by Hal Walter

Late summer has its many emotions here in the Wet Mountains, from the blustery days when you first notice the edges of the aspens turning, to the clear blue days that seem never to end as summer becomes fall. But I know in my bones these days will end.

At some point the summer bugs will come off the windshield with the first heavy frost. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

A friend once suggested I write myself a check for $50,000, $75,000, or something like that, and just tape it to the refrigerator as a payment to myself for this grand lifestyle I’ve chosen.

Perhaps I should just make it an even, cool $1 million. Read the rest of this article

Is the Greater Arkansas Valley ready to join forces with a multitude of towns, cities, and counties who have signed on to become leaders in the growing global task force to address peak oil, climate change and economic stability?

Considering the number of concerned citizens who are connecting in Salida, Buena Vista and surrounding areas to adopt the “Transition Model” (www.transitiontowns.org) – all with the intention of engaging a significant proportion of the people in their community to kick off a “Transition Initiative” – it appears that the local community is ready to commit to change. Read the rest of this article

by John Mattingly

Last month, under the title, A Species Behaving Badly, I concluded. . .

“Few would argue the most unique aspect of the human species is our consciousness, but there is no reason why that consciousness must be contained and energized inside a global bone atop the body of a non-commensul, energy-eating, land-based, brain-bearing, nest-fouling mammal.” Read the rest of this article

Quillen’s Corner

by Martha Quillen

Language is a gift, extraordinary and wondrous, but unrestrained speech can be more aggravating than yowling cats. In fact, I suspect that if dogs and cats could talk, we would not regard them as nearly so adorable. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

“Some of them live, and some of them die.”

“If you don’t want to lose any, then don’t have any.”

“At least you don’t have to feed the sumbitch anymore.”

I’d nearly given up on the cow I call “Number 30.’ During the days running up to the March full moon her udder had been swelling, and I thought for sure the calf would arrive then. Some cattlepeople say that cows tend to have calves during foul weather, but a small snowstorm passed over, then a few more days, and the calf had yet to be born. Read the rest of this article

(Tips for high-altitude gardeners)

by Suzanne Ward

The quiet of the winter and the warmth of the inside fire, which was such a blessing in January, feels too confining in spring.? We long for the warmth of sunshine after the dark and cold of winter.? It is time to plan the garden.? My Aunt Virginia, who will celebrate her 100th birthday this month, once told me, “If I can’t dig in the dirt and plant something, it is not spring!”? Read the rest of this article

Cotopaxi grass farmers enjoy profitability while preserving land

Story by Susan Bavaria

Photos by Mike Rosso

A small percentage of cattle ranchers have laid down their agricultural arms and made peace with Mother Nature. Instead of inoculating, spraying, inseminating, supplementing, feeding and fighting blizzards to rescue calves born in February, these ranchers opt to coax the land into doing what comes naturally. Read the rest of this article

by Allison Linville

I don’t have a house. It wasn’t lost to foreclosure or auctioned by the bank; I have simply never owned one. As a recent college graduate, I am just now learning to pay rent, utilities and my gym membership every month, while trying to find a job that will cover my medical expenses if I wreck my car again. Read the rest of this article

Article by Allen Best

Mountain Life – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHAT HAS SCARCELY BEEN MENTIONED in all the reporting about Jim Blanning, the former Aspen resident who deposited four bombs of gasoline in the city’s business district before killing himself on New Year’s Eve, is how closely the basic story line resembles the strange and fearful machinations in two other Colorado mountain towns: Alma and Granby. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Mountain Life – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

The school in Silverton — there is just one for the town of 500 people — got chilly after the coal-fired boiler cracked in early November.

The boiler can still be used, but not sufficiently to warm the building. As a result, electricity-driven space heaters have been used to warm the classrooms. A propane heater keeps the gymnasium at 40 to 50 degrees, reports the Silverton Standard, although water has been turned off there. This makeshift situation will have to make do for this winter, superintendent Kim White says. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Mountain Life – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Things could be worse — a lot worse. So believes Crested Butte Mayor Alan Bernholz. The town council was having a discussion about the best way to keep traffic moving slowly. But by all accounts, the number of 40 mph scofflaws are few. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Article by Lynda La Rocca

Mountain Life – December 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

HEY, I’m a law-abiding citizen. And I really do want to “render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s.” But I’d feel a lot more cheerful about paying my taxes if I weren’t being prodded toward the tax collectors by spear-wielding Roman guards.

“Move along!” these toga-clad tough guys order my husband Steve and me when we try to slip a few coins to several ragged beggars. “You’ll be free of that money soon enough!” a soldier snaps before wading back into the throng of merchants, pilgrims, shepherds, and money changers gathered at Bethlehem Marketplace. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Pat Williams

Mountain Life – December 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Ed and Martha,

Why doesn’t the Colorado Central calendar have an entry for “The Day the Flatlanders Go Home” ? Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Mountain Life – December 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Most Aspenites are a few pickets short of living the American dream in a white-picket fence on the edge of town. Their housing is cramped, their expenses high. Still, Aspen is worth the aggravations, they tell The Aspen Times. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – December 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Column by Hal Walter

Mountain Life – November 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

IT WOULD BE FAIRLY EASY at this point to go on a rant about the presidential race, the new welfare for bankers program or the ongoing economic crisis, which only means some people with money now have a glimpse of the same black hole I’ve been staring down my entire adult life.

Frankly, I’d rather write about something that actually matters, like food, friends and this season of change we call fall, but in some way I suppose it all ties together. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – November 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – October 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0981658407[/amazon-product]Review by Ed Quillen

Mountain Life – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Monkey Wrench Dad: Dispatches from the backyard frontline
by Ken Wright
Published in 2008 by Raven’s Eye Press
ISBN 978-0-9816534-0-7 Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Mountain Life – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Now entering my 17th year as a Desolation Row desperado, I find myself debating the next moves on the old chessboard of existence. I’m pretty comfortable here despite being too close to the highway and not having a wooded spot to enjoy. But I’ve got a strenuous sort of existence with not much hope of letting up, and now I’m past sixty I wonder when I’ll find the time and energy to keep things rolling along. I’ve also realized that I’m not immune to little annoying injuries which can slow me down just when I need to maintain the pace. Nor do I have a handy son or daughter to bring by an amplified phone, for example, should I suddenly lose most of my hearing — as happened to a friend this month. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Mountain Life – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

From time to time, somebody wanders home from a ski town bar, then stumbles into a snowbank and dies. Such was the case last February in Breckenridge, when Michael “Alphonse” Barbiere disappeared. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – May 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Column by Hal Walter

Mountain Life – April 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

I NEVER SAW the horseshoe puzzle flying toward me as I sat reading the Wet Mountain Tribune in my living room. But I sure felt it when it struck me in the temple, causing a momentary blackout and a small but steady ooze of blood.

What’s a horseshoe puzzle? Well, it is two 0-pony size steel horseshoes welded to two pieces of link chain strung through a metal ring. The game is to remove the ring. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Mountain Life – April 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The supreme irony was immediately evident. Eric O’Hara had survived combat for 15 months in both Afghanistan and Iraq only to suffer a violent death a month later in what is an essentially bucolic setting near the Steamboat ski area. He fell to his death six floors from the roof of the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel while shoveling snow. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – April 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Essay by Ed Quillen

Mountain Life – January 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

EVERY TIME THE SNOW starts to fall outside, I have this pleasant fantasy that the day will turn into a holiday of sorts. I will sit in an easy chair near a warm fire, as I do as I write this, and the porch will hold a huge pile of split, dry firewood, which it does not as I write this. In my fantasy, the refrigerator and pantry are full, and at hand is a pile of good unread books, along with a Coleman lantern ready to light, just in case the power goes out. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – January 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – December 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Mountain Life – November 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

An art show was held over a late-summer weekend in Red Cliff, a one-time mining town located two ridges and sometimes a world apart from Vail.

The town’s artists opened their homes for inspection of photographs from Asia, paintings o Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – November 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – October 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – September 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Mountain Life – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

It’s been more than three years since Marvin Heemeyer drove a bulldozer from the muffler shop he owned, the driver’s seat concealed in a fortress of concrete and steel, guns protruding, and proceeded to terrorize Granby for the better part of an afternoon. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – July 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Essay by Ed Quillen

Mountain Life – June 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

EVERY NOW AND AGAIN, someone tells me I should take up “blogging.” The term comes from “web log,” wherein somebody posts relatively brief observations and invites comments. Readers add their comments, then there are comments on comments, etc. Some blogs are pretty interesting, while others are tedious or worse, and many degenerate into ranting and name-calling. But the “blog” concept has its charms — since there are so many topics which seem to deserve some commentary but hardly seem worthy of a long essay. Read the rest of this article