Mountain Man Badger Puthoff
May02

Mountain Man Badger Puthoff

Approximately 3,000 mountain men roamed the Rocky Mountains between 1820 and 1840, the peak beaver-harvesting period. While many were free trappers, most mountain men were employed by major fur companies. Mountain men lived aux aliments du pays, French for “nourishment of the land”, surviving by using the provisions of nature.  Eating bull cheese (buffalo jerky) and galette, a basic flour and water bread made into flat, round...

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Capitol building tour guide
Sep24

Capitol building tour guide

  Richard Lamm was governor (1975-1987) when Carol Keller started giving tours of the Colorado capitol building 25 years ago. She waits quietly for her next tour group to gather.  She says good morning to Gov. John Hickenlooper as he enters the Executive Chambers near the capitol tour guides desk.  It’s Friday, 10 a.m., according to the Mickey Mouse watch on her graceful wrist.  Time to start. At age 87, she’s entertained...

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An Irish Storyteller
Jul18

An Irish Storyteller

In the town of Ballybay, in the County of Monaghan, four roads converge beside Lough Mór. The Dromore River meanders south of this Irish town. Tommy Makem, The Godfather of Irish Music, sang about a young lass in Ballybay who had a wooden leg to which she tied a string and played it like a fiddle. Along Clones Road sat an old nursing home where another storyteller was born in 1951. A nun wrapped the infant, Mick Bolger, in a blanket...

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Cowboy rhymes with thyme
Jun11

Cowboy rhymes with thyme

  Cowboys driving cattle after the Civil War cooked on hot, smoky coals and recited homemade poetry.  They flavored their beans with molasses and stories.  The chuckwagon was the kitchen cabinet.  Poems were the entertainment.  Mix in some rain and dust, add a heavy dose of lonesome, and a pinch of Irish storytelling, Scottish seafaring, Mexican horsemanship and African improvisation and you have the original recipe. John...

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A Mount Evans fixture
Jun02

A Mount Evans fixture

 Karl Snyder has been driving from Boulder, Colorado (5,430 ft above sea level) to the top of Mount Evans (14,264 feet ASL) to shoot photographs ever since he got his first driver’s license way back when.  The Forest Service rangers know him.  The staff at the Echo Lake Lodge know him.  And anyone who has searched the Internet for information on the trip up the highest paved road in North America knows his website. Coming out of the...

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