I was going to just write “good morning” but when I thought of that in my head, “Good Morning Vietnam” popped up! I don’t know if you remember but that was the title of the great Robin Williams movie from probably a good 20 years ago. He was a radio dj in Vietnam. It also had Louis Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World” in the soundtrack. Oh well, just a little history lesson for you to throw you off your game.

Before I forget, which we often do, here’s a quote from the youngest yesterday when he was getting dropped off for school. Our routine is they get out of the car and both tell me they love me and I tell them I love them too and to have a great day. Well yesterday the youngest said, and I quote, “love you dad, I’m going to save some lives and be a leader”! Now we’re not sure where that came from, he’s always coming up with something clever. After school I asked him if he in fact did save some lives and was a leader to which he replied, “sure did”. Meanwhile we heard from the misses friend, (who has kids in both of our kids classes) that her daughter told her what a great guy the oldest is and how he’s always standing up for her and protecting her when other kids are jerks. It seems when some of the boys tease her or other kids, it’s always Jag who comes to the rescue by telling them to knock it off. Good stuff, what great parents we are!

So no one liked or commented on our targets yesterday. The misses and I were just shocked but nothing much surprises us anymore. I guess maybe everyone (all of you) are already desensitized and don’t think it’s a big deal. Oh well, to us it’s just crazy.

Now here’s the big news of the day, we think, maybe, just maybe, the misses headache is going away! For the past few days it’s been maybe a 3 out of 10 which is the first time it’s been that low on the pain threshold in 14 months. We’re holding our breath hoping it continues to get better. We’re driving up to Vail tomorrow at 7am (what fun on a Saturday) for a treatment with the top acupuncture guy there is. Johnny is the guy who referred us to the guy down here until he could squeeze us in as he was booked up for two months. (I told you this a few posts ago) She just came down and said its ok, she has a little bit of a headache but it’s better than it’s been.

We had our Skype call yesterday for the misses new job (I sat in as an unpaid consultant) and then dropped by the office to pick up some things she needed. I’m not sure what she has going on today but I’ll be here and there. It’s 13 degrees outside and feels great. I love the cold weather every now and then.

Ok, time to go, here’s your quote for the day, enjoy.

“Participating in a gun buyback program because you believe that the criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you believe that the neighbors have too many kids.”

Well for once, the weathermen were right. Between late yesterday afternoon and this morning we received probably 5 or 6 inches of snow. We’re supposed to get some more later in the week and then also again the middle of next week. While we welcome this for the water, I do have to box and ship 50 cases of wine or so probably beginning Monday which isn’t the  easiest to do in the snow and cold weather. I should have cleaned out the garage yesterday. Oh well, lucky I have warm coats!

It’s 4:45 and I just vacuumed up the kitchen as the damn dog (Lacey) pulled out all the trash under the sink and had it strewn all over the kitchen. No wonder she wasn’t barking for food! I wonder what Mojo thinks as he sits there in his crate (where he sleeps) watching her. He must be thinking, “boy are you going to get in trouble”.

The misses was gone most of the day working while I was in and out. The youngest did well on his tests, according to him, which go on for the next 2 weeks. His basketball game was fun for him and we all made it home around 8pm and then headed straight to bed.

The oldest is down here on the couch with me right now as he woke up early. After we (I) take them to school, we have a conference call with Switzerland where Laura lives so we can all work on repackaging the skin care line that the misses is now managing. I then need to run downtown for a meeting or two. The oldest is hoping that they cancel school today and while in many states they would, I don’t think it’ll happen here in Colorado.

Time for coffee and shoveling the walk as it’s 5am. Take care and hope all’s well. Here’s your quote for the day, there are so many warnings from history yet we ignore them time after time, God help us and our children.

“Do not suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberty by any pretences of politeness, delicacy or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice.” – John Adams, 1789

One last thing, here’s something real disturbing no one in their right mind can ignore. It seems the Dept. of H o m e l a n d  S e c u r i t y  has ordered up practice targets of American citizens for them to practice shooting at. They include pregnant women, old people and little kids. They say it is to desensitize their agents so if they have to shoot at Americans like this, they can, see below,

So how do you like your gov training to shoot these kind of people? Can you ever imagine a scenario where old people, little kids and pregnant women, young girls, would be aiming guns at the gov? The only way this could happen is if our rights were so violated that even the elderly, moms to be and children were to rise up. Unbelievable and very very disturbing.

They say we could get 6 to 8 inches of snow tonight but then again the weathermen are wrong 50% of the time. Hope it starts later rather than sooner as the youngest has a basketball game tonight. He also has Tcaps today which is some sort of school assessment test, district wide, that determines how much money the school gets, or something like that. The misses knows more than I but it’s supposedly a big deal.

The misses was at the doctors office yesterday and then was off to the acupuncturist which we think is helping a little bit. I was in Boulder and on the phone and didn’t get to the garage. Hopefully I can knock it out this week before all the wine arrives.

The misses has a meeting in her new role as Social Media Director as she officially starts on the job today. She’ll start off the day with a call to Switzerland with Laura. Poor Laura had all her stuff stolen on the train in Milan Monday. She turned for a minute and her bag with her laptop and all her stuff including her passport and all were just gone! What a drag, I remember a few years ago when Lorenzo’s (one of my partners from Italy who lives in NY) computer was stolen from him while standing in line at the train station in Rome. There are bad people everywhere.

Time to run so I can read the paper and get to the gym. Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

We’re getting up there, it won’t be long until we reach post number 1000, wow.

Yesterday was work as usual for me while Mom and 3 boys headed off to the movies where they met some other kids and a Mom for a matinee. Later in the day we went to the grocery store. Amazing to think how often any of us actually go to a store. It sure would be a shock not to be able to jump in the car and run down the street for something you need.

This morning the oldest has inter-murals and Mom is off to work and the acupuncturist. I’ll be cleaning the garage and going to the Salvation Army to drop off a bunch of old clothes that have been sitting out there in bags for months!

Here’s a funny one, the youngest confided in us the other day that women have two butts! When asked what he meant he showed us how a woman’s cleavage looks like a butt to him meaning they have one on their chest and the second being their actual butt. Too funny. He and his brother are such characters, some of the things they come up with. Even though they’re 9 and 11, they know all about sex and the birds and the bees, especially the oldest guy. At least they’re learning something in school.

It looks like we’re off to Oklahoma June 6th to the 10th or so for Grandma Dixie’s family’s family reunion. Then Grandma called saying she and Pa Don have booked a condo in Hawaii for 3 weeks beginning October 30th and to let them know when we’d like to come. Yea, Hawaii is so nice, especially when it’s colder here.

It’s 19 degrees here this morning and we’re waiting on the snow in the next few days. As I said yesterday, we sure need it. I’m thinking of unwrapping the hoses outside so I can water the trees.

Fun pictures yesterday of Jag and a giraffe. That particular zoo has the largest collection of giraffe’s in the world and they’re all pretty tame as they’re used to being fed. It was fun. Our friend called last night and said he’s off to Park City today and then to Taos or some other place and that we could come down and use the house anytime we want. We might just take him up on it as we want to go see the Garden of the Gods someday.

Hope everyone is well, take care and have a great day. It’ll be March and then Spring before you know it. Time flies! God Bless.

It’s Presidents Day. This means banks are closed, no mail delivery and parking meters are free. That’s about it I think. The youngest guys basketball practice is cancelled but he still has D.I.

Yesterday the boys played hard with all of us shooting some hoops, and the oldest and I throwing the baseball around. The misses had a pretty rough day so she spent most of it on the couch. I cleaned up around here (vacuumed and did the dishes) mid afternoon before I peeled and deveined some shrimp for dinner with some steak we threw on the grill. The youngest had Ben, the neighbor kid, spend the night. I’m not sure how late they stayed up but they’re all sleeping now. Lacey the lab woke me at 5 barking for food so I had to run down quick to keep her from waking them.

We might get a giant snowstorm Thursday. Sure hope so as we really need the moisture, here in Denver and all over the whole state. I think Mom is planning on taking the boys to the movies today as everyone is off school. I though, have work as usual.

The misses and her friend are talking about making goat cheese. I think all they need is some goats (that’d help) or a source of goat milk. She’s been talking about this for a while, we’ll see where it goes. Tomorrow she is hanging art work and a giant mirror in the doctors office she’s redecorating and then has acupuncture at 1. I’m not sure when she starts her social media job (I think this week)  but we do have a Skype call with Switzerland on Thursday.

I need to get the oil in one of the cars changed today and didn’t get to the garage yesterday so I’d better do that before the snow. That’s about it, hope everyone is well. I cheated on my gluten free diet yesterday as my Mom sent over some peanut butter cookies, they sure were good. Take care and God Bless

I’m sure Mom will post some pictures when she wakes up as she took a bunch yesterday, mostly at the zoo. We woke up around 7am and all started to get ready for the day. The sun was beaming through the windows and the view was incredible. By about 9:30 we headed for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. As soon as we drove through the security gates, it was a quick left and a short 100 yard drive to the zoo!

We spent the next 3 hours walking all over seeing everything from wolves and grizzly bears to giraffes (which the kids fed lettuce) to zebra’s, monkeys, hippos, leopards and more. The kids had a blast and got lots of exercise.

We then headed back to the house and threw the sheets in the dryer as we decided to come home last night to be with the dogs. We thought about spending the night again but didn’t have groceries for dinner and would just wake up and leave anyhow, so we planned on coming home late in the afternoon.

First up, after some trampoline jumping and ping pong by the kids, was a short drive to Edelweiss Restaurant, that our new friends Helga and Dieter (he goes by Gary) own. It’s been there forever and was just packed. Helga took us downstairs to a big table and set us all up. The food was real traditional german food that was incredible. Everyone was thrilled with their lunch and the german beer was pretty good too. Before we left Helga took me into the kitchen to meet Salvatore, their pastry chef from Italy. We talked in Italian for a bit and she also introduced me to a few other people before we left. It was a good time, my Mom would really enjoy it as I think it would remind her of when she was younger, it was very Wisconsin!

We made it back up to the house and I packed up the car while the misses made the beds and the kids played outside. We stopped to get our friend a thank you card and had also brought him a few gifts like a bottle of olive oil and wine. It was a fun stay and everyone had a blast. We loaded the kids up and made it back to Denver by 5:20. It was much cooler at home than in the Springs where it was a really nice day. The rest of the day (or night) was spent on the couch after putting everything away.

That’s about it, I’m off to the gym and everyone else is, you guessed it, still sleeping. I think I’ll tackle the garage today as I have 200 cases of wine being flown in from Italy in about a week. Take care and God Bless.

After a long day at work we made it down to Colorado Springs around 5:45. The youngest was playing with his friend all day and he and his friend, his sister and their Mom drove down separately and joined us. The girls made dinner for us which was grilled scampi wrapped in pancetta and steak. The misses made a salad at home and brought it along.

The kids had a blast playing here on their first night and I think the elevator was the big hit. This morning we’re going to explore around the outside before heading to the zoo. I think we’re going to go to the german restaurant for lunch. I’m not sure if our friends are staying another night or not. Our friend who owns the house called and suggested we bring some friends along so the kids would be occupied and the misses and I could relax. That’s how we ended up all being here together. He put out all these european building blocks for the kids to make things with. They had a blast with that and played a lot of pool too!

The view here is stunning. Glen, our friend, says you can see to Kansas and New Mexico from way up here on top of the mountain where his house is. That seems pretty far but I’d believe it. Maybe the misses can post a picture.  We’re at the highest point there is (of private land) on Cheyenne Mountain with NORAD right beneath us. The house is a very smart house….the light switches have a button for everything.  Fireplace, curtains, shades, pathway lighting  floor lighting, outside lighting. The planning and design of the home is very well thought out.  Six foot concrete floors between levels, so the noise from kiddos is not audible.  The intercom is amazing….a lovely bell tone throughout the home.  Needless to say the kiddos had fun calling to us.  Breakfast now, so I am off.

Take care and God Bless.

The kids are off for the next 4 days, uggh. We’re going to head down to what Ty calls the “paradise house” later today for probably only one night. I think we’ll hit the zoo today and have dinner at the german restaurant I mentioned the other day. Should be fun.

Yesterday the misses was off for a hair appointment at 8:30am and I was busy with meetings downtown. Today I need to get about $350,000.00 worth of orders in before we go, no pressure there. I’m also getting my haircut at 9am.

I heard back from the U.S. Ski Teams acupuncturist yesterday in Vail as my buddy called him and told him he needed to get the misses in. While he’s booked up 2 months ahead of time, he’s going to move some things (people) around and get the misses in next week. In the meantime he called his personal acupuncturist here in Denver and told me to call him right away. I called and he squeezed us in at 5pm. So after the kids and mom arrived home from school and the Valentine’s Day party’s, off we went to try to get her some relief. Not sure it did any good but we’ll see, we have another appointment Tuesday at 1pm. Of course we’re paying for all of this out of our pocket. On the same note, the attorney emailed yesterday that the other side wants to have a settlement conference March 11th so we’ll see what happens then.

Lots to do today as usual, we need to get some stuff done around here before we go.

That’s about it unless you want me to go into politics, lots going on here and everywhere with the 2nd Amendment, there’s going to be tons of court cases as reckless democrats are proposing laws that contradict the Constitution. Glad we don’t live in California where everything is now going to be illegal! What a screwed ( I used the nice word) up state.

Time to run, have a great day, be safe and God Bless

A big day for all the lovers! Hope it’s a good one. Here’s a couple of comments from yesterday,

• Eleanor Tafoya says:

  February 13, 2013 at 11:32 pm

  Wow!! Your dad and I want to congratulate you on your great new position, we are so proud of you and your family,we are excited for you, see! Lord came through for you, thanks be to god.

  Yesterday was another blur. The misses and I were both gone most of the day. I picked up the oldest at 1 from school as he wasn’t feeling well and then we went back for Ty at 2:45. Meanwhile the misses was everywhere around town working on her decorating job. She made it home around 4pm just in time for a quick bite and then we were all off to the youngest guys basketball game. Finally at 8:30pm we all walked in the door at home.

  This morning the kids take their Valentines Day boxes to school and also have parties. I have a call on a new venture with Germany at 7:30 until 9 or so and then an appointment downtown. Busy busy busy.

  We’re pretty excited as our monthly income has gone up around here with my raise and the misses new job and we’ll finally be able to start making a bigger dent in our debt, after we get through the evil taxes!

  Emotions have trumped common sense in Colorado with the democratic controlled house pushing useless gun control laws. Thankfully everything people owned is grandfathered in meaning we can keep what we have. These politicians are just stupid, there’s no other word for it. Wyoming is looking pretty good these days.

  It’s supposed to snow today and I think we’re headed down to our friends house tomorrow. We’re going to go to the zoo and then have dinner at a great German restaurant that some people I met own. It’s near the Broadmoor Resort and is supposedly quite good. I’ve been gluten free for about a week like the misses and they have a good gluten free menu too.

  Before I go, a couple of things about the Pres and the State of the Union speech. I didn’t watch it but after reading it (I can’t stand his voice) here’s a couple of things you should know that I’m going to tell you!

  First, when he says “we’ve cut the deficit by 2 1/2 trillion dollars” the facts are, what he’s saying is he’s cutting FUTURE spending over the next 10 years by this much. The fact is he proposes spending 20 trillion dollars instead of 22 1/2 trillion dollars! But they way he says it it makes the average person think he just cut the money today from current spending. His plan will now have us with over 30 trillion dollars of debt instead of 32 1/2 trillion! Unbelievable.

  Here’s another example of him not being honest or equivocating. He trotted out a nice 102 year old lady in the audience saying she had to wait 3 hours to vote in Florida. What he didn’t tell you is that she had to wait not on election day but on an early voting day when not many places are open. In fact the average wait time to vote (from an MIT study) nationwide was only 14 minutes! Yet here he is trying to tell us that all the poor black people are disenfranchised and not able to vote by citing this as his example, another great job of twisting the truth.

  That’s about it, time to run as we’re busy busy busy. Have a great day and God Bless.

Yesterday the misses was hired as the Director of Social Media for her Doctors plastic surgery practice and skin care line. She received the email around 2:30 right when we were headed out for teacher conferences but was deservedly excited! Yea for her, everyone should call her to congratulate her. I’ll let her tell you more about her duties and her new position. On top of that, two days or so ago, she was selected as a board member for the Colorado Women’s Foundation! This is a really prestigious national organization that empowers young girls and she’ll now join a group of a bunch of fun ladies. What a week for her, great job!

The only thing that could top that (for me anyhow) was that yesterday morning when I was in Boulder meeting with a friend, we were talking about a possible trip to Germany for Pro Wein in March, which is the annual German wine fair. I told her I was so bummed as I didn’t fly enough miles last year for the first time in 8 years to keep my Premier Executive status. Laura immediately said that one of the perks of her being a 1K (the highest level on United) is that she can make one person of her choice, also a 1K! So about ten minutes later, I officially became a 1K! Whoo hoo! Those of you that fly a lot understand how huge this is. They or now “we” have all kinds of perks that the average peasant doesn’t have! I’m pretty excited and am now looking forward to flying soon.

Now to the day. We had teacher conferences yesterday at 3pm. Both boys are excelling as we would expect. The youngest ones teacher said she wished she had a whole classroom of Ty’s while the oldest guys teach said he’s not only understanding his work but being able to explain it and is helping others, we were very proud.

We took the kids to California Pizza Kitchen as a reward for their great performances. Mac and cheese and pizza for them and salads for us.

Today we were supposed to go to a pain management doctor in Boulder for the misses head but after checking them out on HealthGrades, ( an internet site that unbiasedly rates doctors) we’re going to cancel the appointment. There were a number of disturbing testimonials from former patients that just didn’t feel right. On top of that, the misses is not sure how or if we were officially referred or if it was just a suggestion from someone in the office up in Vail as our doctor was on vacation. So we’re putting it all on hold until we can talk to Dr. Corenman himself. Like the misses says, it’s not going to hurt her anymore to wait another week and what if these people screw her up more! I still have another 9am meeting up there so I’ll be off early.

While I’m in Boulder the misses will be working on the rest of the remodel which is wrapping up at the dermatologists office. She’s done a great job there and it’s all starting to come together.

Being Superwoman, she also made the youngest guys Valentines Day box when we made it home from dinner. It’s a 3 foot tall “creeper” which is a character from a game called Minecraft that all the kids play on the computer. Hopefully she can post pictures.

Well it’s about 4:45 and Mojo woke me early as I think he’s itchy from being at the groomer but he’s sleeping fine now, maybe he just wanted breakfast. Oh well, I can get to the gym and be back before anyone wakes up.

I skipped the Big O’s speech as if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. More big government, more spending, more taxes. How can this guy and many people believe that government has the answer to everything. All throughout history, this just has not been the case. We still can’t believe people bought his bull the second time around. He was the only Pres ever in history to get re-elected with the economy in the state it was in. He’s a talker alright. I’ll spare you all on politics today as it doesn’t do much good, as far as I know, anyhow. Hopefully some of you are listening and taking a few precautions as it’s not going to get any better anytime soon.

Time to go, hope everyone is well. Make sure to congratulate the misses on her big week, and best of all, she’s the best Mom and wife anyone could ask for!

God Bless