Back in the saddle again was Gene Autrey’s song and I loved to go to the Saturday afternoon matinee and see a Roy Rogers or Gene Autry cowboy movie. The Lone Ranger and Tonto also played well with a box of popcorn. I’m back in the media saddle this week after a family vacation in Cabo, Mexico, arriving home Sunday night, the same time that all the trouble erupted in Mexico with the drug cartel battle.
During our visit Cabo was peaceful and loaded with tourists, heavy traffic at the very popular tip of the Baja coastline. Once a fishing hub, now it is laden with hotels from San Jose around the coastline to Cabo San Lucas. My wife and I have been frequent visitors to the area for the past 25 years, but we missed last year due to my suffering a Triple A heart condition with a five-percent survival rate, with my doctors, at the time, proclaiming me to be an “anomaly.”
During our stay it was my pleasure to frequent the Pueblo Bonito Rose’ gym most days. I’m happy to report that I’m once again doing push-ups and lifting weights. Prior to COVID I could do 50 push-ups, but when required to wear a mask, I just quit going to the gym. It’s good to be back in the exercise mood and I hope you all join me for good health. It takes a certain amount of mental discipline to stay healthy with diet and exercise, but the effort is worth the results.
I spent considerable time watching the Olympics, the Italians can take a huge bow for their efforts and results.
I want to go to Italy and visit Milan, a place I’ve never been, but I’ve been an ardent student of the Roman Empire. I have a ring with a real Roman coin of Hadrian mounted on the ring. Hadrian built his 73-mile wall across northern England in 122 AD and was one of the most successful Roman emperors.
As for the Olympics, my favorite Olympic hero is Alysa Liu who won a gold medal in figure skating, the first American winner since Sarah Hughes in 2002. It was the way she handled her win, smiling all the way and bringing joy to the sport. She was just terrific, adding a sunny radiance to the event.
Both of our American hockey teams won gold in overtime. Jack Hughes left a tooth on the ice but scored the winning goal in overtime for the American men’s team winning 2-1 to win the Gold for the first time since defeating the Russians in 1980.
And there are no better athletes in the world than our women in winter or summer games.
Here in Colorado our ski areas finally received some badly needed snow with nearby Eldora getting 8 inches. Our state is in a very serious drought condition while the East Coast is drowning in snow and blizzards. On the east coast, power is out for millions, and I’m wondering about global warming and relying on wind and solar for future decades.
While peace reigned in Italy, (except for the Canadians) we have an armada of ships ready to unleash on Iran if peaceful negotiations fail over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. My best guess is that all hell will break lose for Iran very soon. I would prefer that Congress approve a real act of war, so we’ll just have to see where this all goes.
While trouble is brewing in the Middle East, when we left Mexico on Sunday afternoon, the drug cartel was avenging the death of their leader “El Mencho” who was the head of Mexico’s powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel. (CJNG). Cars and business locations in Puerto Vallarta were set on fire and there were 25 roadblocks put up by cartels in 25 regions of Mexico. When we left Cabo, everything was peaceful, but I noticed our United flight left 10 minutes early and streamed home to Denver at 550 mph, arriving 20 minutes early.
A reminder to readers that precinct caucuses are coming up in early March and that is the time to make your voices and votes count. Every vote is important and we want good common-sense candidates elected to office in either party. America has come a long way with a two-party system, and we can’t squander our freedoms given to us by our forefathers.
Mexico has everything the United States has but lacks our Constitution and rule of law. Good leadership does count at all levels. The ballot box is the place to preserve our freedoms.