A Year of Change

Tomorrow is election day which means the average 800 ads a day in Colorado will finally stop. Thank God.

I woke up around 4:30 this morning with a stuffed up nose and lingering cold. I’ve had this pseudo cold for 3 or 4 days that can’t decide if it’s going to go full blown or just go away. Maybe I’m keeping it in limbo with 6000 milligrams of vitamin C each day. In any case, I wish it’d just go away already.

Yesterday about the best thing to happen was the Denver Broncos beating the Cincinnati Bengals. It was a hard fought game but we won which is the most important.

They now say 40,000 people need shelter in New York for months. This is going to be very difficult in the city that’s always so strapped for rental space. Trying to rent a place to live or even a hotel stay when there wasn’t a storm is hard enough. My partner Lorenzo, in his 800 foot apartment has 5 people sleeping there and 7 people showering and eating there! I’m telling you for the last time, you’d better look around your house and see if you can make it for a few weeks, at a minimum, without help from anyone. If you can’t, get freakin busy!

The boys dragged two giant bags of leaves from the neighbors house over to our front yard and spread them all around. It’s a kid thing. They’re both up now eating some food before getting ready for school. Mom managed to get all the halloween decorations put away yesterday so that means the Christmas decorations will soon be coming down from the attic. I guess we’re having my Mom over for Thanksgiving and Uncle T and Aunt B are having her relatives. The misses says we’re cooking game hens as she hates turkey with a passion. Her doctor called yesterday and said to call this morning to come up hopefully tomorrow to see what else he can do to help her with her pain. He’s a good doctor, especially to go out of his way on a Sunday to call and check on her.

It’s supposed to snow this coming Saturday and the oldest and I are planning on heading back up to the hills. We’ll need to dress much warmer. Here’s a comment from Grandma Annette,

Last night we set the clock back an hour but that didn’t stop the youngest and his friend (who spent the night) from waking up. It’s now 5:30 am , not 6:30, and the 3 of us are downstairs.

As the misses said, the oldest and I went hunting yeterday. We arrived a bit before 7 after the almost 3 hour drive to the Wyoming border. We quickly donned our gear and headed out for the long climb. It wasn’t long before the oldest, moving like an elk himself, was swiftly onto a game trail and some fresh sign. We worked this and lots of other trails for the next few hours, up and down the mountain, but in the end only caught a glimpse of some animals running from us across the draw into the trees. Now I’m a pretty good shot (if I do say so myself) but there was no shot to be had. We had to have hiked 4 miles or more and easily went up 1500 vertical feet. Oh well, at least we know they are there and we have through the 11th before the season is over. So, we will be heading back up! After making our way back to the truck and changing out of our gear, unloading the weapons, etc. I let the oldest drive the truck out of the woods and over the sage to the road. He then turned it around and drove us up to the old homestead cabin where we messed around for a bit. Next up I drove us down the highway a couple of miles to the entrance to the other side of the ranch known as the”rocks”. He jumped out, unlocked the gate and swung her open while I drove through. We headed up a draw to where the spring is as I wanted to see how much water was running this late in the year. Happily we had a pretty good little creek that was frozen over but still had water underneath the ice. Upon seeing the ice, the oldest was compelled to break darn near every bit of it, the whole length of the creek, it’s a boy thing. I was in charge of finding him stout sticks of sage brush t0 use as his ice breakers. This took a good half hour before he was ready to go. I was determined to let him break all the ice he wanted to as he was having such a good time.

We drove into town for breakfast with a restaurant full of hunters, all also unsuccessful. You see if you were successful, you wouldn’t be there as you’d be out gutting your animal. That’s why it’s called hunting. After some hash browns and eggs for me and some vanilla dipped french toast coated in frosted flakes for the oldest (he also ate all my sausage!) we headed down the road. It wasn’t five minutes before something ahead in the road caught my eye. It was a herd of 50 elk jumping the fence and crossing the highway right in front of us! Another hunter coming the opposite way on the highway stopped right next to me headed in the other direction. We rolled down our windows (as if we knew each other for years as there’s a common bond between all hunters) and he looked at me and said, “it just isn’t fair”. I asked whose property they were on not knowing if I could pull off and take a shot and he said he thought it was the Anderson Ranch. Turns out when we arrived home and checked the regulations, I could have shot one on the left side of the road before they jumped the fence. When we came upon them, we did split the herd in two so some were still on BLM land. Oh well, at least we know they are down from the high country. Also in our favor was the direction they were heading. Once they hit the Never Summer Range , ( a range of mountains over 14000 feet high that they won’t cross) they’ll turn north which will put them straight on a path for Grandma’s place. Who knows if they end up there but at least they’re not headed south!

We continued towards Granby but stopped in another half hour or so to throw some more rocks at the thin sheet of ice in the river. This too went on for 30 minutes or so but the oldest was having the time of his life which to me meant time really didn’t matter. Finally we made it home around 2 in the afternoon with him finally falling asleep 10 minutes from home. When we pulled in he told me “dad, I wasn’t really sleeping, just resting my eyes”.

He was all set to go back up this morning but I decided to give the elk a few days to move north and to stick around today and help the misses take down the halloween decorations. I did promise him I’d take him back up this weekend. I made sure, despite repeated efforts by him, not to commit to going back up this morning, as kids never forget! When we arrived home he said he wanted to move to the ranch. His mom said, “but there’s no video games or time to watch tv up there as there would be lots of chores to always do” and he said he didn’t care about that stuff, he just liked being out there. He did have a great time which of course meant I had a great time. It was actually good we didn’t shoot anything yesterday as it would have taken me 8 hours or more to gut and process an elk alone. Next weekend we’ll take a buddy along to help.

I ran to the store with the oldest and picked up some groceries while mom tried to keep her head calm. Finally we all headed to bed around 9 for some much needed rest. The oldest, thankfully, is still sleeping as is the misses.

Cheer for the Bronco’s today, hope this isn’t a trap game! Have a great day and God Bless. Now, I encourage you to read on, no politics, I promise!

Below are a few pictures of what’s going on in New York,

Good Morning.  The sky is pitch black and two of my three guys are already on the road.  The Mr. got up a bit after 4a.m. to shower, make breakfast, hot chocolate, and sandwiches for the hunting expedition. He and the oldest were out the door a bit before 5:00a.m. for the 3 hour drive to Grandma’s ranch on the Colorado, Wyoming border.  The ranch is private property, so there will not be any other hunters up there….Whew!   The plan is to hike up one side of the Mountain and then down the other looking for elk.  Hopefully, they won’t run into a bear.  I just spoke to the Mr. and the temperature is climbing to a balmy 11 degrees…brrrr.  The oldest just finished another Harry Potter book and started on another.  He must be reading the fifth or sixth book now.  I think he is enjoying the books more than he did the movies…hurray, maybe I’ll start on them.  The last three books in book club have been great big zeros.  The current book is Night Circus and it does have great reviews, so we’ll see.  Anyway, back to the expedition….both men, the 10 year old and the 55 year old have on layers and layers of clothing… including… but not limited to, neon orange vests and hats… The orange is required and appreciated…just in case there is someone trespassing.  Also,so the elk can see the hunters coming…it is only fair.  Personally, I think the men should have to chase the elk down and tackle them..that would level the playing field a bit. We will, of course have to eat the elk if they kill one today…don’t worry we will share and since we have a Fed Ex account we would be happy to ship to CA and AZ.  The youngest was also going hunting, but he was invited to movie night and a  sleepover at his buddy’s house and that offer won out.

Yesterday, before school I was cleaning the youngest’s ears and on the second ear he turned his head as I was beginning to twist and the Q-tip went in way to far.  He screamed so loudly that I was sure there would be blood gushing out.  I finally got him calmed down after about 5 minutes which was incredibly frightening since he has a very high pain tolerance…just like his brother.  His ear was still hurting after school and when he left for his play date/sleepover.  I told him to call if his ear was still hurting and I would come and get him.  Of course when he called I was in bed, as was the Mr. but the Mr. had the pleasure of getting dressed and picking our guy up at 9:00p.m. (Thank you sweetheart)  I gave our guy Children’s Tylenol and a little snack… two pieces of turkey, a mini Pay Day candy bar, popcorn and a glass of milk.  Then we were off to bed.  Hopefully, he won’t complain of any pain today, or we will be off to the Dr….Ugg.

Both boys had Cross Country races at school.  They both ran well and had smiles on their faces for the entire mile.  Uphill….downhill… and on the straight aways.  I love the fact that they have so much fun when they are running.  The P.E. teacher commented again, on the youngest always having a smile on his face and what good boys we have.  We think so, but the Mr. and I are just a little bit biased.

Here are three more photos from Halloween.  The Headless Butler walking away is one of my favorite pictures.  Grandma and the boys is also a favorite of mine …I didn’t ask for Photo Approval…hope I don’t get in trouble.  As you all can see, Grandma is as lovely as always…hope you all have a fantastic day!

God Bless.

Now I was upstairs the whole time but from what I understand, this was the best book club ever. One lady told her friend who is joining, not to expect it to be this nice all the time. The misses had 17 ladies here for dinner, drinks and conversation. The big hit was Mrs. Rossi coming over and sharing all her stories of people in the book that she personally knew all of her life. Meanwhile the boys and I were upstairs. Somehow the misses managed to clean everything up before coming to bed, even with her headache. I’m glad for her it turned out so well.

The east coast storm is dominating the news, even more so than politics. All that talk by me of preparation doesn’t seem so out of line now does it? The same thing can happen here, not necessarily a hurricane but a massive snow storm or natural disaster. What about a huge earthquake in California? Back east you have gas lines hours long and then no gas. People are pulling guns in line! People are dumpster diving looking for food, the power is out to over 4 million people meaning no heat, no water, no refrigeration and more. On top of this a new storm with rain and snow will arrive next Tuesday. If I was still there, I’d get out, someway, somehow, no matter what material things I left behind.

So I’ll leave it alone for now but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what will happen sometime in the next few years due to something, most likely economically. You still have time to prepare, whether you live in California where an earthquake can hit or Colorado where we could get a 3 foot snow storm. You see, the government and the Pres look good on tv saying all the right things like we’re sending extra food, we’re approving every request, blah blah blah, but look at the people on the street standing in front of their homes with nothing, no heat, food, water, shelter, nothing. The worst is yet to come for some of these folks.

Today, sometime, I’m supposed to leave for hunting but we had some unforeseen truck troubles yesterday and the truck we’re supposed to take is back in the shop. So I might be delayed a day but will probably head out at 4am in the morning worst case, even if I have to go alone.

The kiddos are a wreck this morning. That’s what you get when you combine no sleep (them staying up late while Mom had book club) and 20 pounds of candy. (that’s their combined total they collected) We’re letting them each pick 20 pieces and donating the rest to the troops. We found out we can drop it off at the VFW and they’ll send it overseas. What a great idea.

Time to run, we tried to post the pics but couldn’t size them. Grandma Annette suggested the misses post them on Facebook which I’m totally against but guess we can do it just this once and leave it up for just a few days. Too many predators and bad people on Facebook to put your kids up there. Just me.

Take care and God Bless and if you were ever going to think about preparing even a little, turn on the news. If that won’t do it for you, you’ll never do it!

Ok, you should have been here. The kids had the time of their life. Their costumes were the best of any you’ve ever seen. We’ll try to get pictures up down the page. The day started with the big parade around the school with all the kids in their costumes and then parties in each classroom. After that the misses and I headed home to work. I was off to a couple accounts in Boulder while the misses worked around the house. I made it home around noon and we picked the kids up at 2:45. Time flew doing homework and carving up the last two pumpkins and then it was time to get the costumes on and head to Grandma’s.

Then it was off to the Rossi’s and the O’Connells who are close neighbors since I was a kid. Then we worked the neighborhood and finished up at Uncle T and Aunt B’s where the boys had handfuls of candy dumped in their pillow cases to carry home. A quick pit stop to dump their loot and we loaded up the car and headed off to the oldest guys friend where the boys worked that neighborhood with their friends and his dad. The misses and I visited with the oldest friends Mom and drank some wine, big mistake, and finally headed home around 8:30.

Today we have a meeting downtown at 9:30 and then have to make a couple of stops before hopefully getting home before noon. Tonight the misses is hosting book club. The book this month is about the Smaldone’s, a local italian crime family we grew up with. Mrs. Rossi, who grew up in the middle of it, is coming over to share, what she calls, the real stories! It should be a great evening but there are 20 ladies coming. I don’t even know how they will fit in the house. I guess the boys and I will be upstairs or downstairs. There is football on but the only tv that gets the game is in the living room. Maybe we get it downstairs, I’ll check.

Time to run, we’re going to try to get a picture up now so hang on. If we don’t, have a great day and God Bless.

It’s here, the big day, candy, pumpkins, goblins and witches, not to mention the all day party at school. The day will begin with the school wide parade around the whole school with all the kids in their costumes. Then they have party’s in their individual classrooms. Both the misses and I will be helping out. Today after school we need to carve up our pumpkins before the kids head out for candy at dusk. We’ll be watching them close and screening all the candy before anyone eats a bite. Pictures tomorrow if we can figure out how to post them.

Yesterday I was in Beuna Vista which is about 2 hours from Denver. It’s really really beautiful there and the people, even though this is a generalization, just seem to be nicer than in the city. Everyone says hi even if you don’t know them. Life in a small town just seems different than life in the city, kind of a step back to how life was 20 or 30 years ago.

I made it home a bit after 3 just after the kids. Mom was working all afternoon and night getting ready for the kids parties today. Of course some parents that agreed to volunteer and make some food or help out, have now bagged out at the last minute, losers.

Here’s a post from Grandma Annette from yesterday, thanks for sharing,

First off, we found out yesterday morning that Grandma Dixie’s brother, Uncle Bill to the misses, had passed away at their home Sunday night. Many of you don’t know but Grandma Dixie, always thinking of others before herself, refused to put her brother into a nursing home 5 months ago, even though that’s what his children wanted to do as it was frankly, the easiest thing to do. Instead she brought him home to her house in California from Texas where he was able to live the remaining few months of his life being with his sister and having the best care possible. I don’t know all the details so I won’t dive into this too deep but from what I understand, thank God for her and shame on his children for not showing more compassion and concern in the last days of their fathers life. I know it’s never easy to take care of older folks but I would suggest to those who have elderly parents who are facing similar situations now or in the future to remember what love and care and sacrifices those same people made for you when you were young! Many years ago it was the elders of society that were the leaders and the most revered and respected but now we seem to ignore or throw them away. Did you ever see a young indian chief? No, it was always the elders with the most life experience who led the tribe. In any case, my deepest sympathies go out to her and also to the misses who was quite upset. Grandma Dixie, once again, put others before her, just like my Mom has always done. I’m proud that she’s my mother in law.

Last night the big storm hit the east coast. Thankfully from what I know, the damage and destruction while bad, is not quite as bad as the tv had said it would be. I say this as I have a partner and an employee who both live in New York City. Both are fine, didn’t lose power and said it really didn’t rain all that much. The wind was bad for a time but it was mostly lower Manhattan that has all the problems due to all the flooding. The low lying areas were hit the hardest and 16 people so far have died. I think the biggest problem is going to be all the salt water that flooded into subways and tunnels and basements as salt rusts and corrodes things and it will be a while before they can get all the water out. Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as all the forecasters thought it would be. With that said, you can only hope that those people affected took the steps to prepare to take care of themselves for a few days until power companies and emergency personnel can get things fixed.

Now to our little corner of the world. The boys came home, whipped through their homework and then did some reading. The oldest has been playing his clarinet and is getting pretty darn good. We’re glad he didn’t choose the drums! He just came down and joined me on the couch while Mom and the younger guy are still sleeping. Halloween is tomorrow so we’re all gearing up for that around here, we’ll post some pictures so you can see the boys.

Same old same old on the headache front, not much else to say there. We were going to Paris November 14 to the 18th but decided to stay home even though we had free tickets and hotel. There’s just too  much going on work wise and we’d still spend $1000 or more on food and chocolate and cheese we don’t have. Instead I will be doing the holiday shows (industry wine tasting) for the Colorado distributor that are in Vail and Aspen. So I’m going to take the misses with me and we’ll spend two night in Aspen while Uncle T and Aunt B take the boys. We’ll leave the morning of the 13th, go to the event in Vail from 1 until 4 and then drive to Aspen where we’ll check into our hotel, have a nice dinner and spend the night before getting up to attend the event the next day from 1 until 4. Then we’ll stay that night, get up and drive home in time to pick up the kids from school. This way we’ll still have a mini vacation that will all be picked up by the Company, gas and food included! It’s not Paris but for those of you who haven’t been, Aspen is pretty darn close in it’s own way.

I’ll be gone most of the day and the misses has a baby shower at noon for our doctor friends daughter and then will also go over some ideas for the doctors office she’s helping remodel. The boys have the “pig race” this afternoon. This is where they earn a mechanical pig for selling all that crap (baked goods, wrapping paper, etc.) that some of you bought a month or so ago. The youngest, with Uncle T’s help and a lot of hard work on his own, sold enough to earn two pigs so he’s giving one to his brother so he can race too! Very nice. Oh by the way, the youngest brought home his school work yesterday and received a 4 on his writing! Now understand, they do not just hand out 4’s every day. In fact, they’re very very difficult to earn so we’re really proud of him. His story was on Maui Hawaii and how much he likes to go there and all the things he does. Great job!

Time to run, it’s almost 7am and lots going on. Take care and God Bless.

Ok, it’s official, the Denver Broncos are for real. We thrashed the Saints last night which was not expected by anyone. The crowd was electric and it seemed it was one of those nights where nothing could go wrong. Now back to the day,

Earlier we were over at the youngest guys friends house with about 6 other couples for a pumpkin carving party for the kids. This went on most of the afternoon and the kids had a blast.

Before that we ran to the store for well, more pumpkins! I think the boys have carved up 6 or 8 apiece so far this season.

Mom’s head was feeling like you know what and my leg was well, you know what. Now the misses is in real pain but for me, hell I’ll get over it. This brings us to the comments from the day, here ya go,

1. Tom says:

   October 28, 2012 at 6:50 pm

   For two people who are health nuts, food wise and work out wise, you both sure seem to have a lot of problems. You need to change to my lifestyle, drinking and smoking and staying up late! I have far fewer problems then you all. he he.

   Now onto Christmas, no I do not have my shopping complete, I’m half way finished! Although, yes I do have the decorations all set to be put up in a couple weeks, it’s the most wonderful time of the year! Hey isn’t that a song! Better get the Christmas cd’s out soon.

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   October 28, 2012 at 8:13 pm

   Tell Clark Griswold I’m really happy he is almost ready for Christmas! Arin’t pheasants an endangered species or something? Go Giants!

   Now Uncle T might have a point and for Grandma Annette, pheasants are not endangered and Uncle T, I think she’s affectionately calling you Clark Griswold!

   I’m not sure of the Giants won, last I heard as it was 2 to 2 in the 10th, I’ll need to check the paper.

   Big storm on the east coast, hope everyone is ok. I can’t remember when the subways were all closed in NY.

   Time to run, the oldest guy needs to go to inter-murals in 10 minutes. I almost forgot, Grandma Eleanor also posted via email so let me go find those…here ya go,
   For some time I wanted to say that  Grandpa Bob and Grandma Eleanor  are very proud of Jag and Ty . You are good parents, you give them space to learn, and experience, opportunity to travel.

   and another one,

   L.d.& amp;family:       Faith and trust go together as one, faith is  reassurance that  what you ask for is going to happen, even tho  we do not see it up a head, never of the less , “never give up  on the lord, be patient and firm in your belief ” . In gods own  time , he will do what’s best for you, we must not rush our thinking,sometimes we are our own enemy.patience  takes time , god has given you  strength  to get  through this. ” how else can  I  say it”.    One day in 1969  I was trying to write poetry , I was getting know where and out of the blue I started to write with which poured  forth  to my mind on to paper, I know now!  That the lord had  a message for me to give  to others.

   Thanks for the comments. And in closing, a friend of mine down the street lost his wife yesterday. He sent out an email and I’ll need to call him today, after his main email, he sent this,

   “There have been many star sprinkled nights and so many promises of spring since Jackie and I entwined our lives.  Together we made our plans and built our dreams.  Jackie has left us.  I genuinely believe that Jesus has called her and that she is in his hands.  Her faith was so deep.  In my loneliness, I cannot help but ask, where are the snows of yester year?”

   Dick G

   To my Mom, you know who I’m talking about here, I think the funeral is next Saturday but I’ll be hunting, Life is short, embrace every day and God Bless

Today we will be doing some demolition around here. I’m not sure what we will start with until I consult with the misses but we’re going to start upgrading some part of the house. It might be new wallpaper or knocking out a wall. Whatever it is, we’ll let you know.

Now this is just a small part of a larger theme. You’re going to read about a bunch of what some might call dramatic changes starting to take place. We’ve decided that it’s time to, as Nike would say, just do it. I don’t know if we’re going to tear down walls, put in a new kitchen, tear up the backyard concrete or move. I just know that things are not going to stay the same. Now this theme is going to extend further than just fixing up or changing the house. No more details as we’re not sure what’s going to happen but you’ll be the first, I mean second, to know.

First off we need everyone to pray for the misses head to stop hurting. I don’t know what else to do but the pain is so bad that most people couldn’t handle it. In fact the misses can’t handle it but somehow takes each minute at a time. We really need some divine intervention. She of course doesn’t like me to write about it as she says it doesn’t help and just upsets some of you so that’s all I’m going to say about it.

Yesterday I walked a good 10 miles while hunting and bagged 20 pheasants. They were pretty big as they’ve been feeding in the corn and milo fields for a few months. There were 5 of us and we had a good time. It was much warmer than everyone thought. I made it home around 6pm.

My bruised heel is killing me from walking all day and favoring this whacks my back out and my other leg and hip as I put more pressure on my other side. I’m all out of whack but am not going to physical therapy no matter what! I can barely walk today and will hopefully be fine by game time tonight. Usually it loosens up as the day goes on. I guess it’s just all a part of getting older but I’m not going to stop doing things as I think inactivity is the worst thing you can do as you get older, just my personal philosophy.

In closing the Giants are up 3 games to zip in the World Series. We haven’t watched any games but do cheer for them as they’re the misses team.

Have a great day, take care and God Bless.

Last night the youngest went with his friend to my high school alma mater’s football game. I was thinking back to what fun our high school football games were and how they were the thing everyone looked forward to all week, every week, during the season when we were kids. His friend’s little sister was a guest cheerleader. (she’s like 5 or so) It was cold so they said they thought they would leave at halftime after her performance. Then, the youngest spent the night at their house. We’ve been invited to go to a halloween party with his parents (our friends) tonight but I’m not sure we’ll go.

Meanwhile the oldest guy’s friend came home with us after school until about 9pm when his parents and older sister picked him up on their way home from the junior high halloween party and auction to benefit the school. They play real well together although the misses and I sometime wonder just what’s going on upstairs. You see they’re at that age where they’re learning lots and lots of things about life. They’re starting to actually talk about girls, as if they like them and so on. Mom is freaking out!

It’s still a little cool today but should be around 45 or so when I’m pheasant hunting this afternoon. I saw my Mom yesterday as she needed a bottle of wine (or two) which I gladly ran up to her. She looks good and is still as sharp as ever. Must be those good German/Wisconsin genes she has.

I did learn that Tasha and her husband and Avi (Tasha’s daughter) will be coming from Hawaii December 19th to the 23rd on the way to St. Louis. My mom said how nice it would be if Aunt Robi could come up so we’ll (Uncle T and I) will have to figure out how to get her up here! So pack your bags Robi, I’l call you soon. It’ll be real nice to have all the kids together with Mom for a few days and then we’ll get rid of her just in time before Christmas so Mom can give more presents to her two favorite kids! ha ha

The misses, once again, did too much yesterday. I had to run to the DOW (Dept of Wildlife) to pick up my hunting tags and then to the distributor and while I was gone the misses was channeling a cleaning company scrubbing the house from top to bottom. Then she wonders why her head and neck hurt, hmmm. Her logic is it hurts less during the day if she’s doing something.

Less than 2 months until Christmas! Uncle T will probably have his lights staged in the garage ready to go up the minute halloween is over. I’ll bet he’s almost done with his shopping too, he’s an early shopper.

Time to run as it’s almost 7 and I need to take my shotgun apart and give it a quick once over before I leave just before noon. Hope everyone is well, take care and have a great weekend.

Note to Gram Annette:  The doggy meds are fine for Lacey. XOXOL