A Year of Change

Yesterday Lori made it to California and we to our two games. We have another game tonight at 7pm and then one more on Friday up in Evergreen. After that there’s a few more but I think we’ll miss them all as we’re in Aspen.

Lori says Dixie is doing as well as expected. Don was a good man, always kind, never raised his voice and was a good husband to Dixie as well as father to his kids and grandfather to all the grandchildren. He will surely be missed but always with us, much like my dad.

I have many memories of Don and admired his attention to detail yet there will still be things to go through and figure out as there always is. One day when my time comes (hopefully not for many many years), I will make sure I have shared everything with my wife and kids so they don’t have to go through the exercise of trying to figure out things like a will or finances. It’s a sad advantage, but with Lori going through this with Grandpa Bob, she knows just what to do. Just not very fun to learn or go through what you need to do to get good at this.

Back to baseball, the boys played well considering they played two teams that are a level above them. We should have one the first game as we led 6 to 3 going into the bottom of the 9th but lost 7  to 6. We changed pitchers and it just got away from us. In the second game we were flat out crushed but the boys did some good things. Jagger made a few great plays at short stop. More to come tonight.

Time to run, hope all’s well, God Bless.

Last night at 9:40 pm, Pa Don passed away. This all happened so fast that no one has really processed it yet. Ty is probably the most upset right now. Anyhow our World is now really a complete mess.

We just found out we have two baseball games in Broomfield (which is like 20 miles away) starting at 9am and Lori needs to catch an 11:18 flight to California to be with her Mom. She’ll be gone until Wednesday as of right now. I won’t go into all the issues we’ll have around here as that’s not really important right now. Unfortunately death is just a part of life and you do what you have to do.

In short, yesterday afternoon he said to call 911 as we think he knew. He just couldn’t get a breath. Larry, his son, is on the way to Japan and I think Kristin is in a conference but might come up from L.A. in the next day or two. Lori has to rent car when she arrives. So I have to run as I need to wake the boys, tell them the sad news and be out the door within an hour. First though I need to make Lori a few reservations, air and car.

May God Bless his soul and embrace him and give him peace and comfort. He’s already looking down on us all and I can almost hear him now telling everyone not to fuss. I’m sure he’s in a good place. Now is the time to take care of Dixie, so please say a prayer not only for him, but her.

God Bless

I woke up at 3am and was on the plane in seat 3F for a 5:25 wheels up. 2 1/2 hours later we landed in Denver which was a little before 9am for those of you that are not really good at math. (there’s an hour time difference!) Thank God I have enough seniority to get 1st Class.

Lori and Jagger met me at the curb and we headed home. Ty had Ben spend the night so they waited at home. Both baseball games were cancelled as the fields were a mess. We’re waiting to find out if we play tomorrow. If we do, it’ll probably be 3 games! That’s like 6 hours of baseball.

When we made it home, Lori threw her back out when she took one odd step. She managed to make it to the couch and then I had to force her to just sit. I ran to the bank, the grocery store and Edwards, our local meat market. Laundry is going and the boys are playing away upstairs. (Ty now has Jack over)

The rain and hail has been horrible. I can see from the debris that it came down pretty hard. There’s some thunder in the distance right now so we hope it misses us, and the baseball fields, today.

That’s about it, hope you all are well, God Bless.

Yesterday was fun out on the island. The little shack was built in 1936 and needed some work but was charming and right on the beach. By the time we arrived the tide was coming in though so no walking on the beach.

We made it back by about 9pm and that was it for the day. Today we have work from about 10 until 2 or 3 and then a bbq at the big house (we rent two houses) and that’ll be it. There are two of us flying out around 5:30am and two around 7am. The others all leave later in the day. I should be home by 9am tomorrow morning. It’s been a good meeting, maybe the best we’ve had. That’s about it, it’ll be good to be home as I have a lot to do. Hope all’s well, God Bless.

Today the sun arrives in Seattle. To break up the endless work, we’re taking the afternoon off, putting everyone on a ferry, and going to one of my partners little beach house over on a nearby island for some fun and a cookout. Last night we all went to a restaurant that we go to every year for dinner. It’s one of our accounts and they close it down to the public just for us. Then, as usual, the younger people stay up drinking until 1 or later. That’s one advantage of getting older, you finally learn not to do that.

Last night at home Jagger had a baseball game in what I guess was pretty nasty weather. Coach Cliff emailed me saying Jagger had a great game, was back to his old respectful self and really helped out the team. Now to be clear, he was never disrespectful, that was just the Coach’s perception when Jagger asked a question he didn’t like. After the game I guess Michael, his teammate, spent the night.

So 48 hours from now I’ll be halfway home. It’s now 6:15 here and I’ve been up an hour which is basically sleeping in according to Denver time. I and Lori might (we’re not sure) fly into Sacramento next week to meet with the owner of Raley’s, Nob Hill and Bel Air Markets (all the same guy) who we’re sending to the Bocelli concert, for a cocktail. We probably won’t go as I got the word yesterday that they just agreed to take in our wines, but there’s a small chance. If the buyer didn’t get the deal done yesterday, I would have flown in for sure to spend some time with the owner and his wife who are big Bocelli fans.

Time to run so I can get moving and wake all the night owls up. Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

Wow, Lori sure wrote a lot yesterday! It was nice to read a post from her. I’m up here in Seattle in the fog and rain although it’s supposed to clear out this afternoon and start getting sunny for the rest of the week. The meeting is going well, we have a good group of kids. I call them kids as most of them are in their 30’s. Some are in their 40’s and 50’s but most seem younger.

Our home phones are turned off so if you need to reach Lori you have to call her cell. One of the phones is off the hook and no one can find it.

Not much else going on up here that you’d be interested in, I have 3 more days until I’m home. Jagger and Ty are doing well and getting along. Lori says there’s tornado’s and hail coming today, super. Jagger has a baseball game at 5pm so Lori will be home by 3.

And last, Happy Anniversary to my Mom! I remembered!

Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

Well, the boys and I made it through day 1 without the Mister.  Ty had a horrible headache, so Jagger gave me a call at the office to check if there was something to help ease the pain. I walked him through where to find the children’s Advil and how to find the correct dosage. Jagger told me the amount for Ty’s weight (3 Tbls) and I said 2 Tbls would be fine. After we got off the phone Jagger texted me a photo of the Advil in the medicine cup to make sure we were on the same page. The dosage was indeed correct….smart kid. Thirty minutes or so later the boys called to let me know Ty was feeling much better.

The boys called again at 11:30 to ask if I would order Chinese delivery. Early in the morning I made lunches for them in anticipation for this exact call…smart mommy. In all honesty, I did ask that they call me back after they ate if they were still starving and I would figure something out. I got the call at 1:00p.m and at 1:30p.m. Jagger and Ty were enjoying pork fried rice and pot stickers.

I was supposed to get out of the office no later than 2:30p.m. but I was still there fixing the good doctor’s computer at 3:27. I just needed to reboot the darn thing twice and then we were up and running. I was in my car at 3:34p.m. and on my way to pick up Jagger for baseball. I sent him a voice text (I can command my smart vehicle to send a text via my smart phone, so I don’t text and drive)letting him know the traffic was terrible as always, and to be ready when I pulled up. To my surprise and utter joy he was ready for baseball when I pulled up. Hurray!!!

Ty was playing a computer game with 3 or 4 friends including Margo his new friend from Jeff’s and Tina’s party. Ty paused the game to explain to me how he merged all the calls into one central phone….conference calls at 11 years old…smart & savvy kid! I am postponing the implementation of our Summer rule of 1 hour of electronic games per day until the Mister returns. I did implement board games, outside play, and family TV when I get home from work.

The boys went outside to play with Sloan at about 7p.m. I happened to be walking past our storm door and could not believe my eyes. The boys were standing about 4 feet apart each holding a garden hose spraying water at each other. Jagger was on the neighbor’s side of the street… Ty was on our side of the street…and Sloan was off to the side and a bit center. Sloan’s mom was taking groceries into her house and she only glanced at the situation visibly rolling her eyes.  I, of course opened the door to micro-manage the situation. I probably should have let them have fun and not micro-managed.  When I opened the door Ty started running up the street with our hose while Jagger proceeded to spray him. Did I mention the water pressure was on full force? Anyway, Ty ran in the house soaking wet and Jagger turned the hose toward Sloan. I yelled, or shrieked, “Do not spray Sloan”! Jagger turned with disappointment encompassing his entire face and replied, “Okay”. I asked him to put the neighbor’s hose away while I in turn spent 5 minutes shutting off our water. I truly had no idea the faucet even turned that much. If Sloan weren’t 4 or 5 years younger than Jagger I would’ve let them all play, but the younger kiddos always seem to get hurt because the older one doesn’t know how strong or ginormous he is. All the kiddos went back out to play at 8:00pm. no worse for wear.

Jagger, Ty and I retired to the couch and Jagger told me about baseball practice and how annoyed he was at his coach. Apparently,  his coach asked that the boys bat from the non-dominent side…right to left…left to right. Jagger being the inquisitive kid we all know and love asked, “Why?” In Jagger’s mind he wanted to know what benefit this exercise would be to the team. The coach didn’t take this question well and yelled, “Are you challenging me Jagger?” “Do you not want me to coach?” Jagger said nothing, however…he told me it was all he could do to not say, “Yes!” The other two men(a coach and a former ball player) were rolling their eyes at some of the off the wall exercises the coach had the boys doing and from what I hear this morning….thought Jagger was very logical for asking the question. Anyway, Jagger was annoyed and upset. I did tell him how awesome it was that he could verbalize and express his dismay to me and that I felt really special that he could tell me the stuff bugging him. I also mentioned that Coach Cliff…as annoying as he may be, is a Veteran whom fought for our country at one point in his life deserves our gratitude and respect. As a volunteer coach…as lame as he may be…deserves respect….and as a human being…deserves our respect….even if it is tough to offer.  Jagger didn’t know that Cliff served in Iraq and he felt badly that Cliff mistook Jagger’s question as a challenge. We’ll see where Cliff puts Jagger in the lineup tomorrow.

On a lighter note…I went to make a deposit this morning at Key Bank and the Branch Manager told me they had to close down  banks yesterday, because of server/cloud issues. Apparently, the giant server in the sky went down…which took out the cameras and the computers. They had a similar problem on Friday from 1 to 4. Things that make you go…huh???

Please excuse any grammatical and/or spelling errors, as I am writing this post rapidly while multi-tasking at work:-(

God Bless

Well Mojo kept us up most of the night. It was also really warm so Lori had a hard time going to sleep. It’s 4:45am right now and I have about 15 minutes before I need to jump in the shower.

Yesterday was a busy day with little time to sit down. I am getting a new computer (laptop) that’s much faster and has more memory when I get to my meeting today. Lucky for Lori she is getting the Apple Mac Airbook I’m writing on now. She’s happy as her’s is an older one that weighs about twice as much. Our bbq ww went to was a blast yesterday. A friend of mine brought his kids who were from 10 to 15 years old and the two girls (ages 10 and 13) really liked our boys. In fact Ty was playing a game on the computer with Margo (the 10 year old) from about 5pm until 8 after we arrived home.  It was a fun break from the day but we only stayed 90 minutes or so.

That’s about it, time to hit the showers, hope all’s well, God Bless.

Yesterday Mojo went to the beauty parlor otherwise known as the dog groomer at 1pm. 7 hours and 45 minutes later at 8:45pm we picked him up. He now looks like the show dog that he and his parents are. All fluffy, black and white and groomed to perfection, he’s ready to step out on the town. We were worried he would be so matted they might have to shave part of him but to the groomers surprise, most of the hair just blew right out. Of course it did take a while but it was the best $45 plus tip we spent yesterday.

Today we are going to a friends bbq downtown. I really don’t have time but we need to put in an appearance. Up first, Jag and I are headed to the batting cages at 10am. He’s also joined swim team and Ty’s joining the track team. We didn’t sign up for the pool this year as we only made it there 5 times last year but now of course we have to pay anyhow since Jag decided he wants to swim. His practices are 7 to 10pm every night so after baseball he’ll head to the pool. Baseball trumps swimming though so until the end of June, he’ll miss some swimming if events are scheduled at the same time.

I finally made it to the gym yesterday morning and now am really sore, especially at the back of my neck. Today I need to keep preparing for my meetings which are all week in Seattle and pack for my 8am flight. Luckily I’m in First Class. I think we’ll see if we can send the boys up to Grandma’s this week on a couple days to pick weeds or help her out somehow so get your list ready Grandma! They’re pretty much going to be on their own this coming week.

Robi, you need to call me back today so I can book your plane tickets to come visit in July. We also need to figure out how to get to California in July as well.

Hard to believe I’ll be gone a whole week, I might as well go to Europe. Oh well, I think or hope Lori can take some time off this week to be with the boys. Time to run as I need to try to knock out some work before everyone gets up. Mojo’s sleeping by the door now after his breakfast. He came up and woke me up at 5am as he wanted his breakfast and I guess needed or wanted to go outside.

That’s it, hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

Last night we sat in our cars for a bit until the rain stopped so we could play baseball. The sky finally cleared and it was game on. Mom and Ty stayed home as she was cleaning out his room (you should see it!) and Ty was playing with Ben, who eventually spent the night.

We got out of the gate strong and took a 7-0 lead in the first inning. As the game went on I noticed that the other teams coaches were yelling at the umpire. This went on for a few innings until the umpire stopped the game and told some fan, who was a dad of a player I guess, to leave the ballpark. I guess he told the umpire he was a fucking dumb ass. Well you just can’t do that in baseball, especially a 13 year old league. At first the guy refused to leave and the umpire wouldn’t restart the game until he did. Then their coach started arguing with the umpire and before you knew it, the umpire threw him out of the game too! Next up another of their coaches began to argue and bam, he too was gone. Now all hell was breaking lose and as soon as more coaches (they had like 5!) started to argue, the umpire ended the game and awarded us the game by calling a forfeit. On our side we were watching trying to figure out what was happening from the other side of the field as this all took place in about 3 or 4 minutes. It was starting to rain anyhow and there was only 30 minutes left in the game as it was, so we packed up and went home. We play this same team a week from Tuesday so we’ll see them again. They weren’t mad at us, just at the umpires, one in particular. What drama two games in a row, and in a 13 year old league. By the way, Jagger continued his hitting streak and was on base 3 times and stole a few as well. Next week I’ll miss games on Wednesday and Friday and then we have two on Saturday and two on Sunday. My flight home is at 5:25am so I land at 9am a week from today. Hopefully it’s not a 9am game!

Today I need to do some more work, run to a few stores, the dry cleaners, and hit the gym as I haven’t been all week due to my cold. I also need to stop by and say hi to my Mom as I haven’t seen her in a few weeks as I didn’t want to get her sick.

5:52 now so guess I’ll run. Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.