a full day of work.

Jag was sick yesterday but is better today. Ty has four tests today, uggh. I did meet Jag’s Art Teacher yesterday when picking up some homework and found out that Jag won the sketch contest at school a week ago! He was voted the best artist by all his classmates for his sketch. I wish you could see it as it’s really good. His Art Teacher said he’s really talented. When I came home with Ty I told Jag, “I have a bone to pick with you” and he looked at me puzzled” saying “what’s wrong”? I then replied “you won the school art contest and didn’t tell us”??, and he said, “oh, sorry, I thought I did”. I’ll try to post a picture over the weekend if it’s here at home and not still hanging at the school.

Time to run, it’s getting cool up here. Ty has soccer tomorrow morning and Lori and I both sure need a weekend. Take care, God Bless and Go Broncos!

Well I’m home, Lori just told me that she didn’t get a chance to do the blog today, being Wednesday. I’m writing most of this today but some also Thursday am. I can understand her missing a day or so as she’s been a busy busy girl.

It was a great 5 or 6 days. It was tough hunting as the rut (the mating season) was supposed to be in full swing, but really hadn’t hit yet. It all has to do with the lunar cycle and according to the stars, should have been going on. Until this happens, the bulls don’t really respond to calls which makes finding them really really tough.

Anyhow, we arrived last Friday around 1pm. After unloading our gear, we broke out our rifles to make sure they were still sighted in from the ride with a few practice shots. Sure enough, Luke and I, (and I’m not bragging here) are always the best shots in camp, as we’re good out to 400 yards or 4 football fields. However shooting off a rest in a field is a lot different than shooting in the mountains through trees, in low light, at a elk the size of a horse which is 4 football fields away. More on this later.

The other guys in camp were Dave and Chuck from Oklahoma, who were both my age, although they seemed a lot older. Then we had 3 guys from California who were mid to late 40’s who were in commercial real estate brokers in San Francisco. They too were regular guys who were super nice. Two of them were bow hunting for the first three days before switching to rifles.

Our camp cook, Connie, who’s all of about 4’10”, had dinner ready for us and the guides. Luke and I were the only guys who had been there before but when you’re out in the middle of the mountains with no phone service or internet, you all get to know each other pretty quickly. She likes us a lot and was glad to see us. Her husband died years ago and she really has no money. She cooks in hunting camps each Fall for the cash and tips which we always give her at the end of the week. She also sends me home every year with fresh cookies for the boys and gave us both a big hug.

Each morning, we’d get up at 4am which always came early, and after getting ready, we we’d be out the door by 5am. We’d then hunt until about 9 or a couple hours after daylight, and then head back for breakfast. Then we’d rest until 3 or 4pm when we’d have a snack, get ready and leave and hunt until the sun went down around 8pm. Once back in camp, dinner would be waiting for us. This scenario would be repeated every day for the entire 5 days meaning we’d hunt 10 times.

I was with my buddy Chuck who I met last year, who lives in Steamboat when not guiding, for the whole 5 days. Turns out his neighbor is a guy named Mike Hodder who I went to Junior High and High School with, small World. The last night (Tuesday) we took Shamus who is from Montrose, with us. Turns out, for me, it took me until Tuesday night to get my bull. We had one guy bag his on the second day, then a couple the next day and so on. If I didn’t get one that night, I could have, and would have, hunted again Wednesday morning and if necessary, again that night. (Wednesday if you’re reading this Thursday am) I must have walked 30 or more miles again during the 4 days, as we averaged about 6 to 8 miles a day. This doesn’t sound like a whole lot but over half of it is up hill! Chuck did step on a ground hornets nest about 3 days in and of course when they swarmed, they went right after me. I was bit on the left hand and left tricep. My hand still itches really bad and it’s been 3 days or more.

With my bull, we set out at 5pm, drove the pickup truck while towing the 4 wheeler on a trailer, about 20 minutes down the dirt road. I know this road really well as I’ve been up and down it for 2 years in a row now. When we got to where we were going to hunt (there’s 8 or so different named areas on the ranch) we unloaded the wheeler, jumped in and drove as far up in the mountains as we could before we started walking. The three of us jumped out around 5:20 pm and 60 minutes later had hiked and climbed about 3000 feet in elevation to an area called Sue’s pond. We then set up watching a couple of trails waiting for it to get darker. After 20 minutes, Shamus said “let’s go”. I didn’t know what he had in mind but he’s a pretty darn good hunter so off we went. After climbing another 1500 feet or so though some bogs and ferns (which are weird at 9000 feet high) we started moving slowly down towards a few ponds. Seconds later Shamus whispered “stop”! Somehow this kid who must be in his early 40’s, saw 2 bulls and 7 cows (females) about 500 yards down the hill behind some ferns. I set up and tried to find the bulls through my scope. I could barely see them with the naked eye and finally found them in my scope. The problem was the bull had his ass facing me as if to say, well, you know what. It would have been unethical to take that shot plus I would have ruined the meat had I hit him. I held steady waiting for the bull to turn but he wouldn’t. Finally he turned just his neck towards me looking over his shoulder. After focusing my eyes, I squeezed off a shot. “Bam” went my 6.5 Creedmoor hunting rifle. Shamus quickly said, “your high” meaning my shot went over the top of him. I lined up and took another shot and thought I hit him but he didn’t flinch. Now sometimes these big animals don’t flinch and even run off after being hit. 10 seconds later, the second bull who was spooked, turned to run off. Then my bull and the cows, sensing something was up, followed. I didn’t want to take another shot for fear of wounding him and having him run off where I wouldn’t find him, so I let him go.

With 30 minutes of daylight left, we beat it down the hill to look for blood. It was so boggy and full of vegetation, it was hard to see, but we finally concluded I didn’t hit him. (Although I still think I did) So now I was bummed thinking I blew it. It would have been a really incredible long shot as it was through trees and downhill and a long ways away, but I’ve made shots like that before.

Shamus, telling I was bummed, said “shake it off and let’s go, we still have 30 minutes of light”. We soon found another trail and picked it up heading down towards what we call 3 Ponds. You see at night, the elk come out to feed, after being bed down all day, and always look for water. As we eased down the trail, the light was fading fast. Around a bend, we spotted a cow and a calf in a meadow, but no bull. We waited for a minute or so as the bulls usually follow the cows and calves but no one else came out of the woods. We then heard a bugle which is a bull calling cows. We all looked at each other and Shamus said, “he’s at 3 Ponds”. I looked at my watch and knew the sun would set in 7 minutes and I’d be out of shooting light. We literally ran down the trail being as quiet as possible. As we got close, Shamus laid down on his stomach to look through his binoculars and said “there he is”. I looked with my eyes AND through my rifle scope, and could not see him! After he said “look through those crooked Aspens over that dead tree” I somehow spotted him. This was no easy feat and frankly involved a lot of luck as there were 100,000 crooked Aspens and even more dead trees in the forest.

I couldn’t see his rack (antlers) but Shamus could and assured me that this was the bull we had heard. So, trusting his eyes, I lined up my rifle on his chest, with the sun now set and darkness seconds away, and gently squeezed the trigger sending a shot 200 yards or so down range through the trees, into his left shoulder. He instantly went down. Just to make sure he was not suffering, I lined up another shot and sent that down range too, even though we’d later discover he was done on the first shot. Now, for those of you that don’t like hunting, rest assured, I would never take a unethical shot at an animal (chancing wounding him and having him run off), or let him suffer. To me, and all hunters, they are a sacred gift, that is hard earned, and they need to be treated as such. I also don’t hunt for any animal. elk or pheasant or whatever, that I don’t eat. I’m not into the trophy hunting thing meaning killing just to kill.

45 minutes later we were on our way out of the mountains with my bull and would be back at the cabin by a bit after 10pm. Turns out Jim from California had also bagged his bull in another area the same night. In the end, as of Wednesday morning when we left, everyone but one guy, had success.

We found out, Dave from Oklahoma was headed to Montrose to hunt deer and Chuck, his best friend, had no way home. To save Dave a trip to the airport in Denver, I said he should ride with Luke and I to Vail and then Luke agreed to take him to the airport in Denver for his 5:30 pm flight home. Luke decided to take him the the Buckhorn Exchange for lunch as it’s a neat place. You see, after 5 days hunting with guys, you share a sort of a bond. We always went there with my Dad for dinner as a kid. I told my Mom we’d have to get back down there one of these days.

In the end, it was a great time, one I look forward to every year. I have to publically thank my lovely bride as she let’s me go which always means a ton of extra work for her. There’s something to be said though for a bunch of guys in a hunting camp in the Fall. It’s just one of those primeval things all men should do. So until next year (or maybe November for a quick deer hunt to the ranch) that’s all for hunting. Bird season, (pheasant, quail and chukar) starts September 15th! Hope everyone is well, take care, God Bless and Go Broncos as we’ll be at the game tonight meaning Thursday (depending on when you’re reading this)!

The day got away from me…I dropped the boys at school and worked until 5:30 when I picked the boys up.

I have 3 more patients to schedule and Ty wants to watch a movie.

I’ll  fill you all in on today’s happenings in the morning.

love to all!

Millions of Americans will be celebrating Labor Day today a day that marks the unofficial end of summer. It’s celebrated with parades, parties and – of course – barbecues. By the looks of the flora and fauna from the clear vantage point of our deck, I would dare to state it is most definitely the end of summer for the mountains.

Outside the window the foliage is shades of green and gold bursting with pops of orange and red. The colors are rapidly changing daily much to my chagrin. I was hoping for an Indian Summer, however at this rate we may .have snow in September.

Yesterday, I was a taxi for most of the after noon. I took Mojo for two really long hikes, cleaned bathrooms and put away laundry in between my trips to Vail to drop off or pick up kiddos.

Ty and Sonny went in to walk around Vail and enjoy the festivities. They bought a rubber duck for the annual duck races and wandered amongst 5,000 of their closest friends. The Rotary Duck Race has become hugely popular. On race day, up to 16,000 yellow rubber ducks are dumped into Gore Creek near the Covered Bridge and “race” down the river to the finish line underneath the International Bridge. Prizes are given to those holding the adoption papers for the winning racers. This event raises over $50,000 for the club.

Jagger called for me to pick him up and I left my cell phone at home, so I missed his text that said, “Never mind”. I called him from the car phone and he told me he had left voicemail, and texted me not to come to pick him up. Of course I let him stay in town…that round trip drive I neither picked up nor dropped off any cargo.

Fortunately, when Jagger called again for me to pick him up Ty called to have me pick him up as well. I felt like I hit the lottery! We stopped for milk and deodorant and then home for the night where Jagger played online with his friend Harmond and Ty, Mojo and I watched a movie and fell asleep.

Jagger has homework to finish today and Ty has reading to complete. The boys don’t want to BB-Q, as they would prefer to enjoy Odon from their favorite noodle place. That may be a better option for me because I really do not feel like cooking.

Tomorrow will be a challenge, as Doug is still hunting, the boys are finished at 4 and I have clinic until 6. Maybe they can stay at school and finish homework.

Ty just requested his Taxi service, so I am off to drop him in town.  Happy Labor Day and GB.