A Year of Change

Think we’re past the worst of winter. All we should get going forward is rain. Now watch it snow next week, ha.

Yesterday I had Jag’s windshield fixed and then by transferring his car back to our insurance policy and adding him as just a driver, we saved over $4000 a year! Cha ching! He’s studying away for finals next week, but I did have to merge him onto a call with me and the USAA agent to get that done.

I was too busy yesterday wrapping up April to have my calls to lay off a couple people. Think I mentioned I’m actually trying, for lack of a better explanation, immediately, trying to rehire one person. What I’m hoping to do is just change his job and pay him differently. Sad day, but it is necessary, and overdue.

Here’s something close to a miracle. Marty who has been a Type 1 diabetic for almost 10 years, has had zero insulin for 3 days now! This is unheard of as you get Type 1 when your pancreas fails. All we can figure is his new diet, protein, no sugar and few carbs, has somehow reset his blood sugar and maybe, just maybe, his pancreas somehow healed itself. Medically this just doesn’t happen. But the body is an amazing thing. I told him if he makes it through the weekend not needing insulin, he needs to go get a blood test Monday morning, even if he pays out of pocket, to verify what’s going on. He has a meter on a phone that shows the range his blood sugar needs to stay in, and he’s been there going on three days now. Must be the diet I gave him which is basically a lot of steak and eggs and good carbs like veggies. No bread, sugar, rice or any of that crap. Also, really nothing with a bar code. I should be a doctor, ha! Hope it continues for him, as it would be a miracle.

We’re headed to the gym. Av’s won and so did the Rockies. Nuggets lost by 6 but have another chance tomorrow to win the series. It’s also the Kentucky Derby tomorrow. There’s a horse named Sandman, after one of James’s songs, that’s favored. A friend of Davy’s owns a piece of the horse and James might fly up before the concert in Nashville tomorrow night, if he has time, to watch the race. As you can imagine, the owners want him to. He did go see the horse when they played in Toronto a week or so ago, as that’s where it lives.

That’s it, time to get moving. Lori made it home around 7 from Denver last night and I about a half hour before her from hanging with the guys. Have a great Friday and remember, it’s little Lori’s birthday Sunday! God Bless.

Today I’m getting Jag’s windshield replaced. Lori is headed to Denver to go to the dermatologist. We also have the cleaners coming who haven’t been here in about a month.

I’m in full blown cut expenses mode. After Jag’s car is fixed, I’m switching the insurance back to my policy to get a lower rate. Next up will be throwing, or giving away, the remaining antiques in storage to wipe out another $550 a month. That alone will save us over $1K a month. Then on June 1st, I’m planning on paying off Lori’s and Jag’s cars. That’s another $1630 a month. With a few other smaller things, I think I can cut over $3K a month in expenses. Then with no more tuition, I’ll be up about $6500 a month at a minimum. To pay that much, we’d need to make $10,000 as $3500 goes to taxes, so you can see how it all adds up.

Today some changes are happening at work. One person is going and another is hopefully, transitioning to a new position of commission where I essentially put him in business running his own company within our Company. Hope it goes well. Won’t be easy and is never fun letting anyone go.

A little cloudy outside and we had a little rain yesterday. The peaks have a dusting of snow on them, but that’ll be gone by the weekend when the warmer temps show up.

Big games tonight, basketball and hockey. Hope they both win but really hope the Nuggets win.

The Dems are at it again, passing a bill where parents can be criminally charged if they misgender their own child. This means if your kid decides, at any age, to say I’m a different gender than what I was when I was born, and mom or dad call them by their birth name, they can be arrested, or the kid can be taken away by Child Protective Services. What the hell is going on! On top of that, check out all the fees in Colorado, which are 100% illegal. This is just a small example of Dems skirting the law. Did you know you have to pay a fee to buy a bike?

Ridiculous, Dems will never stop this insanity. The only way to stop it is to vote them out. We don’t think we have the time for that, that’s why we’re looking at moving. I figured it out. We’re paying around $60-$70K in fees a year and for that, we can buy a $700k house in someplace like Montana and pay taxes and get our driver’s license there and break even. The 5K we’d pay for the house would be directly offset by the $5K we’d save in fees by being a resident of that State instead of Colorado. This is exactly why people are leaving. Example, we pay about $5K a year alone, just for license plates for our cars! Lots of States run by Republicans don’t have all the fees above. Some, like Montana, don’t have sales tax or license plate fees! Unbelievable.

Oh well, do your homework. The more I dig into shit, the more we find this crap and realize what a screwed-up State Colorado has become. That’s enough for today.

Take care, be well and God Bless.

April 30th, end of the month. Time never stops. Here’s one for you, in 120 days it’ll be September 1st! That should blow your mind. For now, time to focus on May and all that it brings.

Great game last night. Big Nuggets win. I’m working out at 7 and Ty works at 8. He golfed yesterday and then drove to Denver to go to the Rockies baseball game for a bit. We’re so bad this year that even he and his buddy left after a few innings. He was home by the start of the second half of the basketball game.

Lori works in Frisco today. it was cold yesterday for the end of April. Should be a nice weekend though, like in the 70’s. Marty, Mark, Clark and I got together for a cigar yesterday afternoon. Melanie is in Canada waiting for their oldest son and daughter in law to have their baby. She’s due on Lori’s birthday. Mel is staying up there for a month!

Time for coffee, have a great last day of the month, God Bless.

Lots going on this week, Spring cleaning here at the homestead and in the Company. Thursday I’m letting a couple people go. It won’t be easy as one has been with me over 20 years and the other over 10, but they’re B players, so to speak. Things have changed with the economy and the way people buy wine, and sadly these two people are not as effective as I need them to be. In the end, it all comes down to math, and the math says two people go.

Ty is off today. He came home yesterday afternoon to get his golf clubs. He then went to play disc golf. He took Uncle Tommy’s old clubs as he wants to try them out. I think he’s playing today.

Lori has her first patient at 8 so she’s in the shower. I have a lot of phone calls today and think I’ll get my haircut. Looks like maybe a little rain today. Might not get any up here, but Denver looks like a lock.

I want to get into Ty’s room as it’s the worst in the house. I’ll see if he wants to come down, but I’m sure he won’t. He has piles of clothes and other junk dating all the way back to Junior High. I’m sure it’ll be all me cleaning his room.

Time to get moving. Have a great day, be well and God Bless.

Today is the last Monday of April. May will be here soon. Lori’s birthday is next Sunday, then a week later is Jag’s graduation and it’s also Mother’s Day. Throw in the Kentucky Derby next Saturday and things will be busy.

It’s a little cloudy up here this morning but no rain. We sleep with our window open at night and it’s been just about perfect. Think we’re going for a morning walk today instead of the gym as Lori has an early clinic at the hospital today.

I have a conference call at 9am and then will do some cleaning and organizing around here. I’m in moving mode meaning when organizing, if I come across stuff I won’t use for a year or so, I’ll pack it up as if I’m moving. Now we don’t even know where we’ll move, or when, but someday, we will move. We’ve only been here 4 years and have already accumulated a ton of stuff. I have to get the storage unit cleaned out! I wanted it empty by last September and well, you know what month it is now. Maybe I’ll get over there today, we’ll see.

Time to get going, have a great day, God Bless.

Last night the Nuggets and Av’s both won. When one wins, the other usually wins. When one loses, the other usually loses. Fun time.

The NFL Draft wrapped up yesterday too. Right now, we’re all in first place. Hope springs eternal. as they say.

Lori and I hung around the house most of the day. She laid out in the sun for a bit, and I ran up to Davy’s for a few minutes as he wanted me to look at some old rifles he has. Think I’m going to pick up a Model 94 Winchester made in 1899 from him. It was his grandfather’s, but he doesn’t use it and has a bunch of others. It’s a beautiful rifle and he’ll sell it to me for wholesale, which is pretty cheap considering, so it’s kind of too good of a deal to pass up. Any rifle made in 1899 has some stories to tell. It’s hard to explain what it’s like holding history in your hands.

We’re headed to the gym this morning and dropping Ty some breakfast and a clean shirt. Then we’ll be around the house. I started going through my closet and will do some more today. That’s about it. Time to get moving. Have a great day, God Bless.

It was in the mid 70’s yesterday and today should be even warmer. Lori made a bunch of enchiladas yesterday. Marty, Mark, Davy and his 5-year-old son Wes, came over and we watched the draft. We picked a couple of guys I didn’t know, but I’ll trust the process as the coaches are paid to find the right guys. I know the big-name college guys, but not any others. We have a bunch more picks today.

Ty is working again today. The PT guy stood me up yesterday. I had a 7am appointment and he was a no show, so I just worked out with Lori. We’ll go workout again this morning. I ate breakfast and dinner yesterday which was too much food. I’ll get back on the program today.

Think I’m quitting cigars. I’m getting smoked out and just don’t enjoy them as much anymore. It was always just a social thing anyhow. Something to do when we all got together. I’ll still go to cigar night, probably just won’t smoke.

Looks like we’re going up to Idaho and Montana this summer to check things out. Ben and Eleni want to look in Idaho and we’re going with Marty and Melanie to look in Montana. Check these houses out, all for $1.5 million or less in The Idaho Club. It comes with a club house, golf course and all kinds of other stuff, on the lake. It’s 3000 square feet which is perfect for us. This is just one example. A lot of people I know are thinking of leaving the State. There’s about six families in our group alone. It’s really mind boggling how a few far-left democrats in Denver can make decisions for the entire State, especially for those of us that live on the Western Slope, which is 150 miles away and totally different from Denver in every way. It’s almost like we’re in a different State.

They have everything from Pickle Ball to golf, to water sports and more.

Here’s another one,

These houses would be $3 million plus here in Eagle and the taxes and fees in Idaho are about 90% less than in Colorado! Something has to give. We’ll keep looking, but here’s a couple more fun places just to see.

We love this one, and all are about half of what our house is worth, meaning if we sell, we could buy one of these for cash and put $500,000 or more in the bank!

Fun to look, nothing is happening until next year at the earliest. Have a great day, and weekend, God Bless.

Davy brought by a bunch of steak burger from the ranch yesterday, so lovely Lori is making enchilada’s today! The Draft went by pretty fast, and we got a great guy. It wasn’t as flashy as most people probably wanted, as we picked a defensive back. But the guy we got is a thumper and won the Jim Thorpe award last year as the top DB in the Country. In our division, with quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert, this is a smart pick. Analysts had this guy as one of the top 10 or 12 athletes in the draft. They say teams are built in Rounds 2 through 7 anyhow. More fun tonight.

I might go with Marty to Fairplay today to get his cowboy hat, we’ll see how the day goes. It was warm yesterday and nice. The next three days will be even nicer. Ty was in and out of Denver yesterday in good time. Another load of stuff from Tommy’s is now in my garage and basement, ugh. Ty needs to buy a house!

I have PT this morning at 7 on my abductor in my left leg. I strained it lifting. It’s so much fun getting old, ha.

Time to get moving. Have a great Friday, last one of April! God Bless.

Tonight is the NFL Draft. Seems like it takes forever to get here. Over the next three days, teams will pick players from the college ranks for their teams. I really don’t know why it’s so exciting, as a lot of the guys picked, turn into busts or don’t make teams. Still, it’s fun.

Yesterday I dropped my truck at the dealer at 8 and was out of town by 9:15. Rick, the sales manager, gave me his truck to use, so I ran to Home Depot, Whole Foods and Barnes and Noble while my truck was serviced. Vail Pass had a semi that went off the road, (what’s new), so it was a little slow coming down into the valley. I stopped to see Ty before heading home.

After a few calls, I deep cleaned the stove and did a few chores around the house. Ty is off today and is meeting us for breakfast. He’s driving down to meet Tommy to get some more stuff out of his house. He wants me to bring his golf clothes and clubs. Must be planning on hitting the links while down there.

That’s it, time to get moving. Have a great day, God Bless and Go Broncos and Nuggets!

Getting the truck serviced this morning, so I’m out of here in 45 minutes. Lori just woke up, (5:33am) and is getting her coffee. I hope to be back by noon or so at the latest.

Yesterday I had a couple of Teams Meetings and then ran a few errands. Harry and I met up at Hovey for an early lunch as he was coming through from California on his way to Denver. Great to see him. We went to Hovey so Ty could say hi too.

I made an appointment to take Jag’s car in to get his windshield replaced May 1st. Then I think I’m cancelling his insurance as his car just sits in the driveway. I’m sure he’ll need it after school is finished. I should have cancelled, or paused it, a few months ago.

The NFL Draft is tomorrow. Always a fun time. That’s about it, time to get in the shower and get moving. Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.