A Year of Change

Today you are not supposed to be outside for long with exposed skin, it reminds you of the movie The Day After Tomorrow it’s so cold. The high here at the house today hopefully will get to 10 but maybe not. Good news is the snow is dry as all the moisture has been sucked out of it. Even Mojo would rather be inside.

Yesterday I shoveled June’s walk as she had called and offered Jagger $25. We both went down at 7:30 before school but it was so cold I had him get in the warm running truck. Turns out she hadn’t had her driveway shoveled at all since it started snowing a week or so ago! I would have never done it for $25, maybe $50, as the snow was so deep. I did it anyhow and then took the boys to school.

Lots of schools are closed due to the weather but ours is open. Later in the day I went back to try to get some more of the caked on snow (that she’d been driving over) off and then stopped to finish another neighbors driveway as I saw the old lady out there shoveling but go inside before she could even get it a third of the way done. She didn’t see me but will see a shoveled driveway next time she comes outside.

Lori made it home around 3:30 and Ty had D.I. until 5:30. Then Mom and Jag went to school for Outdoor Lab information night. Then we all jumped in bed trying to get warm after putting blankets along the doors. We also kept the faucets dripping all night to make sure the pipes didn’t freeze. Tomorrow it’ll be in the teens, thankfully.

It’s 5:11 right now and I need to get to the gym so I have to run. Ok, 6:01 and I’m back and yes its cold but not that bad to me but then again, I’ve always been a cold weather person. You can always warm up but you can’t always cool off! I just woke Jagger up as he likes to get up at 6am. I took his acceptance letter to Manning (is school next year) yesterday, lots of Mom’s were dropping them off.

For some reason it seems like a Friday. I think we might go skiing or snowboarding this weekend, we’ll see.

Alright, we’ll see you tomorrow but before I go I have to mention this. Yesterday the impartial Congressional Budget Office (repeatedly touted by Obama) released a report saying Obamacare will cost 2.5 million jobs over the next decade! You’re not going to believe it but the Democrats went on tv and actually said this is a good thing as people (who lose their jobs) will now be able to spend more time with their family’s or start a business of their own! I honestly don’t know how they can say this with a straight face. Let me get this straight, it’s a good thing that you lose your job as now you can spend more time with your family, of course without any money! If it wasn’t true, it wouldn’t be believable now would it.

Oh well, guess I shouldn’t be surprised at anything anymore, take care and God Bless.

Ok, it’s cold, really freakin cold, and this is coming from a guy that loves the cold weather. Lori has been, in her words, “chilled down to her bones” which makes sense with her low blood count. Mojo wanted right back in after eating breakfast and is lying beside the fireplace in his bed. It’ll stay this way for another day or so and then climb to the 40’s by Sunday. Back east they close schools for this but not here in Colorado!

Yesterday Lori left before 9 and arrived home a little after 5. First she had her hair done and then was at the office for the rest of the day. Today will be more of the same without the hair appointment. I’ll be hanging around here as I have about 4 or 5 hour long calls scheduled.

I need to get everyone moving as they’re all still wrapped up under the covers. You might want to run your faucets tonight if you live in Denver as it’ll be even colder. No politics today, not much to say when they continually lie to your face, on both sides. Just as a sample, yesterday they passed a so called Farm Bill that really doesn’t do anything for farmers but has some pork or wasteful pet project for almost every Congressman there is. How about 20 million to study catfish or 1 billion to promote McDonalds overseas and it goes on and on with much worse examples. What these people, if you can call career politicians that, don’t understand is that we just do not have the money! Hold on people, get ready, it’s coming down right before our eyes yet most of us still ignore it. Ok ok I’ll stop.

Time to run and get my hot coffee, God Bless

It’s still here, teens for daytime highs and snow is falling right now. It’s snowing light here but intense the further east you go. Winter in Colorado, in fact, winter everywhere! Get this, the global warming people are saying the winter is so bad this year because of global warming! So let’s get this straight, if it’s really hot, it’s because of global warming and now too if it’s really cold, you guessed it, same thing, hmmmm.

I think Lori’s going to the office and getting her hair colored today. She’s still tired but better. The Super Bowl set her back but she rested up yesterday. She’s back on no alcohol at all as with her low blood count, as it doesn’t help.

Today I have a bunch of phone calls and a few errands. I need to run to the warehouse also but we’ll see how the day goes. I need to call first to make sure they’ve pulled my samples.

Jag is getting up now at 6 and Mr. Ty, as usual, is sleeping in. Mojo is in by our feet but loves being out in the cold. Not much else going on for February 4th, it’ll be Spring, we hope, sooner than we know it.

Time to run, take care and God Bless.

Ok, nobody, and I mean nobody saw that coming. It wasn’t a game, it was like one team playing against another that didn’t even get off the bus! There’s not much else to say about it, it wasn’t like Seattle played really well, things just were freaky and unexplainable from the first play on as there’s no one that predicted what happened. Oh well, as they say, any team can beat any team, on any given Sunday. I’m sure the team is crushed but we need to look at what they did do and start getting excited for next year.

The party was as fun as it could be considering how the game was going. We all bought squares on a board and we won the first quarter so we got our money back. The food and friends were fun and we were home by 8:15.

Today I think Lori is going back to work but she wasn’t doing as well last night as she had been, as I think it all might have been a little too much for her. I’ll decide this morning whether or not she’s going in as I’m now in charge!

This is a week of arctic cold as it’ll be between 0 and 15 degrees all week long. I think next Sunday we’ll climb back into the 20’s. I have lots to do as usual and am already running late so time to run.

Take care and God Bless.

It’s here! The 48th Super Bowl! 10 hours from now we will kick off the big game. Peyton Manning won the MVP and Offensive Player of the Year last night and God willing, will be the first player to win Super Bowls with 2 different teams. We all sure hope so.

It’s about zero degrees outside right now, too bad the game isn’t here! We’re heading over to Jeff and Tina’s house for the big game around 2pm. Lori texted her yesterday and there will only be 13 people including Lori and I and our friends Ty and Aime, who are coming with us. The boys too are coming unless Jagger goes to Jennifer’s. We’ll find out this morning what he’s doing.

Yesterday the big news of the day was that Mom cleaned out Ty’s room. This may not sound like much but trust me, it would have been easier to clean up a hazardous waste site than to clean out his room. She didn’t spare a corner and this is the first time we’ve seen his window siles since we moved in some 14 years ago. We now also have proof that the floor IS wood under his bed. Hopefully he will keep it this way. But wait, she didn’t stop there, next up she tackled Jagger’s closet. You might not know it, but it’s swallowed up things such as miscellaneous shoes and boots, some missing pots and pans from the kitchen, and word has it, even some small farm animals, just like a black hole in space! I don’t think she’s finished but is almost there. Quite the undertaking, if she can do that, the Bronco’s can surely win the Super Bowl!

I must have shoveled the walk and driveway at least 3 times yesterday as it snowed most of the day. Ty had D.I. from 3:30 until 5:30 and then I bbq’d up some buffalo strip steak which surprisingly, the boys gobbled down. It’s higher in iron (and cheaper) than normal beef so I bought some for Lori although she didn’t look too tired yesterday. She and the boys are all still sleeping though.

Not sure if you know it but beef prices are at a 63 year high. This is due to the  herds being culled or thinned out over the last two years by ranchers not being able to afford to feed them. Time to start our cattle herd. The stock market also had its worst month in 5 years since 2009. Russia has suspended cash withdrawals from banks. Countries in Europe like Spain and Italy have passed laws saying people cannot protest (this will not work) while others who tried this like the Ukraine, repealed laws against protesting to prevent civil war and their leader has gone on an indefinite sick leave. Folks, don’t think you’re safe. I’ve abstained from politics (I sound like a politician using the word “folks” don’t I?), 2014 is going to be hell. I ran into a Vice President of a major bank in Denver yesterday who told a bunch of us (we were all at our local gun shop cops use waiting for a local police department we know to bring in a bunch of confiscated guns from their evidence locker to sell cheap) and he said take any spare cash and turn it into something of value. His exact words were to “buy guns, ammo and canned food”! I most of you all, and most people in general are in denial and think nothing can or will happen, especially  to you, and that our gov and society will take care of us but sadly it is not capable of doing so. So, I don’t care where you live or what you think, next time you are at the grocery store, you need to buy some extra food. It doesn’t take that much money to throw in a few extra cans of spaghetti or boxes of macaroni. Just buy things you’re already eating. You won’t be sorry. I could go on and on with warnings or tell you things I’ve heard from reputable people in and out of the system, but I won’t. Suffice it to say, things are changing and not for the better. Don’t be fooled by the talking heads on tv telling you the economy is getting better. Do you really expect the Pres to get on tv and say things are falling apart? Come on now, wake up and think for yourself.

Ok, that’s it, I think I pretty much took it easy considering the state of the union (ha ha) and the fact that I haven’t talked politics for a long long time. Trust me, I could have been much worse!

In closing, today is a day for football, pray for the Broncos and for a safe celebration afterwards. A bunch of guys that I know from various agency’s (Federal, State and Local departments) have all been called in to work to prevent what they think will be big riots, win or lose. I think the cold will keep things calm but they’re not taking any chances.

Oh well, we’ll be safe, I’m going to be the designated driver today and Lori won’t drink more than 1 cocktail if that, so we’ll be fine. Wish the game started earlier but it is what it is.

God Bless you all and God Bless the Denver Broncos!

That’s right, last night we had another 3 or 4 inches of the white stuff fall from the sky. This cold spell reminds me of living in the mountains where it would snow on top of snow, almost every night. It looks really pretty outside and apparently will be with us for a week or so as that’s how long the temperatures are supposed to be hanging around the 30’s.

I slept in until 6 or so and am heading to the gym after my coffee and the blog. We all went up to my Mom’s yesterday to celebrate her birthday and had a great time. Ty had his chess tournament after school and won all of his matches, yea!

Yesterday we were all awaiting the mail delivery as the letters from The Manning School, where Jagger applied were being delivered. We knew they were coming as some other people who get the mail before we do, called Lori. The Manning School is in the top 5 out of 1000 in the state and is an option school. This means they don’t have to take kids based on where they live. It’s really academically superior and challenging, and as they told us in the orientation, not for everyone. Its like applying for college or something, all at 12 years old! Anyhow it’s where Jagger wanted to go, even though some of his friends chose other schools because they thought they were not ready for the academic standards and 3 or 4 hours of homework a night that the school has. The next step is Jagger studying for honors class placement on April 8th in math and reading. We have a great math tutor that the boys have used before that he’ll go see to brush up, but we need to find a writing tutor. I’m fine with him just taking regular classes instead but Mom thinks we should try to get him in the honors program. They say kids that go to Manning have a real leg up on others when they get to high school. It’ll be good for Jag to be challenged and I’m sure will be a wake up call as he pretty much breezes through his homework and school now.

Some of his friends too were accepted but Jennifer, his close friend since kindergarten, didn’t get in! She’s number 54 on the waiting list and was in tears when she opened her letter. They have a second round in a month or two but she’ll need some luck to get in. 54 kids will have to decide not to accept for her to get in. We feel really bad for her as we would be crushed if Jag wasn’t chosen. To me it’s unbelievable that at 12 years old you have to go into a lottery to get in to the school of your choice. I, Aunt Robi and Uncle T went to Manning but back then it was just a regular school and you went there because you lived in the district. We sure hope she gets in. We know of a few other kids that got in but I’m sure we’ll find out of others who didn’t in the coming days. One of his classmates was accepted but is not going to go there because of how hard it’s supposed to be, so who knows, maybe 54 will pass and go to another school. At the first of the year we, and most other parents, applied to 3 or 4 schools to cover yourself. This way if you were not chosen by one school, hopefully the odds were you got into another. Anyhow we’re lucky Jag did and thrilled. Lori was a wreck waiting for the mail all day long.

Tomorrow’s the big game, you all better be cheering for the Bronco’s. How could you not cheer for Peyton Manning? Well that’s it for me for the day, lots to do, take care and God Bless, time to shovel more snow and hit the gym, Go Broncos!

Most schools are closed today due to the snow but ours is open. Ty is thrilled as he has a big party at school and his teacher Mr. Tharp, who has been gone all month on maternity leave, is coming in and bringing his new little daughter to meet the class. He comes back full time Tuesday (Lori said the boys are off this coming Monday, don’t know why?) for good.

Yesterday was sort of a blur. I do so much every day I loose track of all I do! I did make it to the grocery store, went up and visited my Mom with my friend Jon Newmark from Seattle who flew down to watch the game in Denver, cleaned the house a bit before the house cleaners showed up and was on the computer a bunch. Throw in taking and picking up the kids and an extra trip to school to bring Ty some forgotten papers and that was it.

Lori was tired, so tired she spent the day on the couch or in bed. She needs to build her strength back up as she is really weak. Thankfully she is getting stronger by the minute. I grilled her up a steak last night and made sure she had some sushi and chicken for lunch. I’m trying to get foods with iron into her to help produce more blood faster!

Mojo is laying at our feet and I think now realizes Lacey is not coming back. He’s been looking around and wondering the past few days, you can just tell. He will be ok, just like all of us, but still miss Lacey very much.

Today is my Mom’s birthday, Happy Birthday Mom! I think we’re all going up for some cake but that’s about it. She said she didn’t want to go to dinner or anything. She looks great for her young age of 81 and is getting on just fine. Hope I’m doing as well as she when I’m that old!

Time to run, hope everyone is well, it’s February 1st tomorrow, wow, take care and God Bless.

First off, thanks for all your calls and comments about Lacey, it’s still hard but hopefully will get better each day.

The day started off pretty normal with lots of work and the boys in school. I touched base with Lori more than usual as she had a doctor appointment at 2:45 as she has had a really bad monthly cycle. By the time she made it to the doctor, thankfully, her blood count was so low that they were really scared and rushed her to the hospital for emergency surgery! She called me and told me and I couldn’t believe it! I could tell she was a little freaked out as she said the doctor (who was the one who delivered both boys) was really worried. They had her in the operating room within 30 minutes and 15 minutes later after some sort of D&C (I think that’s what they called it) she was in recovery.

She had lost so much blood her blood was almost peach colored when they pricked her finger. Luckily I forced her to call the doctor Monday for an appointment and bought her iron supplements 3 or 4 days ago. The doctor said that if she had waited even through the night, she would have been coming to the hospital in an ambulance and it could have been touch and go! Unfreakinbelievable! All this, and the day after Lacey.  Anyhow almost immediately her color came back and she looked much better. The doctor said it’ll be two weeks before her blood count gets built back up to normal. Thankfully she didn’t have to have a transfusion but they had called the blood bank and had it ready just in case. She’ll just be tired for a while and needs to eat lots of protein and take it easy. I’ll need to go buy some steaks for her today. The doctor asked her if she was feeling bad when she arrived and she said “no, just a little tired”. They were shocked to say the least. Also no driving for a few days (thankfully she didn’t pass out at the wheel yesterday) so she’ll be laying low at home. I screwed up a little not making her go to the doctor last week when I thought she should but she kept telling me she was fine. Last time I’ll listen to her! She asked me if I wanted to trade her in on a new model and I said, “no way, first off I couldn’t afford a new model and besides, I’ve got this one (meaning her) all fixed up”.

So, what a close call, thank God for watching over her and us. Thanks to Uncle T and Aunt Ali for taking the boys. They were fine until right before we picked them up on the way home from the hospital. Ty is still really upset about Lacey as is Jag, but he handles it much better. They too knew something was going on with Mom but didn’t know what, which didn’t help.

Oh well, at least now, hopefully, we can have a few normal days and relax. I just had to laugh as we’re swimming in medical bills (I was actually getting calls from doctors offices asking about payments while I was at the hospital, ha ha) and now there just piling on. Oh well, it’s only money.

Take care and God Bless.

Yesterday we lost our beloved puppy of almost 15 years, Lacey. When we woke up she wouldn’t eat and her breathing was very heavy. She ended up falling asleep in Mom’s arms with me by her side a little before noon. Needless to say then, and even now as I write this, the tears were flowing. She was such a good dog and was such a big part of all of our lives. I won’t go into the kids emotions as I have a hard enough time dealing with my own while writing this post. I remember when Lori and I picked her out right after we met 14 some years ago. We selected her out of a group of 6 or 8 puppies. She was so cute and funny stumbling over her brothers and sisters trying to get to us. I could go on and on about the great memories we had with her but just can’t do it right now. I think those of you that knew Lacey know what I’m talking about. We pray she is resting in peace and like Ty said, playing ball with Grandpa in heaven. We’ll all miss her very very much.

That’s all I have for today as I can’t write anymore right now, take care and God Bless.

It must be zero outside with the wind chill even lower. Lori was up first with Lacey and I then followed and boy is it cold downstairs.

Today the boys will need to bundle up as it’ll be 15 degrees or so at lunchtime. The kids had lots of homework yesterday as I think they’re ramping them up a bit at school. Lori might go to the office today but I’m not sure.

Lori needs the computer and I’m pre-occupied with work so that’s it for today. We hope everyone is doing well, take care and God Bless.