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Mesa County Fair week
This is one busy week at our house, and all across Mesa County it’s the same wherever there are 4-H or FFA kids.
It’s the Big Show for kids who have spent the last year raising animals or making things like this:
That’s my son, Chance. A veteran birdhouse-builder, thanks to the mentorship of his grandpa, he decided to go in a different direction for this project with a funky, crooked-house plan. He had his judge interview yesterday and felt really good about it.
That’s the thing about 4-H projects: Not only do members have to plan, document and complete a project, they also develop their public speaking skills. My kids will be at the fair every day this week for various projects. I’ll be out there as much as I can, too.
There was a great fair schedule of events in the paper Sunday. You also can see the schedule online. Entertainment reporter Samantha Stiles gives the full rundown on how many farm critters there are, where to get tickets and even how to save $1 on admission.
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Check out The Daily Sentinel at Newseum.org
A newspaper’s front page is its first impression, its calling card. Page One is a one-stop-shopping roundup of the most compelling, important, intriguing and engaging news of the day.
All the myriad details of story choice, photo selection, story placement, design, headlines and graphics are constantly produced, shaped and debated throughout the news cycle.
The front page is the last thing we finalize every night and the first thing you see in the newspaper every morning.
Now, more people are looking at our front pages than ever before.
Front pages of The Daily Sentinel available at Newseum.org. The site features daily front pages from 665 newspapers in 59 countries.
(To find the Sentinel, select “Sort Papers by Region, then choose “USA,” then “State Name” and the letter “C.”)
Another nice feature of this roundup of news from around the world is the daily analysis by Kate Kennedy, who looks for trends and features a handful of front pages every day.
Select “View Archived Pages” and you’ll see front pages featuring major news events, such as the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, even the Red Sox winning the World Series.
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100 years of G-Men and Journalists
Things I was doing while not posting to this blog the last few weeks:
Taking a family road-trip vacation to the West Coast, which turned out to be a great time despite the fact that we had to rent a car at the last minute because the minor repairs to my car turned into a major overhaul. Once on the road we did three theme parks in four days, drove 1,900 miles and still liked each other when all was said and done.
Touring the Newseum in Washington, D.C., where I spent most of my time in this display:
Artifacts on display included the Unabomber’s cabin (the real thing), J. Edgar Hoover’s desk and the electric chair used to put to death the Lindbergh baby kidnapper. Don’t take my word for it, though.
Tour the online exhibit yourself.
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John Hendricks opens new Gateway Canyons features
The newest developments at Gateway Canyons were ceremoniously unveiled at a ribbon-cutting Monday evening.
The Kiva Lodge has 38 rooms, a workout room and a pool to go with the built-in killer views.
The Summit School Ranch Equestrian Center will host classes, events and trail rides for wannabe cowboys. Real cowboys provided some ambiance during the event.
Maureen Hendricks, wife of John Hendricks, Discovery Channel Founder and developer of the ambitious destination resort, cut the ribbon in front of some 70 people.
Special guests included representatives of state tourism efforts: Don Elliman, director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, and Kim McNulty, Director of Colorado Tourism Office.
After the ceremony, Hendricks said he was pleased to see statewide support of his efforts, particularly from the governor’s office.
Expect Gateway Canyons to target European travelers. With the exchange rate, U.S. trips are a bargain. And when European vacationers come to the West, they want to see The West.
*John Hendricks speaks at the ribbon-cutting in front of Kiva Lodge. Cowboys and cowgirls were there representing the opening of the equestrian school.
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Think globally, trade locally
My grandmother didn’t use the words “shopping” or “buying,” she would call it “trading.”
For instance, she would not say she “shopped” at City Market, she would say she “traded” with City Market. I always loved the reciprocity that term implied: You give something, you get something.
It’s more than money changing hands: It’s a relationship.
I was thinking about that Saturday, when a bike ride to Palisade for breakfast with a friend at the Palisade Cafe (excellent date-and-almond granola by Mary Lincoln), turned into a more extended “trading” session.
The Blue Pig Gallery on Main Street provided a clever bike rack that looks like a giant potato masher. After using their utilitarian sculpture, the least I could do was walk in.
That led to my purchase of an assemblage by artist John R. Anglim. I like all things printing press-related and was drawn to one piece that featured old printing blocks.
I also got some information for children’s summer art classes and signed up to get notices of adult classes next winter when I might be able to squeeze one more hobby into my life. The woman who helped me was an artist herself and told me about plans the gallery had for additional classes, and the challenges of getting patrons to drive to Palisade. (It’s only 15 to 20 minutes, really.)
From there I pedaled over to Rapid Creek Cycles & Sports. I’m getting a lot of daytime use out of my old beach cruiser, but I want the option of riding at night. Sticking close to friends with head lamps doesn’t seem like a good long-term solution.
The owners ordered a head and tail lamp with a generator that runs off the rotation of the tire. I like simple, self-contained systems. Plus I hate buying batteries, so that was a good solution for me. We also talked about the proliferation of bike-riding in the community, so I also got some good coverage ideas.
I was in Palisade that day, but I “trade” in Grand Junction frequently, and I’ll be “trading” for lunch in Fruita later this week. I frequent the businesses that I want to thrive. That’s the power we all have as consumers.
Loyalty, relationships and accountability are all part of the exchange when you think about “trading,” vs. “buying.”
Grandma was right. She traded in wisdom.
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We need roller derby in Grand Junction
After a week of slugging it out in the news business, I’d sure like to be doing this to relieve a little stress:
If you don’t think that looks fun, I probably don’t want to know you. Ever since I saw 1972’s “The Kansas City Bomber,” I wanted to be a roller derby girl. Much to my disappointment, I found out later it wasn’t a school sport. And I’ve never lived where there was a league.
Maybe, just maybe, I might yet get my chance. Samantha Stiles writes Sunday about a Montrose exhibition game between two teams in the Slaughterhouse Derby Girls league out of Greeley.
There are roller derby leagues in Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Monument and Pueblo.
Grand Junction, this is our time.
“RollaRella,” (you even get to make up a cool player name) who started the Slaughterhouse league, said anyone interested in starting a Western Slope league can email her at rollarella@slaughterhousederbygirls.com.
Someone out there must have the organizational fortitude to get this going. Then call me. I’ll try to have a cool name figured out by then.
*Photo of Helena Kallianiotes and Raquel Welch from “The Kansas City Bomber,” a 1972 MGM film.
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On Wally Windscheffel’s big discoveries of tiny fossils
From a friend and colleague of Wally Windscheffel, for whom the Fruitafossor windscheffeli was named:
Ms. Davis… just for the record, here is a picture of the fossil Wally was working on in the ‘big hat’ photo you posted in your blog.
He was gluing a block of matrix with Duco cement so it could be removed from the quarry without breaking the small lower jaw of a mammal which he had uncovered earlier in the day. …
Once in the lab, Wally would use his tiny tools to lift, chip and scrape the remaining matrix material from the jaw. This specimen was unusually well exposed right from the quarry. This is a lower jaw, incisors on the left. You can see how the fracturing bentonite was threatening to destroy this fossil and any other bones still hidden in the matrix.
Chuck Safris Des Moines
Ancient Aardvarks
Popeye arms and aardvark bite, Of ancient lineage long deceased, he Lived beneath the lizards’ might, This late Jurassic tiny beastie;
Simple tubular teeth can munch The termites destined for his belly; Scratching fore claws find his lunch: It’s Fruitafossor windscheffeli!
— Virgil Keys, science blogger
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Bird, bee & beetle podcasts during National Pollinator Week
Any buzz I gave a Bacchic bumblebee on this blog Friday is nothing compared to the podcasting swarm during this, National Pollinator Week, a fact brought to my attention by a press release:
The Buzz on Pollinators: Podcasts Hover Around National Pollinator Week
National Pollinator Week is your chance to listen to a series of podcasts and learn more about the essential birds, bees, bats, and even beetles that pollinate your food and flowering plants, and make our wild areas beautiful and healthy.
From native bees in urban areas to climate change and pollinators, endangered pollinators and plants, and how to make your landscape more pollinator-friendly, these podcasts will give you the inside buzz on North America’s pollinators.
The podcasts were produced for National Pollinator Week by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) and its federal partners in the Department of the Interior - Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. They will start running on Monday at www.pollinator.org:
Monday, June 23. The Pollinator Partnership: Bringing Together Pollinators and People. Discusses an overview of pollinator issues, The Pollinator Partnership and Pollinator Week events, gardening guides for pollinators, educational curriculum and free posters and pollinator wheels.
Tuesday, June 24. Endangered Pollinators, Endangered Plants. Discusses imperiled butterflies and plants as well as some of the challenges facing their recovery.
Wednesday, June 25. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Altitudes: Pollinators, Phenology, and Climate Change. Discusses how climate change may be affecting pollinators and their phenology - the timing of their life-cycle events. ยท Thursday, June 26. Busy Bees in the Beltway: Native Bees and Cities. Focuses on specific studies of native bees in Capital-area national parks and reveals how natural areas in even urban environments contribute to the conservation of native bees.
Friday, June 27. Managing Mini-Fauna: Pollinators on Public Lands. Discusses steps land managers can take to start managing for pollinators.
Also, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will have additional pollinator podcasts available at http://www.fws.gov/pollinators.
Why the emphasis on pollinators? The National Academy of Sciences has reported that not only is there direct evidence for decline of some pollinator species in North America, but also very little is known about the status and health of most of the world’s native pollinators, whether they be beetles or bats, bees or birds, or flies and wasps. Additionally, the recent occurrence of Colony Collapse Disorder has negatively affected managed honey bees, alarming and puzzling the agricultural community and researchers.
As discreet as most pollinators are, their well-being is and always has been necessary to people all across this planet. They are critical to the life cycle of seed-bearing plants. Without them, the ability of agricultural crops and wild plants to produce food products and seeds is jeopardized. Over 75 percent of flowering plants rely on pollinators, and they are responsible for an estimated $15 billion in services to agriculture.
While the importance of a healthy pollinator population to agriculture is clear, pollinators are just as important to sustaining functioning ecosystems and the food supply for wildlife.
DOI has a special obligation to understand and improve the condition of native pollinators on Federal lands. It manages about 500 million acres - or one-fifth of the surface land of the United States, which offers tremendous opportunities for the conservation of pollinators in North America.
Department of the Interior bureaus are working to meet this obligation. The Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Geological Survey are active partners with NAPPC. Three of these DOI bureaus manage millions of acres of federal lands, while the other, USGS, has the scientific expertise to help address pressing scientific questions.
NAPPC, which is managed by the Pollinator Partnership, includes more than 120 partners throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada, such as government agencies, scientists, academics, farmers, ranchers, and others. Their goal is to build strong public and private partnerships to protect pollinators based on best practices and sound science. To learn more about the Pollinator Partnership and to listen to the podcasts, please visit www.pollinator.org.
*Photo of hummingbird moth by Christopher Tomlinson of The Daily Sentinel
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Sustainable homes and gardens
I put my gardening energies into growing things I can eat. Tomatoes I’ll weed tenderly. Corn I’ll fertilize loyally.
Flowers are pretty much on their own. I’m the litmus test for floral fortitude.
I can attest that iris, mums, lilacs, honeysuckle, trumpet vines and hollyhocks can survive with little to no involvement on my part.
So, nearly accidentally, I grow a few flowers to feed grasshoppers and intoxicate Bacchic bumblebees.
Regardless of my narrow botanical parameters, I love to read about all kinds of gardening. Dennis Hill is a Saturday Home & Garden favorite. He’s helpful, knowledgeable and no-nonsense. Reading Homegrown is like having a master gardener living next door as resource.
With our expanded Home & Garden coverage (tripled) we’ve made room for more local voices in the Sentinel. I’m a big fan of SustainAbility by Adele Israel.
Every Saturday, Adele writes about easy, practical steps all of us can take toward sustainability. She’s written about reducing plastic use (quick and easy: stop using bottled water and plastic bags), where to find a Community Supported Agriculture in our area, and Freecycling resources.
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Windscheffel’s shadow
Wally Windscheffel was a big man who led a big life.
Although he’d been ill for some time, those of us in the newsroom who knew him had a tough time believing last week that we wouldn’t see him this summer digging through the bentonite, volunteering Wednesdays at Dinosaur Journey, or offering a Midwestern-friendly greeting while passing on the street.
Wally Windscheffel died a week ago. He had a lot of friends. I was only an acquaintance who always was happy to cross paths with Wally, who after retiring from the U.S. Navy became writer, paleontologist and volunteer-extraordinaire for the Museum of Western Colorado.
Gary Harmon wrote about Wally’s passing, but really Wally’s life. During the course of the writing, Gary asked me if we had room in the paper for him to write a little longer.
Wally may have squeezed his 6-foot-6-inch frame into submarines, but we weren’t going to squeeze the story of his life into a 6-inch news hole.
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Takin’ it to the streets
As I drove in to work today, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s public comment hearing was on my mind.
During my 20-minute commute, I counted nine trucks directly involved in the energy industry.
(That’s the best I could do. Driving and taking photos is a lot harder than driving and talking on a cellphone. I do not recommend it.)
I made a loop around Two Rivers Convention Center to get a sense of how many people were there. Reporters Gary Harmon and Mike Saccone reported early this morning that the place was packed, inside and out. Trust me, that was no exaggeration.
Public comment, 3 minutes at a time, will be welcome all day. We’ll be there all day, too. Check GJSentinel.com for updates.
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Why not in February?
Normally I’d consider it a waste to spend two precious June evening hours watching television, but I couldn’t resist Discovery’s “When We Left Earth” on Sunday.
(I noticed this morning that junction daily blog was equally reeled-in.)
You can’t watch the engrossing NASA footage — from early astronauts surfing together to the earthly view out the capsule window — without feeling, anew, a sense of amazement at the audacity of the space program.
In our race to space with the Soviets, we in essence put a man in a glorified tin can in the cone of a military missile and shot him into the sky. That blind ambition and defiant optimism galvanized the country.
The closest I’ve ever gotten to space is some technical writing I did as a student for a NASA-sponsored rocket program. I’ll just have to tune in for my space fix.
The six-hour series continues the next two Sundays, 7 to 9 p.m.
*Photo courtesy of the Discovery Channel.
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Rained out
What can you do when you can’t paint the shop on a rainy day like today?
Take the kids to see a matinee.
If you believe the critics, “Speed Racer” is “a travesty,” with race sequences “as maddening as choreography with little consideration of dancers’ feet and bodies.”
Fans, however, said the celluloid remake of the popular cartoon “is a fantastic kid’s film,” with “great action, cutting-edge special effects.”
Get movie show times, critic and real people reviews here, along with new DVD releases, movie extras and upcoming releases.
What did you think of “Speed Racer”? Add your review.
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Free fishing this weekend
Outdoors writer Dave Buchanan wrote today about this being National Fishing and Boating Week.
As part of that celebration, Colorado is offering free fishing — no license required — Saturday and Sunday.
If you’re headed west, Utah has free fishing Saturday.
Even though you don’t need a license, other rules apply, such as having a State Habitat Stamp if you’re visiting a state wildlife area.
For all you need to know about fishing this weekend or any other, check out the Outdoor & Recreation page at GJSentinel.com for river flows, an interactive poll of your favorite fishing flies, and quick links to BLM, Division of Wildlife, Grand Valley Anglers and more.
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‘This brave heroine chose to fight back’
These were the tough-girl role models for lots of little girls not very long ago:
Now girls have a new hero to look up to: the 9-year-old girl who fought her 240-pound kidnapper with everything she had, biting his nose as he attempted to blindfold her.
She got away, and police arrested a suspect. It could have gone very differently, if not for two things: this little girl’s “unwillingness to be a victim,” according to Grand Junction Police Chief Bill Gardner, and a well-executed inter-agency law enforcement investigation.
At a press conference Monday, Chief Gardner praised the 9-year-old, saying, “This brave heroine chose to fight back.”
This near-tragedy provides a teachable moment for all parents. It’s a conversation we’re having at our house, and I’ve heard that other parents are doing the same.
“We have to train our children to fight back,” Gardner said.
Thanks to a brave 9-year-old girl, we are.
* Powerpuff Girls image from “The Powerpuff Girls Movie,” distributed by Warner Bros.
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Guarding the nest
This resourceful couple built a nest in a cow skull.
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I live in Clifton
And I have the shirt to prove it:
More on the discussions about whether unincorporated Clifton should form its own city or annex into Grand Junction in a column on the op-ed page this weekend.
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Your brain on baseball
“Talk of the Nation” on NPR Wednesday had an interesting discussion of “The Science Behind Baseball.” Topics included statistics, orthopedics and the psychology of die-hard fans.
Speaking of which …
We’ve got a little bit of baseball in our own back yard for some die-hard fans. And whatever you want to know about the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series, aka JUCO, you’ll find here.
Phenomenal photos, updated bracket, fan video shout-outs, shots from the field, box scores, live game stats, it’s all there. How Sports Editor Patti Arnold manages to oversee all that with her hard-working staff and still find time to bake JUCO brownies (with German chocolate cake, chocolate chips and caramel, no less) is beyond me.
I’m just glad she does. Catch the games you can and keep up with the others at GJSentinel.com.
*Photo from Tuesday’s Texas smash-up of Grayson County College vs. Alvin Community College.
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If you thought lead paint on toys was bad …
Another one from the press release files:
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent out a warning this week for consumers to discontinue use of Mommy’s Bliss Nipple Cream (yes, that’s the real name) because the product, touted as natural and an alternative to lanolin, has harmful ingredients.
Specifically, the $12 tube contains chlorphenesin, which, according to the press release, “relaxes skeletal muscle and can depress the central nervous system and cause slow or shallow breathing in infants” and phenoxyethanol, which is a preservative that “can depress the central nervous system and may cause vomiting and diarrhea.”
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New challenges for Newt
News of Mark Newton leaving Grand Junction High School for Mountain Vista High is sure to stir more than a few memories for Orange & Black alum.
Newton’s been the adviser for the Orange & Black for 18 years. He has built a program of excellence in which journalists and publication have gone on to national acclaim.
But he’s done a lot more than that. I don’t know how many students Newt’s taught in those 18 years, but it’s probably not a stretch to say he has influenced thousands of young people in his time. I’ve taught and worked with several of them, and I can attest that they shared these traits: dedication, resourcefulness and an ethical foundation.
Thank you, Newt, for what you have contributed to journalism, and for what you have contributed to your students’ lives. Your influence here will be felt long after you’ve left.
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For Memorial Day: genealogy gold mine
In honor of Memorial Day, the National Archives and Ancestry.com are making millions of historic documents available online, free, through May 31.
From the press release: “For more than a decade, Ancestry.com and the National Archives have collaborated to make important historical records available to the public, demonstrating their commitment to preserving America’s heritage. Ancestry.com currently has the largest online collection of digitized and indexed National Archives content, including passenger lists from 1820-1960, and WWI and WWII draft registration cards. This new agreement provides critical access to these important historical records at a faster rate than ever before due to the placement of Ancestry.com technicians and scanning machines at the National Archives to continually digitize content for online access.”
Happy digital digging, genealogists.
*Family photo of U.S. Army Air Force bombadier William Robert Ozburn III from Cox Newspapers.
Latest comments
Oh and congrats to Chance on a wicked birdhouse. It totally looks funky but really nicely finished. Cool!
... read the full comment by Robin | Comment on Mesa County Fair week Read Mesa County Fair week
Is that ALL you are going to be doing at the fair?
... read the full comment by Robin | Comment on Mesa County Fair week Read Mesa County Fair week
I have checked out Etsy.com. I agree it’s a great resource for handmade items. Thanks for the reminder!
... read the full comment by Laurena | Comment on Think globally, trade locally Read Think globally, trade locally
I like your writing. Good point on trading … my grandmother used that term often (when groceries were delivered to her house by the local store). Etsy.com is a fun place to buy handmade items, if you have not checked it out before.
... read the full comment by Nancy McCarroll | Comment on Think globally, trade locally Read Think globally, trade locally