I keep hoping the "balloon boy" thing will die down and go away but of course it won't. They had to be from here. They couldn't have been from Boulder or some place where we could just kick back and laugh at them. At least it's on the other side of town but it's still irritating. I was very saddened to see the Park Theater Mall in Estes Park burned yesterday. They think it may have been old wiring. I spent a summer working in a gift store in that mall and the Music Box Store was one of my Mom's favorite places to shop. She e-mailed the owner but he said he's still in shock. I sent an e-mail my old boss but no reply yet. The theater itself wasn't damaged but the mall is gone. Because of it's age, there were no sprinkler systems in there. It will be very hard to go and see it but I think I will in a few weeks.

Nothing really new here. Work, eat, sleep, repeat. Fall has returned after a brief stint of winter. The thought of a hard winter always fades with a few 70 degree days. But a few chilly nights brings back the thought of deep snow and freezing temps. I don't know what it will be like but I'd rather be ready than not. I was reading some magazine stories at work about being prepared for emergencies and I discovered how horrifically unprepared I am for almost anything. Unfortunatly, preparing for almost anything costs a lot and I don't have it at the moment. Oh well. Just another of those generally disregarded ideas.

My cousins from Montana are coming for a visit the week after Christmas. My cousin wanted to come for Christmas day but it's such a huge thing for Mom, she talked them into coming the day after. It'll be nice to see all of them. My sister and Dad can get discount ski passes at the first regular season Nuggets game so they will give those to my cousins. They like to ski while our general take on it is "why do people willingly go looking for snow?".

Last weekend we created a new game: Pumpkinball. Mom had all the pumpkins we grew on the picnic table out back and when me and Jason came up to visit, my sister asked what we were going to do with the ones that had frozen. So we went and got the BB gun. Then we went and got the bows and shot them for a while. When we couldn't find the baseball bat for Pumpkinball, Mom said "Go get the ax". So pumpkinball is when someone stands about 6 feet from the "batter", who is wielding the ax, and "pitches" the pumpkin. Big pieces can be repitched while smaller ones are checked for seeds that want to be kept and thrown away. Of course our thoughts of Youtube were too late, but it was a lot of fun. We are still laughing about it.

Hope everyone is well. Have a happy day.