A Year of Change

Today is Dad’s birthday! Not sure how old he would have been, but it was always the start of the birthday season. Dad’s birthday is today, Tom’s is the 19th and mine is the 29th. Throw in Jagger’s on the 17th and we always had a lot of cake in December.

Yesterday Lori put up lights out front and in the back. The ones out front are so bright, I’m sure you can see them from space! We’re up early as Lori needs to be at work by 7:45 and I have a call at 9.

I managed to clean my closet yesterday and today will try to tackle my office. We also need to get the basement cleaned up as Shultz and Jane will be staying here the night of our party, so they don’t have to drive back to Denver. Throw in the mud room and we have some cleaning to do.

Chiefs won last night on a last second field goal. First time I’ve ever cheered for them as it helped the Broncos. Big game next week for us. I think we’re going with Ty.

6:10am now, time to get moving so I can get to the gym before my 9am call.

Have a great day, only 2 weeks and 2 days until Christmas! Ho Ho Ho! God Bless.

Looks like a little snow tonight and tomorrow, maybe around an inch. So far, it’s been a mild winter, snow wise. Hope that continues. We don’t mind the cold as long as we’re not dealing with feet of snow.

Yesterday Abby and Davy’s decoration people stopped by to give us a quote on putting up Christmas lights on the five trees in the front yard. Are you ready for this? $4300 dollars! You’ve got to be kidding! That’s over $800 a tree! I could buy 5 new trees for less than that, ha.

Lori put up some lights yesterday in the backyard, and it cost us nothing! I’ll do the same today in the front yard.

We’re running a little late as we slept in. K.C. and Shannon, next door to us, and between Davy and us, sold their house! $4.1 million! That means we’re holding steady and should be worth $3.5 million easy. Good to see the neighborhood holding steady.

Lori and Nate, our neighbors on the other side, are seriously talking about how we could all move to Idaho and basically own shares of the hospital. It’d be a big move and wouldn’t happen for a couple years, but it would be a game changer for both of our families. Lori would make a whole lot more money too. We’d like to get Dr. B to go too. In the meantime, Nate (who is a ortho surgeon too), has launched a concierge medicine practice Lori might help with. There are lots of people that are willing to pay extra for better care and for getting in right away. More to come here, but things are coming together for both of us with new opportunities. All this right when we’re figuring out how to retire, ha. Good news is we can do these things (our new companies) from home when we retire. We’re trying to develop mailbox money, meaning just have checks come in the mail every month. That’s the key.

8:12 now so time to go. Football later today but we’re on a bye week. Sunny and nice outside. More Yellowstone tonight, fun. Have a great Sunday, God Bless.

I wrapped up my fast and began refeeding yesterday afternoon. You can’t just eat a burger and fries, or anything you want after not eating for 3 days, or you’ll upset your stomach. You start with electrolytes and then a few hours later some protein. I’ll eat light today too. I had bone broth, then some peanut butter on crackers, and after that, scrambled eggs. Throw in a Gatorade Zero and I was good for the night.

I’m down about 8 pounds but did this more for the internal benefits. Fasting for just 48 hours can clean out your fatty liver, which over 50% of Americans, due to our diet, have. Enough about me, as you probably don’t care anyhow, ha.

Yesterday I went to the gym for some light lifting and a mile on the treadmill and then dropped some cookies and stuff for Dr. B who was in the OR all day. Last night we went down to Nate and Dea’s where Lori and Nate talked for over an hour. Nate wants to move to Idaho and wants us to come and he’ll make Lori his practice manager or director and she would make a lot more money. He went over to the Steadman Clinic from Lori’s place about 18 months ago. Somethings fishy in how they calculate the numbers at Lori’s work and she’s stirring things up. Who knows, she and Dr. B might jump ship. She did go in yesterday and told them, if her bonus, that they magically found after she raised hell, was from a year or two ago, it wasn’t fair for her to have to wait and be paid out over the next few months. So now, after the first payment on her next check, she’ll get the rest at the beginning of the year. That’s better for us as we don’t want to pay taxes on any more money this year anyhow. As I said yesterday, her Company better get it together as if she leaves, it’ll create a domino effect, and I think the whole practice would fold. They’re lucky she doesn’t demand a couple hundred thousand dollar raise. That’s how important she is. We’ll see.

Ty works today. Jag’s been feeling off and we need to get him into the doctor when his finals are over. We think he has an ulcer from stress. We’ll go to the gym today and then stop to see Ty.

It’s the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, what a day in history. That’s it, time to get going. Have a great weekend and God Bless.

Lori and I made it to Denver a bit before 9am. We stopped on Broadway and Alameda to meet Chris (our lawyer) and give him a box of wine for the holidays. He was very appreciative. Then it was on to Phoebe’s for haircuts and color. That took around 2 and a half hours before we were done. We’ve known Phoebe for over 20 years. Funny, when you’ve known someone that long, they’re a part of your life, sort of like family. In 20 years, people grow older, have kids, who grow up, have health issues, get married, and yes, divorced, family members pass away, (all our parents) and more. When you think back, to people you’ve known that long, you’ve gone through a lot together.

We headed up the hill and stopped at Tom’s so Lori could see the new house and we could pick up some cookies. We were sorry to miss Holly as Lori has only met her once and I met have met her maybe twice, not sure. The house is really nice and all decorated. It was a great deal for the money.

We headed out after 15-20 minutes for home and made it to the ranch a little after 3. Roads were fine and traffic was nothing, except for Idaho Springs where they stop traffic for rock scaling. We only had to wait 10 minutes which wasn’t too bad.

I’m in a groove on the water fast. I actually think I could go on longer but will stop this evening. Might wait until tomorrow morning to eat, we’ll see. Off to the gym this morning. Remember, use it or lose it. The body is amazing in how quickly it can transform if you just show it a little love. It’s never too late to start exercising or start eating right. As far as this fasting thing, they say if you want to live a long time, research it.

Trash day so time to clean out the refrigerator. I ordered up the best fruitcake made, so they say, last night. No one is big on fruit cake, but a little slice here and there around the holidays is nice. We’ll probably put it out at our party.

6:25am now. Time to get going. Have a great Friday and weekend. Be well, stay safe and God Bless.

36 hours down, 36 hours to go. I’m right in the middle of my 72 hour water fast. This is where you have only water for 72 hours. Not sure who knows about this, but fasting like this has been around for thousands of years. After 24 hours, your body goes into autophagy. This is where the body essentially starts eating itself. In fact, autophagy in Greek translates to self eating. This is super beneficial as the body breaks up and eats diseased cells, mainly attributed to Alzheimer’s and a number of cancers. Here’s the technical info if you’re interested. If not, skip the next paragraph.

Autophagy (or autophagocytosis; from the Greek αὐτόφαγος, autóphagos, meaning “self-devouring”^[1] and κύτος, kýtos, meaning “hollow”)^[2] is the natural, conserved degradation of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-dependent regulated mechanism.^[3] It allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components.^[4][5] Although initially characterized as a primordial degradation pathway induced to protect against starvation, it has become increasingly clear that autophagy also plays a major role in the homeostasis of non-starved cells.^[6] Defects in autophagy have been linked to various human diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer, and interest in modulating autophagy as a potential treatment for these diseases has grown rapidly.

Anyhow, surprisingly, I’m not that hungry. I’m super alert and focused and am also down 4 pounds in the first 36 hours. And that’s not water weight as that’s all I’ve had! They say you should do this once a year. Some people do it a couple times a month, or fast for longer, like ten days! No way I could do that, as 72 hours, while so far, isn’t that bad, is enough. So, more water only until dinner time tomorrow night.

Today we’re off to Denver to see Phoebe to get haircuts. I’m also dropping some wine at my lawyer’s office and have a few other stops while Lori’s color is getting done. Tom made Christmas cookies and if we have time, we’ll stop and grab some. We talked for 20 minutes or so yesterday to catch up, glad he’s doing well.

Hope to be home by 3. Not sure if we’re having cigars tonight or not. I personally haven’t smoked a cigar since the Halloween party on October 26th. I just decided to take a break. No particular reason, just on a whim.

Ty’s off today. Jag is working hard at school. Lori had an impromptu meeting yesterday and after continuously complaining about not yet getting her bonus, they miraculously said they made a mistake last year on coding some procedures and owe her $30,000. What really happened is that Dr. B. thought she was going to quit and went in and yelled at the CEO and I think threatened to leave the practice himself if they didn’t take care of Lori. So, in a matter of an hour, they found this missing money. Hmmm. We’ll of course take it, but she shouldn’t have had to wait this long or have this go on this long. They’re also working on a $50,000 raise for her starting January 1. They’d better figure it out as she’s worth way more than that (numbers prove it), and they can’t lose her, or it could (I think would) sink the practice, as Dr. B would not have the patients and revenue without her. It’s so frustrating that people aren’t appreciated until they threaten to leave, or in many cases, do leave their job. Dr. B. saw this coming as Lori sent an email over the weekend with her concerns and frustrations, and that finally got everyone’s attention. I actually wrote the email for Lori to help her get her points across. It was honest, yet critical of everything and everyone, including the CEO. We didn’t know, but Dr. B forwarded the entire email on to Chris the CEO! Well, that stirred things up, and in the end solved things and I think will actually make the company stronger, as he’s now going to be taking Lori’s input on things. Truthfully, Lori would make a better CEO than this guy but that’s not the job she wants. I’m super glad they finally realize and understand what they have in her, as she really is amazing. If we moved to New York or somewhere, she’d be making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Tough day for her, but all’s well, ends well.

Time to get moving, have a great Thursday and God Bless.

As mentioned yesterday, I have a 10:30 meeting this morning in Aspen. I’ll leave at 9 and should be home before 1 this afternoon.

Yesterday I was in Denver by 7:45am and met Jag around 8:30. Then it was off to Arvada before picking up my truck a bit before 10 and getting out of town. I was literally on the phone from 8am until probably 2, with a few breaks here and there.

Should be in the 40’s today. Maybe a little snow next Sunday and Monday. Lori is in Vail today and Ty’s working. I did get into the gym yesterday afternoon for a quick workout and then and stopped to see Ty on my way home.

A friend of mine in Texas called last night and let me know he sent one of my Colt Single Action Army pistols back to me via Fed Ex. These are the type of pistols they used in the Old West. Think cowboy guns. Paul is the only guy left in the Country that has and can legally make and sell ivory grips. Ivory was outlawed years ago to protect elephants, but Paul’s supply was grandfathered in. He is about 2 or 3 years out, if he’ll even agree to make a set for you, but I met him through one of the old timers in the industry and he finished up mine in a little over 3 months. He’s around my age but is known Worldwide for his work. It should arrive tomorrow. Can’t wait to see it.

50 more wolves are set to be released in Colorado. Unbelievable. How about Joe B jetting off to Africa and giving them $1 Billion dollars of our money, (remember all the gov’s money comes from taxpayers) for food security and rebuilding communities. Funny that North Carolina is still waiting for federal funds to rebuild from the hurricane. Double unbelievable.

That’s it for today! Hope everyone is well, time to get moving, make it a great day and God Bless.

Great game last night. So happy Ty goes to them as I remember how much fun they were when I was his age.

I’m up early and out by 6 for Denver. Ty works at 7 (he made it home at midnight), and Lori around 8, so it’s a busy morning. After I drop my truck, I need to go meet Jagger as he left some notebooks here over Thanksgiving that he needs. Then I have a call with Arizona at 10:30 and one with Wisconsin at 12:40. Tomorrow I have a 10:30 meeting in Aspen and then should be home by 1.

Hope everyone is well. Have a great day, take care and God Bless. Go Broncos!

This week temps should be between 40 and 50 up here. That’s warm and should melt some snow. Yesterday afternoon was nice. It was almost “lay out in the sun” weather for Lori. Instead, she did some decorating out front.

Tonight in Denver is the big game. Monday Night Football! I’m meeting Ty on my way to Silverthorne to drop him his Broncos jersey and a Broncos sweatshirt of mine to wear tonight. He’ll be driving up after the game as he works tomorrow. Hope we win! Starts at 6:15 tonight.

I’ll be on the phone most of the day working on closing the year and on my new project. This month I’ll be speeding things up on both. Lori is working in Vail today.

Big news last night is Biden pardoned Hunter, nice. To be fair, I’m not sure he even knows what’s happening these days. His mind is clearly gone. It was most likely Jill. Everyone knew they would do this. It’s just their statement on how they were so conflicted and how Hunter was unfairly targeted and on and on. This is the true definition of gaslighting. They should have just said, we’re pardoning him because we can. Trying to make a case for it only makes it worse. Let’s see, tax evasion, the laptop, hookers and guns, cocaine in the White House, lying to Congress and the FBI, and on and on. Give me a break. The only one unfairly targeted was Trump. This will surely ruin Biden’s legacy, as if it needed anymore help. Dems though will justify and even praise it. Trump now though can basically pardon whoever he wants and look just fine. We all know, Joe hasn’t been running the Country for years. What a joke.

6:15 now, time to get going. Make it a great day, December 2nd, hold on tight. God Bless.

We’re in the 4th quarter now. One month to go left in 2024. Lots going on, a bunch of birthdays, Christmas and New Years Eve. Big news of the day yesterday was Tom got married! We’re all a little sad we were not invited to the wedding. It was an informal thing at the courthouse, and we would have drove down, but obviously his choice. We wish him the best and hope it’s all he hopes it’ll be. Congratulations little brother! We’re looking forward to spending some time with you and getting to know Holly over the holidays. Make sure to tell her, welcome to the family.

Lori and I had a nice time in Aspen. We made it there around noon and hit a few of our regular stores. We stopped at Whole Foods on the way home for some groceries and had a nice drive. Not too much traffic and the town wasn’t too packed. We met a nice black couple from Detroit at Ralph Lauren. The guy came up to me and said how much he liked my hat and asked me where I got it and also wondered where I found my sweater. Chris in Texas makes my hats and my sweater was an older vintage piece I’ve had for years. He asked Adrian (one of the salesmen) at Ralph Lauren if they had any vintage stuff like what I was wearing. They have a few things, way overpriced, spread around the store. I told Brandon (the guy) I guess I have a house full of vintage stuff! He laughed. I gave him my email and phone number and said if he wanted to email or call me, I’d hook him up with my hat maker in Austin Texas and my belt and buckle makers in Wyoming. He had asked if I got my hat at Kemo Sabe, which is a store that sells new, but distressed looking hats of their own brand to tourists for $1000 an up! He was telling me that they walked in, they gave him and his wife each a big glass of whisky, and before he knew it, $2000 later, he was walking out wearing a new hat! I laughed and told him, yea, that’s how they work. It’s funny to see these people who come from all over, mostly back east, but from other countries too, that want to play dress up like a cowboy, and will spend thousands of dollars on stuff no self-respecting cowboy or local would be caught dead in. His wife had on this mink fur hat that looked like a big furry helmet. Lori told her how cute it was (she’s nice in that way) and later told me it had to cost $4000 or more. I almost told the lady, don’t wear that out at night as someone might shoot you thinking you’re an animal, ha. It was a nice hat, but just looked, well, very Aspen. They were a super nice couple though and were very appreciative of me offering to tell them where to get the stuff actual cowboys wear.

I was walking around in jeans and a sweater not zipped up as it was in the high 20’s or maybe the 30’s. It’s easy to tell the tourists as they’re usually decked out in all kinds of designer clothing, complete with logos, and always bundled up like they’re in Antartica! I’m always looking around thinking, those people sure must be hot! Guess I just get used to the weather living her as I don’t really get cold much. Lots of big furry hats and gloves, paired with fancy coats with logos so big, they look like walking billboards.

Once we made it home and settled in, and we watched a couple of Christmas movies. One Magic Christmas and The Holiday. Surprisingly, Lori doesn’t remember seeing either of them, even though I’m sure we watched them numerous times over the years. One Magic Christmas is one of the most heartwarming movies of all time with a great message. If you haven’t seen it, get on it. You can thank me later.

Davy, Abby and the kids landed in Denver at 2:15am and made it home a bit after 5 am this morning. Jag and Ava made it home yesterday too. Guess the airport was pretty crowded.

Ty works this morning and then is off tomorrow and will head down for Monday Night Football! Hope we win. Time to get moving and head to the gym. Use it or lose it. Savor the holidays as they’ll go fast! We’re in the home stretch now. Here’s last night’s sunset, God Bless.

After the gym this morning, we decided we’d take a run over to Aspen. Jag loves this cologne from Louis Vuitton, and we get his bottle refilled once a year. Speaking of Aspen, how about this! Four South Americans (nice way of saying illegal immigrants) were busted breaking into a high-end watch shop by breaking into an art gallery and then breaking through a wall into another adjacent business and then breaking through their wall to get into the watch shop. They were caught in Vail and are now awaiting a hearing tomorrow. Up here, we have cash bail only for these guys. Not like down in Denver. They’re part of a criminal gang that comes to all parts of the U.S. on temporary visas for the sole purpose of robbing some place, (business or residential) and then they run back to their own Country. Glad we caught them. Just goes to show you, no place is safe anymore thanks to the Biden Harris administration’s policy. We now set our alarm at night when we sleep, put The Club on our cars in the driveway, and are always close to something that goes bang in case we’re ever broken into. Man, I miss the 70’s. Bring on President Trump!

Yesterday also marked the 160th year anniversary of the darkest day in the history of Colorado. The Sand Creek Massacre on November 29th, 1864, was when the army slaughtered men, women and children without warning or reason about 180 miles southeast of Denver.

At dawn 160 years ago, Col. John Chivington led 700 cavalry troops in a surprise attack on peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians along Sand Creek.

Even though Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle raised an American flag and a white flag to signal peace, Chivington and his men galloped into the camp and killed 230 Indians, two-thirds of them women, children and elderly.

That attack has been described as “an atrocious massacre” and an “act of barbarity.” One writer said it was impossible to believe men could “butcher and mutilate human beings as they did.” Hard to believe what humans can do to one another. One of my favorite movies since I was a kid is Soldier Blue with Candace Bergen and Peter Strauss. You can still watch it on Netflix or Prime. Good movie and has to do with this sad part of history. Check it out, it’s entertaining too. Just a bit of history and my way of not forgetting these people who we displaced and annihilated from their ancestorial home a century and a half ago. Of course, the government justified it back then being for the greater good, just as they do these days when they want something. You think we as people would learn, right?

It’s pretty outside, much as it was a hundred years ago or more. The pink sky is rising above the snow-covered ground and the animals that call it home, are waking up to start their day. As you know, we have lots of birds and elk and deer and yesterday Lori saw either a fox or coyote run across the backyard.

We need to feed Juno and Tux and put out our trash along with Davy’s and Dea and Nate’s on the other side of us. They’re all out of town until tomorrow. When Lori went up to Davy’s yesterday, she discovered their breaker had tripped off as the house was 53 degrees. She managed to get it fixed, (she’s a fixer) and it was 64 when we went back up later last night.

I found some cool things for the boys for Christmas yesterday. Most of my shopping is on-line these days. I ordered something really special (can’t say what as Lori reads this!) for my lovely wife about six months ago. I’m probably more excited about it than she’ll ever be, but it’s really cool. I’m pretty sure she’ll like it. I am the best shopper in the family, ha. I’ll even shop for myself and then give stuff to Lori to wrap and give me. Also found something really cool for my little sis, but can’t give any clues.

That’s it, 7am now and time to get going. Last day of November, enjoy and God Bless.