A Year of Change

Today I have a lot of computer work to do and then am on the phone from 1 to 4 this afternoon. The U.S. Pro Cycling Challenge has been going on in Colorado all week long and today will come zooming past us a few blocks away also around 1 or 2. This is a really big deal even though you might not know it. It’s an internationally recognized bicycle race that draws a lot of the European riders. I’ll be in the middle of my fantasy football draft but maybe Lori and the boys will walk down.

I just saw there was a 6.0 earthquake in American Canyon California. That’s where our wine warehouse is so hope we didn’t lose any juice! There’s also a no fly zone over Iceland due to a huge volcano, and if it blows, will shut down air traffic to Europe. Throw in the snowiest winter (so they say) that’s coming and we have enough to deal with weather and disaster wise that we don’t need any terrorists!

Jagger and I did manage go to the shooting range yesterday. He’s a darn good shot with his 22 and a 9mm. The range is really nice and he had a blast. It’s good he learns the skill and all the safety rules at a young age. Ty wants to go too so next week I’ll take him along.

Last night the boys went to a movie with Ben and his grandma and Lori was at her event from 5 to 7 so I watched the Bronco game alone until she made it home. Lori arrived around 7:30 and then we watched the rest of it together. It’s cool outside this morning, around 50 or so but it feels likes 30! It was 29 degrees in Grand Lake which is an hour or so out of town up in the mountains.

It’s going to be a wet week and has been a really wet summer. As I said a few weeks ago, our grass is so green right now as it’s normally brown in August as I stop watering usually in June to save water. It looks like Seattle or Los Angeles around here and the moisture doesn’t help our allergies. By the way, I never had allergies until I met the good looking one, she gave it to me and the boys!

Time to read the paper, Lori did clean our bathroom yesterday which was a big deal, one room at a time around here, that’s our plan!

God Bless.

That’s what I managed to get cleaned from top to bottom yesterday afternoon. The kitchen and the dining area down below are now spotless. First up I removed all the remaining wine and then the dog bed and crate and there it was, all the hair. You could have knitted a sweater with all the hair under Mojo’s bed and on the rug. So after that was all up I then whipped up a mixture of vinegar and water (I like non toxic natural cleaners) and proceeded to mop up the floor and wash the walls. Of course first was cleaning all the junk off counters and tables and doing all the dishes and then vacuuming everywhere. In the end I had two rooms spotless. I also rearranged the remaining few cases (maybe a dozen) of wine in the front room and put all the furniture back but it was the kitchen and lower dining room that were really clean.

Next up I threw in a chicken and some local cauliflower for dinner and then sat down to finish up some emails. Earlier in the day I picked up Ty at 11am and we went to lunch and then the grocery store. Jag was done at 3 and we all headed home after a trip to the bank.

Today I think Jag and I are going shooting as Ty wants to play with Ben. Lori meanwhile is going to attack vigorously one room of her choice. Then from 5 to 7 she has an event at a hair salon with Dr R. in Cherry Creek. I guess the boys and I will watch the Bronco game.

Now to the important stuff. Don’t worry it’s not politics but we’re in a mess and you’d better get your ducks in a row. First up, even though you might not have heard much lately, the ebola virus is still spreading. This is a big time world wide issue and it hasn’t slowed down at all. The WHO (World Health Organization) is sounding the alarm but in good old American fashion, if we don’t have a doctor or person here to make the news, that’s infected, we pretty much ignore it. Well it’s not going away and sooner or later, when it gets here, then you’ll hear about it again.

Next up is the weak response by us to the growing terrorist threat taking over Iraq and Syria. You may not know or believe it, but these people are among us as I write. In fact Homeland Security warned overnight that these guys are planning to retaliate against us and to be prepared. You see, all across the country, there are sleeper cells or groups of these people that are already here laying in wait. These guys are so bad that other terrorists are afraid of them. They have their sights set on, in their words, “a major American city”. What makes these guys so dangerous is they are very well funded. They have over 2 billion dollars in cash and are raking in 3 million a day from the oil fields they have taken control of. They also have hundreds, if not thousands of converts from the U.K. and America that can easily infiltrate their countries without much suspicion. CNN ran a few pictures yesterday showing some of them holding up notes in front of a building in Chicago and another in front of the White House (on June 20th) saying how they’re here and how they’re going to make us pay. Do not underestimate these guys, they are ruthless and want to bring their war to us. I mean they just did behead a guy on video with a hunting knife! Live your life but be aware as we live in a different world these days. If something is out of the ordinary or you have a bad feeling in your gut, trust it. You may not know this but peoples “gut feelings” are right about 70% of the time. Sorry to bring this up but I rather you read this than become a victim.

So, not trying to scare anyone but the World as we know it has changed and you need to adjust as well. Hope you all are well. I guess Bob’s experimental injections to fuse his bones didn’t work all that well. Hope he gets some relief soon. Have a great weekend and God Bless.

Jagger is working hard every day as is Ty , however Ty’s school, on instructions from the Fed govt, has testing for the next 2 days. They break the students up into 4 groups and due to the spelling of Ty’s last name, he’s on from 8 to 11am today. Then he’s off until Tuesday. Now the funny thing is that schools that test the best, get the most funding while those that test poorly get the least. In one way, this makes sense as it would seem the students that are doing a good job should get more money to continue to do so but the students who are doing bad, receive no funding which in theory will further sink them. This is why the whole program is out of whack. You shouldn’t measure the students, you need to get rid of tenure and fire bad teachers. If students are doing bad, the buck needs to stop with the teachers, right? Who knows, maybe Grandma Dixie can chime in.

Lori had fun last night, I think, as she made it home around 9pm from the magazine launch downtown. I really haven’t talked to her yet but am sure she and the girls had fun.

I have lots to do at work today as I was in Vail until I picked the kids up yesterday. It rained hard early this morning, must have been around 4am as it woke us up. I think I’ll run to the gym quickly before everyone gets up. We need to call and see how Bob is doing today as he was groggy when Lori last checked yesterday. Hope he’s doing well, God Bless.

I was talking to my Mom yesterday who was shocked that this weekend is August 23rd. Soon it will be September and then winter. Time to get ready people as if summer is any indication, we’re going to have a real snowy winter.

here’s a comment from Eleanor,

Grandpa Bob has consumed our thoughts for the past few days. We waited until 7am yesterday morning (6 his time) to call. Finally later in the day Lori had found and talked to most, if not all of his doctors. He was at the emergency room but now he’s home resting and hopefully will be feeling better.

Uncle T commented how Jagger said he is overwhelmed in Junior High and Ty’s attitude is “all’s great” which pretty much sums it up. A new school with the curriculum Jag has will be a challenge since he pretty much floated through grade school due to his intellect. It’s good to see him challenged but we want to make sure he doesn’t freak out. He’ll settle in fine after he has a week or two.

Ty meanwhile has a few challenges too but is fine in comparison.

Lori on the way home was involved in an accident where she was rear ended but is fine. Of course we have a $500 deductible but at least she wasn’t hurt. I had a big day and have more today as does she so we’re back in the thick of it, school and all, hope everyone is doing well!

God Bless.

All’s good at school, Ty has a great class with a former teacher we love of Jagger’s and mostly great kids and Jagger had a great day also. In Jagger’s school at least half (probably more) of the kids are new to him. I asked him if so and so was in any of his classes and he has few, if any, kids from his old school. He said lots of the kids are nice and we’re glad he’s meeting some new friends. He also likes some of the teachers and some are, well, so so, as would be expected. Meanwhile Ty is bouncing along as usual, going through life having a great time. I took both boys for ice cream after school as a treat. There was no homework yesterday but I’m sure that’ll all change starting today.

I think Lori, and maybe all of us, will be going to California soon. We’re trying to get the name of Bob’s doctor so we can call him directly to find out what’s going on but it appears that she needs to get out there. Normally he gets up by 5 but we’re waiting to call in case the pain pills are helping him sleep.

It was strange without the kids home yesterday but I got a lot of work done. Lori too had a busy day and was home about 5:45. We all had left-overs for dinner and it seemed the day flew by. Today we have more of the same. It’s 6:20 now and time to feed the boys.

Hope everyone is well, time to run, take care, God Bless and say a prayer that Bob feels better.

Yesterday after some confusion, we found out that Bob is not doing well. Apparently the bones of his spine have split causing great pain and the doctors are hopefully injecting a foam like material today to bind them. On top of that, his cancer has spread to about 5 different parts of his body. We spoke to him a few times yesterday after we found out and the poor guy sounds tired, partially due to the pain medication. Now before I go any further (and I told this to Bob), if there is ever an emergency, call us on our cell phones! In this case, Eleanor had tried to communicate to Lori through her work email which Lori has not seen since Thursday afternoon. So I repeat, if you need us, call the cell phone. So everyone has them, we will call everyone to verify.

Now to the day, we made it to Denver by 9am and then quickly unloaded the car to go get Mojo. He’s doing well and will eat hamburger morning and night for the next week. I don’t think he’ll be wanting to go back to dog food! I guess Bode (Tom and Ali’s dog) is hurt also, sorry to hear that.

Today school starts so we’re in a rush. Jag is still on crutches and Ty is all set, so off we go. Hope you all are doing well and we all need to say a prayer for Bob. We’ll keep you posted with any news.

God Bless and God Bless Bob

So the precocious 12 year old is on crutches and the feisty playful 5 year old is coming home. Maybe we can get a picture of them both together after their hospital stays. We left Aspen around 1:30 and headed to Vail where I needed to see another account and drop some samples. Of course that meant dinner at the restaurant I needed to see and thankfully it was a good one. We parked as close as we could and Jag limped down the stairs from the parking lot. We had a good dinner of fresh Idaho sturgeon, Colorado raised bone in Rib Eye’s and a few other things like Spanish Octopus.

We finished up and headed out to get some rest after our long 3 day soirée around the State. This morning at 10 we get to pick up Mojo. We have a pool going on to see who can guess what the bill will be. Lori says $743 while I’m hoping (praying) for under $500. Either way it’s money we don’t have to spend on a vet!

Tomorrow the kids have school and we’re hoping Jagger can ditch the crutches today, He fell coming out of the restaurant last night but caught himself only after putting all his weight on his bad foot. It brought tears to his eyes and I carried him to the car. I still can’t believe he’s hurt again, especially with baseball starting in a week.

Hope you all are well, here’s some comments from yesterday,

1. Eleanor Tafoya says:

   August 16, 2014 at 3:20 pm

   Look at the blog– back feeling better.

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   August 16, 2014 at 5:28 pm

   My only comment. You have boys and a dog, it’s only going to get worse.

   Sounds like Eleanor wasn’t feeling well, hope you’re doing better. And yes Annette, boys and a dog = $$$$$! God Bless.

We pulled into Aspen around 10am and then we dropped the wine off at the restaurant and then headed over to drop our bags at Billie and Gregs. Before we knew it I had to be back for my work lunch with my buyers. I finished up, successfully, around 3 and then we hit a couple more stops that too were worthwhile.

Meanwhile Lori and the boys went tubbing (in an inner tube) down the river which meanders from the west end of town into town. Everyone ended up getting too much sun. Then at 6pm we all headed to a restaurant at the base of the gondola for dinner. We sat outside and with the cool mountain air and the girls all used blankets from the restaurant. They also moved some heaters over by our table. In all there were 8 of us including the kids. Speaking of the kids, they were playing out in the grass doing some karate kicks at each other and they both met mid air kicking their feet into each other. Jagger apparently hurt his foot and couldn’t put any pressure on it. This went on for the dinner and he just kept his foot up. When we left I had to carry him so now I was getting a little concerned. I gave him an Aleve when we made it home but he was hurting worse, so, at 10pm we were off to the Aspen Valley Hospital. After x-rays that were negative we ended up in a sort of new kind of cast that is wrapped on the outside with an ace bandage. This will stay on for a week (like the wrist) and then we’ll see where we’re at. We made it home by 11:45 (I made friends with the ER doc, Kimberly) who really took personal care of us and whisked us through the process. She’s been up here for 8 years and was a really nice girl.

So today I’m headed over to a Federal Reserve session at the Aspen Institute with Greg in 30 minutes and then we’ll hang out here until after lunch before we take off. Not sure if we’ll make it all the way home today or not. Tomorrow we get Mojo from the vet’s, (he’s doing great) as he gets to come home!

So that’s it, the excitement never stops! Hope you all are well, God Bless.

Call us crazy but we just feel better in the mountains. There’s something about the fresh air or climate or less pollution or we don’t know what, but we just feel physically better in the mountains. Ever since we came home last week, Lori and I both have just felt blah, like we have no energy and are even dizzy at times. It has to be allergies or something to do with the stagnant air in the city that’s pushed up against the mountains. This has been the wettest summer in a long, long time which probably also has something to do with it. Normally, our grass is brown by now but it’s as green as St. Patrick’s Day. For a while we thought it was our house but then have talked to other people who feel the same way, just out of sorts with no energy and blasé.

Now to the day. I was off to Ft. Collins at 8:30 for my first appointment at 9:45. After that I had another at 11:15 and then 6 buyers for lunch at 12:30. I left by 2 and was home by 3. Then we rushed to put some of Jagger’s school supplies in his locker at Manning and took Mojo to the vet. You see Mojo hasn’t been feeling well or eating since the day before yesterday, so this morning I called the vet to get him in. Turns out he has guiardia which is a bacterial infection that people usually pick up from unclean water or traveling overseas. The vet said they’ve seen lots of it this year, and have a number of dogs in with it right now and recommended that he stay for a couple of nights on an IV and other medication. He also said that he’d have bad diarrhea so that was enough for me, I said ok. The doctor will also try to fix his back where he lost some fur due to the groomer not rinsing him enough or something. Poor guy, but at least he’s in good hands. He’ll hopefully come home Saturday afternoon. Can’t wait for that bill!

We made it out of town by 6:49pm last night and today I have a lunch in Aspen at 12:30 with 8 buyers. Sales are good and you have to make it when you can so I do what I have to do. Lori and the boys will do something while I’m working and then we’ll go to dinner with Greg and Billie and probably Diane as we’re staying at their house. They’re very generous and kind to us.

That’s it for today as I need to stop for a couple of appointments at a couple of stores before the big lunch. Maybe we’ll go to Cache Cache for dinner, I love that place. Have a great weekend, take care and God Bless.