A Year of Change

Time to get back in the gym. Been a few weeks with all going on.

Yesterday morning was a whirlwind. I took our 4 elk heads to the taxidermist, then dropped a bunch of meat off for the hungry and then finally we headed to Tommy’s. Jag met us there and we all hung out for a few hours. Jag then stayed a couple hours more to hang with Tom. He’s doing as well as can be expected. I’m sure it’s worse when people are not around. We’re determined to get him out and to do more stuff together. Now more than ever Tom needs some distractions. Maybe well do some Fall fly fishing.

We made it home a little after 6 as we needed to stop for groceries. With all going on last week Lori didn’t have a chance to get to the store. Weird without Mojo. Harley seems ok but hard to tell.

Luckily we have tomorrow off. Tuesday I’m headed down to hang with Tom for lunch. Oh, Lori had her third covid shot while I was gone! Not sure how I fell about that but it’s her choice. Her surgeon was getting it and she was right there so I think she just sort of went along with him.

Dixie is doing ok. She’s been visiting more and more with some people in her building which is great. Our neighborhood, The Highlands, has an outdoor party this afternoon with food and German music like the polka. I think it’s Helmut who is playing his accordion. He’s been an institution in Vail for decades and plays all the Octoberfest celebrations. He’s like in his 80’s and lives next door to cousin Lee. I think Lori wants to take her mom to the party.

Time to move and groove. Hope everyone is well, God Bless.

Last night we pulled in around 8 pm. Should have been here at 5 but the canyon was closed due to potential flooding. I unloaded all the elk into the freezer and this morning am donating a ton of last years elk and some beef to the Salvation Army. James and Castor pulled in about 10 minutes after Marty and I to drop off their racks. I’m running those down to the taxidermist this morning.

Lori had to have the vet come out yesterday afternoon to put Mojo to sleep. He’s breathing was labored and he didn’t eat yesterday. I was trying to make it home but with the canyon closed I couldn’t make it and it wouldn’t have been good to make him suffer over the weekend. He was such a good dog. I remember the very day we picked him up as a puppy almost 17 years ago. We’ll miss him a bunch.

Then of course there’s the passing of Ali. We still don’t know the details but are going down to see Tommy today. I don’t think he knows much more either. All we can do now is try to help Tom and move forward. Death is part of life which everyone knows but that doesn’t make it any easier when it’s close to you. Poor Tom has everyone calling saying “oh I’m so sorry” and ” “how are you doing” which is frankly annoying. Lori told him to say, “I’m doing like shit”, or “how do you think I’m doing?” People mean well and ask the standard questions but right now he just needs family and hanging as normal as possible, I would think. We’ll all miss Ali. I remember the wedding well and of course have tons of family memories from the past 28 years. God Bless her.

Mojo and Ali are probably looking down from heaven at us all and I’m sure she’s rubbing his head.

So what a week, Dixie is struggling a bit too with her memory fading in and out and thinking Don is still alive and just left her. All you can do there is try to keep moving forward too, right.

That’s it, have to get moving, be well, stay safe and God Bless.

Thanks to Lori for filling in. What a week. I was going to post details about the hunt and wait until tomorrow to post some sad news but it’s time.

Sadly on Monday my brother Tom’s wife Ali, passed away. We don’t know all the details yet but Tommy came home from getting a Covid test to find her unresponsive. Tom in his unselfish way made Lori promise not to tell me until my hunt was over saying he didn’t want to ruin my hunt and there was nothing I could do anyhow. He remembered a few years ago when I cut a hunt short when my mom was sick. More to come but right now the focus is on Tom. Lori told me late Wednesday evening. We’re all still in shock and processing. May she Rest In Peace and find comfort with God.

On top of that, our beloved dog Mojo is on his last leg, literally. The poor guy just can’t get up and often cries out in pain. Lori has the vet coming out this afternoon and is trying to wait for me to get home but we don’t want him going through the weekend unable to get up. He’s rallied so many times you just assume he’ll get past this too but he’s almost 17 and so even though he’s still happy when not in pain it appears it’s too much for him now. I told Lori do what she thinks best.

I’m leaving around 9 am and hope to be home by 5. So sorry for being gone. We’ll drive down to see Tommy tomorrow morning. May Good watch over everyone. Enough said, God Bless.

The guys will be heading back tomorrow after a successful trip.

I’m getting Ty ready for school and taking mom fir a haircut this afternoon. Yesterday morning when I stopped to get mom for her cardiology appointment, she had taken all her paintings down and was ready to move. We had a nice drive to Vail and back she enjoys car rides and the sunflower wind highway. She had a rough day yesterday but the boys and I walked her downstairs For dinner and when I came back she was back to her old self. So, if I can get her to socialize with the other residents she seems to have much better days.for dinner and when I came back she was back to her old self. So, if I can get her to socialize with the other residents she seems to have much better days.

Mojo seems to be rallying one more time, the tramadol and diazepam seems to be a magical mix for him. I have the vet scheduled to come on Friday but I think I’m going to postpone until at least Monday.

Good morning, I’ll be brief as I am looking forward to reading about Day 2 of the hunting trip. Mom has an appointment with the cardiologist this morning and I hope they can adjust her medication to help relieve some of her edema. She hasn’t left her apartment for 3 days because of her energy level.
Love and prayers to those who are struggling.

We arrived in Liberty Utah around 1 pm and an hour later we’re on top of a mountain in our spike camp. There are four wall tents and a cook tent. After messing around we decided to go out at 6. We each split up with our own guide. James and Castor with one, Marty with one me with a guy named Chris. Chris and I took off down a steep rock face off shale for a good half mile. It’s super hard to walk down steep mountains much less one that is made up of crushed rock. Once we got to the bottom we worked along the elk trails and creek. Sign was everywhere and just before dark I spotted a big bull about 60 yards up a hill. We crept around a bush and saw another one a bit closer. Problem was he was behind a bush at 40 yards. I stood motionless with my bow for a good 30 minutes but he just wouldn’t come out. Finally at dusk I walked out and he just watched me. Too much brush in the way fit a good shot. Meanwhile James and Castor found a bunch but he couldn’t get a good shot. Oh well, we’re up in 6 1/2 hours to get back at it. God Bless

So far, so good. Took us 5 hours and 30 minutes to get to Park City. The hotel is slope side and nice. We hung out and watched football until dinner at 7. Some people, mostly staff, recognized James but were respectful. After dinner we hung for a bit outside of our rooms and then called it a night. This morning we’re off for a 2 hour drive to the ranch. That’s it, enjoy, God Bless

Yesterday was busy, lots of packing and last minute details. Finally around 7 pm I was close to being done when the football game started. We looked good! Meanwhile Tommy has been trying to kick his sinus infection and is now getting a covid test Monday afternoon. He said he can’t get in earlier which is odd to us as we can walk down the street and get a rapid test in 15 minutes up here. On top of that, Mojo was crying outside at 3am as he was wrapped up in his lead. He’s having a hard time getting up these days, hope he again rally’s. So I didn’t get a lot of sleep but that’s ok, I’ll sleep tonight.

Marty should be here in about 90 minutes. Lori will do the blog from Tuesday thru Friday. I’ll try to do it on my phone tomorrow as I’m not taking my computer on purpose! Time to disconnect from this thing for a week.

On the news they have a story about a golden lab who has been at Children’s Hospital for 10 years comforting sick children. The story concludes with Ralph, the dog, being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, wtf? I’m so sick of tragedy and death. I miss the days of our youth when everything was Leave it to Beaver. Those of you old enough know what I mean. I have a very educated Ph.D friend who even says the second coming of Christ is near. Sometimes it’s hard not to seriously consider that. Natural disasters, war, famine, crime, disease, hate, and on and on. I have faith in humanity and Christ though so I’m hoping this is all just a moment and mankind will use it as a lesson and turning point to get back on track. All great civilizations throughout history have averaged a lifespan of about 250 years. You could argue the Western World’s time is up. We sure don’t act like we want to fix things. Hopefully the people will realize what’s going on before it’s too late. Sorry for the philosophical rant. Sometimes it just comes to me.

Stay safe, be well, be kind and do something, anything today to make the World a better place, no matter how small. God Bless.

I think I went to sleep around 9 pm and we slept until about 8am. Sometime around 10:30 last night that emergency signal or Amber alert went off on our phones. Not sure why as there was no text or anything, just the sound.

Ty is at Sonny’s as Sonny leaves for 3 months in Hawaii I think tomorrow. It’s part of his freshman year at CU. I have to pack today to make sure I have all my stuff for my trip tomorrow. Hope we don’t have any big rain tonight so the canyon stays open as that saves us 4 hours. We’ll leave for Park City Utah around 8:30 tomorrow morning. Should pull in around 4. We’ll spend the night there and get up and drive the last couple hours Monday am. My bow is all dialed in and this morning after the gym I’m headed to the range to sight in a back up rifle.

Tom has a sinus infection, hope he’s feeling better. When you get older allergies kick in more and more. Time to get moving so the day doesn’t get away from us. Be well, stay safe and God Bless.

Well our Pres has blood on his hands, how sad for the family’s. No deaths in Afghanistan since February 2020 but yesterday, thanks to Joe’s policies, 13 servicemen and scores of Afghanistan civilians lost their lives. This guy is clearly not in charge. During his press conference he even said “I’ve been instructed to call on these journalists”. Instructed? WOW. He then said we even gave the names of American’s and others we authorized to get out to the Taliban! This is like giving a kill list to the enemy, wtf? I’m disgusted. And they tried to impeach Trump over a phone call but don’t worry, nothing will come of this.

I have some last minute things to do today to get ready to go Sunday. I’ll hit the range again and throw some arrows downrange. Dixie is doing fine, so are the boys. Lori had a massage for her head that helped a little. I have to get going. Was up from 2:30 until 3:30 thinking about stuff. God Bless.