The State of Western

I arrived in Gunnison in May of 1969, packed alongside my sisters and some of our belongings in a Ford Falcon station wagon. We left Denver where my dad had recently picked up a master’s degree and drove over Monarch Pass in a snowstorm that I have no recollection of but which terrifies my mother […]

Weathering Lows

Back in my sporting days, which means reporting on sporting rather than actually doing anything, I would stand right in the thick of the opposition team on the sidelines at Western Then State football games. I would unfurl my game program and peruse the heights listed for all the players, all of whom checked in […]

On a Dime

Let us consider the dime, the smallest and perhaps least remarkable of all American coins. They’re thin, and tiny, and people like to stop on them. And yesterday, they paid off handsomely for my niece. My research, which might have even lasted seven whole minutes this morning, started with the US Mint, which wasn’t as […]

Good for Nothing

It is not a good sign when you wake up during the night wondering when it will be daylight so you can take a nap. That’s what I did Friday night, multiple times. We’re somewhere around a full moon, and the other day I saw a headline, although I didn’t pursue the story, suggesting there […]

Geezerdom

I had to file a complaint with my bank the other day. It pained me to do so, but I had to: I was offended by their calendar. Every year the Savings and Loan puts together a calendar featuring photos from Gunnison’s past. A history calendar, if you will. And it was fun to open […]

Fair Weather Cat

Marrakesh is a cat who does not hesitate to let you know when he is not happy. He spends a lot of time sleeping, but when he is awake, he is frequently not happy — and we get to hear about it. He only likes eating food out of a full dish. This definitely pegs […]

I Remember Sunshine

Four days without a post and you are probably in the polite stage of wondering where I am. Some days that’s what I wonder too, as my attention span drifts down to almost nothing and the overcast skies have brought a severe case of the blahs. I’m just going to tell you right now, I […]

A New Day

About three years ago, when lifelong family friend Bonnie Baril suffered a major cognitive event that might have been a trans-ischemic attack, she was questioned by the hospitalist, a man I now know to be my neighbors’ son. He was asking her what day of the week it was, what year it was, things to […]

One Nation, In Division

Among the many things I have been pondering of late — not that you would know I’ve been pondering anything, due to the numerous posts I have started but not completed — is this notion of unity. I don’t really mean politically-convenient unity such as that espoused recently by some percentage of congress, completely coincidentally, […]

Surgical Precision

Thirty-some years ago, just about this time of year, I dislocated my shoulder. It was a two-part injury, started on the ski hill one afternoon and finished around 11 p.m. when I lifted a 10-pound weight over my head and felt a distinct pop. This was back when Gunnison was macho and it was, no […]