A Year of Change

Today I want you each to ask yourself, what’s really important in your life? The obvious answer is health, family and friends and hopefully not your house, car, or some tv show. But let’s take it a step further. Think about what really is the most important thing to you. For me, it’s more like making sure my kids are raised to be good young men and teaching them all they need to know to make their way through this crazy World. Then being a good husband and making sure my wife has a happy life and also being a good son to my Mom. Of course none of this can be done to the best of your ability without first believing in God and living your a life as a Christian. If you don’t believe in God, you’re really missing out on something. So I might sum it all up as the most important thing in life is believing in and living your life by God. I know Bob, whose going through a tough time right now, has comfort knowing that he has his Lord and Savior watching over him. I’ll leave it at that as I try not to preach too much (maybe I should) but I would challenge each of you to look deep down inside yourself and look at your relationship with God. Trust me, the stronger your relationship, the better off you’ll be, now and in the future!

Now to the day, I dropped Lori off at the airport for her flight to Sacramento and then headed home for a brief stop before heading back out to the distributor. This morning I have a bit of fun as I have a training session with a couple of former Navy Seals. It’s an AR session which is what the news and democrats mistakenly and repeatdely call assault rifles. It’s just me and these two guys so it should be fun and I should learn some new tactics. Then I need to interview two guys to hire, one for Chicago and the midwest and the other for Florida and the southeast. We’re also looking for a new person in Texas so we’ll have some new faces on the team soon!

Both boys are fine, we watched a fun movie last night and then went to bed a little after 9pm. It was a rainy day yesterday and cool for the most part and we’re supposed to get some more rain again today. I think the boys and I might head up to the hills tonight or tomorrow to get out of town and keep the house clean for when Mom gets home. We figure we have the best chance of keeping the house clean if we’re not here!

Bob of course was happy to see his little girl, in fact he started crying. Today she’ll be busy doing some of his banking (paying his bills, re-routing his mail and finding out just where he’s at financially) and then trying to find a place where he can go to get some care and rest. She said his spark came back after she was there for a bit. The boys and I called on speaker phone to say hi but I think he misunderstood as all he said was “boys, remember and think about your old grandpa sometime” and then bye. He doesn’t hear so well and has had hearing aids for a long time. This morning Eleanor is going down to see him as I think she said her daughter is taking her down. I know she tried to call Lori a few times yesterday but Lori’s cell phone battery was dead. It took me forever to get ahold of her! Dixie was also there, in fact she arrived at the hospital the same time as Lori which was good. Lori finally made it home to her Mom’s around 8pm or so. I heard Dixie and Don in the background and it sounded like they were gently disagreeing about something which is great as that means they’re both doing well. In fact, Lori said Don is driving again which is really great news!

That’s about it, hope you all are well. Take care and God Bless, and even though I say that daily, it’s not just a saying!

Today Lori is off to California hopefully to find an assisted living situation for Bob. She’ll be gone until Sunday and hopefully get everything taken care of. Bob’s not doing well as he has some issues where he needs to have his pain managed. She did manage to keep him in the hospital which is good so hopefully his insurance that takes care of the part medicare won’t, will kick in. A lot of “hopefully’s” in the first paragraph! Say a prayer.

This morning Ty has track tryouts at 7am. They only take 12 kids and he hopes he’s one of the faster ones, but I think there’s like 100 kids that are trying out. Jagger has settled in nicely at school as has Ty. Tonight the Bronco’s play their final preseason game against the Cowboys tonight.

That’s about it, I need to go rent Lori a car. Take care and God Bless.

I was up at 5:30am but fell back asleep until around 5:45 before I jumped out of bed and showered to get on the road by 6:30am for Vail. The drive was peaceful and beautiful, someday hopefully we’ll be living in the mountains!

Meanwhile Lori was getting the boys ready for school and herself for work. She took both boys around 7:45 (I called her) and then was off to work.

I had three meetings between 8am and 10am and then was on the road for home by 10:40. Here in Colorado driving an hour and a half to Vail is like driving across Los Angeles so it’s really not a big deal, and besides, the view is a whole lot better!

I wrapped up my big pre sell with $735,000 worth of wine sold this month nationwide which is a pretty good showing all things considered. When I made it home I cleaned up the house, did the dishes and laundry and then it was time to go get the boys. Soon after that it was 6pm and Lori was home.

She jumped right on the phone to get in touch with the hospital to see about Bob. They wanted to send him home but I think she talked them into keeping him for a nights stay. The problem is he has no place to go! He has some insurance for 3 months in a facility but unless he’s in the hospital for 4 days, he doesn’t qualify and the doctors won’t admit him for 4 days! Eleanor is not strong enough to take care of him, even though she wants to, so he can’t go back there, unless we can arrange for some help to come in! So we have no idea what to do. We might have to drive out and get him and bring him back here to stay with us, not many other options we can think of. Maybe the Pres and his new Obama Care can help, fat chance.

Today I have some computer work and then we have a dinner with friends from Aspen at 5:30. Tommy and Ali offered to watch the kids which is a big help, thank you! During the day we need to both get a bunch of work finished. I think we’ll head to the mountains this weekend. Our friends in Aspen have offered up their house as they’re in Tahoe, but it’s a long drive, and we also have friends in Vail with lots of room who want us all to come stay. Lori and I both just need a few days off with some time to relax, think and re-energize. If I had the cash, I’d check us into a hotel with a pool and a spa. Next week I guess she’ll be going to California to try to get her dad into a home if he’s not there already. In any case, she’ll need to go to take care of everything otherwise we’re bringing him back here and then we’d both go, unless we can get him on a plane. She was on with the case worker last night trying many times to talk them into keeping Bob there for 4 days but it doesn’t look good. I’ll find out more what’s going on today.

So that’s us and all our drama, hope you are all well, take care and God Bless.

Last night, or early this morning, it rained really hard down here, but in the mountains, the high peaks were dusted with fresh snow. It’ll dry out they say by the weekend. Here’s a couple of comments,

1. Blondie says:

   August 25, 2014 at 1:36 am

   We enjoyed some of your wonderful veggies from the farmer’s market last night:) Tom cooked them for Grama and us! Thanks:) Also, I was telling Tom that you are such a good dad to have entertained the kiddos all summer…bet they had a blast! Dad’s weren’t so hands on back when I was a kid….glad things have changed! We are available to watch the kids Wednesday night if needed:)

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   August 25, 2014 at 4:17 pm

   Was your wine ok in American Canyon? One of the old historial winerys lost barrels and bottles and it shifted the building!

   No word on our wine yet and glad you enjoyed the veggies. We’ve been eating them for 3 days now and will can up a bunch of tomato’s and Colorado peaches this weekend. We’re hoping to get 20 jars of each.

   Bob is not doing that well and is supposed to go back to the hospital today where they can manage his pain and take care of him. Lori is frantically trying to get in touch with his doctors to find out what the hell is going on. She’ll have to go out there soon, probably next week.

   The boys and I are fine and I’m off to Vail in 40 minutes for an 8am meeting. Time to run as I’m late, hope everyone else is well. Take care and God Bless.

Today Ty woke us all up early. We had a nice breakfast of omelets with all the fresh veggies from the farm I picked up yesterday and then it was time to get busy. My fantasy football draft was scheduled for 1pm so I had to get moving.

First up I headed off to Costco with Jagger where we picked up some stuff for my Mom and a few staples we needed like 20 lbs of coffee, some double A batteries, toilet paper and a few other items. (I get nervous when I have less than 300 rolls of tp!) Then I needed to get ready for my draft. It’s our 18th year for the 12 of us guys. We’ve lost and added a few guys over the years but for the most part, we’re all here. We have one guy who is in the Dominican Republic (for 5 years now) teaching kids and the others are mostly in Washington State. While I was doing all this, Lori, with limited help from Ty, was cleaning his room. Then she had a wild idea, let’s paint it! Jagger had a baseball game but he still can’t really run all that well and since next week there’s no game (due to Labor Day), we decided he could skip this one and have 2 weeks to heal well.

More fresh veggies for dinner and then it was bed time. Lots going on this week. I’m in Vail Tuesday am until around noon when I should be home. Lots of computer work today. Lori has a bunch of stuff going on and Wednesday we have dinner out. The boys have lots to do too and I just remembered, Ty has today off! Hopefully he won’t mess up his room in one day!

A bit of good news, Ty gets a free ski pass this year as he’s in 5th grade and all 5th graders in Colorado, get a free pass. So it’s only Jagger and I that need a pass which will be $1000! We’re still waiting for our crowd funding checks from you all. I got a feeling we’ll be waiting for a bit but we are getting the kiddo’s up skiing this year.

Hope Bob is doing better, Lori is trying to figure out when she can fly out but she’s kind of waiting to see what’s going on. That’s it, take care and God Bless.

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.