Ski Steamboat

View from the top.

Visiting Elk

At 12am last night (I guess that is today), I was awakened by a tap-tap on the window. When I pulled up the shade I was face to face with a 6-point Bull Elk. I mean, he was just staring right at me - head on - with his snout no more than 2 feet away from me.
He was eating the shrubs below the window. I got my wife up and rushed to my office to get my camera. By the time I returned he had left the bedroom window and was around the house just west of the house.

Attached are a couple of these shots.

This guy has been around the house for the last two nights and was the one I took the picture of on the 16th.

Police Report from North Park

The following are a couple of police reports written by the clever Jim Dustin of the Jackson County Star.

Dec 13: a ranch manager on the west side of the county had a chat with some snowmobilers regarding the concept of private property.

Dec 14: the EMT's assisted when a child fell out of a shopping cart.

Dec 14: a motorist driving over Cameron Pass and down into Jackson County was confronted with numerous curves along Highway 14. He failed to make the first one; passersby helped.

Dec 14: motorists were faced with a prickly problem when they encountered a rather large porcupine in the middle of Highway 125 south of Walden. Officers summoned the DOW.

Northern Spotted Owl

EATS ->





In the Feb 2006 issue of Outdoor Life the editor relates the sad fact that the environmentalists had it all wrong about the Spotted Owl. Sad, that is for the 130,000 people who lost their jobs!

Having been placed on the endangered list in 1990, the Clinton administration (in the mid 90's), banned all logging on 24 million acres in the Pacific North West. This shut down the logging industry and therefore the loss of jobs.

The population of the Spotted Owl has continued to decline even though there has been no logging. Seems as though the reason is the fact that the Barred Owl's favorite target is the Spotted Owl! Heavens me! Did we jump to conclusions back in 1995?

Just another example of how the left, the environmentalists in this case, are really anti-capitalist when it comes right down to it.

I think he is lost

When the snow is close to 4 feet deep on the flats, getting around is much easier if you use the plowed streets!

Alito on his way to confirmation!

"A senior Democratic leadership aide conceded that President George W. Bush's 55-year-old conservative nominee appeared to have the votes." From Reuters Jan 12, 2006

It hasn't happened yet, but it looks like our country will have a NEW Supreme Court. Thank goodness. Of all the things that George Bush has done, this is the most important for our country. Now there are 5 judges solidly in the conservative camp. That doesn't mean that they will vote conservative every time, but it does look like a majority will interpret the constitution now rather than try to rewrite it!

Fantastic!

Harry Reid is a Phony!

I wrote a letter to the editor of the Denver Post about a guest commentary Harry Reid had in that paper last Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006, which, by the way, will be published this coming Sunday, Jan 15 2006 in the Post. You can read Reid's comments here:

http://www.denverpost.com/guestcommentary/ci_3375720

The gist is that "others" have this problem with the Abramoff scandal. WHAT A BUNCH OF BUNK! I wrote the following:

Editor, Denver Post

In response to the Guest Commentary of Harry Reid; Jan 8, 2006;

Not only is Harry Reid sanctimonious, he is hypocritical in his guest commentary called "Time for capital cleanup" (Sunday Perspective). I am very disappointed in the Post for allowing this type of commentary to be unanswered. I give you one thing, the picture at the top of the column does a good job of portraying him as a smug, chin in the air phony that he really is.

In the fifth paragraph he states; "The problem is Washington is run by leaders who put their own political interests ahead of America's interests."

What a joke! A quick Google of 'Abramoff Reid' will display numerous links to Mr Reid's complicity in the whole scandal (see some below).

Not only did he receive over $60,000 from Abramoff's office, he refuses to accept responsibility. Unlike many of his Democrat colleagues, he is not returning any of it, or, for that matter, donating a dime of the tainted money to charities like some of his Democrat friends are.

Later on in the column he talks about how the Democrats have resolved to "clean up Washington". Mr Reid ought not have his minions clean too hard, they may unearth their own skeletons!

Finally, he wants us all to ask ourselves: "is this the best America can do - a government where the special interests come before the people?"

I say to Mr Reid; yes we can, and the first step is to get rid of leaders like him.


Here are a few of the links to articles exposing Mr Reid:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701682.html (next to last paragraph)

http://www.nrsc.org/newsdesk/document.aspx?ID=1386

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/3/115231.shtml

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005805.php

girly-men come to Steamboat.

There was a letter to the editor from a guy from Ft Collins who just visited Steamboat over the Christmas break. he complained about the ice on the sidewalks. Here is my response which I sent in to the local paper.

WARNING! It snows here in Steamboat. My goodness, this year it has snowed a lot. I hear that the three feet I have in my yard is just average; some have five feet.

And then sometimes it gets warm (periods of global warming...I think) and some of that snow melts and turns to water which runs all over the place. It runs off roofs and on to streets and even on to sidewalks.

And then it gets cold here in the winter. Really cold sometimes. And if it gets cold right after a big melt, all that water freezes. It freezes on the roofs; it freezes on your car and in your car locks; it even freezes all that water on the streets and sidewalks.

Frozen water is slippery, in fact, very slippery when it is about 32 degrees out. You must take care when you walk on it so as to not fall on your butt, or slide your car into the one in front of you. If you have a car, perhaps you should have snow tires, and if you are walking, by all means, get yourself some Yaks.

Better yet, try skiing or ice skating where the slipperier it is, the better. In fact, that is why most people come to Steamboat in the first place.

GIVE ME A BREAK!

The guy from the front range that wrote to the editor the other day, complaining of ice on the sidewalk, needs to get a life. When you come to the mountains in the winter, you are going to run into some ice and snow; even on the sidewalks. And even when the merchants in this town try their hardest to keep ahead of it. It is just a loosing proposition. Like keeping your sand castle standing in a rising tide. Or does this guy think our taxes should be raised so that we can have a ice-remover man who spends his day chipping all the ice away?

What is with our culture now where so many are looking for something to complain about and someone to blame. Perhaps that guy should vacation in Florida and dodge hurricanes or go to California and take his chances with earthquakes and mudslides. Or even Texas where he will have to watch out for all those tornados. It even gets hot down there too. Perhaps the towns in Texas should provide fans on street corners so as to keep people from heat stroke.

I can't help but remember, not too long ago, when one would see 80 year old Dorothy Wither (owner of a local store called Dorothy's) walking down Lincoln with her ski pole, climbing over the 3 foot piles of snow that were, not only on the side of the road, but right smack dab down the center of Lincoln. When they had time, the merchants would shovel little paths through those piles only to have them filled in by the state plows that night.

Of course, Dorothy was a tough, no nonsense woman; a real pioneer woman. Seems to me that, what we have now are too many girly-men...and women.