Quotes
“My obsession is plastic packaging. It makes me sick, all the waste. Everything about it disappoints me.” – Theo James

“Pollution from oil and gas development, toxic runoff, and miles and miles of plastic trash foul the waters and threaten marine life.” – Frances Beinecke


“If we have any hope of finding ways for seven billion people to live well on planet with finite resources, we have to learn to use our resources efficiently. Plastic bags are neither efficient nor environmentally friendly.”  – David Suzuki

Researchers from CSIRO and Imperial College London have assessed how widespread the threat of plastic is for the world's seabirds, including albatrosses, shearwaters and penguins, and found the majority of seabird species have plastic in their gut.

Plastic Problems
Plastic has been found in more than 60% of all seabirds and in 100% of sea turtles species, that mistake plastic for food. And when animals ingest plastic, it can cause life-threatening problems including reduced fitness, nutrient uptake and feeding efficiency—all vital for survival

A juvenile albatross was found with an entire plastic bottle in its belly, last year – the young seabird didn’t make it. Plastic waste kills up to a million seabirds like this one, every year. These birds’ stomachs are filled to the brim with trash.

Environmentalists and others are fighting every day to protect seabirds, sea turtles, whales and other marine animals from plastic pollution by calling on governments and companies here in the U.S. and around the world to reduce the amount of plastic produced at the source.

It is not only seabirds, but  sea otters, seals, turtles, and bears are also included. The list covers anything that eats seafood...think about that when you eat clam chowder or halibut steak.

Every year, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate our marine environments.

Think before you throw something "away."
Plastic "away" lasts for ten thousand years.

Quote of the Day
Everybody is ignorant...but in different subjects. ~Will Rogers

Excerpt: Two Miles High and Six Feet Under
Andrew Coyle is visiting Sister Elizabeth Joseph, a retired nun and long time resident of Leadville, Colorado.

Coyle was determined to maintain the subterfuge of being more interested in Carnival funds than he was interested in the body in the block of ice. “I hear that you have been here long enough to know what is going on in town.”

“I wasn’t one of the original three. That’s what we call the three sisters who were sent out here from Kansas to take care of the miners’ souls and bodies. I have been here long enough to see the hospital grow to what it is today. I’ve watched people rich and poor come and go. Prospectors, gamblers, whores, gold diggers. I’ve seen them all. I came out here in ’83 from our Order’s home in Leavenworth. They gave me two dollars and a train ticket for the trip. When I got here I returned the dollar seventy-three cents I had left over. I spent twenty-eight cents. Even a nun has to eat.

“Yes,” Coyle agreed.

“On the train two eggs cost a dime a piece and one cup of coffee for seven cents. One cup of coffee for seven cents. Can you imagine that?

“Umm.”

“You’re not an accountant are you? My numbers don’t add up.”

“I just didn’t want to interrupt or correct you.”

“Horsefeathers. I’ve known accountants and nary a one would let an arithmetic mistake go by without correcting it. Accountants need to satisfy their need to always be right.” The old nun settled back in her chair with a slightly smug smile and waited for Coyle’s explanation.

“You’re right, Sister Elizabeth, I'm not an accountant. I’m an attorney doing accounting work.”

“You’re not very good at it, Mr. Coyle,” she said.

Available at Amazon:     www.amazon.com/Two-Miles-High-Feet-Under/dp/1478789565

Last Words
No matter how good the soap in the men's room smells, it is still a bad idea when you come out to be smelling your fingers.

Quotes from the Old Guy
Many young people and kids do not remember that we once believed it was impossible to go to the moon.

Kids assume that the years always started with 20.

Car enthusiasts have never seen cars in which the heater and radio were accessories that cost extra.

Most people don't know a fire in a fireplace was started with a match not by flipping a switch.

Look at the expression on a college student's face when you mention a slide-rule.

Try to explain who Huntley and Brinkley were and furthermore we only saw them in black and white.

I tell youngsters that I taught their grandparents when grandmother and grandfather were in junior high and I was a student teacher trying to graduate from college.        ~G. Eldon Smith

University of Colorado Aerospace
Rachel Mamich is from Littleton, Colorado, and has earned a joint bachelor’s and master’s degree in aerospace engineering with a minor in computer science. Mamich earned an award that recognizes a student who demonstrates outstanding engagement in the international arena.

During her time at CU, Mamich has served as an intern and graduate assistant in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.(LASP) She has been a valuable contributor to the United Arab Emirates’ Mars mission since the summer of her freshman year. As part of a large international team, Mamich has frequently and confidently interacted with counterparts in the UAE  in ways that are accomplishing the space mission and building bridges between cultures.





Rachel plans to attend UT Austin to pursue a PhD fellowship in aerospace engineering, specifically focused on optical navigation.

Book Nook
Two Miles High and Six Feet Under
A tale from 1890s Leadville, Colorado that has many historical facts along with mystery, excitement, romance, and humor (mostly mystery). Available at Amazon, and fine book stores everywhere.

Mountain Lions
The reason we are writing about Mountain Lions this week is that recently one was spotted in the suburb where we live. It is not out in the country or a place with large estates. Just a common 'burb. There is a channel running through town that is a place where wildlife can navigate through residential neighborhoods without being seen. Coyotes, foxes, deer, beavers and rarely a bear come to town.

Mountain Lions are seen more often in Boulder, although they visit the towns all along the Front Range, Longmont (sleeping in a garage,) Loveland, and Fort Collins. The one reported in Centennial appeared to have a rabbit or kitten in its mouth. Lions generally will be most abundant in areas with plentiful deer.

Generally Mountain Lions don't trust humans and stay away from human contact, but lions seem to be becoming bolder. Even at that, according to Colorado Wildlife Service there have been only 22 mountain lion attacks in Colorado since 1990. If you see a mountain lion, do not try to run away and don't approach it. Throw things, make noise, wave your arms and stand your ground.

Last Words
“Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.”
~Martin Luther King Jr.

Quote: “We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.”
― Will Rogers, the subject of the Will Roger Shine of the Sun on Cheyenne Mountain
 
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
What does someone with a collection of exotic animals do with them? Spencer Penrose was a Colorado Springs millionaire in the days before billionaires were common. In 1926 he was  faced with the problem of what to do with his collection of exotic animals.

Penrose wanted to share his collection with the people of Colorado Springs, so he founded a zoo, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. In 1938 after much development he donated the land and zoo to a non-profit trust of the city of Colorado Springs.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is the “Highest zoo in America,” at an elevation of 6,800 feet above sea level. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is home to more than 800 animals, representing over 200 species, including more than 30 that are endangered. The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado is home to the largest giraffe herd of any zoo. Get up close and personal as you feed the giraffes in the African Rift Valley exhibit. The exhibit also features African lions, Columbus monkeys, Grant’s zebra and more!

Call first to confirm that the zoo is open during the COVID-19 pandemic 719-633-9925x0

– Everyone visiting the Zoo must have their own advance e-ticket, including children age 2 and under.
– Each block of e-tickets allows only a set number of people per entry time, so if your first choice of arrival time/day is sold out, please try another

Last Words
I’m at that age where my mind still thinks I’m 29, my humor suggests I’m 12, while my body mostly keeps asking if I’m sure I’m not dead yet.
 
Don’t be worried about your smartphone or TV spying on you.  Your vacuum cleaner has been collecting dirt on you for years.
.

Quotes
“A man says a lot of things in summer he doesn't mean in winter.” ~ Patricia Briggs,

“In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold.”~ Ben Aaronovitch

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.” ~ Carl Reiner







    Colorado Ski History





Skiing has been used in military training and combat (10th Mountain Division, trained near Leadville in   World War II.) Now it is  a form of recreation, and a competitive sport.

In the mining days some of earliest skiers were the mailmen. These hardy individuals lashed on eleven-foot wooden boards, and traveled from one mining camp to the next. A second group to take up skiing as a form of transportation in winter was preachers who skied over high mountain passes once a week to hold services in mining camps.

John Lewis Dyer crossed the Mosquito Mountains every week carrying the mail along with his religious fervor from Alma to Leadville and back. In the winter this meant crossing the 13,185 ft Mosquito Pass in the snow.
Dyer preached in the mining camps during the early silver boom of the 1860s. Since preaching didn’t pay the bills and Father Dyer was traveling from camp to camp anyways, he took on a second job as a backcountry ski touring mailman. Using a combination of snowshoes and Norwegian style wooden skies, Dyer became a fixture in the history of Colorado’s mountains.

Shortly after World War II, skiing took off with old mining towns, like Breckenridge and Aspen building ski hills, and completely new towns sprung up around the ski hills like Vail. .From long boards to short "fat" skis, telemark skiing to alpine skiing, ski jumping to slalom racing, skiing is more popular than ever before. And here in the Colorado high country, it lives on, not just as a sport, but as a thriving way of life.

Two Miles High and Six Feet Under
Set in Leadville, in the winter of 1894, the novel naturally involves some ski scenes, also snowshoes, and an avalanche, too. Check it out on Amazon or Kindle; additionally  at better bookstores.

Gunnison Sage Grouse
The population of Gunnison Sage Grouse is decreasing at an astounding rate to the lowest numbers since tracking began in 1996. There are now approximately 2,700 in southwest Colorado and in Utah. A high point was 5,800 in 2007.

The decline could be from natural cycles, drought, and exceptionally harsh winter weather for two years, 2018 and 2019. The Western Watersheds Project does not agree. They are suing Bureau of Land Management  and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service alleging that federal agencies have failed to do enough to protect the grouse. They allow grazing on public land, Over grazing is ruining the Gunninson Sage Grouse habitat. Suggestions involve changing the grazing season so that it does not interfere with grouse breeding season, or take the cattle off the public land completely.

Comparing Gunnison Sage Grouse to Greater Sage Grouse convinced researchers that the Gunnison Grouse was not only smaller but they had different courtship behavior and certain genetic differences, enough that they were two similar, but different species

Last Words
So if your cow doesn’t produce milk, is it a milk dud or an udder failure?

Quotes from George Burns
First you forget names, then you forget faces. Next you forget to pull your zipper up and finally, you forget to pull it down.

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible.

Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.

This is the sixth book I've written, which isn't bad for a guy who's only read two.

A True Colorado Story
Older Coloradans all remember Elitch Gardens amusement park. But not many remember John Elitch also owned and operated a very classy French restaurant, Tontoni Restaurant. What was not known by the general public was that every night after closing, leftover food was given to the poor who were waiting at the kitchen door in the alley.

Elitch boasted that plenty of wild game and a lack of game laws enabled his Tortoni to serve virtually any food that could be purchased.

One evening when the Tontoni was particularly crowded, two cowboys came in and were seated. The very proper French waiter brought menus to the two cowboys. The slightly tipsy cowpunchers were stunned. The menus were in French. Disgusted, one cowboy threw the menus back at the waiter and growled, "Bring us a rattlesnake steak, and be quick about it!" 

"Pardon M'sieu?"

"Rattlesnake, I said, frog face, That's what we feed on where I come from."

The waiter repeated the order to the chef in the kitchen.

The chef didn't know what to do, so he called the owner. Elitch checked in the refrigeration and returned with two eels. Elitch said, "Give 'em that," he laughed and walked away.

The chef prepared the dinner and when it was ready he notified the waiter. The waiter served the dinner on a silver platter. When the cover was lifted the cheeks of the cowboys flushed. Their dinner stared up at them. The wranglers got a nauseated look and ran for the door with their hands over their mouths.

My Colorado Resolutions 2021
1.  I resolve to start and finish (and hopefully publish) my third Andrew Coyle historical mystery.
     (The first two are: Murder in the Rockies;  Two Miles High and Six Feet Under)
2.  I resolve to pick up the dog waste from the yard more than once a week.
3.  I resolve to finish eating my vegetables before I eat my dessert.
4.  I resolve to read and edit my emails before I hit "Send."
5.  I resolve to cheerfully fill my weekly medicine "pill box."

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering 'it will be happier'...”

― Alfred Lord Tennyson

Humor?
Never sing in the shower!  Singing leads to dancing, dancing leads to slipping, and slipping leads to paramedics seeing you naked. So remember…Don’t sing!
 
My wife asked me to take her to one of those restaurants where they make the food right in front of you.  So I took her to Subway and that’s how the fight started.
 
During the middle ages they celebrated the end of the plague with wine and orgies.  Does anyone know if there is anything planned when this one ends?

Save the Arctic Refuge
Two weeks before the current administration goes out of power and the new administration takes over, an auction is scheduled to sell leases for petroleum drilling in the Arctic Refuge. In danger is 1.5 million acres of the refuge's biologically sensitive land along the coast in northern Alaska.

Niel Lawrence, Natural Resources Defense Council, Alaska Director says, "America has safeguarded the refuge for decades, and we will not allow this administration to trample that commitment now." NRDC fights in court to save the refuge, and the coastal plain that is habitat for hundreds of thousands of caribou which is the main food source for natives living in the plain.

Bank of America, has joined five other large banks in pledging not to provide funds for companies that intend to invest in gas and oil drilling in the refuge.




















Coloradans Find Outdoor Recreation
Covid-19 regulations have closed up or limited restaurants, bars, movie theaters and gyms so people have increasingly found outdoor recreation to be a cure.

Gardening interest has blossomed, (pardon the pun) and seed sales increased by as much as 300%. Demand for seed and plant catalogs for this coming summer has also increased. Visits to Rocky Mountain National Park for 2020 recorded 130,414 visitors, up from 99,873 in 2019, a 30 percent increase.  In spite of the RMNP being closed during and for a short time after the wildfire this autumn, traffic and parking was a problem. Colorado Parks and Wildlife reported increased number of fishing licenses were sold this season.

Skiing is hampered by rules limiting the number of people allowed, to avoid crowds in lift lines and on the lifts. Many areas are requiring reservations for skiers in order to manage the number of  people allowed at any particular time.

Ski resorts recorded a large number of hotel reservations for out of state visitors during Thanksgiving and Christmas which are usually peak (sorry another pun) times. However, many were subsequently cancelled.

The Last Word
Chocolate is God’s way of telling us he likes us a little bit chubby.

Another Last Word
To get your copy of Two Miles High and Six Feet Under: available in Denver at Tattered Cover Bookstore and BookBar Book and Snack Shop, and also online at Amazon and Kindle.

Oh come let us adore him...

Quotes from George Carlin
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

“Electricity is really just organized lightning.”

“Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.”

“If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?”

“If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to have selfish, ignorant leaders.”

Protecting the Colorado's  Environment 2020
Apple Orchards
Growing apples was once Colorado's main fruit crop. "Bringing back apples is not only about preserving the past. Apples use less water than other common crops. By testing irrigation strategies and looking into reviving apple production, we can increase the understanding of how to be provide food and manage water sustainably for the area," said
Jude Schuenemeyer  co-director of Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project (MORP)

MORP partners plan to demonstrate water conservation in apple orchards while saving Montezuma County's hairloom apples and turning them into a value-added product such as juice or cider.

Aspen Trees
Aspen Trees will be used to slow wildfires by acting as natural fuel breaks to protect homes and neighborhoods. By replacing highly flammable conifer trees with less flammable aspens we may able to buffer communities while also boosting biodiversity wildlife habitat.

This year Summit County Open Space and the Town of Breckenridge planted 1,200 aspen seedlings. An area had been cleared as a fire break a few years earlier but now was sprouting lodgepole pines by the thousands. The partnership replaced the flammable lodgepoles with aspen seedlings to create natural fuel breaks. 

Reintroducing Wolves in Colorado
The idea is that connecting wolf populations in the Northern Rockies with packs in the south will enable recovery of a species that was nearly hunted to extinction in the early 1900s.Few topics raise hackles like wolves in the West. Farmers, ranchers and big-game hunters fear the predators will wreak havoc on livestock and hunting economies. Wolf advocates see Colorado as the critical final step in a 40-year effort to return wolves to the Lower 48. 

Reintroduction work has been guided  by recovery plans under the Endangered Species Act, which has protected gray wolves since 1978. Unfortunately the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently decided to take Gray Wolves off of the Endangered List of protected species..



Denver Lights the Holidays

Historical Mysteries: Murder in the Rockies,
Two Miles High and Six Feet Under check them out at Amazon and Kindle. In Denver try Tattered Cover Books also BookBar Bookstore and snack shop.

Quotes from W.C. Fields
It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to.
If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.
Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against.
It's morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.

Trinidad Boom Days
About a three hour drive south of Denver is a small town near the New Mexico border. Trinidad, Colorado is home for 9,000 people who are torn between the old coal mining days and the prospect of being an art center. In addition, the new nearby Colorado State Park at the foot of Fishers Peak is expected to draw tourists from both Colorado and New Mexico and beyond to enjoy outdoor recreation opportunities.

Many of the old buildings are still intact, which attracted Dana Crawford's interest in Trinidad. Crawford is an acclaimed preservationist who headlined the restoring of the oldest part of Denver's Larimer Street neighborhood into a chic retail district. Many investors are anxious to participate in any enterprise that Crawford is a part of.  Recently the principle industry in town was Hi-country Flies, a fishing equipment manufacturing company with limited employment. There are rumors of a coming coal industry that will provide a large number of jobs.

These factors: Dana Crawford's interest in the architecture, possible restarting the coal mining, Fishers Peak State Park, and more than a few artists with their art projects all add up to Trinidad's next boom cycle in their boom and bust history.

Colorado's Newest Astronauts
Matthew Dominick and Jessica Walkins have been selected for the NASA's Artemis Team. The Artemis program is designed to test the possibility and probable methods and techniques of humans living in other worlds, specifically a space station on Mars. The mission is to try out astronauts on the moon to eventually carry what is learned in planning to go to Mars.

Eighteen astronauts, nine males and nine females have been picked for this team. The first step will be a trip to the moon in 2024. A highlight of this lunar step will be a male and female walking on the moon. When that pair steps off the ladder it means the female will be first woman on the moon.

Matthew Dominick is from Wheatridge, Colorado. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in systems engineering. He also graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and was a developmental test pilot specializing in aircraft carrier launches and landings before coming to NASA. 

Jessica Watkins, a native of Lafayette, Colorado, received a bachelor’s degree in geological and environmental sciences, and a doctorate in geology. Before becoming an astronaut, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology, where she served as a member of the science team for the Mars Science Laboratory rover.

Far-Out
 I was trying to have a serious conversation with my astronaut girlfriend but she didn’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation. We broke up because she said she needed space.

Quotes
The Truly Healthy environment is not merely safe but stimulating.
--William H. Stewart, author

The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.
--Gaylord Nelson, creator of Earthday

Environmentally friendly cars will soon cease to be an option ... they will become a necessity.
--Fujio Cho, Toyota Motors

For many of us, water simply flows from a faucet, and we think little about it beyond this point of contact. We have lost a sense of respect for the wild river, for the complex workings of a wetland, for the intricate web of life that water supports.
--Sandra Pascal, Author

Environmental Victories
1. The Standing Rock Sioux victory came when a federal judge revoked a flawed permit for the Dakota Access pipeline, ordering the government to conduct a full analysis of the pipeline's impacts.

2. U.S. Supreme Court rejected opening a loophole in the Clean Water Act that would have given polluters free rein to use ground water to convey pollutants to rivers and lakes and ultimately to oceans.

3. A federal appeals court upheld restored Endangered Species Act protections  to Greater Yellowstone region grizzly bears.

4. The State of California established the nation's first electric truck standard. By 2035 the majority of all trucks sold in California must be zero-emissions vehicles. 
                                                                        from the EARTHJUSTICE 2020 VICTORY REPORT

You're a Quart Low
The Gulf Oil Spill was so bad they started drilling for water!
If the oil slick was that bad how did the oil company deal with with the tanker spill? :
They hired slick lawyers.

Denver Celebrates the Holidays