A Year of Change

Boo Boo is one of Lori’s nicknames and yes, she finally has the crud that the rest of us have been fighting for what seems like months. Not sure how long she’ll last at work but know she’ll go as she’s never been sick or missed a single day.  Even if she comes home early, she’ll still go in as they can’t afford to be without her for even a day.

We lost our game last night against the number one team who were frankly, dirty players. They intentionally hit one of our guys with a pitch, pushed a couple kids off 2nd base and blocked the base paths numerous times. The old saying if you don’t get caught, it’s ok, I guess these guys lived by. The umpires were not too happy with them as they bent the rules as much as possible and like I said, just played dirty. You can’t really say they cheated, but at 13, no team intentionally throws at a batter. If it was the pros or even high school or college, our pitcher would have thrown and hit their next batter as payback. Jagger did hit, score and pitch flawlessly though and had a good game. Our Head Coach didn’t show as he was jacked up on pain killers from getting hit in the leg the day before. Tonight we’ll do it all over against another team at 5:30.

I still have lots to do before flying to Seattle on Monday so I’d better get busy. It’s supposed to warm up next week when I’m gone, into the 90’s they say. Time to run, take care and God Bless.

I think I’m getting better although I did get up this morning to blow my nose and ended up with a bloody nose! Guess I blew too hard. Oh well, have to keep moving.

The big news is today is the last day of school. Both boys are out at 12:15 and then we have a baseball game at 5pm. I tried to go to practice last night but had to leave as I was too weak to do anything. I ran to Walgreens for some Alka Seltzer and by the time I made it home I received a call from Jagger saying practice was called as Coach was hit in the leg by a line drive and thinks he broke his leg! I rushed back to the field and Coach was sitting on the bench in the dugout with his leg up. He was shaking a bit and in obvious pain. He had to go all the way across town to the VA, (thanks to Obama Care according to him) to get checked out. Turns out he didn’t break it but I’m sure he’ll be limping at tonights game.

I’m supposed to be on a call already so time to run. Lori made it home by 8pm last night as she had to continue to prepare for a court hearing today. That crazy employee that lasted about a month before Lori took the job, has been trying to extort $2000 by claiming all kinds of false crap since she left. She has an attorney friend whose putting Lori and the office through the ringer just trying to get them to a point where they’ll just pay the $2000, but Lori and Dr R are having none of it. They keep faxing requests over right before closing time thinking Lori will postpone the hearing or just give up, but Lori just stays late and sends over the requested documents. They tried this document demand last Friday at 4;45 and again last night at 4:50. I’m sure (or hope) that Lori and Dr R will win the case. A Judge already shut this crazy woman down once but you never know.

So that’s our life for the day, time to run, hope you all are well, take care and God Bless.

So far I can’t seem to kick this cold, the older you get, the longer it seems to take. It’s 5:30am and I’m getting my haircut at 9am. I really don’t have the energy to write much today so here’s a quick rundown of things.

Today is the last full day of school, we have baseball practice tonight, Lori still has a headache, uggh, and it’s clearing up a bit but we still have afternoon storms. The coffee maker just beeped and I need to jump on a call with Luisa on the east coast in 45 minutes. So time to go, hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

p.s. Robin, I’m going to call you today to make your plane reservations.

Here we go, Lori has an 8am sales meeting across town, the boys have school, I have a 9am conference call and everyone feels like crap. I think I’m still the worst but both boys are in the middle of colds too. Lori is the only one who doesn’t have it, yet!

Our baseball game was rained or hailed out last night. They called it about halfway through as the lightening was too close and then the hail came down, hard.

We pretty much just veged out on the couch for the rest of the night. It doesn’t seem like a Tuesday. Time to run as I feel too weak to keep typing, God Bless.

Well, I finally got it, Jagger’s summer cold that is. Headache, stuffy nose and sore throat, super. Hope I can kick it in  a week. We do have a baseball game today at 5:30 unless it too gets rained out. I have a little bit of work that must get done before my conference call tomorrow morning and we need to do some more work around the house.

We did manage to get a lot done yesterday. The breakfast nook and dinning room are pretty much cleaned and packed up meaning we packed up all the extra clutter laying around. Jagger did a bunch of work on his room but once you climb over all the stuff in the hall (from his room), his room still looks pretty much like it did before. That tells you just how much stuff he too had, mostly under his bed and in his closet.

Jag and I did make it to Lowes yesterday for the big Memorial Day Sale as we needed a few new tools to round out our supply. I had been waiting for like 6 months to get our 89 year old neighbors tools as they’re moving and he had promised them to me as long as a year ago. Finally Saturday his wife called and said they were ready for me to come and pick them up. When I walked over, his wife asked me what I wanted to pay for them. This sort of caught me off guard as they had told me for over a year that they were going to give them to me numerous times. I guess they (or she) forgot or changed her mind. Old people sometimes do that. I said I’d come back and look through them after we ran our errands. When I went back I said “ok let’s look through the box and see what you have”. His wife said, “oh just take them all” as they’re moving in a month. I again said I’d better look through them to see what I needed, now that I had to pay for them. I asked what she had in mind and she said, “oh I don’t know, $100 or $125”. Right them I knew we had a problem but went through the motions of looking anyhow. Initially I was excited as old tools are great but I knew there was no way whatever they had was worth that kind of money. Most were rusted except for a few old saws and the actual tool box was nice. After looking though them with her husband, I told him sorry but I think I’m ok and already have most of what was in the box. He was nice and fine with it but who knows what his wife thought. Lori says she was counting her cash before I ever came over. She had also offered Lori a few old quilts but when Lori looked at them, and said she wanted $75 a piece, Lori too passed. I never saw them and asked if they were warm and functional as old quilts are usually pretty good finds but Lori said they were mostly decorative and no way worth $75. So unfortunately no great old treasures were found this time, and that’s why I went to buy a new hacksaw, pry bar and 24″ cross cut saw.

I’d like to find a generator and chain saw with a 20″ bar which is what I really need, but these are hard to find at garage sales or second hand.

I’m drinking dandelion tea with honey right now trying to feel better but so far it’s not really working. Guess I should run so I can start to get moving. There’s laundry to fold and more to dry and lots to put away. It’s all green everywhere from the rain but Texas and Oklahoma are really getting the brunt of these storms with tornados and flooding everywhere. Newscasters are using terms like biblical, hmm.

Time to go, God Bless.

We actually did a lot yesterday but that didn’t include the boys rooms. We are all staged though to get after it today as well as wash all the baseboards. It’s 6am now and I’m the only one up (what’s new) and after I get to the gym, I’ll get a jump on things.

Our bbq that we were going to has been moved to next Sunday so that frees up the day. I also have some computer work to do sometime before Tuesday morning.

We did go to my buddy’s graduation party for his daughter. They had a lot of people (too many) for their 1500 square foot house. The kids had a blast running around with the 20 other kids but we left after an hour as it was beginning to storm and Lori’s neck was hurting. One funny thing though, on the way to the bbq, Ty asked if they’ll have bacon, as in bbq bacon! That’s Ty, he loves his bacon.

Guess I’ll run so I can get moving, time is running short as there’s lots to do and little time to do it in. Hope you all are well, take care and God Bless.

Today we’re entering the underworld, otherwise known as the boys rooms. You never know what you’ll find in there and you don’t dare go in without wearing a full hazmat suit. I think I’ll take everything out and then deicide what to keep and put that back in. Hopefully we’ll finish up by the end of the day.

Yesterday it continued to rain and then rain some more. This morning I’m taking the boys for some new jeans as they’re both growing so fast that they need knew ones before they wear the old ones out. Jagger is now wearing size 28-36. To put that in perspective, I wear 34-36 which means his legs are almost as long as mine. (I’d buy him 35 length but they don’t make those and 34’s are too short) I’m sure he’ll be over 6 feet by the time school starts in the fall. Ty isn’t far behind and is actually a little stockier or thicker in the shoulders. They’ll both be good sized boys.

Tonight at 6pm we need to put in an appearance at my friend Tom’s house for his daughters graduation party. I guess she had a 4.0 all 4 years in high school. Jag plays baseball with his son Jake and Tom was just hired as assistant baseball coach for Regis College. This is great news as Tom thinks he can get Jag and Jake into the summer baseball camp there for free! My other buddy Matt drove back from the Western slope (western Colorado) for his nephews graduation also. I asked what he was going to give him and he said that the kid’s Mom (his sister in law, who he doesn’t get along with at all) is so liberal and feels she’s so entitled that they do whatever they can to get any and everything free from the government. In his words, “they’re on food stamps, have a free Obama phone, welfare and make a living by applying for any grants they can get and then go to the store and buy designer clothes and steak and lobster with our money, and don’t want to work”. He said unfortunately the kid has been raised in the same way, with no work ethic and has that “why do I need to work” attitude. So Matt has decided that he’s giving the young man an envelope with four brochures inside, one each for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines! I burst out laughing as what a great idea for a kid stuck in this rut but as Matt said, it’d be the best thing he could do for him. Beautiful!

Now, what did you do to prepare today, or shall we say this week? Did you buy some extra food at the grocery store? Are you keeping your gas tank in your car always at least half full? Did anyone plant any type of garden? How about something as simple as buying some extra socks or staples such as toothpaste or toothbrushes? Imagine life without toothpaste, yuck.

I’ll stop there but I need to keep hammering on you a little bit each day and hopefully some of it with take hold.

Guess I’ll run, time to get moving, bacon is in the oven, and we’re burning daylight. God Bless.

I know those of you in California wish you could get some rain but here it’s been raining like we live in Seattle or something. I’m sure our game will be cancelled tonight again and if the forecast is right, we’ll miss our scheduled Monday game too.

It’s the last Friday of the school year and we have a 3 day weekend, whoo hoo!

I’m supposed to get on a call at 6am which is in 7 minutes. I just ran to the store (aren’t you glad to know) for carrots, ranch dressing and a $10 Starbucks card for Jagger’s student council party today.

Can’t think of much else except we have a new western store in Colorado. Cavenders, the big chain from Texas, just opened two stores here. One in Colorado Springs and one in Park Meadows. I managed to make it to the Park Meadows store yesterday and was like the only guy in this giant store full of boots and other western clothes. Now if you know me, you know I live in cowboy boots (just like my dad) and have about 20 pair. So after chatting up the assistant manager and finding a pair I liked, that  had a small blemish or cut in the leather on the toe, I managed to come home with a new pair at 40% off! The reason this store is so cool is they are so large they’re much less expensive than the stores around here and they carry some great brands no stores in Colorado have. It was like Christmas. I wouldn’t have bought a new pair but if you remember, Mojo ate my favorite everyday boots last week or so.

Well that’s it, I’ll spare you from the impending collapse of our economic system and country for the day. If you don’t know what’s happening by now, I’m afraid you never will.

Take care and God Bless.

I finally made it to the gym this morning and on the way home stopped for some fresh bagels for the boys. Now this might not seem like a big deal but what if someday soon you couldn’t run down to the corner store or stop at any number of shops selling coffee, bagels, sandwiches or other food or gas stations were all out of gas. Think it’s far off? Think again. I’ll leave it at that for today.

Now to the big news of the day, yesterday my little sister, known as Aunt Robi, and her long time beau, Robert (or sometimes called Gus by my Mom) got married! The way Tommy tells it, they went down to get a marriage license and then walked around the corner and there was the judge, so being to free spirits they both are, they got married on the spot! Congratulations! We’re all very happy for you!

Today is the last full Thursday of school as next week the boys have school Tuesday and Wednesday and then a half day Thursday. I have lots and lots to do today and every day for the rest of the month. Lori is plugging along at work too and yes, it’s still raining.

That’s about it as I need to get all the trash put out for my guy who shows up around 7:30. Imagine if or should I say when, trash service stops. I don’t know about you but I’ve been in New York when the garbage men were on strike for just 3 days and the whole city smelled and giant rats were seen running around everywhere. Not a good thing.

Ok, on that note, take care and God Bless!

Last night the music concert was really good. They have an orchestra, band and choir and between them all, they played or sang 16 songs. The kids have made a lot of progress in a year.

Still raining around here, not sure if we’ll have baseball tonight or not. It’s putting a real cramp in our house cleaning too.

Dr. R is at it again, ranting and raving, we have to get her out of there. Time to start working on a plan now. This morning I need to run to the distributor and then to an account all before 11am.

Ty is virtually in play mode at school as are all the kids while they’re still pilling the homework on Jagger even though there’s only a few days to go. I think he had two finals yesterday and am not sure what’s going on today.

No politics today as I haven’t read the news yet but I’m sure whatever it is, it isn’t good. We’re setting up a crowd funding account to start a little farm/ranch in the hills so get ready to donate. If you don’t know what crowd funding is, that’s where you help “fund” worthwhile projects or ideas for people. We’re thinking that baby goats and chickens and all sorts of plants growing wouldn’t be able to rant and rave at Lori! So get out your checkbooks and send us along your donation to Fugate Ranches!

God Bless.