Last Wednesday most of the men of Wild at Heart… (sounds like a potential calendar)… went on a night hike up to The Crags above Colorado Springs. It was cloudy and windy. Someone mentioned it probably wasn’t a great idea to be huddled on the top of an exposed Crag with lightening off in the distance… (party pooper)… so we hiked out without enjoying a good cigar together as we had hoped.

It was good… it is good to be together as men.

Thursday I had a brief telephone conversation with John who was calling from some mountain ridge in the boon docks of N.W. Colorado while on vacation. The wind was howling and so was I. I love that guy!

We need friends… I have a few… they’re scattered about the country…I’m smiling just thinking about em.

On Friday Morgan organized a work crew of the men at Wild at Heart… (sounds less like a potential calendar)… to clean up, organize and redecorate one of the lower level rooms at our Outpost that has been “neglected”.

Morgan, apparently having watched Extreme Make Over: Home Edition was our Ty Pennington…. leading the charge with a flair that could be described as nouveau Pittsburgh. It's a crack up seeing 7 men, all of them leaders, in a 15X15 room bumping into one another; shouting out orders/advice while cleaning, fixing the ceiling, organizing cupboards, hanging pictures, mounting rifles, swords and an array of memoralbila…. it was great!

I work with a bunch of knuckle-heads… knuckle-heads with varying levels of aesthetics and taste. I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else. Not even Ty Pennington.

On Saturday several of us (men and women, friends and spouses)… went to PJ’s Workout Boot Camp. (As I write this Monday PM…. several are still very sore… can you spell ALEX, SUE, MORGAN?). It was a brutal as PJ tried, in 60 minutes, to turn us into Navy SEALS... he worked us. We were heaving heavy balls, doing push-ups, "explosive" lunges, some-kind-of-full-body-torture-thingie, we were runnin, huffin and a puffin… we were racing, jumping, doing rapid squats, heaving more heavy balls…you get the picture.

It was good to suffer together in some shared mission… it’s good to be friends-who-also-work-together… and we thank God for Ibuprofen.

Sunday Am… several of us and a few friends had a brunch with Julie J. and her “friend”, AKA Robert. Getting to know Julie, she wanted him to taste a little bit of her community as well. Ahhh… Monkey Bread, quiche, mimosa, fresh fruit, earthy coffee and wonderful conversation and laughs.

Lots and lots of laughs. It is good to laugh… laugh with others... and share a meal together.

Today… Monday. Kind of an ordinary day… I got an appointment with the Fremont Court mixed up…. it’s tomorrow… I thought it was today… wore my khaki pants and blue Oxford button down collar shirt for nothing… (it was regarding a traffic ticket… okay, okay I was speeding; BUT it was the last hour of a 19 hour drive back from L.A….. and I had to pass a slow moving garbage truck before the passing lane ended… State Patrol wouldn’t give me a break. I should have had my old “clergy” bumper sticker!?#$?).

I had another telephone conversation with John… who was once again on some mountain crest that had AT&T coverage... we covered my "Things to Discuss With John Check List" in about 14 minutes. Checking in is good... vacations are good.

I missed a conversation with Kevin in Manassas, got caught up on email (what happened to my New Year’s Resolution to answer every email within a week?!#$%&*?!). Had some meetings, enjoyed conversation and an iced Americano with Sue at Starbucks… yapped a bit with Bart in So. CA.; interrupted a meeting Paul was having by cracking a joke that bombed… read a bit of a book someone sent me and encouraged Brad to take a sick day after being thrown from his bike during a lunch time ride. With those scrapes and that 4 inch bump on his forehead he will definetly not be at the Men of Wild at Heart Calendar photo shoot tomorrow… Tuesday.

– Craig McConnell