Living in Craig

Short Entry from Terry

2009-11-27T09:18:00.003-07:00

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

2009-07-06T07:52:00.004-06:00

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

Fort Fred Steele in Wyoming

2009-06-17T06:08:00.010-06:00

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

2009-06-16T20:55:00.004-06:00

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

2009-06-16T19:27:00.008-06:00

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

2009-06-16T17:20:00.017-06:00

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

2009-06-16T16:17:00.008-06:00

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

2009-06-03T11:26:00.003-06:00

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

2009-06-03T11:21:00.002-06:00

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

Adam and Rebecca

2009-05-06T06:05:00.005-06:00

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

Little Snake River Valley

2009-04-11T07:09:00.007-06:00

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

2009-04-10T10:32:00.004-06:00

I look forward to this every year.

Or try this:
A Poem a Day

Cape Cod for Carol and Terry

2009-03-28T07:55:00.000-06:00

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

2009-03-14T07:10:00.002-06:00

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

2009-03-14T06:55:00.002-06:00

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

2009-03-13T20:28:00.004-06:00

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

2009-03-13T20:24:00.003-06:00

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

2009-03-13T20:12:00.004-06:00

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

2009-03-13T20:05:00.001-06:00

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

2009-03-13T19:54:00.004-06:00

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

2009-03-13T19:51:00.001-06:00

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

2009-03-07T07:53:00.002-07:00

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

2009-03-07T07:10:00.011-07:00

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.

Love That Dog

2009-02-28T19:05:00.003-07:00

Sadie Rose
1997-2009

Best dog I ever had.
Carol

A Fun Musical Collage

2009-02-23T15:08:00.002-07:00

This is very cool: Born Again in American

An interesting character in front of the bookstore in Craig

2009-02-22T07:29:00.005-07:00

Baden Whitehead and his really great horse, Sage; Baden works for my father as a general ranch hand and often rides to town. He rode into town last fall, originally just passing through on his way east (Tennessee?). The first time I saw him, he was wearing his gun and a very long knife. Only in Craig!

Ice Sculpture

2009-02-19T17:37:00.002-07:00

For Valentine's Day

This was in the park across the street, in Alice Pleasant Park, from Downtown Books.

Photo taken by Janele Husband.

Great Groups of Guys

2009-02-12T19:05:00.003-07:00

Dad is sitting on the left, third from the front. These men meet almost every morning at 9:30 a.m. at the Golden Cavvy in downtown Craig. The membership changes every morning, depending of who is in town, who's available.

John Allen, Perry Van Dorn, Lou Wyman (my dad) and Al Shepherd. This was taken at Sunset Meadows after a Preserving the Last Frontier meeting. Dad was one of the speakers. John Allen is a local musician and sound guy. Perry has lived here all his life and has written many pieces about our part of the country. Al was born here and holds considerable knowledge about the town and how it has changed over time.

Our Town Deer

2009-02-12T16:55:00.002-07:00

It's not the greatest photo in the world, but it shows how we live with deer. These two are in my front yard. The metal wheel is under one of our living room windoes.

New Point-of-Interest Signs

2009-02-11T06:28:00.002-07:00

There are three point-of-interest signs along our highways, and since I moved here in 2005, they have been blank. I talked repeatedly to the Museum of Northwest Colorado staff about fixing the problem and nothing happened.

Finally, I went to the County Commissioners and after two meeting and many phone calls, I was given the directive to fix the problem. I did it.

This is the sign at Fortification Rocks 18 miles north of Craig on SH 13. The rocks are on the right in the photo.

Wide Load

2009-02-11T06:14:00.003-07:00

Before I could start my hour long drive to Baggs, Wyoming, for the memoir class I teach up there, I was stopped by the State Patrol while this wide/big/gigantic load came down SH 13. This behemoth was 24 ft. wide and weighed a million pounds. Each axle (maybe 14--it was hard to count and take pictures) had eight tires. One semi pulled the load and four trucks pushed it. It was travelling at about 10 miles an hour. Amazing.

Brothers

2009-02-06T19:22:00.002-07:00

Daniel and Joel at the 2008 Christmas pagent at the Hayden Congregational Church. Gay Albers is their mother, and she is my friend.

Modern Cowgirl

2009-02-06T19:03:00.003-07:00

Charlie in December 2008

2009-02-06T18:03:00.002-07:00

Charlie has recovered nicely from his car accident. He has gained a little weight and is as feisty as ever. Pouncing and jumping, twisting and turming to kill a ping-pong ball or errant glove left on the floor.

This was taken at our home in Craig. Charlie is on the front porch with the flower garden in front of that.

AJ and a girl in LA

2009-02-06T17:59:00.005-07:00

This is my oldest son, AJ, with his friend Camile, in LA around Christmas, 2008. I thought these were just very cool photos of this child of mine...a little piece of my heart in California.

Carol and a horse in August 1993

2009-02-03T16:51:00.003-07:00

At the Williams Fork Ranch. I was 38.

Letter Art February 2009

2009-02-03T16:44:00.005-07:00

Susan Tweit

2009-01-30T19:02:00.007-07:00

Susan Tweit and Jim Steinberg came to Craig to sign copies of their book. December 2008. Susan will have her memoirs, Walking Nature Home, released in March 2009. It is a beautiful, haunting book. I recommend it.

Walking Nature Home: A Life's Journey (Louann Atkins Temple Women & Culture Series)
by Susan J. Tweit
Without a map, navigate by the stars. Susan Tweit began learning this lesson as a young woman diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that was predicted to take her life in two to five years. Offered no clear direction for getting well through conventional medicine, Tweit turned to the natural world that was both her solace and her field of study as a plant ecologist.

Colton Dotson

2009-01-30T18:47:00.003-07:00

This is a picture of Caroline's youngest son, Colton, at the bookstore Christmas Party, 2008.

Me and literacy

2009-01-30T07:39:00.001-07:00

Check out this article about me and literacy.

envelope art 1

2009-01-17T10:33:00.003-07:00

It's snowing here...

2009-01-11T18:50:00.002-07:00

...and we think it's lovely.

This is me and Sadie at the golfcourse ski trail along the Yampa River. This was Winter 2008, but I'll look like that again.

Caroline and her sister-in-law: Miss Sunshine White

2009-01-10T07:07:00.002-07:00

I liked this picture because the two women are dressed for winter in Craig. This was taken on Christmas Eve, 2008.

A Poem

2009-01-09T07:22:00.003-07:00

CAUTION: CONTAINS THE WORD MASTURBATE.

Email from my friend Alana
By Carol Valera Jacobson
December 2008

(I met Alana in 1999 when we were both English students at Metro State College. She had been a pole dancer in Grand Junction when she was young. Then, as now, she is writing erotica.)

This is cool,
I think.
She is writing erotica.
She is re-creating herself
Again with a raw honesty
that intrigues me,
frightens me,
makes me wonder.

I read her lines:
walking home through snow
that clings to her jeans,
stripping down in a warm room,
masturbating,
coming in 51 seconds.

This frightens me
a little bit because
I think to myself,
that could be me.

Oh
-my
-god!

That could be me
coming home through the deep snow,
stripping down, masturbating,
making dinner for my husband,
reading a book,
then
sleeping curled up around him.

2008 Blessings

2009-01-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

December 18, 2008
Dear Friends and Families,
This is my best and worst of 2008: blessings and challenges. What are the ten best things that happened to you in the last year? Let me know.
1. Being married to Terry with whom I share so many things. This year, we found a new passion: geocaching. He loves it for the mapping adventure, and I love it for the chance to get out of town and into the wilderness of Moffat County.
2. My children always are a blessing. My middle son, Adam, is getting married in May to the divine Miss Rebecca. I love that girl! They’ll be married in Massachusetts so we will take ten days to visit the east coast. AJ is in LA working in the fashion industry, and Isaac is temporarily unemployed in Denver after a busy summer of landscape contracting.
3. Terry built me a greenhouse that is just wonderful. He finished it in October so I’ve only planted a few seeds of lettuce and spinach but can’t wait to see what I can do with it next year.
4. We traveled to Tucson (in March to see the Sonora Desert) and Taos (in July for a writing workshop for both us—I think Terry had more fun than I did). Both were wonderful driving adventures. We travel well together and saw beautiful country.
5. Terry retired from Trapper Mine this year, exactly 30 years to the day. After a month, he took a job as the Sportsman Information Specialist at the Chamber of Commerce. He works part time and loves it!! After all those year of working heavy equipment, he has a desk job that allows him to talk about his love of the outdoors.
6. I am teaching the best classes, ever. Oral History, English 121 (freshman English) and Memoirs. There are 19 students in the Memoir class, most over 70, and we have a great, helpful and healing time together. I’ll start other memoir classes in Baggs and Hayden in 2009.
7. I learned a lot about gardening in the dry West. Mostly I grew potatoes and carrots. The potatoes were the most fun; from cutting the seed potatoes apart, to watching their tough green stems emerging, to turning the black earth to reveal the round brown potatoes. I’ve had little bug holes and slugs and frost, and I still got some beautiful potatoes.
8. My little bookstore that I run with Caroline Dotson, is doing fine. We may never make a lot of money, but we are having a grand time.
9. Charlie the-cat-who-bites is still alive after being hit by a car. He had a broken leg and pelvis, and after five weeks in a splint, he is becoming his normal, biting, predatory self.
10. I live in Moffat County with some of the most spectacular landscape ever. Check my blog : http://bookladyincraig.blogspot.com/. For pictures look under Moffat County.
The challenges:
1. Sadie has cancer. It was diagnosed in January. She is still active, perky, prone to run off, and loves to sniff the cats. She is teaching me, as she has always taught me, about being alive. She does not know she has a terminal disease. She’s a dog; she wants to know what is for lunch and when are we taking a walk. Because she has challenges with her bowels, she has now become an outdoor dog, and the challenge is to keep her warm on the back porch.
2. We lost a source for our favorite brand of coffee (Zapatista), and it has taken almost three months to find a reasonable, if not good, substitute.
Enough news.
I love you,

Santa in Moffat County

2008-12-12T05:46:00.005-07:00

You never know when you'll run into Mr. Claus. This is Santa in Brown's Park in a BLM boat.(unknown photographer)

Brothers

2008-12-08T17:44:00.002-07:00

Deloss and Billy Jackson
Born and raised in Moffat County.
(actually, Deloss tells me that he was born in Vernal, Utah)
Downtown Craig
2008

Christmas 2008

2008-12-07T20:37:00.002-07:00

Hand made by my own two hands.
I loved making these potholders.
I made them to be used by my friends.
Making them gave me a wonderful
opportunity to think about the folks
in my life who mean so much to me.
Thank you and blessings,
Carol

Okay, finally, a picture of me that I almost like.

2008-12-07T20:35:00.001-07:00

Sand Rocks

2008-12-07T20:23:00.010-07:00

Today, December 7th/Pearl Harbor Day, Terry and I took a short hike along the Sandrocks on the north edge of Craig.

The star which is lighted at Christmas at the top of the Sand Rocks.

The long view looking south and a bit east across the body of Craig on a warm December day.

Sagebrush and lichen.

The hard crust of earth above the smooth, round sandstone rocks. Terry is standing at the top of the trail.

2008 Celebrate Literacy

2008-12-03T15:39:00.003-07:00

I received this letter on November 28, 2008.

"Dear Carol,
It is with great pleasure that I write to inform you of your nomination and selection by the Colorado Council of the International Reading Association to receive the 2008 Celebrate Literacy Award.

Debbie Frazier, on behalf of Sagebrush Reading Council, nominated you for your work supporting literacy in the community and the schools in Craig. Your work with children and adults of all ages, as well as the many activities and opportunities you offer through Downtown Books to promote literacy is commendable."

I'll go to Denver in February to accept the award.

I'm thrilled.

Stand By Me

2008-12-01T07:09:00.003-07:00

This is is very cool! Very creative. Very good, and I've always loved the song.
Carol

This video is only 5 minutes long. But it's quite extraordinary. Not only is the music itself great, but this one video seamlessly splices together parts of the visual video tracks of identical performances videotaped at the following locations, and performed by different musicians native to those locations, while at the same time mixing together, not parts, but the entire audio tracks of all 12 performances in these 12 locations: Santa Monica, New Orleans, Amsterdam, New Mexico, France, Brazil, Russia, Venezuala, The Congo, South Africa, Spain and Italy. Quite amazing.. And very beautifully done.

Click on the following link(or cut and paste)
Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=Us-TVg40ExM
>

Terrible the Cat

2008-11-30T20:45:00.001-07:00

This is Terrible Twin, one of the two brothers I had at Big Gulch. I loved those two boys. They live up near Baker's Peak now.

Adam and Rebecca

2008-11-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Parade of Lights

2008-11-30T20:34:00.003-07:00

Our very own Santa and Mrs. Claus, George and Anne Kidder. George drives the mail truck when he is not being Santa. The beard is all his own.

Terry's sister's daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Ava is the apple of her parent's ey and Grandma Laura and Grandpa Dick adore her. This was the taken at the annual Lion's Club Parade of Lights.

Our orthopedic ward

2008-11-27T13:39:00.005-07:00

Terry and I note, with some amusement, our version of Animal Hospital. We have a geriatric ward where the two old-lady cats live. When they come out of their apartment, we have to be very careful where we walk as they are slow moving around the floor.

We have an oncology ward, where Sadie lives--on a pile of straw outside my ground-level office.

And, finally, the orthopaedic ward with Charlie, who is doing quite well. It has not been fun for any of us, especially Charlie. He has a cast on his right back leg and is terribly off balance. His fractured left pelvis has knitted together enough that he puts weight on that leg (at first, he just pulled himself along with his front legs). We, or Charlie to be more exact, have had considerable challenges as he figures out how to pee and poop. I have rarely, since my babies were little, had to worry about poop. First, we worried that he couldn't poop. He can, he just doesn't, thus requiring a trip to the doc who irrigated little Charlie until he did.

As you can see, aside from the cast still on his leg, Charlie is doing well. He actually took the time to bite and scratch me today, which means he is feeling much better.

The cast may come off in four days.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T13:34:00.004-07:00

I am thankful for my sons, AJ, Adam, Isaac, and for Rebecca, who will soon become my daughter-in-law.
I am thankful for my husband, who makes all things possible.
I am thankful for my old dog, Sadie, who has been a remarkable companion.
I am thankful for my friends (you know who you are) and my family.
Blessings on Thanksgiving 2008.
Carol

Cranberry Relish

2008-11-27T09:07:00.003-07:00

Every year for the last 10 or 15 or 20 years, I've made this relish. I love it. Most people don't quite know what to do with it, but it is delicious on turkey and on pork. It looks like ice cream with a horseradish kick, Yum!

Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish Recipe
2 cups raw cranberries
1 small onion
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons horseradish

Grind together the cranberries and onion, add the remaining ingredients and mix. Put in a plastic container and freeze. On Thanksgiving morning, move the mixture to the refrigerator to thaw.
Makes 1 1/2 pints.

Serviceberry Homestead

2008-11-26T19:08:00.014-07:00

November 2008
(Text will follow)

Red Shoes

2008-11-25T06:26:00.002-07:00

These are my red shoes. I thought this was a cute picture.

A little test...

2008-11-25T06:23:00.001-07:00

This came from my Aunt Valera.

Count every ' F ' in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

HOW MANY ?

WRONG, THERE ARE 6 -- no joke.
READ IT AGAIN !
Really, go back and try to find the 6 F's before you scroll down.

The reasoning behind this:

The brain cannot process 'OF'.

Sadie

2008-11-23T18:34:00.002-07:00

Sadie with her toenails painted blue.
The groomer did it.

Sadie and Suz

2008-11-23T18:30:00.004-07:00

Suz and I share a birthday, including the year! There but for my father being in the service, we would have been born in the same hospital.

In July, we took a drive up to Freeman Reservoir just north of Craig. The reservoir sits at the base of Black Mountain. Sadie is very interested in Suz's trout.

Howdy Davis 2008

2008-11-23T18:24:00.004-07:00

Howdy is one of the students in my memoir class. He has had an amazing life. In this picture, he is dressed in his mountain man clothing (some of which he made himself) at a rendevous in Craig. I loved his glasses; they fold up.

Finally, a picture of Natasha

2008-11-23T18:08:00.002-07:00

Natasha is one of Terry's old lady cats.

Comment

2008-11-19T14:04:00.002-07:00

Caroline sent this to me after she saw the MCR3 blog.
I love this girl.

I love how you are in tune with the land.
You know the mountains and the prairies.
I hope to have that kind of time some day.

Care

An idea for poems:

2008-11-19T14:02:00.002-07:00

Andrea Watson, a member of IWWG is issuing a call for submissions: Anthology on Collecting/Poems about Collecting . . .:

“Muse with us about the why and how of what we collect. Proposed anthology looking for POEMS that draw us out of the expected and into the anthropology of collecting. Take us from the universe of small things to universal themes. Dazzle us.

Think:
bottle of dress buttons
religious objetcs
microscopes and maps
basket of mushrooms
pioneer diaries
spongeware bowls
heirloom seeds
dreams and stars

Please send up to 3 poems, each no longer than 32 lines, with a 3-5 line bio and SASA to: A. Watson, P.O. Box 370627, Denver, CO 80237. Deadline: March 31, 2009.
PSC: December 2008

Lee K. Abbott to his son...

2008-11-16T16:37:00.003-07:00

...Kelly, who has decided to be a writer.

"Don't write drunk . . . or stoned.
Get a reader . . . be a reader.
Write fan letters.
Show up for readings.
Fret not about fame or fortune.
Take every opportunity to write well.
Rewrite.
Rewrite again.
Pay your bills promptly.
Say "please' and 'thank you.'
Change your oil every three thousand miles.
Write it all down.
The hopes and fears . . . the hand
and head and heart of us.
Write it all goddam down."

I liked this quote a lot. Alana Noell Voth sent it to me, several years ago.

MCR 3 and Fortification Rocks

2008-11-16T16:05:00.011-07:00

Today, Terry and I drove up Moffat County Road 3 through the wheat and hay fields that contribute to our rural well-being.

MCR 3 passes John Allen’s ranch and runs through McStay Brothers' property,jogging through the sagebrush and dropping into and out of the gulleys.

The first photo is of three lovely, dancing trees on a bright November morning. I had seen these same trees several years ago. I loved them then and still do.

Then a single tree across the reservoir from the dancing girls.

The long view from the three dancing trees, looking toward Baker’s Peak and Black Mountain.

Great distances separate the families; distance is measured in thousands of acres. This photo shows the land’s contour and human’s efforts to mitigate wind and snow with trees.

My crew: Terry (driving) and Sadie (drooling)

Sadie with her head out the window, lips flapping in the wind.

Compression station in front of Fortification Rocks, known for their sharp edges and lots of rattlesnakes.
div>

Back side of Fortification Rocks: a plowed field with a muddy road. You can almost see a truck full of hunters who had just passed us.
div>

Sweet History--Election 2008

2008-11-14T06:23:00.004-07:00

Barbara Hoepp, my friend of many years, wrote this lovely piece to celebrate the recent presidential election. I loved it so much that I'm adding it to my blog.

Sweet History
By Barbara Hoepp
November 2008

As I watched last night,
I pictured a plump, shiny,
bing cherry.

Not the ones that I bought the first week.
Rather, the ones I found the second week.
Bigger, darker and full of promise.

When I bit in, the juice was sweet
and trickled off my lip.
It pleased me.
I wanted to eat every one
right then and there.
I knew that there were more;
I would have my fill!

Congratulations to all of us.
We have taken a chance
to step outside the box,
take this journey together
with a young man who
will make mistakes but
I believe that he will learn,
and we will all be the wiser.

It is time to breathe again.

Our house in Craig

2008-11-13T17:22:00.003-07:00

This is an ariel view of our house (middle structure) with our huge crabapple tree on the right. My garden is in the middle of the back yard. July 2008

Mule deer family

2008-11-13T17:16:00.003-07:00

I try to carry my camera with me all the time, because I hope to catch a good picture of our town deer. This was taken in winter 2008.

Cedar Mountain

2008-11-13T16:58:00.003-07:00

Cedar Mountain is reflected in the pond at Loudy-Simpson Park. The Yampa River runs swift and lovely beyond the pond. Taken in late summer by my friend, Suz Syvertson.

Hunting Season in Moffat County

2008-11-13T16:54:00.003-07:00

Coyotes

2008-11-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

By Carol Valera Jacobson
2005

On that slow dirt road
is a dead coyote.
Still grinning face lying
by the side of the track.
Carrion birds obliterated
the lamb a bit further down,
but they did not disturb the coyote,
nor have any humans stopped to move it.
A warning.

Town Deer

2008-11-09T06:30:00.002-07:00

Craig has a resident deer population of about 200 bucks, does, and fawns. They eat gardens, hang out in deserted yards and rarely get run into. I thought was an interesting picture of a fawn crossing the street near East Elementary.

Working Dogs

2008-11-08T18:52:00.001-07:00

I like this picture of the Meeker Sheep Dog trails in early September: the sheep, the border collie, the fence, the mountain.

Origami Haiku

2008-11-05T16:35:00.002-07:00

By Carol Valera Jacobson in 2004 while teaching 4th grade students in Fort Collins.

Origami is
fingers, too many thumbs tumbled
in piles of paper.

Juxtaposition,
mountain fold, valley fold, turn
point to delicate bird.

2008 Elections are over, over, over

2008-11-05T16:33:00.001-07:00

Wahoo!!

History is made; we elected the first non-white president with a majority of the electoral vote. I'll be curious to see what happens over the next four years.

My writing space

2008-11-02T14:24:00.005-07:00

In September, "Poets and Writers" asked readers to submit photos of their writing spaces. They wanted to see each writer's unique approach to writing and how those writers find inspiration, motivation and focus. Some of the spaces on the website were stunningly beautiful and others were austere and barren. My study/studio is a place of organized clutter.

And yes, that is Perry Mason on the small television. I finally have all the episodes and play them over and over. The window on the left looks out at the crab apple tree, the greenhouse and the garden.

What finally happened to Opus?

2008-11-02T14:22:00.007-07:00

I've read Berkeley Breathed's comic strip "Opus" for many years. Apparently, Mr. Breathed is retiring and worked out a contest with the Humane Society to find the perfect last episode.

It took me a minute to find the final panel, but it is absolutely wonderful.

The comics said to visit humanesociety.org/opus.

I found the final panel at:

http://www.hsus.org/forms/the_opus_contest.html

Home -grown onions

2008-11-01T07:41:00.004-06:00

This is the second group of onions I pulled from the garden in October. I'm learning how to braid them together. Next year, I'll grow a few more.

The Ongoing Story of Charlie-the-cat-who-bites

2008-11-01T07:36:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was Halloween. Terry and I woke up to a little crushed kitty. Charlie was probably hit by a car; his pelvis was crushed and his tibia was fractured/broken.

We cried a lot.

We took him to Dr. Wayne who said that the pelvis would heal by itself, and he could splint/pin/amputate the back leg. We opted for the splint because it is the least invasive; it will still be a challenge for Charles--the pelvis is broken on one side and the tibia is broken on the other so there is no pain-free way for him to move. So, soon, we will bring home the little orange kitty who adds so much to our lives. As we said before, our lives would be greatly diminished without Charlie.

It’s that awkward moment when money matters/doesn’t matter and when we, as humans, get to play God. I always dislike these life and death decisions about animals. Through my tears, I threatened Charlie, that if he lived, I would have him declawed and make him live in the house for the rest of his life. Ha! Yeah, right!

Then I swore that after these four pets (three cats and a dog) were gone, we were done with animals! But, a friend pointed out, then I would miss all the joy of having a pet.

Charlie will come home a sore and worn out little fellow. He’ll get better, and we will continue to delight in his antics.

'Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened!

1956

2008-10-19T20:24:00.004-06:00

Me at two or three years old with Arthur (my brother) who must have been one. We are in front of the original house on the old ranch property on the Williams Fork.

The Williams Fork

2008-10-19T19:59:00.011-06:00

Once again, Terry and I took a road trip over Knez divide (where we saw a herd of about 20 elk running across the road) and up the Williams Fork River.

This is a picture of a 100 year old house about a quarter mile from the river. The view from the house was spectacular. This is in Routt County.

This is the sign at the top of a dead end road at the Sullivan Ranch, a beautiful, high mountain property that butts up against White River National Forest.

Finally, a roadside marker for two women (one white, one black) who lived in the valley many years (maybe 100) ago. As I understand, they are actually buried in this grave site overlooking the Williams Fork River.

Book quiz

2008-10-19T19:55:00.003-06:00

These are my responses to a survey a friend sent via the Internet. It was a fun and interesting project to think about, so here are my answers (and some of the questions).

1. What was the last book I bought? Hmmmm. Tough question because I run the bookstore; if I want a book, I just take it home. The last one that I bought specifically for me was “Oral History for the Local Historical Society” by Willa K. Baum.

2. A book I have read more than once: “Bridge of San Luis Rey” by Thornton Wilder, “The Snow Goose” by Paul Gallico and I re-read sections of “Old Friends From Far Away” by Natalie Goldberg. The Bible and the dictionary.

3. “Braided Lives” by Marge Piercy, and I can’t tell you why. It just affected me; maybe because when I read it, I changed from wanna-be grown-up to real grown-up.

4. How do I choose a book? By reading a review (Denver Post, Bloomsbury Review, Woman’s Day--or similar such thing) or the dust jacket or knowing the author or the genre, and once in a while, I see what sort of endorsements it has received.

5. [Fiction or non-fiction] Non-fiction, except for certain kinds of murder mysteries which I will suck up like a vacuum.

6. In a novel, writing or plot? Beautiful writing because it usually suggests an author who can craft a gripping plot.

7. Most beloved character: Pearl Buck, but she’s an author, not a character.

8. On my nightstand: “ Cold Coffee and Hot Truth”, “Home Land”, “Vagina Monologues”, “Impulse”.

9. Last book read and when: “Scat” by Carl Hiaasen—last night. Another recent book read was “Confessions of a Pagan Nun.”

10. [Have you ever given up on a book halfway through?]I have no problem leaving a book anywhere along the way. I read the beginning and end of “Bonfire of Vanities”; I read “Pigs in Heaven” from back to front, and gave up on “Ascent of Rumdoodle” because it was stupid. Sometimes, I just never go back and pick up a book that I started—it just didn’t catch my attention.

Mining Memory--Music

2008-10-15T13:13:00.000-06:00

List as many pieces of music as you can from anywhere in your life.

Elaborate on one of those pieces.

Carol’s list:

1. “The Spinning Song” which I learned to play on the piano. I memorized it. Mrs. Rodewald was my piano teacher. I quite taking lessons when she asked me/told me that I had to cut my fingernails.
2. “Good Morning Mr. Zip-Zip- Zip.” My father used to sing this to us when we were very young children.
3. “Hush Little Baby.” I sang this to my children; my mother told me, after listening to me sing it, that mother-love would get me through, suggesting that my version of the song was not that good—I think it is my complete inability to carry a tune.
4. “Gooseberry Goose is out on the loose.”
5. So many lovely hymns.
6. “Morning Has Broken” by Cat Stevens and every congregation I’ve ever heard sing it.
7. All the songs on the sound track from “The Horse Whisperer”—Robert Redford called that album the “best American music.”

Only in Craig....

2008-10-12T07:13:00.003-06:00

...do people name their sons Cannon and Magnun OR Bow and Hunter (twins).
How about Chane (pronounced Chain)?

Adam and Rebecca

2008-10-09T14:25:00.004-06:00

Adam Jacobson (26) and Rebecca Pratt (25) will marry in May 2009. Adam is the son of Carol Jacobson of Craig and Art Jacobson of Denver. He is the grandson of Loita Mauer (Hayden) and Lou Wyman (Craig). Rebecca is the daughter of Joyce Pratt and Ari Avraham of Somerset, Massachusetts. They will marry in Dartmouth, Massachusetts and make their home in Denver.

This voting thing

2008-10-09T13:00:00.006-06:00

Dear Editor,

About this time every four years, I get a bit baffled and bewildered by the onslaught of information, mis-information and biased attack ads leaking through television, radio, print media and the Internet about political candidates, amendments, initiatives, and referendums.

There is so much out there to absorb that I no longer know what to believe about presidential candidates—Obama and McCain.

I think about the questions a friend asked me: how is my life better under the last eight years of Republican rule? And what am I afraid of if Obama is elected? If McCain is elected?

I think about my life, here, in Craig in 2008, as a businesswoman, landowner, citizen.

I am opposed to the war in Iraq and the one in Afghanistan; too many young men and women are dying for . . . oil? world peace? revenge? world destruction?

The world view of the U.S. is not so good; it seems that we are seen as a bully.

U.S. currency is so devalued that we—Americans—cannot afford to travel abroad.

China, as a rapidly developing economy, is sucking up lots of the U.S. supply of
concrete and is buying U.S. firms/farms/technologies at record rates..

I pay way too much money for gas (although, until I’m paying what the world average is, I’m not sure I can complain).

I am very concerned about ice: ANWAR, the shifting north pole, the melting sea ice around Antarctica.

I, regrettably, under Republican rule, have had to learn what water-boarding is, where Guantamo is and have taken a hard look at what passes for our justice system.

So, is my life better?

No.

Not really.

Food and fuel prices are rising. The wars go on, and we are facing an historically catastrophic financial crisis.

Do I think one man (and a vp) will make a difference? Yes, but only if he surrounds himself with the best and the brightest. McCain’s choice of a running mate has me wondering if he can do that.

I don’t think Obama is a wonder-worker, but he seems reasonable and smart and even courteous. And while courteous may not be the first quality we want in a president, it seems like a good first step back toward civility.

I think I’m ready for something different.

Carol Valera Jacobson

Geocaching

2008-10-04T19:36:00.005-06:00

Under construction.

I'm still working on it.

National Public Lands Day in Moffat County

2008-09-30T07:46:00.005-06:00

Volunteers work on building an interpretive trail along the west side of Duffy Mountain on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008 as part of National Public Lands Day. National Public Lands Day is the nations’ largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve America’s public lands. Started in 1994 with 700 volunteers, over 120,000 volunteers were expected to help maintain public lands in 1,600 locations in every state in 2008. The local event was coordinated by Gina Robison at the BLM. Twenty-eight people came out on a sunny Saturday to help. Carol Valera Jacobson photo.

The following pictures are from Duffy Mountain in November 2007. One of the first road trips Terry and I took into Moffat County. It was the last day of the last regular hunting season and all the hunters were packing up and emptying out of the county.

These little fellows . . .

2008-08-29T07:08:00.006-06:00

. . . showed up in my garden in the first week of August after the first rain we've had since June 12, when it snowed. I believe they either came from the sky or from Fortification Creek which is two blocks away across two streets. I was thrilled to see them.

Methylene Blue to Microanatomy

2008-08-28T14:18:00.002-06:00

by Carol Valera Jacobson
August 2008

Methylene blue is antidote
to cyanide poisoning;
metopon was invented in 1941
derived from morphine;
a square kilometer is .3861 acres;
metropolis is a mother city;
a mew is home for hawks;
Michael is one of the four;
Micah was a prophet;
Mickey Mouse is a character;
microanatomy first appeared in 1899.

What was I doing on the day
I looked through my Webster’s
Ninth Collegiate Dictionary
on pages 748 and 749?

Faint blue spots on both pages,
egg dye drops on black and white.

So. I asked my mother

2008-08-28T14:09:00.004-06:00

by Carol Valera Jacobson 2008

So.
In a round-about way, I asked my mother if she would be my oral history partner,
and she agreed without hesitation.
I was surprised by how quickly she responded in the affirmative.

* * *
“A timeline,” I asked her, “Could you please write me a time-line of your life; say, including the years we lived in California. 1960 to 1970.”
Mom smiled her shy smile; remembering, I think, what she was doing then. She had four young children; I was 10, Arthur was 8, Thomas 6 and David was a wee four years old. I had finished 4th grade at Sunset Elementary in Craig. Mother was 31, still young and curious and leaving a conventional marriage.

She’d bought a 24-passenger school bus, had it painted a desert sand color, removed nine rows of seats, loaded everything she thought she would need in the back and threw us kids in on top, and drove to Palo Alto, California where she hoped she find relief from her fatigue. After a while, she started attending Foothills College in Los Altos Hills. We rented a house three blocks from Stanford University. For a long time, she used that big bus to go to the store, church, school. Then she parked that bus in the back of the driveway and bought a VW bus to drive us around

We attended Mayfield Elementary, then we went to elementary school on the Stanford campus. Film strips, chalk dust, noisy, happy children. I went to class with the young sons and daughters of the Stanford faculty. Bright children. I was eleven. The same age as Harriet the Spy.

* * *

“Don’t you remember,” she asked, “the marches I took you to . . . the civil right marches?”

We went to a Unitarian church in Palo Alto. We ate marzipan and raw almond/cashew butter, sunflower seeds, oatmeal and fresh figs from the trees in the back yard.

1965. I started 5th grade. My mother was going to school, living on child support and a social revolution was swirling around her, sweeping through the county, to create a more liberated society.

Hippies are defined as: a young person, especially in the 1960s, who rejected accepted social and political values and proclaimed a belief in universal peace and love. Hippies often dressed unconventionally, lived communally, and used psychedelic drugs.

* * *

When I try to remember her in those years, my impression was of a thin woman, with long black hair, hiding her teeth with her lips just a little bit when she smiled. Shy. She wore cotton: simple shifts and straight dresses without binding, tight waistbands. Practical, functional, even funky clothes when all the other mothers she’d known in Craig were wearing straight skirts with their arms bound in tight sleeves, tottering on pointy-toed shoes with too much heel.

Yampa Bench Road August 2008

2008-08-24T19:12:00.018-06:00

Saturday August 24, Terry and I drove 200 miles along the Yampa Bench Road/MCR 14 and 14N. It took about eight hours, and the scenery is breathtaking. These are photos taken along the road and in approximate order.

Farmer's Market in Craig

2008-08-15T20:16:00.005-06:00

Carly Comes to Craig

2008-08-14T19:57:00.007-06:00

My niece, Carly, came to visit for a week; her first long, solo road trip. She visited for a week and was wonderful--charming with good manners, a delight.

She's 18, just graduated from Durango High School, going to Fort Lewis College in Durango. My brother Arthur's daughter.

With a cheerful nod to my mother, here are the other photos of the beautiful Miss Carly.

Craig Air Show 2008

2008-08-03T18:38:00.004-06:00

In the ongoing celebration of Craig's 100th birthday, we had an airshow. Terry convinced me to go up, and I did. First, the instrument panel...the plane was older than me, and so was the pilot.

Then there was the view of the south part of Craig and the power plant with Trapper Mine behind it.

Then there was the landing.

Terry was considerably calmer than I was. The pilot was great. He lives in Crawford, Colorado with his wife. He has been flying over 50 years, commercially for a major airline and now, just around the country. It took him two hours to fly up from Crawford.

Great Divide, Colorado

2008-08-03T15:47:00.010-06:00

Terry and I drove through Area 3 (on the Colorado State Hunting Map) so Terry could have a feel for the terrain and animals as he begins to field more and more calls about hunting season.

I have been telling people that you have to love sagebrush to live in this country. It is everywhere and an admirable plant.

The first picture is of an elderly windmill set on a hill looking toward the Little Snake River. The Little Snake, its drainage system, and the surrounding area—low, rolling hills, distant peaks, stone bluffs and sagebrush—were part of the huge cattle industry that operated here in the late 1880s and early 1900s. Thousands of cows were herded into and out of this remote area, down the Little Snake to Brown’s Park and back up to the railroad in Wyoming in the fall.

As I look around, I am astounded that this dry country with its sparse grass could possibly support that many cows. I have to stop and remember that the grass and vegetation has changed since the herds grazed the original grasses down.

The windmill sits several miles east of Great Divide, an early homesteading community. It thrived after the Homestead Act, when many individuals and families moved West to take on the challenge of taming the west by proving up on a homestead—160 acres. Proving up meant living on the land for two years, building a house of some sort and working the land. They quickly found out 160 acres could not support them in crops or livestock; many sold out and moved to town. Others bought up to increase their holdings so they could run cows or sheep or put up hay or grain.

Great Divide is a crossroad with several empty buildings and several occupied homes and then, after a while, this windmill.

We took CR 21 along the Little Snake, a quiet, little brown river that the dog could walk across; a working river, feeding the few alfalfa fields and providing water for farms, irrigation, cows and the deer, elk, and antelope that make this such a good place to hunt.

We saw a large herd of elk sleeping and browsing along the river.