Wildlife Near Denver

This past Saturday I decided to see if I could take some photographs of wildlife near Denver, and started with the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal was originally a chemical weapons plant built during WWII, located just to the east of Denver. After the Vietnam War, it became the location of a chemical factory, which closed in 1985. The site was heavily polluted, and after years of cleanup, it became a National Wildlife Refuge. I never had much luck finding wildlife here before, but this time I was able to find several herds of deer, which allowed me to take the photo on the left. There was also supposed to be bison here, too, although the only one I spotted was in a far off field and had it's back turned to me.

Wanting, for some unknown reason, to photograph bison, I decided to head west into the mountains to the Buffalo Outlook near Genesee Park, about 20 minutes west of Denver. I have often driven past this large pasture along Interstate 70 that is home to a buffalo herd, but have never stopped to take a look, and have seldom seen any buffalo. However, this past Saturday, I discovered the overlook and a walkway that takes you along the pasture. The buffalo were not very close to the fence, but I used a zoom lens to take the photo on the right. One thing I learned very quickly is that buffalo are not very interesting. They tend to graze and sit, and not do much else. Plus, they are not really buffalo - they are bison, misnamed by early settlers. And there you have it. Still another educational tidbit from this blog. No thanks necessary.

More Stuart Florida Nostalgia

I ran across some photographs of my sister Susan and mother Mary that I took in Stuart, Florida back in October of 1999, during one of Susan and my many visits there. The photograph on the left was taken along the St. Lucie River, just a short walk from my mother's condo. Walking down to the river at sunset was a nightly tradition, and it never got old. After my sister and mother would walk back home, I myself would linger and take a few hundred or so sunset photos, some of which actually turned out well.

Another tradition was to head to Stuart Beach each afternoon, where my mother would sit under the shelter on the boardwalk and read the Stuart News, while Susan and I would walk along the ocean to the House of Refuge Museum and back. Sometimes, on the way home, if we had time, we would stop and walk around Old Town Stuart, which was once a true downtown, but more and more has become an entertainment and tourist destination. I took the photo on the right at the Colorado Avenue Mini Park, just steps from Osceola Street, downtown Stuart's main drag. Just past this park were old homes and apartments that fronted the river, but I have recently heard that these buildings have been torn down, to be replaced by a pricey, upscale condo development. Sad to see all these changes taking place. And no - I do not sound like an old curmudgeon.

The White Sox Are In First Place!

My South Side heros, the Chicago White Sox, are in first place in the American League Central Division. Just a few weeks ago, three of their position players were on the injured list, and the team went on a losing streak. However, once two of those players - including all-star shortstop Tim Anderson - came back, the team went on a tear, climbing their way to the top. I watched yesterday's game on MLB.com, and it was a true nail-biter. In the top of the ninth inning, catcher Yasmani Grandal let the Kansas City Royals tie the game through a rare error, but won the game in the bottom of the inning with a walk-off home run. These games are exciting - too exciting. No matter what their record is, you always seem to be waiting for disaster to strike. No doubt a preexisting condition for Chicago baseball fans.

Hanging Out In Boulder

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I drove up to Boulder Wednesday afternoon to walk around Chautauqua Park, which I think is one of the nicest parks in Colorado. Afterwards, I walked down 9th Street to the Pearl Street Mall, which is the heart of Boulder's downtown. I was happy to see that the Trident, a bookstore and cafe on West Pearl Street, seen in the photo on the left, was open and doing a good business. This place has been around ever since I moved to Colorado, and is always packed (though I assume properly socially distancing). A few doors down there used to be a mystery bookstore, where I attended quite a few author signings, but sadly, like a lot of bookstores, it is long gone. Glad to see that the Trident, as well as the Boulder Bookstore just down the street, have survived.

Another place that seems to be doing well, even on a Wednesday afternoon, is the Bohemian Biergarten, located just off the Pearl Street Mall. I have never tried this place before, but it is definitely on my list. Boulder is surrounded by a greenbelt, which isolates it from the rest of the metro area, and has resulted in Boulder being a very expensive place to live. And thanks to it's progressive politics, Boulder is famously know as "25 square miles surrounded by reality." I don't care. It is still a fun spot to spend a day, even if you can't afford to live there.

Walking Around Chautauqua

I drove up to Boulder yesterday afternoon and took a walk around Chautauqua Park for the first time in a number of years.  It is a beautiful spot, sitting right up against the Flatirons, which can be seen in the photograph on the left. Trails wind all through the area, and if you like, you can even do a little rock climbing, too. But instead of rock climbing, I decided to just walk around the park itself, which is a National Historic Site and consists of a 19th century wooden concert venue, the dining hall, and cottages that that are rented in the summer to tourists and, in many cases, to faculty teaching at the University of Colorado the rest of the time.

Although the concert season was cancelled this year due to the coronavirus, I was happy to see that the dining hall was open and people were out sitting on the restaurant's deck, as seen in the photo on the right. Years ago, when my mother Mary would come up from Stuart, Florida to visit, we would drive up on a Sunday morning and meet my sister Susan and brother-in-law George - who would drive from Fort Collins - and have brunch here, which was always a treat. Of course, at the time, Chautauqua stopped serving breakfast at noon, and so it was always exciting to see if Susan and George would make it on time. They always did, but it was always close - very close.  But definitely worth it to be able to sit outside along the railing and look at the view.

And if all of this seems inviting to you, I saw that the cottage in the photo on the left is for rent. It says on a plaque on the front porch that it dates from 1898, but I am sure it has been updated since then. Maybe. Best of all, it fronts on the park, and you can sit on that enclosed porch and enjoy a spectacular view. Feel free to call the phone number on the sign in front of the place to get details. Just don't forget to have them send me my commission check if you do decide to rent it.

Photographing The Lion Cubs Together. At Last!

Since the Denver Zoo's twin lion cubs were back inside their den by the time I got to their compound last week, I decided to make another reservation for this past Saturday morning to try one more time to get a photograph of them together. But it turned out that they were in the main lion compound - named Predator's Ridge - and were sound asleep behind their also snoozing mother. I decided to make another round through the zoo,  but when I came back to Predator's Ridge one of the cubs was sleeping against the wall of the compound, still hidden behind the mother, and according to a couple also wanting to get a photograph, the other was sleeping in the opposite corner, out of sight. That couple said they had been waiting for those cubs to wake up and come out for 45 minutes, but they finally gave up and left. Eventually, the mother got up and moved to a different location, and the hidden lion cub joined it's twin just before they both nodded off again, and I was able to take the photograph on the left.

While I was waiting the 20 hours or so it took to get some sort of shot, I read the information sign next to me that gave various facts about lions. It turns out that lions can get enough food for the day by eating for two hours straight, and afterwards sleep up to 20 hours, no doubt what the lioness in the photo on the right was doing. That means that photographers have just two hours over an entire day to get a decent photo. Life is so unfair. Can't these damn animals just cooperate?

Long Range

I just finished reading Long Range, C.J. Box's latest Joe Pickett mystery. I went to hear Box (a fellow University of Denver alumni, I might add) discuss the book at Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore, right before everything was closed due to the coronavirus, but didn't get a copy from the library until last week. In this latest Joe Pickett adventure, a gunman uses a long range rifle in an attempt to kill a local judge in Twelve Sleep County, a fictional Wyoming locale where Picket is a game warden, and who gets involved in investigating more serious crimes, too. The gunman misses, but hits the wife of the judge, who mobilizes all the law enforcement people in the county to find the perpetrator. I really enjoyed the book, and recommend it to anyone who likes mysteries and wants to learn about life in the mountains of Wyoming. Just don't move there. You'll be sorry.

Attending The Indy 500 - Virtually

I went over to my friend Mark's house yesterday to watch the Indianapolis 500. Mark actually attended the race in person with his father back in 1999, but this year had to settle for attending it virtually, since fans were not allowed to be in the stands. Mark can be seen posing in the above photograph in front of one of the race cars making a pit stop. It has been at least 50 years since I have watched this race, and even then not from start to finish. I was surprised at how many crashes there were, resulting in the yellow flag being flown and cars having to slow down and line up behind the pace car. In fact, the last 4 laps of this race were completed like this, resulting in an anticlimactic finish. The winner was Takuma Sato, who celebrated with team owners Bobby Rahal and none other than former late night talk show host David Letterman, who now sports a huge gray beard, no doubt used as a clever disguise. But what is he hiding from? Questions, questions.

Remembering Lunch At Rancho De Chimayo

It has been almost two years since my sister Susan and I attended the Fiesta de Santa Fe, traditionally held the weekend after Labor Day. It is definitely time to visit that beautiful and historic city once again, but due to the coronavirus, New Mexico requires visitors to self quarantine for 14 days after arriving in the state, which makes going there for an extended weekend a bit problematic. As much as I like Motel 6, driving all that way from Denver just to stay in a motel room does not sound to me like much fun, and so we will just have to wait until next year. Kind of like the Chicago Cubs. In any case, after attending the fiesta back in 2018, we stopped at Rancho De Chimayo - a truly wonderful New Mexican restaurant - for lunch on the way home. Although they do have indoor dining, what makes the place really special is the patio out back. The photo on the left shows Susan perusing the menu just after we sat down.

This restaurant, located in an ancestral family home, has been in business since 1965. The countryside around this area is just stunning.  To get there, you cross a cattle guard and drive through the foothills of the Sangre de Christo Mountains. The photograph on the right is of the entrance to Rancho De Chimayo.

The centerpiece of this small village is El Santuario de Chimayo, the side chapel of which has a dirt floor that is reputed to have healing powers. I took the photograph on the left of this chapel after we had lunch and before heading north to Taos and Denver. Susan, by the way, did not like Taos at all. We walked around the historic plaza there, and one of the locals, who was sitting in front of one of the shops, referred to Susan's Yorkie Tutu as a "rodent on a rope." Some of the shops we went in were not exactly dog friendly, either. I don't think the entire city should be blamed for this, but I'm afraid that Susan does not want to visit Taos again. On the bright side, it is much faster to go home from Santa Fe via I-25, anyway. Their loss, I guess.

Hiking Near Evergreen

I wanted to go for a short hike, but didn't want to drive too far, and wound up hiking in Alderfer/Three Sisters Park, located near the center of Evergreen, Colorado. It is part of the Jefferson County Open Space, and is made up of 15 trails and 1,100 acres. Evergreen is in the mountains, about 40 minutes west of Denver. It is a town where people can live in the mountains and still have a reasonable commute time to the metro area. Of course, you have to like shoveling snow off your driveway 9 months out of the year, but who doesn't?  In any case, I decided to hike the Sisters Trail, which is a loop that goes over the Three Sisters, three rock outcroppings that are each about 8,000 feet in altitude.

The trail is labeled moderate, but to me it was pretty damn steep, and when I got to the top, I found that you needed to scramble up some rocks and boulders, such as the ones in the photo on the right, to get to the summit. However, there was a guy around my age with a long white beard, who looked like the old man of the mountain, and was blocking my path. He was running a remote controlled toy car over one of the rocks, and did not seem like he intended to leave anytime soon. Rather than deal with a crazy (and there are a lot of them around lately, in case you haven't noticed), I decided to head back down to my car. These days, you can only have so much fun and hope to survive the experience.

A Final Word On The Denver Zoo

Going to the Denver Zoo these days is still much different than it used to be, thanks to the coronavirus. You have to make a reservation in advance, and often the best times are taken. Also, you have to follow a one way route, and if you want to photograph the twin lion cubs before they go back into the lion house in the early afternoon, you have to go through the entire zoo before you reach them. I know it is the way it has to be, of course, but on the bright side, you can take lots of photographs of the the other animals on the way, such as the two giraffes in the photograph on the left.

I was also able to capture a sweet moment between Kylo, the baby zebra, and it's mother, as seen in the photograph on the right. Granted, Kylo does not look all that much like a baby anymore, but it is actually only a little over three months old. In fact, there was another baby zebra that was born at the Denver Zoo a few years back. I was able to take a photograph of it right after it was born, and even then it seemed pretty damn big. I imagine the mother must get pretty damn surly carrying that around for 13 months (I discovered that gestation period for zebras on the internet, by the way, so it must be true). I guess a mother's love knows no bounds, even in the animal kingdom.

A Denver Zoo Redux Part II

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I went to the Denver Zoo yesterday afternoon to take a few animal photographs. However, since my reservation was in the afternoon, I knew in advance that I would not be seeing the twin lion cubs, since they go back into the lion house fairly early.  However, I did get to photograph Joona, the baby rhino, as seen in the photo on the left. And as you can see, Joona was quite willing to look me in the eye and have it's portrait taken. Of course, even I have to admit that twin lion cubs are a lot cuter than baby rhinos. Sorry about that, guy. What can I tell you? Life is unfair.

I was also able to take a photo of Kylo, the new baby zebra. However, although it is only a little over three months old, it seems to be growing up quite fast (after only one month, it already weighed 124 pounds). It has also quickly gotten into the typical zebra routine - eating and pooping. In fact, while I was taking photographs, I noticed that Kylo was doing both at the same time. I know he is young, but I hope his parents let him know that this is not okay. Even at the Denver Zoo.

A Denver Zoo Redux

I went back to the Denver Zoo yesterday afternoon to take a few more animal photographs. Since my reservation time was at 3:00 P.M., I knew I had no hope of seeing the twin lion cubs (they go in for naps no later that 2:00), and as you can see from the photograph of their compound on the left, I was right. It reached 100 degrees in Denver yesterday, and so most of the animals were keeping a low profile. Only a couple of the lions were outside, sleeping in the shade, while the rest were inside, no doubt taking advantage of the air conditioning and watching the telly.

It was so hot, one of the giraffes was sitting down in the middle of the compound, which is the first time I have ever seen that.  I checked the internet, and giraffes do indeed sleep standing up, but sometimes they are known to sit down and "ruminate." Ruminate? Really? About what? The weather? Since these animals are native to Africa, you would think they would be genetically predisposed to hot weather, but I guess not. Perhaps being housed in buildings with air conditioning has spoiled them. If the doors to the giraffe house were not shut, I am sure they all would have been inside the entire day, and most likely order out using Grubhub.

The hot weather even seems to have taken all the energy out of the rhino, seen in the photograph on the left. To me it actually looks kind of depressed. Once again I must appeal to zoo officials to make a concerted effort to cheer these animals up. Perhaps a zoo intern could be sent into the various compounds and kick the soccer ball around with them once in a while. It's either that or intense psychological analysis, and that is expensive.

When The Music's Over

I just finished reading When the Music's Over, an Inspector Banks mystery by Peter Robinson. These mysteries take place in West Yorkshire, and are actually quite good. This particular story involves two cases - the first, a cold case in which a woman accuses a famous, now retired British television star of raping her when she was 14; the second, another 14 year old girl who was gang raped, thrown out of a van, and then murdered by someone else while walking down the road afterwards.  The story is quite a page-turner, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys police procedurals, British or otherwise. And I must say, in the past, whenever I thought of Yorkshire, I would think of James Herriot and All Creatures Great and Small. Reading this series, I have to wonder just how violent Yorkshire really is. Pretty scary, especially after hearing about all those killer cows in the area, too, if travel writer and humorist Bill Bryson is to be believed. And would he ever lie?

DU Law Classes Begin Today

Classes begin today at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law, located in the building on the left in the above photograph. When DU sold it's east campus, a new law school building was built on the main campus, squeezed in around three fraternity houses, one of which can be seen on the right in the photo. The Vice Chancellor of Finance for DU once remarked that law professors and senior staff were now getting quite an education themselves, since their offices look down on the backyards of those fraternities. In any case, classes will be in person for the law school this semester. I guess that when you pay $52,922 a year in tuition, you don't want to be just sitting in your living room in front of a laptop. What worries me is that those law students will be coming from all over the country, including coronavirus hot spots, and many of them will be renting apartments in my building. Still another reason to hate lawyers.

A Long Ago Visit To Saint Augustine

Back in April and May of 1975, my mother Mary, father Nelson and I took a road trip from Chicago to Stuart, Florida, where my parents were thinking of retiring (and did indeed do so the following year). I took the photograph on the left of my parents standing in front of the oldest wooden school house in the country (built in or before 1716) when we stopped off to visit St. Augustine on the way home.

I like the city of St. Augustine, especially the Castillo de San Marcos, a Spanish fort built between 1672 and 1695 on the bayfront. I also like the Oldest House, which is Florida's oldest surviving Spanish Colonial home.  It is a pretty town, and the only criticism I have is that a lot of the sites are actually historical reproductions, not original buildings.  Since it has been over 45 years since I took the photograph of my parents on the right, I can't remember if the buildings in the background are original or not, but I think they might be reproductions. They are, of course, quaint, and the street is very picturesque, but be sure to check the plaques on them to understand what you are looking at before you go inside and buy that Slurpee.

A Trip To Bellvue

No - not the psychiatric hospital in New York City. The small town in the foothills west of Fort Collins, Colorado. My sister Susan and I took a drive along Horsetooth Reservoir Thursday and ended up driving through Bellvue. In addition to agriculture and timber, this area also boasted a stone quarry used by the Union Pacific Railroad. Because of this, Jacob Flowers - a local farmer - decided to open a mercantile store there around 1880, as seen on the left in the above photo and now the Bellvue Grange. The yellow building in the background was once the Bellvue Store and was built in 1915. It is a pretty little town, and close to the Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forest. However, although it seems pleasant enough in the middle of summer, I can just imagine what it is like in the winter. And keep in mind, those buildings are no longer stores, which means a long drive down to the grocery store in Fort Collins during the middle of a blizzard. And if I lived there, I am sure one would occur every time I got in the car.

Susan In Florence

I took the above photograph of my sister Susan at a cafe on Piazza San Marco, close to the bed and breakfast we stayed at when we visited Florence last year. The building that bed and breakfast is housed in, as well as the entire neighborhood, dates from the 1400s, which I find just absolutely amazing. Piazza San Marco, by the way, is a transportation hub, which makes your hotel easy to find if you are using public transportation and don't speak the language. It had been quite a few years since my last trip to Europe, and so I was amazed at how many more tourists there are in Europe now, in what I thought was shoulder season. After a full day touring Florence, not to mention other European cities, a glass of wine, or in my case, a few pints of beer, is a definite necessity.

Remembering Sorrento - Not To Mention Volcanos

I took the above photograph last year when my sister Susan and I visited Europe and stayed in Sorrento for a couple of days. It rained most of the time we were there (and, I might add, it has rained 2 out of the 3 times I have visited), but I was able to take the photo between rain showers, with Mount Vesuvius in the background. Vesuvius is said to be the most dangerous volcano in the world because there are 3 million people living in the immediate vicinity, the majority living in Naples. Even scarier, the caldera of the Campi Flegrei volcano system occupies a huge suburban area adjoining Naples, with steam vents all over the place. Experts say if it erupts, the results would be even more catastrophic than an eruption of Vesuvius. As a side note, Yellowstone National Park in the United States is a huge caldera, too.  It hasn't erupted in thousands of years, of course, but if it ever does, it too would be devastating. And because of that, volcano insurance is not available here in Denver, which is 500 miles away. If the reach of these massive volcanos is that far, you might consider passing on visiting Southern Italy. Don't feel bad - it rains there all the time anyway.

The August Mutt Of The Month

I took the above photograph of the August Mutt of the Month the other day while stopped at a stoplight near my Denver condo. As you can see, it was happy to have it's portrait taken, and looked me right in the eye as I was taking it's photo. And when the car drove off, it kept sticking it's head out of the window, enjoying the both the breeze and the view. No doubt it loves car rides. My sister Susan's dog Blackberry also likes to ride in the car, but can't be trusted not to jump out the window if she got half a chance. Blackberry and Susan's other dog, Tutu, are not what you would call highly trained. Or for that matter, even trained at all.

Wildlife In Fort Collins? Kind Of...

I recently read that a moose was spotted walking down the street in the north part of Fort Collins, Colorado and was sedated, taken up Poudre Canyon, and released in more moose friendly territory. I myself have been looking for moose to photograph for years now, with no success.  The best "wildlife" photographs I can do are my sister Susan's dogs and the various rabbits, squirrels, and occasional deer running through the neighborhood. I took the photograph on the left of Susan's dog Blackberry eagerly anticipating getting a dog biscuit, which I use to try and get her to stop eating virtually anything she might find on the ground on our walks.

And speaking of Blackberry, I would be remiss if I did not feature her favorite form of wildlife, which are squirrels. If she spots one racing up a tree, she will stand there until the cows come home, hoping against hope that it will decide to come down and play. These squirrels are constantly on the front patio of my sister Susan's townhouse, helping themselves to the goodies in one of Susan's 10,000 bird feeders. Bird feeders are also supposed to attract bears, but I am here to tell you that THAT is an urban myth. After 39 years in Colorado, I have never seen a single bear in the wild.

I took the photograph on the left of a bunny rabbit under a van while Susan was at her hair appointment. This particular rabbit did not seem especially scared or intimidated by me.  Evidently, hunting bunnies is not a popular activity in Fort Collins, as opposed to some parts of the country, such as Pahokee, Florida. I read in Naked Came the Florida Man, Tim Dorsey's latest adventure novel, that poor kids around that area chase rabbits in the sugar cane fields for food and for the money their hides bring, and in the process turn themselves into star football players. And judging by the record of Colorado State's football team, the Rams, the rabbits here in Fort Collins really do have nothing to worry about.

Catching Batting Practice At The Ballpark? Not This Year...

Since fans are not allowed to attend baseball games in person this year, the longtime tradition of watching batting practice before the game is also not possible. Back in the good old days - last year - fans would hover in the bleachers out in left field to catch balls, but I always liked to stand along the infield fence and take photographs of the players, such as the one of shortstop Walt Weiss, with a bat on his shoulder, that I took in April of 1994 at Mile High Stadium, where the Colorado Rockies played for it's first two seasons before moving to newly built Coors Field. Weiss later managed the Rockies for several years, doing his best while dealing with a limited team payroll, by which I mean cheap owners.

That same day, I took the photograph on the right of Rockies superstars Andres Galarraga (on the left) and third baseman Vinnie Castilla (on the right).  When the Rockies first started playing, Galarraga was such a key player that when he was out of the lineup due to injuries, the team would lose every single game until he returned. Castilla started as a shortstop, but soon became a power hitting third baseman. The following year, the team would go to the playoffs, in just the third year of their existence.  Of course, they faced the Atlanta Braves in a wildcard series and lost 3 games to 1, but it was fun, nonetheless. Ah, the good old days.

A Virtual Visit To Leeds

I went over to my friend Mark's house yesterday to watch the Chicago White Sox play the Cleveland Indians on the MLB Network. Mark has become a Chicago White Sox fan, but his true love has always been soccer, especially Leeds soccer, a city where he has many friends and has often visited. Therefore, today I decided to Photoshop him standing in front of the Whitelocks Ale House, which is reputed to be the oldest pub in Leeds, opened in 1715. I ran across the above photograph on the internet after reading When the Music's Over, one of Peter Robinson's mystery novels, which takes place in Yorkshire. The main character, Detective Superintendent Alan Banks, had lunch at Whitelocks while investigating a case, and it turns out that Mark has actually visited this place, too. Mark just loves Leeds, although one of my favorite stories is when Mark, on his way to Leeds one time, was questioned by a customs agent who became very suspicious when he found out Mark was heading back to Leeds after already having seen the place. He could not understand why a tourist would ever want to return there. Mark explained about having friends in Leeds, and was eventually sent on his way, but it does show that others may not share his high opinion of the place. I wonder why?

Burgers And Beers With Wally At Spanky's

I had burgers and beers with my friend Wally yesterday afternoon at Spanky's, a local bistro just to the west of the University of Denver campus. We both like the ambiance, and also the fact that happy hour is dirt cheap there. Wally is doing well, and as seen in the photograph above, is taking all necessary precautions against Covid-19. Wally's wife Linda is spending a couple of weeks at Cape Cod, and so he is "batching it," taking care of the pets and getting a lot of work done in his woodworking shop. Wally and I, as regular blog readers know, were co-workers at the University of Denver Bookstore before the university outsourced it to Follett Higher Education Group. And for those of you who read yesterday's blog, I was NOT subtlety suggesting that Follett is some kind of satanic cult, although I'm not saying it isn't, either. Good to get together with you again, Wally!

A Stroll Through University Park

I took a walk through Denver's University Park neighborhood one evening last week. This is the neighborhood just to the east of the University of Denver campus, and dates from when the university moved to the area back in 1892. Most of the houses used to look like the one in the photograph on the left, but as I walked toward Robert H. McWilliams Park, the southern boundary of the area,  I was surprised to see that the vast majority of older homes had been torn down and replaced by McMansions, the bane of the modern urban landscape.

The people who live in this neighborhood are a whimsical bunch, as evidenced by the lawn ornament I photographed on the right. Of course, as far as I know, that ornament might be some sort of symbol for a satanic cult, and being so close to the University of Denver, I would not be a bit surprised by that.  On the other hand, I have always suspected people living in McMansions might be satanists. Who else would tear down perfectly good houses to put up such edifices?

And when I actually got to the park, I felt my suspicions were confirmed when I discovered a large group of mainly senior citizens performing what very well might be a satanic ritual. Of course, perhaps they were just practicing kung fu, learning some self-defense techniques in case they are confronted by roaming gangs of rich people, of which there are many around this area. So many mysteries, so few explanations.

Hanging At Horsetooth

I did a bit of hiking the other day at Horsetooth Reservoir, located just to the west of Fort Collins, Colorado.  It is a long, fairly large body of water and very popular with boaters and water-skiers. I parked at Rotary Park and walked for a while along the edge of the cliff overlooking the water, where I took the photograph on the left. When I got back to the parking lot, I came upon a pay station and discovered that Larimer County charges $9.00 a day to spend time here. Good thing I didn't find that out until I was about to leave. This is a really pretty area, and amazingly enough, only 15 minutes or so away from my sister Susan's townhouse in Fort Collins, but I draw the line at having to fork out nine bucks to see it. Next thing you know, New York City will be charging $9.00 to walk around Central Park. Good luck with that.

I also stopped at Duncan's Ridge, which is a popular spot for rock climbing and where I took the photograph on the right. Happily, there was no sign in the parking area demanding payment. But I must say, it was a pretty steep climb up to the top, and I am beginning to think that I am more out of shape than I thought. However, whenever I think about taking up jogging - to paraphrase Mark Twain - I tend to lie down until the feeling passes. Perhaps rock climbing would be a better choice? What could possibly go wrong?

A Chicago White Sox Update!

I am happy to report that as of today, my South Side heros, the Chicago White Sox, have won 6 games in a row after a 1 and 4 start, and are now only two games out of first place in the American League Central Division. I have been watching them on MLB.com as often as possible, and have yet to see them lose, starting with an exhibition game at Wrigley Field against their North Side nemesis, the Chicago Cubs, which as the photograph above shows, I actually attended (virtually, of course). And I must say, these games are very exciting to watch. Too exciting, actually. The White Sox closer, Alex Colome, likes to add a little drama to the game by pulling off saves by just the skin of his teeth. But a win is a win, after all. Of course, the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies are also doing well, both currently in first place in their respective divisions. But do they have the heart and soul that the White Sox have? I think not.

Naked Came The Florida Man

I just finished reading Naked Came the Florida Man, Tim Dorsey's latest adventure/comic novel. As usual, it features Serge, the serial killer with a heart of gold, and his wacky sidekick Coleman. This time the pair are soaking up obscure Florida history and sights along Lake Okeechobee, a hardscrabble area populated by a lot of rednecks, sugarcane workers, and migrants.  Along the way, they mete out their unique brand of justice to evildoers they encounter. Serge, like author Tim Dorsey himself, is a fanatic about Florida history, and throughout this wacky adventure throws out places and events from the state's past, such as author Zora Neale Hurston's home and grave site in Fort Pierce, Florida, the horrific hurricane of 1928, and the historic Clewiston Inn.

In this adventure, Serge travels through all the towns surrounding Lake Okeechobee, including Okeechobee, Port Mayaca, Pahokee, Indiantown, Belle Glade, and Clewiston. At one time or another, I have traveled through all these towns on my way across the state, usually in mid-August, when central Florida is especially lovely.  As I was reading this book, I was convinced that my sister Susan, mother Mary, and I had visited the Clewiston Inn years ago, and went through my shoe boxes full of old photographs looking for the proof. As you can see from the photo on the right, I was once again - surprise! - wrong. What we actually visited, back in August of 1994, was the Seminole Country Inn, located in Indiantown, not too far from my mother's condo in Stuart, Florida. This place was built back in 1926 and evokes the atmosphere of "Old Florida," according to it's web site (https://www.seminoleinn.com/}.

I guess I was under the impression that there was probably only one historic inn by Lake Okeechobee, which I now know is not true.  I looked up the Clewiston Inn on the web, and it appears to be a much larger hotel, built around the same time as the Seminole Country Inn. Their web site says that it is centrally located, just 60 miles from both West Palm Beach on the east coast and Fort Myers, Florida (jumping off point for Sanibel and Captiva Islands) on the west. I am not too sure that I would particularly want to be equidistant from those two places, but the Clewiston Inn does look very nice. Be sure to check out their website at https://www.clewistoninn.com/en-us. And as for Naked Came the Florida Man, I do recommend it if you want a few laughs to take your mind off the coronavirus pandemic. Order it from your local library today!