A Year of Change

Quick trip down to stop at the bank to give them a copy of our family trust and to get my haircut. Should be back by 1 or so. Ty works today along with Lori. Lots happening at work as usual. Good stuff though. Yesterday we received our first tariff refund from the government. We should get two more checks from them soon.

Looks like it’s going to be smokey for a while. Hopefully in a week or so the weather will change. I’m ok with the smoke as long as no fires start anywhere around here. If you don’t have the free app called Watch Duty, download it. It’s a nonprofit that shows all fires and floods and even power outages nationwide in real time along with evacuation notices. If you look at it, you’ll see the western U.S. is basically on fire. There are over 1000 fires in Washington State alone which is the major contributor to all the smoke. Throw in the Midwest and east coast floods and it’s straight out of the bible. Most don’t believe that or factor it in insisting it’s anything from global warming to just a bad year, but if you really look at what’s happening and what the bible says, it can scare the crap out of you!

Talking to Jagger yesterday, I told him one of the main reasons we want to build a place in Montana is so that he and Ty will always have a safe place with a little land that is in a somewhat good part of the World and paid for, that they can always go to. We picked northern Montana for the water, climate and rural setting that is still close to major amenities like good medical care, and airport that serves major cities, and is an overall nice place to be. In some ways it reminds me of Vail 30 or 40 years ago. We won’t be around as long as the boys will, and I can only imagine what the World will be like in 30 or 40 years. This will be a good sanctuary for them and their families.

5:54am now. Time to get in the shower. Have a good Wednesday. God Bless.

Yesterday afternoon after more back and forth, we went under contract on our land up in Montana! We have an out meaning we can cancel up to August 23rd, which gives us time to see it in person and make sure it works. Lori and I are really excited as we decided if we don’t do it now, we’ll never do it. Best news is that Marty’s brother, who is literally the top builder in Whitefish, is going to build our place. We’re flying up a week from Thursday and back by 8:30am Friday morning. Tyler, (Marty’s brother) is meeting us at the lot and then taking us to his private club for dinner.

Here’s a few pics of one of his houses we like and can work off of.

This is just a starting point. Lori will design the final home like she did for our current home. All I want is a few wood burning fireplaces, a cool office and a barn. We’re building on a budget because the majority of Tyler’s builds are $10-$20-million-dollar homes. I told him we’d pick finishes and stuff from builds he has in process and then he can just add what he needs for us on to those larger orders. That’ll save a lot of money too. We’re making the home pretty much a rectangle, single story ranch style, with not a lot of hallways and no basement, which all really cuts down on the cost as well. Here’s a mockup plan I started last night with the help of AI.

Should be fun and when it’s done, everyone can come visit! Two of the bedrooms will be designed as all in guest suites. It’s a new chapter for us and we’re super excited. Life is way more than just working and if you want to do something, you just have to do it. Starting is usually the hardest part!

Smokey up here today. Not as bad as Denver, but if you’re out in it for a while, you feel it. Ty golfed yesterday and is off again today. Lori is working in Vail and I have some calls. I did two miles on the treadmill yesterday at a pretty good incline and tweaked my side muscles. It was probably from my kettle ball side twists. Oh well, I’ll be fine in a couple days.

Time for more coffee. Have a great August 4th! God Bless.

It’s smokey or hazy in Denver on the news. Not too bad up here, but it is worse than yesterday. We’re going back and forth with the owners of the property we put an offer on. I need to call the drilling and septic company today to get some details on a survey I have on the property. The owners need to come down $25k too. I think they will as they want us as neighbors. They sent us a letter basically selling themselves to us. They’re in their 50’s and have a 20 year old son living at home. They went to college in California and Oregon and then moved back to Montana. They just sold their small law firm and he wants to get into real estate and she’ll do some counseling for some companies. Seem like nice people. If we get a deal, we’ll need to fly up to see it in person. More to come tomorrow, it’s a process.

Ty’s off today and Lori is getting ready for work. Hard to believe it’s the first week of August. It’s James birthday today. He’s doing a radio show on Ozzy’s Boneyard on XM Radio today.

It’s going to be 100 degrees in Denver again today. Hopefully in a week or two at the most, the weather will turn and cooler temps will be here. Won’t be long and things will change, they always do.

6:40am now and that’s it. I’m off to the gym and then have a bunch of calls. Have a great day and God Bless.

Last night we made an offer on the property in the pics from yesterday. Our realtor drove over and checked it out and called us on video to give us a tour. He also went and talked to a few of the homeowners like the old guy that owns the farm. There’s the farm that was the orginial homestead still there, along with 4 or 5 neighbors and that’s it. The owners of the property are a husband and wife who are both lawyers and Montana born residents. I checked them out on Linkedin and then went to their law firm website. He was the city attorney for Columbia Falls for 17 years. It’ll be good to have owners who are lawyers watching over the neighborhood. They specialize in real estate and land use among other things. They have 10 acres and his mom lives on 5 adjoining acres. Then you have a guy who is a long time friend of their’s on 5 acres, another family on a 20 acre parcel and then the big farm, which has a few barns but just keeps some horses. There is no HOA, yea! There are a couple restrictions in the CCR’s which we like, such as no mobile homes, and a few other reasonable things, like no lots smaller than 5 acres. We offered about 5% less than asking price which if accepted, would be about $30,000 less than what a comprable lot just sold for. Fingers crossed. Rick, our realtor, sold us pretty hard to the owners telling them that we are the kind of people they defiently want for neighbors, ha. Not sure what all he told them. He just texted me saying I sold you guys like you’re Jesus. I said I’m not Jesus but I have partied with him! We should know if they accept our offer today.

Yesterday Marty and Gareth came over to hang for a bit. Lori made a cake and after they left we did some smash burgers on the Blackstone Griddle. Ty’s off to work and I’m sure we’ll head to the gym. I ate a ton yesterday and should fast today as I’m still stuffed. Lori makes these great cottage cheese and blueberry panckaes which are incredible. I ate way too many!

It’s 70 degrees in the house which is perfect. Today we might go play pickleball and hang at the pool at the Westin. Jake and Kenzie and their daughter are down in Silverthorne from Saratoga Wyoming school shopping at the outelt mall. They might come for dinner. We keep our horse Prince, which we had Jake buy at auction about 3 years ago, up at Brush Creek Ranch where Jake runs the cattle. He’s such a great horse and will probably go into a ranch horse sale next Spring bringing really good money. Jake said he’d like to figure out a way to buy him from as us he’s such a good horse.

Big week coming up. Lots going on. More on that later. Have a good Sunday and God Bless.

Yesterday we went to Whole Foods in Basalt for a change so we could avoid Vail Pass construction. Then it was a trip to Costco. $500 later and we sort of replenished the shelves but still need to hit the regular grocery store today. Ty’s off to work and gave me another $2000 yesterday to hold for him in his moving fund. He’s up to $4000 that he’s set aside so far. At this rate, he’ll have $10k by the middle of September, maybe a little earlier.

We might have found a lot in Montana. It’s almost 5 acres and a bit northwest of the lake with no HOA. We prefer no HOA if the neighbors don’t have a bunch of junk in their yards. I’m having our realtor, drive up today and check it out.

Here’s a few pics,

Well know more today but we could make something like this work and it’s reasonably priced for the area. No HOA means we can have chickens, cows, horses, whatever we want. We found 2 1/2 acres too, but the HOA was really restrictive.

Today we might go to the Westin and hang at the pool. Marty might come over, we’ll see. I need to run down to Gypsum and start the paperwork on a rare single action army pistol at the gun shop I bought at auction. That’s the old cowboy type revolver in case you don’t know what a SAA pistol is. As soon as I get it, I’ll send it off to my buddy Paul in Texas. He’s the top guy in the Country if not the World for ivory grips. Ivory has been illegal for about 25 or 30 years now but Paul, and the ivory he owns, are grandfathered in as he had it way before the ban. He doesn’t take any new business as he’s probably close to 80 and his health isn’t all that good, but he will do work for me. It’ll take him a few months to carve and fit the grips. He’s the best there is. There aren’t many guys, if any, out there anymore with Paul’s talent. Having a revolver with his grips on it instantly doubles the value of the pistol, but it’s not like I’d sell it. Anything with his work is an instant heirloom. We own a few now and they’ll go to the boys.

Jag passed his SEC test, surprise surprise, as if there was any doubt. I think he and Ava celebrated last night and they’re going to the Aquarium today.

Nice outside now. It’s been hot, but not Denver hot. Garth Brooks is going to do 4 shows in about a month. My guy texted me from the road in Poland to let me know they increased the number of shows from 2 to 4. One is a matinee on Sunday the 6th, so for a change, we opted to go to that! It’ll be fun being done at 4 or 5 in the afternoon rather than 11 at night. Can’t wait.

Time to get moving. Have a great weekend and until tomorrow, God Bless.

Seems like it’s hot everywhere. You can look just about anywhere in the World and find higher than normal temps and fires. This goes for Montana to Spain. Speaking of Spain, yesterday thousands of illegals rushed the border in Spain from Morocco overwhelming police and took off running through the streets. Spanish citizens began chasing them trying to do the job the socialist President won’t. The illegals began breaking into homes in groups terrorizing citizens. I don’t blame anyone for trying to get a better life, but doing it illegally is another thing. Mark my words, there will be civil wars across the World. At some point, it’ll be the so called, last straw.

Ty’s off to work. and Jag takes his SEC test today, thank God. I’m sure he’ll pass, probably with the highest score ever recorded! Glad it’s today as he’s been so stressed out and on edge all week. That’s just who he is, an overachiever and perfectionist.

Lori was at the office all day yesterday but will be working from home today. I need to run to the grocery store, either in Frisco or Basalt. I might go to Basalt for a change of scenery. I found a great lot up in Montana, but the HOA restrictions are brutal. Not sure we want to deal with it. We’ll keep looking.

We’re going to the gym soon so time to get going. August 1st tomorrow, wow. Have a great Friday and God Bless.

Took a little over an hour yesterday morning but we’re up and running. The house and ducts took a while to cool down, like most of the day. We’re good now though and it’s cranking away right now.

Ty picked up a shift today and Lori has to run into the office for a couple hours. I have a call at 11:30 for 45 minutes or so. We went to the gym early and just got back. Nice and cool up here now and we had a big rain storm last night, which I knew would happen since we fixed the a/c.

9am now so time to get moving. Have a great day, GB.

Our a/c guy didn’t make it yesterday. He was stuck up the Colorado River Valley at some house. He promises he’ll be here between 9:30 and 10 this morning! We’ll see.

Lots happening at work, for both Lori and I. Ty is back at it grinding away. He’ll head out in 30 minutes for Hovey.

I went to my buddy Gareth’s house yesterday for a cigar and to hang out. You might remember that he sold his event company for tens of millions of dollars. One of his homes is a corner unit up here at the Westin which is beautiful as it overlooks the river and the mountain. I think Lori and I are playing pickle ball with he and his wife this weekend and then going to dinner.

Crazy times in the World right now. With all the hate and division out there these days it’s eerily similar to 1930’s Europe before World War II. Think about it, you have elected officials like the Mayor in New York, openly calling for the elimination of Israel and Jews, and also pitting the so called rich, which I guess is anyone who actually works for a living like you and me, against those that don’t and want free stuff. That’s what socialism, which is communism by another name, is. It’s equal distribution of all property to everyone. If you know anything about history, which most kids don’t due to the educations system over the last 30 or 40 years, you know that socialism doesn’t work and the what’s happening by pitting people or races of people against each other, is exactly the same as Hitler in the 1930’s. The progressives have almost made it cool to young people, and old white women, to in their words, join the revolution and destroy the rich, or as they call it, the billionaires. Problem is, as I said, their definition of a billionaire includes anyone making even as little as $200k a year. They also want to eliminate all prisons, the Senate, the Presidency, the Electoral College, ICE and for the most part, the police, and more. None of this will work but young kids are so indoctrinated, that all they hear is capitalism is bad and anyone who worked hard and makes money is bad. You can’t name one thing the government has actually fixed, no matter how much money they’ve spent. Plus, taking your money or money from the people, never ever stops. Up here in little old Eagle, there’s a ballot initiative to give more money to schools for “better education for the children and to fund teachers”. Those are their words. Problem is the past four elections they’ve run the same initiative, received the money and fixed nothing. In fact, test scores have gone down and education has declined. That’s one example of the problem. So, don’t be fooled by all this talk of billionaires and the rich are bad. Talk to you friends and neighbors, look at the guy in New York. He is literally spewing hate openly daily and according to the bible, could actually be the anti-Christ! It’s that serious. If these people get into office across the Country and somehow get the majority, the Country as we know it is over. Time to speak up as it is exactly the same as 1930 Germany and Europe, no question about it. Sorry for the rant but this is getting serious, enough said.

Ok, time to get moving, have a good Wednesday, Think I’ll skip the gym today and take Harley for a walk. Time to start thinking about prepping for Fall around the house too! God Bless.

I picked Ty up at 2:15 in the afternoon right on schedule. He had a blast and likes L.A. even more than he thought he would. He said he wasn’t sure until he got out there. Good for him. Kristin did take him through a few sketchy areas to make sure to show him the bad along with the good. Not sure when he’ll move as he needs to save up some more cash.

Oscar is coming between 11 and 12 to fix our a/c. It was hot yesterday as there wasn’t much cloud cover. Around 4 we did get a little rain which cooled things down.

Lori is surrounded by idiots. Not on her team but in admin. The billing department, which they outsourced to Sri Lanka or somewhere else, is a joke. They make more mistakes than they get things right. Lori spent most of her day yesterday fixing crap that shouldn’t have been broken in the first place. She’s pretty frustrated with management right now and is letting Dr. B know. Hopefully they’ll make some changes.

Ty works at 7. He went to the gym yesterday after he made it home. I was talking with my AEG concert guy, (he’s my concert connect for a lot of shows) as he hooked me up for the Bocelli show at Red Rocks mid-September. I happened to ask him about Garth Brooks who is coming September 4th and 5th, and he said no problem, so I grabbed half a dozen tickets. Chris, my guy, said he’s doing Elton John in Mexico City in October too if we wanted to go to that, but I passed. That’s too far to go and we saw Elton’s last two tours. Garth should be fun as he’s known, hands down, as the best entertainer there is in concert. I asked Ty if he wanted to go and he said, who’s Garth Brooks, ha!

Nice outside right now and probably 75 degrees in the house which is fine. Looks like heavy rain in Denver today. I was going down tomorrow to pick up a case of wine for Chris, but he said he’d be happy to run over to the warehouse and pick it up. Glad I’m not making that drive!

That’s it, have a great Tuesday and God Bless.

Ty’s flight from LAX to Denver is at 8:47 this morning. Then he’ll hang out for an hour or more before catching the short flight to Eagle. He had a blast and Thank God again for Kristin. I can’t imagine Ty or anyone going to L.A. and not knowing someone to show them around. We’re sure he’ll move there as soon as he can save the money.

Yesterday they went and looked at some more cities in L.A. and met some more people in the entertainment business to give Ty some more connections. Los Angeles is basically made up of what seems like a hundred small cities like Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Anaheim, Laguna, etc. Each has their own vibe and pluses and minuses. It can take hours to go from one side of the city to the other. The greater L.A. area has over 18 million people and one in eighteen Americans live there! We’ll learn more from Ty about what he’s thinking and liked when he fills us in.

At the end of the day, they walked down to the beach for one last time before Ty fly’s home. Great picture Kristin took. She loves him and said, what an easy going, sweet and kind kid he is.

Things aren’t cheap there, especially apartments. We might end up having to help, ugh, by renting a place and then having Ty rent a room from us. Then we’ll have a place where we can stay when we visit and can go hang at the ocean whenever we want. We’ll for sure have to cosign. We did with Jagger too as landlords have pretty strict requirements these days as there are a lot of people who do anything to move in and then turn into squatters. In California this is particularly bad as the State protects them and it can take years to get these people out that move in and then don’t pay a dime of rent and just won’t leave. Another example of bad people causing problems for good people that do the right thing. Anyhow, we’ll figure something out.

The a/c is still out but it was cool last night, and Lori has every window in the house open right now. I have a light jacket on right now it’s so cool in the house. Oscar will be here tomorrow, hopefully in the morning.

Jag takes his test this week on Friday. I’m sure he’ll be done in 20 minutes, ha. I have calls today and lots going on with work and the new knife sharpener company from Austria. Lots to do but it’ll add an extra easy $50K or so this year to our savings. I’m all about mailbox money these days, meaning doing anything that creates income that is automatic and sends me a check every month to my mailbox! We just inked a deal with Wolfgang Puck to endorse the sharpeners and create a line of kitchen knives too. Paulo meets with him again at his home in Austria this Thursday. He hawks a lot of products these days like pots and pans and stuff but is still a draw. More to come on this later. I’m sure we’ll have a few dinners here when we have him cook for all of us. More later.

6:30 now, time to go. Have a great day, last week of July! God Bless.