A Year of Change

Lori is still kicking the crud, and I’m still sleeping upstairs. Looks like I’ve dodged whatever she has, knock on wood. Hope she’s turning the corner. Hard to tell but it seems she’s getting a little better. She obviously won’t be going to work.

Last week of August and Fall is definitely on the way. I might even turn off the sprinklers early to save some water and money. It’s been a wet and green summer which is nice.

I’d like to purge stuff from the garage and storage unit before the weather gets here. It’s funny as things you either accumulated, collected or inherited over the years, don’t seem to be so important as you get older. The bad thing is we all think our stuff is worth so much when other people won’t even take it for free. Take all mom’s old antique furniture, I can’t give them away. It’ll cost me to have it picked up from the storage unit and taken to the dump. So sad, but what do you do? I’m not going to keep paying $550 a month to have it sit in a storage unit, same with Dixie’s stuff. Oh well, out with the old and in with the new, or something like that.

Think I’ll go to the gym. Might as well get out of here and get some exercise. The Broncos looked good yesterday. I think we were the highest scoring team in pre-season, which doesn’t mean much, unless you’re the lowest scoring team in pre-season, ha. Hope we can carry things over to the regular season. Most people pick us as one of the worst teams in the league this year (2nd to last) but those same people picked Houston last in 2023. That didn’t age well! So, Go Bronco’s and Sko Buffs! That’s what we say for CU for those of you not from Colorado.

God Bless.

Yesterday I was out the door by 7:45. I made it to Interlocken, where Cigar Fest was, right on time. Shultz called a buddy who is a real estate attorney who met us and gave us a couple VIP wrist bands so we could get in early. This event sells out within minutes every year. I guess it’s the largest in the Country and people from all over the Country and even the World, travel here for it. We walked in and there was row after row of cigar companies and accessories, along with some fine alcohol booths. We headed over to our favorite companies’ booths as the cool stuff sells out quickly. We bought some great smokes and stashed our stuff at the 10th Mt. Whisky booth which Clark and Andres were working. After hanging out in the VIP tent and having some lunch, we headed out around 2 in the afternoon.

The drive home was easy with little traffic. I stopped to see Ty as I was going to get Lori some soup for her cold. When I made it home, she was still coughing and hanging out in bed. She did get up and take a shower. About a half hour later, she took a covid test, and you guessed it, she’s positive. To us, this doesn’t mean anything more than a bad summer cold. It is a nasty one though, and I’d prefer to skip it, ha. She’s not doing anything different, and neither am I. She doesn’t have any of the symptoms like shortness of breath or anything. Just a dry cough and feeling crappy. I just checked on her and she says she’s ok. We do know where she got it! It was at work when this patient came in wearing a mask, (which is semi-normal at the hospital as people are leery about catching something) and then around the end of her appointment, told Lori, “oh I have covid”! Lori is so pissed, what the hell are you doing going out, anywhere, if you’re sick with anything? I slept on the couch the night before and last night slept up in Jag’s room. His bed sure is comfortable!

I’m keeping Lori full of tea, lemon and honey and vitamins trying to help her kick her cold. Because she works at the hospital, she will be off work for a few days. That’s standard protocol. She just came out for coffee and is now back in her (our) room.

Hovey is closed today for a wedding. Someone did a buy out of the restaurant so Ty’ will be working still. Jag starts school tomorrow. Hard to believe. September 1st is a week from today. The Broncos last pre-season game is today, and the first CU game is this coming Thursday.

Not sure what I’ll do today. Probably some stuff around the house. I’ll see if I can make Lori some soup. She’s pretty picky when it comes to what she’ll eat. Nice outside this morning, almost Fall like. Won’t be long now until things change up here. Have a great Sunday and enjoy. God Bless.

Tom texted last night that he has a new home! We’re super happy for him. What a great way to start a new chapter in his life! I think he says he closes September 13th, so he’ll have plenty of time to get in before the weather changes. Congratulations!

Last night I slept on the couch! No not because I said something stupid or anything, but because I didn’t want to catch Lori’s cold. I’m off this morning to the Cigar Fest at the Omni up by Flatirons near Boulder. I should be back by dinner time. Guess it’ll be hot in Denver, so I’ll be wearing shorts, as I’m sure you were wondering, ha.

Jag took his car in yesterday and is getting ready for school, and Ty is working hard.

The big news of the day, other than Tom’s new house, is that Robert F Kennedy dropped out of the race yesterday and endorsed Trump. The best thing about this was his speech. He pointed out how politics have changed since his dad and uncles were around. He eviscerated the mainstream media for being an extension of the Democratic party and highlighted instance after instance where they’ve influenced the process. He also pointed out how the govt. wanted the war in Ukraine and walked away from peace agreements in 2019. In short, he exposed the back channels of the government for what they are. What they show you on tv and project to you, is not what’s really happening. Whether you like him or not, he spoke truth and talked to the people the way a Presidential candidate or for that matter, a President should. Not sure how much difference it’ll make, but it does highlight the scam that the Dems and Kamala are trying to pull on the Country. My favorite part of their convention this past week was Oprah and Michelle O telling the Country not to trust the rich, meaning Trump! Are you kidding me? Excuse the pun, but that’s “rich”, having those two with their private jets and helicopters and $50 million dollar homes, (they’re both super rich, duh) telling us not to trust the rich! Anyone see the irony here, wow!

Oh well, those in power see all of us as pawns and apparently think we’re all dumb as a stump. Time to get going. Have a great day, and congrats again to Tommy! God Bless.

The kids left a little bit after we all went out for lunch, then and then Lori and I settled in to wrapping things up for the day. I went and met the guys for cigars and was home a little after 7. When I walked in, I immediately could tell Lori wasn’t feeling well. Somehow, (we think from this one patient a couple days ago) she picked something up and bam, she was down. Hope she’s doing better today. Ty strolled in a little after me with pizza from Il Mago for us.

Nice outside with a slight cloud cover and temps in the 50’s. As I said yesterday, you can tell Fall is right around the corner. Way up high, the leaves are starting to do their thing. Soon it’ll all be yellow and gold. Pretty sunrises and sunsets accompany the days as they get shorter and shorter. Kids are going back to school and football kicks off in about a week. Fall really is the best time of the year.

Tomorrow I’m headed down to the Omni in Broomfield for Cigar Fest. It sells out quick, but Shultz secured two tickets for us. Andres and Clark are working it for 10th Mountain Whisky so they can get in. Should be fun. Lori will stay home, and I’ll be back by 4 or so at the latest.

Yesterday I received a call from a guy I’ve been talking to for probably six months or so. He works at one of the finest high end bespoke firearm dealers in the Country back east. There’s a rifle maker, John Rigby & Co., out of London, who is the most prestigious historical rifle maker in the World. They’ve made rifles for everyone from the likes of Ernest Hemmingway to every King of the U.K. since they were founded in 1775. They are arguably the finest rifle maker in the World. Long story short, through numerous conversations, I told my acquaintance what they need to do to sell rifles in America. They’re the number one choice for big game in Africa and Europe but over here, they don’t do so well. This is for a number of reasons too numerous to get in to. Anyhow, the President of this company back east, ended up sharing my thoughts through multiple conversations with the President of Rigby, and they want to build a line of rifles based on my specifications for the western big game hunter. Next step is an introductory call with me and their designers so they can get my thoughts straight from me, on exactly what to build and how to price and market it to hunters here in the U.S. Pretty exciting. I never imagined that they would take my thoughts and actually make it into a rifle. More on that to come, but I plan on getting serial number 1 of the new line of the Rigby Western Big Game Hunter (that’s what I named it) rifles. More to come, but what fun. We’ll see where it goes. I have a few guys that each want one of the new rifles, as they’ll surely be collector items in short order.

Lori just walked out, she sounds all stuffed up and congested. Hope she kicks this today. 6:46 now, time to put out the trash. Have a great Friday and God Bless.

It’s sort of misty outside with some low hanging clouds. Think we had a little rain last night and it’s in the mid 50’s right now. Lori says it feels like Fall. The news says the colors will be changing around September 15th or so. That’s the day bird hunting open up too! Can’t wait.

The kids are headed to Boulder today. Jag needs to take his car in tomorrow to finally get fixed. Lori has a crack on her windshield, so I need to get on that.

Our beef should arrive from Texas today. Think I might make a chuck roast tomorrow. We’re still slowly stocking up for Winter. Slow and steady wins the race. We were talking about inflation the other day with some friends, and they summed it up pretty well, saying the cost of things up here are not just expensive, they’re offensive! Never heard of the cost of things referred to in that way, but that’s a good term for things. Our elected representatives, (they’re not our leaders even though they’d have you believe they are) have sure screwed things up. Wish we could kick them all out. In the 70’s, everyone had the attitude of live and let live. Now, to try to get and keep power, those “representatives, will do anything to try to divide us. They do this because people fall for it. If we all woke up one day and said to each other, go live your life, do what you want to do, just don’t push your beliefs on me, we’d all be fine. It’s clear if you watched either convention, that’s all they got. At least the Republicans have some ideas on how to fix things. All the Democrats have is telling you how bad the Republicans are. What a mess. Getting rid of these guys in D.C. won’t come easy. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Time to get moving. 6:40am now, hang in there. Have a great day, God Bless.

Last night both boys and Ava were here with us, so the house was full. So was the driveway! The kids are up here I think until Thursday night or Friday morning as they start school on Monday. Jag and Ava sure are tan. That’s what twoo weeks on the beach will do to you.

I just got Jagger’s tuition bill for next semester, ugh. Of course the University raised their prices (who hasn’t) and tuition is now over $10,000 for the first semester which is September through December. Throw in monthly rent, car and insurance and that’s about $6K a month. Not cool, but nothing we can do about it. Jagger is going to have to get a job this year while in school.

Lori is in Frisco today. That means she’ll be home late. Ty works at 9. Davy and Abby are getting all moved in. He called last night saying how good Lori’s enchiladas were. They’re loving it up here. He said they can’t believe how peaceful it is.

We had a good rain last night. Should be around 80 up here for the next three days. We’ll take it. Time to get going, almost 7am. God Bless.

Last night, a little after 2am, Jag and Ava made it home. Harley let us know they arrived, as you can imagine. That’s her job. Not sure when their flight arrived as Lori came out to let them in.

Earlier in the day, Davy and Abby and the kids arrived from Santa Fe around noon to move in, to their new house next door. They had about three trucks and trailers hauling all their stuff. The movers proceeded to unload things, and I think had it all done by last night. Lori made them enchilada’s and we took them up around dinner time. They were so thankful.

We didn’t sleep a lot after the kids made it home. Lori started cleaning around 5 or so. Today she works in Vail, and I’ll be working around the house. Clear and a little cool outside right now. Just the way we like it.

That’s it, have a great day, take care and God Bless.

It took about an hour, but the windows are clean and clear. It went pretty fast with Marty washing and me following behind him wiping them down on the edges and bottom. He stopped and bought us the gear we needed to get the job done on the way over. About 30 minutes after we finished, Ben and Eleni showed up and we had a fun birthday celebration for Eleni. Lori made an incredible cake. If she wants, she could always be a baker.

I’m off to Denver in 30 minutes to pick up a check and some stuff and should be back before noon. Lori is working in Vail today. This weekend, we’re supposed to go to the Cigar Fest in Denver. Shultz and I will go to that while Lori and Jane go to some spa.

Two weeks from tomorrow it’ll be September and I’ll be in Austin for one night. First though, we have about a dozen days left in August. Jag and Ava come up tomorrow.

You can tell Fall is right around the corner. Of course we had a good, brief rain shower after we finished the windows. They’re still clear though. 6:04 so time to get in the shower. Have a great Monday and God Bless.

Today Ben and Eleni are coming over for a birthday dinner for Eleni. Marty is coming too as Melanie is still in Hawaii moving Max into college. Marty is coming early so we can wash the windows. He used to wash windows in college so he’s pretty good at it. Last time we did it, we whipped through it in around 30 or 40 minutes. To hire someone, it’s like $800!

Ty came home for dinner and to hang out after work before going to pick Madi up at her work, at 11pm. Jag and Ava come home tomorrow. They should be up here either then or Tuesday.

Lori and I went to Costco yesterday and hit the farmers market after the gym for some fresh veggies and banana bread from our friend Suzy. We freeze it as it’ll literally last a year. She’s making me four loaves for the freezer this week.

Time to go water the baskets out front. Looking good outside right now. We open the sliding doors in the morning to cool things down before the heat rolls in later in the day.

Oh yea, I ordered up four bottles of elderberry syrup (great if you’re getting a cold and just to keep your immune system strong) from one of my favorite organic farms in Texas, along with some chuck roasts and stew meat from a rancher in Texas. We’ll cook them up once it gets cold outside.

Have a good Sunday and Go Broncos and God Bless.

Yesterday we were busy as always. Ty worked and Jag is still in California. I went and had dinner with Marty at a restaurant he’s involved with that his group is tearing down sometime and remodeling.

Yesterday the lefts favorite communist, Kamala, proposed price fixes on food and other goods! Every economist and news outlet including those like CNN are blasting this as socialism. Can you imagine the govt. in Washington D.C. telling a farmer in Nebraska how much he can sell his beef or eggs for? This will lead to mass shortages, long lines and another depression the likes of which we haven’t seen since 1929. I really can’t believe she’d even suggest this. Problem is most people get their news in six second snippets off of Tic Tok and all they hear is that large corporations are gouging you. Nothing could be further than the truth. Grocery stores operate on an average profit margin of 1.9%. Prices are high from the endless spending by the Ferdal Govt. That’s a fact. How did that Inflation Reduction Act work out for you? Oh wait, it had nothing to do with inflation, they just named it that so it sounded good to voters. It was really their progressive green new deal which did things like spent $8 billion dollars on 7, yes 7, new EV chargers. These people have to be stopped or the Country as we know it is doomed. God help the U.S.A.

Kamala says she’ll tackle inflation and all these issues on Day One of her presidency. Hmm, I thought Day One was 3 1/2 years ago? Ask yourself why she doesn’t just fix things now? She’s still in office right?

Nice sunset the other day. I have some beef coming from a grass-fed rancher in Texas. We have about half a dozen chuck roasts and 10 pounds of stew meat inbound for the freezer. I need to order up some more of those pot pies. Anyone wanting great pot pies, made with all natural ingredients needs to check out Waltzing Kangaroo in Ft. Collins. They’re really good and you can keep them in the freezer for two years! Great comfort food.

Sunny and nice out this morning. Mid 80’s or so up here. I stopped at my neighbor Brian’s yesterday to try out some new binoculars he just bought. He’s putting his house on the market for $4,350.000 and had an offer of $4 million the first day he put it on the market. He passed as his new house in Ft. Collins won’t be ready for a year. Good to know though that the neighborhood prices are still going up. We should be worth somewhere around $3.4 or $3.5 million, if we sell. If it goes much higher, we might need to move as you just can’t leave that kind of money on the table. Interesting times.

That’s it, enjoy your Saturday. Be well, stay safe and God Bless.