The Quest For Wildlife In Colorado Continues...

OK. I have to admit that finding wildlife in Colorado is not my strong suit. I have been searching for moose in this state, without success, for years, even though an article in NOCO Magazine says that moose are now so prevalent in this state that they have become a danger to Colorado residents.  In the 39 years I have lived here, I have yet to see a bear, even though they are featured almost nightly on the local news foraging through garbage and hanging out in trees in many Denver suburbs.  And so the best I can do this week is a photograph of a squirrel having lunch in Fort Collin's City Park.  But in my defense, squirrels are technically wildlife. And this squirrel could very well have charged me if I wasn't careful. After all, everyone remembers that killer rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, right?

The White Sox Are In The Playoffs!

My Southside heros, the Chicago White Sox, are in the playoffs for the first time in many years, and today start a three game wildcard series against the Oakland A's. The Chicago Cubs, the city's Northside baseball club, also made the playoffs. I watched those two teams face each other in the final three games of the season on MLB.com this past weekend.  The games were held at Guaranteed Rate Field, which has been home to the White Sox ever since they tore down Comiskey Park, a disgraceful act that I will not rant about - at least not now. In any case, the White Sox were blown out in the first game by a score of 12 to nothing, won the second game 9 to 5, and were down 10 to 1 Sunday before coming back in the 8th inning and almost winning the game. I was hoping to use the excuse of watching that first playoff game as the reason for not tuning in to the first debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. However, it is an afternoon game, and so I will now have to think up a different excuse. Being captured by aliens? Very plausible. Especially these days.

Watching Tottenham Play Newcastle With Mark

My friend Mark (seen in the above photograph on the right) and I took a virtual trip to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London yesterday afternoon to watch the Tottenham Hotspurs play Newcastle United. The Hotspurs led by a score of 1 to nothing until the final minutes of the game, when Newcastle tied it up with a penalty kick, which is how it ended. The last time Mark and I watched those two teams play was with the Colorado Hot Spurs, the local Tottenham fan club, at Esters Neighborhood Pub here in Denver. Mark is a Newcastle fan, and proudly wore his Newcastle jersey to the pub that day. There are usually about 80 Hot Spurs fans attending those games, but I am happy to report that there were no ugly incidents. If it were me, they probably would have beat me senseless. And by the way, A1A sponsors Tottenham, which is why it is featured on the jersey I am wearing in the photo. And as all Floridians and many tourists know, A1A is the Florida State highway that runs along the Atlantic ocean from Key West to the Florida Georgia line. No doubt it sponsors Tottenham because so many Brits must move to Florida to escape their Godawful weather.

Remembering Elburn Illinois

My sister Susan recently asked me if I had any photographs of her and her late husband George's first home, an old farmhouse located in the little town of Elburn, Illinois. After George got a job as a salesman with Wesco, the industrial supply branch of Westinghouse Electric, they bought a house in Elburn, about 10 miles west of Geneva, Illinois, which itself is about 30 miles west of downtown Chicago. The photo on the left not only features that house, but also my mother Mary and father Nelson posing in front of it. At that time, Elburn was a small farm town, and the next door neighbors kept chickens and a rooster, which to Susan's delight crowed every morning at dawn. Elburn also had a slaughterhouse, and when the wind was right, it made the neighborhood quite fragrant. Susan was very proud of that house, and was so obsessed with keeping it clean that she made my father fry bacon for breakfast in the unheated utility room, which was quite nippy during the winter. She would also tend to vacuum up crumbs under the dining room table while my father was still sitting there. He would simply kick at it, and tell her to go away. Very little fazed him. George's father Elmer also visited Susan and George there, and told them that the house was "really far out." And I don't think he was using that old 1960s expression, either. As I understand it, the town is now just another suburb of Chicago, and the farmland between Elburn and Geneva is now nothing but suburban tract homes. Progress.

Squeeze Me

I just finished reading Squeeze Me, Carl Hiassen's latest farcical Florida adventure. Hiassen is a columnist for the Miami Herald, and a native Floridian. For many years, he has railed against developers and politicians who have allowed so much of the state to be paved over, and many of his books focus on that theme. This time the story centers around the society crowd in Palm Beach, and features a truly out of control president and his first lady, who own and often stay at an exclusive club there. Sounds like a pretty farfetched idea to me, but I digress. The trouble starts at a nearby mansion that is hosting a charity event, where a wealthy society matron takes walk on the grounds and is eaten by a giant python. This horrendous event is covered up, but an illegal immigrant is accused by the president of murdering the woman, who was a member of a local fan club supporting the president. Pretty soon other pythons show up, too, and it soon becomes clear it is not just coincidence. This is a fun read, and I definitely recommend it. However, I get the feeling that Hiassen is not much of a fan of the current president. Go figure.

A Mellow Afternoon In Washington Park

I took the above photograph at Denver's Washington Park the other day as I was coming home from a long bike ride.  All was serene, unlike last spring, when the pandemic forced everything to close, and most of the population of Denver started hanging out there. Happily, these days, the weekday crowd is back to mothers with strollers and retirees getting their daily exercise.  The Washington Park Boathouse can be seen in the background of this photo. This historic structure is owned by the City and County of Denver, which rents it out for various events. I have suggested to my friends Wally and Linda that they recommend the place to their son Peter and fiancee Holly for their wedding reception next summer, since it is an open air facility and will help keep wedding guests from dropping dead from the coronavirus, assuming Covid-19 is still an issue next year. Plus, since I live only a short distance away, it will be much easier for me to crash the event. Do people still crash weddings? That's what I thought. The lure of an open bar is still very strong, especially these days.

Early Fall At The Zoo Part II

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I went to the Denver Zoo this past Tuesday to take a few photographs. Since it was pretty hot and sunny, most of the animals were snoozing in the shade. One exception was the jaguar, who was in a shady spot on top of an outside shelter, but was gazing right at me. This creature always looks me right in the eye whenever I take it's photograph. Now those are the kind of animals the Denver Zoo should have more of. And by the way, what ever happened to petting zoos? I'd like to thank that jaguar in person.

On the other hand, those damn lions, including the two lion cubs, were sound asleep. Tobias, the father of those two cubs, can be seen in the photo on the right, dead to the world, no doubt until suppertime. Hopefully, once the weather turns cooler, they will be a bit more active. This is exactly why the zoo needs to have an intern go into those cages with a big stick and get them all moving around. I keep suggesting it, but zoo officials just ignore me. How insulting.

I also have a complaint - surprise - about the gorillas at the Denver Zoo. Not too long ago, a baby gorilla was born there, and not too much later they moved the entire family to a different zoo, long before I was finished taking photographs of it. They still have some gorillas around, such as the silverback in the photograph on the left, but it is just not the same.  Granted, this silverback does look like it has a lot of piss and vinegar, which always makes for good photos, but it just does not have the cuteness factor of that baby. Bringing up a recurrent theme of mine, I wonder how much money you would have to pay a zoo intern to go into that particular compound and coax that gorilla into being a bit more lively? The photographic result, I have to say, would be priceless.

Strangely enough, almost all the elephants at the Toyota Elephant Passage were huddled together Tuesday afternoon, as seen in the photo on the right, which is the first time I have ever witnessed something like that. Most of the time, they are wandering around by themselves, lost in their own thoughts (is it dinner time yet?), and so I had to wonder, what were they planning? Storming the gates and making their escape? Now that would make a great photograph, especially if you were standing in front of them when they charged. And would I really do that if I had the chance? I'll take the fifth on that one.