The good: I listened to the seventh game of the World Series. I guess I was rooting for the Cards as I can't stand Texas' current governor. Happy that three of my in-laws plus a friend of theirs were able to be at game seven. Iowa State beat Texas Tech. I wore my ISU shirt to work out this morning. Colorado got beat (YES)! Wyoming won at San Diego State last night. Unfortunately they play TCU next Saturday.

Sign of the season: A snow shovel was use in a robbery this week. A balloonist landed in a Littleton neighborhood across C-470.

My brother stopped in Saturday morning on his way to Arizona for the winter.

I took care of the grandtwins Friday as Keri was at a math conference and Eric was out flying. I also got to watch them Saturday afternoon while Keri ran errands. I don't know if the boy have seen too much of me or not. It was beautiful yesterday afternoon so I took the boys out friend. Aiden had a meltdown when it cooled off and I brought them back inside. Reid discovered a rock which I'm sure he'll be able to retrieve each time he goes back out front. I call it "time in the yard" in deference to prisoners. It was so hot this summer I couldn't take them out as much as I wanted.

I was rooting for the Cardinals last night in the World Series. Actually I don't care who wins but my in-laws have tickets for the seventh game tonight and a Cardinals win was the only way they could see the Series in person. I started listening in the 9th inning. I listened all the way to the end. I had my radio on a 30 minute sleep setting and had to renew it twice. I shouldn't have stayed up so late (almost 11:00 our time) but I did get interested to see if there would be a seventh game. This sixth game turned out to be as excitied as any game I can recently remember. Rouses, enjoy the game. I did my part.

We got the snow-about 9 inches. Fortunately we had set a record temp of about 80 degrees on Monday so not much snow accumulated on the streets but there were still plenty of wrecks around the metro.

Prez Obama flew in last night to Denver. He landed in a rain storm last evening and departed in snow this afternoon. I don't know if the weather was indicative of his fund raising and student loan effectiveness.

Made it to the dentist-one filling

Got a flu shot,

Fired up the snow blower,

confirmed my dental appointment,

got out some Gore-Tex shoes.

I guess I'm ready for tonight's snowstorm and tomorrow's dental appointment.

To add to my self-imposed angwish (new car with satellite radio and navigation system), last Friday I bought an iPad, which is also above my techology pay grade. Yesterday I spent some time in the car reading manuals and trying to apply them. Today I worked in the yard getting the leaves raked, the lawn fertilized, etc. as we are expecting our first big snow storm of the season. Tomorrow I'll watch the grandtwins for a short while and check the snow blower.

Wednesday I have a dental appointment which is one of my bigger dreads. I just keep bringing on more things to keep the old blood pressure up.

When I bought my new van this week, it was sort of a midlife crisis, however, at my age, it was more of a medicarelife crisis. The new satellite radio and navigation system are beyond my techie pay grade. I read the manuals and just shake my head. Fortunately my daughter has a similar van with the same goodies. I taught her to drive and now she can show me how to play the radio and navigate. What goes around, comes around.

I had to find the World Series score in the paper this morning. Watched Grey's Anatomy last night instead.

I know I've tuned out baseball when I was in the Twin Cities last month and turned down a chance to watch the Twins vs Cleveland and opted to go to the Mall of America instead. I had to read today's paper to find out who won the World Series

I bought a new car this week-Toyota Siena XLE (same car, same, color, etc.) I didn't need it but I wanted it (it's a guy thing). My motto in buying cars has always been "RIGHT CAR, RIGHT PRICE, WRITE CHECK." The first dealer I went to had the exact van I wanted. My old van was in good shape, low milage, and they wanted it badly. It took less than an hour to do the deal. That was on Monday. On Tuesday Kathy and I came back to sign the papers, write the check, etc. It took two and a half hours to do the paper work-in other words the paperwork took longer than the deal.

Drove to Cheyenne Friday afternoon to visit my brother. Bill's wife died in August and I combined a business trip with a social trip. He spends half a year in Arizona and will be heading south soon. He has a spending quota at his country club which he hadn't used so we went there for dinner. We had steaks, beers, and I even had dessert. I think we made quite a dent on that quota. I hadn't had a fillet for quite a while.

Saturday we drove to Laramie for the Wyoming-UNLV football game. We had great seats in the second deck on about the 35 yard line. The problem was there was a lady from Meeteetsee (I can't make a name like that up), Wyoming sitting in front of Bill. She had a running commentary of the game going with several asides to herself throughout the game and it was obvious that she was dumb as rocks when it came to football. Not to be outdone I had a guy sitting behind me who was trying to explain football to his date. He didn't know a whole lot more than the lady sitting in front of Bill. The date had to be leading him on as the questions she asked were unbelievable. Every time something went wrong for the Cowboys, the guy would let loose with a few expletives. That got old fast. At half time we moved to some empty seats near some friends of mine from Casper. The seats were also in the shade of the pressbox so it was a double improvement. Wyoming won big so that was another benefit as the Pokes haven't done that well the last couple of years.

After an early supper in Cheyenne I headed back to Denver and managed to miss most of the rush hour traffic.

A good way to spend a Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

Sunday-we take some back roads out of Sedona on our way back to Phoenix. Not too far south of Sedona the landscape turns into something that reminds us of Wyoming. The red hills turn into miles of sagebrush.

We pull off I-17 just north of the airport to gas up and get something to eat. There are panhandlers at every on and off ramp and some in the parking lots at the fast food places. I try to fill up with gas but the "pay outside" option isn't working. I ask the attendant if I fill up and come back and pay. No, I have to pay first. How much gas do I want? I don't know because I haven't filled up yet. He is confused. So am I. We finally get it taken care of and head for the airport.

The Broncos are playing on TV. After reading the Phoenix paper I head for a sports bar for a sandwich and beer which comes to about $20. The Broncos lose anyway.

The sister (who lives in the Denver area) of the bride is on our flight to Denver. We manage to get three seats together so we can visit during the two-hour flight which is as smooth as Thursday's flight was rough. We get home a little after nine. It was a beautiful wedding and a fun time.

Saturday-perfect weather (low 70's) Kathy's Phoenix cousin has a brother (Minnesota) who has a daughter who lives in Sedona. She and her husband own a shop in Sedona located in area of small shops in a small shopping area resembling a Mexican village. There are a lot of galleries in the group. One is a shop featuring Chris Navarro bronzes. Chris is from Casper, Wyoming and we had his kids at the school where we taught. It was great to see so many of his works (expensive but high quality). He has several bronze pieces around Casper including a mustang at the high school where our kids went to school. Anyway, we enjoyed Ali and Ebenn. We ate lunch at a microbrewery and then they took us around Sedona and its red hills and formations. We went up on one mesa near the airport which also has an overlook. Looking over the valleys it resembled shots found in western movies. It was the red or painted desert.

The wedding is scheduled to start at 4:40. We carpooled with another couple who formerly lived in Casper. She had just had knee surgery so we used their handicapped parking sticker to park reasonably close. We had received an e-mail earlier to wear hiking shoes and dress warmly. We were supposed to hike about .6 of a mile to reach the mesa where the wedding would be held. The hiking trail was not much of a trail. It was steep and it was climbing from rock-to-rock and through some shrub. We aided the friend with the bum knee up the side of the hill. When we finally reached the mesa where the wedding would take place, we were met by the bride (a former neighbor in Casper) in her wedding dress and the groom in his tuxedo. Most of us were dressed fairly casually. I bought two canvas chairs today and hauled them up to the mesa. One guy who I think was in his 80's saw the chairs and just collapsed in one when I offered him a seat. The ceremony faced east and the sun was setting on the red bluffs and monuments across the valley. The minister read from her I-pad. There were several other hikers on the trail and many stopped to watch while others just passed by and didn't pay much attention.

Going down was even more of a chore. The trail is steep and again it's from rock to rock. We all made it. At the bottom the minister had changed to her running shorts (probably under her robe) and was getting ready for a run.

We all went back to the rented house for the reception. Lots more spicy southwestern sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres-another attack on the stomach. I survived. I visited with one guy who has twins (one boy and one girl). He told about the number of people who would ask if they were identical. He would explain they were different genders but people would still ask if they are identical. We enjoyed the company but it got a little loud so we left and were home by 9:30.

Just your average unique wedding.

Friday-a cold front is hitting the Rockies-even snow in northern states. Friday morning we eat breakfast and then head for the patio. Kathy's cousin's backyard is near a tee box so we watch the golfers drive up in their carts (a couple were even walking) and tee off. The cousin and his wife take care of two grandchildren most of the day so we play with them. It's similar to our situation in Colorado but ours isn't nearly as intense.

After lunch (temp is still in the mid seventies) we head north to Sedona, Arizona where the wedding will be Saturday afternoon. We check into our motel around 5:00. Sedona is surrounded by red rock formations. They look like something out of a movie scene. The sun is setting creating all sorts of shadows on the rocks. This is Arizona's arts colony and a beautiful place.

We call our friends, the parents of the bride, who invite us over for tamales and beer plus wine plus pie. They have rented a house for the week so they have great facilities. Southwestern food is generally spiced a lot hotter than the average cuisine so I suffer the first assault on my stomach. The food is good, however, but sleep will a harder to come by and I'm thirsty.

More later.

Thursday-we're headed to the Denver airport (DIA) to catch a flight to Phoenix. The wind has been blowing all day and getting stronger. As we approach DIA, it appears there's a fire. It turns out it is a farmer doing something in his field throwing so much black soil into the air that at a distance it resembles a fire. We get the airport, get through security, get to our gate and then they announce that DIA has been shut down due to high winds and wind sheers. Our plane has been diverted to Albuquerque and they don't know when it will get to Denver. In the meantime planes keep landing and taking off (later read that the gusts were over 60 mph and did some damage in downtown Denver). Our departure time keeps getting pushed back. The gate area is backing up with delayed passengers and there is a shortage of seats.

Our original plans were to get to Phoenix around 5:00 (with the time change), rent a car and then eat dinner with Kathy's cousin and his wife. We would spend the night with them. We finally left DIA 3 1/2 hours late so we obviously didn't eat supper with them. It was after 9:00 MST when we arrived at their house. We visited for a while and finally I had to go to bed.

The joys of flying-more later.

I have lots of memories of weddings-my cousin's wedding in Cut Bank, Montana which is one of the last times so many of my relatives were together; taking a gondola to mid-mountain of one of the Grand Tetons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming-it started to rain so the ceremony was performed in a gondola barn; our niece's wedding at a ski resort near Lake Tahoe; her brother's wedding at their parent's house in Reno. These were some of the unique weddings we attended. I, of course, remember each of our kid's weddings: David and Kelsey's during a thunderstorm in Minnesota and Keri and Eric's on a beautiful day in Colorado. One of the highlights for guys is walking his daughter down the aisle. I also remember remember my own which took place on a hot muggy day in Minnesota a little over 42 years ago and the marriage is still going strong.

The reason I mention these is last Thursday we flew from Denver to Phoenix for another unique wedding in Sedona, AZ.

More later.

We often get calls for persons who had our number previously. Usually it's some loan company. The latest annoying call comes from a sweet elderly lady who gives her name and in a very pious voice wishes to read a "beautifly bible verse" to me. I just hang up. As a recovering Catholic, we spent more time on the catechism than the bible at the perochial school. I'm not that interested in religion in general nor what someone else thinks is a "beautiful passage." I respect others' take on religion but please leave me alone.