To quote a Meeker business man who referred to me two years ago, not in a complimentary way, as being “Mr. Been There, Done That,” I can happily say today that as far as my extended but immediate family is concerned, I have been there and done that with my siblings, many of whom were estranged over the years from each other.
I actually get along with them all now, and I am most happy about that.
The irony comes in that my older brother and the middle sibling, Jim, was declared liver-cancer free in December 2013.
On Christmas Eve of this year, we all found out that Jim’s liver cancer had returned and we instantly knew the misery he went through for the year of 2013 was going to return for 2016.
Further tests were taken and we found out on New Year’s Eve that not only had the liver cancer returned but that it had spread to the lungs and brain, that he now has stage four inoperable cancer and that he only has a couple of weeks to live.
Happy holidays for the McMahon family—the five remaining kids out of seven—and, apparently, soon to be four remaining kids! Not! It puts the damper on the joy of the season.
There really isn’t much that can be said other than one never knows when the end will come for us or our loved ones.
It is certainly a shame to look back and reflect on what fun and love were missed and the stupid reasons that the fun and love were missed when we let our feelings get too involved and forgot that we shared blood with these other people.
Hopefully it isn’t too late to make amends, and I wish any of you to which this column is relevant, to act soon. You may not get another chance.
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Oh, those Broncos!
I am almost speechless about those Broncos.
I don’t know if they are lucky, unlucky or what?
Five turnovers? And they weren’t quarterback Brock Osweiler’s fault. He actually had a good game.
The rest of the runners and receivers have proven again that they can’t go a single game without a turnover.
And, again, they weren’t Osweiler’s fault.
Replace Osweiler in the third quarter with a guy who really hasn’t played in five weeks. Put in Peyton Manning, who has thrown way too many interceptions this year including four in one game?
While I really don’t think it was fair to Osweiler, it obviously was a correct decision by Kubiak.
I’m not sure what that all means.
Does it mean that Manning should have been out of there a couple weeks before he actually was?
Should Osweiler start the first playoff game in two weeks?
Should we go forward with Manning and hope he lets everyone know when he isn’t feeling well so we can go back to Osweiler again?
The actuality is, the Broncos have the No. 1 seed in the American Football Conference, they have the best record in the whole conference, they have a first week bye, they are at home the second week, and, if they win, they will be host to the AFC Championship game.
No AFC team out there did any better; no other AFC team out there did as well.
To this point, the Broncos have been the button pushers to their own success. They have had some outside help along the way, but they have done exactly what they needed to do when they needed it.
Go Broncos! Just three more games to go!!!
My wife, Cris, and I took a boredom drive up County Road 8 on Sunday afternoon and it is easy to say there wasn’t much happening. In fact, few people were seen on the roads or in their yards, on their ranches, etc.
There is a pretty fair amount of snow still up the road, and it was almost not possible to get the car up the hill into Lake Avery. After using low gear and spending about 10 minutes at a crawl trying to make the ascent, we were surprised to see about 30 people snowmobiling and/or fishing on Lake Avery.
They were scattered left of the south end launching area, straight out from the south end launch area and there were about a dozen more between that same launch area and the dam, although no one was very close to the dam at all.
Were they having any luck?
I don’t know; we didn’t see many out snowmobiling and we didn’t see many of the fishing men and women jumping up and down in joy.
We did ask one gentleman if the fishing was any good and he said with a big old smile, “The fishing is great; the catching isn’t so hot.”
Sunday was a great deer-watching day. We saw 29 deer—actually quite a few bucks—as we drove off of County Road 13 just south of the hospital and took County Road 8; we drove up past Avery on that road and came back via the Buford School and then back to Meeker.
During the two-hour adventure before the Bronco game, we saw the 29 deer, about 25 turkeys and only four elk cows, which were, mixed in, in two fields, with several cows just below the Lake Avery turnoff.
It is beautiful up the mountain with lots and lots of snow—much more than last year, and County Road 8 is spotty at best, but it made for a nice relaxing couple of hours before the Broncos dropped another bucket of adrenaline on us fans.
With the forecast for the next three months calling for lots of snow, there ought to be plenty of snow on hand for this year’s chapter of the I Ride With James snowmobile fundraiser.
There is much more snow already than there was last year on the day of the ride. It looks like it will be a good one this year.
Caution is being urged in Rangely and Meeker this week as Rangely High School and Meeker High School as well as the middle school in Meeker and the elementary schools in both towns are resuming class and the youths of both towns will be wandering the icy streets once again.
Please remember that the children will be out and about, the teenaged drivers will be loose on our county streets and roads and that great athletic events will be taking place at the schools.
If you haven’t taken in a high school basketball game—boys or girls—or a high school wrestling match, this might be a good time to return to the high school campuses.
Rangely and Meeker have some great athletes this year—again, boys or girls—and they just might offer a fun moment from the past or turn you into a fan for the second—or maybe the first time—in your life.
Enjoy! And students, welcome back to school!
Summer break is only five months away!
