A Year of Change

We made it to Aspen by 9:30 am or so after stopping in Leadville for breakfast. Diane had booked the best table at Asie right on Main Street for the parade. We walked over with her ahead of Greg and Billie who were 30 minutes or so behind us. The parade started right on time at 11am. First off is the procession of Harley’s roaring down the street followed by fire trucks, floats, cowboys on horses and anything else local and small town you could think of. One of the highlights is always the veterans walking in the parade. There are former soldiers from as far back as World War 1 up until now. Some of the older guys can’t walk the parade so they ride in old restored army vehicles. Everyone along the parade route always stands and claps for the veterans.

The boys of course stand out in the street as most vehicles are throwing candy or beads and this year, even nice sun hats! The fire engines also spray their hoses full of water on the crowd so naturally our kids get soaked, what fun.

Next up we all went to friends of Billie and Gregs condo a few blocks up town where another party was naturally going on. We knew lots of people including a few friends from Denver. Meanwhile the boys walked around town and ended up at Carl’s Pharmacy which has a great toy department. Aspen is one of the few places where you can let the kids go off and their own and feel good about it.

Finally around 3pm or so we all made it back to the house. Greg was showing us the theater and we ordered up some ribs from Hickory House which has really really good ribs! Soon it was getting to be evening and the fireworks were going to be going off over Aspen Mountain at 9:15. Greg and Billie went to a party and so did Diane while Lori, I and the boys went uptown. We stopped into L’Hosteria which is a great restaurant that we do business with and had some incredible salmon and sole. Jagger chowed down the salmon like he hadn’t eaten in weeks. We then walked outside, pulled some blankets and pillows out of the car and sat on the sidewalk waiting for the light show to begin. We had a perfect view and the fireworks were great! Afterwards we made it home and soon fell asleep. Billie, Greg and Diane were all still out partying away.

Today I’m not sure what we’re doing but I think we’re going to leave town this evening to beat the traffic. We’r’e back next week on Thursday for the big wedding and we’ll be in the St Regis for 3 nights. Hope all’s well, the weather’s beautiful and it’s about 80 degrees.

God Bless.

Not wanting to go into politics, I’ll get this out of the way as fast as I can. On the greatest of days that honor freedom, I am deeply concerned about the current direction of our Country. Any of us can think back to when we were younger and I’m sure think of more freedoms and liberties than we have now. Of course anything that has been, or will be, taken away from us, the people, will all be presented to us as something that must be done for the greater good. Our main concern is for our children. Times they are a changing and I don’t believe necessarily for the better. The only way for you as an individual to be heard is through your vote. After all, that’s what Independence Day is really all about, the right to vote on your beliefs and for your future. For too long too many people have voted on one divisive principal that has been trumped up by the opposing party to sway your vote. Whether it be abortion or education or equality in pay, which are all important, the future of our Country should not be decided by multitudes of individual partisan groups who all think the powers that be will do what they say. If you think about it, any candidate or party, makes so many promises, many that overtly contradict themselves, that there is no way they could possibly fulfill them. Look at our current Commander in Chief, what happened to closing Guantanamo in 30 days, what about immigration and Wall Street reform? All we got was more of the same. If you can’t see this, you’re a lost soul who has been brainwashed for so long that you can’t remember what was important to you in the first place. So on this day that honors our freedom, I ask you to vote for one thing and one thing only, freedom. If you do, things will be ok as freedom breeds innovation and innovation brings growth and prosperity. If however you vote the other way and our freedoms continue to erode, we will slowly lose our rights and one day, not in the too distant future, you may just lose your right to vote. Then of course, we wouldn’t have an Independence Day. So if you love your hot dogs, Mom and apple pie, always vote for those that will give you and yours the most freedom.

Now to the day, the boys and I did a lot yesterday to get ready to go to the mountains. Uncle T took Jag to lunch and Ty went to Jacks. Everyone made it home by about 1pm and then we proceeded to finish up the rest of our chores before Mom arrived home. Then we packed and tried to get everyone in bed early as we’re hitting the road at 6am. This of course is to beat the traffic to the hills where everybody will be going.

Robin arrives this afternoon and I’m sure my Mom is thrilled to have her here. We’ll of course see her Sunday. That’s about it, hope you all have a great day and take a moment and remember what the day is all about, your independence. It’s easy to lose but literally impossible to get back! God Bless.

Yesterday when we arrived at the airport, I was surprised to find 10 big boxes of wine from Macedonia. I was told by DHL, that they could no longer deliver to Colorado but somehow, someway they did. Today I have to unpack all of them which is a pain as they’re in that nasty styrofoam. I hate that stuff as it gets all over the place.

When I woke up and came downstairs, there was Mojo wagging his tail at me standing in the middle of the kitchen out of his crate. I think we’ll ditch the crate and just let him sleep in his bed as he knows how to pick the lock anyhow.

This morning Ty is going to Jack’s and Jag is going to lunch with Uncle Tommy as I have an appointment downtown at 11. Lori has her last day at work for the week and then has 7 of the next 10 days off. Tomorrow we’ll be off to the hills by 6:30am at the latest as the traffic is going to be bad. Sunday morning we’ll do the same thing to beat everyone heading back to Denver. I hope that everyone else isn’t thinking the same way I am!

That’s it, time to run, lots to do, God Bless.

Well, the U.S. Soccer Team had its chances yesterday but just couldn’t pull it off. I’m not normally a soccer guy but do tend to watch it every four years when the World Cup is on. Not sure if I’ll keep watching though with our team out. Oh well, it was a good game.

Yesterday Lori had quite the day at work. She’s finally taking charge of everyone, including the Doc which is good. She closed (sold) a customer on a surgery, her first one! Meanwhile the boys and I were working, me in my office and the boys cleaning up Ty’s room. Then Ty was off to Vinny’s and I took Jag to the store as he wanted to make something on his own to eat after we ran to Fed Ex and had lunch and stopped by Costco.

Mom made it home around 7pm with Ty as she picked him up while I was grilling steaks. I have a conference call today and then need to run to the airport to pick up some wine from DHL. After that we need to stop by Nordstrom to pick up the boys clothes and then we’ll head home.

It’s 5:14 in the morning now and I need to get to the gym so time to go. Have a great day and God Bless.

Alright, where do I begin. The day started off normal enough, Lori and I up while the boys slept peacefully. Soon she was off to work and I was on my Monday morning conference call. Next up was a couple pallets of wine I was trying to get from British Air Cargo to my house. Remarkably my driver, from the trucking company, was all over it and had it handled. He’s the same guy that has been here for years that I give a few bottles of wine to each time. Looks like it helped.

The wine arrived by 12;30 and the boys and I carried it inside. Many were in six packs which allowed the kids to help. After that I took them to lunch as a reward and then we picked up Ty’s friend Jack to come and play.

About this time I went downstairs to do some work but put on some more coffee first. A few minutes later I came up and checked email on my laptop while the coffee was brewing. I heard Jack coughing and asked if he’s had that cough for a while and he said yes. Then I heard Ty coughing and thought something must be going around. A few minutes later I was feeling a burning sensation in my throat and though I might be coming down with something too! Oh well, I went to get my coffee and when I walked into the kitchen found what I thought was coffee all over the cabinets and floor. I took my finger and rubbed it on the “coffee” to taste it as I couldn’t believe the coffee maker would blow up. Big mistake that was! Turns out that Ty had picked up my pepper spray that I got out to go hiking as it’s used to ward off bears, and I just put it in my mouth! My mouth and eyes were burning and it looked like a pepper spray bomb went off in the kitchen. I quickly turned on the attic fan and began washing and wiping down the counters, cabinets, coffee maker, stove and floor. About 45 minutes later with a burning throat and skin (I must have touched some somehow) I was done. I had repeatedly asked Ty if he did it and he repeatedly said no. Finally I knew one of them shot it as they were both itching and rubbing their chins. Ty finally gave in and told me he did it and Jack and he tried to clean it up! I’m sure he learned a lesson as it was bothering him for a few good hours. I was amazed at the loyalty of the two and how they stuck to their story and stuck together. Oh well, hopefully this was a cheap life lesson.

Next up I called Lori who had just jumped in the truck to drive home. While we’re talking, all of a sudden I hear her say, “oh my God”! Turns out a motorcycle pulled into the intersection in front of her and stopped short in what seemed like on purpose. Next up I hear her say “I hit him!” Now before you get all upset, she just lightly bumped the guys tire and didn’t knock him over or anything. But next the guy, who looked like a skin head, throws down his motorcycle, then throws his helmet and calls Lori a fucking bitch and the C word! By now Lori’s shaking and gets off the phone with me and calls 911. The operator tells her to stay in her truck and stays on the phone with her while they send the police. Soon the police arrive and then the long wait begins. Long story short, the guy on the bike leaves and Lori gets a ticket for failure to yield in an intersection. The fine is $135 and if she pleads guilty it’s only 1 point. We don’t know if the guy will claim insurance or what but we of course did report it. Finally she gets home, and is much calmer but now her headache is pounding. We have a rubber scrape on our front left headlight but really no damage. The insurance company said we’ll just wait and see what happens and they’ll handle everything. They were very nice. Geico is a good company.

So that was our day, can you top that? I hope not. Lori had also forgot to renew her drivers license that expired on her birthday so I did it on line while she was waiting for the cops to come. At least she didn’t get a ticket for that. We don’t know for sure but it sure looked like this guy did this on purpose. To throw his bike down after it wasn’t knocked down, knowing we probably had insurance, is a pretty good indicator.

We skipped dinner as we were both too tired to cook or eat. Today hopefully will be better but Lori is playing surgery scheduler all day as the girl who does this normally, is on vacation. This is a bigger deal than it sounds as she has to come up with all the quotes for surgeries. Meanwhile I’m running to the distributor at 6:30 this morning. Then lots of work to do in my office.

So hopefully it’ll be a calmer day today. Oh yea, Happy July 1st! Take care, GB!

It wasn’t for lack of effort, we just had too much going on to squeeze in a hike. Anyhow I went to the gym as I had to get milk and cinnamon rolls for the kids. Ty’s friend left at 11:30 and by then Lori was in full on cleaning mode. She scrubbed the lower dining room and mud room from top to bottom. Windows, floors, walls and anything else that was in her line of sight. It took her most of the day but it sure looks nice.

I made a few trips to the store and we had some chicken and salad for dinner. The boys took a bike ride up to Dairy Queen and came riding home with orange or strawberry milkshakes.

Other than that, it was a pretty quiet day. I did tell Lori to try and take a valium as maybe it was a muscle ache giving her the headache. Well what do ya know, Dr. Doug to the rescue again as the valium took it right away! Thank God I was, or played, a doctor in college! Anyhow we hope this will knock it out.

Today we’re all back at it. Lot’s to do as it’s a short week with the holiday. Robin arrives Friday afternoon but we’ll be in Aspen until Sunday morning. She’s here until Monday though so we’ll get to spend some time with her.

That’s about it, time to run, have a great day, GB (God Bless)

Yesterday Lori and I took Mojo for a long walk early in the morning while the boys were still sleeping and apparently it was too long as he was limping a little when we made it home. We think he has a little arthritis from running down the stairs too fast which he has a habit of doing. Once he sort of slipped or fell and that’s when his on and off again limp started. Oh well, he seems fine this morning which too is normal after he gets some rest.

Then it was off to the western show again. We now have a couple of strategic alliances with a couple of leaders in their respective fields. One is a top custom boot maker from El Paso and the other is arguably the top living silversmith in the World. Both were drinking our wine last night and soon we will be doing some fun events together, and hopefully sporting some new boots and buckles!

Then it was off to Nordstrom as we needed to see if Jagger’s sport coat and pants could be let out anymore. Sadly we were out of material on both. Now this I expected but what came next was a shock. The least expensive sport coat to be found anywhere in town for Jagger is, wait for it, you’re not going to believe it, here it comes, $300! I about fell out of my chair. I mean come on, $300 for a 12 year old kids coat? Trust me, I checked everywhere. Most stores don’t even carry things in his size as he’s so tall and lean. In fact, he’s basically in an adult coat with it being taken in all up and down the back and then having the sleeves shortened just a bit. Good news is we can let it out a few times as he grows. Throw in a pair of black slacks for Mr. Ty and a new white shirt along with a couple of black dress belts and bam, we were $500 poorer. Jag was thrilled as he now is at the age where he likes and appreciates nice clothes, but he felt bad as he kept thanking us and apologizing all day for the clothes costing so much. We told him not to be silly and we were happy to buy them for him, which we were, we just couldn’t believe a coat for a 12 year old would cost $300!

Before that we went to the Cherry Creek Grill for lunch. Mom and I had salads and Ty had grilled cheese but Jag had a French Dip sandwich. A few bites into his sandwich, he bit down on a bone and hurt his front tooth! We think it moved his tooth as he was in real pain and said it did. The manager who was a nice younger guy, probably around 30 or so, was so attentive and concerned and on top of it right away. Not only did he tell us that he’d be contacting their insurance company right away, which would follow up with us next week,  but he also bought all of our lunches and gave us a $100 gift card on top of it! By the time we were home from Nordstroms, I had an email from him, again expressing his concern and again offering his apologies. Never have I experienced such great customer service. He said, the important thing was that our child was hurt, and that was his only concern and again that he was so sorry. He promised to find out how the bone made it through the entire process and made its way into the sandwich. We wouldn’t be surprised if someone lost their job over it which Jagger said he hoped didn’t happen.

Then it was off to home after Lori window shopped for some new black shoes as hers are all beat up. Even though the stores have some sales, there were no new shoes for her! On the way home Ty called his friend Jude to spend the night, (I’m sure this surprises no one) and he came over at 3 :30. Three pizzas (thank God I had a coupon) and some playing outside later, they all went to the pool from 6:30 until 8. Our friend Daniella took them to give us a break. They then actually went to sleep around 10pm, I think, as that’s when we zonked out.

Today Lori is determined to get us all on a hike. We’ll see how that goes as it’s supposed to be 95 degrees. Here comes the heat! I think, and hope, her head is better. I made her take some pain pills yesterday trying to get ahead of the pain and this morning when half asleep she said she thinks she was feeling better. We’ll see when she wakes up.

I’ve been staying away from politics but just have to share this, Obama’s new EPA (environmental protection agency) rules are 38 times longer than the Bible! How’s that for govt. red tape! Wow, no wonder nothing can get done and everyone is so frustrated.

That’s it for today, hope everyone is doing well, take care and seriously, God Bless!

Today the weekend begins, yea! We both sure need it. We’ll be heading down to the western show this morning with Lori in tow. The boys and I stopped by for a quick preview yesterday afternoon. We made some good connections and today will go back and firm up some relationships.

Lori also wants to get a hike in if we can. I think we’ll see if we can head up to Mt. Evans later today. Not sure when the next U.S. World Cup game is on but we hope to see it. It’s still been raining in the afternoons. Ty was at Vinny’s, again, and I took Jag for some grey slacks and a white dress shirt as promised. He looks so grown up. I was telling Lori that when they all dressed up for graduation or continuation, most kids looked like their parents dressed them up but Jagger looked like he was a member of the Kennedy family or something. I think being tall and thin helps a lot, maybe he can be a model!

That’s it for today, if you have anything interesting to share, please do so. Lori wants a new kitchen, that’s going to be a chore! Take care, God Bless.

Last night after playing all afternoon at Vinny’s, Ty decided to have Vinny come home with him at 7pm for a sleep over. Now these are generally good but the boys do tend to stay up too late. In fact, they were up until 12:30am when luckily I woke up and found their light still on. There they were, playing away on video games. I sure hope they sleep in this morning!

With Ty gone all day, Jagger and I spent the day together. We ran some errands and other things and then Jag decided he was going to make baked apples. He removed the core and filled them up with raisins, brown sugar, butter and of course, more sugar. He was worried that he didn’t exactly follow the recipe but I told him the great chefs use recipes as guidelines and don’t follow them to the letter. (there was a big deal at Aspen Food and Wine on this very subject!) So he was fine improvising and voila, they turned out great!

Lori had a good day at work but has had a headache for 2 or 3 days. I keep telling her to get a headset for her phone and to go to therapy, but she doesn’t listen much to me. Oh well, what’s guy to do. I or she, thinks she’s feeling better this morning.

Today I’ll be running over to the western show and taking the boys to the pool, or something. Ty is going back to Vinny’s as his Mom likes it when Ty is there as then Vinny has someone to play with while she works from home. We kind of trade off from time to time. I promised Jag I’d take him to Nordstroms as he needs some new dress up clothes (sport jacket and pants) that we really can’t afford but he grows so fast and we have the wedding coming up in two weeks. I bought him new dress shoes yesterday on sale at the Nordstrom Rack which is their discount store. They just don’t have dress clothes in his size. Maybe we’ll find something on sale or they’ll be able to let his pants out. I’m just not sure there’s enough material.

That’s about it people, hope everyone is well, take care and God Bless.

Yesterday the boys and I logged 350 to 400 miles in the car, all by 2:30pm. We left the house around 7am and headed to Vail, then drove to Wolcott, turned north, and headed off to Steamboat. After a short stint there, we were on the way home. We saw a bunch of deer, some elk and a bear! It’s rare to see a bear in the wild, even here in Colorado. It was a beautiful drive with us going through a bunch of small towns we hadn’t been through before. By the time we arrived home we were a little tired of being in the car but still had to run to the grocery store.

I made some chili for dinner and Lori made it home a little before 6pm. Today Dr.R is off to New York so hopefully the misses will be home a bit earlier. Not sure what the boys and I will do today but I’ll have to find something fun since I had them on a road trip yesterday.

This morning Ty has track and Jagger no doubt, will sleep through the whole thing. He’ll sleep until 10:30 or 11 if you let him. He’s definitely a teenager. Tomorrow is the western collector show that comes once a year. We love to go look and see all the old western memorabilia.

Finally at 10am our time, the U.S. plays Germany at the World Cup. We need a win or a tie to advance. We can also get in with a loss but need other things to happen and you never want to rely on others.

That’s about it, time to run, hope you all are well, go U.S. and God Bless.