Friday, May 27, we traveled to Mitchell Field in Milwaukee to catch our Frontier Airlines flight to Denver. We arrived two hours before our flight and the flight was uneventful. I enjoyed watching the History channel on DirectTV during the flight. Geoff watched a movie and Liz mostly slept.
We arrived in Denver, got into our Hertz Chevy Impala and headed for Winter Park. By this time it was dark. That's a good thing because Interstate 70 is nothing but UP until you hit Colorado Hwy 40 and then it's REALLY UP!! It's good that it was dark because I'm sure I didn't want to see what was beside my car as I drove up there. Here is a picture of the monument at the top of the Continental Divide where it changes from UP do DOWN.



We arrived in Winter Park at about 11 p.m. local time and, after missing the hotel the first time and turning around to find it, we hit the sheets. None of us slept very well. The pillows on Geoff's bed were really slim and he likes fat. Guess what! The pillows on our bed were really fat and we like slim. We corrected that the next night and it went better.

We awoke and went down to breakfast on Saturday and met lots of our relatives in the restaurant. We were pretty much the only people at this five-story hotel so the only strangers were the people we had not yet met from Amy's side of the family.
To kill time, we drove up the road to Granby, Colorado, about 15 miles away and located the church. Geoff went with Paul Costello and Liz and I drove by ourselves. We stopped at the KFC/Taco Bell in Fraser, CO for lunch.

The wedding was at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Granby, CO and was unremarkable. All went well.

After the wedding, we went back to the room for an hour or so to chill, and then we went down to the reception. The meal was finally served and that was followed by the dance. Here is a pic of beautiful bride, Amy with Andrey behind her. They were not covering each other up when I first pressed the button on the camera but the camera doesn't fire right away and Amy sorta blocked Andrey.



Here's a posed picture of the three of us:



Here are Liz and her aunt Ann McAndrews. Ann was in good spirits and even danced with Reuben's brother Abraham (a character if there ever was one).



At one point, Geoff disappeared for awhile. We subsequently learned that he had been "hijacked" by Amanda Schroeder and Anna Trinidad. They subsequently brought him back to the dance floor and "forced" him to dance despite his "seriously injured knee".



The day after the wedding, we got together with Paul Costello and Paul and Madonna McKenzie and traveled to Grand Lake, CO. Grand Lake is the largest natural lake in Colorado. We took the one hour boat tour of the lake. It was conducted by an older man who "summer's" in Grand Lake. He gave us lots of background about all the rich families who own homes on and around Grand Lake. Tim Allen, of ToolTime fame, has a home up in the hills overlooking the lake but not on it. Here is a picture of one of the homes, most of which are worth millions and seldom ever come up for sale.



Here is my favorite picture from the trip, a view from the lake of Mt. Craig, locally known as Mount Baldy. It began to rain and blow when we were halfway through the tour but we enjoyed it nonetheless.



After the boat tour, we toured the Judge Walcott Museum, a restored home turned into a museum. It was interesting and, even better, had heat. We were not all dressed for the cool, typical Memorial Day weather. I had on shorts but even Paul Costello, who was dressed in jeans and a jean jacket, expressed pleasure in being indoors.
We ate lunch at a BBQ place in Grand Lake. It had a bucket of salted-in-the-shell peanuts on the table and I overdid it (imagine an alcoholic overdoing something......). My order of a half-rack of ribs, baked sweet potato, and fresh ASPARAGUS!! was delicious and generous in every way but I could not finish it. I had eatten too many peanuts. Nonetheless, it was probably the best meal I've ever had in a "franchise-type" restaurant.
After we finished eatting, we noted that it had been raining nearly constantly while we were in the restaurant. We decided to go see "Rainbow Falls" since the tourguide had recommended it. We drove over to the northern end of the lake, toward Mt. Baldy, and quickly found the parking lot and trail to Adams Falls. It was raining still so we decided to give it 5 minutes. It was still sprinkling a little but the sign said Adams Falls, .3 miles, so I figured it was just around the bend. Actually, it was quite a climb up the mountain but the following pictures illustrate that it was worth the breathless climb.



The water flows into a narrow gorge and is really quite spectacular!!




After leaving Grand Lake, we drove back to Winter Park but were moved to take pictures of the Rockies on the outskirts of Fraser, CO. Here is one of those shots.




Opps! That last shot was kinda big but you can scroll a bit to get the full effect. Those mountains are awe-inspiring. I'd use the other word that starts with awe but just hearing it gags me. It has been abused to death!!

Monday morning, we arose, went down and had breakfast and caught up with Paul and Madonna in the restaurant. We were the only people there and probably among the less than a dozen in the whole place. We bid them goodbye and began the trip back up to Berthoud Pass, this time in the daylight. I was very nervous when my lane was on the outside of the mountain but that part lasted for only a brief while. Once we were over the pass and on to I-70, we noticed that Paul and Madonna had caught up with us. We managed to pass each other several times and ended up at the Hertz Rental return at the same time. We took the same shuttle to the airport and then parted for the last time.
Our flight home was uneventfull except for a couple of those "bottom falls out" blips near Madison, Wisconsin.

We got back home at about 7:45 p.m. last night. It was a wonderful weekend in which we were able to see some things we had never seen before. I am so grateful for Amy and Andrey inviting us out and to God for providing us safe travel throughout the journey.

It's a great day for Golf, so I'd better get to it. I hope you have enjoyed my most ambitious blog posting to date.

Ciao, babies!!

The Big Yellow Larry's Hauling truck just pulled up and took my garbage away. Life is Beautiful!!

Hello, my faithful readers! Today, I propose to create a marvelous recollection of our Memorial Day Weekend trip to Winter Park, Colorado and the wedding of Andrey and Amy Trinidad.

Ah, but first, here is one of the few pictures we took when Liz and I traveled to Lake Delton, Wisconsin (right next to Wisconsin Dells) to celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary. On the Saturday of the weekend, we visited Mirror Lake State Park and had a nice hour-long walk. Here is Liz proving we were there.


Now, for one of your favorite topics: Kitties!!
Just after Geoff brought all four of Cuddles' kitties in, we took this picture of three of them. We had kept them in the bathroom where they couldn't make too much of a mess. Here are three of the little rascals, two of whom were adopted by Dennis and Sharon next door.


Here's a darling picture of Nouli (short for Bernouli, she's an engineer's kitten) in the Puff's box:



Here's Nouli and her new partner in crime, Napoleon Dynamite!



After a strenuous day of running around, chasing the mousie and generally crawling all over the furniture, this is how it looks:



This brings us to the actual wedding. I think I should Blog that separately so, for now,

Ciao, babies!!

Ok. I tried to use these brackets in here but I found out that Blogger treats them as ways to insert HTML tags. Oooooo, bad puddy tat!

So back to that creepy perverted thing. Um, I'm mostly harmless, well, except to your young daughters. Well, ok, that WAS creepy.....

What WILL i be when I grow up? Dead, I guess.

Ciao, babies!

Hello! You thought I died but I'm only a little sick. That's why I have the time to think and write. I didn't go to work today. This sore throat hurts and I'm just feeling, as I said in my "email-in-sick" note this morning, worn out.
And this is supposed to be the first day of the SNC GOLF LEAGUE season. But, as you know if you live here, spring this year is reveling in one more chance to stick it up our butts. My dear friend Holly has stepped into the breach and taken it upon herself to cancel league today. Good for you, Holly. It's great to know someone who knows how to step up to the plate.

I've been wanting to do another Google search on "darwin fish". I think of it all the time when I'm not near my computer, i.e., when I'm driving to or from work. I was hoping to find some kind of philosphy page explaining why people put these things in their cars. What I found was tons of people who want to sell me irreverent bumper stickers, car and refrigerator magnets, etc. It appears that the Darwin Fish is a symbol for thumbing one's nose at the religious right.

If that's the deal, count me IN. I believe in God, the Father Almighty...... But what makes my SKIN CRAWL are the religious fundamentalists who think that they have to apply their standards to EVERYBODY ELSE and try to recruit the whole world to their way of thinking. My deal is to believe in the love and goodness of God and to strive to make my life a "channel of His peace". I believe I can do that without wearing a sandwich board that proclaims that you must believe AS I DO or you will go to Hotel, Echo, Lima, Lima (I'm learning the phonetic alphabet for those serial number over the phone things).

And another thing that I haven't learned to deal with graciously, IT PISSES ME OFF, are those religions that teach their adherents that people who belong to certain other religions, oh, lets just say Catholics, Jews, etc., are to be avoided as EVIL or misguided. As that Stuart guy that Al Franken used to play on SNL, " I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. And, doggone it, PEOPLE LIKE ME."


So, anyway, about those overly religious guys, FUCK THEM! (sorry, kids, I said a bad word once....maybe twice) Can you tell that I've lost my focus?

I'm watching a movie on Sundance called "The Jimmy Show". It followed a documentary on They Might Be Giants which I found intensely interesting. I was gonna watch Six Feet Under on HBO On Demand but I can't get off this Jimmy movie now. So much TV, so little time. So little time to be truly hip.
Yes, B&G, that's what I wanna be when I grow up, HIP! I want people to think I'm intellectual and a bit odd, but in a nice way, not in a creepy, perverted way.

Whoa! Time to spew....
I was watching the Dr. Phil special on Pat O'Brien tonight and I sent the following to CBS:

Dr. Phil,
Confronting Pat O'Brien about the insanity of his behavior while actively alcoholic/addicted as if he should have known better based on the logic in your mind is ridiculous.
Alcoholism is a disease (check with the AMA) which defies logic.
I hope your program helps people to understand the insidious nature of alcoholism.
I have to wonder though what the motive is for airing this program. One can only infer that your network would not air this program if it did not think it could make money on it. The easiest way to make money is probably to make it sensational.
The popular view of alcoholism is that it is a choice and that only weak-willed, criminal types choose to do the insane things that people do while under the influence. Sensationalizing the things that a highly visible personality did while under the influence serves very little purpose but to reinforce the ill-informed opinion that alcohol and drug addiction is a choice that alcoholics and addicts continue to make.
I'd like you to know two things. First, once you cross the line into alcoholism, drinking is a voracious compulsion and not a clear "choice". Second, you never know when you cross the line only that you are on the other side.
Thank you for considering my view.

For those of you following along at home, I'm an alcoholic. If I can stay sober til the 25th of this month, it will be 18 years since my last drink. My recovery means everything to me. It is the most important thing in my life.

Lots of things have been building up that I want to write about. I wonder if I'll remember most of them.

I just finished listening to the audiobook of "The Secret Life of Bees." It was WONDERFUL!!! It was read by a woman who sounds just like the 14 year old southern girl that the book is about. I cherish this book. It was portrayed in the reviews on Audible.com as a book about women for women. Well, I like women. I like chick flicks and books that make me cry. This one made me laugh and it made me cry. It is a treasure. Read it. Listen to it.

We have only two more days of classes at St. Norbert and then a week of finals and it's "Summertime and the livin' is easy." Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high. Your daddy's rich, and your ma is good lookin'. So hush little baby, don't you cry......

Yeah, I wanna go upstairs and play my guitar and listen to my old LP's. Seems like there is so little time for everything yet I'm very afraid of giving up the security of work. I don't need the security of the money. I'm sure Liz can support me in the manner which I have become accustomed to. She nearly has her Master's degree. Just one more summer and she'll be done. She is flying up the salary schedule and her pay is awesome. I can start drawing a comfortable pension any time I want but could probably live on just her salary until I'm 65 and can draw the maximum amount. The thing I don't think I could handle about retirement would be the lack of contact with other people. I have many satisfying relationships at work and it will be hard to leave them when I do.

It's getting hot in here. I have the door closed so the baby kitties can't get in. Here's what happened:
About a week ago, I began to be concerned that when it was time to take the baby kitties to the humane society I would not be able to catch them. They were spending a lot more time in the big woodpile behind Bossler's where there mother was teaching them cat stuff. But Geoff showed up one night with all four of them in the kitty condo so we put them in the bathroom. By this time, Geoff had decided to take one of them. It is one of the all brown ones. He named it Bernouli. Nouli for short. Then Sharon and Dennis Bossler said they wanted a kitten. The came over last Thursday and picked one out but said they didn't want it just yet. When I asked Sharon about it the next day and said I was going to the humane society the next day, she said they wanted two. Sharon wanted the other brown one and Dennis wanted the one with the dark brown spots.
So, all of a sudden, I was down to having to take one little kitty to the humane society. I quickly decided I didn't want to do that but Geoff said he only wanted one. I said I'd take the one in but Liz, bless her heart, said I could have a kitten. I think that's WE can have a kitten but it doesn't matter. The LAST one is smaller than the others, was the most scared of humans and has eyes that are red and runny. But he's improved by leaps and bounds since we've adopted him. I think I'm going to call him Dynamite because he's so adventuresome and loves to wrestle and play with Nouli. We'll take them to the vet and get their shots and have them checked for fleas and stuff.
Smokey does not like the kitties and she hisses and bats at them. We will have to ease them into cohabitating. For now, Nouli and Dynamite live in the bathroom. They are a real show when I inhabit the throne (Baseball, Apple Pie, Televison shows, what's your favorite movie?) (Did I get your mind out of my bathroom?) in the morning. They run and chase each other's tails. They wrestle and gnaw on each others feet and heads and bodies. They are just a riot. Everyone should have baby kittens at least once in their lives. When you look at baby kitties, how can you believe that there is no God?

I'm getting kind of tired so it's time for me to pack it up. My new computer is very cool. How did I live without a 20 inch LCD and 3ghz processor? God has blessed me so richly in so many ways. The older I get, the more I understand how blessed I am. Thank you, Lord.

Ciao, babies!