A Year of Change

I made it to Denver West by 8:45am to drop Melanie’s passport off with Marty. He then drove it back to her at the airport so she could make her 11:40 flight to Canada. Next up I was headed to South Broadway, then out to County Line Road down south, then back to Denver West, Edwards Meat Market, Old Time Pickin Parlor (to pick up a guitar from Glen that he repaired) and then back down to Colorado Blvd. and I-25 to get my hair trimmed. By 12:45 I was all done and headed up the hill. Lots of errands accomplished. Traffic was fine and I was home by 2:30.

Once home the weather rolled in and it became cloudy and cooler. Think today and tomorrow are going to be much nicer. Davy and I are going shooting around 10 this morning and then the guys are getting together for cigars around 3. Ty works today and Lori will be working from home.

Not a good day for the Republicans or Country the other day. To put things into perspective though, in the midterms, Obama lost 53 seats, Clinton 45 and Trump somewhere between 25 and 40. What makes this different is the type of people that were elected and where. Texas is now blue. This is flat out Trump’s fault. The things he says along with the failure of the GOP to properly explain how the economy is doing better, sunk the Republicans. Throw in the war and high gas prices and that was the death nail. People voted blue right down the line as they are tired of high prices, and fuel is the number one place we all feel it almost daily. Many Democrats were swept into office on a vote against high prices and Trumps rhetoric rather than liberal ideas. The Dems feel empowered now and will shoot themselves in the foot over the next two years trying to bring back things the people don’t want. Get ready for DEI again, socialism and open borders. Trump will try to work with them on some things but veto others. In short, get ready for two years of gridlock. The Republicans deserve all of this. They had control of the House, Senate and Executive Branch, yet didn’t pass anything that they ran on. They couldn’t even agree on getting rid of Daylight Savings Time. This shows how dysfunctional the government is these days. Too many elected people have their own agenda. Sadly, this will continue until there are term limits. That’ll be tough to pass as what politician wants to vote to eliminate their own personal gravy train of elite benefits and free flowing cash. I suspect not many. In the end, we’ll all be ok. Washington is so messed up that they can’t get out of their own way. Things are going to get more expensive though. Taxes will go up, prices will not go down, and we’ll all have more useless laws and regulations restricting our rights. Not good, but it is what it is. There’s an old saying, you get what you vote for. Well, here we are and that’s what’s headed our way. Good luck.

6:11am now, time to get moving. Have a great day and stay safe, God Bless.

Roads were good yesterday morning, and they should be the same this morning. I was in and out of Denver by 10:30 am. I’ll probably be down there today until 1 or so. I’m leaving at 7 this morning as I need to stop by Marty’s and pick up Melanie’s passport so she can fly out to Canada at 11:45 this morning. They landed from Montana last night and she decided to go up to Vancouver to see the grandkids today but needs her passport. They were trying to get an Uber driver to bring it from Frisco to Denver. Marty called me last night and when I said I was going to Denver again today, he asked if I could grab it and he’d meet me in Denver West at 9:30. I asked what Uber was going to charge them, bwaaahhh.

We didn’t watch the election results as we all know the Dems were going to pick up seats and take control of at least the House. Don’t know if they took the Senate too. Like I said, nothing will change very much in the short term. On a larger scale, we’re afraid for the Country and where it’s headed. We will be moving out of deep blue Colorado, it’s just a matter of when. No point in talking much more about things now, it is what it is.

The boys are doing well. I’m figuring out how to pay for Ty’s trip. We had the money but I need to figure out how to replace it in our savings. We have a few side jobs bringing in some cash. Our plan is to take it real easy over the holidays and not use credit cards, and then we should make up the $40k or so the trip costs by January. Not sure if we’ll fly down in April to meet him in Antiqua. We’ll have to see how things go.

Time to get moving. Have a great Wednesday and God Bless.

Off to the city this morning, and I’ll be back down there tomorrow, ugh. You do what you have to do. Should be back by noon or 1 at the latest.

Yesterday Lori and I made it to Glenwood only to find the lab at the hospital closed due to an unexpected illness. At least that’s what the sign said. Not to waste the trip, we headed up to Whole Foods in Basalt and then stopped at the hardware store in Glenwood and the AT&T store also. We ordered Lori a new phone that’ll arrive in a week. Her current phone is really old.

Once home we put our stuff away and then took it easy for the day. Ty was off and came home after the gym. I shopped for some gear for his sailing trip and cleaned up in the garage a bit.

Glad the elections are today as then we’ll get a mini break from all the endless ads. No matter who wins, as I said, not much will change in our daily lives for a few years. Sometimes having both parties in power creates a balance and they actually work together. With the political climate the way it is these days, I don’t have high hopes.

Time to go, have a great day, take care and God Bless.

Rain on and off yesterday. Ty went to the game which didn’t look good for most of the day, but once the 4th quarter rolled around, along with torrential rain, we did what we do and won the game! Ty and his buds were soaked but they didn’t care. The Broncos are now in 1st place in our division.

Earlier in the day we had rain up here too. It was cooler than it has been and we might get snow tonight or tomorrow. I think Vail will for sure.

This morning at 8 Lori is getting her blood drawn in Glenwood for her executive health program. It’s the same one I did. She’s not thrilled about not being able to have coffee. They open at 8 so we should be back by 9 or so.

More work around the house and on the computer today. Finally I had a really good month at work last month. Lots of orders came through. Election Day is tomorrow. The best thing about that is the ads are over. I’m afraid the Dems are going to have a good night as too many people hate Trump the man. His policies are great for the Country, the economy is booming, but gas prices and the MSM are too much to overcome. Should the Dems take control of both the House and Senate, get ready for more impeachment and constant veto’s. We’ll basically be at a stalemate for two years, which won’t help anyone. Only twice has the party in power won in the mid-terms so the Dems doing well is expected. If Biden or Harris were in power, we could look like Europe right now! Say what you will about Trump but we are better off than when Biden was in office, no contest.

Time to get moving. Have a great day, take care and God Bless.

Up early. With Daylight Savings time over, technically and literally, we woke up at 4:45am. It’s 5:12 now and we’ve already had our first cup of coffee. I told Lori we should go outside and get the Halloween decorations down before the sun comes up! Think I’ll do that before we head to the gym.

Yesterday we ran some errands and I watched the CU game and yes, we won! It was actually a good game. Lori made chili and did some work around the house. Later in the evening we went down to Nate and Dea’s as they always have an after party for when the kids finish up trick or treating. Dea does baked potato’s every year. It’s like a baked potato party. They’re vegetarians which explains why. Their kids have grown up so fast. Of course, we’ve seen that movie, right!

Good football on today. Really hope we win. Ty will be there doing his best to will us to a win. He’s a pretty good, good luck charm as we win more than not when he goes to a game. He’ll drive up after the game. I’m doing some more work in the basement today.

5:20am now and time to get those skeletons off the side of the house. On to Christmas! Have a great first day of November and God Bless.

When we were kids, Halloween was THE holiday, right! You’d start working on your costume weeks, if not longer, ahead of time. School would be a blast and the night itself was epic. On the street, word would get out quick, of which houses on the street had the best stuff. Full size candy bars were the holy grail, and all the candy was safe! By the end of the night, you’d have a half a pillowcase or more full of candy and then at home the bargaining would begin. We’d each dump all our loot out and then start trading of haggling with each other. This is where the real skill would come into play. We were lucky enough to have our neighbors, the Rossi’s, always make things like homemade cinnamon candy apples, the red kind, with a hard red cinnamon shell covering a nice crisp apple. The sweet of the rock-hard candy paired with the apple was hard to resist. Mr. Rossi would set up a makeshift food cart in front of their house and serve real food like hot dogs and hot chocolate, with mini marshmallows, (it always was cold or snowed on Halloween) and had some drinks under the counter, like hot coffee and a nip of this or that for the adults. The streets were full of hundreds of kids. Families from other neighborhoods would drive over to our street, Applewood, to bring their kids. We were a destination neighborhood for trick or treating. Speaking of trick or treating, lots of houses would make you do a trick before giving you a treat! Those really were the good old days.

Only a few more days of political ads. We’re numb to them now as I think most people are, yet they still play non-stop 24/7. They must think they can still change people’s minds. All the Dems have is “we’re not Trump”. Man are we in trouble as a Country. Speaking of countries, dozens around the World are telling their citizens to prepare. Some are even mentioning the word they never use, “war”. It’s been a long time since there’s been a direct conflict that would cause issues on our own soil but so-called war these days will be nothing like those of the past. It’ll be an infrastructure war where the food will stop being delivered to stores, or the internet goes out, or worse case, all power goes out. I’m sure we’re all numb to this doom and gloom talk, but it is a possibility. Ask yourself if the power went out today, for an extended period of time, even one week, how would you make out. Remember without power, water stops flowing, toilets only flush once, gas pumps can’t pump gas, grocery stores are closed, ATMs don’t work, heat and a/c are gone and all electronics, for cooking (your oven, fridge and freezer are out without a generator), and communications (cell phones) are gone. This could happen and many governments say it will, it’s just a matter of when. The government is prepared for this very thing. That should tell you something right there, and remember, they will not be there to help you! You will be on your own.

It’s already raining up here and the mountains are supposed to get lots of rain turning to snow between now and Tuesday night. Ty’s in Denver for Halloween tonight and then the game tomorrow. I finally made it down to the basement yesterday to clean and go through all our gear. It was a good start, but I have lots to do.

That’s it, time to get moving. Have a great day, be well, stay safe and enjoy the day. Funny as we’re now the ones (used to be our parents), that’ll be looking forward to seeing the little kids dressed up tonight. We don’t really get kids up here but will go to the neighbors to see the girls dressed up. We need to get some candy as we’ll get some kids for sure.

Addendum:Halloween has always held a special place in our hearts. Jagger and Ty grew up celebrating Halloween in Applewood Knolls, in the same neighborhood where Doug, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Robin grew up. So many generations of memories, traditions, and neighborhood friendships are woven into these streets.

From childhood trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving to the costumes they dreamed up and wore over the years — cowboys, Tyrannosaurs’, zombies, Angry Birds, the Invisible Man, a headless butler, video game characters, hippies , and Harry Potter…there was never a shortage of imagination!

Tonight

October brings back so many of those memories. Pumpkin carving, a big pot of chili, and neighborhood parties.

It’s amazing how quickly the years pass. The little boys who once ran through the streets in their Halloween costumes are all grown up, but the memories remain.

Don’t forget to set your clocks back tonight! Tomorrow it’ll be dark by 4:30 or so, and November will be here. God Bless.

Here’s Lori as the Queen of Hearts!

Lori made both these costumes!

And these too! Epic! What fun.

Today we’ll be role playing as plumbers. Ty’s shower is draining really slow. We suspect (hope) it’s a lot of hair built up over the years. I need to go get Drano this morning at Ace Hardware.

Ty’s getting ready for work and Lori is making him breakfast. Lots to do today around the house. Yesterday we went to Costco, Walmart, City Market and Village Market. You have to go to a bunch of different stores to get all you need these days.

Halloween tomorrow. Not sure what we’re doing, if anything. I think Ty has a party to go to and so does Jagger. We’ll go down the street to see the Nate and Dea’s kids as they always have a baked potato party after trick or treating.

I just learned Ty is headed to Denver for a party tonight and to stay with some girl. He might be back up before the game on Sunday, otherwise we’ll see him Sunday night. I’m trying to log into my Broncos account again. Every month there’s some issue. I think it’s because I have too many ticket accounts. Thankfully I have a Broncos ticket representative I can call who always helps me out. Just a pain and frustrating.

Trash day so time to get going. Have a great day and God Bless.

Today we’ll continue training. You might be thinking, training for what? What are they up to now! Well, nothing special, training is just another word for the way that we try to live our lives. In other words, we’re constantly training for life. Training for today, tomorrow and hopefully 20 years from now. This includes personal training of ourselves, physically and mentally and training for external challenges, best we can. So, to summarize, nothing to see here, just another day.

Yesterday I made it to the bank by 9am. Had a chance to say a quick hi to my little bro Tom, who was there for the weekly board meeting. After that it was off to the mall and then a quick stop at the western store and then Edwards meat market for some good beef, and then up the hill. I stopped for lunch at Ty’s place and had a burger which was good. Then it was on to home. I did some work around the house for the rest of the day and soon, Lori and Ty were both home.

Today, after the gym, I have a few calls and then I’m headed down to the basement to go through some gear. It’s a never ending project. We have supplies and gear we don’t even know we have, ha. The garage is full of good stuff too. Everything is good gear and has a purpose for a specific situation. I always tell Lori think of it all as an insurance policy. I was watching a podcast the other day and it said what’s the first thing you’ll do in a Shit Hit The Fan scenario, something like a nationwide blackout, and the guy said in the first 60 seconds he’d look at his wife and say “told ya so”! Ha ha. You, meaning the collective “we”, hope nothing goes bad and you don’t need to use your generator, emergency food or water, or God forbid, have to protect yourself and your family, but if you do, you want to know you can. As the head of a family, or as a man, you have a responsibility to care for and protect your family. What you can’t do is live in fear. There has to be a balance of living your best life but being ready for the worst. That’s how we look at things. I do have to say though, the threat level is up with what’s going on in the Country and World these days. It’s important that you recognize this and adapt, while still hoping for the best. Enough said.

Getting cooler up here. Ty’s off to work and time for us to get going to the gym. Davy just called and we might have some cow elk tags for November 7th which is 3rd season. If so, we’ll head down to the ranch in Gunnison and try to get some meat for the freezer. We’re shooting Saturday morning, making sure we’re dialed in.

Have a great Thursday, seems like a Friday. Tackle the day head on and go get it! God Bless.

Off to Big D this morning. Have a Rolex to pick up that my AD ((authorized dealer) secured for me. When he gets one, I usually buy it. Reason is they sell for more used than new, because you just can’t get them new, unless you have a connection. 0PQVSGraeople wait years to “get the call” that their watch is in and available to purchase, but for me, it never takes more than 90 days, no matter what I want, usually less. I’ve never been hurt financially on a Rolex. They’re the master at creating a desirable brand through strict, limited allocation by only allowing sales of new watches at authorized AD’s. Luckily, I have a really good relationship with my dealer that took me years to develop.

While in town I have a couple other stops before heading up the hill. I don’t much like going to Denver anymore these days, but sometimes it’s necessary to get things not available outside the big city.

Good day yesterday. Found out we have our first million-dollar brand at a chain in Texas. This is a huge deal as it now elevates us into a whole different level at the chain. Next year this brand should do $3 to $5 million dollars in just Texas. Then the goal is to scale it nationwide and if I can do that, I’ll sell the brand for $50 to $100 million or more. Of course, a lot has to go right for that to happen, but getting to $1 million in one account is the toughest hurdle and is proof of concept meaning the brand works and has legs or sustaining power. The challenge for me now, is to produce enough of the product to meet demand, which takes a lot of cash. By midafternoon, with only one phone call to one of our partners, who co-owns the brand with us, we had $300K wired to us within minutes. Fingers crossed, this could be the one, and we have three others in the hopper doing well in other chains, on the cusp of blowing up as well.

Lori and Ty are both working today. I have calls for most of my drive down and up and should be back by 1 or so. Nice weather up here all week. Time to hit the road, have a great day, be safe and God Bless.

We bought Ty’s ticket to South Africa yesterday. He’ll land at 6pm on January 21st, 2027 and head straight to the boat. We need to decide if we’re going to Antiqua to meet him and then get our tickets. If we don’t go, I’ll just get him a ticket home.

We had our first good freeze last night as Ty’s trying to scrape the ice of his windshield to go to work. Daylight savings time ends this weekend too, and we’ll be moving the clocks back an hour. I need to warm up my truck to go to the gym.

I have a call at 10am this morning and then will do some other stuff around the house. Lori is working at the hospital as usual. I ran down to her office yesterday morning and had Tiffany take my stitches out of my forearm.

Make sure to vote if you’re in Colorado (Tom), and vote yes on everything except anything ending in a 7 or an N. I’ll be dropping off our ballots today.

Time to get moving, have a great day, God Bless.