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My Colorado Thoughts

9/3/2023

Quotes
It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract. - Alan Shepard

The greatest enemy of progress is the illusion of knowledge. -John Young

If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us, it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. -Gus Grissom

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. -Neil Armstrong
(The most widely known astronaut quote on this planet)

Apollo 13
The second most widely known astronaut quote, "Houston we've got a problem here."
John "Jack" Swigert Jr.said that to inform Mission Control of an explosion aboard Apollo 13 space ship.

Apollo 13 (April 11–17, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module (SM) failed two days into the mission. The crew instead looped around the Moon in a circumlunar trajectory and returned safely to Earth on April 17. The mission was commanded by Jim Lovell, with Jack Swigert as command module (CM) pilot and Fred Haise as Lunar Module (LM) pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella. Jack Swigert was born August 30, 1931, Denver, Colorado.

Swigert graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1953 and was awarded a master’s degree by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, in 1965.

Swigert was elected a Congressman from Colorado in 1982, but died of cancer before he could be sworn in. He died December 27, 1982, in Washington, D.C.

(some material from Becoming Colorado and Wikipedia)

Jack Swigert

My Colorado Thoughts

8/26/2023

Quotes
The following are quotes from famous coaches and players from the present or past of football. Mostly the people are not in the sport any longer but words still ring true. How many of these national heroes can you identify by their positions or teams or words?

“The only place that “success” comes before “work” is in the dictionary.” --Vince Lombardi

“When you win, nothing hurts.”--Joe Namath

“Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace.” --Mike Ditka

“You fail all the time, but you aren’t a failure until you start blaming someone else.” --Bum Phillips

“Every experience, good or bad, you have to learn from it.” --Patrick Mahomes

“I think the thing about that was I was always willing to work; I was not the fastest or biggest player but I was determined to be the best football player I could be on the football field and I think I was able to accomplish that through hard work.” ---Jerry Rice

Cost of Mustangs
As we said in last week's My Colorado Thoughts blog the cost of maintaining the owner-less wild horses in the Western United States has been given to the Bureau of Land Management.

The state of Colorado was awarded a grant from BLM. The agency has awarded $120,620 to boost ongoing efforts to manage the wild horses in northwest Colorado in the East Douglas Herd Management Area. The money will support a fertility darting program and improvements in range management and running pipe and construction of two new water tanks. There are plans to refurbish a pond used by wild horses in the management area west of Meeker, Colorado.

In a separate grant BLM has awarded Colorado State University $141,000 to create a curriculum for K-12 schools for Fort Collins and the area to familiarize students with wild horses and their needs. If proved to be successful, the curriculum will be be distributed nationally.

Progress on Murder on Money Mountain
We have connected with a publisher who has agreed to publish the book. He requested additional material for the back cover and author's bio. We spent some time filling out the form provided for that purpose. Publication date not yet set.

My Colorado Thoughts

8/20/2023

Quotes
“Blame it or praise it, there is no denying the wild horse in us.” – Virginia Woolf

“You occasionally see one, and it’s the thrill of a lifetime. But mostly all you ever see is a cloud of dust after they are gone. It’s their stubborn ability to survive that makes them so remarkable.”
– Velma “Wild Horse Annie” Johnston

“The most important thing human beings need to do about wild horses is to ensure that they remain wild horses!” – Mehmet Murat İldan

“I found it wild and rather unsettling, like a tame horse realizing there was once an opportunity to be unbridled that was somehow missed. Such thoughts haunt me now and then.” – Barbara Lieberman

Mustang Problems
Mustangs are the symbol of the West. Many love them...few have ever seen one.

Nevada has more mustangs than any other state. My brother (in Carson City) looked out his window one day and saw 20 mustangs across the street.

As an effort to keep Mustangs numbers in control, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) holds an annual auction near Grand Junction, Colorado. Out of 20,193 horses rounded up, 6,669 were sold in auction.

Trying to keep wild horse numbers under control is expensive. This year the Bureau of Land Management wild horse and burro program will cost $153 million - $15 million more than in 2022. It costs the government roughly $27,500 to care for each wild horse and burro over its lifetime in a holding ranch.

Healthy horses on healthy landscapes - that's what everyone who is connected to wild horses says they want. Brittany Sprout, a public affairs specials for BLM, says "We are required by law to gather horses and this adoption helps us. It supports healthy horses on healthy range lands."

From Sierra magazine

Bronco Pre-Season
The Broncos have lost two games by a total of 3 points!

My Colorado Thoughts

8/13/2023

Wise Words from Wise Men

“This war did not spring up on our land; this war was brought upon us by the children of the Great Father who came to take our land without a price, and who, in our land, do a great many evil things… This war has come from robbery – from the stealing of our land.” – Spotted Tail

“The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers; he belongs just as the buffalo belonged."
– Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux Chief

“There is no death. Only a change of worlds.” – Chief Seattle [Seatlh], Suquamish Chief

“If you talk to the animals, they will talk with you, and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them, and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys.” – Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, British Columbia, Canada

Native Americans
In the early 1800s, which many consider "the golden age" of the Plains Indians" the Cheyenne were regarded as one of the most formidable of the Plains Indians. The Cheyenne traveled from South Dakota to the prairies of Colorado. Eventually they drifted into two distinct bands occupying either the land North or South of the Platte River.

One of the leaders of the South Cheyennes was Lame Bear, Chief of the Bowstring Men Warrior Society, one of several warrior societies within the tribe. Later the open range was broken up and fenced off in cattle ranches. One of the successful ranchers was John Wesley Prowers. His wife was Amache Onichee Prowers, daughter of Chief Lame Bear. She served as a mediator between various groups of people living in eastern Colorado. She was inducted into the Colorado Woman's Hall of Fame in 2018.

From Warrior Chief to mediator for peace, in one generation...it could only happen in frontier Colorado.

Amache Prowers

Chief Lame Bear

Father and Daughter, early Colorado residents

from Becoming Colorado

My Colorado Thoughts

8/10/2023

Back to School Season
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -Mahatma Gandhi

Education is a right, not a privilege; it is an opportunity, not an entitlement.- Arne Duncan

The best way to predict your future is to create it. -Abraham Lincoln

My Colorado Thoughts

8/6/2023

Quotes

"Colorado has always been a good place to find what you’re made of.” — John Hickenlooper

“I like the mountains because they make me feel small,' Jeff says,. 'They help me sort out what's important in life.” ― Mark Obmascik,

“A nation forgetting its own laughter is in a sad state of affairs.”
― Sherry Marie Gallagher

“It's a tough lesson: There is no summit that comes before you expect it.”
― Mark Obmascik

Boom Days
We went to Leadville, Colorado where they were celebrating the days of Horace Tabor, and Augusta and later Baby Doe. There is a parade with people dressed in clothing like 1870-90. A car show, music, and vendors. A burro race where burro and handler go up a course over some of the highers mountains in the area...indeed some of the highest mountains in the nation. Food vendors try to keep everybody happy.

The Smith family was there to take orders for books about Leadville.at stores that stock our books. It was great fun and we visited our favorite restaurant. Keeping the spirit of Boom Days, we visited the Leadville Historical Museum at the corner where the highway comes into town and meets Harrison Street. There are many displays and objects that give visitors the feeling of what it was like to live two miles high in the 1870-90s,

Soon the Lake County Library will supply some of the staff that will make the museum more educational and expensive. Be sure visit the gift store and look for Two Miles High and Six Feet Under.

Jokes Are on Us
Why did the prospector get kicked out of the pub?
It's illegal to sell alcohol to miners.

What do you get when you throw a piano down a mine shaft?
A flat miner

Why did they build a castle for the pile of gold?
Because it's a noble metal

What did the iron say to the gold when it tried to wake him up?
AU, get out of here!

What did the gold collector bake for dessert?
Karat cake

My Colorado Thoughts

7/30/2023

Quotes From Minnie Pearl
Kissing a man with a beard is a lot like going to a picnic. You don't mind going through a little bush to get there.

Marriage is like a hot bath; once you get used to it, it ain't so hot.

The doctor must have put my pacemaker in wrong. Every time my husband kisses me, the garage door goes up.

One of those handsome secret service fellas frisked me all up and down, so I turned around and went out and came back in again.

Minnie Pearl
For those who might not know who Minnie Pearl was, she was a comedian who appeared on a Saturday night radio program called the Grand Ole Opry from Nashville, Tennessee. She wore a hat with the price tag hanging from it and her humor was down to earth.

Ash Borer Arrives to Colorado's Trees
The ash borer is an insect that kills ash trees. Ash trees make up 15% of the Denver area forest. Area residents need to decide to treat or remove their ash trees. Some stores and nurseries sell chemicals that can work against the emerald ash borer.

If a resident decides on the treat option however, the best way is to hire a licensed arborist. Mary Danser, the Littleton, Colorado city forester, said once the emerald ash borer invades an ash tree, it is essentially an "immediate death sentence" for the tree.

After a tree has been infested, it is possible to treat it, but it must be done hastily before the insects bore holes in the tree. A resident may also choose to remove their ash tree which is more decisive. If a tree is not healthy, a resident will probably save money by removing it. If a tree is healthy and a resident is able, chemical treatment is the best thing to do.

If the resident chooses treatment, the tree may live. Danser is in the process of applying for a grant which would allow the city to subsidize residents' tree removal or treatment.

--Centennial Citizen Independent, July 20.2023

Murder on Money Mountain Progress
We found a possible publisher with whom we could negotiate an agreement for publishing Murder on Money Mountain. Publishing is a whole different skill than authoring. We'll see what is going to happen, probably this week.

My Colorado Thoughts

7/23/2023

Binoculars
Your enjoyment of birds depends hugely on how great they look through your binoculars, so make sure you’re getting a big, bright, crisp picture through yours. In recent years excellent binoculars have become available at surprisingly low prices. So while binoculars under $100 may seem tempting, it’s truly worth it to spend $200 to $300 for vastly superior images as well as better warranties, waterproof housing, and a great feel.
To prolong the life of your binoculars, pay attention to the moving parts. The focus knob, hinge,and diopter adjustments can get jammed with sand, bug spray, and even accumulated sweat. Avoid these problems by gently running warm over your optics when you return from the field. Especially if you've been in sand, or if you used sunburn spray.

Without upkeep, repair is inevitable. If is doesn't seem right, you don't want to let it go.

Mink Farms
The U.S. Humane Society hopes to see a bill intro introduced in Congress that would ban raising mink for fur would be passed and thus ending mink farming.in America. Nearly twenty countries have already banned the farming of Mink because of the cruelty of raising wild animals in captivity.

Mink are in the weasel family..and are often mistaken for weasels and visa-versa. In the wild mink are solitary and territorial. In mink farms several animals are crowded together in small pens. Wild mink are semi-aquatic and obtain most of their food near the water’s edge. Typically following shorelines and banks, they -investigate holes, crevices, and deep water pools for hidden prey. Strictly carnivorous, mink eat mostly frogs, salamanders, fish, crayfish, muskrats, mice, and voles, along with aquatic birds and their eggs.

Mink in a farm

Mink in natural habitat

Progress
Murder on Money Mountain is still looking for a home and a publisher. Needs a home with a good publisher.

My Colorado Thoughts

7/16/2023

Quotes
The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. --Andy Rooney

No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as a dog does.
---Christopher Morley

No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich. --Louis Sabin

Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail --Kimky Freidman

Gone to the Dogs
For dogs and trainers, training is a daily exercise, at least in the beginning of their joining SARDUS (Search and Rescue Dogs of United States}. Trainers do not get paid for their time and expenses.
SARDUS is one of several dog organizations which train and certify members in rescue work. About 30 dogs are certified rescue dogs in Colorado which is among the largest organizations doing dog rescue work in the the U.S. In Colorado Search and Rescue dogs are used to find victims covered with piles of snow from avalanches. Now in Pennsylvanian S&R dogs are looking for two small children swiped away from a stranded car in a flash flood. Other flood victims are being the objects of searches.

Maya Fairweather, told the New York Post, of Apollo, the 5-month-old “fearless” pit bull pup who saved her from a violent assault a few years back when she was just 18. She had been walking Apollo, whom her boyfriend had rescued, one evening in Brooklyn when a strange man grabbed her headphones and pushed her to the ground. But Apollo immediately understood what was going on and bit Fairweather’s attacker on the leg—so hard, in fact, that it took a bit of a struggle for the assailant to shake the dog off.

All breeds are eligible but individual dogs of any breed are more focused and
driven and the handlers must be in good physical shape to keep up with their dog.

Shelby is a 13-year-old shepherd and retriever mix living with Louise Robillard who adopted Shelby to help protect her property. Robillard had been walking Shelby along a trail when she spotted three black bear cubs. Apparently, the momma bear believed Robillard posed a threat to her cubs and came charging at her. Shelby literally fought the bear off. Shelby came through seriously injured but alive and after four months of treatment, is healthy once again.

When you add a dog to your family you will have many happy days, and you will have the worst day of your life.

Progress on Murder on Money Mountain
The editors are confirming what everybody already knew: that I am a terrible speller. But at least you blog readers will have a clean slate when you get to read my third novel. We did obtain an ISBN number to say this a fictional novel.

My Colorado Thoughts

7/9/2023

Quotes from Sid Caesar
Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end.

In between goals is a thing called life, that has to be lived and enjoyed.

The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius.

If you remember the Show of Shows staring Sid Caesar and Imogean Coca for 90 minutes every Saturday night., if you remember that, you remember some of the best comedy on TV.

Progress on Murder on Money Mountain
Submitted a finished draft of Murder to a representative of a publishing company who will guide me through the process of getting my novel published . I identified which steps I could do myself (not that many) and what I need help to do.
One of the first steps will be having an editor make sure the punctuation, spelling, and etc is correct. Then another editor will read it and make sure that everything goes in logical order. When I hear from the editors I will report the progress.

Tiger Comeback
Tiger numbers globally
2010--- 3,200
2016--- 3,900
2022---- 6.400 goal not confirmed

Improve habitat by keeping people out and reducing poaching as much as possible. Managed protected areas in ways to promote Tiger conservation. The big cats have a good chance to survive..

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G. Eldon Smith author/bloggerI write historical mysteries set in Colorado in 1890s.

G. Eldon Smith author/blogger
I write historical mysteries set in Colorado in 1890s.