A Year of Change

The boys and I dropped Lori off for her procedure at 11am as scheduled and picked her up around 12:15. All went well and she’s doing fine. She spent the rest of the day on the couch as ordered and will hopefully take it easy today even though she’s headed down to the office.

It’s still windy here as they say we’re right at the windiest spot of the jet stream. It seems we are right on the edge of it and that’s why all the wind. The boys are back to school today for a 4 day week. Yesterday Carrie took them for the afternoon to her house and they played and rode their bikes so Lori could get some rest.

DHL dropped off 84 bottles of wine from Macedonia and we should get some boxes dropped today and then 200 cases delivered next Monday or Tuesday. Then the work will start as I’ll need to re-package them and ship them out across the country.

It’s 5:32 and my alarm didn’t go off for some reason as I had it set for 5am. I’m running late so time to go, but before I do, check out this partial letter that was supposedly written by the devil and published at the first of the year,

To my fallen angels Beelzebub, Lucifer and Leviathan, princes of Hell’s demons, and to my minions, lackeys, toadies and sycophants in America: 

As you know, the new year usually finds me quite despondent, as the Prince of Peace’s influence waxes most atrociously around his birthday. But this year I am in fine spirits, nay, let me even declare myself absolutely giddy, for the destruction of the United States of America draws ever nearer.

Though my minions have long sown festering seeds of hate and disharmony in that now-benighted land, only recently have my favored weapons of destruction–leverage, debt, half-truths and endless, preening justifications for self-aggrandizement, greed, sloth, lust, pride, envy, anger and gluttony–have been unleashed to worm their way into the stricken heart of that Republic.
My most treasured hopes of destitution and conflict in the U.S.A. are nearing fruition.

First, my minions in the Federal Reserve–such loyal servants!–and the Federal government have continued to flood the land with leverage and debt, spreading the seeds of destruction under the false guise of prosperity. What a delicious irony, that the fools doomed to eternal damnation in my Empire believe themselves prosperous as they absorb the poison of exponentially rising leverage, debt and phantom collateral.

They have made a mockery of the rule of law, openly flouting “no one is above the law” by letting financial crimes go not just unpunished but rewarded. There are two sets of laws and two sets of books now firmly in place, one for the financial Elites and their political toadies, and another one for the tax donkeys beneath them. This blatant injustice that roams the land like a foul, slobbering beast will eventually ignite the firestorm I seek.

American extravagance has surpassed even my highest expectations, as purveyors of luxury goods reap record profits, and the childish desire for instant gratification has become the unspoken ruler of the land. Convenience is now worshipped as a god, sitting triumphant beside entitlement, greed and willful ignorance.

Convenience is, as you all know, the name of a peculiarly slick slide into Hell.

One of my favorite sins, gluttony, is running amok, with half of the people groaning under their own weight, sickened and weakened. My loyal minions in the fast-food and packaged food industries have followed my plans to perfection, and my lackeys in the marketing and media have fueled the instant gratification and ignorance which insidiously undermine even the greatest empires.

Pride–oh, how the Americans excel at hubris and pride! The Federal Reserve chair, bless her doomed soul, has declared herself confident about an economy that is nothing but a confidence game. Oh, what joy to hear her lies spoken with such confidence!

(this next paragraph particularly rings true)

If ignorance were treasure, the American political class must be declared wealthier than Midas, for its ignorance has reached a pinnacle I can truly admire. Ensnared by their lust for power, blinded by their greed for fame and perquisites, they look no further than the next election cycle, dooming their nation to division, disharmony and the desolation of permanent conflict over the dwindling productive assets of this once-great nation.

The mere thought of the word greed cause me to chuckle delightedly, as the U.S. excels as a haven for greed without bounds, a greed so boundless that the entire universe would be insufficient to satisfy its bankers, hedge fund managers, high-frequency traders, Imperial factotums and politicians. How happy I am to see their greed grease their way into Hell.

(this one too!)

I feel like dancing a jig when I hear the unbridled sense of entitlement which has poisoned the American spirit. Cloaking their greed and avarice with rationalizations–“I was promised,” “It’s my right,” “I deserve it”–brings them closer to me and my Domain with every bleated plea for more, more, more. It is wondrous indeed how my secret invention, “free money,” debilitates once-independent souls, and places them on a one-way street to servitude.

Anger is now overflowing everywhere, building my empire with every thoughtless word. Politicians rage against each other, the people rage against the politicians, and behind the scenes my servants in the political action committees feed the anger with billions of dollars in campaign donations. How amusing to see the politicos lay claim to noble ideals even as they scramble on their knees to collect the millions tossed at their feet to do my bidding.

Oh yes, my bidding, for their greed, pride and anger are my bidding. By all means, politicians, do my work: give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy, let financial crimes go unpunished, allow the financial Elites’ looting to go unhindered, transfer the wealth earned by the citizens’ sweat to the Central State’s financial Elites when their trillion-dollar bets go bad–fuel the anger which will tear you from power, and tear the country apart.

I laughed with glee a few years ago when One Beholden To Me announced that he was doing “God’s work”–how I love twisting together irony and lies! He fooled no one, of course, for even the most deluded souls know he is doing My Work, not the Lord’s, but they are too distracted by games and ginned-up contests to care. Nothing has changed since the corrupt system tasted a whiff of what lies ahead in 2008; oh, how deliciously the lies and the debts are piling ever higher!

Not caring is doing my work, too, of course; in fact, it one of my favorite tools.

The nation bled itself for a decade with unwinnable wars, sacrificing its best youth on the altar of endless war–how can I not rejoice at this orgy of death, destruction and sowing of hate? The feeble liars at the nation’s helm print endless sums to fund war and to prop up vile tyrants, but offer nothing for libraries or literacy or the curing of malaria. How can I not rejoice at a nation which finds trillions for war and next to nothing to fight the diseases of the poor residents of former colonies, including that Prince of Disease, ignorance.

As for sloth–that millions are being paid to sit around watching television instead of being productive creates the perfect breeding ground for resentment, malice and envy. How perfect to pay people to sit at home and rot away, with only their discontent and despair for company.

The spiritual rot is now so deep and pervasive that the people no longer even recognize the decay –they have been lulled into a false belief that this culture of fraud, embezzlement, manipulations, propaganda and parasitic financial Elites has always held sway. This is precisely how a people act when they have lost their way, spiritually and morally: they elevate sins to virtues, and forget the lessons of their past.

And of course everyone claiming that there is no spiritual vacuum sucking the nation dry, that the status quo is simply “business as usual”–they are doing my work, too, for habituating to all that is corrupt and reprehensible, all that is lacking in integrity and honesty, this is doing my work most admirably.

Anyhow it goes on and on, this was on a highly respected financial website. What a unique way of trying to make a point. Maybe some people will finally “get it” looking at where we’re at through the supposed eyes of the devil, (who knows, could be???). Hard to argue with it if you really think about it. All I can say is get right with yourself and get right with God.

Have a great day and God Bless.

This morning Lori will run down to the office and then we’ll drop here at 11am for her procedure. She should be ready to go home by 12:30 or 1. Hopefully all will go well.

The boys are off today for President’s Day and back to school tomorrow. Ty spent the night at Ben’s while Jag watched some tv until about 9:30.

We slept in until 6:45 and are rushing around trying to get moving now. That’s it for the day, really strong winds last night and more tonight. Other than that, it was a pretty nice day.

Have to go, take care and God Bless.

Sorry we’re a little late this morning, I thought Lori was going to do the blog today. Yesterday went pretty fast and soon it was 4pm and we headed out for our reunion of sorts of all of us that grew up together when we were between 14 and 20 years old or so. It was great to see people I haven’t seen in decades and reconnect. We only stayed a bit more than an hour as we had dinner plans with the Harris’s. Jag and I just returned from heading back up to the house where the party was as Lori forgot her purse there last night.

Today we’re taking the boys and some of their friends, hiking up North Table Top Mountain. We’ll need to pack a pack with some water, food and extra clothes even though they say it’s supposed to be nice. You always have to be prepared here in Colorado and they also said it was going to warm yesterday but boy were they wrong.

Jag and Max and Ty had fun playing last night and we had a nice dinner. We were home by 10 or so which was good as Lori and I were both tired.

Tomorrow is President’s Day so the kids are off and Lori has her “procedure” at noon. I of course, still have work, uggh. That’s about it, guess I’ll go, have a great day and God Bless

I posted a picture of the Valentine boxes. Ty wanted the Lego “Uni-Kitty” and Jagger wanted a Mayan Temple, but settled for a “Castle Turret” complete with Valentine messenger crows, purple lights and sheer window treatment. The boxes were well received at school.

First off, Happy Valentine’s Day, a day late. Sorry but we were way too consumed around here for me to remember that!

As you know, Lori had lots of drama at her office. Well had we only known how much, we wouldn’t have believed it! By the time Lori made it to the office, the crazy lady had already been there and trashed the entire office. She then locked up the file cabinet and threw the keys in the trash can in the bathroom down the hall of the office building. The building superintendent found them later in the day after Lori had a locksmith come in to change the office door locks and pick the file cabinet. The rest of her day was spent figuring out how to process payroll for the staff, calling all the vendors to tell them the crazy lady was gone, changing passwords and calming down Dr Rodgers who thought the nut job was going to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from her bank accounts. On top of that, the entire staff kept coming to Lori throughout the day with questions or problems she had to handle. In any case, she managed to get everything running smoothly and everyone calmed down. The crazy lady brought in candy to put on everyones desk,  except for Lori! We think when Dr Rodgers told her the night before that Lori would meet her down there in the morning to get her keys and stuff, she assumed Lori was taking her job. There was no contact throughout most of the day despite repeated calls and texts by Lori asking if she was ok and showing concern. Then all of a sudden, the flood gates opened!

This nut job sent Lori tons of crazy texts and emailed Dr Rodgers a bunch of incoherent babbles that begged for her job on one hand and then called everyone crazy and nuts on the other. How’s that for the kettle calling the kettle black, or whatever the saying is.

Anyhow I told Lori thank God this lady is gone as now you can easily tell how nuts she really is. We feel sorry for her in a way but she brought all this on herself. Lori told her time and time again since she started, to take it easy and not to berate the team the way she did, but she just didn’t listen and finally too much irreparable damage had been done. Oh well, today we’re headed down to the office to process the payroll as you need to wait until everyone is clocked out before you can run it. Dr Rodgers texted Lori a huge thank you thank you for everything as she pretty much saved not only the day but the entire practice. They were days or maybe hours from a mass mutiny where a bunch of people were going to quit but in the end, now all is good.

Meanwhile the boys and I cleaned the house up, went to get them haircuts, hit the grocery store and ran a few other errands. We cooked dinner and had it almost done when Lori made it home around 6:45. We cooked some lobster tails in a pyrex glass dish in the oven and when Lori took it out, it just shattered everywhere! We’d never seen such a thing and had pieces of glass everywhere, in the oven, on the floor and on our lobster! Super. Cleaning this up then let our steaks over cook and so it wasn’t the greatest Valentine’s dinner, oh well, we just laughed, rinsed off the lobster, and ate it anyway.

So, this morning as I said, we’re all off to the office and then this afternoon there’s a party with all my friends from high school that starts about 4pm. Harry and Jon came from California and Seattle and there will be lots of people I haven’t seen since high school, should be fun but we won’t stay too long.

Ben spent the night as his dad went to a concert and had called to ask us a few days ago. We kind of look out for each other when we can so we said no problem. It was really windy last night and still is. I had some candy for my Mom but didn’t make it up there with all the drama going on, hopefully I can drop it off today!

That’s about it, remember we’re planning on winning the lottery tonight! Oh by the way, when the boys were getting their haircuts I had bought Lori some candy and bought some extra for the women at the salon and handed it out, as well as got a few of them a glass of wine (the salon pours my wine to women getting their hair done) when one woman said that I should run a Company or school teaching men how to treat women! How about that! I said thank you but it probably wouldn’t pay that well!

So, have a great day, take care and God Bless.

Well it’s here, the boys 4 day weekend. Yesterday the boys had their Valentine’s Day parties in their classrooms. Of course Lori went over the top preparing for each of them. She’s room Mom as no other Mom or parent ever steps up. This means she does all the work and we pay for most of the things throughout the year for all the kids in each classroom. I don’t know how other parents can stand by and not contribute, time or money, and let someone else do everything. It’s one thing not to chip in any cash, if you don’t have any, but they could always volunteer to help out, which few do. Don’t get me wrong, some contribute and help but most don’t. Lucky I was there as the pizza man showed up and they didn’t have enough money. So I paid, and when I was getting change from the office, I asked one Mom who was helping, how much do you need. She took $20 from me for the pizza man and then $5 that she put in her own pocket. I didn’t think twice about it but when I told Lori later, she said “what”? Oh well, its for the kids right. $25 might not sound like a lot but when you give it every month or so times two (for two kids), it’s over $500 for the year!

Prior to the parties, Lori had another dramatic day at the office dealing with the office manager who shouldn’t be there! Turns out she was fired late in the day yesterday and now with Dr Rodgers in surgery all day, Lori has to go down and supervise her cleaning out her desk so she doesn’t steal anything. Lori will also have to get back the keys, de-brief her and figure out how to process payroll for the staff today. It should be already done but who knows as the lady walked out yesterday afternoon. Lori is a little bit nervous but I’m coaching her up on how to handle it. She’ll be fine.

I need to run to the distributor first and be back by 8:30 for Lori to get to work so I need to get moving. Here’s a comment from Eleanor,

Yup, Thursday is Friday this week as the boys are off until Tuesday. Lori has a staff lunch to see if they can all get along and keep the new wicked office manager, one of the girls calls her Special D as her name is Diane!

Lori went to the doctor yesterday and I went along. She now goes in Monday at 11am for an endrometrial ablation which is some sort of operation that will cauterize her and takes the place of a hysterectomy. This seems to be the best option but of course, it’s not cheap. I’ve never met a medical procedure that is these days. Thankfully the boys and I don’t need anything done. Hell, I’ll just be paying the last payment on my knee operation next week and that was last May! Oh well, I’ll have to figure it out somehow, Lori’s always concerned about the cost to the point where she’ll say, we should just wait. Of course she never considers the fact that she could bleed to death or anything like that, and that’s why I go to the doctor with her!

Here’s a couple of comments from a few of you ladies that are good listeners!

1. Blondie says:

   February 12, 2014 at 7:47 pm

   I am fine and having to watch the Olympics religiously also
   because they are on day and night! I mostly like the ski jumping, downhill and figure skating:) Glad the teacher conferences are going well but sorry about L’s cramps:( Hope all is OK! Hello to all including Robbie, Annette and who ever else reads:)

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   February 12, 2014 at 8:31 pm

   Jean & I went to see Monuments Men. READ the book. It’s so much better, in fact I think it is one of my all time favorite books (and I read alot). The movie had George Clooney so I forced myself to watch. They could have made a really good movie and didn’t. We finally got some rain but not enough, it’s going to be a bad summer. That’s about all that’s going on here.

   Eleanor Tafoya says:

   February 13, 2014 at 1:39 pm (Edit)

   Testing, having problems with I pad. Over

   Looks like your I Pad is working Eleanor, over!

   Thanks for sharing, I’m reading Bloodlands , Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. Most people don’t know it but Stalin made Hitler look like a choir boy! Anyhow it’s an important piece of history most people ignore.

   I have a call at 9am and then will clean up around here. Lori needs to be at school by 1:15 for the Valentines Day parties. The boys are filling out Valentines for their classmates right now. I need to get the misses some flowers!

   Time to run, take care and God Bless.

Haven’t heard much from most of you, Uncle T is wrapped up in the Olympics (he watches them religiously), but the rest of you don’t have much of an excuse as far as we know. Drop a comment or give us a call and let us know what you’re up to.

The boys are plugging along at school. Jag had his teacher conference yesterday with a bit of a twist in that he literally conducted the conference with the teacher just sitting in for a  portion of it. Suffice it to say, he’s doing very well and not only is strong academically but also in other areas such as organization, time management, getting along with everyone and all the other things you can’t measure on a report card. We’re very proud of him. Ty’s is coming up today or tomorrow and I’m sure he will be doing just as well.

This morning Lori goes to the doctor and it’s a good thing as she’s been having cramps (sorry men) so its time to figure out the next step. We’ll keep you posted.

Too many crazy things going on politically that I just can’t even start, lucky you! I haven’t been to the gym for a few days so I need to run and get there this morning. I thought I was getting the flu yesterday but after 4 or 5 cups of tea and a bunch of vitamin C, I feel better this morning.

Time to run, take care and God Bless.

That’s right, lots happening at work, both mine and Lori’s. It seems at Lori’s, Dr Rodgers came storming in yesterday to fire the new practice manager (which she should) after one too many faux paux’s. This lady is a wreck, border line crazy. She begged Chris (Dr Rodgers) for one more chance and now the entire office is supposed to have a lunch or something to try to clear the air. Personally I don’t think she’ll last the day as this lady has done irreparable damage to her relationship with everyone that works there. They all can’t stand her. She’s the type of lady who could go off in a fit of rage, like work place violence! Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. This all makes my work look pretty calm. After all, people are pretty relaxed when they’re drinking wine!

The boys have a 4 day weekend. Friday is a teacher planning day and Monday is President’s Day. My buddy Matt came over yesterday afternoon for a visit. It was good to see him as he’s been working a lot and then was sick.

I tried to get up to go to the gym but was too tired. I did run to the grocery store to get some milk for the boys instead. Too bad we don’t have a dairy cow that we could just milk in the morning, ha ha. I think that’s how Grandma Dixie got her milk when she was a little girl.

Not much else, guess I’ll try to roust everyone from bed. Looks like I’m the only early riser in this family. Take care, God Bless.

Yesterday was kind of a wasted day, Mom took the boys sledding, I ran to the store and we lounged around watching tv most of the day. We needed a break after going out the night before. Today we’ll slide back into our groove.

It’s cooler this morning and we might get a dusting of the white stuff but in a couple of days, it’s supposed to be in the 60’s! We can hardly wait for the warm temperatures as this has been a winter for the books.

It’s 6:17 now so time to get everyone moving. It’ll be Spring before you know it, do you all remember when I said it’ll be winter before you know it? Time sure flies by, I can’t believe how fast it goes. Oh well, enjoy the day, in fact, enjoy each and every day!

Take care, God Bless.

Cool temps are back with it reaching about 25 degrees today but that feels like Spring! Yesterday Lori, the boys and I used some of their Christmas present from Grandma Annette (Fandango cards) and went to see the Lego movie. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone over 12 or 13. Will Ferrell is in it (his voice and them him) which made it somewhat tolerable. At least kids movies these days throw is some adult humor recognizing that someone has to take the kids to the movies! After that the boys played outside.

Mark and Carrie called around 5pm saying they were picking us up in 5 minutes to go for a cocktail as they’d been cleaning all day. We ended up at Simms Landing sitting at the bar for an hour or so and then picked up the boys and went to their house to visit some more and watch the Olympics.

That was about it for the day other than the usual gym trip and washing the car. I’m hoping to get some cleaning done in the basement today but we’ll see. Take care and God Bless.

p.s. Annette, I’m sure we sell to Russells in Vail from time to time. Hope Serena is well, we sympathize with her medical bill fiasco as we too are going through the same thing times ten! We had a little back and forth the other day (Lori did) on Facebook trying to explain why Obamacare is the main contributing factor to her situation, not sure if she (or any young kids) understand, ha ha.