Category Archives: Minnesota

Colorado, Great Work, Minnesota, Myth and Story, Writing

Superior Wolf

Leave a comment

Imbolc                                                    Settling Moon II

Began filing today. Deciding how to organize files to support what comes next. And what does come next? Damned if I know. I’ll pass the post for the 68th time tomorrow and what is past is gone, all 67 years. That means tomorrow I start fresh. No entanglements, no regrets. Another day, the start of another year’s trip on spaceship earth.

While taking files out of the boxes used to transport them, mostly plastic rectangles with supports for hanging files, a sudden thought about a next project did come to me.

The file on the wolf hearings at the Minnesota State Legislature a few years back when de-listing the wolf (from the endangered species list) and the file on wolves as part of Minnesota’s eco-system were among the first ones I retrieved and placed in the horizontal file cabinet. They were fat with government documents, maps and material from a wolf course I took even further back at the Wolf Center in Ely. (where friend Mark Odegard’s exhibit still greets visitors)

These files, along with several books on wolves and Minnesota’s Northwoods, supported a project I’ve had in mind for a long time: Superior Wolf. Several chapters have been written, many rejected. But for some reason I could never find the right line to continue.

Superior Wolf. That’s one I really want to finish. Or, better, one I want to discover how to write. It occurred to me that the distance between those files, those early chapters and now the literal distance between me and the Minnesota Northwoods might help.

I’d like to get a novel going again and the Latin. I’m close on both counts, I think.

Once I get that filing done.

Colorado, Faith and Spirituality, Great Work, Minnesota, Mountains, Sport, The West, Third Phase, US History

Who?

Leave a comment

Imbolc                                                                      Settling Moon II

As the dominant ethos of Minnesota lies in its wild lands to the north, the Boundary Waters Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park emblematic of it, so the dominant ethos of Colorado lies in its wrinkled skin, mountains thrusting up from north to south and from the Front Range to the west. Where Minnesota’s map is essentially flat, marked with depressions filled with either water or wetlands or peat bogs, Colorado’s map is tortured, angular chunks of rock shoved up this way and that, lonely roads tailing off into gulches and canyons and valleys.

These two states share a common theme, wild nature at their core. You may live in these states and never trek in the mountains or visit the lake country; it is possible, but if that is you, then you shun the basic wealth of the land which you call home. In these two states, as in several other western states like Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon the political borders that mark them out matter much less than the physical features that define them.

In these places the heart can listen to the world as it once was and could be again. This is a priceless and necessary gift. It may be found in its purest form in the areas designated as wilderness, but these lands participate in wild nature in their totality. Those of us lucky enough to live within them have a privilege known only by occasional journeys to city dwellers. With that privilege comes, as with all privilege, responsibility.

These places which speak so eloquently, so forcefully when seen are silent out of view. On the streets of Manhattan, inside the beltway of Washington, in the glitter of Las Vegas and the sprawl of Los Angeles these places shimmer only in photographs, movie and television representation, books and their power is not in them.

Who will speak for the mountains? Who will speak for the North Woods and its waters? Who will speak for the trees?

Colorado, Great Work, Jefferson County, Minnesota

The Acid Test

1 Comment

Imbolc                                                                                       Settling Moon II

The full settling moon has been beautiful these last couple of nights. We’re also in our shorts and t-shirts with non-alcoholic umbrella drinks. 66 degrees an hour ago, trending a bit down right now. Weird.

 

Boiler inspection yesterday. Not such great news, apparently. Low ph in the boiler water. Acidic water no good for its copper pipes and internal workings. Not clear how it got there, so I’m having the water tested for a corrosive ph. Should I have discovered this before? Maybe. But I didn’t. Caveat emptor.

GeoWater services will send a tech out to do a site visit and investigate the quality of our water. Could have been done before hand, but wasn’t. Sigh. You just can’t think of everything.

I focused on water availability in this arid region. Did the well have supply? Yes. Did the production of the well, measured by flow rate, meet the needs of the typical home? Yes. Is the water acidic? Didn’t occur to me.

The joys of home ownership. They never end, except after a sale. We’re ready right now to pass those joys over to some nice couple in Minnesota. Step up and lay your money on the table.

 

Colorado, Holidays, Minnesota

A Few Things.

Leave a comment

Winter                                                                        Settling Moon II

Again, snow. Then, warm. John Dowling, an insurance consultant, told us that Coloradans rarely see snow on snow on the roads. That explained much of the daft driving we encountered in the weeks just after we got here. Looked like normal Minnesota conditions to us.

We’ve got an event planned for Valentine’s Day. Appetizers and wine, family and neighbors, folks who helped us get here. Including, of all people, our mortgage consultant. She was terrific. That doesn’t mean everything’s where we want it, but it does mean that we’re feeling at home here on Shadow Mountain.

The cardboard goes away on Wednesday and some boxes get moved up and down. A plumber comes on Thursday to inspect our boiler and gas heaters. We’ve located a primary care doc and have appointments for later in the month.07 10 10_aha

Two showings of the Andover property so far and a realtor’s coffee tomorrow. That property is the last piece of the moving to Colorado puzzle. May it sell soon.

This is a current resident of the woods in Andover. We’ve left Minnesota but she hasn’t.

Colorado, Minnesota, Mountains, The West, Weather +Climate

Ordinary Things

Leave a comment

Winter                                                                            Settling II Moon

Exactly a month has passed since we got here. A lot of ordinary things have happened: boxes opened, license plates changed and driver’s licenses as well, found a vet, a place to do our business meetings, grocery store and pharmacies, furniture assembled. That sort of thing.

Each one of these and others like them have begun to layer over our Minnesota identities, helped us reorient to Colorado, to the mountains, to our new home. Like those Russian nesting dolls, we will not so much replace the Minnesota identity as overlay it with a new one, pushing the Indiana and Iowa, Wisconsin and Texas identities further down in our psyches. In that sense we are hyphenated so I am an Okie-Hoosier-Badger-Gopher-Coloradan while Kate is a Gopher-Iowa-Texas-Gopher-Coloradan.

Taking Gabe to the National Western Stock Show yesterday (Ruth got sick.) was a not so ordinary part of this process. Though I’ve taken the grandkids to the Stock Show for several years this was the first time I went as a Coloradan and Westerner. When the Westernaires, a precision and trick riding group from Jefferson County, rode out during the rodeo, we cheered. These were the home county kids.

The gestalt of being at the Stock Show was different, too. Before I would look at the rhinestone jeans, the oversized belt buckles, Stetson hats and cowboy boots as evidence of a different tribe, one that lived far from my Scandinavian minimalist home in Minnesota. Now I have to take them as my neighbors, my fellow Coloradans. That means I have to place myself among them, rather than apart from them. The difference may seem subtle, but in sizing up this new, outer layer of the nesting doll that I am, it makes a big difference.

Another gestalt that has a lot psychic friction is geological. Mountains not lakes, pines not deciduous, arid not wet, high not flat, thin dry air not moist heavy air. These are not subtle dialectics that gradually make themselves felt, but insistent, body changing realities that affect daily life. All this frisson enlivens me, makes me wake up to my world. It makes the change worthwhile.

Colorado, Minnesota, Weather +Climate

Cold

Leave a comment

Winter                                                          Settling Moon

Got my whole Minnesota persona on this afternoon. Mad bomber hat, Sorels, an extra layer under my Cowboy Cut Wranglers. Wheeled that bright yellow Cub Cadet two-stage snow blower out of the garage and got rid of last night’s snow. -14 windchill.

We had a washer/dryer to be delivered today. They canceled because of the weather. The cold weather.

Snow, lots of snow, is familiar here. Cold, really cold, and snow that remains is not.

Tomorrow Colorado driver’s license, car registration and picking up our Blizzaks at TireRack.com’s regional warehouse.

Then, a new year’s celebration in a new house, a new state. 2015, the first Colorado year.

Colorado, Memories, Minnesota

Sign Posts of Living in a New Place

Leave a comment

Winter                                                                        Settling Moon

A few sign posts of living in a new place.

Wearing: cowboy cut wranglers. Only thing the Big R store had in my size. They’re generous in the leg and around the cuff, better to fit over cowboy boots. I’m wearing them now and I recognize the slightly puffed out legs, the break of the cuff on the shoe. Looks cowboy.

Language: Both Mike (Fence Guy) and Eric (electrician) referred casually to back East. This was different in subtle ways from other times I have heard it. First, they included me. There was Mike, Eric and me, here in Colorado and all that rest was back East. Second, they meant everything east of Colorado including the plains states and what I know as the Midwest. Third, I think they also meant treed, watered, agricultural. We’re here now, out West and we came here from back East.

Terrain: Right at our house, which is on a level area several hundred feet in width and depth, maybe a couple of thousand, you couldn’t really tell visually that we are on a mountain. Right now, of course, shortness of breath though less than a week ago, is a signal. That will recede. Up here in the loft I can see Black Mountain and gain sense of our location. What will really tells we’re living in the mountains is that once we leave the Denver metro we start climbing. The climbing continues into the retail center at Aspen

Park and then, beyond that we climb again going up Shadow Mountain Drive. In reverse, when we go out, we go down, down into Aspen Park or Evergreen, down into Denver. These are not the flat lands on which I grew up, gridded in square miles, a neat definition of a section of land. Here mother earth has folded herself, upthrust young rock and made mountains.

Media: In the Brooks Forest Inn pub where Kate and I ate on Sunday, it was the Broncos on TV and Bronco jerseys that dotted the tables and bar. The excitement and eagerness was for a different regional champion than the Vikings.

Body: This process of acclimatization constantly reminds both Kate and me that this place is different. We can’t feel our lightness, but we are just a touch lighter up here. We notice most the difference in available oxygen, that most necessary of elements. Air hunger, which I experienced a couple of nights, is a fear primal and terrible. The body wants to flee, get safe, back when it can breathe. If it can’t flee, then, it can and will adapt. That’s happening now.

Colorado, Friends, Minnesota, The Move

Restless

Leave a comment

Samain                                                                  Closing Moon

A rambling, aimless energy. A similar feeling to the one just before a major holiday, when preparations are mostly finished, but the time is not yet. Wandering, a bit difficult to focus, not sure what’s important, since most of the important things have either been done or cannot be done yet. We have a mortgage, a new home, a fence contractor at work, a moving company scheduled, workers ready to renew our old home after we vacate it. Yes, there are a few things left for us to pack, but they’ll be finished soon. But we don’t leave until mid-December. An odd place.

This is no longer the neither here nor there feeling, nor the liminal space of living in the move. This is a before the move feeling. We’ve pushed Sisyphus-like this boulder up, up, up the hill and now it’s about to take all that momentum and careen down the other side. But. Not. Quite. Yet.

Off to play sheepshead tonight, perhaps my last time unless I teach the game to Jon, Jen, Kate and Barb. A good distraction. And another farewell.

Just went online, put in Colorado sheepshead and found, to my surprise, a meetup with 10 members, formed Oct. 25, 2014 for players of sheepshead. I joined. Who knows? Might be fun.

Forgot to mention that I also got an invitation to be introduced to the Conifer Rotary. I’ll probably pass on that. Sierra Club or the local Democratic party are more likely affiliations for me.

 

Aging, Memories, Minnesota, Third Phase

Not Expected

Leave a comment

Samain                                                                  Closing Moon

10″ for sure. Maybe 12-14. A lot for a first snow. Ushering in a week of cold weather. Minnesota. Ah.

Yesterday when I visited the eye doc a couple a bit older than myself came in. They both had on black sports jackets, the same, with MSRA on the front. I didn’t think much about it until they went to the receptionist to check in and I saw MSRA on the back with the acronym spelled out: Minnesota Street Rod Association. Not what I expected.

Which brings up a regular occurrence. Trying to imagine what an older person was like during the 60’s. I know from looking at myself in the mirror that you can’t tell from a persons post medicare card appearance where they  stood in those days. Even the gray pony-tail crowd is as likely to be composed of veterans as ex-hippies and draft protesters.

Not many of us wear our enthusiasms so clearly as the hot-rodders gathered with me for our glaucoma check.

 

Colorado, Memories, Minnesota, Mountains, The Move

Leaving the Leaves

Leave a comment

Samain                                                                             Closing Moon

Outside today, mulching with fallen leaves the beds on which I spread the broadcast yesterday. As I dispersed the leaves, enjoying their rich smell reminiscent of hay lofts and the old days of burning the leaves by the curb, it came to me that Colorado, especially at 8,800 feet has mostly conifers. No leaves. There are aspen, but they are the more scarce tree, the only deciduous one that I know in the front range at that altitude. Leaving behind working with fallen leaves in the autumn. Another mark of the move.

Both Kate and I remarked that though this place has been good to us and for us, it’s time to let someone with fresh vigor take it over. On Black Mountain Drive we’ll have two, maybe three raised beds, no yard, no perennial flower beds. I will have to blow snow again, but I’m ready for that. The amount of outdoor maintenance will be significantly less. There will be some added interior work since at least until we sell this house (Andover) we’ll be doing our own weekly housecleaning, but that’s well within our capabilities.

It’s true there will again be a fence and inside the fence dogs. That means inevitable fence work. We’re going to try a combination of 2×4’s nailed between posts at the bottom of the no-climb wire fence and invisible fence run at its middle. The fence itself will be five feet high. This might work. I’m cautious because I’ve experienced a jail break from every combination I’ve used. The prisoners have all day everyday to figure a way out.

It looks like we’re going to get our first major snow event here well before Conifer, which is unusual. Every one I talked to out there shook their head wondering where the snow was. I’m sure it will come. Probably around December 18th.