San Isabel National Forest 

Commuting was never like this in Atlanta!

I've been commuting to Pueblo from Westcliffe for the last two weeks, and while the commute is about 10 minutes longer than my commute in Atlanta, the nature of the commute is totally different. No traffic to fight, no noise, and lots of beautiful scenery. The picture is of the San Isabel National Forest, and it looks very similar to the part I drive through every morning and evening--twisty and turny through a canyon with trees everywhere. When I get to Wetmore, which is roughly halfway, the scenery begins to change and I come out of the mountains onto a wide, flat prairie with Pike's Peak on one side and the Spanish Peaks on the other in the distance. By the time I reach Pueblo, I have come down 3000'+ in altitude and entered a town that looks more like New Mexico than Colorado. I've been having trouble with my sinuses lately and am wondering if it has anything to do with the daily change in altitude, or if it's just the change in the seasons.

Busy week!

Been too busy to blog this week - I started a new job at the Bessemer Historical Society, working with the archives collection. Fascinating place, but it will be a very big job - we have some 20,000 c.f. of records to process. Job security, indeed. I'm working my last weekend at the realtor's office, thankfully, so one more week, and I'll actually have two days in a row off!

On 'The Critter'

Nope, it's not related to any of the wildlife around here. I've just ordered a 'Little Critter', which is an affordable alternative to the pricey Hollander beater ($7500). In my creative life as a hand papermaker, I've been limited in the types of materials I've been able to use for papermaking to those which could be beat up in a blender. No more! Bring on those cotton rags, old blue jeans, and tough fibers! With the Critter, I'll be able to experiment with a wide range of different fibers, and I'll be able to produce real quality pulp. I hope to create a 'Papers of the Southwest' series, maybe even using some of the so-called 'Noxious Weeds' around here - be nice to make something useful out of these parasitic plants!

Is it 'The Birds'?!

We've gone a little overboard with the hummingbird feeders - we now have 3 big ones and 2 little ones. But the hummers are so much fun to watch - even if our deck sometimes resembles a scene from The Birds. Hummers are very territorial, and we have several different species all vying for the feeders. The Rufous hummers are the most aggressive - there's one guy who managed to fend off all the other hummers for several hours. The black-chinned and broad-tailed varieties, which we also have, aren't quite so fierce, but I've been wondering what would happen if I got between them and the feeders!

Hummers everywhere! 

Small town jokes

Heard in a town meeting the other day:

Q: Know why you don't have to give turn signals in a small town?

A: Cause everyone already knows where you're going.

I'd hate to try to have an affair in a small town - people are starting to recognize both of our cars, and will say something like: 'Oh, I see you were down at the library yesterday." Keith (my brother) lives in a small town in Missouri, and likes to tell stories about how his kids could never get away with anything when they were growing up because someone would be sure to call him, and say, for example: 'I saw your son (underage) drinking a beer.'

One thing that simplifies life in a small town is that everyone has the same phone exchange, so when someone asks for your phone number, all you have to tell them is the last four digits.

Hummingbird Wars

John thinks it's time to add a third hummingbird feeder since we now have sometimes 6 to 8 hummers fighting over the 3 feeding stations at each feeder. I agree, but they are so much fun to watch, both for us and for the kitties. I'd say we have at least a dozen of them visiting the feeders virtually all day long - certainly more than I've ever seen at one time. They seem to like my hummer sauce, which I make in a 1:4 ratio of sugar to water and without the red food coloring. It gets so windy here sometimes that we've had to weight down the feeders so that they don't swing wildly and wind up feeding that good stuff to the ants.

Joys of Country Living

We haven't been able to use the a/c in our Honda Accord for some time, and John thinks he's finally gotten to the root of the problem. I was driving the car the other day, and tried the fan, and it proceeded to make a noise and spit out what looked like plant seeds on the floor. John took out the fan and discovered what looks to be a nest made by some animal. Last night, he announced that he'd found the other half of the problem - a very dead and dessicated mouse who apparently tried to take up residence in the heater.

To the Polls!

I don't think that last night's forum changed too many peoples' minds, but it was interesting to hear each candidate address the same question. It did serve to solidify my opinions, so I'm ready to vote in the Tuesday primary.

Small Town Politics

Tonight there is a candidates forum at the local high school auditorium. We have a hotly contested race for two county commissioner slots, and feelings in the valley are running pretty high. A lot is at stake for the future of our beautiful valley, and it turns largely on how the term 'smart growth' is interpreted by those elected. Virtually everyone accepts that there will be growth, but how to manage that growth in order to preserve our open spaces, provide jobs and at the same time hold on to those things that make the valley special and brought us here in the first place? Too many of us have seen beautiful places destroyed by shortsightedness, uncontrolled development and greed.