  I’m so rotten at being away from John. Yesterday I left him at his conference in Colorado Springs, spent an hour or so hiking Garden of the Gods, and then headed north to Fort Collins, Colorado where my aunt and uncle Shelley live and where my parents were planning a rendezvous with the kids and me.
Politically, Colorado is a bit like Texas, only with mountains. Even the mountains are encroached upon with development to a tearful degree because the conservative atmosphere values private over public property. It’s enough to make me glad for once that Texas has virtually no mountains and few truly beautiful natural areas, because this similar political atmosphere would have met tragic ends under compassionate conservatism. Culturally, Colorado seems a little lost between the blue collar working man, and the white collar business class that passes policies like 3/2 beer in an effort to protect the working man from himself.
3/2 beer has become a bit of an analogy in itself here. Why! American beer is watery enough, without further de-intensifying it. I’m sure Colorado is far more lovely than I impart here. I’m just grumpy without John. It’s a pretty big problem. Why can’t I be happy and relaxed without him? The kids and I are just off our game. We miss our dado. 
