This morning at dog-walking time, it was 45 degrees, totally clear and not a breath of air was moving. What a relief after two days of heat, wind and dust!
I was in Dove Creek from 9 to 4 or 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, taking our "Minds in Motion" fundraising campaign to the annual Pick 'n Hoe Days celebration, when Dove Creek honors its agricultural and mining heritage. I'd never been to Pick 'n Hoe Days before; it had its good and bad points.
From the standpoint of the booth, they were good days. We contacted more than 100 people, received $50-60 in donations, plus a promise of a $500 grant and may have picked up five or six students who would benefit from our experiential, expeditionary approach to learning.
The booth is shown at the bottom; I was fortunate to have two staff members with me each day ... I can bring them in, but they can answer the harder questions about what goes on in the school and on the trips.
Right behind us on Saturday was the water fight, with area firefighting teams competing to how a metal ball along an aerial cable. That went on all day long.
On the other side, in front of us, was one of the sweetest musical events I've been to recently ... an informal old-time music jam in the shade of a tree. At one time, there were 20 musicians playing together - fiddles, guitars, mandolins, washboard, banjos - and they ranged in age from about 14 to 80+.
Sunday's parade (yes, Sunday morning ... Pick 'n Hoe takes place on the Fourth and it takes precedence over church!) had some wonderful local color ... this wagon saying "Thank you to the Navajo fry bread makers of America!" If you don't think that is important, the next picture up shows the line outside the fry bread stand (in the white tent) for Navajo tacos ... and the line was that long for over an hour!
The car show included this old Jeep, which may be older than I am, complete with snorkel.
Sunday included a lot of kids and adult games, from limbo dancing to pig-catching. The pigs aren't greased and this particular porker was hopelessly out of luck ... in the picture he is just beginning to move out, and you can see all those guys are already almost upon him!
The wind whipped around Dove Creek's Weber Park both days, leaving us feeling both baked and sand-blasted by the end of the day. Sunday we were eyeing the clouds and crowds at about 4 p.m. and deciding we would pack it up for the day. Just then God affirmed our decision with a microburst that bathed us in whirling sand and wind ... an adjacent booth's canopy ended up about 50 yards west, dragging its cement block anchors! We came out unscathed and happy to call it a day.
So, I get back to Mancos, where me Sweetheart was wrapping up a volunteer afternoon at Artisans, and we go to the Fourth of July yard party at the Bauer House. We just get our plates and sit down and the wind begins to whip paper plates and table cloths around and take down canopies! We escaped to the porch to finish our meal and then crept home to a quiet evening with the beasts.
Now you now why the quiet, peaceful morning dog walk was such a relief! TV
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