A Year of Change

Today is my good childhood friend Harry’s birthday, and John Lennon of the Beatles too! Sadly, John is no longer with us, but Harry is plugging along and hasn’t changed much since high school. We always call each other on our birthdays. Don’t think we’ve missed a year since high school.

After 2 miles on the treadmill yesterday, now my right hip is sore, ha. I can tell what Robi’s thinking without even talking to her. We talked yesterday and contrary to what she thinks, we are pretty normal when it comes to eating and exercise, even though it seems we’re not. Must be because I’m always posting every little tweak I try to my diet or ache and pain. It’s just our way of dealing with aging, and the never-ending pursuit of youth, ha. I’ll stop posting all that crap. It’s funny as when I talk to Robi, I hear Mom in her voice often. Mom’s mannerisms are alive and well in Robi. It’s surreal and nice as it brings back good memories of Mom.

Ty’s up and getting ready for work. Lori is home today too. Not sure if we’re having cigar night tonight, but if we do, I’ll go but probably am not smoking. I’m still in my “take a break mode”.

Yesterday we had the sprinklers blown out for the year. Our landscape guys dropped off the elk fencing in the front yard to wrap around the trees and will soon put them up. To get ahead of them, I put Christmas lights up on our one evergreen tree out front. Once they wrap the trees, you can’t get to them unless you unwrap them. It took 200 lights but surprisingly, it looks pretty good. Won’t be long now before the tree inside goes up! Just a few more weeks. We just went outside to see how the tree looks as you can’t really tell in the day. You have to see it in the dark, and yes, it looks good!

Jag and Ava might come up this weekend. Not sure. Next weekend is Tommy’s party. Should be fun. It’ll be in the mid 70’s up here today and the low 80’s in Denver! That’s nice Fall weather.

Robi’s birthday is two weeks from today! We’ve already ordered up her favorite gift which should arrive the day of or the day before. We get her the same thing every year as she loves it.

That’s it, time to go, have a great Thursday. God Bless.

I’m slowly getting back to my old self. The operative word there is old. You hate to admit it as in your head you feel young, but yes, I’m old. As mom would say, it is what it is. Actually, more often, she’d say, getting old is hell! I like to say, even though there are challenges with getting old, it’s a privilege. Think about it, lots of people we know are no longer with us. Enough of the philosophical rant, on to the day.

I headed out to the gym early and did 2 miles on the treadmill and then lifted weights. I didn’t go super heavy but did do more than I’ve done since I hurt my back. It was good and I feel better from doing so. The rest of the day I was working. Around 3 in the afternoon, I did go meet up with Mark and Clark who were having a cigar. I was in the middle of a 36 hour fast (didn’t eat from 6pm Monday until sometime this morning), and didn’t smoke as these guys smoke every day which is too much for me. I might be done with cigars, if not for good, at least for a while.

I talked to Tommy yesterday. He’s getting ready for his party a week from Saturday. We’re planning on going. He’s having it catered, and the menu sounds good. Should be fun. Ty is trying to get off work early enough to go and I think Jag and Ava are coming too. Not sure of their schedule.

Denver has become a crime infested city. Every morning on the news there’s something else bad that’s happened. Hard to understand how people can’t see that all the crime is a direct result of leadership meaning who is in charge. Blame lies 100% with the Governor and Mayor of Denver. Crazy times. No way we go down there unarmed anymore. Denver now ranks worse than LA or New York as far as safety. This morning the news said Colorado is the 7th least safe State in the Country! unbelievable. Maybe the National Guard can come here after they get through with Chicago and Portland, Denver needs it.

6:10am now, time to get moving. I’m off to the gym again for a few miles and then will grab some breakfast. Ty golfed in Gypsum yesterday, good for him. It was a gorgeous day and the next few will be too. Have a great day, be safe, take care and God Bless.

It’s back to the gym this morning. I think I’m at the point where I need to work any leftover aches out by lifting. We’ll see how I do.

Last night the Chiefs lost completing the trifecta. All three teams in our division lost except for us! That makes it a perfect football weekend.

I was in and out of Denver by 9:30am. Would have been 9 but I stopped at a grocery store. That put me home right around noon. There was snow on the north facing slopes when I came through the tunnel. Weather was crappy down in the city but nice up here with blue skies.

Lori works in Edwards today. She was home early yesterday. Looks like it’s warming up today and will be a nice Fall week now that we have the rain out of the way. We should be getting the sprinklers blown out soon before it freezes.

That is it for today. 6am now and time to get moving. Have a great day and God Bless.

Big time Bronco victory yesterday. We not only beat the Super Bowl Champs from last year, but also a team that was 4-0, AND we hadn’t won in Philadelphia since 1986! Throw in a comeback in the 4th Quarter when we were down by 14 points, and it was a HUGE WIN! On top of that, the Cheaters, I mean Chargers, lost! Now we’re tied for 1st in our division. Great day.

Ty worked and then went to a concert at Red Rocks and Jagger was the best man in his buddies wedding in Evergreen. The weather was fine up here but I think it rained down there. I’m off at 6ish this morning to go to Denver. Hopefully I’ll be home by noon. Supposed to hit a little weather up high, but tis the season.

Lori just said she can’t believe it’s like 80 days until Christmas. Comes fast the older you get.

My back is getting better but still stiff now and then. I have to be careful not to do too much too fast. I have lots of work today but it’s all on the phone, so good day for a drive.

Have a great day! With a little luck, the Chiefs could lose tonight! God Bless.

Had some nice Fall weather come in yesterday. Big time wind and rain blew through like we were in a hurricane, and then the clouds opened up and let the blue sky and sunshine in. I think we’ll get some more weather tonight and tomorrow before the week settles down. I am in Denver tomorrow morning picking up a shotgun. I hope to be in and out by 10am.

This morning at 10, we’re going over to Bens to celebrate his birthday. Kind of weird that they’re having people over at 10am on a Sunday morning for cake. They have some friends from Denver up that have to leave or something like that. We’ll be out of there by 10:30 at the latest as the Bronco game starts at 11.

I took the hoses off the outside faucets yesterday and winterized them in case we get our first freeze tonight. You never know. Ty’s already gone to work. When he’s off at 3, he’s headed to Denver to some concert his friend bought him a ticket for. He’s off tomorrow so he’ll spend the night and drive back up in the morning. His driver, that he broke, came back from getting repaired, so he needs to pick that up at the golf store.

That’s it, have a good Sunday and Go Broncos! God Bless.

You can see and feel it outside. It’s a little cloudy and the wind is picking up. If you wanted to drive up and see the colors, you should probably get in your car now. Traffic is going to be a nightmare! Once the wind blows, a lot of the leaves will be gone.

Today is day six of my steroids! I have one pill left this morning and then I’m done. I’m only up 4 pounds or so which is a miracle as roids make you retain water and gain weight. Must be because I did a couple miles a day on the treadmill. I feel a lot better but still need to lay off heavy weights for at least another week. I did a few light arm exercises yesterday.

We woke up at 6:30 and Ty was already gone. He’s really good at getting up and ready on his own and never misses a day of work. I can’t recall a time when he called in sick.

CU game tonight at 5:30! Broncos tomorrow at 11am. It’d be great if we could win both. That’s it for the day. Have a good Saturday, be safe, stay well and God Bless.

The day started with a call from Corsica at 6:30am. Then after a few chores we headed to the gym. We’re back now and getting ready for a celebratory call with our top estate in Italy via Zoom in an hour. They’ve not only won best winery in Italy, but also one of the top awards in the World, and this morning found out that their enologist (winemaker) was awarded the equivalent of being knighted by the Italian government. They’re good friends of Lori’s and I and we were supposed to be there right now, so we’ll Zoom in to say congrats.

It’s really nice outside. My back is getting better too. Lori decorated the house yesterday and it looks great with skeletons climbing our stone walls on the front of the house. After cigars with the guys, Davy and his two kids came over for hotdogs as Abbey is in San Diego with their oldest daughter who is a year younger than Jagger.

Time to get moving. I posted a pic of our horse working cows yesterday later in the day. Here he is again in case you missed it. First picture is when we bought him, and the second one is a few days ago working at the ranch. He’s supposed to go into an auction next Spring and should bring $30,000. Anything less, and we’ll probably keep him as he’s a really good horse! Have a great day and God Bless.

Nice outside, cool temperatures coming in the next few days. Looks like the 60’s in Denver at the first of the week, so that means maybe the 50’s up here!

Ty works today, Lori has a massage at noon, and I’ll be on the phone. I’m feeling way better. I did a mile and a half on the treadmill yesterday which really helped. I’ll do a couple miles this morning. I bought the wrong Christmas lights yesterday at Home Depot, so we’ll be making a trip back there. We need to get lights up before the landscapers wrap our trees to keep the elk and deer from eating them.

Hoping Lori’s head gets a little better today. I’m wondering if it’s something environmental. Could be allergies, something she’s eating, something in the house, who knows. It’s probably structural. Dr. B is making a plan and looking at her images.

Day 2 of the shutdown! Hope Trump fires all the useless people that have been scamming us by taking a paycheck and sitting at home. This is one of the reasons for never ending high taxes. Time to clean house. No way we need 3 million people on the payroll!

Time to go, have a great Thursday, Here’s a picture of our horse RC, working some cows in Wyoming yesterday! He’s a good boy!

God Bless.

I’m headed back to the gym. Not to lift weights but to do the treadmill for a few miles. That’s the only thing I can do for another week. I might throw in some band workouts, don’t tell Lori!

Nice and cool up here at night and pleasant during the day. I have four more days of steroids but the big two are done. You take 6 pills the first day, 5 the second, then 4 and so on for each day until you wrap up with one pill on day six. It’s day three now.

Lori is working in Frisco today. Remember after October, Frisco is done. It’ll be nice for her this winter as she won’t be driving over the pass.

Looks like the government shut down. That should save us some money! The Dems can’t get out of their own way. They sue in court every time Trump closes a useless agency or wants to eliminate some useless jobs in the bloated government, and now he gets to close down the positions he wants to get rid of. I’d rather have it shut down than give back trillions of dollars to pay for illegals health care and so called public tv which is nothing more than a democratic propaganda mouthpiece. If they’d stop paying themselves in D.C., there would be no shutdown! How’s that for a novel idea!

Time to get moving and enjoy my coffee, God Bless.

Great Bronco game last night. We needed the win. Ty and Jag had a blast. We thought Ty was staying in Denver, but he rolled in around 1pm.

I found out yesterday I have a small annular tear in my L4 and L5 disc. The good news is I don’t need surgery and should heal after steroids and rest. I started taking steroids last night and if that doesn’t calm things down in 5 days, I might get some injections. Dr. B told Lori, “Doug’s back is not bad for a 68-year-old guy, nothing to do surgery on, just a little normal age-related degeneration”. See, all that gym time does pay off! The only hard thing for me will be staying out of the gym. I’m having Lori ask today just what I can do as no way I can avoid the gym for 2 weeks. It’s good we cancelled the trip knowing what I know now.

Lori works in Vail today and tomorrow is in Frisco. I should run down to Denver today to deposit a check, but not sure I want to make the drive. We’ll see how I feel.

Going to be a nice week up here. October 1st tomorrow. Hard to believe. Make it a great day and God Bless.