Ten Years Ago Today

The Memory of Columbine

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10 years ago today, two teenage killers walked out of their middle class, suburban homes in Littleton, Colorado and into historic infamy. Before noon, 15 people would be dead, including the killers. Metro-Denver had officially joined the leagues of " the big cities". It remains a sad commentary on post-modern America and some of its twisted, malignant pop-culture.

^Credit: Ed Andreski ~ AP^

Out of the wreckage of that tragic massacre, there have been at least two positive ongoing actions that continue to thrive and grow:

*The Never Forgotten Fund*

1) - Dave Logan, a graduate of Wheat Ridge High School, local sports talk show host and voice of the Denver Broncos, worked with KOA-AM radio and its parent company Clear Channel Communications, to create an ongoing endowment, scholarship fund in memory of the 13 victims. Donations can be made through the Denver Foundation Columbine page:

http://www.denverfoundation.org/page10004041.cfm

2) - A memorial park was planned, funded and constructed by private and corporate donations, across from Columbine High School. It continues to be a gathering place to remember the loss, and the blessings resurrected from that horrific tragedy.

Yeup, there are 13 memorial crosses.....Which, with great grief and defiance, stand strong in the face of "conventional wisdom" which states that America is not a Christian nation.

May God bless all who survived and the families of the fallen.

Low Pressure

Spring Snain Storm

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On Thursday, 16 April, 2009, a meterological phenomenon moved slowly in to the Central High Plains. by Friday, the center of the low pressure system had settled into the general area around the borders of southeast Colorado, southwest Kansas, the western tip of the Oklahoma panhandle and the northeast corner of New Mexico.

It was a low pressure system. It was disassociated with the upper level jet stream. In this case, the jet stream was way to the north of this huge system. Low pressure means counter-clockwise rotation. Because the jet stream is to the north, it does not impact the growth of the system as it moves east. This allows the rotation to pull huge amounts of moisture off of the Gulf of Mexico and drag it up across Texas and Oklahoma, and then SLAM it up against the Front Range mountains.

It wasn't all turned into snow.....Below, say, 5,800 ft, the moisture fell as snow mixed with rain......SNAIN!

The aftermath, two days later....STUNNING!

It provided an injection of much needed moisture and it was not cold enough create a hard freeze. The tender buds and young plants were not frostbit!

Tax Day T.E.A. Party Rally - Colorado

"IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

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In the post below I have shared a number of photos that I took at today's Denver T.E.A. Party Rally. I did so without comment in order for y'all to be able to click on each one and look at the full size image. I was overwhelmed, amazed and frankly, thrilled!

It was a good sized gathering, for the traditionally laid-back, somewhat apolitical populace of Denver. Estimates of 3,500 to 5,000 total people showed up for the rally/protest. The DPD officers mingled with the crowd, seemingly at ease. Only those poor blues who drew traffic duty had any real work to attend to as the crowd spilled out onto Lincoln Street crossing in front of the West facade of the capitol. The others talked and laughed as they interacted with a mass of people intent on having their voices heard.

Two things in particular still resonate within my mind, psyche and heart.

First, it was a peaceful, powerful and focused event. And this is what I saw:

- There were Vets from WWII onward, some in wheel chairs, some in full GOE leathers.

- There were crisp, Brook's Brothers suits with blue tooth ears, office managers, both male and female.

- There were small business folks, families and simple, hard working folk who are simply fed up with the bullshit, the tax and spend, and tax and spend, and tax once more and spend once more beauracracy that exists in D.C.

- There were blacks and hispanics and white folk of all ages. There were straights and gays and "Guy Fawkes" faced dancers.

- There were FAMILIES.......Allow me repeat that:

THERE WERE FAMILIES!....Families made up of fathers and mothers and children talking and interacting with veterans, gays and lesbians and...and...POLICE!!!!! fer Jeebus sake!

It was an amazing day.

The bottom line is this:

We want our country back.

We want it now.

Colorado State Capitol,15 April 2009

The Hidden Seasons

Waiting for Wonder

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On the East side of the Rocky Mountains, in the shadow of the Front Range, seasons don't always pay attention to the predicated musings of the Old Farmer's Almanac. Old curmudgeon Winter can toss in a regular limb cracking, flower killing, major snow storm in late April, early May. Some years, like this one, mid winter can bring long dry spells where shirt sleeves and bright skies prevail over parkas and sweaters and bone chilling, bitter cold. February and March were dry, record breaking dry and warm. The foothills and close in montane held crusty, elderly snow banks in the dark canyons and sheltered remnants under spruce and fir boughs.

Now, with April half over, front range sentinel peaks, from the Long's Peak massif in the north to Mt. Evans in the south are buried under heavy and brilliant white spring snows.

This is one of the hidden seasons, tentative easily overlooked and overpowered.

Yesterday, great long grey mounds of mid and upper level clouds settled in over the foothills and prairie. Quiet, palpable anticipation hung in the air. It felt dense. At one point in the early afternoon, I walked outside to check on Nate dog. A fragrance, almost forgotten, rolled in the light breeze. I smelled rain!

Heady, earthy, rich and ready to fill the skies and quench the parched earth; that's the promise. It was as though Spring had cracked open her bower chest, shaken out her long skirts into the fresh wind.

Forsythia, plum, cherry, and all manner of ground flowers will color her wardrobe in the coming weeks...If Winter doesn't throw down a wild card storm!

The Harry Potter star, Emma Watson is a sometime reminder of early Spring.

The Merriam sub-specie of Wild Turkey, they too, remind me of the hidden season of early Spring. Hunters wander the riparian habitats along freshening creeks in the lower Ponderosa parklands, or set up decoys in the cottonwood and willow grasslands beside the High Plains rivers. They Merriam is strutting and breeding in late April and early May...depending on capricious weather.

They remain hidden unless called to a decoy by stealth and guile.

It is a wonder filled time of year, this time between when Winter still plays a hard hand and Spring dances tentatively towards her own full womanhood.