A Year of Change

Yesterday, as you know, Ty was in Denver. He had fun as usual and made it home around 3:30 in the afternoon. I ran over to Dillon on a few errands and Lori dove head first into the basement. By the end of the day, she had made some good progress but unless you live here and know what it looked like, you might not think much was accomplished. In any case, we’re on the way to getting things cleaned up once and for all down there. Next up will be Ty’s room. Oh, she also managed to clean up her closet which was a ginat accomplishment in itself.

Today there is trick or treating here in Minturn from 6 to 8. First up, I’m headed to the game which we have to win. Yesterday Wisconsin beat Nebraska in a thriller which I’m sure made my Mom happy. It was a back and forth game but in the end, the right team won. I think I’m going down early this morning to run some errands before kick off. I’m meeting some buddy’s down there which will hopefully bring us luck.

Jagger and I ran down valley to pick up our canned applesauce, assorted jams and tomato’s from my buddy Rick who has a huge garden and orchard and used to be a chef. He teaches food safety at the college and we met him a year ago when he was selling homemade canned goods at his stand on the side of the road. We ended up getting 48 assorted quarts and pints for $149! You can’t beat that and it’s all organic with as few ingredients as possible. Next up was a stop at Costco and then we headed home. I did stop and get Jag a burger on the way as he was hungry which is about a 24 hour a day activity.

Tomorrow I need to get in for an MRI. I’m afraid (almost 100% sure) I need knee surgery. If so, I’ll need to get in in November before our insurance once again switches (happens every year), thanks to Obama Care. Just a note for those of you who can still somehow support Hillary or Obama, every single year, our personal insurance costs have gone up and benefits have gone down. So here’s a big thanks to the democrats who famously said, and I quote, “we have to pass it to know what’s in it”. Nice. Anyhow if I need surgery, that’ll put me on cruthces for the next few months and ruin my ski season. This is my left knee as my right one was fixed in 2013. More to come but I cannot bend down to or past, 90 degrees, without it giving out, super. It’s always something.

Oh well, there’s lots of bigger problems out there. It’s 7:30 and everyone is sleeping. Guess I’ll get moving. Ty is excited for trick or treating, Jag, not so much. Tomorrow Jag is just going to hang out at some friends house with a bunch of kids. Ty of course, will be hitting the streets hard in his endless pursuit of candy. Have a great day and God Bless.

Yesterday morning after a rough night’s sleep, I came outside to find my trash can, and the neighbors, down the drive a bit. I immediately noticed something on the back right side of Lori’s suburban. Looking closer I found 3 dents and scratches on her otherwise spotless car. I called the insurance company right away and will find out Monday where to take the car. Not sure what it’ll cost but our deductible is $500.

It took me a few hours to figure out it was a bear that was messing around with our trash can and knocked it into our car. Lori heard the bear in the middle of the night which is what tipped me off. So thanks Yogi, or maybe it was baby bear Boo Boo. In any case, the boo boo is going to cost us at least $500!

Today Ty is off at 7:15 for Rachel’s birthday party. Her parents are driving down 5 kids (they rented a suburban to take them all in one car) to some place where they all play some escape game trying to figure out how to get out of some place. Then it’s lunch somewhere before heading up the hill for home where they’ll arrive around 5pm. I might run Jag down to Denver as he needs some new basketball shoes but am not sure. It’s 6:23 now and I need to take Ty at 7am to Rachel’s house. I just woke Lori so she can wake Ty.

Tomorrow is the Bronco game for at least me. I think Lori is staying home but I know I’m going, just haven’t decided whose going with me. We have trick or treating here in Minturn from 6 to 8 so the kids (especially Ty) wants to stay home. Last night we drove to Eagle for a haunted house that the middle school puts on every year. I guess it was pretty lame but it supports the school and was something to do. Ty’s friend Sonny came along and we made Jag go as well. He really didn’t want to go being 14 and all, but that’s too bad as we’re in charge. Or at least we think so.

Our couch is going to the consignment store next Wednesday. Good news is after the store getting their cut, we’ll get all our money back! We did get a pretty good deal on it, and it’s nice, but is just too big and I’m not paying anymore for storage units, as we’re paying for 2 each month now! We’re also selling our big heavy marble table which I’ve had for probably 25 years or more. Looks like we’ll get what we (or I) paid for that too. Lori is just tired of it and wants something new someday. Any thing I can do to help clean out stuff we don’t use in storage is good with me.

Time to run as I’m taking Ty in 20 minutes. Looks like they may finally have Hillary! The FBI, unexpectedly, reopened the case against her yesterday. Now they wouldn’t do this, in a democratic administration, unless there is some kind of bombshell. The ironic thing is they discovered top secret emails on her assistants, pediophile husbands, Blackberry. So our nations secrets were on this guys phone that he was using to text underage girls, super. Oh and now the Attorney General is taking the 5th (refusing to answer questions as not to incriminate herself) in questions about the cash payments to Iran. Throw in confirmed voter fraud in no less than 6 States by the democrats and the tide just might be turning. Now if you’re an old school democrat, I’m not judging you, it’s just that the democratic party you know and loved, has changed since the days of Kennedy. Unfortunately though, most older democrats don’t realize it. Time to wake up, your party is not what your party was. Wake up, do the right thing and God Bless.

Lori came home from work yesterday around lunch time and went straight to bed. Ty had basketball and played great. He single handedly was responsible for his team winning the first game but they lost the second by 5 points.

We’re getting ready for Halloween around here but still waiting on some things from Amazon. I think the kids trick or treat both on Sunday and Monday.

Both kids are running late so I have to go. Have a great weekend, GB

It’s unseasonably warm this week but it will come. Cooler air is moving in next week and the record warmth will soon be gone. Lori and I had a good day yesterday but she wasn’t feeling too good as they have her on a cocktail of medicine to try to calm down her neck. She’s not sure what’s worse, the headache or how crummy she feels on steroids. Hopefully both will go away soon.

It’s “eom” meaning end of the month so I’m scrambling to get in as many orders as I can and then get them packed and put on container ships. There’s always this big pressure at the end of the month.

I need to get some stuff down to storage today and bring back some other stuff. We decided to move Jag’s room from one room to the open area in the basement as he needs more room. We’re also taking out one bed from Ty’s room and putting his desk in his room. We have to try to organize things around here a bit better to maximize our small space. We also think we’re going to move out our giant couch and bring back a table and four chairs so we actually have a place where the four of us can sit down for a meal. Right now we just eat at the counter and usually one of us is standing, not good for a family atmosphere.

Time to run as it’s 6:15. Have a great day, be safe and vote Republican. If you believe Hillbilly will win, which it looks like she will, then you must vote Republican so we have a balance in govt. Having all the same party is not good for anyone! GB

Today Lori has the day off, sort of. You see when she takes any time off, she’s still really working as in today’s World, technology follows you wherever you go. I wonder what would happen if there was a solar storm or something that wiped out all electronics. Imagine life with no electricity. This is bigger than you think. You see, if there was no electricity, not only would you have no lights but you’d have no refrigeration, no water (it takes electricity to run the pumps to send water to your house),  and that means no sewer or toilets flushing, more than once. Next up you’d have no power for your stoves, cars wouldn’t work, nor would public transportation, unless it was horse powered. There’s more but as you can see, your life would be dramatically changed. And oh yea, no phones or ways to communicate except face to face. The scary thing is that there are man made ways that can also wipe out our electric grid. Just last week hackers shut down major internet sites by targeting a switching station.

So, this could, and probably will happen in some form or another, sooner than later. No one is ready for his, no matter how hard you try. Just for fun, see how long you can go without electricity. Some family’s go for a weekend but for you, just see if you can go for 3 hours! Turn off your lights and tv, don’t use the phone, you can’t go anywhere, unless you walk, pretend your stove and microwave is out and oh yea, you can only flush once! Bet it’ll be a shocker. Folks like Grandma Dix and my Mom are probably the best prepared mentally as if they can remember when they were kids, it’ll be somewhat close to this. The rest of us would be in for a pretty big shock. If you like this social experiment, get the book One Second After as it chronicles just this type of situation.

Now onto the day, the kids were back at school and have more today. All the doctors are in Boston for the rest of the week. I have lots of work to do to wrap the month, what’s new right. It’s still nice up here but Ol Man Winter is coming, you can feel it. Lori and Ty are upstairs studying for a vocab test. The poor kid studied most of the night on the wrong words before he realized he was on the wrong week! So now he’s cramming with the help of Mom.

One of the Denver Broncos players home was broken into Monday while the game was going on and his Super Bowl ring was stolen! Unbelievable, what’s wrong with people. This is where OPSEC comes in. That means operational security or basically, “keep your mouth shut” about most everything in your life. Unfortunately there are lots of people out there who are looking for prey to cheat, rob and steal. It’s a sad World these days compared to when I was a kid. Now there are good things but the days of trusting everyone you meet are long gone. Time to run, have a great day, be safe and God Bless.

Last night was a great win for the Broncos, not so good for our former qb, but great for us. It was a long day and today will be the same. Kids are back in school and there’s only 6 days left in the month.

I was peeling carrots yesterday and peeled off a piece of my index finger. I told the boys to watch for it in our dinner but then Mom said I was just kidding, which of course I was.

I have a lot to do this morning so time to run. Don’t forget to vote, unless you’re planning on voting for Hill and if so, voting for her is already over. Have a great day, GB

Today the kids are off for conferences. Our boys are finished so they’ll just be here at home. Lori will be at work and I have lots to do in the morning, but then I’m going to try to get one or both boys rooms cleaned before the big game tonight. It’ll be no easy task as I’ll need to start in one corner of each room and work my way out from there. Hopefully I can get a little help. Ty’s idea of helping is to bring all his clothes down, clean or dirty, and throw them in the laundry basket. This is fine except he often brings down freshly washed clothes he forgot to put away!

It’s funny watching the traffic jams on the news in Denver each morning. It’s so nice not being in that every day. It’s warm up here and supposed to be nice for the rest of the week, but we might get a little rain tonight. Fear not though, the snow is coming. Once it comes, it’ll come in full force and be here until April, so we’re in no hurry.

Lori is going in a little later this morning and taking Wednesday off as Dr. C and both P.A.’s are going to Boston from Wednesday through the end of the week for a conference. We were going to go but decided against it. With her head hurting, it’ll be good for her to take it easy a bit this week.

Time to run, have a great day, GB, which means both Go Broncos and God Bless!

It’s sunny outside but Mojo’s water was frozen. We slept in until about 8:30 which was much needed. We have to clean up a bit around here today as it’s kind of messy. No Denver football today as we play tomorrow night on Monday Night Football. I’m going with a few guys as Lori has to work and the kids, even though they’re off tomorrow, have school on Tuesday. We sure need a win.

We drove over to Basalt and Aspen yesterday as a family and had fun. This of course was after Lori’s workout. Her headache has subsided a little but we’re not out of the woods yet. She hasn’t started the steroids yet but will probably do so this morning.

Today is also Robi’s birthday, whoo hoo, call us as your present is at Nordstroms in Fashion Plaza! hope you have a great day!

We did eat lunch at our favorite mexican restaurant in Basalt yesterday. We always try to stop there whenever in the area. Both boys are still sleeping and Lori’s about ready for her second cup of coffee. Hope everyone is well, have a great day.

Ty and I dropped Jag at school, had his conference with his art teacher and then headed off to Big D. We first hit the phone store, then the bank, then a buddy’s shop, next off to Nordstrom and then haircuts. Finally we headed to my Mom’s but had to get dog food and dry cleaning first. Around 2:15 we rolled into Grandma’s.

We brought her lunch and Ty immediately took to Maybell. That little dog is so full of energy it’s comical. Ty finally shut both doors and cornered her and we caught her. Ty then held her and they seem to take to each other right away. Maybell was panting a bit but sonon settled down. Ty of course wanted to take her home as he’s wanted a puppy forever. We just don’t have room, thankfully, ha.

Not sure what we’re up to today. Lori has a workout for her back, (which the doctors recommend) at 8:30 and I think Jag and I will go and workout on our own. Then we might head to the Roaring Fork Valley. Over there is Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Basalt and of course, further up valley, Aspen. Our favorite mexican restaurant is in Basalt so we might hit that. There’s also a package at Fed Ex in Eagle we need to get this morning.

We’re watching Lori’s headache closely. Yesterday Dr. Evans had her come right over to his office and gave her some botox injections in the back of her head at what’s known as trigger points. They might be working a bit, we’re watching and praying, but she seems to be better today. Her MRI showed flared up facets which is the little boney wings between the discs. If the botox doesn’t work, she has a dose of oral steroids in her purse Dr. C ordered up yesterday. The big problem is she literally has no discs between the bones. She is undoubtedly going to need another operation. The only question is when. They need to see if she’s a candidate for artificial discs which are pretty new and advanced. Thankfully she has the best surgeon in the World that she schedules. The bottom line is, she has a 90 year old neck!

Time to get ready for the gym, only two more weeks until the freakin political ads stop. They must work on some people otherwise they wouldn’t spend the money on them and play them over and over. Personally I research each candidates position and think for myself. Others must just believe what they see on tv. Boy is the majority of the public stupid! We’ve become conditioned to believe everything we see on the boob tube or what people tell us, very few people take the time to study individual positions as they’re too immersed in some sort of self gratification. God Bless.

We had all but one of Ty’s conferences yesterday (Art is this morning) and Ty is doing great. He’s a joy to have in class and is very engaged according to his teachers. Good to know both boys have it going on. 7th and 9th Grade math is above both of us so their somewhat on their own.

Today after Ty’s Art conference, Ty and I are headed to Denver. We have to stop at 4 or 5 places before getting back up here to pick up Jag at 3.

Lori is having a MRI today as her headaches seem to be back. She’s had it for about 10 days now and we’re praying that this isn’t a full blown repeat of what we went through years ago. We’ll keep you posted. Good news is if she needs surgery, she can book herself and get in right away. Also the only thing we would have to pay for is the anesthesiologist and hospital. This is still a lot but there would be no surgeon charges plus the MRI is free, thank God. Now let’s just pray she doesn’t need to go in as if she does, she’ll go right away and then be down for probably the remainder of the year. Say a prayer even if you don’t pray, please!

On top of this, my left knee is killing me as it feels like it’s going to give out when I squat past 90 degrees. My right knee is great as that’s the one I had surgery on 3 years ago. Hopefully I don’t need surgery too! I’ll just lay off it for a good week at the gym.

I think it’s a little warmer today. No snow yet but we did manage to get Ty’s snowboard boots yesterday. He grows so fast he needs a new pair every year. We are going to stop and see my Mom today as we haven’t seen her in a while. Hope all’s well, hard to believe it’s now October 21st. 10 days to go and it’ll be November. God Bless.