• Category Archives Mountains

  • Weathering

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Winter                                                                             Settling Moon II

    Another 68 degree day. This has moved past a January thaw into a January spring time. I walked around in the back, on the completely thawed out areas and did find some green leaves, especially a thick velvety leaf. There was also bright green moss growing on the ground and a dull green lichen spreading over a rock. The ice melts and flows around the tiny rocks, flakes, large flakes of a tannish-pink rock, then seeps into the soil at least part way.

    This kind of thawing, followed by freezing, is a soil-making process. It is the slow, very slow process of eroding away Shadow Mountain. First the rock becomes soil, then rain and streams carry the soil down the mountain. Eventually, there are soft foot-hills or aged peaks like the Appalachians.

    Shadow Mountain is even more basic an environment than Anoka County in Minnesota. Northern Anoka County has a high water table that has resisted development and retained the rural, northwoods atmosphere that has made it special. Yet here on Shadow Mountain even development is not as much of an active force as snow and rain, cold and heat. To transform northern Anoka County all that would be required would be an increased drainage of wetlands. Unlikely to happen now, yes, due to stringent requirements on the conservation of wetlands, but possible. Here it would require explosives, massive earth and rock moving equipment and years of time. Even then there would still be the bulk of Shadow Mountain left. It’s just not economically viable, thank god.


    Colorado Mountains The West

  • Ordinary Things

    Posted on by Charles 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 Mountains The West Weather +Climate

  • Early On

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Winter                                                                                    Settling Moon

    A few photographs

    IMAG0897 IMAG0906 IMAG0923_BURST002 1419364036295 1419364035669 1419364037138 1419364036149

     

    9358 Black Mountain Drive

    Both shots from the small porch off my loft show Black Mountain in the background

    I included the disabled parking sign to prove that even the disabled are more fit in Colorado.

    Jon and Ruth (with yellow avalanche shovel) came over to push snow the night before the van arrived.

    The dogs were still wary when I took these shots: Gertie, Rigel, Kepler, Vega. Well, maybe not Vega.


    Colorado Dogs Family Mountains Our Land and Home

  • Goin’ Down the Mountain

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Winter                                                                         Settling Moon

    As we pulled out of our still early morning driveway, Black Mountain had already picked up the rising sun. Its trees, rocks and snow were lit with the onrushing day. We were off to Evergreen, back to the Wildflower Cafe whose cozy warmth and interesting menu charmed us a week ago.

    We wound down Black Mountain Drive, through the Arapaho National Forest, past the trail-head for Upper Maxwell Falls and a trail head for Cub Creek. About two miles from home Black Mountain Drive changes names, becoming Brook Forest Drive. In the mountains after that change in name the homes become much more numerous and their asking prices much higher.

    The road into Evergreen, like Black Mountain Drive/Brook Forest Drive, has rocky outcroppings that lean forward almost to the asphalt, pines growing out of narrow crevices and a small brook that shows up just before the beginning of the commercial district.

    This is our regular business meeting day where we discuss finances, schedule, feelings. Right now we’re in another liminal space, not unlike the original move time. This one is between purchasing Black Mountain Drive and selling 153rd Ave in Andover. It comes with its own struggles, financial and emotional, as we pay two mortgages, two sets of utility bills and the various costs associated with moving in and with preparing a house for sale. The business meetings allow us to have conversations about all this before any one issue becomes a big deal. Very valuable.

     


    Colorado Mountains

  • The Haloed Moon

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Winter                                                       Settling Moon

    Out for the paper this morning at six. The full settling moon hung low in the western sky, framed between a couple of lodgepole pines, a corona around it, bluish gray fading to white gold. Above it and a bit to the left, a bright Jupiter stood, a jewel somehow shaken loose from the moon’s morning crown.

    The immersion in settling has begun to diminish enough for us to begin noticing, really seeing, our surroundings. The haloed moon, for example, standing over the dark bulk of Black Mountain.

    This also means my thoughts can begin to turn to Latin, which I miss. To writing, which, apart from this blog, I miss. Novel ideas keep pushing their way forward and I push them back down. Not ready. Well, I’m getting ready. And then there are those Edx and Coursera MOOCs. Ready for another one, soon. Exercise, too. Have to turn the treadmill, mount the TV, connect it.

    There are yet more boxes, but they now fall into two main categories: our private spaces and the garage. We will, for the most part, put together our own spaces and the garage won’t take too long once we focus on it. That doesn’t mean we have all of our clothes, kitchen things, furniture, art (another, and last, matter altogether) where we want them, but they are all, with the exception of the art, out of their boxes.

     

     


    Colorado Mountains

  • Closest Restaurant

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Winter                                                      Settling Moon

    Kate and I ate an early dinner at Brooks Forest Inn in their pub where the Broncos were on TV and several jerseys were worn: the gray haired bartender with a large blue comb in her hair, the owner, an ex-rodeo star, and a blonde on the arm of a man with a stetson and a black western shirt.

    I mentioned this place a few weeks back, founded by Swiss immigrants who found the place like home. It’s been in continuous operation since 1907.

    The road there, Black Mountain Drive (our road), becomes Brook Forest Road, but it’s always Colorado 78. A narrow two-lane it winds through the Arapaho National Forest. Its curves, especially going down, are dangerous and force a reasonable rate of speed.

    I have a feeling the Brooks Forest Inn will become a regular place for us, a place where we will get to know folks and get to be known.


    Colorado Mountains

  • A Blast of White Smoke

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Winter                                                           Settling Moon

    Bacon and cheese omelette this morning. Eating out has begun to diminish in its attraction, but we still need to unbox most of the kitchen things. Why? Because Kate’s putting together Swedish shelving. It will hold the pots and pans and bulky cooking accessories.

    We walked the aisles of a darkened (really, not yet shopping day lit) Safeway, an iconic Western grocery store chain after our business meeting ate Aspen Perks. This one seemed even nicer than the King Sooper, more like a Lunds or a Byerlys. You can work out the demographics of Conifer from this information.

    On a recent day I propped my head on a window ledge and looked out the window at lodgepole pine. Their branches droop toward the ground and I wondered why. After the recent snowfall, I learned the answer, at least part of it. These branches bend, but do not break. As the snow grows heavy on their needles, a certain load threshold is reached and puff, a blast of white smoke. Many more revelations to come.

    I learned a long time ago that a revelation of your own, even if well known to others, is worth a lot.

     


    Colorado Mountains Weather +Climate

  • Stars and Galaxies

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Winter                                                       Settling Moon

    Jon came out and assembled our new snow blower. It’s a yellow cub cadet with power steering (no kidding), a big light and a joystick controller for the blower. We’re ready now.

    We’ve already unloaded many boxes, with many, many more to go. Kate’s focusing on the kitchen and I’m helping her move boxes and arrange them for ease of work. The loft space over the garage has received some early attention since it has the computer with all my passwords. I will post pictures when we get a bit further along.

    The dogs have claimed our back yard, running and sniffing, testing the boundaries. No attempts to escape as yet. This is a five foot fence and will provide a challenge even to Gertie. A challenge, unfortunately, that she’s probably able to surmount. But not yet.

    Last night driving back from Evergreen, headed toward Conifer, Orion stood, tilted to his side, just above the mountains. The sky itself was black, pricked with stars and galaxies. Yesterday, too, a family of mule deer buck, doe, and two fawns crossed Shadow Mountain Drive ahead of us.

     


    Colorado Dogs Mountains

  • Home

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Winter                                                   New (Settling) Moon

    The cargo van has been unloaded and returned, a day early, to the Denver airport. A bit of confusion there, as there was when we picked it up. Cargo vans do not normally leave the local Enterprise fleet. This one did. They knew it, too. $300 fee to cover re-registration and licensing, plus a taste for corporate.

    Kate and I had supper at Tres Los Garcias in Aspen Park. Aspen Park is the largest of three retail centers along 285 located in Conifer. As you might expect in a state with a longstanding Latino community, the food is pretty good.

    As we drove up Shadow Mountain Drive tonight, there was snow coming down. I hope it’s a small snow since the van comes tomorrow. After that, let it snow!

    Still a measure of unreality here, the I feel like I’m on vacation feeling. Though not in the house. The dogs have all found spots on the living room’s radiantly heated tile. They’re going to have the run of this level, the one with the kitchen and Kate’s sewing room. (at until they prove our trust is not warranted.) We’ve found our own spot. Home.


    Colorado Mountains The Move

  • A Little Hard to Grasp

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Samain                                                        Moving Moon

    Jon came and cleared out a path for the movers. Ruth worked at it, too, with a plastic avalanche shovel. Even Jon, living in Denver, got winded shoveling snow up here, another 3,600 feet higher. Throughout this whole process, people have been kind and sweet. Tom’s driving. Jon’s shoveling. The docents partying. Even Eric, the kennel master at Armstrong Kennels told us we were good dog people and he was sorry to see us go. That’s real praise.

    The only move part left of the move is the van coming on Monday. After that we’ll be settling. Oh, there are plenty of sequelae like selling that other house we own, paying the movers, doing some reconfiguring in the kitchen, getting acclimatized, but the move itself will be over on Monday once our stuff returns to us. That’s a big deal in my mind and I will retire the Move category from the posts.

    The enormity of this change is still a little hard to grasp. We’re no longer Minnesotans, but Coloradans. We’re no longer flatlanders but mountain dwellers. We’re no longer Midwesterners. Now we are of the West, that arid, open, empty space. These changes will change us and I look forward to that. The possibility of becoming new in the West has long been part of the American psyche, now I’ll test it for myself.


    Colorado Mountains The Move The West