As I'm reading this year's Christmas cards, I find a place on the picture I really miss and that's a picture current picture of the the friend who has actually sent the card to me. We do this too but I really more interested in seeing how a friend had aged rather than counting the total number of the next generation-just one up-to-date picutre-PLEASE! I know how you looked several years ago and now I want to see how you look now.

I did something last night I hadn't done for a long time; I put a toy together. Back when I was in high school, one of my summer jobs in July was to go upstairs over my dad's hardware store and begin assembling toys, bikes, wagons, etc. for people to put away for Christmas. The temp was always close to 90+ so it was warm work. I started as a wrench, screw driver, socket set, hammer and profanity assembly worker adding batteries and cables and finally dealing with some foreign engineer's idiot idea of directions.

Last night I put a small bike together (horrible directions for something so simple but the directions and pictures were misleading. I did figure things out. With twins there's always a second so I'll put it together tonight.)

Later as a parent I always insisted I wanted the floor model; I usually would buy it or insist they assemble the thing and I would pick it up later. That often worked. Goes back to my high school days.

We went to see Footloose at the cheap seats yesterday afternoon ($5.00 for two of us). We both liked it. Roger Ebert panned it but then Roger ripped the original version. No wonder I seldom agree with Roger 's reviews .

We went to Wendy's for supper after. I have going online planning fast food meals which fall withing my barb limit. I shoot a little insulin just before I eat and that appears to work.

Made my first trip back to the fitness center since I went to hospital. It's more challenging than my tread mill and the low weights I have at home. Unfortunately we had a bad snowstorm move into Denver today so I don't know when I will get back but it's something positive for the future.

Did something today I thought I would never do, I bought a pair of suspenders. I've lost just enough weight, I can't hold up several pairs of pants (particularly work-out suits). Good problem to have. I called my brother and we laughed that if we had kept our dad's, we would have had quite an inventory.

Took my van to the grocery store and filled with gas at a station. It was the fartherst I had ventured alone since I got out of the hospital. I don't think I want to do much four-lane driving for a while but I was comfortable with this short trip. By going early Sunday I also missed the Sunday grocery shoppers. I plan to watch the Broncos-New England game for a while this afternoon.

Last night was the first time for Kathy and me to go out for supper since I got out the hospital a couple of weeks ago. We went to Panera Bread for soup and sandwiches. It did seem a little strange to be pumping insulin into my body rather than saying Grace before eating.

I always thought it was ironic the amount of Missouri River water Budweiser Beer sold. Now that they have a brewery north of Fort Collins, they are draining the ground water and there is some growing criticism from some groups.

Today is another one of these days that has an unfortunate connection. I had a cousin, Joe, whose birthday was December 12th and who was 2 years and four days younger than me. Joe was a law student at the University of Minnesota and died in a car wreck leaving the University of Minnesota. This was a wintry April. He was buried in Montana during a snow storm as the story was told to me. Joe and I were the closest of cousins in age. December 12th is another of those infamy days. I'm having too many of them lately.

How about those Broncos?

At the last minute, Kathy, Keri, Eric, and the grand twins put a small 70th birthday party together for me (meatloaf, cheese broccoli, small piece of cake, small scoop of ice cream and one Bud light) and it was great.

As my daughter said to me "What other 70 year man would get excited about getting a GLEE calendar?" (It's just the teacher coming out in me.)

Aiden danced to "You're the one that I love" which is a singing card that Kathy bought me. I did gain a little over a pound but it was worth it. I'll hit the tread mill this afternoon.

I got the Christmas tree assembled this morning. We'll hook up the lights later today.

Today is my 70th birthday. Two weeks ago I was neither 70 nor a full-blown diabetic. Now I am both. I think the the road to life just got a whole lot steeper but I'm up for the challenge. I don't know what I would do without Kathy.

Got a tread mill yesterday. Worked out this morning and will do some more this afternoon-will just take time and patience.

I bought a new car on October 18th-I finally got the licence plates yesterday as the dealer kept messing up the paperwork. I would have had to pay a fine next week.

I think Keri and Eric and the boys will stop by tonight to help celebrate. There aren't aren't any grand plans. The University of Wyoming men's basketball team beat the U of Colorado men's team in Boulder last night. A friend bought me a ticket but obviously I cancelled but the win will count as a big birthday present for me.

Got an ad in the mail today. For only a little over $100, I could buy a very fine wine-Price $199: whom are you trying to kid?

Living in the city is nice but making Dr.'s appointments and speaker phones sometime make for conflicts. Cold here this morning but appointments don't start until tomorrow. Feeling better. Spent a small fortune on supplies. Kathy making supply runs.

Spent a good deal of today rearranging new drugs. With a change in life style comes a new set of drugs and new paraphernalia. If you ever a appreciate a spouse, now is the time. Figuring out glocose measure is a new world. A new diet is also a change. We finally were able to get 3 readings on the gluscose reader, took temp, blood readings. Kathy had to make several trips for supplies plus monitor vital signs.

More soon.

After 5 days in the hospital I admit to being a diabetic. I went in last Sunday, crashed, wound up in ICU and came out Monday morning with my arms tied down in restraints. I spent the next 2 and 1/2 days in ICU and the two 1/2 days after that in a regular room. The hospital specialists spent the next 2 1/2 days trying to figure to figure out if I had any neurological or heart damage so I got a lot of bed rest . Fortunately I was at the hospital where the grandtwins were born and the care quality is excellent.

Today is first day in my new life style. Between Thanksgiving and new life style, I don't how much the blog was missed.

Went down to the Air Force Academy for the Wyoming-Air Force FB game. It's about an hour from our house to the parking lot at AF. Weather watchers know the wind in the foothill was between 40 to 70 mph yesterday. I thought I would be blown off the road near the Academy. Had a Famous Dave's BarBQ hamburger (large, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, fries, and soft drink for $10), which besides the Wyoming's win may have been the highlight of the afternoon. The wind beat my windbreaker so hard I thought someone was punching me at times.
I was at the Academy for the AF-Utah game last fall. Weather was beautiful and the skydivers landed at midfield. Yesterday's landing was cancelled because they figured they would find the bodies somewhere between the New Mexico and Wyoming borders. The falcon's routine was also cancelled. I left at the end of the third quarter. Outside my gate I found a golf cart for handicapped people. I asked if they would take a senior citizen to his car which was parked about half a mile away. Five minutes later they left me off about 50 feet from my car. I have no shame now using such conveniences.

This afternoon I talked to a friend who had been at the game in Boulder. He said things were just as bad.

I watched the grandtwins this morning and then went to the fitness center for a late morning workout. When I came out and returned to my car I found a small circular thing jammed in the side driver window just above handle. The front read "This is a round TUIT please take care of it." I put it in my pocket but decided to look at it when I got home rather than throwing it on the ground. It's about the size of a hockey puck and the back tells me I'm a sinner-no doubt about it. I assume it's some religious organization doing "good deeds." Actually I wish these group would crawl under a rock and stay there. To accuse me of being a sinner having just met my car and not me I thought was a tall leap of faith. Some group called living waters takes credit for it. As we used to say in my old parochial school days; "It's enough to p*** off a priest."

This is a follow-up yesterday's blog. I completely obliterated the adage that "a bad day of skiing is better than a good day of work" Not true-with overcrowding, bad snow, and untuned skis I could have done some real damage to myself. I'm just glad I was smart enough to quit and drive back to Denver.

Now to the meat of this blog. I have satellite radio in my new car. Driving from and back to Denver I was able to listen to several sports radio stations (mostly ESPN). That amounted to between three to four hours listening to discussions about the sad story surrounding Penn State. To most that would be overkill but for me it was was a repeat of a personal similar situation thirty years ago.

I had an associate who was doing some group and individual counseling in the school where I was the school counselor. I kept hearing rumors that some strange things were being discussed in both individual and group sessions. Finally a teacher confirmed what I had heard. I went to an assistant principal who referred me to an assistant superintendent. It almost became a mini "she vs me ultimatum" but fortunately the school district stuck by me. The lady wasn't rehired. She did find a job with another institution in town and I think did a good job for them. I don't think she ever found out I was the one who "ratted her out" as she was always very cordial with me.

I think I made the right decision and followed the right course. Of course, my situation paled next to the Penn State disaster but I think I did what I should have despite some possible reprisal against me.

The great mistake

I bought a ski pass last week for Copper Mountain and Winter Park. Winter Park hasn't hasn't opened yet so I thought I would drive up to Copper, ski this afternoon, spend the night, ski in the morning and drive back Denver in the afternoon. I evened booked a nice room at a Double Tree in Breckenridge for tonight.

The drive to Copper Mountain was pleasant, little traffic, no weather, and I made great time. Then things got bad. They only had one lift and one run open. It was a blue slope which meant everyone of all abilities was skiing the same run and it was crowded. There was a second chair open at mid mountain but not that many people were using it. I started skiing a little after 11:00 so the crowd had downsized for lunch but it got busier quickly. There were also some ski teams from both Canada and the USA there which meant they had used part of the run to set up courses. They were also making snow which means the slope tends to get icy. I also took my old "rock skis" so I wouldn't tear up my good ones. Big mistake as they hadn't been tuned in years and I couldn't get an edge. I "biffed" on my second run. Two junior high aged kids stopped to see if I was all right but by that time my pride had been hurt as I usually don't fall once a season let alone on my second run. Early in the afternoon I decided my life was at stake. Enough was enough and I wasn't having fun. Fortunately I was told I could cancel my room by 5:00. I had to drive to Breckenridge to find the Double Tree. They had just taken over a property and no one seemed to know where there are located. After 45 minutes I found them, canceled the room and drove back to Denver. I sleep in my own bed tonight.

Keri, Kathy, the boys, and I went to Gunther Toody's, a retro -50's restaurant specializing in various hamburgers, wonderful fries, and great milkshakes. Reid was more intent on the food while Aiden just enjoyed the scenery and people. Both high-five the waitress. Keri shared her shake and Aiden got his first "brain freeze" but recovered nicely to have more shake. We tipped generously as we left somewhat of a mess although Keri and Kathy did do some cleaning. I think the boys enjoy going out in the real world as it is getting colder and they haven't been out that much lately.

The ugly: Murphy's law-The wind blows hardest on trash pick-up day.

The good: CU got stomped by Southern Cal on nation TV last night

The great: McRibs are back for a few weeks.

Although she died in March, my mother gets as much mail as I do although it's from organizations looking for donations.

I'm an omtimist. I think I'm going to go skiing more than twice as I did last year so I bought a ski pass yesterday.

Fired up the snowblower this morning. We got about 5 inches of wet snow. I'm happy that I bought the blower with the power to throw slush. It's been a lot easier on my back.

Yesterday I talked to my aunt who lives in Denver. I've lived here about 16 months but I haven't visited and don't know if I will. She's my mother's sister. There were 4 girls and 1 boy. Georgia is the last remaining of the family after my mother died in March. She and mom were very close and either phoned or wrote every week. We talked quite a bit when mom was ill and I kept her informed of mom's health. We visited for about thirty minutes yesterday. She's 98 but we always find time for about 20-30 minutes of converstation. I don't call often but I alway enjoy visiting with her. She hears well for me and is certainly alert. Mom was alert; she just couldn't hear.

Halloween is over. The good thing is we were able to get rid of most of the candy although the number of treaters was down.

The weather was beautiful. I only added a sweatshirt and cap and sat on the front step. The highlight was when Keri brought Aiden and Reid over to trick or treat. Keri made monkey costumes for them. They would take the candy and then give it back. After several more kids showed up and kept the candy, they caught on to that fast and put the candy in their jackolanterns. Our neighbor had a big Halloween display in her yard. Our boys went over and mingled with the big kids and weren't frightened by the layout. One of our neighbors had a black costume with an electric mask. He would just blend in with the other figurines. Then when the kids would leave the front door, he would start walking toward them and scare the heck out of them. He didn't do it to the younger kids but got a "Holy Crap!" out an upper elementary aged girl. Several of us were watching and had a great laugh. This happened after the monkeys had gone home.

Overall, a great Halloween and I think the A & R enjoyed it.

I had to go to my least favorite branch bank-I call it the "happy talk" branch. I just couldn't justify the extra milage going to another branch.

She:" So did you do anything exciting for Halloween?"

Me: "I gave out candy."

She "Got anything exciting planned for tonight?"

Me: "No."

I hate it when tellers talk when they're dealing with my money.

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.

I know what I really like about Netflix-no commercials. I watch two programs during the season-Glee and Grey's Anatomy. I don't mind Glee's commercials but last night's Grey commercials about drove me nuts. I don't mind commercials on the news, sports or the Weather Channel because I am usually reading or channel surfing. I just can't stand the programming on regular programming. That's why I enjoy Netflix and don't mind waiting to watch programming that's a year old.

This week I made the complete transition from baseball to football. It had nothing to do with the change of seasons on the calendar. I probably watched about 3 innings of Rockies baseball although they were on every day.

I started the transition by going to a high school football game Friday afternoon. I now have a senior citizen pass to all Jefferson County regular season sports activities. I missed my old friends from Casper as we all sat together in the same place every home game.

Saturday I watched half of the CU-Ohio State game although I can't stand CU and it was a blow-out. I watched 3/4 of the Wyoming-Nebraska game-same scenario. I'm even getting excited about watching the Broncos today although I have little hope for them.

I do admit I am secretly looking forward to spring training. I hope to make it back to the Phoenix area for a game or two.

Watched the new season's opening episode of GLEE last night. Looks like another good year. When I went to see "Glee the 3-D Movie" last summer, they gave me a free cap with the movie name on the front. I've worn it once to my daughter's house. She took a picture on her cell phone, sent it to my son in Minneapolis, and his return response indicated he didn't think much of the cap and someone of my age wearing it. I think he would disown me if we lived in the same town.

I still enjoy GLEE and think it's one of the better shows on TV.

Spent last weekend in Minneapolis getting acquainted with my new granddaughter Eva. She was four weeks old the day I got there. We had plenty of grandfather/granddaughter bonding time. She did sleep in my lap part of the time, however.

We opted to go to the Mall of America rather than a Twins game. It was a good move as Eva had a blow-out at the Mall and there were several clothes in her size at the mall. I don't think it would have worked as well at Target Field.

I also got to eat lunch at Jimmy John's, which is becoming my favorite sub franchise.

It was also good to spend time with Kelsey and David who are excited parents. We played the she resembles so-and-so game but she's her own person.

I think K & D have had quite a bit of company so I think the length of my visit was about right time-wise.

This morning I threw the grandtwins out at 7:00 am, fed them, dressed them and changed a dirty diaper all before 8:30. It's back to the real world. I do hope to get back to Minneapolis more often or have them visit Colorado whenever possible.

Got to take my second telephone political poll last evening. This one was about education and was a slanted anti-teacher poll so I wasn't much help to them. The questions were so obviously slanted that it was almost a joke. I think I answered one question the way they didn't want it answe

I was visiting with some old college friends this weekend. We talked about a lot of things and one of them was trends and how some of the old cereal brands are losing sales and being replaced by cereals that have more appeal to more kids and some adults. One of the brands is Cheerios. It seems the birth rate is down and therefore fewer Cheerios are being purchased. I don't know if this is a domino effect or some other principle but was interested to hear. Our kids consumed a lot of Cheerios and it is the favorite food of the grandtwins but trends are trends.

Oh, yeah

The Broncos got beat last night. I fell asleep listening to the second half.

Clarification: I drove to Cheyenne and picked up my brother and we drove to Laramie for the game. Bill's wife died unexpectedly three weeks ago. I hadn't seen him since the funeral. It was good to get together and just talk. That's what we did most of Sunday morning.

One other game I forgot to mention:

St. Olaf beat Simpson Saturday.

Tonight the Broncos play the Raiders. If history repeats itself, with an 8:00 pm start I will see about half the game, listen to the third quarter and fall asleep by the fourth quarter.

This weekend I drove to Cheyenne Saturday and we drove to Laramie for the Wyoming-Texas State football game. The weather was great and the Cowboys won for a change. We drove back to Cheyenne where I spent the night and we watched the evening football games. On Sunday I stopped in Fort Collins and visited the Darbys who are old friends from college.

How great was it?

Wyoming won

Iowa State beat the Hawks

Colorado State won

The Rockies won both Saturday and Sunday

Notre Dame lost

Colorado lost

Utah lost

BYU lost

We'll see how the Broncos do tomorrow night.

Today I did a national political survey. A canned voice asks questions and you just use the keys on your touchtone phone to give the answers. I enjoyed doing it and thought the questions were well selected for a national poll. At the end the information was given that it was a poll for the National Democratic Party. My answers were middle-of-the-road so I don't know how much they learned from me. I hope I get to do another poll in the next 14 months.

Saw something today I had never seen before. One car wash had a doggy wash on one side of its building. I wouldn't have seen it except I saw a buy washing his dog in this huge tub. Then I saw the doggy wash sign. The dog appeared to be enjoying it. American ingenuity.

I attended my sister-in-law's funeral in Cheyenne yesterday. One of the speakers (her brother) commented about how "people our age" are attedning more and more funerals. It's become on way to see people you haven't seen for years. It was that way for me. Looking over the males in attendance I guess I could have worn my "Bald is Beautiful" T-shirt and offended very few people. Think about who can attend a funeral on a week-day morning.

SOME THINGS CAN'T BE TOPPED:

While all the relatives were visiting Wednesday, the topic of horrible Nebraska drivers, nobody drives the speeed limit in Colorado, and watch out for black pick-ups in New Mexico, my step-nephew from Phoenix silenced us when he said the people in Arizona drive the temperature. Does it get any faster than that and the conversation on that topic ended.

My sister-in-law died unexpected last Friday. I have been somewhat bummed out; really in a funk ever since. Today we are driving to Cheyenne for the funeral tomorrow morning. I will be glad to see my brother and offer him support but the hardest part so far was writing the sympathy card. How do you write down all your feelings for a person you've known for almost 40 years. One side of a card just isn't enough and that's why I'm glad we live within a couple of hours where the family will gather to say good-bye. I know I won't get total closure but it's a start. What I will say to my brother and his family, I don't know but it will come from the heart.

Things I can't make up:

About 11:30 this morning I opened our e-mail. One item was a receipt from OLD NAVY in Walpole, MA. Items purchased were an OUCH (whatever that is), a small (I don't think I ever wore anything small) rayon tank top, and 2 pair of uniform shorts. I also don't think I need gym shorts or whatever uniform shorts are. Fortunately the store number was listed. The time the items were purchased was 12:25 and it was just little after 11:00 am in Denver. I finally wound up talking to the store manager. I explained that I live in Denver and hadn't been in Massachusetts in years. I had checked the last four credit card numbers listed on the receipt and they weren't from any card of mine. The manager said sometimes they e-mail receipts and apparently someone had listed the wrong e-mail address. She said they would call when they solved the mystery. I'm still waiting for the call.

Yesterday I HAD to go to the bank. I HAD to go to a bank branch that I avoid whenever possible. My bank, a large multi-state bank, practices "happy talk" at all it's branches however this branch is the worst. I appreciate a smile but after that let's just talk business. How am I feeling or what have I done today or what are my plans are none of their business. Just take care of my account and don't screw up when dealing with my money. They always want to know if I would like to visit with one of their financial advisors-no I wouldn't-they just want to sell bonds. I have a broker and he makes me money. Bank financial advisors just want to make the banks more money and meet a quota to justify their jobs.

I couldn't avoid going in and I try to avoid drive-ups but I can't stand the practice of "happy talk."

Bah, humbug.

You have to be a baseball fan to appreciate this.

When Eric and I went to the Rox/Houston game the other night I was wearing my Baltimore Orioles T-shirt and Camden Yards cap. This was sort of to honor a good friend who is a big Baltimore Orioles fan. I had an aisle seat in our section about half way up. A guy passed and went down the steps toward the bottom rows. He was wearing a Rockies Carlos Gonzales jersey along with probably 2,000 other Rockies fans (including Eric) so I didn't have any reason to think more about him. Later he came back up the stairs to hit the consessions or restroom. He stopped next to me and started shaking my hand very robustly. I couldn't remember if I knew him or not and then I saw he was wearing an Orioles' cap. I guess there are still a few Baltimore fans out west. Baseball has many large families.

Went to the Rockies/Astros game last night. The Rox won but it wasn't pretty but still an enjoyable game. 95 degress at game time and in the high 80's when the game was over. The Rox are now 5-3 when I watch them in person this year.

This was a big week.

First: Our first granddaughter Geneva Mae Starrs (to be called Eva) was born at 12:04 am Saturday morning after several hours of labor. My wife is on the way to do the granny thing. I'll go back a little later.

Second: I resumed my highly paid job (well, I got invited for supper tonight) last week. I only had to report at 7:00 am but 6:00 am is on the horizon. This year the guys are walking and inquisitive (they get into everything) but I enjoy it. Keeps me out of bingo parlors.

FWIW: my last name failed the spellchecker test.

With the recent slump in the stock market, I remember when Prez Bush II wanted to get people out of social security and into the stock market in its place.

I know how to save thousands of gallons of gas each year and make people healthier. Close down the drive-up window at Starbucks and make folks get their backsides out of the car and walk in to order their $5 cup of coffee. Drive-up should be reserved for the handicapped, pregnant women, and women with small kids. Saves on pollution too.

Had he lived, this would have been my dad's 97th birthday.

As you all know by now, Michele Bachmann recently got confused as to whether it was Elvis's birthday or the anniversary of his death (50-50 chance and she missed it.). When she was informed of her gaff, she sort of blew it off as it weren't that big a deal. I think it was probably a big deal to Elvis. Yes, she is a member of Congress and you wonder what the problem is in Washington.

I feel like a political cartoonist-some subjects are just too good to let go. For me this is the "Ames (Iowa) Straw Poll."

In my past life I did a lot with statistics and analysis of same.

Base: fewer than 20,000 cast ballots or whatever for a Republican candidate for President. Remember statistics don't lie-or do they?

1. I learned that Minnesota Congresswomen Michele Bochmann is a "submissive wife" (her words; not mine). That means that more than 20% of the voters like submissive wives.

2. The candidate who finished #2, Ron Paul, is a Libertarian Congressman from Texas. Libertarians do not like taxes for government subsidies or handouts. Does this mean that over 20% of Iowans are against farm subsidies which are substantial in Iowa? Food for thought.

3. The #3 finisher; Tim Pawlenty, a two-term Minnesota governor; talked about balancing budgets, etc., but his state is billions of dollars in debt. Is there a contradiction here? I like the story of the guy who was interviewed after walking out of the polling booth. He carried a "Pawlenty T-shirt", entered on a Pawlenty voting ticket supplied by the candidate ($35 a pop to exercise one's rights), but voted for someone else. I guess there is no honor among Straw Pollers.

4. All candidates swore not to raise taxes, to balance the budget, and to put millions back to work. Usually it is government spending that creates jobs in a recovery and that means more taxes or a bigger deficit. Is there a problem here?

5. No one mentioned the war in the Mideast. Did it go away or did the candidates just forget about it?

6. All attacked Prez Obama as a total failure but didn't offer any solutions of their own. Now they get to spend the next year attacking each other-LOVE IT!

Fortunately my nephew clued me in that it's just a big Republican fund raiser. I can't believe the American media treated it as something that actually mattered. I can hardly wait for the meaningless Iowa Caucus. Smart people those Iowans.

Went to see "Glee the 3D Concert Movie" yesterday. Liked every moment of it. As a teacher in my previous life, I enjoy movies and shows about school kids. I like the singing, dancing, and social issues in GLEE. I am a true GLEEK and they gave me a cap at the movie theatre to prove it but I don't think I will wear it too often in public.

Tis the season for balloons falling out of the sky. This is the second balloon to land in the field just beyond our cul-de-sacs. This one barely cleared the wire fence that runs along the walking path at the end of the streets. At least it didn't come close to the 4-lane highway in the opposite direction.

Smart people those Iowans. As if the Iowas Caucus was phony as a three-dollar bill, they have come up with their next environmentally clean, no tax breaks, etc.; they have come up with the "Iowa Sample Poll", which is even more meaningless as the "Caucus. People have to pay "to sample" so money talks. Maybe they could come to Colorado and help our state make money on scams or do they want to keep their monopoly? There are some real creative people in the corn belt.

Spent the weekend in a condo in Vail. Keri and Eric were invited to a wedding there Sunday night so Kathy and I went along as the live-in nannies. Saturday night Kathy and I hit the village. I managed to buy two fleece vest with Vail on them-but I don't care as I wear vests from other places all the time), a Vail hat, and finally a "bald is beautiful" T-shirt with a picture of a bald eagle on the front (very patriotic). If you are familiar with my hairline (or lack of), it was an appropriate choice. Prices were about half price which tells you about the time of the year or the economy. Anyway, there were some good deals.

We spent time with the boys most of Sunday. They both had upset stomachs so diaper changes were often but we always have a good time with them.

It was in the low 60's when we left Vail this morning and almost 90 when we arrived back in Littleton a couple of hours later.

Funny-I still can sense the odor of soiled diapers.

Eric and I went to the Rockies-Phillies game last night. We drove in and out of rain all the way to Coors Field. They were just taking the tarp off the infield when we got inside. We had tickets under the overhang which was good because although it had stopped raining, people had to get towels, etc. to wipe off the stadium seats. About a third of the crowd was wearing Phillies gear. I've never seen the crowd with both sides into a game like this. Of course the Rockies blew a lead and lost in the 10th inning. Was glad we went, however.

Saw a T-shirt on a hippie-looking person with a saying I'd never seen before: "Support your local glassblower." A person sees all sort of fans at the ballpark.

I painted our garage door this morning. On July 13 we received a notice that we have a garage door painting violation. They gave us 7 days to correct the matter. I was gone for three days and then the next two days were the weekend. I demanded a hearing since I didn't think the garage door needed painted that badly. I also demanded the see the criteria in writing and know who had the power to make a subjective decision like that. A week later later they wrote that they didn't want a hearing since it was our first violation but not a violation if we painted it (and you wonder how lawyers get rich). They were even going to give us an extra 30 days. We decided to paint.

I call this dining at COSTCO. I went to COSTCO yesterday afternoon. On weekdays it's usually young mothers, the unemployed, the late and early shifts folks, but mostly senior citizens like me who don't want to fight the weekend crowds.

I only bought four or five items but I spent quite a bit of time watching people consume the free samples. They had about a dozen spots for food samples and I watched several couples hit them all; sometimes twice or taking two samples at the same time. There was one guy who was skinny as can be and he must have hit each area at least twice and a couple more than that. He would chat with the server and kept helping himself to samples at the same time. I sampled about four items-I passed on the fish and the Greek yogart and a few more that just didn't look that good. There were other samplers who didn't pass on anything. It's cheap dining out.

Beautiful morning-at 7:00 there already were two balloons in the air.

Are there any worse commercials than Allstate's "Mayhem" ads?

Geico and Bud Light are still my favorites.

The last two days Keri has been going to calculator camp in Colorado Springs. That means the last two mornings I have been on my school year schedule of getting up at 5:00 am to get to her house by 6:00 am. I am feeling tired needless to say so when I went to work out after Kathy came over at 9:00 am I wasn't in the greatest of moods. First I was working out on a cardio (sp?) machine and a lady came and started on the machine next to me. First she gets on her cell phone and starts calling her friends to see how they are doing. I'm trying to watch CNN on the TV in front of our machines. When she finishes calling, a friend comes up and starts talking about nothing but I can't escape. Rather than asking them to move, another machine opens up farther down the row and I move. Then I went over to the area with light weights and exercise balls. I like to use a certain size ball (they only have two of these although people have asked for more since it is the most popular size). One of the "professional trainers" has taken one along with several sets of weights to work with her client. I ask her if she needs all those sets and she tells me she does. I am peeved since half the stuff I want is not being used because the "professional trainer" has them tied up. I'm upset since I have my routine but make adjustments using other similar equipment but by then I'm so upset I leave early. I have been up since 5:00 am and I really don't want to tangle with the "professional trainer" since that's probably how she makes most of her salary. I, along several other people, have asked for more exercise balls in that size but no one appears to care.

I don't have to get up as early tomorrow so maybe I'll be in a better mood.

Today is almost like a holy day in the Denver area-a new IKEA store is opening about 10 miles east of our house. People have been camping out (despite horrible weather at times) for days to receive free furniture as part of the grand opening. The highway department has set new street routes to cut down on congestion but with an estimated 40,000 people expected in the first few days, it may be futile. Forget budget battles and football lockouts-IKEA is opening; whoopee (not).

This is paraphrasing part of a letter to the editor in today's Denver Post:

The reader quoting Mark Twain wrote:"......First God created idiots-that was for practice. Then he created politicians."

S-I-L Eric and I watched the Rockies and Braves at Coors Field last night. The Rockies got hammered but it's still fun to be there. Ninety-three degrees at game time and 81 when the game let out around 9:30. I'm now 4-2 this season when I watch the Rox in person.

Saw a girl wearing an interesting T-shirt: "Designated Kisser" rather than "Designated Hitter" and in Rockies colors to boot. Times are changing and so are the writings on T-shirt.

As I was watching the final minutes of the overtime of the Women's World Cup soccer match, the ESPN feed was interrupted by the National Weather Service to give a flash flood warning near Boulder. At the time the score was 2-1 in favor of the USA. When the picture returned, the score was tied at 2-2 and eventually the USA lost in penalty shots. I didn't see the the second Japanese goal nor a replay. Timing is everything.

Made the Wyoming trip this week. I visited my brother and his wife in Cheyenne, went to lunch, took care of some business and then headed to Casper (gassed up in Wheatland $322.9). A good friend had an extra Casper Ghosts ticket so I did Wednesday night at the ball park. It was out the back of my motel and into the back entrance of the stadium. It's one of the reasons I stay in that motel. The Ghosts lost but it was just good to see old baseball friends. Of course I took some photos of the grandtwins to show.

Thursday I went to my old barber for a cut (5 minutes cutting and 25 minutes getting updated on the latest Casper happenings-I miss that in the Denver barber chains). I met my old coffee drinking homies for an hour and a half to get more updates in the education community, hear some bad jokes, but mainly to keep in touch. I take all my old "Redneck" calendar jokes for one guy who really enjoys them. I had about 6 months worth. Went to lunch with one of my best friends. We discussed life and investments (he a former stockbroker). It was anther great 2 hours. Then I met with my current stockbroker to see if he had any insight as to how to make money in the market. After and hour and a half, I had lots of ideas but no money changed hands. Thursday night I went back for another Ghosts game (saw even more old friends). They lost even bigger than the night before. The visiting team was staying at my motel but I didn't see much of them.

Friday I headed back to Colorado where I met an old fraternity brother and his wife for lunch near Fort Collins-another couple hours. From Cheyenne to Denver I was amazed at the amount of snow remaining in the Rockies. I understand the concern for flooding in the foothills. It was a great three days. I don't miss Casper but I miss some of my friends.

Today the air is so humid it almost seems we're in Iowa in July rather than Colorado. We're expecting heavy rains today.

Speaking of Iowa: there was a guy this morning at the Fitness Center sporting a John Deere tattoo. I don't where the guy's roots are but we usually see dragons, barbed wire, etc., for tats around here.

Follow-up Sonic Drive-in: the kid did deliver the meal on roller skates. How 50's and 60's is that?

We've had so much rain the last week and early this week I'm getting bids on an ark. I think our Midwestern relatives may need it worse than we do, however.

The wife said she wanted to go OUT for supper last night so I took her to a Sonic Drive-In and we ate OUTside on the patio. I'd never eaten at a Sonic before. Good malts.

The 4th of July is one of my least favorite holidays. Why-I get tired of fireworks which seem to start earlier in June and extend further in July. The three-day weekend really led to perpetual evening neighborhood fireworks displays. The ones that makes me the most nervous are the bottle rockets when they come close to my house. One time one of my neighbors in Casper started a fire in a dry field near our house. He ran out with a hose and got it out before the fire engines arrived. This morning I went out to work in the back yard and wound up cleaning the remains of bottle rockets and their ilk. Luckily we had rain right around the weekend. Remembering last year's grass fire in the field at the end of our block, I get a little nervous. I enjoy the fourth and what it stands for but I don't think that includes shooting fireworks until nearly midnight and aiming some of them at other's houses. Am I an old grouch or what?

I checked further into the yesterday's balloon landing at the end of our street. Apparently one other balloon went down a couple of blocks over. I talked to one of the neighbors who has been on the block for a while. He said they average about one balloon landing in the filed south of our street every other year. He said one year a balloon actually clipped the house at the end of the cul--de-sac and landed in the field. He said none of the neighbors ever volunteer to help retrieve the balloon from the field due to the rumored animal population-bears, coyotes, rattle snakes, etc. He also had seen the balloon that just missed C470.

The rest of the story.

Stuff you can't make up.

Usually it's the Denver Post guy with his bad muffler who wakes me up in the morning. He must have fixed his muffler because I haven't heard him the last couple weeks. This morning, around 7:00, I kept hearing a different noise outside. I looked out the window and it was a balloon-not the size you blow up or buy for your kids-and it was headed for our house. He was really throwing the gas to the burner to stay up. He passed over us and landed in a field at the end of the our cul-de-sac. I walked down to the end of the street to see what would happen next. I was the first one there but soon my neighbors came out in all sorts of levels of dress-I won't go into detail. The balloon was still upright but they could only keep it three to five feet off the ground. They were going to try to get it to our street so they could shut it down and fold it up. About five of them managed to get the balloon high enough to clear a barbed wire fence and on to our street. After avoiding a lamp post, it was a piece of cake. They deflated the balloon and started to roll it up. The pilot asked what street they were on so the chase car could find them. Half an hour later it was all gone.

I've seen a balloon almost land in a pond a couple blocks from our house and one almost land on C-470 which is a major four-lane highway in south Denver but I've never had one almost hit my house. Try explaining to your insurance company how your house was damaged by a balloon.

To atone for missing the Casper Ghosts opening game, my son-in-law Eric and I went to the Rockies-White Sox game last night. I like going with Eric because he understands the total game. The Rox blew it in the 9th and I am now 4-1 for the season when I watch them in person.
Saw something I had never seen before at this level-two base runners (one from each team) got picked off in the same game.

Tonight is the home opener of the Casper (WY) Ghosts (nee Rockies) baseball team. It's their eleventh home opener. I attended the first ten as I held season tickets for the first ten seasons. I will miss my friends who also had season tickets in our section, the running jokes, the needling and just good fun. We rooted for the Ghosts but really didn't worry about the score as the socialization was the name of the game. It's one of the few things I miss about Casper.

Keith is back"

Tonight I watched "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on the Current TV channel. Olbermann and Countdown were on MSNBC until he got into a fight with the network and left. He pillaged GW Bush when he was President and during his "Worst Person in the World" segment, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News or Rush Limbaugh was usually the winner. He is possibly the most liberal journalist on TV and I, as a moderate Republican, love him because he loathes the Tea Party and its conservative ilk as much as I do.

With Michelle Bachmann, congresswomen from Minnesota, announcing her run for President today, the show was great as they showed her gaffs as perhaps the one of the most factually challenged politicians since Sarah Palin. Life is good. He's no great fan of Obama but loathes the Republican hierarchy more than the Prez.

It was good to see Keith back as a contrast to most network news.

Even if I don't agree with you at times, Welcome back, Keith.

Enough is enough

Enough is enough.
Today we received a complimentary issue of a local Denver magazine. It was, however, addressed to my father whom they had welcomed as a new resident in the area.
The man has been dead for over seven years. Although our first and middle names are reversed, we already have a subscription to the magazine and have lived here for a year. He hadn't been to Denver for years before he died and I sure he never ever set foot in Littleton. This hurts. I keep getting letters in my mother's name asking for donations. She died in March. I resent this. There should be a clearing house to get the deceased off mailing lists. We publish obituaries so I don't think anyone's privacy would be invaded.

While yesterday was the wife's birthday, it was also a birthday of sorts for the grandtwins who, as my daughter puts it, are now 14 MONTHS OLD.

We all celebrated birthdays-both years and months-with Keri, Eric, and the boys (the 14 month old guys. A good time and good food was had by all.

Happy anniversary today, Eric and Keri.

Happy birthday, Kathy. For your birthday I am going to renew the license tags on your car. Isn't that sweet (and cheap)?

I'm a people watcher. I got this from my dad who would sit and watch-sometimes visits with other male watchers-while my mother shopped.
For instance: the couple who sat in front of me at the Rockies-Tigers baseball game Saturday night. They were late to begin arriving at the start of the second inning. The lady was carrying a beer with a foot-long hot dog drenched with sauerkraut and onions. Looking at it I thought I might barf. Fortunately she consumed it rapidly and downed the beer. She left a couple of innings later and didn't come back. That was all right with me as it gave me a better view of the field. Her husband spent most of the game on his cell phone. He probably has brain cancer by now. I don't think he missed her. He had another three or four beers while calling. He didn't ever get up. I admired his bladder control as I would have been good for two trips by then. I can't understand why people would spend that much on tickets and then not enjoy the game. Those tickets were expensive-believe me.

Hi, Amanda

Keri, Eric and the grandtwins took me out for Father's Day Friday night but I decided to give myself a Father's Day gift and bought a ticket to the Rockies-Tigers baseball game at Coors Field. Actually I bought a ticket behind homeplate from a scalper and got it for about half price. It was the largest crowd since opening day. The only problem with the seat was I was seated next to a Tiger fan who was bigger than me (I'm not small) on one side and a women who what she lacked in height she made up for in width so it was a tight squeeze. This is the fourth game I have attended this year and the Rockies are 4-0 when I am in the stadium. They should pay me to attend games. Lots of families there. The weather was great-low 70's-and with a win it was an even better evening. As I was leaving, there was a guy holding up a "Jesus Saves" sign. Unfortunately He doesn't pitch for the Rockies as the bullpen is terrible.
Happy "Father's Day" to me. I didn't even have to send a card.

Fact or fantasy:
Bumper sticker seen today
"Republicans-working hard
so you don't have to."

The political bumper sticker war is warming up. I would say Republican stickers in our part of the world outnumber Democratic bumper stickers about 80% to 20%. Such is life in the Golden Ghetto.

This morning I saw the results of two rear ended car accidents. This one today was much more severe and merited three cop cars and two tow trucks. Yesterday's wasn't bad; the police hadn't arrived and there was just broken headlight plastic and a wounded trunk and bumper. The worst part is they occurred on the same street I drive twice each morning if I go to my fitness center.
It makes today's "you might be a Redneck if you get a speeding ticket while towing another vehicle." a perfect example. That's the way people drive here in Colorado.

Pet Peeve for today:
I hate ads for men's colognes placed in magazines-example: this week's Sports Illustrated. You can't get the scent off your hands if you touch the pages.

While driving home Sunday afternoon, there was a traffic accident on I-25 near one of the northern suburbs. Traffic was backed up for miles. I finally got off the interstate and took a series streets which finally got me back on the interstate and headed home. I'm glad I wasn't through traffic. It seems that some guy, around 20, was driving a stolen car. He had 4 teenagers joyriding with him. He clipped a semi and rolled the car almost completely shutting down southbound I-25. The teenagers claim they had just met him and didn't have any idea of his name. Two of the boys ran while while stayed to help a younger boy who was injured in the rollover. One who ran was the driver.
It makes me think of all the gas that was wasted in stalled-with air conditioners running in 80 degree weather-and stop and go traffic. I also wonder what would have happened if the young boy had died. Joyriding is serious but try telling that to the teenage set. I don't have solutions, just concerns about the chances of the next similar accident. Darn-I'm getting old.

Friday-Thermopolis
As we are headed to the Catholic church for the funeral mass, we pass another church. On the side is a huge canvas sign stating "Open Sundays". What's funny is the white canvas sign covers another sign. Due to rain and wind the canvas has begun to come off and reveal a permanent sign with Christmas lights which reads "Seasons Greetings".
The funeral mass goes well. Counting our family there are about 20 people at the mass. Mom and I used to joke that she had outlived her friends. I think other commitments and poor health had more to do with it. I spoke about mom, calling her a woman of faith and optimism as I believe those were two of her strongest characteristics. The urn was made by one of the local parish members as a fundraiser. It was made of 100 year old chestnut from Anoka, Minnesota and it was beautiful. We went to the cemetery for a graveside service and I placed the urn in the freshly dug grave. With all the rain the past two days I brought home some of the grave with mud on my shirt and watch.
At noon our family went to the golf club for lunch and to say good-bye to my brother Bill and my cousin Ann as they left for Cheyenne and Montana respectively. At that moment I felt closure. Our motel had a mineral springs hot tub and a warm swimming pool so we all went swimming in the afternoon. Even the little guys enjoyed the water. We brought in pizza and called it an early evening.

Thursday-Casper:
I got up early and help Keri feed the little guys at the motel breakfast. At 10:00 I met my coffee drinking "homies" for hot chocolate at Johnny J's (This is where Prez Obama ate lunch when he was campaigning in Casper in 2008). I enjoyed it and returned to the motel to get ready to head to the airport to pick up David and Kelsey and then the final leg to Thermopolis for the memorial service.
There are no towns between Casper and Shoshoni (96 miles). When we finally reach Shoshoni we all headed for the rest rooms at one of the convenience stores. While waiting I saw a book titled "My dog was a Redneck but we got him fixed." Didn't buy it.
Arrived in Thermopolis just after a hail storm had gone through and it looked more like January than June on the ground.
Tuesday was our 42nd anniversary but we waited until last night to celebrate with Keri and the boys, David and Kelsey, my brother Bill and my cousin Ann Johnson, who had driven down from Monana for the memorial services.
It rained like crazy and I was nervous about what the weather would be like at the graveside service on Friday.

Wednesday-we (Keri, Kathy, the Grandtwins and I) are headed to a memorial service in Thermopolis, Wyoming for my mother. We have two minivans loaded with stuff. We decide to bypass Cheyenne and gas up in Wheatland. The second call I receive is "Did you bring grandma?" The reference are to her cremains behind my seat. I give a positive reply. We pull into a gas station in Wheatland where the price is $3.31.9 per gallon. Compared to Denver this is good. Just as were filling up a hail storm erupts. Fortunately we are under the covering for the gas pumps and we aren't going any place until the hail lets up. Some are about half an inch in diameter. I know-I got hit with a couple. No visible dents.
We continue on to Casper. As we drive into our motel in Casper, we see most of the guests standing outside looking at the clouds to the north of the motel. A funnel cloud has been sighted but apparently it is going north of Casper. I don't know what kind of weather omen this could be.

T-shirt seen yesterday

"Drink Apple Juice
OJ Kills"

With a picture of O.J. Simpson

Today the wife and I celebrate our 42nd anniversary.
We were married June 7, 1969 in Jackson, Minnesota. The temp was in the 90's and so was the humidity and the church wasn't air-conditioned (great weather for growing corn).
A little after noon on that day (I think the wedding was at 2:00) my brother-my best man, my best friend-a groomsman, and I headed for a restaurant/bar (they served only beer) to eat and have something to drink. We were all dressed in suits which made us stand out in this place. There was another guy across the bar from us-he was also dressed in a suit and looked familiar-having a beer. He kept looking at us. Finally he walked over and told us he had to be some place at 2:00 but seeing us there, he wasn't worried about being late. He happened to be Kathy's uncle whom I'd met the evening before at the rehearsal dinner. We made it the church with at least 20 minutes to spare and the rest is history.
Love you, Kathy.

Friday is trash pick-up day in our neighborhood-the Golden Ghetto. During the hours of 7:00 am and 8:00 am several trucks cruise the 'hood' looking for discarded items which may be worth something. This morning it was only two cruisers. It could be a sign of the economy, heavy recycling, or just good business. Who knows?

Bumper sticker seen on the back of an yuppie SUV:
"Save an elk
Shoot a land developer"
It's a Colorado thing.

Today I celebrate the ninth anniversary of my retirement. Our son graduated from college on Sunday and I retired the following Friday. No more tuition checks and R & B and book payments-a coincidence-probably.
I had district seniority so I knew if I decided to retire I would qualify (only five of us did and I don't know how may applied). At that time we received a year's salary spread over twelve months. When the head shed secretary called to say I had the option to accept but had a few days to consider. I told her "I want it!" When she asked again, I almost screamed "Yes, I want to retire!" As a school counselor all I did the last two or three years was administer one group test after another. I considered them worthless then and I still do but someone thought "No Child Left Behind" was good but it would involve group testing. I didn't consider NCLB worthwhile and I still don't but someone decided we had billions of dollars to waste on testing.
Am I happy-oh, yes. I work harder being a childcare provider for my grandtwins but I enjoy that.

Today I acknowledge that summer may be coming. The forecast is for temps in the 80's and possibly low 90's this week so I took off the electric blanket.

Block party-part II
Around 9:30 someone decided to shoot fireworks, the jumping castle is going strong, the adult soccer game has ended due to numerous injuries, and there is a blazing portable fire pit in the middle of the street. Hoping someone was doing smores in the fire, I returned to the party. I helped pick up trash (there was a lot) and then grabbed a chair and sat around the fire with a dozen other people. If I were writing a book about my 'hood', I could claim I was doing research but I just listened as parties past were reminisced fondly and not so fondly reminisced. A group of fathers was near by evaluating girls soccer talent and who should be on what level of team. I avoided that group. Finally at midnight the music was finally off, the fire pit was coals, and I was tired so I headed back home for good.
This morning a small group was again picking up trash, hosing down the street, a few consuming Bloody Marys, and trying to decide where to go for breakfast burritos. The guy who rented the jumping castle was there to pick it up. I had just had my bowl of cereal so I came home.
I guess just your typical morning after.

Today was the cul-de-sac's annual Memorial Day carry-in supper. It started about 4:00. When you see tents in the middle of the street and a ball game going at the end of the street, you know it's a real family thing. When a guy pulls up in a pick-up and starts pumping up an inflatable jumping castle, you know this is the golden ghetto. Opposite the tents on the sidewalk are four grills and twice as many beer coolers; you know this isn't a senior citizen gathering. It was bring your own drinks and meat for the grill which of course meant a good sized cooler for both of these. I think there are eleven house on our cul-de-sac but there had to be well over fifty adults there. Even the people who sold us their house came back. With kids at one end of the street playing baseball and soccer and the inflated jumping castle at the other end there was some serious imbibing going on in the middle. There were salads, hors d'oeuvres, chips and dip, plus the usual picnic desserts. Keri brought the twins over and they were a big hit. The twins saw things they've never seen before including a few dogs. After the lengthy cocktail hour someone finally threw some meat on the barbee and we began to get serious about eating. After dinner the adults divided up between men and women and the stories began. There was more laughing coming from the male circle so one can imagine the stories. Finally the male adults decided to play a soccer game while their wives stood by the side calculating which of their husbands would get hurt first.
As I write this at 8:45, things are still going strong. The adult soccer game has gone coed, the jumpers at the castle are still jumping and there are some serious discussions near the beer coolers.
With most of the adult attendees in their late 30's and early 40's-oh, to be 25 years younger.
Just another Sunday in the hood.

Maybe you can't take it with you but others will still try to get it out of you. When my mother passed away in March, as her executor my address became her address in order to take care of any business transactions. I don't know who sold her new(?) address to companies but we keep getting solicitations from charities as well as credit card applications. She even got return address stickers from the Paralyzed Veterans. One of the few times mother ever complained was when she kept getting so many letters asking for donations. Well, it didn't stop when she died.

It's approximately five miles from our house to my fitness center or the fat farm as I refer to it. The drive is always interesting. Nine days ago I was stopped at an intersection in the north-bound lane. It's a six-way light with left turn signals. I was stopped and some clown in a pick-up sped up, ran a red light and broadsided some poor woman going east. She was in the right but she also was broadsided. I don't pull out too fast from intersections since moving to Colorado. This morning a guy went speeding by me in a Prius. I was at the speed limit so he obviously wasn't. His car sports a license plate supporting alternative energy (we have more varieties of license plates in Colorado. I don't believe we have a 'Red Angus' license plate but since we already have Denver Bronco license plates, we will also have Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche plates next year. Not to be outdone the Colorado Rockies are also shooting for their own license plate-but I digress.) The Prius owner also had a "fuzz buster" on his dash.
I have seen a balloonist almost land on C470 (a four lane highway), the traffic lights go out at C470 and highway 121 (also four lanes), and I always wonder what will be next. Working out relieves the stress of just getting to the fitness center.

Tuesday two of my former Casper neighbors, Dave and Brad, met me for an afternoon Rockies game at Coors Field. After parking I decided to hit a place called Jackson's, which is right across the street from Coors Field. I had a hunch I would find them there and sure enough I did. We had lunch and some of the beer specials so by the first pitch, they in a great mood. Things got a little obnoxious and the two ladies seated in front of us lasted ten minutes and then moved. The game wasn't going well for the Rockies in the early innings so the stories got wilder. It started to rain so we moved higher and then the Rockies came back to take the lead in the eighth and eventually win the game so interest in the game took the place of raucous stories. The crowd was announced in the paper as 41,000 fans in attendance which means Coors Field must hold 80,000 people as I don't believe it was half full. It was good to see former neighbors and know that nothing has changed.
I'm now 3-0 when I see the Rockies in person. They should give me free tickets.

Sunday, May 15-Twin Cities:
It's a lazy day. The sun is out. I walk to a near-by store to get a Sunday paper and bring it back. The son reads the paper on his computer.
Kelsey is involved with their church quite a bit of the day so David and I decide to go to the Twins game hoping for a better result than yesterday. We stop at a 'JimmyJohns'. I had never eaten at one although I've seen them advertised on TV. Best sandwich I've had in a long time.
We purchased box tickets 7 or 8 rows behind the Twins dugout. We bought them at half price on the street. Great seats and it's warm most of the game. The results are worse than Saturday. The Twins are out of it by the 5th inning. After their loading the bases with no outs and failing to score in the seventh, the people in the outfield stands begin throwing napkins and other garbage onto the outfield. The grounds crew have to go out to collect the trash. Even the most typically stoic Minnesotan begins to get a little testy after watching his/her inept team. Some fans just leave. We stay to the end.
David grills hamburgers for the two of us as Kelsey is still at church. Great burgers.
Kelsey gets home later and shows me the latest ultrasound pictures of our future granddaughter who is due in August. That's exciting to see. Everything is going well and Kelsey is feeling fine so things are looking good. I go to bed early as I have to get up to go the airport for a morning flight.

Monday, May 16th Twin Cities and Denver:
D & K live fairly close to the airport. The most exciting part of the ride is watching a lady driver apply her make-up on her way to wherever she's going. Security is somewhat confusing as no one gives any info until the last minute and people are scrambling to comply with little known regulations.
We arrive in Denver 15 minutes early unfortunately our gate isn't ready for 30 minutes so we wait on the tarmac. Oh, well.

Saturday, May 14th-Twin Cities:
D, K, and I eat a quick breakfast at a bakery. Kelsey, a therapist, has booked two clients for this morning so after dropping her at her office, David and I head for a couple of big box electrical and home improvement stores. My problem with this places is I see so many things I covet but I really don't need. I would have trouble getting my wish list on the plane anyway.
It's been raining all morning. At home we layer up for the cold. I go with four layers. When I told David to buy tickets, I told him to get them out of the sun if possible. With the rain we are sheltered and stay dry from the overhang-just lucky. The game goes 11 innings and then the Twins fall apart and get beat by six runs. I buy a T-shirt as a souvenir.
Saturday evening we visit, watch a movie, and then I head to bed.

My trip to the Twin Cities to visit son David and d-i-l Kelsey:
Day 1-Friday the 13th:
As I drive from our turnoff onto highway 121, I pass a car in which the driver is crouched very low in the seat. When I pass, I can see that SHE is combing her bangs and has the mirror adjusting accordingly and is slouched in the seat. Ten seconds later I pass a second car in which the lady is dipping a tea bag into a small thermos. I've got to quit watching other drivers or I'll drive off the side of the road. The worst part of flying is getting to the airport.
I arrive in the Twin Cities on time. David picks me up, we stop for a bottle of wine for a party this evening and finally stop at a grocery store to pick up snacks because the party could start late (it does).
When I arrive at their house, the first thing I do is feed Stooey; the dachshund, who is very suspicious of strangers to put it mildly. He is kinder to the hand that feeds him so we repeat the routine daily and Stooey and I get along pretty well.
The party consists of D and K-aged friends. I'm the oldest person there but with so many young mothers and pregnant wives, as a full-time child care provider, I find I have street cred.
A few older folks do show up, the food and liquor is pretty good, and we all enjoy ourselves. That's just the weekend warm-up.
More tomorrow.

Seen on the back of a T-shirt at the fitness center this morning and dedicated to my teacher friends:

"The beatings will continue until morale improves."

On the back of a T-shirt seen at the Mets-Rockies game last night:

"If God had wanted man to play soccer,
He wouldn't have given us arms."

Mike Ditka, former NFL tight end and later NFL coach

Rockies-2, Mets 1
I am now 2-0 when I watch the Rox in person.

Bumper sticker seen this morning

"Jesus is coming-
Hide your porn"

This reflects the image of hypocrisy that I have of not all but certain conservative religions.

Sarah Palin was speaking in Denver the Monday after the death of Osama bin Laden was announced. She gave full credit to former President George W. Bush for the planning and carrying out the mission.

No wonder democrats pray for a Donald Trump-Sarah Palin republican ticket.

Today would have been my mother's 95th birthday but she passed away in March. I always called her if May 3rd was during the week and I always visited her the following weekend-weather permitting. Casper always hosted a big track meet that Saturday but the meet director knew I wouldn't be home that day. The only exceptions were when the kids played soccer.
When she died, she was in a lot of pain but fortunately went quickly. Her future wasn't bright but she was optimistic about recovery-more so than me. I wouldn't wish her back but I still have the urge to pick up the phone to call mom or to send her photos of the grandtwins.

Went to the Rockies-Pirates game at Coors Field last night dressed in two ski jackets and long johns. I wore my Rockies cap rather than a ski cap-big mistake.
It was in the high 40's at the 6:10 game start. The wind came up from the north and the temp went down from there.
First a group of five young ladies sat a few rows in front-one wearing a sleeveless T-shirt (over her winter coat, of course) with Eliza-Bitchin' Bride-Last Chance. I wondered what "last chance" could mean. Maybe I should have asked........Naaaaa. There was an elderly guy with a Rockies jersey seated the front row of our section. He had the name "Banner Jack" on the back. Every time they introduced a Rockies player, B' Jack would hold up a sign with the player's name and number and encourage fans to cheer for the player. That went OK for the first couple innings but the fans got tired of it. B' Jack got frustrated but didn't give up. A couple of innings later B' Jack announced as he was leaving the section but he would be right back. No one seemed to care but Jack. You know how old guys and their bladder are. People like this give us seniors a bad rep.
Just when I thought I had see almost everything, a vendor came by with a backpack that dispensed Margaritas-$7 (the guy in front of me had two). Later that guy talked a friend into going with him to the front of the section to encourage our section to do the "wave" (the most useless thing in sports). Through the intervention of a "higher being" it failed. Later another section started the "wave" and it succeeded. The "higher being" must have been at the concession stand.
After freezing for seven and a half innings, I left to beat the traffic. That succeeded and I made great time coming home until I hit a snow storm at the west end of the Denver Metro but the roads were fairly dry and I got home with no problems.
BTW-the Rockies won 4-1. Great night for baseball.

Had the lawn aerated, mowed the lawn, turned on the sprinkler system, and have tickets for the Rockies-Pittsburgh baseball game Saturday night. The weather forecast for the weekend-SNOW.

Great news. Neighbor Dave and Neighbor Brad are coming to Denver from Casper for a Rockies baseball game on May 17th and I'm going to meet them there. Dave is a die heart Red Sox fan and Brad is equally so a Yankee fan. When we all lived on Horizon Dr., it made for some interesting talks. I am a Twins fan so it didn't matter that much to me. I haven't seen either of them in a year and am excited to catch up on things.

Today is the grandtwins first birthday. Aunt, uncle, and cousin flew in from Ohio. The other uncle flew in from Minneapolis. I'm sure the little guys will enjoy their presents-at least the paper and boxes they came in.
Congratulations Aiden and Reid.

Today, April 20th, is the 12th anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The school is closed and there will be a memorial service later today at a park north of the high school.

When the birth day of the twins was approaching we were all hoping that it wouldn't be on April 20th. Fortunately they held out for three more days.

Ironically today is my brother's birthday.

I was visiting with one of my neighbors this afternoon. He works in the distribution division of a large local brewery (guess which one. It's located in Golden, Colorado). On this panel wagon is a sticker which states neither the driver nor the vehicle carries any cash. I asked him why that bumper sticker. He said he's worked for them for six years and has been robbed three times. After the first one -losing cash and six cases of beer-he reported it but nothing was done. After the second time, they installed a safe under the seat. The third attempt they (?) stole six cases and the safe. He said they did get the cash back on that one. Now I understand the bumper sticker. Still there are people who rob the van just for the beer.

I had an old truck go sailing by me today. How old was it? It had a Ronald Reagan for President sticker on it.

This may a guy thing but some of the great moments in life are when the lawn mower starts for the first time in the spring and the snow blower starts for the first time in the winter. Today my lawn mower started after about fifteen pulls. Life is good.

One of my pet peeves is when people leave their carts from WalMart and its ilk or the large supermarket parking lots in a parking space or on a curb. Today at WalMart I found the ultimate cart abandonment. I usually park far away from the entrance for a healthy walk and fewer scratches on my van. Parked in a space was one of the electric shopping carts for the handicapped-often the overweight. I decided I should take it in so someone who truly needs it would have access. People looked at me as I wheeled down the parking row toward the great box. Where there is a slight dip, I may have been cruising around 3 mph. People got out of my way so the "poor dude" could take his electric cart and buy his survival necessities. As I got in the door and hopped out the cart the greeter thought she was seeing a miracle. I explained to her that it had been left at the far end of the parking lot and I was just bringing it. She smiled and thanked me as I pushed a regular cart into the store. I was just doing a good deed but I only got in half my walk. At times one must make sacrifices.

This one is from my daughter-in-law Kelsey> "Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR, and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves trillions in bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither." Appears we need to shut down a couple wars.

I really like getting mail addressed to me or "Current Resident" at our address. Makes the mail feel real personal and it usually winds up in the circular file in shreds.

Those who don't take a daily newspaper miss out on two of the best cartoons-Zits, about raising a teenage boy, and Baby Blues, which is about raising three pre-elementary aged kids. Some days I almost turn to the comics before reading the headlines and sports.

You have to lived back then to appreciate this. When Gerald Ford was President, he had a habit of bumping his forehead entering and leaving Air Force One and the same thing when he was using a helicopter. The political cartoonists began characturizing him with a band-aid on his forehead. This reminds me of Aiden, one of the grandtwins. He likes to explore and often crawls into different places or just runs into things and often bumps his forehead leaving a bruise or a scratch. I know it comes with the territory but he does resemble Prez Ford in hairline and complexion. You really had to have been around then to appreciate the similarity.

Happiness is today finding my 2010 "You might be a Redneck..........." calendar that I packed last June and I can go through quite a few of the past dates from June 2010 to December 31, 2010 in a few sittings. Life is good.

Ever get a new telephone number and wonder who had the number before you? We keep getting calls for someone we assume previously had our number. It happens so often that I now ask who's calling and whom they represent. This week it was a collection agency asking for some guy. Later a loan company was calling for a person I assume is his wife since the asked for someone with the same last name. It does put a certain mystique to answering the phone.

Today is our daughter Keri's ??rd birthday. Her due date was supposed to be April 5th but she wasn't ready that day. We finally got her on the 6th. It was one of the greatest days of my life. I hope that she and Eric have the same good fortune raising their two sons as we did raising Keri and her brother David. Of course, as an older sister, Keri helped shape David.

I learned a new word this week-"cremains." It's the ashes after a body has been cremated. I just referred to them as ashed but now I know the correct term. My spellchecker even knows it. I don't know if this falls into the category of useless info or not.

Yesterday it was 84 degrees in the Denver area. This afternoon it is snowing. A small southern Wyoming town store that is named "...............Guns and Grocery" will no longer sell groceries. Apparently the shipping costs and expiration dates make it fiscally impossible to continue selling groceries. The store will continue to sell guns and outdoor equipment. There must be no expiration date on guns or ammo.

It's opening day for the Rockies, temp in the low 70's, and I can watch the game on TV. Life is good. Go Rox!

I listened to President Obama's speech last night. I thought it was George Bush-without the accent-trying to justify Iraq. For a guy that ran as a peace candidate, he appears to be lost.

It's tough enough to have a relative die but then one has to prove that the person died. It's called a death certificate and financial institutions and other businesses have to see a death certificate before allowing heirs or other beneficiaries to inherit, close accounts, pay bills, etc. When our mother died, we were told it would take two to three weeks to get a death certificate. Fortunately the mortuary we used pulled some strings and we got the certificates in three days rather than three weeks. I think this was because both my brother and I were residing out-of-state at the time of her death. It took us a day and a half but we were able to take care of all the Cheyenne stuff. There are just a couple of other things to close or transfer but at least as the executor I can do it from home. Dying just isn't easy. A person has to prove he/she passed on.

My son sent me an e-mail that indicated HBO was planning to make a mini-series on the life of former Veep Dick Cheney who grew up in Casper. On the HBO announcement there was a place for comments. The first comment asked who would play Dick Cheney? With about 20 responses the consensus was that only the devil could play Dick Cheney and do justice to the role.

Tuesday was a mixed bag:
As I was leaving to return to Cheyenne to clean out my mother's apartment, I stopped by K & E's. We had had our niece Julie, who was on break from St. Olaf, and her friend Amanda, also an Ole, stay with us for five days. Aiden and Reid were getting a private concert as Amanda, who is in the St. Olaf Orchestra and other musical groups, played the Orange Blossom Special on her violin (where do you store that on a plane?) and later she and Julie, who played the piano at our wedding, played her Uke (where do you store that on a plane?) and sang while Amanda played her violin; and while I was there, they played Over the Rainbow for the boys. The boys were sitting in their BUMBO chairs (you have to be a young parent to know what they are) as attentively as a couple of eleven month boys can be. Reid played the rattle and I guess Aiden tried to sing earlier. It was neat.

After driving to Cheyenne my brother and I went to a Wendy's, which is near the Cheyenne airport to eat. As we pulled into the lot, we saw the biggest plane I've ever seen landing at the near-by airport. It turns out it was a Boeing 787, their newest jumbo, practicing landings and take-offs at the Cheyenne airport because there was so much wind that day and they could practice wind landing and take-offs.The Cheyenne airport is also an Air Force National Guard facility with some good sized Air Force planes of their own and therefore has longer runways than an airport that size would normally have. As we ate they landed and took off three or four times. Years ago they tested the 747s at the Casper airport to practice wind landings. The Wyoming wind is apparently useful for other things than just powering wind generators and blowing snow. We enjoyed watching them.

Ironies:
My brother and I are cleaning out our mother's apartment as she died last week.
1. Our mother being a devout Catholic, we found a St. Anthony medal that hadn't been taken out of the package. I decided to see where a Catholic medal was made-sure enough it was made in that Catholic bastion of China.
2. I was cleaning out her closet where had stored decorations for almost every occasion. I couldn't believe I found a huge paper shamrock for St. Patrick's day. She died on St. Patrick's day. I couldn't get rid of that one fast enough.

We think we're ready for anything but really we're not. When they called me from the nursing home in Cheyenne at 5:45 this morning to tell me my mother had passed away during the night, I really wasn't ready. I had been in Cheyenne Tuesday and Wednesday with mom. We talked about people and things and took care of some pretty important business. Wednesday morning we went over everything I had done since I took over her personal bookkeeping duties. A couple weeks ago I sent her income tax to an accountant, balanced her bankbook, paid bills, and even deposited some checks that had come since she went into the hospital. She had spent ten days at the hospital and I thought we would lose her then. She survived and went to a nursing home for physical therapy where her goal was to get strong enough to go into assisted living. I had spent time looking for appropriate placement sites for the day she left the nursing home. We arranged having enough money in her checking account that she would be good for at least a year if not more. The last thing I did Wednesday was to bring more clothes to her along with writing paper, notes, envelopes, and stamps. She wanted her address book and her phone card as she was planning to catch up on owed letters and phone calls. When I said good-bye to her around noon yesterday, she was eating in the dining room and had made a friend who ate with her.
Then came the call.
Today I spent half my day on the telephone with my brother, a nursing home, the independent living facility where she resided, a bank, an accountant, and the mortuary. The hardest calls and e-mails were to her friends and relatives. I had to tell my kids that grandma had died. I called a couple of her friends and e-mailed others. Ironically her older sister (almost 98) had the most mature understanding. She had mixed feelings after seeing what mom was going through in pain, etc., but my aunt handled it very well. I think the older we get the more we think about and understand death-our own and others. As my mother would say, "Growing old is not for the weak."
I wasn't ready but I've done enough reflecting today that I'm comfortable with the situation. I didn't cry but I shed a few tears.