Category: Uncategorized

When we moved out to the west end of the metroplex, I soon began to realize that this was as close as I would ever come to living in the mountains. In seven minutes I can be in Coal Creek Canyon, and pushing right into the heart of the Rockies. Exploring my surroundings has taken on the ‘ahh factor’ that people spend thousands of dollars and drive lots of miles to enjoy. In forty minutes I can be in the quirky burg of Nederland. Nederland is an old mining town that has now become a landing place for artists, hippies…

I am writing this a day late. I want to blame it on the weather. Well, that’s in part the case. The real reason is poor planning, and the realities of trying to do too many things. I had set aside two hours on Saturday evening and then I got to spend time with daughter Amy and granddaughter Zoe in their “new home”. Zoe had just finished her third church camp of the summer and was going though “post camp blues”. We had a great time listening to the two of them. As we were preparing to leave, Zoe said…

I have invented the word that describes my current state of being. I am conflicted. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, or go full—on curmudgeon. Today I was able to drive 22 miles each way to go to an “in person” 12-step meeting. I need people. For most of my life I have lived in the midst of a swirl of living breathing folk. As a result of the massive paradigm shift that the Covid pandemic brought to the whole world, and my full—on retirement a year ago, I find myself often spending a lot of time alone. I do…

In ninth grade we had to run a mile in under eight minutes to get an A in Gym. That meant four laps around a 440 yard track. I remember vividly staying with the pack of reasonably fit classmates. Then came the forth lap. Mr. Clay shouted out “You are about six seconds off the pace”. That does not seem like much until you try to make it up. My lungs began to burn and the possibility of not making it in eight minutes loomed. He met a group of us at the halfway point and said, “Keep it up…

Two days ago I took my first real shower in a month. By real I mean—I got to stand underneath a perfectly nice warm shower and put on peppermint shower gel. Whatever they call a shower in the hospital, is not. It’s sort of like a partial “hose down” while you sit in a chair. I have a long list of why I love being home — none of which could have happened without MK. Here are some of the perks of “Home Sweet Home”—my power chair, which sits at the center of ‘control central’ and in its place, the…

I am writing this 12 days before my seventy-fifth birthday. I have reasonable confidence that I will be there for this turn in to my own run at a century. Three weeks ago today I was admitted to “Good Sam” as it is nicknamed by the hospital personnel who work there. To say I got to the emergency room “just in time” might not be an exaggeration. I was fortunate that the ER Doc got me started in the right direction with the right antibiotics. By that evening I found out that I had sepsis originating from my left foot.…

Yesterday I drove out to Cherry Creek State Park. I love taking that drive through neighborhoods and back roads. In doing so I go by a number of schools. Quite a few grade schools, a middle school and one high school. All of them had signs celebrating the last day of school. On my return I was given the treat of watching kids pour out of a grade school where joy filled the air. I was transported back to that incredible feeling of freedom. Three months of swimming pools, bike riding, playing until dark, and in my home growing up,…

I heard my first Meadowlark this week. The call took me through seven decades of remembering their most distinctive eight note song. My parents built a house in 1955 on the very edge of the high desert prairie on the east edge of Pueblo. My back yard went all the way to Kansas. It remained that way for seven years. Then, new houses began to erase this world that was filled with: lizards, rabbits, snakes, and tarantulas, to name a few. On any summer morning our backyard fence would become a perch for those yellow breasted opera singers. I have…

There is a new family in our neighborhood. We moved “Out Here” in 2017, and now live on the far edge of the metro area. To our east is Standley Lake, a beautiful large lake completely surrounded by open space. I often drive by it twice a day… it never disappoints. There are many routes that bring me to this enclave called Whisper Creek. I jokingly say if Walt Disney designed a suburb, I live in it—clean, sculpted, efficient and very close to nature in every direction. My favorite route home is the longest way. I go north and drive…

Sometime after the end of WWII, a very generous Doctor donated his three story mansion on the corner of 13th St and York, to a fledgling group of Alcoholics Anonymous. The purpose was to create a home base where alcoholics could gather to get and stay well. Nearly 78 years later its presence is felt 18 hours a day—everyday . Today I went to a memorial service there for a physician who sobered up August 16, 1987. I beat him by 15 days as my AA birthday is August 1, 1987. On the second floor of that grand old mansion,…