A Year of Change

Started last night while I was at James. Picked up steam overnight and we have a good 5 inches or so right now at 6am and it’s still coming down. Snow, it’s finally here. They say it’ll keep snowing until around 5 this afternoon. Much needed for the animals, trees and overall water reserves for next year. It’ll probably take an extra 30 minutes or so to get to school.

Had a great time at James last night with Luca, Clark, Mark, Marty and I. On December 23rd we’re having a Christmas Eve Eve celebration here at our house. Lori loves entertaining and is thrilled to have all the guys coming over. Melanie of course will come too. Mark who is the former manager of the Four Seasons Hotel wants to cook something to bring and of course Luca, being from Italy wants to make risotto or soemthing. Should be fun. James is headed out tomorrow as he has two sold out shows on the 17th and 19th at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Lori gets home tomorrow, whoo hoo! I stopped to see Dixie yesterday as she said she couldn’t breathe when I called after getting Ty. I told her to put on her oxygen and by the time I arrived the nurse and two others were in her room. Her vitals were fine and as soon as she took some deep breaths she rallied. It’s amazing she’s still hanging in there with her health issues. I’m afraid she won’t be around long if she continues to not wear her oxygen. I’ll stop and see her again today.

Lori is getting her stuff done. She shipped some more of Dixie’s things here and has been going through the house and things. She’s also working away just as if she was here as she said she rescheduled 20 patients yesterday. Jag is studying for finals and so is Ty. I need to go shovel the driveway and clean off the car. Harley is out back having breakfast playing in the snow. I think Ty works tonight and of course wants to go snowboarding tomorrow.

Now for the big news which I saved for last. Ty has been accepted to Montana State University in Bozeman Montana! Whoo hoo! He’s still waiting to see where else might get in but we’re all thrilled he’s been accepted there. He’d love it in Bozeman but it’s way more expensive out of State than in State tuition. A big congratulations to Ty.

That’s it, time to get moving, make it a great day, 2 weeks until Christmas Eve! God Bless.

Today is dad’s birthday. Not sure how old he would have been but probably in his late 80’s. We also kick off a string of three birthdays 10 days apart. Ten days from today is Tom’s and ten days after that is mine. Throw in Jagger’s on the 17th and we’re busy.

Lori grabbed a Southwest flight at 5:30 instead of waiting for the United flight at 7:30 last night. This put her into Sacramento a couple hours early which was good as I didn’t want her driving from the airport at 10 at night. She made it to the house around 8pm. She has a busy two days getting things done before her 5:30am flight back to Denver Saturday morning.

We had a little snow yesterday but not much. Today we’re supposed to get half a foot or more. Some spots in the mountains will get well over a foot. Then by tomorrow night it’ll all clear out and next week we’re back to sunny and 50. Denver will get a couple inches tomorrow.

Ty is studying hard and so is Jag. A week from tomorrow school is all over for the semester. They’re both really good boys. We’re excited for Christmas as things are heating up around here. Presents are magically appearing under the tree day by day, and specialty foods are starting to arrive. I have a couple of the best hams in the Country arriving from Vermont next week, then a pecan pie from Texas, and apple pie from New York and of course a blueberry pie from Michigan all arrive between now and December 24th. I think we’re having a pre-Christmas Eve dinner with Marty and Mel and James and who know who else.

Dixie is hanging in there but slept most of the day yesterday. Glad we have her here and it’ll be great for Christmas for her. Time to get Ty up and let Harley in as she’s finished her breakfast by now. Hope everyone is well, be safe and God Bless.

This afternoon Lori is headed to California. She has to meet with some contractors as a month or so ago when they had bad storms, a large tree fell in the front yard smashing the neighbor’s fence and doing some other damage in the front yard. Also a bunch of dry rot needed to be fixed on the roof. She has some other housecleaning things to do and is back Saturday morning. That means Ty and I are bachelors for the next couple days.

I worked out really hard yesterday, so I’ll take a day or two off to recover. Not much snow up here yet. Hopefully this weekend. I’m in Denver tomorrow to have a clear bra put on the new car. It’s not as tough as the truck but it’s way more comfortable to drive and ride in. It’ll be fine for the winter, if we have one.

Dad’s birthday is tomorrow! Time to get moving as it’s 6 am and I have to head out around 7. Have a great day and God Bless.

Ok, not a lot but some is better than none. Not sure how much snow Vail received but we have a dusting on the ground down here. Friday is the day we’re supposed to get some measurable snow.

Lori is in Edwards today, Ty at school and I’m home. I made it to Denver and back by 2 with our new car. I wanted a suburban and the dealer is going to order me one and buy the Tahoe back for what we paid for it if we decide to switch cars.

Today is 80 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor. More than 2400 people died that day in a horrific surprise attack. If you’ve ever gone to see the U.S.S. Arizona memorial, it’s eerie.

I have a few errands today. Dixie seems to be getting worse every day with her confusion becoming more and more frequent. She doesn’t wear her oxygen like she should which is probably a big part of it. Mom used to say getting old is hell.

Time to get moving. 18 days until Christmas. Enjoy life and God Bless.

That’s all that’s left. I think Jag only has 8 days. Time flies. Lori works in Vail today and has to go to Frisco around 2. I’m trying to find the right car. Might wait on the Tahoe if I can get a suburban. Some are in transit to dealers so we’ll see. Cold in Denver, snow up here later.

Broncos lost, bad coaching and bad decisions by our qb. Wish we’d fire our coach. I wrapped Lori’s presents yesterday while I was smoking ribs. Ty worked until around 4. Lori visited her mom who is having a hard time realizing where she is. Yesterday she thought she was in a motorhome all day. Time to get going, we’re all out of here around 8am. Have a good day and week, God Bless.

Yesterday Lori put up some more Christmas lights! The house is looking good. I stood in line at the post office as we had a notice in our p.o. box of a package that arrived. It was the second box set of Metallica’s Black Album. One arrived the other day. I had asked Renne at the bands foundation if she could get me a couple as they sold out in minutes a few months ago and were selling for upwards of $1000 each! Not sure if she sent them to me or if James did as I didn’t pay for them, they just arrived. We’ll give one each to the boys as they’re big-time collector’s items.

Ty went boarding yesterday and then worked. He works at 12:30 today for a few hours. Think I’m going to put some ribs on the smoker today. I have some new bbq sauce to try out. Tomorrow we’re getting a new car. Looks like a 2022 Chevy High Country Tahoe. They’re larger now and really upgraded. I’d keep the truck but I need to get some kind of new vehicle by December 31st for the tax advantage. I’ll save $80K on taxes next year which is about $30K of actual cash by making the move. If you’re self-employed and use it for business and it weighs over 6000 pounds, you can depreciate 93% of the cost the first year. That pays for one kid to go to college! Our accountant called a couple days ago and suggested it. Was going to go for another Suburban but they’re too hard to find or they want $10K or more above retail and we don’t need the extra long length especially now that they extended the Tahoe. Should be home by noon. It’s a great car and now that Ty has a truck, we can use his to haul crap if we need to.

7:30 now so if we’re going to the gym, time to get moving. Bronco’s play tonight. No one is giving us a chance at all but I have a feeling we might just win. Hope so. Jagger’s birthday is a week from next Friday! Tom’s is 2 weeks from today! That’s all people, get outside, move and groove, enjoy the day and your life! God Bless.

3 weeks until Christmas! WOW! We’re almost all done as Lori wrapped a bunch of presents last night and we took stock of what we have for the boys. We made it to Denver around 10 and after going to the mall I dropped Lori for her appointment. I went grocery shopping while she was there. $367 bought what $200 used to buy. I then picked up Lori and we headed to the bank to meet Jagger. He’s getting a credit card and I needed to cosign for him. It’s the only way for him to build credit. They approved me for $15000 but we had them lower it to $2500. No way are we giving him a credit card with a $15k limit. After our goodbyes we headed for home arriving around 5.

Ty worked until 9 or so and then was home at 11. He wants to go snowboarding today but there’s literally no snow! I think only a couple runs are open. We’ll see. I might smoke some ribs today, it not I’ll do them tomorrow.

The deer are loving the bird seed we put out. They’re there morning and night. A couple big bucks too. They now say we’re getting a big cool down next week with snow, we’ll see.

Get this, the Democratic National Committee is running ads praising Biden for lowering gas prices .02 cents! Are you kidding me? Man are they in trouble and they know it. Hopefully the American people are smart enough to get rid of this clown and his people. It’s really hard to believe they can get away with what they’re doing to the Country in 2021. The doctor in Denver Lori used to work for who is highly respected Worldwide told Lori yesterday he 100% has dementia. We all knew but she provided some clinical proof we weren’t aware of

Well that’s it, have a great day, stay safe and God Bless.

One more trip this week. Lori has a doctor appointment and I need to return something at the mall. Think I also need to swing by the bank and sign some papers so Jagger can get a credit card to build his credit. Extreme drought in Denver. Moderate up here. Think we’re getting snow Tuesday. Not much but some.

Ty works tonight. He’s been tired so he went to sleep at 9 last night and hopefully will be better after 10 hours of sleep. He has an AP Stats test today he needs to do well on.

We should be home by 5 and Ty should be home by 9:30 or 10. He’ll come home after school to let Harley out. Jag is doing well, working hard. I need to find a new car before the end of the year for tax purposes. Since I drive so much for business I get to depreciate 93% of the vehicles cost this year if it’s over 6000 pounds which all my cars are. Problem is there are not many to be found and if you find one they want $10K or more over retail. No way. I’ll keep looking and if not, I’ll just pass.

Lori has been up since 5 as her head was hurting. She had been doing well but somehow triggered it yesterday. Hope it gets better asap. That’s it, December 3rd, wow. God Bless.

Ok, now it’s kind of weird. Wonder when the snow will come. Glad we didn’t buy ski passes although we did buy the student pass for Ty. Today Lori has a call at 9 and one at 4 and Dixie has a dentist appointment at 11. She’s thoroughly confused these days. It’s funny now when we talk to her as some of the things she thinks are happening you just have to laugh at. No other way to deal with it.

Was in Denver again. They have a mask mandate but most people aren’t wearing them. The mall was about 50/50 for compliance. Same with the bank. Up in the mountains, no masks. Saw a survey that says 82% of people are not concerned at all with 14% somewhat and only 4% very concerned with the new variant. I can’t believe they have internment camps in places like Australia. They’re basically locking people up for even being in contact with people who tested positive even though they test negative. People are trying to escape by scaling fences. Not good, not good at all. What the hell is happening? Unbelievable, Good God, help us.

Trying to decide what to do over the holidays, specifically New Years. Would like to go somewhere warm. We’ll have to find someone to watch Harley. No big, we’ll find someone or some place for her to go if we go somewhere.

Time to move. Make it a great day. Remember all of us deserve nothing so live with thanks and gratitude for everything you have! You’ll be amazed how much more you appreciate life if you look at things this way. God Bless.

Still no snow! This is the latest I can ever remember that we haven’t had any of the white stuff. Warm outside too, about 70 in Denver today. We might get some next week but Denver looks dry. I made it to my appointment yesterday and then met up with Jag in Boulder. I also stopped by and had a quick bite of lunch with Tommy.

Lori is in Frisco today and Ty has school but no work. He’s off now for the rest of the school until break so he can study and get caught up. He has some work to do. 6:45 so time to get moving. Make it a great day, 31 days until 2022, wow! God Bless.