Happy New Year! Cold and Snow

I didn't get on here all week. We had really bad weather yesterday. It started out a nice day, sun shine and a little chilly. By 2 in the afternoon it was snowing. By 3 there where dozens of streets closed do to accidents. Many 20 car or more pile ups. There was an 8 minute video posted on Facebook.com taken at about 3pm on Carefree and Powers. It was a great video of a 20+ car pile up while it happened. Nanci just told me it made CNN! I left work at 3 and got home at 5. It's normally about a 20 minute drive. I had to detour several times. When I was done I probably went 12 miles to get home. It's only about a 4 mile trip. The worst part was I was driving my 93 benz. It had new tires! But, the fan for the heater/AC quit working end of last winter. The temp was 12 degrees! The windows where pretty fogged over and I froze my ass off. But, unlike many people, I made it home!

Luckily, Nanci and I both had the day off today. We had planned to take Kairi to Boulder to go shopping. Instead we took her to Costco. She had fun and got some stuff too.

I received a letter from an attorney in Lincoln yesterday. It was just a copy of the announcement in the legal paper in Lincoln. Basically it stated that anyone that wanted to make a claim on any of mom's stuff need to present it to the court by February 22, I think. Dick is suck an ass! So, I'm thinking of asking for mom's recipes, any photos and the malt machine. Who knows what is left in the house. Patty tried calling me this week. I am just not comfortable talking to her yet.

Chris's dad, Henry England had a stroke today. They flew him to Denver for surgery. Chris's mom and Chris are going to Denver tomorrow to see him. Sounds like it was pretty mild. Hope he is doing OK.

I need to start spending some scheduled time on my photography. It is so enjoyable and I love doing it. I just have not spent the time I want to with it. I would love to buy some new equipment. I need to schedule a couple of hours a week min. to spend on it. I also need to spend some time upgrading my ham license. The study guide I have for the current exam will expire in a few months. Again, I just need to schedule some time to study. I really enjoyed volunteering for ham events. It is very rewarding, and a hell of a lot of fun!

We got Tina's car back this week. The water pump, serpentine belt and heater core ran us $1120. But, it's a great car for Nanci to use to drive to and from Castle Rock in the winter.

Merry Christmas

Christmas was a great day. Had a great time with the kids! Anthony and Sara stopped by for a few hours. It was nice to see them, it's been several months I think. I was hoping Rocky and Jerry would have stopped by, we haven't seen them in months either.

Nanci made a very nice buffet. We had a fire in the fire pit all day long. Nanci bought some cigars! We sat by the fire, drank cocktails and smoke cigars! Good times! The weather was 60 and sunny.

I talked to my dad on the phone for about an hour or so. He was doing well.

Dick didn't even call. No gifts for the grand kids, no cards, no phone call, no email, no txt messages... Nothing! He makes a great grandpa! For several months before mom died he txt me and said they are coming for Christmas and wanted hotel info. He even mentioned it about 3 days before she died.

Never the less, we had a great time, good food and awesome weather!

Oh the Fog! Are you a virgin?

Wow foggy all day today! The fog did not burn off at all today, it was cold foggy and frozen mist. We did get a little shopping done today. Almost ready for Christmas.

Matthew is attending a parochial grade school and is learning about Angles and the Virgin Marry. So today he was asking people if they are Angles. Then he started asking people if they where Virgins! This kids just cracks me up! A couple of years ago he was pronouncing "corn" as "porn". So, we are at a restaurant and Matthew is telling the waitress that his daddy likes porn and his papa likes porn and he likes porn too. He even told the Pastor at church that he liked porn! Pastor still talks about it.

The tenant at work that called the police on me the other day filed a counter suit in court yesterday. After she was late for court. She is claiming it was my fault she didn't pay her rent. I didn't return her calls and work with her on a payment plan. Also, I harassed her mentally and emotionally. So, I have to go to court on Monday. Got to love it!

Just another day...

Work today was filled with people asking stupid questions, yelling, lying, calling me names and wishing me a Merry Christmas! Yesterday one tenant called the police on me for harassment! She was upset that I would knock on her door to see if she still lived there. She was scheduled for court today and I was hoping she was smart and moved. The cop got a kick out of it.

I went and deposited mom's check today. I wanted to just cash it, so it was not in my checking account. But, being a cashiers check from out of state, they had do hold it to make sure it clears. I also got a safe deposit box today too. I get one free with my account. I have been wanting one to put DVD's with my photos on.

Home alone and quiet tonight. Nanci had to work until 9pm and Tina went to have dinner with a friend (Cortney). Nanci just called and was stopping at Walmart to pick up some flour so I can bake some more bread. I have been baking bread since I was unemployed a couple of years ago. We rarely buy bread anymore.

Lunar eclipse last night! We stayed up until about 12:30 am. We got to see it get to about 90 percent. The dark part of the moon was nice and orange. They said the last one we had on the winter solstices was 372 years ago.

Hutch Called about Tina's car last night. Said the water pump froze up and that broke the serpentine belt. He ordered parts (from CA) and should get them on Wednesday and if he doesn't find anything else wrong we should get it back Wednesday or Thursday ($420).

Nanci, Tina and I went to Pat Carter's last night. Nanci and Tina wrapped his presents for him. He is heading back to NE for Christmas on Friday after work. We had a virtual fire place on the TV and ordered pizza.

Kairi goes to the mall and Tina's Car Dies

Last night Nanci had to work. So, Tina, Kairi and I went to the Park Meadows Mall. Kairi had a blast in the Apple Store playing with the ipad and playing games on the Mac station for kids. She looked at kitchens for kids in the Pottery Barn for Kids store. The highlight of the evening was when we ran into Pat Carter in the food court at the Outlet Mall in Castle Rock. Kairi in her cute and very loud little 3 year old voice looks at Pat and says: "Merry Flippin' Christmas, You Jack Wagon!" Everyone in the food court was looking right at her. We went outside and laughed so hard I all most cried.

This morning Nanci was heading to work on I-25 in Tina's car when she heard a loud whistling noise then a boom! The car filled with steam from the heater vents. She had to roll down the windows to be able to see. She pulled over and called me. She was on the off ramp to Monument. I picked her up and took her to work and called Klaus Towing to pick it up and take it to Hutch's shop. Looks like the serpentine belt came off and the water pump stopped, it over heated and blew a hose. I hope it's going to be a cheep and easy fix.

I received the check from mom's bank in Lincoln today. Still, I have not heard from anyone. I'm going to wait until after the first of the year to divide up the coins and will just mail them.

Cold today!

The temp dropped today. I think the high was only 28. Real slow day at work. Mostly just residents coming in to talk. Kairi is spending the night again tonight. She is just so cute!!! We had the Grandma Ann special for dinner; Chili and Pizza. OK, well grandma Ann's was usually just soup and pizza. We have a Christmas pot luck at work tomorrow at 12 then we get off early. Tina and Nanci are going to make a desert for me to take.

I called the mom's bank in Lincoln today to make sure they had everything they needed to close her accounts. They said the mailed the check today.

I've having a hard time focusing, meditating, self-hypnosis, my eye has been twitching and I've been gaining weight. Need to get back to the gym and mellow out. Not really sure what is bothering me.

Lemon Head's 6th Birthday

Today is Lemon Head's (Matthew) 6th Birthday! He is attending Salem Lutheran School. Tina also went there from 2nd grade through 8th. The school is small, really small. The school only has about 10 students currently. So, the parents volunteer to serve lunch once in a while. Today we served lunch. Matthew picked the menu. We had backed mac & cheese, dinosaur shaped peanut butter sandwiches and carrots. And there was reindeer cookies for desert.

We went to Lori's for dinner, a movie, Birthday Caked and gift opening! Kairi is spending the night at our house. That is always fun.

We had another nice warm day today. They are saying snow tonight and tomorrow. That would be OK except for the fact that Nanci has to drive to Castle Rock for work in the morning. Hard to write right now, Kairi is wanting me to play. So, I got to go.

Warm Day & 1000 Memories

Wow, yesterday and today both where very warm. In the 60's here in the Springs and Denver hit a new high temp of 70 today and beat the record high of 69 in 1924.

I received mom's death certificate in the mail at end of last week. I just opened it last night. Not sure why I waited, guess I just was worried about seeing it on paper. It's hard, I find myself thinking about her in every spare moment. Good memories though!

I was waiting for the death certificate to fax to the bank in Lincoln to close her accounts. I'm listed as the sole beneficiary. I faxed the bank all the info today. I just hope someone in Lincoln does what mom wanted with all her stuff. I'm wondering what they did with her ashes? She wanted them spread over the Railroad Tracks. The Railroad played a big part in her life growing up. Her dad, Don Shirey worked for the Burlington Railroad all his life. He started at the Burlington shops when he was 13 I think. Once a week he ran to the bank for payroll on his bicycle carrying a shotgun! There are many stories about Grandpa working at the shops.

I'm going to try to dedicate at least 15 minutes to writing each night. I have 2 other blogs to update as well. I think it will be a good outlet.

I signed up for an account at a new website I read about in Forbes magazine the other day. It's called 1000memories.com. It's Facebook for the dead. Mom's link is 1000memories.com/donna-carman Lori also started one for Nanci's dad, the link to his is 1000memories.com/william-satterthwaite

Nanci Sick Today

Nanci stayed home from work today because she was sick. This just does not happen. Last week everyone at Lori's house had it. Just a 24 hour bug. Headache, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain. Comes on fast and leaves fast. She ate a little supper tonight. Hopefully she will be feeling herself in the morning.

Still no contact

So I get a couple of messages this week from my sister Patty. She says she wants to meet me so she can get the coins from me to take back to Lincoln. I'm still not sure I want to let her have them. I need to do what mom told me to do with them. I seem to be the only one that is following her wishes. In her last message to me she said she was doing me a favor and she is on my side. She said Dick has an attorney and is putting a freeze on my estate, and that "we are all getting served with papers". Not sure who "we" are. She said she wanted to pick up the coins and take them back to Lincoln to save me from having the "authorities" come to my house and get them.

I may be wrong here but, the way I see it I not only had premission from mom to take them but was directed to. I didn't take them without anyones knowledge, I told Dick at the hospital on Saturday that I was stopping by the house and getting the box mom wanted me to take if anything happened to her and Lori wanted to take a photo album to scan in the photos. He said he was not sure where the box was since they had to rearrange the dining room to make room for mom's walker. I seen him the next day at the hospital and he just asked if Lori found the album she was looking for. Also, at the time I removed the contents of the box mom was still alive and this was not part of her "estate". Also, if the "authorities" are coming to get this stuff, I would think they will need an inventory list of the contents.

And what about all the other instructions from mom on what to with some of her stuff? She sat down with me several times and went through her jewelery box. She showed me her seven diamond rings that go to the seven granddaughters. And the diamond bracelet that goes to her friend Arty. Not to mention what she waned done with her ashes!

I have been begging Dick to get a will for both of them. He wouldn't listen to me! Anytime anyone (especially me) tries to get him to do something, he assumes they are "out to get something from him". He always thinks that "they are up to something". He has been this way since I've known him. I even sent him the application form for PrePaid Legal. The will is free with a membership. He could have signed up for just one month and got the will done, and would have only cost him about $20! I think he was afraid that would take away his power to do what he wanted with mom's stuff. Pisses me off! So, now he's getting an attorney and spending how much to try and control the mess he created?

Here we go again...

So, it's been 2 years this time. A lot has changed. I'm working for Dunmire Property Mgt. I'm a property manager for a 118 unit complex with class "C" tenants. More on that in the future. Nanci is working for Calphalon. She is managing an outlet store for them at the Outlets at Castle Rock. Tina is starting to take classes in January at Pike Peak Community College. Lori has a new addition his name is Parker. Lori and her family moved to Nebraska about 2 years ago. They just moved back last month or so. It is wonderful having them back in town.

Last month my mom fell on the sidewalk in front of her house. She bruised her tail bone real bad. She went to the hospital a few days later because of the pain. They sent her home and told her to take some aspirin. A nurse came to check on her a couple of times over the next week. The nurse said she needs to return to the hospital. The hospital kept her a couple of days for observation and then sent her to a nursing home for rehab. They sent her to Crete Manor in Crete NE. I spoke to her daily while she was there. Most of the time she was good, up's down's and sometimes "out of it" do to the pain meds. She was there about 2 weeks. Then she took a turn for the worst. I'm not sure what happened. They sent her back to Lincoln to the hospital, this time to St. Elizabeth (last couple of times to Brian). Nanci, Lori and I went to see her there. It was not a pretty site. They had her sedated, on a feeding tube, respirator etc... She was squirming around like she was uncomfortable. They took MRI's and CAT scans.. they did not know what was wrong. She was in ICU.

Mom has been telling me for several years that if anything happens to her that there is a box in the dining room that I need to remove from the house. It was a trunk. She said it's heavy! She was very addament about this. She even reminded Lori when she lived there to not let me forget out it. She told me to take the contents (coins, mom's been buying from a collectors club) and divide them up among Terry, Patty, Mike and myself. So, while we where there visiting her in the hospital I told Dick that I was stopping by the house to pick up the box. He said they had moved things around in the house so mom could get around better a few weeks ago and he didn't know where it might be. Nanci, Lori and I stopped by the house and the box was in her bedroom. We emptied the contents in to cloth grocery bags because I didn't think the trunk was going to fit in our car. We where only in town Saturday and then returned to Colorado on Sunday.

On the next Tuesday (November, 23) Dick called me at about 1:15 in the afternoon and said mom died about an hour ago. Then at about 4:30 that day I get a call from the Lincoln Police. The officer was asking me if I had been to the house on Saturday and what I took out of the house. I told him what, where, and when. He kept asking about a book and a red purse. I asked him who's purse was missing.. he said it was moms. The book he said was a book that mom wrote down what she wanted everyone to have when she died. Within hours of mom's death, Dick calls the Police on me! Oh, I'm feeling the love! So, I called Dick after speaking with the Police. He accuses me of taking the purse and book along with the coins. I denided knowing about the book or purse. I reminded him that I told him on Saturday I was taking the box with the coins in it and that is what mom told me to do for the past few years. He said "do you have proof she told you this?"... So, now I'm a lair and a thief!

Over the next few days I hear nothing from anyone in NE. No one calls to tell me when the service is, when she is getting cremated, nothing. I called several times and finally Dick answers his cell on Friday and said the service is on Monday and he's busy H\he'll call me back. Never did call me back!

Tina and I are the only one's able to go back for the service. We are heading there on Sunday. I get a call from my sister Patty when we are about 3 hours into our journey. She wants to know if I'm bringing along the coins. I said I had not had time to divide them up or even go through them yet. She tells me the whole family is upset and "pissed off" at me about it. I told her that, that is what mom asked me to do. She told me everyone thinks I'm a thief and that's what I did was BS! After thinking it over, over the next few miles. I called Mike to see what was up. All I could get was a busy signal. So, I called Patty back and said I'm not walking into an ambush and dealing with everyone pissed off and/or the police. I told here that if this box of coins was more important than family and that if they could not trust me to do this, then I will meet you in Brush, CO on Tuesday and you can have them and I don't want anything to do with them. So, we turned around and went back home. As of today, not one person has called me to ask why I was not there! I have not heard from anyone! I did call Patty several times on Tuesday morning to see if she was meeting me. I received a call from her stating she was sick and could not do it that day.