Blog Posts

My Colorado Thoughts

11/11/2023

Quotes

The miner broke-up with his girlfriend because she took him for granite.

Writing is like mining for gold hidden in the hillsides of your mind. -David Baboulene

I have confidence in mining. I see exciting opportunities in it. -Patrice Motsepe

My great-grandfather was a coal miner, who worked in Pennsylvania mines when carts were pulled by mules and mines were lit by candles. Mining was very dangerous work then. Tim Murphy

National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum
In Leadville, Colorado a good place to start to learn about the town and it's history is the museum.

From a giant dinosaur footprint to meteorites to realistic walk-through mine replicas, you’ll find plenty of fun things to see and do.

Sparkling crystals, in long sword-like formations and in geodes as big as your head.
A model railroad showing life in a historic Colorado mining town. Can you find the monkeys someone added just for fun?
The minerals in your life: in your toothpaste, soaps, and china, in your milk, greens, and Oreos!
Fascinating stories of real-life miners in the Hall of Fame.
A tin can in its early days: the raw forms of this familiar mineral.
A video on how to catch asteroids in space and mine them. Yes, it’s a thing!
Old-time photos and stories of the Tabors’ legendary Matchless Mine, which you can visit in person from Memorial Day to early fall. See House adjacent to the mine where Baby Doe lived and died.

Affiliates

American Automobile Association (AAA)
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
American Alliance of Museums (AAM)

Colorado-Wyoming Association of Museums (CWAM)
Mountain-Plains Museums Association (MPMA)
Leadville Chamber of Commerce
Boy Scouts of America Mining in Society Merit Badge

There is also a gift shop with extensive research materials and fiction including two mysteries by yours truly
Murder in the Rockies, and Two Miles High and Six Feet Under. Far from a museum, it is a great place to get acuainted with the area, skiing, fishing, and other outdoor recreational activities.

My Colorado Thoughts

11/5/2023

Quotes
"When life gives you pumpkins, make pie." --a play on Elbert Hubbard's words.

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.—Henry David Thoreau

“There are three things that I've learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.” --It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

"'Cause I'm Peter, Peter the Pumpkin Eater/And the party has just begun." —Garth Brooks

Pumpkins
In Ireland the use of vegetables to scare away evil spirits has been an ancient belief. It was believed that on October 31st at the pagan feast of Samhain, which became Halloween over time vegetables good for protection. It was belived that spirits of the deceased could return to Earth. So, the Irish found a way to keep evil spirits away.
In the 19th century, when a lot of Irish immigrated to the United States, they brought the Halloween tradition of using vegetables to scare the spirits away. In America, the Irish discovered a new vegetable, the pumpkin, was abundant and is harvested in the fall. The Irish imigrating to America began using pumpkins with faces carved into them to scare away the evil spirits.
The Founding of the Jack-o-Lantern
There is an interesting story about the carved face in the pumpkin. It seems that an Irishman made an agreement with the Devil not to take his spirit when he died. He was a mean and stingy man and when he died he was not allowed into heaven. By previous agreement he was not allowed into hell. His spirit was bound to wander aimlessly around earth, where people hated him, and with no place to go. The bad man's name was Jack.

Ellingboe
We first met Sonya Ellingboe at a concert of the Old Time Jazz club.(Dixieland Jazz) We were not sure she was the person whose picture we had seen in the Centennial Citizen. We introduce ourselves and soon we were chatting away like Sonya had known us for years. She was a completely approachable public person.

When I told her I wrote a book set in Leadville, she shared that she had children in New York who spent the summer each summer in Leadville, and she was going to Leadville soon. She took her copy of Two Miles and Six Feet Under to share with her NY.family. Probably the only copy of Two Miles that made it to New York..

We lost contact when the Old Time Jazz club folded from lack of a person who wanted to who take the responsibility of recruiting the acts for concerts. But more often that not, her column was the first .thing I read in the Citizen. She did include reviews of two of my books in her column but that was not why I was a big fan of her writing. She almost always kept us informed about entertainment and other local events of local interest.

At 93 we are curious about what career she will take up next. She will be greatly missed by the Centennial Citizens readers by her retirement..
.

My Colorado Thoughts

10/29/2023

Quotes
“Summer makes me drowsy. Autumn makes me sing. Winter’s pretty lousy, but I hate Spring.”
- Dorothy Parker

“Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day.”- Shira Tamir

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
- Henry David Thoreau

“October’s poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter.”- Nova Bair

“Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.”
– Elizabeth Lawrence

Sports
The Aspen are suddenly looking naked after a glorious autumn of being all dressed up in their yellow and orange finest.

Mikaela Shifferin has been awarded the title of Skier of the Year for the third time. Shifferin also won that in years 2017 and 2019. And in 2023 she set a record for the most World Cup wins with 88.

The Colorado Avalanche defended their NHL championship with a 6-1 win and loss record. The one loss ended a streak of 16 straight wins as visitors. Their captain, Gabriel Landeskog, sat out last year and this year with an injury and surgery.

World NBA basketball champions, Denver Nuggets, won their first two games and look like the team to beat if any team hopes to take away their championship this year.

That is at least one good thing about autumn: it provides a gateway in to Winter Sports and takes away the bad taste that the Denver Rockies and Colorado Rapids left in the summer sports of baseball and soccer.

There is nothing as comforting as leaning back with a cup of hot chocolate and dreaming of the Denver Broncos drafting number one in next year's college football draft.

Literature
A trip to Leadville, Colorado, the setting of Two Miles High and Six Feet Under historical mystery, was encouraging. Thanks for the good sales in a small town. Murder on Money Mountain, the next Andrew Coyle mystery, will be printed next summer (June 10, 2024).

My Colorado Thoughts

10/21/2023

Halloween Jokes
Halloween is still two weeks away, don't eat up all the candy you bought for Trick or Treaters. Not again this year!

What do ghosts use to do their makeup?
Vanishing cream.

What do Italian ghosts have for dinner?
Spook-hetti!

What did the mommy ghost say to the noisy young ghost who kept interrupting?
Spook when you’re spooken to.

What do ghosts wear when their eyesight gets blurry?
Spooktacles.

Water
In the Navajo reservation 40% of the families are "water haulers".No water pipes to their homes, No faucets, No water, Water has to be hauled home from the "watering point" in a tank by a pickup or other truck.
Crystal Tullley-Cordova's family are haulers.

Tulliey-Cordova, 40 grew up in a water hauling family whose watering point was a livewetock well. "The water I grew up on was essentially unregulated livestock water." The 40% of the Navajo Nation still is water hauling from from their watering point feared to be polluted water. That water is connected to sources that touches land that is polluted by drought and oil production.

After earning her PhD from Utah University, in climate change, Tulley-Cordova is now one of Navajo Nation's principal hydrologists. Doctor Tulliey-Cordova is responsible for the water security of 173,000 Navajos as they struggle to adapt to a 23 year drought.
Rafting on the Colorado River

States that get shares of Colorado River water refuse to give up any of their share of the rights. This has led to bitter negotiations. Navajos point to 173 years of arguing about the treaty of 1849 that placed the
nomadic tribe "forever" under the protection of the United States.

My Colorado Thoughts

10/15/2023

Quotes
Jerry Seinffeid came to Denver October 14 for a comedy stand-up show. Too late for that, but it might been like this:

“Breaking up is like knocking over a Coke machine. You can’t do it in one push; you got to rock it back and forth a few times, and then it goes over.” Jerry Seinfeld

“I saw a study that said speaking in front of a crowd is considered the number one fear of the average person. Number two was death. This means to the average person, if you have to be at a funeral, you would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
—Jerry Seinfeld

"It's not the easiest thing to try and put a smile on a face. But it's always worth it."-Jerry Seinfeld

"Keep your head up in failure and your head down in success." Jerry Seinfeld

Autumn in Colorado
We took three trips to the mountains to see the aspen in autumn colors ...two for pleasure one for selling books: Murder in the Rockies and Two Miles High and Six Feet Under.

Because of freezing, most of the aspen are losing their leaves, but we found in Denver, the leaves are changing now, and they are beautiful, too.

Avs 2 - Sharks 1
Cale Makar scored a goal with one minute, twenty-four seconds remaining in regular time to tie the score. Mikko Rantanen scored the winning goal in the shootout.

My Colorado Thoughts

10/8/2023

Quote
"Native American isn't blood. It is what is in the heart. The love for the land, the respect for it, those who inhabit it, and the respect and acknowledgement of the spirits and elders. That is what it is to be Indian."

Amanche Onichee Prowers
John Wesley Prowers was one of the early Colorado ranchers who let their cattle roam at will on the open range in the winter. In the Spring the ranchers in the area went out to separate.their cattle from the other cattle. That is where the term "Round Up" came from.

Prowers was a successful businessman in many fields. He founded a bank, ran stores, and shipping operations. In addition he was in the state legislature. When a county was created in his part of the state, it was named Prowers County after him.

He was first and foremost a rancher, who owned 400,000 acres along the Arkansas River. A good part of it belonged to Amachi-his wife, her mother-in-law and her two daughters..This land was given to them as reparations for the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. Amache's father, Lone Bear, was killed in the massacre.

Amachi Onichee was full blooded Southern Cheyenne, daughter of a chief. She broke tradition by marrying outside of her tribe. At the age of 15 she married a white man, Prowers.

As an active participant in her family’s cattle-ranching business and a leader in her community, Ms. Prowers’ life exemplifies the essential role played by Native American women in shaping our state. She bridged the diverse cultural traditions of the Native American, Euro-American, and Mexican people who resided in Colorado’s southeastern plains.

Amache Prowers, born in the plains of Colorado in 1846. Elected to the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in the class of 2018.

    Aspen in Rocky Mountain National Park

Another Quote
I do not wish to be shut up in a corral. All agency Indians I have seen are worthless. They are neither red warriors nor white farmers. They are neither wolf nor dog." Sitting Bull

My Colorado Thoughts

10/1/2023

Autumn Aspen

Tesoro Center Lecture Series
October 14, 2023 -----April 28, 2024
Phone: 303-839-1671 for more information Tickets 303-347-5999
As we promised in last week's blog, here is the schedule of the lecture series.

Historic Lecture Series - lectures by renowned scholars in the field of Western History.
The Widowed Ones - Beyond Little Big Horn, Chris Enss, October 14
The Night the Stars Felt, Ron Hranac, November 12
Hawaiians and the Fur Trade, Bill Gwaltney, January 6, 2024

Colorado in the Civil War, John Steinle, January 20
Colorado The Highest State, Dr. Tim Noel, February 18
Tribute to Howard Lamar-Father of Western History, Dr. Jay Gitlin, March 16

Kit Carson - Mountain Man, Dr, Paul Andrew Hutton, March 23
More Work Than Glory: Buffalo Soldiers, Dr, John P. Langellier, April 13
The Fall of Bent's Fort - 175 Later, Jake Koch, April 27

Even More Autumn Aspen

Soon To Come
Football, Hockey, and Basketball going on at the same time. You can't beat that.

My Colorado Thoughts

9/25/2023

Chinese Coloradanas
The Page Act of 1875 was the first restrictive federal immigration law to prohibit foreign "undesirables" from entering the country. This anti-Chinese law resulted in an unbalanced demographic favoring males who were imported to help build the railroads that crossed the country. As a result of the Page Act and similar anti-Chinese laws Chinese people were discriminated against across the country, particularly in the west.

Chinese were persecuted all across Colorado and it culminated in the anti-Chinese in the Denver Riot of 1880. Denverites rampaged through the Chinese community. A black spot on Denver's history..

Chin Lin Sou worked for the Central Pacific Rail Road. He was a labor contractor supervising Chinese workers who were indispensable in completing the western part of the transcontinental railroad. He migrated to Colorado and supervised Chinese workers in the gold fields of Black Hawk, a town just west of Denver. Chin Lin Sou was one of the few miners to find pay dirt. Most of the Chinese in Black Hawk lived in ethnically separated Harlem of the West. Because of success in America Chin was able to bring his wife back from China, whom he hadn't seen for a decade.

Chin lived in Denver and opened a trading company where he became a community leader and was considered "the Mayor of Chinatown." As part of the Colorado Bicentennial celebration Chin Lin Sou was honored with a glass likeness in the old Supreme Courtroom in the State Capitol.

. .

Chin Lin Sou's window in the Supreme Courtroom of the Colorado Capitol

Football
Oregon 42 vs University of Colorado 6
Maybe the fan's expectations for the Buffs will be more realistic in the future.

Historic Lecture Series
Tesoro Cultural Center
Coming October 23 - April 24 a series of lectures by scholars in the field of Western History.
"The Night the Stars Fell" and "Kit Carson Mountain Man" for example. A list of all nine lectures in next weeks blog. For more information in the meantime 303.839.1671

My Colorado Thoughts

9/17/2023

Quotes
The Presidents speak:
“Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who make excuses.” ― George Washington

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” ― Abraham Lincoln

“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”
― Calvin Coolidge

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” ― Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.” ―Joe Biden

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” ―Theodore Roosevelt

Best By Labels
A 2020 study found that only 57 percent of U.S. adults could correctly identify what "best if used by" and "use by" mean. Both mean the manufacture's estimate for when a product is at its peak quality or flavor. Neither are about safety. According to an article in the fall edition of Sierra magazine, that half used bottle of ketchup in the 130 billion pounds of food waste in the United States this year is proof that the "Best By" label has done its job.

Date labels do more than just inspire food waste. Many consumers count on them to insure food safety. Labels are about quality and have nothing to do with safety. Food kept refrigerated as needed can usually last long past its use by date, Use your best judgement for food safety instead of label dates..

Western Slope Good Eating
Palisade Peaches and Ouroy Corn
The season is almost over. If you can find any Palisade Peaches, find fresh peaches a delicious and peaches from Palisade, Colorado are the best.

A few miles south Palisade (approximately 45 minutes) you will find Olathe, Colorado and the Tuxedo .Farm the home of John Harold and Olathe Sweet Sweet Corn. The corn is slightly later than the peaches but the season is also coming to an end. Olathe corn on ihe cob is among the favorites from the Western Slope.

My Colorado Thoughts

9/10/2023

Bird Jokes

Big bird's flock rejected him because of how tall he was... ostrich-sized.

When should you buy a bird? When it’s going cheep!

Why couldn’t anyone see the bird? Because it was in da skies.

What kind of birds do you usually find locked up ? Jail-birds!

How did the bird break into the house? With a crow bar.

What language do geese speak? Porchageese.

Sandhill Cranes
These tall, gray-bodied, crimson-capped birds breed in open wetlands, fields, and prairies across North America. They group together in great numbers, filling the skies.
·

The peak migration period of cranes on the Monte Vista Refuge in Colorado is around the first week of March and again around the second week of October.
Since 10-million-year-old sandhill crane fossils were found in Nebraska, it is considered to be one of the oldest bird species on the planet.

Sandhill cranes are also quite common in other places in North America where the population of these majestic birds reaches half a million. These iconic birds travel thousands of miles each year between northern and southern states. About 20,000 cranes make a stop at the San Luis Valley in Colorado during their fall and spring migration.

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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.