Day 118- Watching Jeremy Nelson age 11 and his friend

Taking care of Jeremy, the Nelsons 11 year old and his friend, Tjaden, while Rich and Marge attend a wedding in Franktown.

Finished writing my next column while at Fireside Books. Editing tonight or tomorrow.

Tomorrow will attend Church In The City downtown off of Gaylord and Colfax. They have a vibrant inner city ministry. Afterward, will hike to the Tattered Cover a large 3 story independent bookstore in LoDo off if 16th St Mall. Andrew and I went there on Sundays back in 2009 when he worked roofing sales with me.

It will be a bit sad without him.

I am taking the "D" Line light rail from Littleton to Denver a twenty minute ride. Then I will hop on a 17th St bus to Gaylord then walk a block or two to the church. I have rarely used mass transit in Denver. Should be fun. Or not.

Day 117- Worked at Heart Roofing

Worked in the office at Heart Roofing(Heartland Construction) doing invoicing, and insurance settlements on hail damage to homes/businesses. Owner is Howard Carlile.

Walked back to Nelsons from work watching a spectacular setting sun. 93 million miles away and it still puts on this show...just for me!

Day 116- Worked today for the tree service in Highlands Ranch

Took down some pine trees and an aspen. Had Zack and Steven in addition to Rich. The work went smooth. I pole pruned an ash.

The only glitch was the chipper starter went out. Rich was a mechanic in the motor pool when he was in the US Army stationed in West Germany. Rich changed it out and away we went!

Afterward, I went down to Fireside Books and Coffee Shop on Hampden in Engelwood. Discussed books with the baristas. Fun.

First pic us Zack a 19 year old in the National Guard waiting for deployment. Second pic is Steven who is going to night school to be a welder. Other pics are of the work we did today and if the Fireside Books and Coffee reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

Will walk back to Nelsons a nice 4 mile walk.

Day 114- Worked at Nelson Tree Service

We cut down a monster aspen in the Ken-Caryl valley located in the foothills west of Littleton, CO.

Later at a second job we cut down a 47 year old apple tree in Littleton proper.

All in all it was a productive day for yours truly. And I was bone tired afterward.

Day 113- Working at Heart Construction

Got up on 5 roofs to assess for hail damage all in Engelwood and all 5 are residential roofs.

Sent my confirmation to work at homeless cafe (SAME Cafe). Start date is Sept 9th for afternoon shift.

Working for Nelson Tree Service tomorrow and Thursday.

Hiking the High Line Canal Trail in Cherry Hills on Wednesday Aug 20 with friend, Debra Kommodore. My former wife, Mardell, introduced me to the Kommodores and the Nelsons.

Alex Kommodore just received tenure as a music professor at Metropolitan State College. We arranged getting together for dinner this coming Friday night at their home. Alex is making a batch of micro-brew beer for Friday night. I have had Alex's homemade beer before. It was great! Really looking forward to hiking with Debra on Wednesday and getting together for dinner with the whole clan Alex, Debra, Celeste, Caroline and hopefully Ivan the oldest. Ivan joined the military so he may be off on deployment.

Have had the pleasure of watching the kids grow up the past 12 years off and on.

The Kommodores and Nelsons and John Stidman are the reasons I love coming back to Denver.

Still need to call John Stidman and Tom Johnson.

Need to attend Church in the City an inner city church which has morphed into a Messianic church under the pastorship of Mike Walker who grew up in NY as an Orthodox Jew. The church is far from the Nelsons but will need to figure out the mass transportation system.

Will check out serving at Church n the City as well.

Getting back to the High Line Canal Trail...I found wild plum trees along the trail so back in 2011 I borrowed the Kommodores canning equipment and got Debra's instructions and made a large batch of wild plum jam. It was great! Stidman wanted a bunch, the Kommodores and the Nelsons along with my neighbors all wanted my wild plum jam.

Stidman and I went down the street and to a friends home in north Denver and picked grapes and made a few gallons of sweet grape juice.

That was another reason to love the canal trail. Equestrians use the trail too. Mardell introduced me to the trail back when I moved to Denver in Feb 2003. Didn't like it at first because it didn't seem to compare favorably with the Rock Island Trail in Alta and Dunlap, IL which I hiked religiously. But after a while I came to love the canal trail. At dusk the bats come out and dive bomb you. It's great!

Last weekend was restful. Slept a lot. Needed it! Needed to recover!

Ken Feather the camp manager of Recharge Lake Camp in York, NE called me wondering if I made it to Denver. It was nice knowing people I have met along the way are concerned with my safety and well being!

Gotta get working on my next column at the Morton Times. I saw that both Aurora, NE and Julesberg, CO newspapers did an article on me passing through their communities.

Pics show the mountains west of Engelwood, CO and drinking Jamba Juice smoothy in Engelwood today.

Day 111- Watched a parade in Littleton, CO

Rich and Jeremy walked in the Littleton parade this morning while Margie and I took photos. Rich and Jeremy are active in Boy Scout 114 and their job today was to hold banners for the various parade entries.

Day 110- Working at Heartland Construction

2nd day at work for Heartland Construction handling insurance settlements, billing, invoicing etc. On June 14, 2014 a major hail storm hit Engelwood and Denver. Most of our work involves replacing residential and commercial roofs.

My boss is Howard Carlisle.  Pics of Howard and my office are attached.

Contacted SAME Cafe the Restaurant for the homeless. Will begin work in September.