After many long cold windy mostly winter months of being in Cheyenne exclusively, I was able to get away for a few days and spend some nice time with my brother and his family last week and over the last weekend. Its 135 miles each way from my residence to his; so with the price of gas it is not inexpensive for the trip itself. Gasoline was $3.50 per gallon in Cheyenne on Thursday and $3.74 per gallon in Windsor on Sunday. My fuel expense was around $70 for the round trip plus 20 miles each way back and forth to Centennial to meet up with my friend Matt. The weather in Castle Rock was rather unpleasant until Sunday as it was quite windy and chilly, particularly on both Thursday and Friday. HBL's house is at around 6500' in elevation which makes the climate there very similar to Cheyenne, as it is also on a largely treeless windswept prairie ridge. I estimate temperatures in Castle Rock are usually 7 to 15 degrees less than in Denver which is 1200' to 1400' lower and at DIA which is about 1000' lower. Fortunately Summer is on the not so distant horizon which will make the weather in CR a little more favorable for about three to four months; but as my brother likes to say, the place where he lives has two seasons: eight months of largely winter and then a short summer with little transition if at all. The last few days into this week affirm that strongly. Its no wonder it took over a century to have the general area where he resides to get developed relative to Denver and elsewhere in the time zone.-
I arrived after the trip around 11:30am having surprisingly not seen virtually any rain. We went to JSL's preschool "graduation" ceremony early in the afternoon. 11 children participated in the rite which included a lot of singing and sentimental moments. JSL has matured into a thoughtful and intelligent child who has grace and dignity with respect to her age. She is a fun loving little girl who has the ability and talent to surprise you with her statements and observations more often than one might expect. There was a snackfest afterwards with the children and their siblings and friends playing games and with toys inside for about two hours while the adults and parents visited and reminisced. Younger sister CL is slated to go to the same preschool in August 2010. We later went to the grocery store and enjoyed a nice evening at his home. The kids have been blessed recently with a large playcenter with swings, a slide, a ladder, a fort above 6' above the ground and a climbing ramp that has plastic pieces mounted to boards which encourage the children to master and grow confident with. Young JSL is adept at it all, but youngest sister CL is still mastering things and has a ways to go. Look for her to get on top of the roof of the fort by the end of next summer or so as CL has the energy and daring of a monkey. HBL's trees took their time blooming this spring with all the harsh weather, but these trees will be in full bloom this week. The dog Dave welcomed me warmly and enthusiastically, but clearly the old boy is now a senior with noteworthy arthritis in his rear hips which limit his movement. He has less energy and no longer runs. The old boy lays around a lot more and needs to rest most of the time. I brought him some tennis balls but the activity has to be strongly limited with his condition and age. Later in the early evening the girls opened their gifts I got them: a simple necklace for each and three stuffed animals for each: a horse, small bull, and big bull. J's are named Chestnut, Dusty, and Sheridan; C's are named Buckshot, Tumbleweed , and Cody. The gifts were quite the big hit. Unfortunately Deb had to work all three nights I was there so her presence was largely minimal with her work and sleep schedules. I can see it is truly rough on her as well as for him and the kids in various ways.
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Friday we took the girls with us to downtown Denver (more accurately Capital Hill) for an errand. The city looked good especially with all the newly bloomed trees and shrubs. Late that afternoon I drove up to Centennial and connected up with Matt. He drove us downtown taking the scenic route to avoid the locked up traffic on I-25 to the Rockies/Twins game. He got tickets for $10 each down the left field line under the pavallion (no rain fell on us thank goodness) about three sections from the tunnel separating the left field sections. It was not a great game as Colorado lost 4-2 but there were over 35,000 fans in attendance. Afterwards we got a chili dog at Sonic before calling it a day.
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Saturday, HBL had to take his daughters to see a dentist for a checkup. We started out going to the Walmart for his supplies list errand and then went on to the dentist up the road in Castle Pines North. The amount of driving they have to do daily is truly a powerful negative part of their lives and a continually growing expense. I estimate their family fuel budget is around $500 per month which projects to over $800 to $900 per month by 2012. The oil corporations are truly shafting and criminally robbing people like my brother and his family in a most ruthless harsh way forcing them to miss out on some wonderful experiences with their daughters. Next up was time at Home Depot where he got some concrete and wood for a gate project he has that is ongoing. The girls really enjoyed looking at the flowers and trees. Then it was off to the DQ for a banana split for the girls that he had been promising them. They wolfed it down with the usual mess being created and conflicts over whom would get to eat what in the split. The place was mobbed and the atmosphere at the DQ in CR leaves alot to be desired. After a dinner of hot dogs, the girls continued to have me swing them on the swings which was the favored activity of theirs all three days I was there along with reading them short story books. I must have read between 30 and 40 of those little books over those three days. CL cries an awful lot with about 20-30 incidents daily which include some epic temper tantrums and emotional explosions. Some originate out of anger at not getting her way, but many simply come from her inability yet to be able do everything her two years older sister can do. Also the kid is quite energetic and flys around which inevitably results in her falling or hitting her head. Some of the circumstances where she is screaming her head off are funny in a way. All in all, she is a typical three year old with a smile that melts your heart.
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Fortunately HBL has wireless internet in his home so I can keep aware of whats going on in the world and stay on top of my hobbies. He is fervantly anti TV and has a Joseph McCarthy like approach to the medium proclaiming it all wrong and evil. While the medium has shortcomings and many strongly negative content areas certainly, to universally condemn it completely is not very enlightened. He will have to deal with the ramifications of his philosophy in the nearterm as the medium will become a part of his daughters' lives rather regularly as they grow, acquire a diverse number of friends and acquaintances, and are in school where it is part of the curriculum and viewing of certain programming is a requisite part of their education. But for now, his edict stands for his family and guests in his home.
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Sunday he and the girls went to church and they met up with me afterwards at a McDs in Lone Tree where there was a play area that totally enrapt and enthused the girls. Both the girls are happy well developed kids who live excellent lives. If there are kids that are better off in all the ways fully these kids are, I would like to see them. The only negative is the fact they do not get a lot of quality time every day with their Mom with her having to work 12 plus hours graveyard shifts 4-5 times per week in a hospital 65 miles away across a rugged mountain stretch of road. That will have to change sometime in the coming years for the benefit of all but particularly the girls. They make it work, but I can see it is very difficult and often stressful. Both the parents need a weekend of escape where they can get a couple of nights with 10-12 hours sleep as both are wiped out and seriously lacking in rest which I fear threatens their health. Hopefully in the next year or so one or more of their neices can help them out and let them get away for 3-4 days to unwind and truly relax.
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After an hour or so at the Lone Tree McDs, we parted ways and I headed home on the warm sunny afternoon, looking forward to sleeping in my bed after three all too short and somewhat restless nights trying to sleep on my air mattress with only limited pillows and just the sleeping bag for cover. Thankful the White Knight made the trip without incident, I got home around 4:45pm, seeing the big Russian Olive tree outside of my east window had at last exploded into a fullness of pink blossoms, and spent the next seven to eight hours surfing and watching television and did not even eat any dinner winding up with a nice solid ten hours of uninterupted sleep. And it was glorious...
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