A Year of Change

Not sure where the saying came from but it looks like March IS coming in like a lion! We’re getting more snow today, it’s -2 outside right now and if we’re lucky, will get to the mid teens today. In the mountains around Aspen and Vail. they’re going to get 2 feet of snow and if you’re near Telluride, get ready for up to 4 feet! Guess we shouldn’t complain much as we’re looking at around another 4 inches or so. Good news is they say the mid 50’s are here in about a week. It’ll be pretty muddy if and when that happens.

Yesterday the boys went to baseball. Ty is now also hitting and fielding and I think is going to play this Spring too. He too looks pretty good but hasn’t had the training that his brother has. Still you can tell he has the ability to be pretty darn good. We’ll start working on that today. We’re back down at the inside practice field again today for some more training. After that we need to stop by the furniture store as Lori needs to find some stuff for the office.

It’s 6:18 and everyone is still sleeping. Lots of crap going on in the World and with the govt. All I’m going to say is get ready. Every single day you should be preparing for the constant changes we’re already going through, whether economically, in lifestyle or in regards to your security. Trust me, no one, and I mean no one, is going to be there to help you if and when you need it, outside of your immediate family. Of course we’d help any of you, if we could get to you, but who knows when or where tragedy will strike. I’ll stop now but it’s really scary out there if you dig down through all the lies and propaganda we’re fed on tv. Economically alone, the big lie continues. Things are not as rosy as we’re told and more and more, the truth is coming out as it’s so prevelant they can no longer hide it. Oh well, it is what it is, just please don’t believe everything you hear.

If it was up to us, (and I guess it ultimately is) we’d head for the hills. Too bad work and other challenges get in the way. We’re still trying for Evergreen though and are working hard to try to make that happen.

Next weekend we might be going to the Safari Club International Banquet in Colorado Springs. I have a connection there that I think is going to be our hunting guide this fall when I take 3 guys (clients) from Texas as part of an incentive deal at work. I was looking at going to Wyoming but then thought why not just find an outfitter here in my home state. Turns out I think I have a good guy that can do the job.

Lori just came down, looking good as always. She’s about the only person I know that can wake up looking good, that really pisses me off, ha ha. Guess I’ll run to see what’s going on, have a great weekend, God Bless.

It’s been snowing for a week now. This all started last Friday and hasn’t really stopped since. We did get a break on Wednesday but that was it. It’s supposed to start up again this afternoon. Personally I’m getting tired of shoveling. More snow tomorrow and Sunday. They say maybe we’ll get a break a week from today but until then, it’s snow on and off.

Last night we went to baseball practice only to turn around and come home as no one was there to open the building. Turns out about 5 minutes after we all left the guy who owns the building showed up to unlock it but by then, it was too late as many parents had headed for home.

It’s 6:40 now so time to run and Lori just handed me a cup of coffee. Not much else to say anyhow. Kids are back in school, Jag has a pitching session this afternoon, Ty went to Vinny’s to play and I scrubbed the house well yesterday. Take care and God Bless.

The phone rang around 5:30 this morning with a recorded message telling us the school district has declared a snow day. Jag is thrilled as he had a ton of homework and was working from 5 until 10pm and now has a chance to make sure it’s all good. Ty too is thrilled as he’s thrilled anytime school is cancelled. Lori still has to go to work and of course so do I so neither of us are very thrilled, especially me that will have to have the kids at home with me all day long. Tomorrow we’re getting more snow and then again more on Sunday!

Today the govt is voting to take over the internet and won’t even release their list of proposed rules and regulations. Just about everyone, dem and republican, and even members of the commission alike are against it but of course, the administration, who lost the election, is doing whatever they want, even though the vast majority of the public is against it. This shouldn’t surprise you (it doesn’t me) as they’ve been doing what they want for sometime now. This won’t be the last exec action either so hold on.

There’s a ton of heavy snow outside and I need to go clean off the cars and shovel the walkway and driveway so time to get moving. Hope you’re all well, lots more going on but time to run so God Bless.

Good morning. The wind is picking up this morning and blowing flakes of a lavender hue off our roof. The real snow starts about the time I should be leaving the office.

We are in the midst of our remodel at the office and as the saying goes, “Opinions are like assholes and everybody has one.” After a year of the employees asking when the remodel is…we are finally in the midst of one. I gave everyone 9 weeks to clean up their cluttered, dusty, messy areas and purge papers and magazines dating back to 2009. I even gave them reminders every two weeks and then every 1 week for the last month. Some girls were great about the purge and very helpful and a couple waited until the day the painter started. In any case the color is a nice soothing color that I spent months trying to find. Some like it…one does not and oh my…the “we should get chairs like this” or “we should buy a cabinet like that”…We??? I have to get approval for every piece of art or furniture I choose. No easy task…seriously, I could scream. Anyway, I’m hopeful to be finished with the entire remodel in two more weeks.

That was Lori if you couldn’t tell. She just bagged out on writing anymore so I’ll wrap up. Today the boys have early release at 12:15 so they’ll be off all afternoon. We’ll go for a baseball workout around 3pm. Yesterday, without warning, (20 minutes), 4 pallets of wine showed up at my door. Luckily my friend Matt dropped everything and headed over to help me unload and carry in about 150 cases of wine. It’s now strewn all over the house, mainly the kitchen, until I can get some shipped out next week.

That’s about it, had to run to the store at 6am for milk and half and half. It’s almost 7am and as the good looking one said, the wind is blowing hard and it’s the only the front edge of the storm that’s headed our way this afternoon.

Take care, God Bless

It’s 6:37 which is at least 37 minutes later than we should be up. Today I hope to get half of my wine delivered which is 2 pallets and then the other half this Friday or worst case, next Monday. Tomorrow we’re getting another 8 inches or more of snow and then more again on Friday or Saturday. Not good timing with all this wine arriving.

We were at baseball yesterday afternoon and have more practice tonight and then more tomorrow and again on Thursday. Lori has clinic today and I have to get my paperwork done this morning. I haven’t been able to get it done the past few days but will have to today. Then I’ll clean out the garage enough to fit the wine and if lucky, can clean up a little more in the basement.

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

Nothing really melted yesterday and it probably won’t all week. The high this week is in the high 30’s with more snow mid week. I have wine arriving via British Air from Italy Thursday of this week meaning hopefully it’ll get delivered Friday. Lots to do to get ready. Also a week from today, it’ll be March, supposedly the snowiest month here in Denver. At least we’re not getting hit like the east coast, but then again they deserve it, ha ha, just kidding.

I made it out yesterday to go to the store but that was it. Today after school we’re heading down for an hour session with Jagger’s pitching coach. Ty will come along as Mom will still be at work. Then we’ll rush home so the boys can get their homework done before dinner.

Lots of crap going on these days, let’s see, some of those bad guys that want to attack us are saying they’re now targeting specific shopping malls. If nothing else, that’ll kill some business. The Pres won’t say radical islam as moo-slim leaders don’t want him to, super. Congress is still playing the blame game with each side blaming the other for any and everything. If you ask me, they’re all fucked. I say kick them all out and start over. Sorry for the curt language but it is what it is as they can’t seem to get anything done.

Guess I’ll run as lots to do today starting with warming up and cleaning the snow off each car, hope you al have a great week. God Bless each and every one of you!

Hard to tell just how much snow is out there as I haven’t been outside yet, but it’s probably 8 to 12 inches right now with the snow still coming down. The snow is going to end sometime tonight so we’ll probably pick up another 3 or 4 inches. It’s not 2 or 3 feet but 16 inches is still really a lot of snow. It’s all white outside everywhere you look.

Most churches are closed too so it’ll be a day of staying close to home. It’s somewhere between zero and 10 degrees depending on where you are which suits Mojo just fine.

Yesterday Ty went to Vinny’s and Jag and I went to the batting cages and hooked up with his pitching coach. Before you think it’s just me touting his talent, his coach says he really has “the stuff” and is built like a pitcher. Apparently most kids when they throw the ball have the ball come out of their hand with their hand on the side while Jagger stays behind the ball the entire time. In short what this means is his fingers are the last thing touching the ball when he releases it providing lots of spin and movement on the ball. That’s how you get curve balls and sliders and are able to move the ball around. There’s lots of technique to it but once you get the basics, you can then throw all kinds of pitches. Anyhow apparently Jagger has this down pat naturally while most kids at his age struggle to do what he’s doing. No matter how he does, the important thing is he’s really loving baseball and talks about it or now does some drills every day. He needs new cleats (shoes) and some other gear too as he’s really growing. It seems like he’s grown 6 inches since January 1st! All of this now has Ty thinking he might want to play baseball too which is great as he has the same ability but is actually a little stockier than Jag was at his age. So maybe he’ll play this Spring too.

It’s 8:45 and it’s really coming down hard outside now. Wish I could post a video of it as the flakes are thick and big and the snow is really dense. The boys are hoping for a snow day tomorrow! Sure am glad I’m not going to Houston tomorrow. Ben just rang our doorbell so the play day is starting but first Ty has some homework to finish.

We watched a great movie last night, St Vincent with Bill Murray who should win an Oscar but I don’t know if he was even nominated as I don’t follow those award shows much. Anyhow it was a great movie and he did a great job.

I made chili yesterday which was a good idea considering the weather. Groceries are so expensive these days with everything up 5 to 10%. You don’t really notice an extra .50 cents here and there but the final bill is substantially higher that it was a few years ago. As an example I came home with 5 or 6 bags of food yesterday morning and the bill was $365! The only meat I bought was some chili fixings, some flank steak, one rib eye and some bacon. I could have gone without buying anything as I keep us pretty well stocked but didn’t want to dig into our reserves. I did take Ty for some cereal last night and the shelves were pretty bare at our local store. Imagine if there was a serious disaster or something that would stop trucks from delivering food, lots of people would be in real trouble. They just announced that our local hospitals urgent care is shut down too, wow!

Time to run, Jag is shoveling some of the walk to get the paper for me, what a good kid! Hope all’s well, God Bless.

Last night Lori and I made it to the Sheraton for the big event a little after 6:30. Turns out even though it started at 5:30, our timing was perfect. Lots of people were wearing tuxedos and long ball gowns ( some were not) but we opted for a nice classy short dress for Lori and black slacks, a black shirt and nice Italian sport coat for me. We walked around looking at the silent auction items for 45 minutes or so until we were all ushered in for dinner. The food was actually pretty good as it’s usually hard to feed 500 people at once. After the live auction (we would have organized things much better) Roseanne Barr came out to speak as she was the person who was selected for the award this year. After that a great rockabilly band, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy played. We hung out and danced a few songs before heading out for home. We jumped in our car and off we went in the snow heading home.

Before I forget, here’s a couple of funny things. Yesterday I made Ty some warm milk in the microwave in a small glass. He noticed and said, “wait, you can put glass in the microwave” to which I answered yes. He then said, “well this is going to change everything”! Next up I called the school to get some of Ty’s homework and asked if his teacher was there and the school secretary said, “you mean the good looking, cuddly funny one” and I said, “ah yes, I guess so”. So then Dawn (Ty’s teacher) gets on the phone and I said “Dawn” and she reluctantly said “yes” to which I replied “this is Doug” and she said, “oh my God, the secretary thought it was my husband”! So we had a good laugh and then handled the homework issue. You have to know her but she was so embarrassed and thought it was so funny which it was.

Before all this happened I had a few conference calls and other computer work. Today it’s going to snow more, a lot they say tonight, so I’ll run to the grocery store early in the day along with the rest of Colorado. Then we’ll try to clean the house some more or as Lori says, maybe just lay around and watch movies all day. Either way we’ll be hanging at home. Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

Well yesterday Ty was home sick with a stomach ache and might need to go to the doctor today. I didn’t make it to Costco, Lori didn’t make it to the ballet (Dr R was called in at 2:30am the night before), one of her PA’s was sick so the other had to come in and bring her little boy to work and I needed to take the car in as I had pulled the door handle off trying to open it when it was frozen the other day. I did get it covered under warranty as otherwise it would have been $230!

Looks like I’m getting out of my day trip to Houston on Monday as it’s going to snow and I can’t chance my plane taking off late. The guy I was having lunch with is double booked anyhow so we decided to have a conference call at noon my time today to handle our business.

Baseball was good but I don’t much care for 7:30 to 9pm practices. Jagger is playing really really well. He looks like a man among boys. The Triple A teams practicing along side us are always watching him. We’re hoping for a good year for him and the team.

Dixie called yesterday to tell me how she 100% agrees with yesterdays post that we’re slowly being infiltrated. She mentioned that it makes sense for anyone who wants to do us harm to attack our infrastructure little by little and she’s spot on. There’s so much behind the scene, manipulative stuff going on in politics, war, and business that nobody ever thinks about as it seems so far fetched and is hard to believe. People can be devious and will do unimaginable things to get what they want. All this terror overseas and these horrific acts are being done with some sort of end game in mind. These guys actually believe that there’s a coming holy war that will lead to the end of days, according to their beliefs, and they believe they need to draw the enemy (us and anyone who’s not a follower of their beliefs) into battle. Hence, they’re doing whatever they can, no matter how horrific, to try to suck us into their war. The difficult thing is our Pres won’t even admit that we’re fighting people that have certain beliefs based on their religion. The past few days at a summit in D.C. they’ve been floating the idea that we need to give these guys jobs! Hell, we can’t even give our citizens jobs!

It’s a different World these days and I’m afraid things are only going to get worse as there’s now a new normal. There are small things you can do and it all starts with a change in your mindset. Time to revisit buying a little extra food, a few extra rolls of toilet paper, keeping your gas tank always at least half full, having a little spare cash on hand at all times, and just having a new sense of always being aware. On top of our international problems, our domestic issues are getting out of hand. It’s not the 50’s anymore and people in general are more desperate than they used to be as the ranks of the “have nots” are growing, and when you’ve lost everything, you then lose hope and will do things you would have normally never ever considered to survive. Enough said, just don’t let yourself become slowly conditioned to the new normal without taking the required precautions and shifting your mindset to deal with what is the new normal. OK? Got it? Good.

Now go have a good day, we’re off to the big black tie gala tonight and God Bless.

Tonight Lori is going to the Colorado Ballet event Madame’s and Martini’s with Dr. R. Chris asked her to go as she didn’t want to go alone so Lori graciously said yes. Then tomorrow we’re going to some giant black tie masquerade benefit party downtown at the Sheraton with Roseanne Barr. We don’t really want to go to either event but are committed so off we’ll go. We don’t have any clothes for the black tie event so we’ll just wear what we do have and stick out in the crowd. We do have our masks we carried back from Venice Italy a few years ago that we’ll wear. Hope it’s fun. It’s also supposed to be starting to snow tomorrow night as we’re going to get a foot or so on Saturday, super.

Last night I took the boys clothes shopping and $350 later we came home with a bunch of new stuff for each of them. They sure needed it as they grow so fast. Today after school both boys will get haircuts and then at 7:30 tonight we have baseball practice so here we go.

Today I have some long overdue paperwork I have to finish and then I need to get to Costco. On top of that I need to go to the Fed Ex distribution center to ship a package and then next week have 150 cases of wine flying in from Italy. Never a dull moment.

I’ve stayed away from World events and politics but it’s not good out there. Don’t let your guard down as the crazies overseas are trying to infiltrate America. The gov says hundreds if not thousands of suspected terrorists are already here waiting to make their move. In any case, just be careful no matter where you are. There now, that wasn’t so bad was it.

Time to run, God Bless.