On Christmas break 1959, my parents signed me up for ski lessons at a Mom N’ Pop ski area north of Lake San Isabel called “Broden’s”. It consisted of a rope tow and about one half mile of a straight down hill slope. There I went all bundled up like Ralphie in the classic “A […]

You never know when generosity will strike. Today I had to take my once very familiar one hour, sixty-one mile, drive to Greeley. I was heading to a memorial service for a very fine man, Bill Rusher. I had known Bill since I was just out of the 6th grade. We met at my first […]

It is a common belief that it is “More Blessed to Give then to Receive”. I have found that it is also easier. Many years ago a very wise and insightful elder at the church I was serving in Pueblo said to me, “Mark, why are you so resistent to letting me give you a […]

Some of my stories write themselves. Others are more like trying to climb a Colorado “Fourteener”. This one in particular has taken two weeks to come together. It’s not an overly complicated narrative but it penetrates deep into one of the more painful and special journeys I have ever shared. Brad and I and about […]

I have a new roommate. “Estralla” has taken up residence at our home. We are part of the emerging demographic that welcomes 30–something young men into our basement (and his dog). Zach, our first grandson has become the third member of our household for the time being. It’s a win—win for all of us. He […]

In 1981 I became the Assistant Minister at Central Christian Church in Pueblo. Thus began another experience of doing something I said I would never do. I backed into ministry, sort of an experiment in looking for a loophole. People often ask me how did you choose to become a pastor? My simple answer is— […]

Sometime in the early 80’s I discovered the joy of walking. I began a regimen of daily walks that were usually about 4-6 miles. When we moved to the San Luis Valley in 1986 we lived on an acreage west of town. We soon found a four—mile walk from our home to the Rio Grande […]

You fail Boomer 101 if you can not name both the actor and the movie that made that line famous—Paul Newman “Cool Hand Luke” 1967. I must have heard and used that reference more times than I can count. Now to an encounter in a barber shop in Montreal. My first memories of a striped […]

Well, I am settling in after an 8000 mile 19 state trek. I found the logistics of trying to write while dealing with the daily moving too much to take on. I certainly have enough stories to keep me going for a few weeks. Today I want to talk about stepping on the soil of […]

I am nearly half way through my 36 day road trip and I think it is time to check in. I am writing from upstate New York where we have enjoyed a joyous time in New England. Truly, I had no idea how much I would enjoy this part of the world. Today we are […]

Today I was telling a friend about when I used to play golf. We sold most of my golf clubs last week as they were just taking up space. Golf has been a casualty of my Long Covid. I was never very good but I really enjoyed the time with friends and family, and the […]

I have a default restaurant that is 11 minutes from my place. We discovered it three Christmas eves ago. We established a tradition that after a Christmas Eve service we eat Asian food. We were driving back from Greeley with our grandson Zach, headed for PF Chang’s. This was our homage to “A Christmas Story” […]

This past week I have been a spider magnet. Little red ones, furry black ones, grey long legged ones walking on my dash board, to mention a few. Maybe it is my emerging age, or my own witness to the sacred nature of life, but I would rather relocate a spider or step over it […]

There have been those moments in my life’s journey where I hear something that I actually pay attention to. One of those moments came 30 some years ago from a conversation with one of the truly gifted Elders I have known—Ada Beth. I don’t remember the context of the conversation but she said, “You grow […]

We had a formerly unhomed couple set up housekeeping at our home. They did not ask permission, and now it appears they are here to stay. About a week ago I noticed that a Mourning Dove was trying to put some nesting material on a speaker on our north patio. I thought “That will never […]

I was listening on Friday morning to my favorite sports talk show on the car radio. “The guys” were talking about the end of school and all of the rituals that they remembered. The topic shifted to what we called Field Day—basically a time of relay races, frisbee throws, bean bag tosses and whatever kind […]

I just finished my first Long Covid Cohort with my Kaiser health care team. In September of 2021, I spent an 18–day stint in the hospital with a very severe Covid infection. In early December, after a pretty successful comeback from the battle, in which I got amazing medical care, I could barely get out […]

In the Spring of 1976 I made an impulse buy. In the week or so before Easter you could buy baby chicks that were dyed pink or blue. I am not sure where I was on a Saturday morning, but the store I was in was selling ducklings. I remember bringing the box home to […]

This past Monday I went to the orthopedic department of Kaiser for my bi-monthly meeting with the foot care nurse. It has been a nice benefit of follow-up after my stint in the hospital last year. Waiting rooms have their own vibe. There I sat, along with a number of folks who were all trying […]

On May 24th 1981, I loaded up my Toyota Tercel in Enid, Oklahoma to move back to my parents’ basement, where I would restart my life. In the previous two and a half years my marriage had ended and my brother Don had been killed. I was a mess. I walked away from what was […]

Sometimes my kids surprise me in ways that make my heart smile. My son Mateo is spending the week in Mexico City. He has joined a long time friend there to just play. A couple of weeks ago he shared with me about this upcoming journey. This opened up conversation about the six weeks I […]

My soul has finally caught up with my body. There is nothing like a 3000 mile, 13 day road trip,to test a 75 year old body. I got to see a number of sites that I had only heard about. The Salton Sea in California should not be there… but it is—all 30 miles of […]

In 1964 I became an indentured servant at the family business—Cleaver Carpet. I became the “assistant” to both the cleaning crew and the installers. Being the owner’s kid gave me very little perks, other than that I got to learn a whole lot about how people live—for $1.15 and hour. When we were working at […]

In 1958 my parents loaded up their 1957 Buick station wagon and pulled a 14–ft. Aljo travel trailer on the first of many road trip adventures with our family. The destination was the great Northwest. My dad, who was born in Bellingham, Washington, was like a salmon who had to migrate to the place of […]

I have been thinking about the words nice and kind for the last 45 years. It all started when a man who was a member at Central Christian Church in Pueblo, sported a bumper sticker that said—“Niceness is kind of Nice”. It’s a decent thought on first blush, but the problem I had with this […]

The pandemic of 2020 has been part of our history for five years. Travel was an integral part of my life until then. My dad Bill died 25 years ago today. To say I was privileged is an understatement. He made sure that we saw the world. By the time I was 18, I had […]

The inpouring of memories that keep coming this time of year—keep it up! I was listening to some friends talking about the various things their families shared, that only seemed to come at Christmas. My mom was half Swedish. Her father was raised on a farm near Essex, Iowa, by immigrant parents who came to […]

Last night, a friend asked me “Did your mom put baking soda in her peanut brittle as she was stirring it”? My answer was “No, Birdie made our peanut brittle”. It will be 66 years ago tomorrow—December 22nd, that Birdie came into our familie’s life. It was a Monday morning and my dad had written […]

One of the many joys of growing up in Belmont, was that a 10 year old Mark could walk four blocks to the corner of Yorktown and Horseshoe, and ride a bus all the way downtown, for a dime. I suspect I did this dozens of times, as the YMCA was on the corner of […]

This is the year that we sold our fake tree, tons of lights, assorted snow men and whatever we could pass off as no longer being used. It’s “Christmas light” at the Pumphreys. Our house is now adorned with a small nativity, an18 inch fake tree, an ornament hanger that has seven of our most […]

I am not much of a shopper. Actually, my approach to shopping is more like going hunting: go get it, bag it, get out. It took me two minutes to buy my “Rollater” on Amazon. Red or blue was the only question. Two days later there it was. Recently, a good friend, who also grew […]

About a week ago the meteorologists who occupy our various news stations, began the “Get ready its coming”—hype. Every day the drumroll for the possibility of something very normal happening inflates every news broadcast. I have a suspicion that what raises their ratings, is raising our anxiety over “when will it come, how much will […]

I have a confession to make. Today as I was making my usual Saturday morning drive to downtown Denver for a weekly meeting, I went channel surfing on Sirius. That is nothing egregious, however, my eye was caught by “Holiday Traditions” and I went for the bait. Mind you, I am the guy who goes […]

I am remembering a Pumphrey family ritual that took place the last week of October. The whole family would head out to the farming area east of Pueblo. It was time to pick out our family pumpkin, which would be transformed into a Jack-o’-lantern on our dining room table. This ritual was sort of a […]

I just spent three days at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado. To be there during the “Rut” in a place where Elk are more abundant that chipmunks, provides continuous entertainment. The picture I am sharing with you comes from a moment I had with the largest bull I have ever […]

Two days ago I became a “Great—Grandpa” for the first time. Now I always knew that I was great, this just confirmed it. I will say, of all my roles that I have lived out, being a grandpa is my all time favorite. Mateo’s oldest kid, Michaela and her husband Craig, welcomed Zealan Mateo Roybal, […]

The aging process sucks. I will reach for a word and somehow it is misplaced. If I wait a few moments, often my unconscious mind will dig through my synapses and find the name I had on the tip of my tongue. Most recently I was trying to remember the famous old Alabama football coach. […]

I was in the 8th grade when my mom came home from her Friday self-care day. She got her hair fixed every Friday at Crews-Beggs, which was the classic four story department store in downtown Pueblo. If you have ever watched the movie ‘Christmas Story’, the setting for the visit to Santa is its twin. […]

I admit I am a Baby-boomer Face-Booker. My participation in that world has provided me numerous connections and reconnects. Simply, the pluses far outweigh the minuses. Tomorrow when this blog posts, I will share it on Facebook. Every Sunday one of my first loyal readers has been my long time friend, Denny Shirm. This last […]

So last week I shared stories from my life in second grade. It opened the memory box of times with Miss. Hale. The story I am sharing falls in the category of a confession. I don’t think, when I did my 4th and 5th steps with my AA sponsor, that this ever made my list. […]

The first day of school was always a time of great excitement sprinkled with a bit of low—grade fear. There was the pride of having a new “Big Chief” tablet and perhaps some new jeans and tennis shoes, and the smell of the class room and meeting a new teacher and classmates. It was my […]

On August 18, 1984, Mary Kay and I brought together four kids, two cats and our dog Smiley, to begin 40 years of marriage. Today I want to give an honest thanks to this journey we have shared. When two people start a marriage with just the two of them they create a dyad (I […]

I am just finishing day 14 of my 2024 Olympic binge watching. I truly can not get enough. Currently I am watching … believe it or not… Break Dancing. Yes, a demonstration sport, and I am totally amazed at what I am seeing. Heck, if Curling can get one to the Gold Medal stand, why […]

When we moved out to the west end of the metroplex, I soon began to realize that this was as close as I would ever come to living in the mountains. In seven minutes I can be in Coal Creek Canyon, and pushing right into the heart of the Rockies. Exploring my surroundings has taken […]

I am writing this a day late. I want to blame it on the weather. Well, that’s in part the case. The real reason is poor planning, and the realities of trying to do too many things. I had set aside two hours on Saturday evening and then I got to spend time with daughter […]

I have invented the word that describes my current state of being. I am conflicted. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, or go full—on curmudgeon. Today I was able to drive 22 miles each way to go to an “in person” 12-step meeting. I need people. For most of my life I have lived in […]

In ninth grade we had to run a mile in under eight minutes to get an A in Gym. That meant four laps around a 440 yard track. I remember vividly staying with the pack of reasonably fit classmates. Then came the forth lap. Mr. Clay shouted out “You are about six seconds off the […]

Two days ago I took my first real shower in a month. By real I mean—I got to stand underneath a perfectly nice warm shower and put on peppermint shower gel. Whatever they call a shower in the hospital, is not. It’s sort of like a partial “hose down” while you sit in a chair. […]

I am writing this 12 days before my seventy-fifth birthday. I have reasonable confidence that I will be there for this turn in to my own run at a century. Three weeks ago today I was admitted to “Good Sam” as it is nicknamed by the hospital personnel who work there. To say I got […]

Yesterday I drove out to Cherry Creek State Park. I love taking that drive through neighborhoods and back roads. In doing so I go by a number of schools. Quite a few grade schools, a middle school and one high school. All of them had signs celebrating the last day of school. On my return […]

I heard my first Meadowlark this week. The call took me through seven decades of remembering their most distinctive eight note song. My parents built a house in 1955 on the very edge of the high desert prairie on the east edge of Pueblo. My back yard went all the way to Kansas. It remained […]

There is a new family in our neighborhood. We moved “Out Here” in 2017, and now live on the far edge of the metro area. To our east is Standley Lake, a beautiful large lake completely surrounded by open space. I often drive by it twice a day… it never disappoints. There are many routes […]

Sometime after the end of WWII, a very generous Doctor donated his three story mansion on the corner of 13th St and York, to a fledgling group of Alcoholics Anonymous. The purpose was to create a home base where alcoholics could gather to get and stay well. Nearly 78 years later its presence is felt […]

“Bumper Karts at Costco” The emergence of the GIANT MEGA SUPER STORE shopping experience has lowered prices, created gross over buying, and raised the stress of “going shopping” to a level of low-grade combat. Last Saturday I made the mistake of thinking I could “stop by” Costco to pick up a few things. After circling […]

Unpacking from a 45 day, 7,350 mile, 16 state and 13 bed road trip, requires more than doing laundry and hanging clothes back up. It’s the unpacking of the dozens of encounters, scenes, meals, Buc—Eees, and conversations I had along the way. There is one particular unexpected morning I can’t put away in a convenient […]

I have a date with my granddaughter Zoe tomorrow afternoon. This will involve no ice cream or chicken nuggets. We will not be watching a movie or going on a drive. We will be watching… The Masters fourth and final round on my ridiculous big screen in the basement. Zoe, to my surprise, went out […]

The exponential speed with which my world has moved, from my Rand McNally Atlas to an internal GPS in my 2020 BMW, sometimes boggles my mind. My car responds to my voice. I just say things like “BMW call my grandson Miko” or, “Find the nearest Starbucks” and presto—zingo I am on a phone call […]

My Warbling Grandmother Opal—Easter Giggles Easter was a time in The Pumphrey Clan when we all descended to Colorado Springs where my grandparents lived. We would meet at First Christian Church there and occupy at least two pews. The hymns of Easter were very predictable. Lined up in the pew were seven kids as my […]

“But one day when you are old others will tie you up and escort you where you would not choose to go”—Jesus speaking to Peter in the 21st chapter of John. I have yet to be tied up, but once again, life is teaching me another lesson in humility. The root word for humility is […]

You might notice that I did not write last week. I was not suffering from “writers block”, but rather just the opposite. I had too many things to chose from, so I chose none. We took off two weeks ago from California. In one day we went from Los Angels to Las Cruces, New Mexico. […]

Leg #2 of our epic road trip has been10 days at our daughter Stephanie’s— the 50 year old mom of two kids under five. On Thursday we signed up for a snow day on Mt. Baldy. Mt Baldy is located about 1.5 hours outside of LA. All I knew about this outing is that Sofia […]

Today we have moved from Las Vegas to Ranchos Palos Verdes, California. For the next ten days we will be hanging out in sunny-rainy Southern California with the Don Vitos. They come complete with Sofia and Connor. I call the kids the “Bonus Round” as they were a complete surprise. Today we went to the […]

In 1953 I remember my dad and some helpers carrying in a new Crosley TV. Television had come to Pueblo. There was an antenna on top of our house and soon the world came to our living room in black and white. I think my earliest memory was my mom watching Tennessee Ernie Ford singing […]

About 30 minutes ago I received the message that my dad’s only brother Paul, died after an amazing 98+ years. It is my privilege to share with you how my almost 75 years with him has help shape me. I was with him not a month ago, where once again, I was touched by a […]

I will be hitting the pause button in the “hit parade of my vocational journey”, to go on a seven week trek. Starting in two weeks I will be hitting the road for an 8,000 mile car trip. I love to travel, however, if I never see the inside of Denver International Airport again, I […]

Home and Youth Pastor at Mountair Christian Church In November of 1972 I headed back home to Colorado. Within a day I had not one, but two jobs. I was hired to be a Child Care worker at DaVita cottage at the Colorado Christian Home. “The Home” began in the early 1900’s as an orphanage, […]

I graduated in May of 1971 with a degree in sociology and history. I had no plans for my future. My draft lottery number was 350 so I missed that “opportunity”. I was working at the ambulance service when I heard that there was a social worker position open at the Enid State School. I […]

My longtime administrative secretary at South Broadway had a collection of sayings and metaphors that were straight out of her homeland (Nebraska). Chris Vitt, who just retired after 26 years of serving in the trenches of “life behind the curtain” of church life, had a way of putting things into perspective. Currently it is minus […]

Well, after a three week hiatus I am back. I will pick up writing about my vocational journey after the first of the year, but today I want to honor the brief but beautiful life of my youngest brother, Don. Yesterday on December 22nd, he would have been 65 years old. He only made it […]

My first experience selling at people’s door steps came in the late 50’s and early 60’s. We were blessed in Pueblo with a great YMCA summer camp in the Greenhorn Mountains, SW of Pueblo, called Camp Crockett. It was a kid’s paradise where everyday you could ride horseback, shoot 22 caliber rifles, practice archery, take […]

I had been working for about two months at my ambulance job when I got a phone call from Tom Poole, who was the business manager at Phillips U. He asked me if I could come in and see him, giving no indication of what he wanted. My mind went to ‘I was in trouble […]

Shortly after I turned 21 in 1970, a college friend went to work at the local ambulance service. I remember thinking, “What would Rick know about saving people’s lives”? Enid Ambulance service provided all the ambulance work for three hospitals and a handful of mortuaries. It was staffed by firefighters on their days off and […]

I am back to reflecting on the long list of jobs that have both paid me and shaped me. I could probably also make a list of all the things I said I would never do, that I ended up doing. After my stint of making piston in 1968, I swore I would never spend […]

Pardon the change of plans, but you will have to wait to hear about my life on the GM assembly line in1969. Today I am going back to 1953 and my Fourth Birthday. I was born on July 2nd and so I believed that the July 4th holiday was for me. Somewhere in my archives […]

Welcome to my second job. I came home from my freshman year of college. It was good to be back to Colorado but I soon became aware that I had changed a whole lot more than Pueblo had. I left Pueblo a proud member of the Young Republicans, and returned after a year of an […]

For the next few weeks I will be taking my readers on a chronological 60–year journey on the jobs I have held. Perhaps this is a result of my four months of full retirement and my reflections on all of the various ways I have made money. I hope not to bore you with the […]

I have become a dedicated lap swimmer. Currently we are at our place at the Wyndham Resorts in Pagosa Springs, CO. It truly is a home away from home, only five hours away from Arvada. This particular resort has a great amenity called the Community Recreation Center. They have a wonderful swimming pool that I […]

Two years ago today I lay flat on my back, completely immobile. I found myself at the Kaiser Health acute Covid unit. I had been double vaccinated and had exercised reasonable levels of caution. I was very sick. Maybe only recently have I grasped just how sick I was. No, I was never on a […]

In 1955 my parents took their three kids to see a big hole in the ground. This is where our new house was being built. It was on a very long block at the top of a hill. It was in a classic post WWII housing development. New homes, new schools, new almost everything. I […]

My mom Pat was a pretty amazing cook. I really did not know how great she was until I left home. Whether it was cooking meatballs from scratch or homemade chicken and noodles, the food was amazing. Once we had a foreign exchange student stay with us on a cross country trek back to NYC, […]

The first time I remember playing volleyball was at the YMCA Camp Crockett. The scene was something like this—an open meadow with a net strung between two pine tree poles. On each side of the net were probably 15 boys with a couple of adult counselors. The volleyball, if it ever made it from one […]

I have been told that people enjoy lists so here is one from me. 10. The shift in the feel of the air that shows up around August 23. Everything moves from Summer’s heat to a crisp clean feel. Once it shifts the next three months move to Autumn. 9. The Colorado State Fair. Growing […]

There is a new invasive species moving into Colorado. Rumors of its coming have been circulating for months. My first sighting of its arrival took place a few weeks ago. I am not sure why I still often look at the ‘plates’ on other cars. I find out-of-state plates a source of both curiosity and […]

I just finished a 4,600 mile roadtrip which provided more than a few blog ideas. I had settled on writing about my second “fast food” encounter, and with a few hours of driving by miles and miles of cornfields, I was not lack for thinking time. All that ground to a halt when, on the […]

It’s not that I am “anti-sugar”, I can still be very tempted by the pastry rack at Starbucks. However, I do my best to stay far away from refined sugar, which is both a discipline of 23 years of Type 2 diabetes, and a desire to maintain a healthy body weight. For the last few […]

” One of my simple pleasures is being the first person in the morning to go lap swimming in our HOA pool. There is something very serene about being alone in the pool, where not even a ripple shows. On a morning after a nice Colorado thunderstorm the water in the pool seems even more […]

I am a planner. I can tell you that Christmas Eve this year will be on a Sunday without looking at a calendar. I am already thinking about next summer when this one is just getting started. This can be a great gift, an irritation to those I share life with, or a setup for […]

I am not much of a procrastinator unless I want to be. Over the years with six moves since 2009, I have collected a number of various sized ‘totes’ with the historical record of my life. In them are everything from year books, hundreds of photos, valentines from the 5th grade and every paper I […]

“Reunions” I admit I have a bit of jealousy when I see a group of 50+ people parading through Estes Park, all wearing lime green tee shirts. Embossed on them in bold letters and cool cheesy graphics something like “Baker Family Reunion 2023”. My family used to have a yearly “Pumphrey Pigout”. The last one […]

George Winston, a prolific pianist/composer died this past week. We were the same age. How our family became familiar with him is a story within a story. It was 1987 and by a set of circumstances, we welcomed a foreign exchange student from Japan for the summer. This took some quick maneuvering as one of […]

Blame it on Baskin Robbins I am sure that having way too many choices began in my favorite ice cream store as a teenager. I suspect you have all had the experience of waiting behind three teenagers who had to try 11 flavors with the little spoon, before they settled in on Triple Chocolate Banana […]

I think the “takeover” began about 30 years ago when a call would be made to some business and instead of talking to a person, you were given the option of pressing a certain button for a desired outcome. There were the automatic car washes and sci-fi stories about robots taking over. Blame it on […]

I was once a ‘baby-sitter’. Yes, parents left 12-year-old Mark responsible for three young and impressionable children. When you are 12 and have to rely on all your resources to keep three kids entertained until they fall asleep, you have to have a bag of tricks. I am not sure how I came up with […]

When I was about four years old I was spending time with my four cousins. My dad and my uncle were business partners, Their eight kids (four from each family) were sort of raised as one family. Each family had three boys and one girl. Time with my cousins was precious and sometime raucous. I […]

Wednesday is one of my ‘swimming days’. My recreation center has added a number of hours to the lap swimming pool, which has made my ability to schedule swim time easy-peezy. I am finding that going there a bit after 1pm almost always assures me of my favorite ‘extra wide lane’, where I can finish […]

For the last three days I have pondered how I can write about this without sounding like a typical bragging grandpa. So let me just own this— “I am very, very proud of all my grandkids”. This week something happened with one of them that completely surprised me. My daughter Amy’s daughter Zoe, decided to […]

I saw a news clip the other night about the the return of “Twister-2”, the iconic wood—framed roller coaster that was brought over from the original Elitch Gardens. The use of “roller coaster” as a metaphor leaves a clear message. Sometimes you are going up, sometimes going through a dark tunnel only to find yourself […]

The description of March— “In like a Lion, out like a Lamb” BLEW UP yesterday. I can take about any kind of weather… except for wind. When I moved to Arvada in 2017, I was warned about the brutal spring winds. Forewarned is forearmed. Yesterday tested my limits. I don’t like to use the word […]