Of mustangs and Spanish priests

What a fun day! Started with loading up on fresh veggies at the Cortez Farmers' Market (some of which are already inside us in the form of a stir fry) and then we stopped by the Run to the Ruins Car Show (the "Run to the Ruins" is actually a foot race), sponsored by the Over The Hill Gang Car Club of Cortez.

The beautiful old 1929 fire truck is owned and shown by former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who lives near Ignacio, Colorado. Ben's a world-famous silversmith and jeweler (and captain of the U.S. judo team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics), but today he was having a good time relaxing and talking about his "Fire Bug."

It was nice to see a few old trucks spiffied up and on display. Usually, it's the sexy, sporty models that get the attention.

Like the row of Mustangs in the next picture!

Then we went to Escalante Days, the big annual Dolores, CO, celebration. It's like Mancos Days for Mancos, with a parade and class reunions, etc. The event is named for Father SilvestreVélez de Escalante, who, with Father Francisco Atanasio Dominguez (his boss), led the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition that went up the Dolores River Valley in 1776, searching (unsuccessfully) for a way to connect Santa Fe, NM, with Monterey, CA. 

As shown in the fourth picture, the town of Dolores is set in a canyon with steep cliffs on the north side and lots of old buildings. That big old hotel has been under restoration, I think, almost as long as I've been here (almost 20 years).

The Escalante Days parade is unlike the Mancos Days parade in that, in Mancos, all the horses are at the back end of the parade. That didn't phase these little campaigners in their kiddy car, though; they knew enough to drive around the horse apples! tv

A good day!

It's not every day that you can go to farmers' market and buy a burger or a brat cooked by the town marshal!

Last summer and this summer, the Town of Mancos has very actively supported the Mancos Farmers' Market, including a stand where town staff provide brats and burgers for the market-goers. I don't know how well they do, but I DO know that it is a welcome advance in terms of town support for this kind of community effort, and this is a great way for residents of the town, the valley and beyond to informally meet the town staff. WAY better than the stressful, confrontational setting of a town board meeting!

I'm also impressed with the way this marshal, Bryan Jones, has gone about his job. From an environment 10 years ago where at least some residents of the town seemed to play "gotcha games" with sheriff's deputies (who were under contract to handle the law enforcement function in the Town of Mancos) and there was little or no support for law enforcement, we have come to a situation where there is a mature marshal who is an experienced officer, with a staff and support to do the job. 

An incident over Mancos Days tells the story ... the marshal received a call advising him that a former resident was on his way, looking for a fight. The marshal quietly shared this information with the manager of the most likely place for the incident to happen,  noting that he, the marshal (and his staff), aimed to head the guy off. In the event, another contact tipped the marshal off to where the fellow would be, and he was picked up on an outstanding warrant and packed off to jail before Mancos Days really got going and before an incident could occur. As far as I know, Mancos Days went off without a major law enforcement incident. Contrast this with a Mancos Days about a dozen years ago when it took a flying wedge of about a dozen police officers to close down one of the bars on Saturday night! Perhaps we have finally achieved a community consensus in support of law enforcement; I hope we can sustain it.

Our tour of duty at Artisans of Mancos this morning was pleasant. Weather was nice, a few visitors wandered in and there was even a sale!

This afternoon we went to the Cortez rec. center and tried to start to begin to commence to regain some of the strength and endurance we both have lost in the last month or so. Feels good, but a long way to go! (Wait till tomorrow!) A good day! tv

135 degrees!!!!!

Today, at the physical therapist's, my new knee bent to 135 degrees!!! Without screaming!!!!!

May not mean much to most of you folks, but it's a goal I've been working toward for the last five weeks and it sure is great to be there! Leg still hurts, lots of strengthening to do yet, but it's darn good to have come this far.

I'm doing a bus tour of Mesa Verde tomorrow for an Elderhostel group ... it'll be fun to ask them to take it slow so I can keep up! tv

Something old, again

We spent the afternoon yesterday "doing" Mesa Verde. I had to go in for brief Mesa Verde Museum Association business, so we went on to get pictures of the cliff dwellings that get afternoon sun.

The panorama below, taken from Sun Point on the west side of the juncture of Fewkes (left) and Cliff Canyons (beyond) is small, but it shows part of the Cliff Palace community. Sun Temple is atop the point at the left, with Mummy House on a ledge below it. To the right of Sun Temple, on the far side of Cliff Canyon, is the alcove with Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling. The viewing platform where folks wait for the tour is at the left of the alcove; people exit on ladders through a chimney at the right side of the alcove. From Sun Point, if you let your gaze travel along the ledges to the right of Cliff Palace, you can see numerous small structures, with just fragments of walls remaining. Sunset House is on two levels in the big alcove at the right.

In the pictures above, a closer view of Mummy House is provided, showing the beautiful little structure tucked up in the alcove, with a red plaster design on its face.

Further up Fewkes Canyon is Oak Tree House, built on and into a platform of dirt that was carried into the alcove.

Still further up Fewkes Canyon is New Fire House (fanciful name given by archeologist Jesse Walter Fewkes, after Hopi practices), which is built on two levels. This shot shows the series of hand-and-toeholds that were used to get from a lower-level roof (now gone) to the upper level buildings. tv

Trying Something New!

As I tip toe through the new world of photography, I keep getting sidetracked on different ideas of presentation, such as the one above.   I do like color and wow !  has Mother Nature ever been busy with her paintbrush in the mountains of Colorado.    This was just from one day's drive up to Kennebec pass, and not really the best shots that we have for the day.   Thought I would share what I had been playing with this afternoon.   And then I am fascinated with the photo printing on different textures, particularly canvas. . but then that's another story. . sf

It's still fair time!

In addition to "Country Gold" host Leroy Van Dyke, pictured in the previous post, the show included a talented and expressive 7-member band. We saw the show last year and made it a must for this year's fair program (yeah, I know ... here's the kid who grew up on polkas and schottisches and oom-pah and accordions and concertinas and Hardanger fiddles liking country music ... it's the Okie influence!). Van Dyke's songs were much the same as last year, but he had new talent with him. 

One of the "new" singers was David Frizzel (Lefty's brother), who I didn't care that much for, but he did a kick-butt duet with Leroy's son Ben Van Dyke, playing the Johnny Cash song, "Luther Played the Boogie," one of my favorites.

The show-stealer for me, though, was Rex Allen, Jr. (bottom pics). I can't say I'd ever really listened to him before, but this guy is a master. He has an awesome voice (despite some sound system overloudness) and he just has a stage presence that reaches out and folds you in. Plus, being historically oriented, he presented a lot of background information about the country/western music business and the songs he sang that was fascinating. I mean, who knew that "Tiny Bubbles" was a western song before it became Don Ho's trademark? Or that "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David?

It was a great evening with Sandy, even if it did keep us out past our bedtime! And it was an interesting crowd, too. First time I've ever been to anything in Montezuma County where the seating was half-filled 45 minutes before the event began ... nobody is EVER ahead of time around here! We were honored to be in the younger set, too ... the average age must have been 72! I felt a little out of place being one of those without an oxygen tube. tv

It's fair time!

Fair time ... brings back lots of memories from childhood, though I haven't gone much recently, and Four Corners fairs are not like the ones of my youth in northern Wisconsin. I guess tonight's demolition derby is kind of a parallel to Joey Chitwood's Daredevils, but the ranch rodeo was sure different.

The one event we watched involved teams of 3-4 cowboys in line approaching a pack of numbered bovines and donkeys. The timing starts when the announcer says which number cow and which number donkey they are to load, and it ends when they have the critters in a horse trailer with the gate closed.

It was a beautiful day for the action (mid-90s) and they sure kicked up the dust! I think the fastest time was 2 minutes and 6 seconds ... pretty fast roping. As you can see, they rope and grab anything and everything to get the job done!

I've been to some rodeo events before as a spectator, but this was the first time I've ever tried to photograph one before, and I really enjoyed the challenge. It's fast moving and, in this case, required keeping track of several moving players at the same time, while trying to guess what's coming next and be pointed in the right direction and be in focus. I'll definitely try it again!

The bottom pic is from the evening "Country Gold" show, with show leader Leroy Van Dyke (whose first hit was "Auctioneer") and local 4H/FFA leader Dalton Hindmarsh auctioning off a new guitar, signed by all the show members. It brought $3,000, which will be used by the Cortez FFA program to buy new exhibit materials. More on the show in the next post (ran out of image space on this one). tv