A Year of Change

Broncos today. Ty is heading down even though he still has a little of the crud. No way he’d miss a game, ha. Not sure if Jag is going as he was with some friends the other night that had the vid. I told him to go buy a test this morning and if negative, and with the game being outside, he should be fine, as long as he’s feeling fine. If not, Ty can easily call up two buddies to go.

Lori and I hung out yesterday taking it easy. I did put on some rubber exam gloves and went upstairs to clean Ty’s bathroom and wash his sheets. It’s like you need to wear a hazmat suit to even step foot into his room.

We missed Tom and Holly’s party. I’m sure it was great. With Lori’s sore throat and cough and her headache, four hours in a car was just a no go, plus it wouldn’t be good to get all those old people sick, ha. She’s in constant pain and we can’t wait until next Wednesday to get the Spec CT scan. Hopefully Dr. B can review it that afternoon and then Lori will begin the process to get insurance authorization for surgery. Being Q4, insurance companies slow down everything as most people have met their deductible, which they hate, as then they have to pay. With luck, the scan will provide a road map of what needs to be done, and she’ll be in getting fixed week after next.

Ty’s on the road already as he needs to be there setting up the tailgate right at 10 when the gates open. I love that he’s all in and enjoys it so much. He showed me this morning he’s even wearing Bronco socks! Good for him. Hope Jag can go too. Lori did send Ty with a thermos of chicken noodle soup.

We have a fire going this morning as we sleep with the window open which cools it down into the 50’s by the time we wake up. Don’t think we’ll go to the gym as we’re both feeling a little weak. Time to take our handful of vitamins and drink lots of water.

Yesterday a handful of billionaires spent $294 million dollars to organize and put on the No Kings protests. I might be wrong, but if Trump was really a king, you think he wouldn’t allow a bunch of No Kings protests, right? We’re amazed how people are so easily manipulated on both sides. It’s like if someone sees something on the net, they automatically take it as 100% true. This is going to be the downfall of society as disinformation, (which has been around for decades), is being taken to a whole new level with AI. You honestly can’t believe anything you read, hear, or even see these days without verifying it as fact, and that’s tough to do too. The net is almost dead, meaning there is more AI and bots than actual humans. Good luck deciphering truth from fiction these days. For us, we’re just doing all we can to stay out of the game and keep to ourselves. Enough said.

Have a great day, God Broncos and God Bless.

Well, he got us. Lori has the crud worse than I do, but we both picked it up from the walking petri dish known as Ty. He went to the doctor yesterday afternoon at 3:30 and good news is his lungs are clear, and the doctor said he’s turning the corner and to just get some more rest. So hopefully this thing is a 48 hour bug or so. Then again, when you’re young, you get over things a lot quicker than when you’re older. I remember when I’d get a bruise when I was young, it’d heal in a day, now they take weeks! Anyhow, we’ll drink lots of fluids, eat soup, take tons of Vitamins and ride it out. Sadly, we’ll miss the Halloween party tonight. Lori’s super bummed as she wanted to see all the decorations. She’s a big Halloween fan.

Ty went to work for an hour yesterday trying to tough it out but didn’t last long. He’s trying again this morning and is a lot better than two days ago and better than yesterday too. I think he’ll be home before noon.

Looks like freezing temperatures in Denver tonight. That’ll be their first freeze of the season. Nice outside but cool in the mornings. No snow yet, but that could happen tonight, especially up high. Lori made some good soup yesterday and we’ll just eat that today. Soup is usually better the second day anyhow.

My buddy Steve who is Group 19 in the Army was coming up for the weekend to stay with us as he used to live here and has the weekends off and is down at the big base in Colorado Springs. With our colds, he’s passing and will hopefully come up next weekend. He’s about ready to head out on a six-month deployment. I asked him where and he said he’d tell me next weekend in person rather than on the phone. He’s like 20 years in and Group 19 is today’s version of the Green Berets. He and Angie moved to Arizona a couple of years ago and is off half the year or so. When he’s sent somewhere, something is up. He trains and commands a bunch of guys, and it seems like they’re always doing some sort of training somewhere in the World. He’s been on training exercises to places like Iceland and Africa and other places you haven’t even heard of. It’ll be interesting to see where he’s headed to next weekend. He always gives me a call and a heads up about anything going down. He’s like our early warning system.

Big Bronco game tomorrow with the team honoring Demaryius Thomas. Our Super Bowl 50 team will be there for the game. Hope we win, we should.

That’s it, time have a great Saturday, God Bless.

Yesterday we headed to Denver a little after 5am. With traffic up Vail Pass, we made it to the dealer around 7:30 to drop Lori’s car for service. Ty called thinking we were still home around 6am to see if Lori could make him breakfast. He still didn’t sound good with his cold.

For the past two days I did everything I could to stay away from him. I washed my hands 20 times or more after touching anything I thought he might have touched. I told Lori, “just watch, he’s going to get one of us sick and then whoever gets it first will get the other of us sick”. Well, I think he got us! Not sure which of us has it worse, time will tell. We both slept from 7pm last night to 6:30am this morning. By the way, Ty lasted about 45 minutes or an hour at work yesterday before he had to come home. We bought all kinds of chicken soup, cough medicine, cough drops, cough syrup and every fluid for hydration, that Whole Foods had. I haven’t seen him yet this morning as he’s in the shower as Lori woke him when we got up. He was supposed to be on the road 10 minutes ago for work. I just have a headache and a stuffed-up nose but Lori has a headache (can’t tell if it’s from Ty or her head), and the cough like Ty’s. We’re downing Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Zinc trying to fend it off. Time will tell. We figure we’ll know by tonight if he infected us with the crud. Lori’s putting chicken soup in a thermos for Ty right now and I just got him some Alka Seltzer cold medicine, the kind you drop in a glass of water, along with some Tylenol, uggghhh! I knew he’d pass this crap on to one of us! Like I said, only question is which one of us get it first! Think I’ll wear a mask! Hope we didn’t give it to Jagger if we got it. That’s how this crap works, a hug here, a handshake there, then it’s everywhere!

In Denver, after dropping Lori’s car, we went to get my haircut. Phoebe, our friend and hairdresser for 25 years, who almost died a month or so ago, had her hernia operation ten days ago and now feels good. She had a 2% chance of living a few months ago. After that, we went to Jagger’s apartment and then the three of us walked over to this fun restaurant for lunch. We had a really nice time. The weather in Denver was really nice. After lunch we walked around his neighborhood for a while and stopped for an ice cream at Little Man Ice Cream, which is hands down, the best place in all of Colorado. We’d eat ice cream (especially Lori) every day, if we lived that close!

Around 1:30 we went to get her car. $2500 later for the 30,000 mile service, we were on the way home. Lori worked the whole trip home on her computer and phone, and we stopped once at Whole Foods for the aforementioned supplies for Ty. After getting home, we hung out until 7 or so when we fell asleep.

She did get approval from the insurance company for her spec CT scan next Wednesday. After that, Dr. B will know what surgery to do on her neck. She could go in as early as the week after next. This is good news as her neck hurts 24/7 right now.

Meanwhile, our friends, who are a young couple that runs the big ranch in Wyoming, and take care of our horse, has a 5-year-old daughter who has had two sort of like seizures, and can’t get into a neurologist. Lori is on the job pulling in every favor and connection she knows. When it first happened, they went to the ER in Walden, up by the ranch, which has to be nothing more than a small clinic. They should have gone straight to Children’s Hospital in Denver, but they didn’t know. Getting in to see a neurologist is probably the toughest doctor to get in to see. Lori is working on it. She’ll somehow get it done as that’s who she is, she cares!

Our new espresso machine is great! Coffee again is really enjoyable. We’d been drinking instant for months. It’s well worth the $1000 it cost.

7am now, that’s it. Have a great Friday and cross your fingers we kick this crap and can fight it off today. We have our costumes ready for Tom and Holly’s tomorrow, if we don’t get any worse! God Bless.

Leaving around 5am for Denver to get Lori’s car serviced. We’re supposed to be there at 7 but will probably get there closer to 7:30. Then I have a haircut at 9:30 and then we’ll head over to meet Jagger for lunch. I’m hoping the car is done by noon or 1 at the latest. That’ll put us home around 3.

Yesterday I played lawyer and finalized two agreements that even our corporate lawyer was amazed at. I came up with a couple ideas on the fly, and bam, they worked. Now we’re at the signing stage. That should take less than a week as there’s a lot of signatures to gather up.

Lori worked Frisco yesterday. She only has one more day there in two weeks, and then no more driving over the pass. Good timing to end Frisco before winter kicks in.

Ty has a bad cold with a snotty nose and cough. Of course, he works today. I wouldn’t be surprised if they send him home. Time will tell.

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

Looks like we have another nice week before it gets cold. Soon our hanging baskets out front will be done. I’ll put away the hoses today after I walk them out.

Yesterday in Denver, one of my meetings was with a fellow who has been making handmade cowboy boots his entire life. He started when he was in his early teens mentoring from a guy who is long gone now. That was like 50 years ago! He’s part of a group of craftsmen that formed a group called the CTA or Cowboy Trades Association. These guys are the best boot makers, saddle makers, hatmakers, silversmiths, rawhide braiders, and anything else you can think of that was made hundreds of years ago in western culture. Most of these guys are getting older and they’re trying to preserve their way of doing things and created this group to do so. They hired this nice girl, Nicole, who happened to be in town from Clark Wyoming, where she lives, and she came by to meet me at Jim’s place. I’m helping them in their quest to preserve the traditional ways and work, so it doesn’t die off. James’s foundation only provides scholarships or money to people pursuing trades, so this is right up their alley. They need help raising money so apprentices can learn their craft and keep the old way of doing things alive. Most of these guys do things in the way, that if not passed down to future generations, will die off forever. Jim is also making me some new boots! Should be done in about 9 months!

I found these guys, or should I say, they found me, through Ernie, the guy in the hat and brown shirt who made my best buckle I’ve had for years. I bought Lori one of his handmade buckles (actually traded two bottles of Pappy Van Winkles whisky, worth $2k a bottle, for it) and gave it to her last Christmas. The guy in the hat and glasses is Jim, my bootmaker. The took a picture of my buckle yesterday as they wanted to send it to Ernie to show it to him. Check out this video as it’s pretty interesting, https://youtu.be/Lrn1dk5H3Hs . It’s a good feeling to do something to keep the old ways alive. Dad would love these guys and I’m sure donate. Robi, go to their website and become a member! COWBOY TRADES ASSOCIATION – SUPPORTING TRADITIONAL COWBOY ARTIST AND ORGANIZATIONS.

After meeting with Jim and Nicole, I headed to Best Buy to buy a new espresso machine. Ours broke down months ago and I’ve been meaning to pick one up. I stopped at the grocery store in Frisco and then headed over the pass for home. I planned on going home and then going back to the hospital as Lori had an official appointment with Dr. B for her neck. I wanted to be there to see what’s up. Of course there was an accident on the pass, so after sitting for 45 minutes, I went straight to the hospital. We met with Dr. B and he think he found the cause of her headache. It looks like a screw on her previous fusion has come loose. You can see one of the screws in her neck on the x-rays that has what he called a halo around it. She’s getting some kind of special CT scan hopefully Friday and then could have surgery as early as next week. She also needs a few levels down repaired and said she’d like it all done at once! Dr. B said that’s a big surgery, and she will lose range of motion, sort of like Peyton Manning. She’s fine with that as long as the pain in her head and traps goes away. We’re thrilled to finally get an idea of why she has such a bad headache. I also asked Dr. B if he’d personally do the surgery and he said yes, which is a really big deal. We’ll know more after the Specter CT scan in a few days. It highlights the bone-on-bone areas that need attention.

This morning I’m running to Costco for an eye exam as you need one nowadays to renew your driver’s license. Mine expires on my birthday so I’m getting ahead of it. Then I have a call at 10am. Lots going on at work, good stuff, but challenging too.

Lori is in Frisco today and then tomorrow morning at 5am we’re headed to Denver to drop her car for service and to have the winter tires put on. I might get a new Denali as I think my guy found me a good one at the right price.

6:30am now, time to go. Have a great day, God Bless.

I need to be on the road by 6:15, 6:30 at the latest. I have a 9am in Parker and then have a call around noon. After that call, I’ll probably be on more calls until the end of the day.

Lori works in Vail today. Ty went to Denver yesterday and will be coming home today. He and some buddies played paint ball in the afternoon.

Fall is here, even though we’ll have some nice days. Snow could be here anytime. Then we’ll have a good five months until it’s gone. We’re hoping for a milder than normal winter.

Oh, here’s something funny. Yesterday afternoon I went back in the bedroom to do some work as I needed to charge my computer. Around 5, Lori came back and said to me, “I’m going to watch something now, so let’s turn off football”. I teased her and told her I was here first. Then, and this is the funny part, she said “you came back here hours ago just to stake out the tv so you could say you we’re here first”! If you think about this, it’s pretty funny. I told her, “Oh yea, I’ve just been hanging out in the bedroom, all day, so I could say I was here first”. Maybe you had to be here, but it was really funny. Of course, Lori ended up getting her way. When we were first married, I told her we’re 50/50 unless it’s a life-or-death situation and then I’m 50.1 and she’s 49.9. This really means she can do whatever she wants and I’m ok with it, unless we’re in a bad situation. So, that’s why Lori gets to watch whatever she wants and just about anything else. Truthfully, she never really asks for much, and never anything out of line. She’s a good girl!

Time to get moving. I’ve been looking for a turkey but none of the stores have them yet. Maybe I’ll find one in Denver. Have a great day, be well and God Bless.

Big win in London yesterday. It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win. Our defense is the best in the NFL, hands down.

Around 12:30 we went into town for the music festival. We stayed an hour or so before heading home. It was a really nice day in the mountains. Snow is on the mountain up high and the colors on the trees against is looked like a postcard. It was about 50 degrees which was coat weather, but nice, and the sun was out.

This morning Lori has a neck treatment at 8 with her PT guy and then an MRI at 1. We have to get her fixed up as this crap is getting old. Almost been a month now.

Ty is off the next few days. He and his brother are going to the game this coming weekend. We’re playing the Giants, and it should be a good game. We need to fix some things on offense before then, and I think we will. We just played down to the other team’s level yesterday, which happens in sports. Most important thing is we’re tied for first place! Go Bronoces!

Have a great day, God Bless.

Broncos play in London in about 90 minutes! Should be a good game. The highlight of yesterday was the CU Buffalos beating 22nd ranked Iowa State! It was a good win for us and for Coach Prime. He had blood clot surgery on Tuesday and was out there on the field coaching the team yesterday! Finally, we finished a game.

Before that we drove into Vail to see what was going on with the music festival. They were in a rain delay, and no one had showed up. We headed home to watch the game. The weather cleared up by 5pm but by then, we were done. We’ll go back today around 1 if the weather cooperates.

Lori has a massage at the Westin at 9. I’ll be watching the game. It’s raining pretty hard outside right now. We’ll take all the moisture we can get. I’m just glad it’s not 20 degrees out as we’d have a lot of snow!

Our close friends Jeff and Tina are at the Bronco game in London as yesterday was Jeff’s 60th birthday. They fly home tomorrow. Tuesday, I have a meeting in Denver, and on Thursday, Lori and I are taking her car down for service and to have her winter tires put on. I think we’re going to shop for a new bed. Ours is 4 or 5 years old and seems broken down. Finding the right bed is a never-ending battle.

That’s it, about an hour to go before kickoff. Ty just took off for work. Have a good day and Go Broncos! God Bless.

Looks like some wet weather today, especially in the morning. We’re headed into Vail for Davy’s festival around 1, so hopefully it stops by then. Could be snow up high tomorrow morning. Same with next week.

Ty’s getting ready for work and Lori’s still sleeping. Jag had a little bulge in one of his tires yesterday, so I told him to go get two new tires. Ty is literally down to owing about $13K on his truck. That means he’s paid off like $30,000 in a year! Quite the accomplishment. Of course, we don’t charge him rent so he can pay a lot on his truck.

Pilates was tough. I probably should have waited another week or so before trying it, but I’m doing ok this morning. It’s a whole different type of workout though.

Big CU game today. We’re not having the season we hoped for, but that happens. Hope we win. Time to get moving, have a nice weekend and God Bless.

Today I’m doing Pilates for my first time with Sarah, Lori’s trainer. I’m only doing a 30-minute session and then Lori is doing the rest of the hour. I had my annual doctor appointment yesterday, and all looks good. My doctor asked me how I was going to avoid hurting my back again and I told her I’m backing off real heavy weights and starting Pilates. She said, “that’s great”. I also told her I decided to quit a few other things like processed meats, (mainly bacon), and told her how I quit drinking the day I had a conversation with my GI doctor in Denver nine years ago. She said, “you can just quit like that once you make a decision”, to which I said yea, if I want to. She then said “Wow, that’s your superpower! Wish all my patients could do that”! I told her I’m lucky in that way, if I make up my mind to really do something, I can just do it.

Looks like a little rain this weekend. Hope the music festival doesn’t get rained out. The colors are fading fast as the leaves are dropping. In a week or so, they’ll be gone. I went to cigars yesterday to hang with the guys. I’m not smoking as I’ve mentioned, but it’s still a great time getting together.

The days are getting shorter and soon daylight savings time will be here. I thought that was going away, but I guess they haven’t made that decision yet. That’s it for today, have a great day, be well and stay safe and God Bless.