A Year of Change

Today we’re smoking another pork shoulder. I’m starting the smoker as soon as I’m done here, and then we’ll go to the gym as I don’t open the lid for the first 90 minutes. That’ll give us time to go work out and get back.

Ty’s having a blast. We finally heard from our accountant last night and we owe and extra $35K on Tuesday. So frustrating, as it seems this happens every year. We’re upping our quarterly payments about $7500 and Lori’s withholding to offset this, so it hopefully doesn’t happen again next year. Is what it is, no point in dwelling on something we can’t do anything about right now.

It was 76 degrees up here yesterday! One more warm day, today, before a mini cooldown tomorrow. No snow or anything, maybe a little rain shower.

That’s it, time to go fire up the smoker! God Bless.

Ty’s having a blast. Last night they went to the rodeo. I thought it was the night before, but it was last night. Ty found a new belt, (he needed one bad), and bought a bolo tie! He fits right in up there in Montana. He loves Bozeman, but then, what’s not to love. Not sure what his plans are today. We’ll keep you posted.

Long management call yesterday. We accomplished a lot, but it seems like I’ve been on the phone for 15 hours the past two days. Unfortunately, we’re going to let two people go. One has been with me over 20 years, but she’s just not that productive as the way people buy wine, and what they buy, has changed. In the end, it all comes down to math. Still, it’ll be tough.

Lori is working 10 to 12 hours a day as she has over 50 surgeries backed up that she needs to schedule. Looks like a warm day with temperatures hitting 80 for the first time this year. I’m down to 200 pounds. I’m actually eating a bit more, but it seems my body jumped over that plateau where I was stuck for a few days. Only one more day to complete my 30 meals in 30 days program. Think I’m sticking with it as I’m not really hungry and pretty much in a groove.

Time to get moving. My back is getting better each day. Think I’ll go to the gym with Lori this morning and take it super easy. Probably a mistake but I need to exercise. Easter is here next weekend!

Time to go, hope everyone is doing well. Have a great day and God Bless.

Ty made it to Montana and kept me posted with videos of him landing and then driving with Sonny to town. They also Face Timed me so Sonny could say hi. Last night they were going to the rodeo. Not sure if Sonny has some classes today or not, or if they’re going boarding at Big Sky. Glad he’s there and having fun, he deserves it.

Looks nice outside today. It was windy yesterday but not so much so far this morning. Dr. B had a great birthday at work and went out to dinner last night with his wife, his brother and his wife.

I have a management call this morning at 10 to review the Company financial model and make adjustments for the remainder of the year. Things change so fast these days that you need to stay ahead of things. Yesterday with the pause in tariffs, giving countries time to negotiate with us, the market shot up almost 3000 points! So now, everyone but the Dems are happy. They’re still bashing Trump even though economists all the way back to the Reagan administration are saying Trump is doing the right thing to reset the trade imbalance we have, and it’ll be better in the long run for the Country and all of us. This is exactly why we voted for him. To change the status quo of government which was a road to nowhere. Everyone needs to relax and have a little faith and patience as soon things will get even better.

7am now. We’re still waiting on our accountant to see what we owe next Tuesday. We shouldn’t owe anything, but I’m sure we do. We always do. I just don’t understand it. We pay more and more and owe more and more. If we retracted our income, meaning made less, we might be better off. Sounds illogical but it might be true. In any case, we’re figuring out how and when to retire with our goal being a year from December.

That’s it, time to go. Have a great day. It’s National Siblings Day. I’m super thankful to have such a great brother and sister! Love you both! God Bless.

This morning Ty is off to Montana! It’s also Dr. B’s 50th birthday and a pivotal day for the economy and more importantly, my Company. I need to make some proactive decisions today to cut some costs, in the event that things don’t get better fast.

Yesterday I had a haircut in the afternoon and Mark drove down to join me as he needed a trim and wanted to try our new guys.

I was going to Denver but Nate, (my neighbor who is a doctor) told me to rest my back and take Advil 3 times a day for a good week. Looks warm today but windy.

6am now and Ty needs to leave in 30 minutes. Lori is planning on taking him, but she needs to be at the office by 7:30. If he’s running late, it’ll be me taking him.

That’s it, time for coffee. Have a great day and God Bless.

Ty was home with us last night and is again tonight before he flies out to Bozeman tomorrow morning. He’s super excited as it’s his first vacation since he went to Bozeman last year around this time. Good for him as he deserves it. I think he worked 97 hours last week! I think they’re going to make him the manager which means a $10,000 raise! He’s probably making $75 to $80K right now. That’s big money, especially for someone 21 years old. We’re super proud of him. As I said, he also quit vaping and smoking since he had his wisdom teeth out, which makes us really happy.

Lori is in Edwards today. It was super sunny yesterday and my face is red from being out in the sun for a while. More sun today and they say for the next 7 to 10 days.

Ben and Eleni called yesterday from their second home in Palm Desert hoping we’re coming to visit. I’m not sure if we can squeeze it in with everything going on between now and mid-May.

On the news they’re telling a story of how they have brought back the Dire Wolf! They’ve been extinct for 10,000 years! Hope they don’t bring back any T-Rex’s. Crazy what science can do these days. We’ll take two.

Ty just left for work, time for me to get moving too. Hope everyone has a great day. Take care, be safe and God Bless.

We actually sat outside in our lawn chairs yesterday. Lori did some gardening and we both went to the gym earlier in the day. My back is almost all better, yea, although I’m still taking it easy for a few more days.

Looks warmer today and even warmer tomorrow. Signs are up saying Be Bear Aware, but we rarely see bears up here in the sage brush. A mile or two down the road, they can see more as there are more trees and a little lower in elevation.

Two days until Ty leaves. He worked 94 hours last week and is cramming as much time in as he can before he’s gone for five days. Good for him. He deserves a vacation. I think his teeth are almost all healed up too. He did quit smoking as he hasn’t had anything since he had his teeth out. I told him if he does one thing this year, that should be it!

I’m dealing with the tariffs here and in Italy. Things seem to be settling down and the estates in Italy are agreeing to pay the cost, as they should. Over 50 countries have reached out to negotiate to end the tariffs. The Dems would have you believe we should keep paying the bills for other countries and essentially let these people continue to take advantage of us. No surprise as this is just like them being mad at the people that found fraud and abuse, rather than those that committed fraud and abuse. Crazy stuff. In the end, we’ll be much better off. We struggled for years, especially the last four, so giving things a few more months for things to fix themselves, is a no brainer. We say stay the course.

6:30 right now. We were going to try to go to the gym, but Lori says she doesn’t have enough time. She’s in Vail today, Edwards tomorrow, and then Vail again on Wednesday.

The Rockies actually won a game yesterday! Tonight is the college basketball championship game. I’m a little sore, my legs, from a leisurely mile on the treadmill yesterday. I think it’s because I walked on a flat surface meaning with no incline. Not sure if I’ll go this morning, we’ll see.

That’s it, April 7th today. We’re hoping the snow is done for the year. Nothing coming up in the next week or so. We could get another mini blast later this month or even in May or June. You never know.

Time to go, have a great day, be well, stay safe, don’t get complacent, and God Bless.

After almost lying in bed on my back all day yesterday, I’m seeing some signs of relief. I’m still sore and tight depending on how I move, but lots better than yesterday. No weights today. I saw a text from Tommy this morning that Houston came back and beat Duke! That’s a huge upset in the college basketball world. I turned it off after watching most of the first half so Lori could come to bed and watch something. Who knew? I guess AI knew as a guy with an AI produced bracket won $1 million over a professional gambler from Vegas.

Lori made me pork tacos with coleslaw and jalapenos and cheese for my meal yesterday. Man were they good. Just about two weeks until Robi and Bobby and Tasha and all of us get together. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

No snow yesterday, they did get some in Denver. Tom texted some tracks in his yard asking what they were. He thought they were from a mountain lion and after looking at them, I told him, yup, mountain lion.

We have tons of deer and elk around as the semi cool temps are keeping them down low. By the end of next week, a lot of them will move to higher ground to stay cool. Spring is a coming!

I had a long phone call with Jonny Newmark, my close friend from when we were kids. He’s doing well. Both of us have a hard time realizing just how old we are. We both feel 20 in our minds. Good to talk to him. He just had his foundation flood to the tune of $45K to fix it. He’s had a motorhome for probably ten years now and is heading out this summer for a couple months going back to mainly Utah. Good for him and Bridget. It was nice to catch up with him, he might try to come down for a Bronco game this Fall.

That’s it for the day. Have a great Sunday and God Bless.

It started a couple weeks ago when I was cleaning the house. I’ve been nursing it for a while but probably shouldn’t have lifted weights yesterday. After working out, I was picking up some tennis shoes and bent over to tie a shoe, and bam, that did it. The rest of the day I pretty much tried to lay flat in bed to calm it down. I’m a bit better this morning but not working out today.

Ty is working every day he can. We figured out yesterday, he’s making as much as Lori! She’s in talks to get her long ago promised $50k raise. She’ll get it one way or another. It’s just so wrong that with what she does, what she makes the practice and how important she is, that she has to fight for what was promised to her when she was hired. But good for Ty for working so hard and making what he is.

Sunny today in the high 40’s, tomorrow the high 50’s and Monday it’ll be in the high 60’s. I’m sure we’ll be in the 70’s next week. About time.

Time to go. 7:40 now. Have a great day and God Bless.

Ty worked 12 and a half hours yesterday. He’s trying to get in as many hours as he can before he leaves next Wednesday. He’s back at it this morning, and every day through Tuesday. Good for him.

Lori and I are out of here in 35 minutes to workout. My back is sore but I’ll work through it and she has Pilates.

Cigar night was fun. James leaves Sunday and his first show is in Syracuse Easter weekend. Then Toronto and then I’m not sure where he goes. He’ll get a break around the end of May.

Looks like we’ll miss the snow. Denver looked crappy last night on the news. Jag has 4 graduation ceremonies coming up! There’s the main one, then the Business School, then the Math Department and then the Chinese Department! The kid will be swimming in degrees. He’ll have enough so the whole family can have one! Can you say overachiever?

I’m dealing with tariffs but it’s all good. Nothing to see here, just business.

20 days until the NFL Draft. Excited. The Rockies home opener is today, we’re already 1 and 5, off to another epic losing season. That’s about it. Oh, our Granite Team, which is our Sheriff Department’s drug interaction team, scored 111 pounds of cocaine yesterday here on I-70! That’s a big one. Good for them.

Have a great day, God Bless.

Yesterday we made out last tuition payment! This ends 5 years of paying the University of Colorado Boulder for Jagger. Don’t get me wrong, we were happy to do it, as Jagger I would bet, works harder than anyone in the entire school. But still, what a relief. $3121 a month no more. As you know, we had one year where it was double that, when Ty was at CU Denver. We still have three more months of rent for Jag at $1754 a month, but that’s it. BAM

Yesterday Ty and I made reservations for him to go to Bozeman next Wednesday until the following Monday. He went last year too as his close friend since 7th grade, goes to school there. He was going a week later but then asked if we could change it so he could be here for when Robi and Robert and Tasha come to town. We booked him with miles, so it was pretty cheap.

Lori made it home from Frisco around 7 last night. I was dealing with the tariffs all day long. I’m not too worried though as it is what it is and everyone is in the same boat. We’ll see what happens. There’s actually a silver lining to the whole thing that I can spin, but I won’t get into that.

The roads are clear and dry up here. We have one more mini blast up here I think tomorrow night into Saturday. We’re having cigars tonight at James’s. He hits the road in a week or so to begin the first leg of the 2025 tour which wraps up here in Denver at the end of June. After that he has Ozzy’s last show in Birmingham England on July 5th. Then he’s off until he goes to Australia and New Zealand around November 1st for I think 5 shows. This is a lot easier schedule for him than the last few years.

Time to get moving so we can get to the gym as Lori and I both have big days. Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.