A Year of Change

Another day, another night out for dinner. Last night we once again had to head out for a bite to eat with another of our winemakers visiting from Italy. Once again the food at the restaurant had too much salt and the misses entree was too salty to even eat! We’re thinking of opening a restaurant called No Salt! You’d think in this day and age $100 to $500 for a meal would actually get you some good food, but nooooooo, all you get is a plate full of salt! Anyhow it was nice to see Alessandro who is on his way to Atlanta this afternoon. We hadn’t seen him since January 2010 when we were with him in New York and he was also in Colorado at our house. It’s good for him to come visit the market as it really helps in multiple ways, the most obvious being education and sales.

Yesterday I shipped another load of wine, had some conference calls and caught up on emails from work. I also managed to get the kids to the pool for an hour of swimming before Mom arrived home from work. She’s now off until Friday but trying to switch so we can head up to Wyoming. She’s lounging around now on the couch looking pretty cute in a pair of my Calvin Kleins. We both need some exercise today to get all the salt out of our bodies.

Our friend Allen (the saddlemaker) called yesterday to fill me in on the history of what my Mom calls “the old mexican saddle”. Turns out it’s not mexican at all but rather was made in the 1920’s by Mulleur and Company here in Denver. He said it’s so narrow that even if fully restored it’d be hard to find a horse that it’d properly fit. The horn apparently had also been torn off as there’s evidence of roping when you look closely at it. He’s going to clean it all up for us (at no charge!)  and it’ll be a new piece of western regalia sitting in our front room somewhere. And so the Ralph Lauren western theme makeover continues!

The boys and I did do a bunch of homework out of their workbooks yesterday and the oldest and I need to get started on our Hunter Safety work today. I have a call at 8am and then we’ll get going on this while he’s fresh before the day gets away from us. The house is still pretty clean which is a surprise as with two kids and two dogs, it’s not an easy job.

Well I’m going to grab a bite to eat and then box up some wine, today it goes to Maine, and then shower before my first call. It’ll be another hot one today with temperatures in the mid 90’s, I think I’ll hose down the dogs today to cool them off. Maybe a swim for them in Whistler’s Pond.

Hope everyone’s doing well, stay cool and hydrated and have a great day.

Ok, it’s 4;15am and nice enough outside to have the windows open for a bit. The forecast says it’ll be 96 degrees or above for at least the rest of the week. I guess we shouldn’t really be complaining as the temperatures are higher as you go east. You see the entire mid section of the country has been under a sweltering heat wave with no end in sight. Anyone notice how the summers have been hotter and the winters colder in the past few years????? Once again this is something that happens slowly or gradually so no one really takes notice or thinks about it but our weather patterns have been changing, and not for the better! I was watching the news and of all places, Wisconsin had extreme heat warnings and you were told to stay inside, imagine if you live a bit further south like in Missouri, Oklahoma or Arkansas. Thankfully I listened to the misses 3 or 4 years ago and finally put in air conditioning. Our power bill did shoot up about $100 last month but it’s well worth it. I need to ask my Mom if they were ever told to stay inside in Wisconsin when she was a kid.

The oldest and I went to our Hunter Safety course yesterday afternoon. It’s really for him but with me taking this over 40 years ago, I actually got a lot out of it. It’s a lot of work and unlike when I was a kid, you really have to put in the hours and study hard and we’re going to give it our best shot. We do need to study at least a good hour each day between now and the 27th when he takes the written and live fire tests. Our instructor is a 65 year old plus cowboy who’s an ex law enforcement guy (retired last Monday) that tells it like it is. At one moment when talking about the consequences of breaking game laws, he went into his views as a law enforcement officer, on our legal system. He began by telling all of us that you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, right, but then said, and I quote, “I’m sorry folks but I’m going to tell you the way it really is, you see you’re really guilty in the eyes of the court, once you’ve been charged, until you can prove your innocence”. If you think about it, this is pretty accurate. Let’s say you get a traffic ticket, you’re presumed guilty until you go to court and can prove you didn’t do whatever the ticket says you did, right? Think about it. My motto is, stay away from trouble in the first place and don’t put yourself in a situation where you can ever get charged with whatever in the first place. So beware the system or as I say, stay off the grid. It amazes me that everyone is joining all these web sites like Facebook and things where everyone shares all their personal information and is connected. Personally I’m trying to “get off the grid”. I now turn my cell phone off at night and on the weekends and I’m opting out of web sites that have my info and others that connect everyone. It still bothers me that even though we have an unlisted phone number, anyone can just Google my name and find out where I live, as well as my wife and children’s names and even their ages! To me this is really scary and nobody’s business. I’d better stop now or I’ll get into how web sites and the government tracks what you spend on credit cards, listens in on your phone calls for key words, and basically profiles you, etc. I guess it’s the price we pay for all our advancements in technology. You know me, sometimes I think we were better off 50 or 100 years ago without so many advancements. We’ve come so far so fast technologically, that we haven’t figured out how to handle all the responsibilities that come with it as people. Oh well, to each his own.

The misses works this morning at 7:15am and I have about 20 more boxes of wine to pack and ship. I think we’re going to California around the end of the month to see Grandpa Bob. The misses feels much better about everything after talking to him again yesterday as I guess there was some misunderstanding on his condition on earlier calls, plus she said he sounded 100 times better. This is good news for him and her as I know how much this is bothering her.

Hard to believe it’s July 18th. In 90 days we’ll be rushing around as well be late getting our Halloween costumes ready, maybe we should start now.

We did manage to get the house scrubbed clean yesterday. The misses and I powered out and cleaned from top to bottom including washing the floors. You wouldn’t believe the dog hair we accumulate around here, you could knit a sweater daily with all the hair on the floor. No rain yesterday for the first time I can remember in weeks. I’m actually running the sprinklers right now as one day of 95 degree plus heat and you need to water everything, feast or famine around here, take your pick. I also need to call Uncle T as I have a side of beef lined up for $2.75 a pound from a ranch in the mountains where the cows are “happy”(as they say at Mom’s work) meaning they roam free, are not stressed, and most importantly grass fed and raised without antibiotics. It tastes (grass fed beef) much better if you’ve never had real beef like this. If he doesn’t want in we’ll just get it all. My main concern is I don’t know if I have the freezer space as we’re pretty flush with venison, elk and pheasants right now. If I have to I’ll go to Home Depot and pick up a $150 chest freezer. I’ll still be better off than buying beef at the store, even with the misses discount card. You can never have too much beef!

Time to start packing wine, the boys are still asleep and the misses is in the shower. I have the attic fan on to cool down the house but it’s starting to warm up so I think I’ll turn it off now. We hope everyone is well, stay cool in this heat (Mom, you can come over anytime) and enjoy your week.

God Bless,

Today is the 200th post of the year, that means we have 165 days left in 2011, time sure flies. Yesterday was full of swimming, cleaning (you can hardly tell), bowling, a sleepover and a great dinner. Both boys did great swimming with the oldest missing a state qualifying time by 2 seconds. He was bummed that he missed it but he took over 20 seconds off his time in the last 2 weeks! The littlest one also swam great races, taking 15 seconds off his time in two weeks as well. The older one is coming into his own as he’s grasping the technique a bit more at his age.

The misses and I joined our friends around 4pm for bowling. Turns out I’m quite a bowler and probably could have done even better but I tweaked my back and was afraid it was going to go out. After a few hours of rolling the ball down the lanes, we all headed downtown to Oceanaire for dinner. This is probably the best seafood restaurant in the city and we all had a great dinner. The only problem is restaurants use so much salt you’re always swollen up after eating out. The misses and I arrived home about 9:30 and had an uneventful evening as we just went to bed to catch up on some much needed rest.

I woke up around 2:30m to the dog barking to go out. When I got downstairs I stepped in some “throw-up” while letting the dog out. I then of course had to clean this up as well as me feet. The boys just arrived home with Uncle T and they had a great time. They made their own pizzas for dinner, played outside and watched a movie. Uncle T (reliving his childhood) bought both boys a remote control tanks that goes in water and on land and is a water cannon to boot! How cool is this! I want one too! They also came home with a few other goodies and were perfectly behaved and followed Uncle T’s rules to the letter. We’re now cooking up some breakfast and then will tackle the house.

We’re still waiting to see just how urgent it is to get out to California to see Grandpa Bob. Grandma Dixie, bless her heart, is diving right in to find out just what is going on. It’s hard to tell what’s really going on when we’re so far away. When you have 3 different people passing information on to each other, details can tend to get confused. All I know is that the misses of course is understandably worried for him. Hopefully we’ll know more tomorrow or the next day after he can get to a doctor. In the meantime all we can do is wait and try not to get too worked up about the unknown. If (or when) we need to go out, we’ll figure out a way to do so. We’ve got a little cash stashed for emergencies and I guess this qualifies as one.

The oldest and I begin our hunter safety classes today at 3pm. He’s quite excited and I am too. I’m not really thrilled about 4 hours in a classroom but I’m all in focusing on the end result. We’ll need to eat either early or late, (wonder if I can take food in with me?) we’ll decide later today. I can smell bacon cooking (we haven’t had bacon for weeks) so breakfast is getting close. We love bacon, who doesn’t! I briefly visited my Mom yesterday who is doing fine. She’s got a lot going on around her house right now. I guess when you have 45 years to accumulate stuff, it takes a while to go through it all and she’s in cleaning mode like the rest of us, plus she’s never been one to throw anything out. I think she was having a girlfriend over for a visit yesterday afternoon. She (unlike some other people her age), is really together at this stage of her life. My next challenge is to get her on some kind of trip whether to Hawaii or Europe or maybe someplace closer like Yellowstone. Maybe we can plan something for next Spring as it’ll be winter around here before you know it. She loves her home and really enjoys just being there but look out Mom, I’m going to keep on you until we all go somewhere. (I’m sure hearing this thrills her)

Time to go now so I’m signing off for the day, hope everyone is doing well and has a great day, God Bless,

Today is the last swim meet and we’re really late. I think we’re supposed to be there in 15 minutes and we just woke up so what am I doing writing this instead of taking a shower??

Well the misses has the bathroom now and the boys are still sleeping. We weren’t going to go to this but Mom changed her mind at the last minute. We had dinner last night with Paolo and Kristina before sending them off to catch their 9:30pm flight to Vegas. Today Maurzio and Alessandro (two other winemakers) land in Denver. The misses and I have our bowling / dinner with my former lawyer now judge, his wife, Jeff and Tina. Even though we’ve gone 12 days without adult beverages, tonight will be the toughest test yet. We’re determined to stay on track. Dinner was at a new place close to our house and we had high hopes of it being good as we really don’t have any restaurants near us that are very good. It started out good but how hard is it to make a good salad. Then  came the entrees and we were sorry to find out they just weren’t that good, oh well, the search continues.

It seems Grandpa Bob is not doing well at all. He has no energy for months now and his PSA is back up (he found out when needing to go to the hospital in Oregon a few weeks ago) and he’s been told that the cancer is back somewhere in his body. Most importantly he’s talking like it’s all over. The misses, understandably so, is quite upset. He’s telling her of his life’s regrets and talking like the end is very near. Now I don’t know whether it is or not but Grandma Dixie will call on Monday and try to find him a cardiologist to see right away as it’s supposedly something with his heart as well. The biggest worry is his attitude, we need to get him to change his thinking and be positive. I think we’re all going out to CA sometime later next week. I haven’t decided if we’re going to drive or fly yet, we really don’t have the money to do either but I’ll have to think of something as It’ll be at least $1500 we don’t have anyway you look at it. We thought of having the misses just fly out but he really wants to see the boys. I guess we’ll just trust in God on this one.

The boys are now up and they’re going to spend the night at Uncle T and Aunt B’s tonight. They’re of course super excited. The misses just noted how much salt must have been in our food last night as we’re both swollen up! You can easily tell when you can’t get your rings off the next morning. It’s now 6:05 and I need to take a quick shower, sorry about the short post but we’re burning daylight!

Take car, God Bless and say a prayer for Grandpa Bob,

Good morning to all.  The birds are singing, the sun is shining and the rain has stopped for the time being…storms are to return this afternoon.  I love the humidity we are surrounded by and lush green foliage…my flowers and shrubs have never looked so beautiful. We now have snakes and toads in the front yard for the boys to hunt….I know we have had snakes in the past, but I do not recall toads…at least I think it’s a toad…I heard him croaking day before yesterday and saw him yesterday…so did our oldest and he says it is a toad, so there you have it….a toad it is.

The boys woke up early on there own today, they must have finally caught up on their sleep.  The oldest just left for swim team and the youngest is next to me on the couch playing a game that has been missing since we went to California for my mom’s birthday in April…it’s like having a brand new toy…good times.

Little Lady fell last night right before I went down to give Bunkie his insulin shot. Her leg went out from under her when she was taking a step up to her porch. Thankfully nothing is broken, but all of the skin was scraped off her forearm from an inch above her wrist to an inch below her elbow…she also hit her forehead right above her left eye and she will no doubt have another “Shiner”. I have to change the bandage this morning and then one of the neighbors will take her to the doctor if she can get an appointment with Kaiser today.

I had my my meeting from 9:45p.m. until almost 11:00 and it was all I could do to stay awake.  It was hard for my friend as well…she got pulled over for swerving on the way home.  The nice officer just made sure we were okay and then sent us on our way.  We told him that we had a meeting at work and that neither one of us was accustom to being up so late.  He said he could relate because he had recently started working the graveyard shift. Lucky for us they don’t serve cocktails at work meetings!!

Today we have Paolo and Kristina with us. I will take Kristina down to Cherry Creek where she has an appointment to have her hair done before they head off to Vegas. I think this afternoon I’ll drive her up to Red Rocks for a photo opp so she can take advantage of the gorgeous natural beauty of the Amphitheater. Paolo has a wine tasting from 1 to 5 and then they have to head to the airport tonight.

I called my dad yesterday and he is still not feeling up to par after his illness over Father’s Day weekend. He said he would call a doctor this week…I’ll follow up to make sure that he does indeed make an appointment.

I haven’t been up to Grandma’s to plant the day lilies that I have for her yet, so that will be on my to do list this weekend….plus I really like to visit with her.  I bet her pond is almost overflowing with all of this rain….handing off to the mister….time to make breakfast….

OK, you could easily tell that was the misses. Now, where should I start, hmmmmmm. You all thought I was going to jump right into politics, right? Well not today, instead I’m focusing on getting the house cleaned and organizing the basement. I personally don’t like all the humidity like the misses. We have lots of mushrooms growing in the front yard plus all this moisture leads to mold and rust, two things we don’t need around here. Right now I have the attic fan on and all the windows open trying to suck some of the moist stale air out of the house with a cool morning breeze. They say the rains are going to continue at least through next week while the midwest is in the middle of a dangerous heatwave. Can’t wait for it all to end.

Lots of water in the mountains too. We just received some windmill parts I had to get from Nebraska that will soon be getting the water pumping up in North Park although right now there’s plenty of water. After fixing this one, all four windmills will be up and pumping water again. My dad would love to see this I’m sure. The whole State has never been so wet. I did manage to draw a second rifle season over the counter elk tag for this fall. On Sunday the oldest and I go to the first day of his Hunter Safety class from 3 until 7pm. We then have to do some work at home on the computer and have another class from 6 to 11pm on the 27th. This is mandatory in the State of Colorado for anyone born after Jan 1, 1949 to get any type of hunting license. I took my class when I was 13 years old and am the proud holder of license number 402! With all the hunters in this state, 402 is a pretty low number. After completion of the course, which you can’t take until you’re 9 years old, you can get a license to hunt small game. You have to wait until your 12 years old to hunt big game. So this means this fall he can hunt pheasants, rabbits, squirrels and other small game. The only thing I plan on letting him participate in this year is pheasant hunting. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. He’s really excited to go hunting and I’m really excited to take him. he can go elk hunting with me, he just can’t take the shot. We might also try our hand at turkey hunting but we’ll have to wait and see. I tried but didn’t draw an antelope tag. I don’t really understand this as they’re everywhere! I’m glad they have this safety class as a requirement in Colorado as it’ll make sure he understands safety comes first. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a life long passion for him. Too many kids don’t get any exposure to the outdoors anymore, not our boys, they’re all in.

I just had to take a break and run down to the Little Old Lady’s house to check out her arm. The misses called and wanted me to take a look at it. It seems last night the neighbor lady decided to rip off the lose skin and cover the wound with a bandage while she should have left it open. Anyhow it looks much worse than it is but it’s a good laceration. It’ll need to be cleaned (probably scraped with a brush now) and then wrapped but she should heal ok. The bump on her head, and the headache she had all night, is much more of a concern. It’s good she’s going to the doctor this morning. She gets around alright but seems to fall quite a bit. I think this is because she has that damned oxygen hose attached to her all the time and it probably gets tangled in her feet. Luckily she has strong bones or she could have been a goner by now with all the falls she’s had. Looks like God is watching out for her.

It’s almost 8 and I should hit the showers.We have lots going on, (again) today! I can’t remember a day when we didn’t have a lot going on! Oh well, we’re living life to the fullest, no down time here and never a dull moment. We wish you all a great weekend and hope you’re all doing well. Give us a call over the weekend and say hi if you have a chance. Take care and God Bless,

p.s. I made it, no politics today!

Last night it came again, just like clockwork, thunder , lightening and lots of water. The misses and I were downtown for a friends birthday dinner and driving home was an adventure in itself. The street drains were full and mini lakes were present on every corner. Lucky we have and suv and a truck as we plowed right through them. They say (Nobel Prize winners) we’re going through a polar shift meaning the northern hemisphere is flip flopping with the southern hemisphere. Now I don’t know about this but somethings going on with the weather. I hope this is all part of a 500 or 1000 year cycle but no one has lived long enough to recognize it.

Football was canceled because of the storms so the boys hung out at home with the babysitter while we headed downtown for dinner. This morning they’ll also get a break from swimming because of too much rain. The misses has a store wide meeting at 9:45pm tonight and the bulk of the day will be spent cleaning up inside and out.

I’m too disgusted with both sides to go into politics, I’ve reached my limit but suggest everyone get ready for something, I don’t know what, but somethings gotta give. Everyone needs to think for themselves, don’t let these talking heads on either side think for you. They’re just people who are espousing their opinions on tv, you’re just as smart as they are. I mean does anyone think the government is actually telling anyone the truth about anything? My how we’ve fallen from a time when my parents were young when elected people were more interested in serving their country instead of getting re-elected. Ok I guess I’m getting into politics, sorry but nobody is awake to stop me! Here’s a quick quote and then I’ll move on,

“How pale is the art of sorcerers, witches, and conjurors when compared with that of the government’s Treasury Department!” – Ludwig von Mise

How about the guy that caught the star New York Yankee Derek Jeters 3000 hit baseball, held it in his hands for less than 15 minutes, then gave it back, and now the government says he has to pay taxes on its value! Wow, talk about doing the right thing and then having the government swoop in to squeeze you for some cash. This is as bad as going after little kids lemonade stands for not paying taxes. Whoops, I’m back into politics, I just can’t help myself. At least Miller Beer Company is stepping up and paying the $100,000 tax bill the government says he owes from catching a baseball and getting some free tickets from the Yankees for his kindness, he would have been better off to just let it hit him on the head and bounce away. Once again, my how times have changed. What about going after the Federal employees that owe over a combined $1 Billion in delinquent taxes???

Well I don’t want to lose the few readers I have and since I can’t control myself, I guess I’d better go. Maybe I can coax the misses into writing for a few days. Stay tuned for tomorrow to find out! Hope everyone is ok and doing well. Remember think for yourself and whatever you do, don’t bank on the government to be there to take care of you as it’s obvious they can’t even take care of themselves, ok ok I’ll stop, in closing, ponder this…

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” – G. K. Chesterton

Have a great day and God Bless,

Last night was the loudest, brightest, longest, scariest thunder storm I’ve ever experienced in my life. It started around 8pm and seem to go on forever. I called my Mom around 9 or so who told me I shouldn’t be using the phone during an electrical storm, then she also confided she was scared. We obviously brought Mojo inside for the night but he wanted out at 3am so by then the storms had passed. It’s still misting outside right now, what a night, it’s like living in the mid-west. Sure would have started a stampede if you had a few hundred head of cattle out in that storm. Good news is we have hardly had to run the sprinklers this year. We’re waiting to call the swim team hot line to see if it’s on this morning as there might have been too much rain. Right now it’s a little after 6 and both boys are still sleeping. The misses also was talking in her sleep last night and woke me at 3 with some jibberish, fun night!

The boys and I had a fun day yesterday. I started off by boxing 20 boxes of wine around 6am and was at Fed Ex by 10am dropping them off. The boys then wanted to go to Kokoro (a favorite counter style Japanese restaurant) for lunch. After that we ran some errands and then I dropped them at our savior Uncle T’s house for about 90 minutes, while I had to run an errand. He’s sure been helpful to us. The misses got a much deserved .50 cents and hour raise yesterday, whoo hoo! Now we don’t want to turn anything down but I mean come on, .50 cents? Is that all they can do? We’re still determined to get the misses out of there, but we can’t until we find some other way to replace the income. The grocery discount card is the biggest thing we’re afraid to lose. I’m going to track it to the penny to see exactly how much we’re saving.

It smells musty in the basement and I’m sure there’s water behind the wall but it’ll dry out as soon as the monsoons stop. I did go downstairs last night to get some food and other essentials off the concrete floor just in case water came inside last night as it has before. Mom’s off the rest of the week and she’s planning on getting the house back in shape today. I did manage to get 3 loads of laundry done yesterday between my errands and work. It’s also been 9 days since the misses and I have had an adult beverage. We decided to make this stand for a number of reasons. We’ve lost weight, we’re sleeping better and we just overall feel better, we’re all in! Our first big test was dinner with Paolo (our winemaker) the other night and we have a dinner tonight and the big bowling party/dinner Saturday but we’re determined to stick to it.

My first call is at 10am this morning and I’m in the process of making some sweeping fundamental changes to the way we do things. It seems to be working well. You need to constantly adapt in this economy to stay ahead of the game, it’s almost a daily thing to keep the car on the road. We’re starting to see a bunch of scare tactic tv ads already popping up on the boob tube. They just showed 3 old people asking “Mr. Congressman, what gives you the right to cut medicare, we’re calling all our friends and telling them to call you and ask you why”. I got news for you, everything needs to be cut! Medicare, Social Security and all the entitlements that have put us in this mess. Everyone talks about taxing the rich, I say go ahead and close all the loop holes but even if you took all the income from the rich, 100% of it, you still wouldn’t do anything but put a bandaid on the problem. Think about it, if you’re in debt you can try to make or get a little more money but the real key is to stop spending more than you have, right? Why can’t these people in Washington get it, what a joke. Alright I’ll stop now, it’s just that these people in Washington on both sides are so out of touch, they’re like children playing with our future. I’m dreading the next 15 months as we’re going to be bombarded with political ads like you’ve never seen before.

Both boys are off to swim team with the littlest one wanting to watch his brother before his practice. Time to jump in the shower and get the day started. Hope everyone is doing well, so until tomorrow, God Bless,

Wonder what today’s title means? Can anyone guess? It’s the exchange rate of the euro to the dollar. That means it takes $1.38 to buy 1 euro. Now why is this important, well it’s important because it’s a way to measure the world economy and it directly affects things we buy and sell daily and most importantly, how much I have to pay for my wine. The neat thing is that it hasn’t been this low for a long time. Less than 90 days ago it was approaching $1.50. The reason it’s so low is that the crisis in Europe, particularly Greece is even worse than here. The reason we should be worried is that what’s happening in Greece is a preview of what we’re headed for unless we make some dramatic changes. There’s lot of talk on the idiot box about raising the debt ceiling. The repub’s want to limit anymore borrowing why the dems want to borrow more money against ours and our children’s future. Now wherever you stand on this, it’s a bad situation. It’s so bad the President feels the need to get on tv almost every other day to try to convince us to allow him to keep spending on the nations credit card which has already gone passed its limit. (wish I could do that, no wait, glad I can’t!) In my opinion, most if not all of his motivation is political as he’s starting to lose his base and he knows he’ll never get re-elected if he stops giving all these handouts to all the special interest groups. So, make some tough choices now and make some real painful cuts to real people, or keep putting it off. Good news is the american people in a CBS poll yesterday, voted 69% to 28% (with 3% not voting) NOT to raise the debt limit and to stop spending money we don’t have. This surprised me as I don’t have much faith in the “regular guy” understanding what’s going on. When you’re bombarded by tv ads saying they’re kicking grandma out of the nursing home if we make cuts, most people vote to keep spending. I think it’s getting so bad that even people who don’t follow the world economy are starting to understand we cannot continue to spend money we don’t have. Just my 2 cents, you all have to make up your own mind which way to go, the point is, sooner or later, someone (that’s us) are going to have to pay for all this spending by Washington or in other words, pay the bill. I wonder if the politicians in Washington would vote for all the spending they do if they had to personally write a check each time they vote to spend more money we don’t have, hmmmmmm.

Ok, more heavy rain showers today, possibly earlier they say. Mom works today until 5pm as she switched yesterday with Miss Carrie so she could spend the day with Kristina. They had a good lunch and then did a little shopping. We had a nice dinner with Paolo and Kristina and they’re off to Aspen at 6am this morning returning to Denver Thursday night. We’ll see them again Friday early evening before they fly off to Vegas for a few days and then continue their trip around the U.S. promoting his wine. Uncle T and Aunt B (or maybe just Uncle T as I think Aunt B might have been working) hosted the oldest boy for a while and then both boys when the younger one joined the party. The boys sure love visiting them. We (Uncle T, Aunt Robi and I) never had and Aunts or Uncles close enough to go hang out with, we’re really happy our boys do. Today I’m boxing a bunch of wine and then Uncle T is going to watch them for a quick hour while I run to Fed Ex. I was hoping to get this done by 10:30 but now it seems it’ll be closer to 12:30 as I have some unexpected calls, hope Uncle T is around or else I’ll just take them (the boys) with me.

The next few days are a whirlwind. We have swimming every morning, football tomorrow night and we (the misses and I) have to show up at a birthday party downtown for at least an appearance. Then Mom has another company wide meeting at 9:45pm Thursday (she had one at 6:15am yesterday) and on Friday she’s spending the day with Kristina again and then we all hook up for dinner before they fly out at 9:30pm. On Saturday we have a bowling party with our friends (the judge/my former lawyer, and his wife, and Jeff and Tina) who we get together with every three months or so. After bowling (Jeff bought some certificate at a charity auction) we’re all going to La Loma for dinner. I think the boys are spending the night with Uncle T and Aunt B. They’re both super excited! We’re wondering if a kid can overdose on candy! We’ll let you know Sunday morning. So it looks like Wyoming and horseback riding this weekend is out, bummer.

Mom’s out of the shower and the oldest ones slowly getting up while the little guy is playing a game next to me on the laptop. He gets up much earlier than his older brother. They’re both little angels in the morning, hugging each other on the couch and conversing like brothers do about their upcoming day. Of course later in the day, usually after some sugar, they’re involved in some battle over something that means nothing like who’s using the bathroom first or who’s sitting where. Oh well, it’s just what brothers do, at least we know they really care and love each other as we see it every morning. We need to go up and see my Mom, I spoke with her yesterday and she seems well but we’re about due for a visit. I’m still waiting for some more macaroni and pea salad!

I guess it’s time to run as I should start boxing up some vino before my cell starts ringing, maybe I can get a jump on the whole thing. It’s still real green and humid around here, more than I can ever remember. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying life, it’s short enough as it is so get out there and do something new while you can, get crazy. Here’s a quote for the day, enjoy and God Bless,

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

Seems like fall is just around the corner, watch out it’ll be here before you know it. It’s a bit after 5am and Mom and I are up as she has a store wide meeting at 6:15 this morning. I’ll be taking the boys to swim team (the oldest) and then Mom will be home by 7:30 to take over which is good timing with my conference calls starting then.

We had a bunch more rain yesterday with more scheduled for today and tomorrow, and then it’s supposed to clear out for a few days. In the morning we headed up into the mountains to some friends who make their living (his misses still works a regular 9 to 5) building custom saddles in the old way of the greats like Frazier and Gallup (pioneers in saddle making) when Pueblo Colorado was the saddle making capital of the world. (this was around the late 1880’s until around 1940 for those of you who might be interested) Allen, our friend, is a transplant from Alabama but is quite the craftsman making saddles for all kinds of people including the likes of Tom Selleck and Buck Henry and other notables who’s names you wouldn’t recognize. His saddles don’t cost much more than the more mass produced versions, they just use rigging styles reminiscent of the original designs meaning some of the straps are on the outside, the swell and cantles are higher and they’re a lot more comfortable than what you’re used to if you have ever rode much. His wife and the misses are designing some leather and cowhide pillows together as the misses keeps seeing these for hundreds of dollars plus they’re always difficult to find. Now’s the time to work my magic and get him some good orders so we end up getting  couple for ourselves for free! Don’t underestimate me, I’ve already set the table and I’ll get it done somehow!

Yesterday the dogs had a much needed walk and Mom got her nails done late in the afternoon. I have to get about 20 boxes of wine packed and shipped Fed Ex to Chicago today while the misses will give the house a quick once over and then shop for dinner tonight with Paolo and Kristina and a couple of friends that are coming over. Sometime today, probably around noon, the misses will pick Kristina up and they’ll spend the day together until Paolo is dropped off late in the afternoon. All in all, it’ll be a busy day.

The oldest just asked if he could skip swim team just this once. Funny the misses and I were just discussing this and I told him ok as they’re pretty tired and have been swimming 7 days in a row now for over a month. You can actually see their shoulder muscles changing and getting more definition. The main reason I agreed is because the little one is still sleeping and I’d need to wake him to drop off the older guy. He needs his sleep much more than his older brother from an attitude standpoint.

It looks like at least two (maybe four) of us are headed to Wyoming this weekend for some family riding. We’ve been trying to get up there for a few weeks but between swim meets and wine arriving and the holiday weekend, it kept getting put off. Both boys (especially the older one) are all in when it comes to horses. We’re lucky we have numerous friends with horses that we can ride anytime we want, just wish they were in this state! This might be trumped though as Uncle T and Aunt B have offered to have the boys for a sleepover this coming Saturday. Now even though riding horses is way up there on their list, not much can compete with a night and T & B’s! We’ll leave it up to the boys. Might just be the misses and I which would be ok too as it’ll be nice to have a mini break.

I’m too tired to go much into the economy and politics. I did run into a guy I went to high school with yesterday at the grocery store. He recognized me and I him but had to ask him his name. After talking for a couple minutes he broke down and started telling me how this economy is so rough and how he’s fighting to hang onto his house. Now here’s a guy I haven’t seen in 37 years, who in the grocery store, after 120 seconds of conversation, breaks down almost to tears and starts venting on the economy and his troubles. I think that right there about says it all. It’s rough out there and a lot of people are hurting, regular people, not the rich disaffected politicians in Washington, but the guy on the street. Many people that are a lot smarter than you or I are warning of the likes of civil unrest as things get worse. I sure hope they’re wrong but the average guy on the street doesn’t have much if anything, to fall back on if it all goes south. So once again (then I’ll stop I promise) please buy a little extra food and put away a few hundred dollars in small bills (or better yet some pre 1964 silver coins) someplace safe, if you can, for a rainy day. Things are only going to get more expensive before things get better.

In closing here’s a quote from many many years ago, in fact hundreds of years ago, think about it, take care and God Bless

“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” – Yutang Lin

First off, thank you Aunt B for sending a comment yesterday, this means at least two people are reading the blog on a regular basis. We are beginning to wonder if the rest of you actually know how to email, hmmmm.

Onto the day, yesterday, as you know, we were at the swim meet from 6am until noon. Both boys had about 5 races each and without recapping each race, the littlest one shaved 2 seconds off his best time and the oldest 6 seconds from the previous week. Now this may not sound like a lot but trust me, it is. They’re both really coming into their own and with a bit of fine tuning (one more private lesson) I’m sure they’ll do even better. The oldest in particular really has a swimmers body. The rest of the day was spent visiting an antique store that was having a sidewalk sale and then a late lunch at one of our favorite haunts. Then they boys watched a much anticipated show they’ve been waiting for, while Mom and I read some books and lounged around the house.

The big news of the day is I guess Grandma Dixie and Pa Don went in with Uncle Scottie on a new motorhome! Talk about living life and not letting the grass grow under your feet, here are three people, all who are 80 (I think Scottie is 80+ too) who just bought a rolling hotel. Grandma Dixie and Pa Don are old hands at motorhomes but you have to hand it to them at their age that they have the “drive” to hit the open road all by themselves. I guess Grandma Dixie told the misses that now we have a place to stay when we go to Oklahoma in August. I guess we’re for sure now going to Oklahoma in August!

Today I woke up at 4:40am which is kind of sleeping in for me. Colorado and our weather for the past few days is making the national news again. We’ve had heavy rain and in some places, large hail for the past week or so. I can’t remember it ever being so humid, even my guitar is going out of tune due to the changing weather, sounds like an inspiration for a song! Everyone (obviously) is still sleeping except for me and the dogs. I forgot to call my Mom yesterday to check on her but hope (and assume) Uncle T did. Funny how the day can just get away from you.

Tomorrow our good friend and winemaker Paolo from Valdobbiadne  (just north of Venice Italy) and his lovely girlfriend Kristina who’s from Czechoslovakia arrive here for a week. The boys love her as she brought them Pokeman cards from Italy last year. The misses and Kristina will hang out tomorrow and then we’ll all have dinner Monday night. Then they’re off to Aspen and Crested Butte and a few other mountain locals to meet people who sell and love his wine. They’ll be back in Denver Friday when the misses and Kristina will again hit the town or pool and then another dinner before they depart for San Francisco Saturday. Then we have 2 other winemakers arrive Saturday for a few days but more on that at the end of the week.

Time to go see if the paper is here to catch up on the useless propaganda printed for us each day. Things are so bad everyday that no one seems to be shocked at anything anymore. I could (as you know) go into a long dissertation here on our problems and the coming World changes, but since it’s Sunday and the day of rest, I won’t. Hope everyone has a great day and is prepared for the coming week. Take care and God Bless