In Colorado

Yes, loyal readers of this blog, I am, in fact, in Colorado. I am in Breckenridge, staying at the Grand Colorado on Peak 8, Suite 1323D.

Why, you may certainly ask, are you in Colorado when there is so much work to be done at your house? Yes, you may ask. And I have been asking myself that same question all week.

The backstory on this current adventure into attempted hypoxic hypoxia starts after the events of March 2, 2018, or as it has become known: Independence Day. Not just Texas Independence Day, but my own. My divorce was proclaimed final on that day. The now ex-wife and I are still friendly toward one another, if cautiously. As part of the divorce settlement, she was to take possession of the annual timeshare week at Peak 7 in Breckenridge, and I was to own the biannual week at Tanglewood in Pottsboro, Texas. It had been her constant insistence that we vacation in Breckenridge or that she travel with our daughter or she go alone every year that led to our purchase of the timeshare here. And there have been, lately, a few times when it went unused.

So as I was clarifying my situation last October with the folks at Tanglewood resort, I deposited my week with Interval International. When I do that, I normally get a "bonus week" to be used at a limited number of resorts. As luck would have it, Grand Colorado on Peak 8 was one of those resorts. I called Kathy and told her that I was able to do that in either June or August and we could match it up with her week and spend two consecutive weeks in the mountains. She chose June, just to get away from early Texas heat. So I signed us up for the two weeks on October 4th.

She does not remember the phone calls. She remembers everything else I have ever said, whether I said it or not, but does does not remember that conversation.

An unfortunate occurrence happened in her life, after she had traveled to Europe and Macchu Picchu and where ever else she went. There were several small lumps discovered in one breast. That happened in late October or early November. Because our daughter and two very young grandsons were coming from Korea to visit, she decided to keep it her "little secret". In January, she told her sons, and eventually, after the oldest told me, let me know. She was keeping it from us while Kyla+2 were her so the focus was on the visitors. A couple of times Kyla asked me what was going on with Kathy. She knew something was up.

After surgery, which removed any precancerous growths, there was chemotherapy, and physical therapy. I should also note that Kathy, after we sold the house (another potential blog), initially lived in motels and moved stuff in and out of here four, now three, storage units as necessary. In September or October she finally agreed with our sons that she needed better living arrangements and found a small apartment in Plano, ten minutes away from either son.

Even though I discussed this with her in front of the family a few times, she began to deny knowing anything about the arrangements. After surgery and chemo and being all alone in her 800 square foot apartment, she began to think about how I had "betrayed her" and "gone around her" and " she had no need of me" and whatever else scared and lonely people think about. In discussions as we got closer to the time of the scheduled vacation, she verbally lashed out and said she had no desire to spend ANY time with me. I was to make my own arrangements for lodging for that second week or she could just not go and I WILL reimburse her for her annual fees of $910. I agreed to that.

I am guessing that some of her friends or therapists or family finally got through to her that a week in the mountains would be very beneficial. Soooo, after hemming and hawing (whatever that means), she decided to come up. She was going to come up on Thursday or Friday, but airfares were greatly lower on Saturday. And with all her leave-me-alone-I will-do-this-myself posturing, she is asking family to get her to and from the airport. And she has asked me to drive down to Denver airport to pick her up. Which I will gladly do. And she asked if we could go to church together on Pentecost Sunday. And she will need help getting groceries. And maybe looking at real estate listings. And..... Which I will gladly do for her.

After all, I am the one who fucked up her life.

As for what I have done this week: Mostly slept in. Ate a late breakfast in the condo each day. Walked around downtown Breckenridge, ate meals at restaurants I had never been to, sampled wine and whisky, had a sales presentation that bordered on fraud, and consumed a bit more alcohol than normal, attempting hystotoxic hypoxia as well. I met some ladies from Montana while sampling wine, a bartender who is a very intense Red Sox fan, the head chef at Breckenridge Distillery Restaurant, a very pretty bartender who has moved her ambitions from Sociology to Psychology to Law, a former member of the Israeli Defense Force who is now selling skin treatments, and a few of the local residents who had some funny stories to tell about some of the vacationers who are here from the lowlands only once a year. The valley floor is 9600 feet above sea level. I live at 620.

I also had the opportunity to get my signatures where they needed to be so that we could transfer the title of the Peak 7 timeshares to Kathy's name only. I will help direct Kathy to the Contracts Office so she can complete the process.

The plan for next week, I think, is get her settled into her lodgings, church on Sunday, look at real estate, and then kick me out. I told her my plan could be to go to Grand Junction, then Gunnison, then somewhere else, and then home. Because of my curiosity regarding Gunnison, I may stop there for a short period and then head home to do whatever I can to work on the house. And see my dogs. And then probably get Kathy from the airport on the following Saturday. Just because....

Another chilly day in Texoma

The weather for the first few days of February was almost spring-like. Highs in the 70s, High 50s at night. The dogs and I took the long walk route for about three or four days.

Then the bottom fell out. At least temperature-wise. It may hit the mid 30s today. Needless to say, there won't be any strolls after dark tonight.

Not much going on here. I just replaced a couple of fans that irritated me. One, in the media room, was fitting for a little girl with all the pink designs and cute little shades. It has been replaced with a satin nickel fan with black blades. The one in the kitchen was an old one that I had bought almost 30 years ago for the house in Plano. It was a cheap fan that made a buzzing, humming noise no matter what speed setting. It was replaced with another white fan that is absolutely silent.

The floor in the entry and hallway is torn out. Whoever installed the cement board did not properly laminate it to the underlayment, so it was very easy to remove. It was held down with screws, but since it was Durock, it pulled right through and I was able to remove the screws with a drill. I found a slight depression in one area that I will have to fill to level, but it should not take much.

The Astrovan is still giving me an occasional headache. Fortunately, the battery is strong. I have to crank it for a few minutes before the fuel gets into the firing chamber, making for a rough start. A friend at work has been giving me advice on resolving the issue. He indicated certain additives will help clean the fuel injectors, making for an easier start. I just have to wait until I use most of the fuel in the existing tankful. I am supposed to put the additive into an almost empty tank and then fill it with High Octane gas. We'll see what happens.

I sit here sometimes questioning why I still go to work at Home Depot. Then I look at the list of projects I am attempting to accomplish. They all cost money. Now, I have money in the bank, but fear of growing old and outliving it is always in the back of my mind. There is also the social aspect of it. I have zero social life outside of work here in Sherman. The grandkids are in Allen, and the kids are in Allen and Plano. And I let the ex-wife verbally abuse me occasionally, just so I will have had someone to talk with, or listen to, as is mostly the case. She just had Cancer elimination surgery, and is now doing the chemo and other therapies.

Another reason to stay with it is, looking back at Decembers expenses, there are occasional drains on the checking account that are not necessarily in the budget. A new mattress and rental car for my daughter's visit and paying to get my keys out of a locked van and new carpet and so on and so on. Once again, the money is there, but I feel the need to build up my reserves again. I have been totally broke, living on credit card purchases. I do not want that ever again.

I have several doctor appointments in the next few weeks. Hopefully one of them will get around to prescribing something for my high blood pressure. The other thing is that I need to get a Primary Care Physician. When I signed up for my Medicare Advantage Plan, they assigned me a doctor's name, but I haven't even talked with anyone yet. That is probably what I should be doing today, rather than typing out a Blog that no one will ever read.

One last thing: Google has said they were shutting down their Google+ stuff. I don't know if that also means they are killing the Blogger, but, if they are, I will set something up on another site. Yes, I know no one will ever read it, but what the hell, it gives me something to do every couple of months or so.