Craig and Kathy

I was in Phoenix over the weekend and visited Kathy and Craig on my way up to Prescott. It was good to see them and get caught up a little. We have a lot to talk about with everything our kids are doing. It was nice enough outside that Craig and I went for a swim in the pool. The water wasn't especially warm, but it felt pretty good to be swimming outdoors in the warm air.

Contemplating on God

As Christians, we believe that we're completely dependent upon God. Ordinary life tends to cover this up though. The details of daily living cause us if anything, to depend on ourselves, not God. My good friend in Albuquerque mentioned to me recently the importance to him of a contemplative life. By that I assumed he meant the importance of contemplation upon God rather than just using my imagination or my brain as I go through life and reflect on God. Mmmm, contemplating God, being dependent, thankful, etc. vs. using brains? In other words, contemplation probably means this: A sense of gratitude and dependence... which is the whole point. It's reality. I have so much to be grateful for. Do I recognize it? GK Chesterton said, "He who has seen the whole world hanging on a hair of the mercy of God has seen the truth." And, "He who has seen the vision of his city upside-down has seen it the right way up." This is more than just thinking about God and his plan.

Rossetti makes the remark somewhere, bitterly but with great truth, that "the worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank. The converse of this proposition is also true; and it is certain that this gratitude produced, in such men as we are here considering, the most purely joyful moments that have been known to man." Now that's a paradox.

GK Chesterton also said in his biography of St. Francis of Assisi, "The great painter boasted that he mixed all his colors with brains, and the great saint may be said to mix all his thoughts with thanks. All goods look better when they look like gifts. In this sense it is certain that the mystical method establishes a very healthy external relation to everything else. But it must always be remembered that everything else has for ever fallen into a second place, in comparison with this simple fact of dependence on the divine reality."

I think what Chesterton is saying is, it's a discovery of an infinite debt. In fact, it may be said that we are transported to joy at the discovery of how great our debt really is. Contemplate on this! We're grateful to God for the forgiveness of our debt and dependent upon him for everything because we cannot begin to erase the debt. "Debt and dependence" says Chesterton become the pleasures of unspoiled love. Why be gloomy, there is so much to be happy about.

What now for the Rockies?

Down 2 games to none the Rockies find themselves in a terrible batting slump. I heard that Clint Hurdle held a special batting practice session. It seemed to be of no value. The players could only dribble the ball on the ground or, after a healthy swing, pop it about 20 feet into the air.

Hurdle grabbed a bat, ran out of the dugout, and said, "Let me show you guys what I want." The pitcher threw the ball. Hurdle missed by a mile. After a dozen swings in which he didn't manage to hit one ball with authority, he threw the bat to the ground and said, "That's what you've been doing. Now get up there and hit the stupid ball."

ROCKY HORROR 13-1

Maybe 8 days off is too much. Who knows? The Rocks lose 13 to 1. Of course I started getting emails this morning from my company "friends" back East who now want to place bets, etc. Tonight they'll face Ibaldo Jemenez, an overpowering pitcher who throws great, but he's a rookie, and now in the World Series.

Independence beginning in Virginia

My meeting this fall was in Williamsburg, VA. Nancy flew out with me to Williamsburg, VA and we enjoyed the culture and the history of our past. It was 1775 and Patrick Henry had a better vision for Virginia and the Colonies. Freedom was the call and we enjoyed a recreation of the revolutionary events played out in the streets of Williamsburg. The Colonial music and street performances were exceptional. I only wish we'd had more time.

We also enjoyed some fine dining at the Kings Arms Tavern in Williamsburg. I had the wild game pie.

We also toured the area on Saturday and visited the many Colonial recreations of living over 200 years ago in America. Here is a dress factory (store) where you could be fitted exactly for the dress you need. Or, if you're a man you can buy a hat here.

We also toured the Governors mansion and witnessed the original method of brewing beer. It was all done in a big copper kettle like this, over an open fire. The amazing thing was the aroma. The hops and barley cooking over the stove...well it was more than just beer, it was liquid bread.

A good time was had by all, and we hope to do it again sometime. It's pretty interesting to see the the history of our country lived out this way. You can interact with the participants and see life the way it was over 200 years ago.

Hunting in Eastern Colorado

I went hunting today with my good friend Scott and his "assistant" Callie. Hunting like this with Scott is so pleasant and relaxing. On the road to Camp Cookie (our hunting area) near the Bluffs ranch, we ran across a few pheasant on the way. The hunting this year is going to be more difficult because of all the moisture we've had. The grass is knee deep and it's hard see the birds once Callie points them out. Except on the road of course.


Here is Callie bringing me my first bird of the day, a Chukar. She's a great dog and seems to have lots of fun sniffing, running around, pointing the birds out to us, and retrieving our birds. Scott and I need time to talk about the World Series of course.


Callie needs her booties before hunting because of all the cactus. It can be pretty hard on a dog without them, at least around here. We had a good day and then lunch together back at the Bluffs ranch. Grilled burgers, yum. Sorry Callie, you only get dried food and feathers in your mouth. It's a dogs life but we know you love it.

Rockies Win - On to World Series

Yes it's true the Rockies are going to the World Series, thanks to a Matt Holliday 3-run home run. Everyone in Denver is pretty excited. It's interesting that Seth Smith got it all started as a pinch hitter, blooping over the third baseman's head. Smith was drafted to play football out of Mississippi and played back up quarterback to Eli Manning. The Rockies only recently pulled him up from Colorado Springs.

I called my friend about getting tickets. Basically, I would have to pay for his kids College tuition next year if I want his tickets (which I used4 or 5 times this year) but they're on row 9 behind home plate. I think TV is a pretty good way to watch baseball.

Rockies win 4-1

It's 3 games to none and Eric Byrnes trash talk has come back to haunt him. The Rocks, rock on. Yorvit Torrealba hit a 3 run home run in the 6th inning to ice it. Matsui played a great game once again. Yes, the Rollin' Rockies took a 3-0 series lead with their 20th win in 21 games. They will try to sweep the Diamondbacks on Monday night when Franklin Morales faces Arizona's Micah Owings in a matchup of rookies who have never faced each other's teams.

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Diamondbacks 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 0 Rockies 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 x 4 9 0

Since last night Nancy and I watched the rain fall and wondered, will they cancel the game. The game time temperature hovered at 43 degrees - and quickly dipped into the 30s - and with a light drizzle falling, the crowd showed up wearing fleece jackets, gloves, wool caps and scarves, looking like they were headed for the ski slopes west of Denver, where it was indeed snowing. Or, worse yet they looked like they were headed to a Bronco game in December. It's a good thing the Broncos weren't playing this Sunday.

Dante's Prayer

After we went to the Loreena McKennitt concert last week, I found the words to Dante's Prayer, one of her songs taken from Dante. I really liked the words as well as the music and thought I'd share them with you.

(Loreena McKennitt)

When the dark wood fell before me
And all the paths were overgrown
When the priests of pride say there is no other way
I tilled the sorrows of stone

I did not believe because I could not see
Though you came to me in the night
When the dawn seemed forever lost
You showed me your love in the light of the stars

Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me

Then the mountain rose before me
By the deep well of desire
From the fountain of forgiveness
Beyond the ice and fire

Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me

Though we share this humble path, alone
How fragile is the heart
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly
To touch the face of the stars

Breathe life into this feeble heart
Lift this mortal veil of fear
Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears
We'll rise above these earthly cares

Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Please remember me

Rockies fans

Rockies fans are everywhere now. I noticed on my recent trip to Portland the large number of people (in the Portland airport!) wearing Rockies shirts and hats. Where were these people last year when the Rockies couldn't buy a run? I suppose they only like us when we win. This one says it all though. My Grandson, Seth Andrew is sporting his new clothes (bought last July when the Rocks were 2 games behind the Dodgers, 3 games behind the Padres, and 6 games behind the D'Backs and it looked hopeless.

No more nail biters! Rockies win 3-2

The Rockies aren't used to close nail biters, and neither am I. We like to either kill the opponent or just be killed. Lots of hitting and lots of runs, that's what we're used to. These close extra inning games that go into the morning are more than the cause of insomnia for me and the people of Colorado. Everyone at work was dragging yesterday and now this. I stayed up and watched the game but Nancy fell asleep last night. It was worth it though.


The wild-card Rockies, who swept Philadelphia in the division series, joined the 1976 Cincinnati Reds as the only NL teams to win their first five games in a postseason. They've also been compared to and passed the 1926 Yankees as the team with the biggest winning streak in history. Lets hope it continues.

Bad slides, is it really foul, and shamROCKS, and that sound? What's with the sounds?

The D'backs need to learn how to slide into second base, both safely and without interference. They also need to learn how to pick up foul balls when they're foul rather than waiting until they go fair again. What really offended me was the sound effects TBS added to the game. Once in a while they added a ricochet sound or they emphasized the ball hitting the catchers mit making it louder. I thought the noise they added was totally stupid.

The most amazing thing was the change in the lineup. Adding Willie Taveras was suprising. But it worked! There are shamROCKS for the Rockies in Rocktober.

Portland, OR

I flew back from Portland, OR today. It was an interesting trip because we sponsored our first green symposium at the Memorial Coliseum. While I was in Portland I got up early one morning and took this photo of Mt. Hood from the balcony of my hotel room. You can faintly see the lights from cars on I-84.

Rocktober has arrived!!

The Rockies finished off the Phillies 2 to 1 last night. Once again the Phillies' bats went cold, and once again the Rockies got a win — this one propelling us into the NLCS. Colorado finished off an NLDS sweep last night. It was windy all day long, but it didn't seem to affect anything in the game. There weren't too many hits. Nevertheless, there was good reason to celebrate.

Todd Helton got his bat sawed off last night. I don't know who it hit in the stands last night, but I sure would've ducked. He launched it into at least row 12 or 13.

Now it's on to face the Arizona Diamondbacks. Many of you may not know this, but my long time friend Craig is from Scottsdale and is a D'back fan. No doubt there will be some conversations (debate) and some guesses (wagers) as to who will win. So far this year, the Rockies have won10 out of 18 against the D'backs, and we have a better batting average and a better Team ERA. The problem is we're in the NLCS now. Anything can happen. At the end of the day, we're just ecstatic to be where we are. Last year, the season was over in July.

Fun night at the Paramount

We had a great time last night at the Loreena McKennit concert. We met Scott and Jan at Marlowe's for dinner (which is right next to the Paramount Theatre) for an excellent meal and then went next door for the concert. Loreena got three standing O's. We really enjoyed it.

I took the day off work yesterday and spent the time running errands around town and even fixed the shower handle for Nancy! Other than the concert it was just another average fragment of my life. But not today! Today is not average...the Rocks play tonight...

Rockies 10, Phillies 5

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Rockies 2 0 0 4 0 4 0 0 0 10 12 1 Phillies 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 5 9 0

Rockies 10, Phillies 5

Home or away, our Colorado Rockies are on quite a roll. Kaz Matsui hit his first career grand slam and drove in five runs, leading the Rockies over the Philadelphia Phillies 10-5 Thursday for a 2-0 lead in their NL playoff series. Matsui connected off scheduled Game 4 starter Kyle Lohse, who came in to relieve struggling rookie Kyle Kendrick in the fourth inning. At this rate, the best-of-five series may not get that far. Rookie Ubaldo Jimenez will try to pitch Colorado to a sweep Saturday night at Coors Field against veteran Jamie Moyer. And then it's on to Arizona, hopefully.

It's thrilling to see the best relief pitcher on your team raise a cup of water to his lips and miss. Actually, Corpus was accused yesterday of pouring sticky 7-up inside his jersey. Then he can make his fingers sticky to enhance the pitch during the game. The purest water there is a ballpark coke. No harm, no foul. The umpire in Philadelphia hates night games. The lights make it hard to sleep.

Kyle Lohse said, "I thought I had good stuff today," but his manager said, "the batters on the other team liked it." He's working on a new pitch. When he has it down pat, it'll reach the plate.

Concert Tickets

I scored some Loreena McKennitt tickets. We're pretty excited. She's been out of circulation for the last six years because her husband and two friends were killed in a boating accident. I think my favorite song she did was the Highwayman. Here are the words.

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.

He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of claret velvet, and breeches of brown doeskin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like moldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and heard the robber say--

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.


PART TWO

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red coat troop came marching--
marching--marching--
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say--
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for rest!
Up, she stood to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain

Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? This horse-hoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!

Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him - with her death.

He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew gray to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlords black-eyed daughter,
Had watched her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

Back, he spurred like a madman, shreiking a curse to the sky,
with the white road smoking behind him, and his rapier brain dished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat.
When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.

And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cluody seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding--
Riding--riding--
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Rockies Win!!!!

It was the bottom of the 13th inning and we're down by 2. The score is 8 to 6 and it looked like San Diego was going to crush our hopes and dreams. The game started at 5:30p and wasn't over until about 10:15 when the Rocks showed what they're made of. Two doubles, a triple, and a sacrifice fly and we win 9 to 8.

It did look like Holliday missed home plate, but it's irrelevant now. We won and we're on our way to Philadelphia. Go Rocks!! Maybe we'll see the D'backs again before this is all over. That would be terrific.

Rocks, ghost towns, and left handedness

Day two at the cabin was not uneventful. The Rockies won the series with the D'backs but lost the first game. This meant that San Diego had to lose a game for the Rocks to have a chance, even at a wildcard berth. San Diego lost and the Rocks now have a playoff game Monday night with the Padres. You know what I'll be doing Monday night. Anyway, Sunday afternoon we went to Fairplay and visited the old mining ghost town of South Park. Here are a few of the old restored buildings.


Below is a photo I took while driving the ATV. How did I do this you ask? The camera was around my neck, and so it only took one hand to push the button and take the picture. My other hand drove the ATV. The problem is the throttle is on the right side, so I had to push the button and take the photo left handed. Not bad 'eh?