Short Entry from Terry

Good morning & Happy Thanksgiving. I'm going to leave Carol's blog up; I don't know for how long. I'm not sure I'll make entries, but for those of you who want to reminisce, please enjoy. There's some great content here as I'm sure you'll agree. Best to you all!

Moffat County Mountains

Isaac in front of Baker's Peak in Moffat County on July 4, 2009

Fort Fred Steele in Wyoming

Ever since I read "The World Without Us", I have been fascinated by abandoned places. I wonder about the people who once were there: what brought them to often far distant and isolated places.


Fort Fred Steele is one of those places. It is 12 miles east of Rawlins. It was established in 1868 and abandoned in 1886 and sits on the bank of the North Platte River. The original fort was quite large.

This is one of two stone chimneys that once warmed the two large barracks. The last of the barracks were burned down in the 1970s during an act of arson.


I wanted to stay longer in that long lonely place, but thick storm clouds were crackling lighting and spitting rain.



Another building, possibly officers quarters with the remains of another building with a stone foundation.

The view of the North Platte from the top of the small hill at the fort.


Thousands of rocks were collected and stacked to create foundations, including a stone corral (but the weather prevented me from visiting the corral).

This is a far distant and isolated country. Beautiful.

Cottonwood at Timberlake

I love sagebrush, and I love lonely cottonwoods at the base of an empty reservoir, built by hopeful gold miners in the early part of the 20th century.




Robyn Morris, BLM archaeologist, enters coordinates on her GPS. She is standing at the top of the dam near a very deep well-like thing. If I were to write a murder mystery, this is where I'd hide the body.

Sombrero Horse Drive May 2009

After four years in Craig, I finally saw the annual horse drive in Maybell.

Maybell is a small community (150 residents??) 30 miles west of Craig, and every May, for the last 40 years, Sombrero Ranch has moved its horse herd from Greystone through Sunbeam and Maybell, then east on SH 40 to their summer ranch in Big Gulch.

About 700 horses stream through Maybell; several hundred people come to see the horses. City folks pay money to do the ride with the cowboys and many have been coming to the event for years.

At the Big Gulch ranch, the horses are sorted, branded, inoculated and ridden enough to go to work on dude ranches and outdoor programs throughout Colorado.

The owners are very nice, gracious people. Queeda Mantle Walker, with her husband Rex Walker, have been in the business over 50 years. Queeda has written two lovely memoirs--"The Mantle Ranch" and "Last Ranch in Hell's Canyon", both are about Moffat County and Dinosaur National Monument and horses and sagebrush and growing up in Northwest Colorado.


It is extremely difficult for me to take pictures of horses, so this is my best effort. There are some extremely talented photographers in Moffat County that do a great job of capturing the grace and power of a big herd of multi-colored horses moving down the highway.


Finally, this is one of the buildings in Maybell that just strikes my fancy. It is across the street from the Maybell Park where lots of folks come to watch the horse drive.

Rawlins--Wyoming Territorial Prison

June 10, 2009

On a trip through Wyoming, I stopped at the Territorial Prison. It operated from 1901 to 1981. What a great tour of an aging structure. It is privately owned (I believe it is a non-profit organization) and few funds to fix it up, so it is very much like it was when it closed in 1981 with a bit of disuse over the last 20 years. Paint is peeling off the walls, the same carpet is on the floor, the cells are still the colors of the rainbow and the showers are as dark at night. Hot water wasn't piped in until 1972.

The cafeteria looks ready to sit in. Parts of the buildings are closed off because of unsafe conditions--the chapel, the gym. I visited all three cell blocks, the death house, intake, the yards and grounds. It is a very good haunted "house" in October.


The front of the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Rawlins, Wyoming.


The view from cell blocks B and C.



These are the remains of the factories--making wool cloth and other items. The water tower is a striking feature of the grounds.



Cell Block A, the original and coldest part of the prison. In later years, the inmates could paint the walls of their cells any color they wanted. Each cell held two men.



Looking out at the water tower.



One of the last gas chambers still in existence in the U.S. It was a very scary structure.



Hot water heater grill in the Death House.




The cells on Death Row, four cells (I think it was four) on the same floor as the hanging gallows and the gas chamber.

Elkhead Drive-about

May 16, 2009

We drove to the Elkhead area in Moffat and Routt counties mentioned in the New York Times article (May 2009) that describes the story of Ferry Carpenter who brought two young teachers to the area, not only to teach but because there were an abundance of young men and few women... turn of the century times. Ferry Carpenter was a lawyer and rancher with considerable influence in the area, the state, and the country through his gentle intelligence and agreeable nature.

I knew him when I was quite young and interviewed his daughter, Roz Garcia, when she was in her early nineties. We talked about her experiences as the first white woman in the area to live in a sheepwagon/camp.

The following pictures almost capture the beauty of the area. We saw sharp-tailed grouse on the road beyond Elkhead Reservoir. We saw Bears Ears mountain and the vast undulating hills of fragrant sagebrush. We passed the Elkhead Community Center where I once, when I was in high school, went to a country dance.

Finally, it is spring in this country and the roads can be treacherous when wet; this is how mud dries in the high country.

Massachusetts in April 2009

Terry and I spent seven days in Massachusetts at the end of April 2009. We spent five days on Cape Cod and two in Fairhaven/New Bedford/Fall River. It's taking a while, but I'm starting to get the photos out.

This is my favorite image from the Cape Cod experience: Edward Gorey's Doubtful Guest.

Plimouth, Massachusetts

This is a set of dolls like the dolls that young Wampanoag Indian girls would have played with 300 years ago.

Adam and Rebecca

May 3, 2009 3:45 p.m. North Dartmouth, Massachusetts

Little Snake River Valley

Baggs, Wyoming lies just three miles into the southern part of Wyoming; Craig (45 miles south) is the closest hospital, shopping district, car dealership, etc. The town boasts all of 379 residents, which is more than nearby Dixon (population 25) or Savery (not stated, but probably about 8).

For the last ten weeks, I have driven to Baggs to teach a memoir class with 10-15 marvelous students, all women. We have had a blast, and I'm sorry the class is ending.

Architectural photos from these small communities.

This building was once used as a theatre in Baggs. Notice the ring of sockets around the door on the left side of the structure.


Baggs bank building was once the Bank Bar where a memoir student noted that a family member had "fallen off a stool and died."


City Hall in Dixon, Wyoming.

Poem-A-Day

I look forward to this every year.

Or try this:
A Poem a Day

Cape Cod for Carol and Terry

Finally the bulk of the plans for Adam’s wedding on May 3rd have fallen into place.

We will leave Hayden (Yampa Valley Regional Airport) on Saturday April 25th, arrive in Boston, spend Saturday night there, and then drive to Cape Cod on Sunday the 26th, with the whole day to make that drive.

We will stay on Cape Cod (a small bed and breakfast near Hyannis) until Thursday (possibly Friday—depending on how much fun we have). Museums, beaches, whale watching are the things I want to do most—lots of beach walking.

Then, up to or near Somerset, where the lovely bride lives, for pre-wedding events on Friday, Saturday and finally, the wedding on Sunday afternoon.

We’ll fly back to Hayden on Monday, May 4th, arriving at 10:30 p.m.

* * *
Preparing for this event has been an adventure. I hate to fly (if God wanted me to fly, God would have given me wings), so I had a hard time getting to the Internet to look for tickets. Finally, after setting a Sunday night deadline (and missing it), I called a travel agent. She took care of everything in a day with a good price (including airfare, hotel, car rental).

Next was the bed and breakfast. I sent a dozen requests for information and finally found a nice one in Hyannis, across the street from a white sand beach for $50/night (off season rates). GoogleEarth was helpful.

I’m done. I’ll figure out where to stay in Somerset and what to do on Cape Cod once we get there. I just can’t think about any more vacation things till I’m on the plane; there is too much to do here (it’s Poetry Month).

I am excited about going east, really excited. I have books to read on the plane (my favorite/engrossing mystery writers Michael Connelly and Jonathan Kellerman) and a Fodor’s Guide to Cape Code.

Only one thing left: the dress I will wear as the mother-of-the-groom. Eeeck!

The 1960s

I am the scrawny girl in the first row. Mrs. Lawton, the 4th grade teacher in this picture, is still in Craig, and I love her dearly.

I only vaguely remember being a Brownie in Craig. I'm the skinny sun right/center. This is third or fourth grade.

Sheepwagons

A row of sheepwagons on the Peroulis ranch just south of Baggs, Wyoming. I snapped this photo one week; by the time I drove by the next week, several wagons had been moved out of the row, and I assume, put to work.

Stella and Phyllis

Stella Craig and Phyllis Bingham at Juniper Springs, Colorado. Stella owned the hot springs for 30+ years and ran a successful and profitable set of businesses. She had the hot springs and pool, a cafe, gas station, and gift store. Phyllis is the mother of my friend Suz who shares my birth date. We all went out to check on the hot springs last spring.

The large outdoor pool is on the right of the picture. The smaller pool is just behind Stella (on the left) and the three small hot pools are inside the concrete building. That building and the walls around the springs have been around since the beginning of commercial activity in the area, circa 1905.


This photo shows Juniper Hot Springs during its heyday along the banks of the Yampa River. The concrete/original building is on the right/center, connected to the large building in the center. There are a series of small cabins on the far right and the cafe/store/gas station on the left.

Lois

Lois Harvey is one of my most favorite friends. She is the bookseller who taught me how to be a bookseller.

I love this picture because of the flowers and the light and her long hair and the hat.

Crooked Wash BLM Road 1509

Many years ago, my grandfather and father held the grazing lease for much of this land for their large herds of sheep. I presume they used this for part of the winter range. This is a vast and empty space, mostly public land and dry as dust.

The long view across Crooked Wash to the Danforth Hills. Further south is a goat trail through the wash that crosses (I believe) a tiny piece of private property and then connects to the road to Meeker.

All across Moffat County are vast areas of wildfire burned tracts. This is at the top of the Crooked Wash basin which burned in the last ten years. The fire often leaves the amazing skeletal shapes of the juniper trees.

My beloved husband considering this spot for a geocache.

Truck

Orignially, a 35 mm photo that I scanned and saved. I loved it when I first saw it; I love it still. It was taken on the Williams Fork ranch.

Early days in Routt County

This is a farmstead south of Phippsburg, Colorado. The building with the green tar-paper roof is the house; the other buildings are sheds for various things: coal, farm tools, small barn/chicken coop with tin roofs.



Wealthy out-of-towners recently purchased the property (2008), and this is probably all gone by now.

Pearl

A photograph of my niece, Pearl Eve Wyman. She was probably five or six in this picture. She will be 10 in a few days.

Pick up the Day

Pick up the day
by Peter Connor

Pick up the day
with both hands and
shape something

out of it.

When you are through,
after the sun has set,
place it carefully on your shelf

of yesterdays,

and clear some space for tomorrow.

Big Gulch

My dear brother, David, asked me to find a few photos of Big Gulch, as he and my father have decided it is time to sell this lovely ranch. It breaks my heart to part with this place where I first lived when I moved here.

This is the wild, lonely place that Sadie dug up voles, tossing them into the air and swallowing them. She swam across the pond, wandered around the meadows, chased foxes and could stay out all night.

I was more lonely living here than anywhere or time in my life; in spite of that, I loved it with a whole heart.