Last Wednesday evening Nina and I went to the last Rockies’ night game of the season. While this hasn’t been a very good year for the Colorado Rockies, we both enjoy baseball and like to go to their games. Our daughter Jaelene gave us a gift certificate for the Rockies which we redeemed for some excellent seats at the game. Because Jaelene lives in Arizona Diamondback country, we decided to attend when the Rockies were playing the Diamondbacks. The last three home games of the Rockies’ season were against Arizona. On Tuesday night, the Rockies won 20-9. Wednesday night the Rockies faced Arizona’s Big Unit, Randy Johnson who pitched seven innings of pretty good baseball. The Rockies lost that game 6-3. However, we had a great time.

We’re in some of the loveliest weather of the year. The days are warm but not hot and the nights cool down into the low 50’s. Lots of sunshine, no clouds, and no rain. This type of weather lasts for about a month before the really cold nights start happening. The weather for the ballgame was ideal. I took a leather jacket and Nina took a light jacket. She was a bit chilly as the evening progressed. The seats were great — big seats — and we didn’t feel at all crowded. We were on the second level, the Club Level, so we didn’t have the beer and peanut salesmen going up and down the aisles. We did, however, have the ability to place an order for food or drinks and have it delivered to our seats. We splurged (stuff is very expensive in the ballpark) and refilled our cholesterol tanks…. It did taste good (Thanks, Jaelene!). Why is it that the best tasting stuff is the worst for you? There ought to be a law! The drive up and back were completely uneventful and we’ve decided that we’ll do more games next year in this same seating area because it was so pleasant. A day game in that area would be very nice as the sun would be shaded there as well.

Life is just too busy. There seems to be no time to do fun things anymore. The evening out at the ballgame kind of pointed that out to both of us. I think that Nina is busier than I am and right now I feel like I’ve no time to claim for my own. I need to simplify my life and get rid of some things that take up time. However, there isn’t much variability available! I’m not sure how to reach this happy medium. I’m beginning to understand folks who have said after retirement that they didn’t know how they ever had time to work. The stock market is pretty key to our ability to retire and that has been going the wrong direction once again during the past week. The magic number is $25 per share — we could retire and live OK on that amount. $30 a share would put us in a very comfortable situation. We almost got up to $12 a week ago, but now have slipped back to about $9.50. I’m stuck working for another 3-5 years at a minimum. So, because I still have to work and my life is too busy, it’s time to figure out what can go. I’m afraid it isn’t very much…!!