Quotes
“Stubborn is a good thing. If they are doing the wrong thing they are stubborn. If they are doing the right thing they are ‘committed’ … just get them stubborn on the right thing. -Chad Mackin

When it comes to training a dog, 5 minutes a day Monday through Friday is better than 30 minutes on Saturday. -Martin Deeley

It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become. -Dr. Suess

Your dog is not being a problem, your dog is having a problem. -Chad Mackin

Effective training is a partnership between you and your dog based on trust, love, and science. Strengthen your bond so you can train force-free. -Unknown

Positive Reinforcement
R+ is a method of training that utilizes something valuable for the learner to encourage the desired behavior.This method is well-researched and backed by science.

We do not recommend training tools that punish, such as a spray bottle or rolled up newspaper.They tend to encourage undesired behavior when the  when the owner is not present.or out of sight.

The time needed before the owner can expect to see results depends on what you are working on, the age of the dog, and the consistency of training. Short training  given daily or more than once a day will speed acceptance of training objectives. Food treats are the most common reinforcements.. Clickers and praise can also be effective.

There are no bad dogs, just untrained owners.
Positive Reinforcement also works for cats too.

Hockey News
Avalanche won a Saturday matinee game with St Louis Blues 4-1. The big news is before the game the Blues traded their captain Ryan O'Reilly to Toronto.

Quote From the Old Times
Daniel:  "You'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two."

Daisy:  "Daniel, Daniel, I'll be switched if I'll get hitched on a bicycle built for two."

Origins
In 1956 Bike to Work Day was originated by the League of American Bicyclists and is a part of Bike-to-Work Week, which is in turn part of National Bike Month. Since then, many Cities and Countries have joined the movement to see how possible it is to commute by bicycle after trying it on Bike to Work Day,

... Now
Bike to Work Day is an annual event that promotes the bicycle as an option for commuting to work (bicycle commuting). It is held in the Spring in a variety of locations including the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Bike Week is the week that includes the Bike-to-Work Day, in May, and the World Bicycle Day,

Many locations provide rest stops, free food along the way, and a free breakfast at a designated end of the ride. At breakfast stations, Boulder, Colorado gave free breakfast to 1,200 participants in 2012 and 1,600 participants in 2013.

Denver now has two Bike to Work Days a year - Spring and Winter. February 10, just finished last Friday.

Dog Gone It
"I've really had it with my dog," says a guy to his neighbor. "He'll chase anyone on a bicycle."
"Hmmm, that is a problem," said the neighbor. "What are you thinking of doing about it?"
"Guess the only answer is to confiscate his bike!"

Quote
“I'd rather have a heart of gold
Than all the treasure of the world.”
― Ana Claudia Antunes, Memoirs of An Amazon

Treasure Hunt
In our neighboring state, New Mexico, Forrest Fenn, a Santa Fe art dealer hid a treasure in the Rocky Mountains.The only clue he left was a poem. Fenn had cancer that had been diagnosed as probably fatal. The Rocky Mountains takes in a lot of territory in multiple states.

Five people died in various incidents in various places looking for the treasure. Fenn died at the age of 90. Ten years after Fenn hid his cache, a medical student from Michigan found the the treasure in 2020. It included a 549 gram gold nugget, and a gold pectorial, date between 200-600 AD. There were several gold coins. All the 476 items were auctioned off for about $1,307,946.

Fenn's Poem
As I have gone alone in there
And with my treasures bold,
I can keep my secret where,
And hint of riches new and old.

Begin it where warm waters halt
And take it in the canyon down,
Not far but too far to walk,
Put in below the home of Brown.

From there it's no place for the meek,
The end is drawing ever nigh;
There'll be no paddle up your creek,
Just heavy loads and water high.

If you've been wise and found the blaze,
Look quickly down, your quest to cease,
But tarry scant with marvel gaze,
Just take the chest and go in peace.

So why ts it that I must go
And leave my travel for all to seek?
The answer I already know,
I've done done it tired and new I'm weak.

So hear me all and listen good,
Your effort will be worth the cold.
If you are brave and in the wood
I give you title to the gold.

Last note
Brown's Canyon, near Salida, Colorado is a favorite rafting spot.  A group of friends and I rented a rubber raft and spent part of a Saturday "running the canyon" to Salida. I was much younger in those days.

Vail Ski Area

One of Colorado's premier ski areas, Vail Village opened December 15, 1962 with one gondola and two lifts. The gondola was the first in Colorado. Lift tickets cost a whopping $5! Now it costs $245, but for seniors, it's only $225. Were any of you readers out there in those days? Do any of you ski there currently?

Mikaela Shiffrin is the most famous skier to come out of Vail. She actually lives in nearby Edwards, but Vail, and all of Colorado, claims her. She has now won 85 World Cups, passing her fellow Coloradoan, Lindsay Vonn, whose skiing career was cut short by injuries.

Wolves in Colorado

Colorado will reintroduce 10 to 15 wolves a year starting in 2024 on the Western Slope.until reaching a maximum of 50. Currently Colorado Parks and Wildlife estimate there are six wolves in Colorado, and in 2021 a mating pair produced a litter of six pups.

Have you seen a DoDo Bird? Hardly anybody has because they are extinct now. They used to be quite common. At four feet tall and 40 pounds you couldn't miss one. Not even one in a museum.

Quotes
We take habitat away from wild animals and then kill them for invading ‘our’ space.”
– Patrick Edwards

“‘Sport’ hunting? What other sport involves killing?”
– Jody Bishop

“How can people love dogs but hunt wolves? There is so little difference!”
– Deborah Giunta

“The squirrel that you kill in jest dies in earnest.”
– Henry David Thoreau

Trophy Hunting

..A large  portion of "Sport Hunting" is done for the entertainment of killing an animal. The largest percentage of Trophy Hunting  is done by Americans. This is especially true of Trophy hunts done in Africa. It is a big business, with approximately 125,000 animals a year being killed.The Big Five is made up of endangered animals like lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and Cape Buffalos..The Big Five make the bulk of targets for Trophy Hunters.

The unltimate example of trophy hunting is the "canned hunt." Canned hunting is when animals such as lions are already accustomed to humans and are bred specifically to be shot and stuffed. These animals are locked in enclosed spaces with the hunter outside, and are often shot while eating food provided to them. Canned hunts do not allow for the animal to escape and the "hunter" is  guaranteed a kill.

Trophy Hunting exists in the United States too, not just in Africa and exotic jungles. Texas is considering a canned hunting facility if they don't have one already.

More than half of the  States allow the hunting of black bears for sport. Florida held some of the most controversial hunts in 2016. After 75 percent of residents opposed the hunt, The state went ahead and hunters killed 306 bears in just two days—so much that officials called off the rest of the week’s hunt

The product of a Trophy Hunt (what they get out of it) is a photograph of the hunter holding a gun and smiling
in front of a dead carcass.. The photo is hung over the fireplace and is the subject of many stirring stories.

Quotes
“Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.” – Satchel Paige

Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.” – Luis Bunuel

“I suppose real old age begins when one looks backward rather than forward.” – Mary Sarton

“Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.” – Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be.” – Robert Browning

Denver Mayor Quigg Newton
(Among the local kids my age known as Fig Newton)
Following his discharge from the navy, at the age of thirty-five, Newton ran for mayor of Denver. Newton ran against long-time Mayor Benjamin Stapleton. Newton’s vision for modernizing Denver won him an almost 58 percent of the vote in the 1947 election. At the time of his election, Newton was the youngest mayor elected in Denver history, as well as the city’s first native-born mayor.

Newton served two terms as mayor, winning reelection in 1951. During his tenure, Newton oversaw the modernization of Denver and the city’s government. He created the Career Service Authority, which removed the existing patronage system and separated city employment from politics; developed a planning office, which became the Denver Regional Council of Governments; established a system of competitive bidding for city contracts; established the first Community Relations Commission; and reorganized the Denver Police Department, which began employing civilians for non-enforcement positions.

During his time in office, Newton oversaw the construction of several significant buildings, such as the Coliseum and the city auditorium, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Botanic Gardens, and the downtown library building. Other projects included the Valley Highway, now Interstate 25, and an extension to the Stapleton Airport, now replaced by DIA.

In 1956 Newton became president of the University of Colorado. The university had greatly expanded in the postwar years and needed a leader with a new vision for the school. During his time at the University of Colorado, Newton worked to raise faculty salaries and transformed the university into a research institution. In doing so, Newton expanded the scientific research role of the university and the medical school.

Puppies That Were Holiday Presents
Don't give up on a dog. Not all dogs learn at the same rate. Remember they love you even if you don't love them back. Be patient and you will find you've got a good four legged friend when two legged friends are more fickle.

                                                   Be Kind                                                                                                    

Skiing Quotes
Cross-country skiing is great if you live in a small country.
Steven Wright

Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.
Dave Barry

Skiing is the best way in the world to waste time.
Glen Plake

There are only four things you can do on skis. Turn right, turn left, go straight, or sell them.
Warren Miller

There are really only three things to learn in skiing: how to put on your skis, how to slide downhill, and how to walk along the hospital corridor.
Lord Mancroft

Sixty Years of Skiing at Vail
During World War II, Massachusetts native Pete Seibert joined the U.S. Army's Tenth Mountain Division which trained at Camp Hale, near Leadville, Colorado.  During the training, Seibert and Earl Eaton, two members of the Tenth Mountain Division, became familiar with the surrounding terrain, and area they thought  would become resorts in later decades.

They discovered a peak that they believed to be well-located and with good snow, calling it No-name Mountain, which later became Vail Ski Resort. Vail was founded as a ski resort 60 years ago in 1962 by Eaton, and Seibert with others.

In May 1970, Denver was awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics.  Vail was later selected (in early 1972) to host the alpine competitions. However, Colorado voters denied funding by a 3:2 ratio that November, and the games were relocated to Innsbruck in Austria.  President Gerald Ford and family continued to vacation at their Vail home, bringing it international exposure. In 1976, a gondola cable snagged on a support tower on Friday, March 26, and two cabins derailed, killing four people and injuring eight.

Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is an international manufacturer of ropeways and people movers for ski areas. Doppelmayr bought Vail Ski Resort. Doppelmayr constructed four high-speed quads on the Front Side  in 1985 making Vail the second mountain in the country to use them. In summer 2007,  Leitner-Poma built two new high-speed quads, reducing the ride up the Highline Trail from fifteen minutes to eight minutes.

Mikaela Shiffrin's family lives near Vail and Mikaela often trains at Vail Ski Resort. Mikaela is close to taking the first place in Lifetime Wins in World Cup Female Skiing, and after that Most World Cup Wins, female or male skiing.

Celebrities Who Died in 2022
Angela Lansbury
Bob Saget
Kristy Alley
Barbra Walters
Gallager
Pele'

 Quotes
“All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else.”
― Mae West, 

“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."
― T.S. Eliot

“Realize that if a door closed, it’s because what was behind it wasn’t meant for you.”
― Mandy Hale,

“But there's a beginning in an end, you know? It's true that you can't reclaim what you had, but you can lock it up behind you. Start fresh.”
― Alexandra Bracken,

New Year, New Beginnings
The Denver Broncos should forget the 2022 season.

Russians should give up and go home.

Republicans need to stop crying about the 2020 election that was stolen (because it wasn't) and come up with some positive plans and  programs to change things that need be changed in the future.

Automobile Manufactures would make a good start by making electric powered cars less expensive and add more miles per an electric charge.

People should accept that the variety of species were put on Earth for a purpose and that humans must share our planet with species that understand what if means to let others become extinct.

Just because we are done with something does not mean it will go away. All people need to make better use of our junk. Recycling is a necessity if we don't want to swim in an ocean of throw away trash.

In the new year lets make the percentage of fully vaccinated make the average life span increase as it did in the past.

The good old days were not so good that we can't do better in the New Year.