A Year of Change

It must be below 10 degrees outside but the sky is bright blue. The white snow is so bright that after a while, you need sunglasses as the sun reflects off of it right into your eyes.

Here’s a comment from Grandma Eleanor,

The snow outside this morning is a wet snow with high moisture content meaning it’s much heavier to shovel.We probably have a good 8 inches which doesn’t sound like much until you go to shovel it.

No comments from anyone? I didn’t think I’d get any but that’s ok.

I must have drove 200 miles yesterday. It started with a trip the the sales meeting and then downtown for a haircut, then up Deer Creek Canyon, then home, then downtown and then to Boulder. Meanwhile Mom picked up the oldest at noon who then, along with Jag, his friend and Mom and two other boys, went on what turned out to be a 7 mile hike up in the mountains. I think they thought they were just going on a little jaunt up a trail but it turned into much much more. Not only was it long and vertical, they also were snowed on as this storm started in the mountains before it hit us here at our house. I was in snow in Boulder at 2:30 so I figured they were in the thick of it. The youngest was also on a hike with his friend and Mom. I picked him up around 5 and we all made it home about the same time. Lori was limping around last night as she was pretty sore. I can only imagine what shape she’ll be in today. Lucky we have lots of snow today so she can just sit on the couch!

I-70 is closed to the east meaning to Kansas and Oklahoma and chains are required on all vehicles going to the mountains. I’m sure the boys will get me out sledding today at some point.

I guess I’ll skip politics today which I’m sure pleases some of you. With that, I’m out of material so time to go. Have a great weekend and God Bless.

I have a buddy who owns a gold and silver business, you know, the kind that buys and sells coins, jewelry or anything made of gold or silver. I saw him yesterday and when I asked how’s business, his reply was stunning. It seems that in January of this year alone, consumers purchased a record 13 million ounces of silver! He also trades (buys and sells) in what is called “junk silver” meaning those coins that were minted in 1964 or earlier when they still used 90% silver in the coins. He told me that he’s never seen anything like it as it’s almost dried up. He can’t get enough as people are buying any and all he has whenever he gets it. It seems people are taking their paper money and savings and putting it into precious metals.

I have another close friend who works for one of the big Wall Street banking firms. He’s from Colorado, was in the N S A (the national security agency). He told me talks are underway to put in limits on how much cash anyone can take out of their own bank account on a daily basis. He said this law could go into affect within 60 or 90 days and the limit could be somewhere between $500 and $2000 per account! If true (and I have no knowledge of this just what my friend who is pretty high up with one of the big banks says) that means that any of us as a family would be restricted or prevented from taking our own money out of our accounts. Supposedly this is being floated with the current situation in Cyprus where the government decided to tax everyones account between 7% and 10% to get out of debt. Naturally this caused a run on the banks which are now all closed until at least next Tuesday and rioting has begun in the streets.

So there you have it, take it for what you will. When I asked my friend, who’s quite well off, what he’s doing with his money, he told me, and I quote “I’m slowly taking it all out of the stock market and then slowly taking all my cash out of the bank day by day so no one notices”. When I asked him jokingly if he’s putting it under his mattress he replied, “no, I’m buying silver and gold coins and hiding those”. I was shocked as this kind of explains why there’s no silver anywhere. I asked him how much he bought and while he wouldn’t give me an exact number he did say it was in the mid 6 figures. So here’s a guy who’s high up in one of the big Wall Street banks who has taken all his cash, which is somewhere in the $500,000 range, and turned it all into gold and silver ounces. He told me he believes, and so do his bosses, that the best case is the U.S. dollar will have a bad fall in value and worst case is that it’ll crash and/or you won’t be able to take your own money out of the banks when the public figures it out and a run on the banks starts. He also said his parents won’t listen to him even though he works where he works and that they’ll probably lose all their money which is in stocks, 401K’s and mutual funds. The misses joked that we’re lucky we don’t have to worry about all that stuff as we have no money in the market!

Anyhow pretty scary from my perspective. Many of you will think all this is nuts and do nothing but what if he’s right. What if you woke up one morning and you couldn’t get more than $500 out of your own bank account, what if the market crashes (it’s happened before people) and all your savings on paper is suddenly worthless, what would you do?

Just saying, think for yourself.

Now to yesterday, Mom went to lunch with both boys yesterday while I was running errands for work. The kiddos are out of school at noon today and don’t go back until a week from Tuesday, Spring Break is here! I have a sales meeting this morning at 9am and then have a couple of other stops this morning. Mom’s taking the boys on a hike with some other kids right after school up on Table Mesa.

We’re supposed to get more snow tonight which is ok but the timing is not the best with it being the first day of Spring Break.  We’re going to probably go to Steamboat next Tuesday or Wednesday for a few days. Not much else going on.

The youngest is here on the couch with me and it’s almost 6am. I need to get the oldest up as he has tinikiling at 7. Hope everyone is doing well, have a good weekend and God Bless.

Last night the misses told me Jag and Morgan (a female classmate) were looking up the word vagina in the dictionary (do not mention this Uncle T!) at school yesterday. The two of them could not stop laughing as they were coming out the door after school. They both knew the word and what it is but wanted to see the dictionary version. Here we go, hold onto your hats!

I left at 6 and was in Glenwood Springs (30 miles from Aspen) by 8:45am. After 3 successful appointments I headed back for Denver at 11:07am. 2 hours and 5 minutes later I pulled up to the house. Meanwhile the misses was off to the dermatologists office that she redecorated. I think she had some last minute touches to wrap up.

She picked up the boys after school while I tried to fix my outgoing server on our computers. A quick trip to Grandma’s and all of a sudden it was 6pm.

Yesterday was a sad sad day in Colorado as our democratic governor signed 3 gun laws that will only hurt law abiding citizens and do nothing to prevent crime. Thankfully this morning two more county sheriffs came out saying they won’t enforce the laws. This brings our state total to over 80% of the sheriffs that say they will ignore these unconstitutional laws. The only good thing is this will probably result in the democrats losing the state house and senate next year as polls show Coloradan’s are overwhelmingly against these feel good, do nothing laws. The only county that says it will enforce these laws is the City of Denver. Surprise surprise as this is where all the California transplants live. Those of us that have been here for a long time don’t understand why people leave California because they don’t like the laws and stuff and then try to come here and turn us into the very place they just left? We need to move to the ranch!

The misses just came down and I just returned from the gym so time for me to run and tell her how pretty she is this morning. Take care and God Bless.

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” – Thomas Jefferson

hmmmmmmmm

It’s 4:30am and the misses and I are both up as Lacey the lab opened the sliding pantry door and helped herself to a box of crackers. The misses jumped up and caught her and then vacuumed up the mess and put on some coffee while I got up. This morning I’m off the Basalt and Glenwood Springs which is about 3 hours away. I’ll leave around 6 and hopefully be home between 2 and 3 this afternoon. I had to make this run today to see some accounts as it’s going to snow tomorrow in the mountains.

The good looking one said Grandma Dixie called yesterday but she missed the call and will ring her up today. We’re glad you learned how to comment. Keep them coming, but let’s talk about something other than politics.

Last night the Nuggets (Denver’s basketball team) won their 13 game in a row. I know most of you don’t care (except Uncle T and me) but that’s the longest streak in team history plus we beat the number one team in our conference, the hated Oklahoma Thunder. Oh oh, hope this doesn’t get Grandma Dixie all riled up!

Here’s the misses as she can’t go back to sleep so she’s in the couch with me now.

Last night at dinner we were all taking turns talking about our day,and when we got to the youngest he started listing all the children he played with at recess.  Scott, Jack, Trenton, Nic and J.J. Now I know all but one of these kids, so I asked about J.J. The youngest told me that J.J. is a nice boy, but he doesn’t understand English very well and he’s a little bit sensitive when they play some of their games where they run from each other….sometimes he cries. I asked if J.J. cries because he doesn’t understand English and the youngest said, “Maybe, but I think it’s because he doesn’t understand our culture”.  A wise young man we are raising.

Both boys ate a bit of broccoli  last night with no complaints.  The oldest only likes the stem and the youngest only likes the tops…that works out well for both of them. I know this seems trivial, but getting the boys to eat green veggies has been a problem since they were about 3 years old.

The oldest had a great time on the field trip to the Nature and Science Museum, as did I.  There were enough Chaperones to put the kiddos into groups of three.  Two of the girls that I’ve known since they all started Kindergarten…Kailyn and Julia came running up to me to let me know how sorry they were for the group I had.  Our guy, Enzo and Kody…three of the most energetic boys at school. I laughed, but seriously I’m wondering if their teacher wasn’t giving me a challenge???  The other groups had a mix of estrogen and testosterone, all but mine. This is the year that the kids learn about “Growing and Changing” Sex education to the rest of us, and that is why we were at the Museum…mainly to explore the human body exhibit. We spent most of our time in that exhibit where the kids got to swab their cheeks, bake the cells and look at them under a microscope among other things. Very exciting! Anyway, I had mentioned the concern displayed by the boys’ classmates and let them know I expected the best behavior ever out of them, and for the most part the were quite well behaved. I’m so lucky that I was able to be a parent volunteer.

I’m off to make my man some breakfast and a snack to take on the road.

Love to all and God Bless.

We can’t seem to keep the days straight around here anymore as we just fly through each day with all we have going. Here’s a couple of comments from yesterday,

1. Dixie and Don says:

   March 18, 2013 at 3:27 pm

   Yes, we are proud Obama supporters. so it’s OK if you want to call us that. Would you rather have had McCain and Sara Palin. McCain I could handle, but Mercy , what if he would have died in office. Now for what I forgot to say yesterday. Don and I are delighted about how involved the two of you, and especially you, Doug. Not that many fathers take the time that you do to be with their children. As far as I can see, those boys can look back on an ideal childhood. Love, Grandma Pinko

   Reply
2. Robi says:

   March 18, 2013 at 5:14 pm

   WOWIE! I get tired just reading all that you guys do!

   We too get tired Aunt Robi. Now as for Grandma Dixie, McCain and Palin ran against O the first time which was over 4 years ago. We’re way passed that and by the way, he didn’t die. Many people were fooled the first time around by the new guy who was so eloquent and promised transparency and a new way of governing, so to all those who voted for him then, it’s understandable. However to vote for this guy a second time after he’s repeatedly not done what he said he would do and with his constant disregard for the rule of law and the constitution, it just makes no sense. The issue here is many of his supporters are so blinded by his endless promises, fancy talk and vilification of the other side (which he’s done a masterful job of) that there’s nothing he can do wrong in their minds. Does anyone think this guy is really a uniter? Has he really governed in a different way? I think the country’s more divided than ever. People need to watch Dr. Ben Carson (a world renowned brain surgeon whose also black!) who schooled him at the prayer breakfast a month or so ago and stop viewing him with rose colored glasses. The man is not the greatest thing since sliced bread. I’d ask any of his supporters to honestly come up with one thing he doesn’t do right or has done wrong. Most of them can’t. Anyhow, let’s get off politics, I just had to respond as I enjoy a spirited debate, especially when the truth is on my side. 🙂

   Yesterday the misses was off to the field trip with Jag’s class. After school Ty had D.I. and then Jag and I were off to baseball from 5:15 until dark which was a bit after 7.

   The moving van with Grandma’s stuff from Arizona pulled up around 4 and dropped off some lawn furniture and a couple of pieces of furniture.

   Today the misses has a new crown put in her mouth at the dentist. We canned our old dentist as the staff (everyone but the doctor) are just mean and rude. Thanks to Aunt Ali for the referral. I’m off to Whole Foods in Boulder for a wine tasting and then will be working the phones and the computer. Thankfully we have nothing going on tonight. Tomorrow I’m off at 6am for Glenwood Springs and Basalt which is 20 minutes from Aspen for a few more appointments. Busy busy busy.

   Time to run, hope everyone is well as you don’t want to be subjected to Obama Care!

   God Bless.

Now normally I would take offense to the comment below. But in my older wise ways, I’m looking the other way, sort of…… Here’s a comment from Grandma Dixie,

It was cold, really cold, but the boys played through it and played well. We didn’t win either game but we did “play up” meaning we joined a tournament where we played teams above our skill level. The coach chose this for a couple of reasons, first, to get our guys playing teams that were better so we’d learn more and play better and second, it was the only way we could play as there were no double A team tournaments. Today we have 3 games starting at 10am so I get a little time to sleep in (it’s 4:45am now!) and to go to the gym.

Here’s a couple of comments from yesterday,

1. LLF says:

   March 16, 2013 at 3:58 pm

   You are a great Dad and a fabtastic husband! Thank you for the compliment. XO

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   March 16, 2013 at 6:07 pm

   I talk in my sleep too, so does Serena. How is Lacey doing with her breakfast barking?

   Thanks to my lovely wife ( she says fabtastic is a cross between fabulous and fantastic) and at least now I know where the talking in her sleep comes from. The things you find out AFTER you get married. Lacey seems to be doing a bit better. Thanks for asking.

   The rest of the day yesterday was spent with a couple of trips to the sporting goods store for some additional baseball gear and then a couple of hours more practice in the front yard with Jag. He’s all in, he didn’t take his baseball hat off for the whole day. We’re really happy he’s so in to it. Today the youngest starts swimming but Jag will probably still be at baseball.

   And oh yea, it’s St. Patricks Day, cheer’s to the irish. We made corn beef and cabbage yesterday n the crock pot and it turned out really well. I bought a beef and buffalo corn beef so we had a couple different kinds to choose from, yum.

   Time to get some coffee, read the paper and head to the gym. I need to leave for baseball at 9am so I have 4 hours to get my stuff wrapped up. The misses looks more beautiful than ever, which is really hard to do. As one of our friends said, how can you improve upon perfection. But she managed to do it, her skin actually looks much younger and she’s really really pretty. Don’t tell her though as we don’t want it to go to her head!

   God Bless.

First up, this is post number 800! We’re getting up there, soon we’ll be able to publish a book! If you don’t comment, you won’t be in the book much. Come on now, share some thoughts.

Sleeptalkin, that’s what the misses does from time to time and last night she was in rare form. I can never make out the whole conversation that she’s having but you can understand the sentences. I usually gently wake her to get her onto another thought and then try to go back to sleep. The problem is she goes right back to sleep but I’m then up for a while. Oh well, the small price I pay for being married to the most wonderful woman in the world. Oh yea, Lacey the lab, when she’s not barking, is shaking her head from an ear infection which she gets whenever she gets into any food other than her dog food!

I left the house early yesterday and made it home around 1:30. On the way home the misses called and Jag was not feeling well so I swung by school and picked him up. Ty had chess club so he stayed until 4 and when I went to pick him up, he decided he wanted to go over to his friends house to play. Back home I went alone and then Jag and I went to the park to practice some pop fly’s for today’s tournament. On the way home we picked up Ty who promptly proceeded to go to Ben’s house across the street where he played until dark and then decided to spend the night. As usual, lots going on here.

We ran into Mark and Carrie (our friends) on the road driving home from the park who decided to come over for a glass of wine as they just dropped their kids at lacrosse and soccer practice. Mark is soon having acl surgery on his knee and Carrie found out she has two bad discs that explains her pain. I guess we too are all getting old! They left around 7pm and the misses and I watched a show after we tucked Jag into bed so he could get some good sleep before the back to back games starting at 8am this morning.

It’s 5:43 and we’ll leave around 7am so time to run, hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

The oldest and I, after a long long day, showed up at baseball at 5:15 for our first outdoor practice. There’s something about practicing outside that’s different than inside, like 200 feet fly balls! We (the dads helped shag balls) practiced until dark which was a bit after 7. It was a good practice that was much needed as we have 4 games this weekend. On top of that, it’s supposed to rain and snow both days as well, so it’ll be cold. Jag’s excited and so am I, it should be a great season as our coaches are great guys.

In the morning I moved all the wine from one room to another to consolidate it so it’s not taking up the whole house. After that I was off to Boulder to drop some wine samples and then to the Department of Wildlife to see my buddy’s about hunting season and getting the oldest into a hunters safety class. I made it home by lunchtime and the misses asked when I was going to Boulder! Guess she didn’t miss me!

After school the oldest tried out for the talent show. They had 80 kids apply and only have 12 spots. He played the clarinet and also auditioned for master of ceremonies. I hope he gets in, especially the M.C. as he’d be great. Of course he wants a new sports coat and pants for the occasion which I’ll gladly buy for him.

Today we have lots going on, what’s new, and will be on the go from morning until night. The coach said for everyone to get to bed early as our first game is at 8am! The misses face is looking better and hopefully she’ll be back to normal in a few days. My Mom and Uncle T made it home safely I think around 5 or 6. Jag and I stopped in on the way home from baseball to say hi to her, I think she’ll sleep until Sunday as that’s a long drive, especially in her little car. I don’t know how Uncle T can drive that far with his legs all scrunched up!

Time to run as it’s 6:21 and lots to do (I know I said it before but “what’s new”). It seems each day just flies by. The kids have one more week of school and then Spring break starts, whoo hoo.

Take care and God Bless.