“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin
This picture was taken Thursday, January 17th. Not a lot of snow this year. This is a great trail run / road called Tower Road in Horsetooth Mountain Park. If you start at the bottom it gains about 1700 feet in just over three miles. So it is a good cardiovascular workout.
Life is good and I really cannot complain too much at the moment. Damn I turned 57 this January and I have to ask myself where did the time go?? I mean were did it go?? LOL! It seems just like yesterday when I was turning 25 and moving to Colorado.
This picture was taken Friday, January 18th, it is in an area called Prospect Ponds. They are old gravel quarry sites. After the quarry is closed, the states requires you to only fill in part of the open pit mine, but the rest can be filled with water to create wildlife habitat. There are a lot of these types of ponds in the open spaces around Fort Collins. The Poudre River and the bike trail is just on the other side of the picture. The photograph was taken looking west.
I ended up here in – a – round about way. Even before I got out of High School I was pushed and I mean that quite literally, pushed into applying and going to nursing school. At the time I really had no idea what I wanted to do. But my dear mother, felt that the best way to get me out of the house (this is what I have come to believe) was not to give me an option to procrastinate. Oh no – no lollygagging for you young man. Get your nose to the grindstone. And I have to give her a little leeway on this because High School academically was a complete waste of time for me. And I am not sure if that was the High School at the time or just where I was socially and emotionally. When I got to college, I took to it like a fish takes to water. And I did extremely well in College and Nursing School. But of course when you are pushed into something, I have found you come to tolerate it, but you don’t really find a passion for it. And that was my case from day one. As soon as I finished nursing school, I started working on a 2nd degree in Wildlife Biology. Which led me to thinking about a masters in Forestry. Which eventually led me to Fort Collins and Colorado State University.
This picture was taken Saturday, January 19th, this is a shot of the Poudre river looking South East. During spring run off the river would be full from bank to bank and flowing fast. This might look like a lot of water but in reality, at this time of year, the river is barely flowing.
Funny thing, once I got to Colorado and really had access to the outdoors and open spaces around Fort Collins. School did not have quite the same importance as it did before. Plus it did not help that the wife wanted kids and anytime you add that time commitment in, well school really does drop to the back burner. The nursing job paid the bills and it allowed me to have what is called perpetual “Peter Pan Syndrome.” I highly recommend it. I think that J.M. Barrie might have been on to something.
This picture was taken Sunday, January 20th. A very beautiful, but cool, afternoon in Fort Collins. This pond I believe was an old irrigation pond, but is now part of Pine Ridge open space. The small lake or pond is know as Dixon Reservoir. Horsetooth Lake sits on the other side of the ridge on the right.
Now, 31 years later and still living in Colorado and Fort Collins. I find that I enjoy the outdoors even more. I still work at the day job to pay the bills but only about 2 days per week or less. The rest of the work week, I am writing, drawing, painting, occasional sculpture, reading, exercising, and doing a little meditation. And Life is pretty good. But if I had to do it all over again with what I know now? I would change one thing. I would have practiced becoming a writer from day one. The only job that all you need is a word processor and an internet connection. How cool is that. Oh well, I get to write now and I try to practice each and everyday to get better.
This picture was taken on Friday, January 25th. In this photograph I am looking east, the lake is Horsetooth Reservoir, and you can just make out the North end of Fort Collins. Here I am trail running at Horsetooth Mountain Park.
One thing I have learned over the years but did not realize it until much more recently is the quote by Seth Godin. And I will repeat it here: “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” And that is so true. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing mistaken with traveling to see new places, people and things. Exploration of our wonderful world is a fantastic thing to do. But heading towards the “beach” or the “bar,” each year or weekend so that you can “escape” from work and your usual life….. Never seemed quite right to me in hindsight. Always thought I was a little weird when friends told me about their beach or bar adventures of drinking and partying, it never seemed appealing. About a year ago, I came across Seth’s quote and it just clicked. It was a true A’Ha moment. Sometimes it is hard to put into words what you are feeling or thinking, but then someone comes along and does it for you. And it just clicks into place.
This picture was also taken Friday, January 25th, and what a difference a week can make. The first picture in the blog post was in the same area and no snow. A week later the road was snow packed all the way to the top. It got me to thinking that if we got a really good snow in Fort Collins this road would be a great skimo work out. You could skin all the way to the top and the road is wide enough to ski it all the way back down. That would be pretty cool.
Well I think this is going to be about it for me. I hope you have had a great January. I know that I did, even turning 57. My wife tells me to just be happy with making it that far! LOL!
Maybe I will see you out there on the trails or the ski slope. Take care my friends. Adios!!
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” Cree Indian Proverb
“Earth provides enough to satisy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” Mahatma Gandi
“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” Ansel Adams
Well it has been a great last two to three weeks here for me on the Front Range. Just got to love Colorado. I don’t do a lot of skiing over the Holidays and the first week or two of January. For me the crowd size is just a little too large. But living here in Fort Collins you usually get some sunny days and while it can be cold, it is not so cold usually, that you can’t get out.
Bald Eagle in an area that I frequently run or walk. This area is home to many, many hawks and owls. This is the first year I have actually seen a Bald Eagle in this open space. The next day there were two, so maybe they will become a nesting pair and will frequent the area for many more seasons!? This photo was take December 29th, 2019.
I started the first Blog Post of the year on an environmental note. One of my degrees from College is in Environmental Science and Wildlife Biology. One of the comments I have heard over the years when I tell people this, “Oh your an environmentalist.” I have always found this statement interesting. The idea that because I have a degree in said field makes me an environmentalist and you not? When I have questioned people about this they seem a little supprised until I explain further. The truth of the matter we are all environmentalist. We breath the same air, we all drink the same water, eat the same food so to speak. We all currently live on planet earth. And because of this we are all environmentalist. We all have a vested interest in what happens on earth and to future generations.
Beautiful sunset in Fort Collins are common. Lots of color. I don’t think the photograph does it justice. On the surface this seems like a good thing but not always so. Some of the color is due to smog and particulate matter in the atmosphere. So while you might get this incredible sunset it is a sign of problem that the Front Range has been dealing with for over 50 years. It has gotten to the point that I check air quality everyday before doing an outdoor activity. And it is year round. Most of the pollution problems we have in Colorado are due to oil and gas extraction and vechicle polution. Metro Denver was ranked 8th in the nation for worst air quality and Fort Collins was ranked in at 10th. This was by the American Lung Association in 2016. This photo was take December 30th, 2018.
My personnel opinion is that we all have to take a vested interests in the environment. Even if you are working two jobs, trying to feed the kids, pay the rent, etc… There is always something you can do, even on a small scale, something as simple as not using that plastic straw, recycling as much as you can whenever possible, paying attention to how you use water, using your own cloth bags at the grocery store, turning off lights when not in use (one that I am terrible at), decreasing the number of trips that you drive, etc… And a really big one and some would say, easy – How You Vote. We are lucky here in Fort Collins with the mail in ballots, extremely convenient.
I used to hate riding my bike in the wind but I have come to love it. As long as it is not too windy. The wind helps to circulate the atmosphere here on the Front Range, which translates into much cleaner air to breath. This picture show a good example. The day before, that “blue sky” you see was not so blue, there was a yellow haze to it. On the day that I took the picture, there was a light breeze pushing the smog out. The picture was taken Thursday, January 3rd.
Of course the big oil and gas people will spend millions of dollars to spread misleading information about how dangerous oil and gas emissions actually are. And of course they talk about the loss of jobs if more environmental rules are put into place. The reality is that most of the oil and gas job are temporary in the area that they are being done. Once the drilling has been done, the lines caped, the pipes laid, the tanks installed, etc… you either move to the next energy boom or you find a different job. So I have to ask myself, at what cost do we expose thousands of individuals to cancer causing chemicals for a temporary job? Not to mention that this does not help stop the warming of the climate and all the associated problems this will bring. Its hard when change comes. None of us really like change, but it comes anyways. At some point, there will be no oil and gas jobs? Then what? When you have drilled the earth dry, then what? When some smart individual or team of individuals invents a better alternative that is more environmental friendly and the demand of fossil fuel drops? Then what? Because it will happen, just like it did to the horse and buggy people, telephone operators, gas station attendants, mall operators, big box stores, etc…. Technology marches forward. Science marches forward. So why destroy the environment, expose people to known carcinogens, for really what amounts to short term profits at best?
This picture was taken from Horsetooth Mountain Park on a windy day. If it had been the day before, the view would not have been as clear as it was this day. This was the first true trail run for me this new year. Here in Fort Collins we are lucky to have two great trail running areas behind Fort Collins, Lory State Park and Horsetooth Mountain Park. Between the two parks, which butt up to each other, you can easily get in a 10 to 20 mile run or mountain bike ride if you wish. This picture was taken Monday January7th.
Another area of the environment that I would like to touch on is about what we eat, especially in first world countries. This really does touch on the environment and the health of the individual. It has been known for a while now that a diet high in animal protein and processed foods can lead to a higher incidence of cancer and heart disease in the general population. There are multi books out there written by MD’s and food researchers that talk about this very thing. But there is also a link to the environment with cows. They require a lot of resources compared to other forms of meat production. Some estimates put this at 10 times the number that other sources of protein require, such as chickens and pigs. So there are good health reasons not to eat as much beef and animal protein in general and a great environmental reason not to eat as much beef. I call my self the 95% vegan, I still like a really good Cheese Berger every once in a while. For me that might mean once per month as opposed to several times per week. I still like a nice piece of Salmon every once in a great while and a little ice cream/yogurt every now and then. The rest of my diet is all plant based. No processed food as much as possible. There are some researchers that believe if we could get America’s population to switch to a healthier way of eating that in a 10 to 20 year span we would eliminate most of our health care cost, not to mention what this might mean for the environment.
Another beautiful Colorado Sunset in Fort Collins. I was looking across one of the ponds off the Poudre Bike trail. Still frozen. This picture was taken on Tuesday, January 8th.
I think that it is probably time to get off of my environmental soap box. I hope that it has given you some food for thought. I believe the only way to fix the current issues and head future ones off before they become a problem is for each of us to do our parts. Stay informed. Learn about the current scientific thinking on the issues from reliable sources. Not Fox News or the church. In the next elections don’t be swayed by big oil and gas or whatever “industry” trying to decrease its environmental regulations. Vote. If I had a dime, as the old saying goes, for every time I have heard the saying: “If you don’t have your health, you have nothing.” So true. Remember genetics loads the gun and only you or the environment can pull the trigger…..
Beautiful bike ride on a warmer January afternoon in Fort Collins. The temp was about 50 degrees at this point in the ride. The picture was take at the northern end of the Poudre River Trail. I have always loved the bridge work over the river in this section. I think that it has a very sculptural feel to it. The picture was taken Thursday, January 10th.
Well, that is about it for me with this post. May you have a happy and healthier 2019. Hope to see you out there on the trails or ski slopes. Take care my friends!! Adios!!
Life is good, bad, beautiful and ugly – but it is all experience, so drink it up and guzzle it down my friend, for it is all that we are given!!
