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An Irish Salute to two Irish lasses celebrating yet another one of those darn "anniversaries".

Two blue-eyed Irish Mary's (Mary Ann and Mary Clare) deserve a duet from two Irish gentelmen.

(never thought I'd see these two, doing this together)

08/11/19 03:23 PM

#5913

Great, Dave!

08/11/19 07:50 PM

#5914

Mary Margaret,

I wish to make a full and unconditional apology to you for my remarks on post #5924. Especailly the final line.

I am frustrated by my country's inability to reach consensus - even some small partial consensus - on this national epidemic. We continue to dither and delay, and get nothing done - absolutely nothing.

Shame on us!

I am sorry I took my frustration out on you Mary Margaret.

08/11/19 08:14 PM

#5915

Thanks for the birthday dedication, Dave. One of my favorite Irish tunes.

Clare

08/11/19 08:19 PM

#5916

Maks Viktor Antiquarian Books

Hey, Jeanine. I think the Grand Canyon is a great idea. When’s a good time to plan for? You know, one when you won’t be traveling the world? We could get some of the west-of-the-Mississippi crowd to participate and you can be our tour guide!!!

Clare

08/12/19 12:53 PM

#5917

Mark Schweickart

July 29 at 1:03 AM ·

Just thought I would lighten the mood.

08/12/19 10:27 PM

#5918

Clare--If we just go to the south rim from Phoenix, then October through April would be ideal. The north rim can get really cold and if you are coming to Phoenix you don't want to be here in the summer (114 degrees tomorrow).

There are other things to see in AZ--the red rock country in Sedona, the desert in bloom, the reservations, Indian ruins, etc. But AZ is a huge state (four Ohio's would fit in it) so we'd have to decide what kind of tour people would like. We could take a week or just go to the canyon for a day. I'm game to plan anything.

08/13/19 04:41 AM

#5919

And don't forget, the view is much more spectacular from the "South Rim" - where most of the tourists hotels and several famous historic lodges are. Don't waste your time going to the North Rim. The sun's direction, the shadows, and the difference in vegitation from one side to the other makes the view from the "North Rim" much less exciting. Two completely different appearances - one (south rim) spectaclar, the other, (north rim) meh!

In the summer of 1961, I got to go to a wonderful camp ("The Cottonwood Gulch Foundation") and travelled by trucks all over the "Four Corners" country. We got to hike through the Canyon from South Rim to North - among other highlights Our group was 12 and 13 years old - about 18 of us. Took us about 30 hours, including sleeping in our bags on the Canyon floor - where one of the guys found a scorpion inside his bag when we got up that next morning! I got to see the biggest damn rattle snake I have ever seen down in that completely differenct eco-system that exists at the bottom.

There used to be a small "dude ranch" at the bottom. Most people never see it - the steep walk down is harder on your legs than the walk back up and it's about a 10 or 12 hour hike - by way of the "Kaibab" or the "Bright Angel" trails. The "switchbacks" of the trails go on, and on, and on forever. You can ride donkeys part way or all the way down. It's no faster, and it bothers some people who cannot take being up on their backs while pacing slowly next to drop-offs that are thousands of feet down.

(My uncle, my older cousin, my son and one daughter, and a nephew also spent summers of this same "Prairee Trek" - so did Kurt Vonnegut and a couple if U.S. Senators. It was and still is an incredible experience)

(Yes, you can all say it - I was a spoiled, prividedged kid.)

Brice Canyon and Zion Canyon, Monument Valley (where they've shot about 100 Westerns) and Canyon de Chelly ("de Shay") are really more beautiful, but harder to reach, and don't have the great accomodations. I like to think that after God created Monument Valley, He sat back and said to Himself, "Wow, I'm good!".

(If you enter Monment Valley (Utah) from the south (Arizona), be sure and find the Navajo Tribe owned Burger King and see all the historic plaques dedicated to the famous WWII "Navajo Code Talkers". I seem to recall it's in Kayenta, a small Navajo town as you drive into the Valley.)

The "4 corners" area, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado are magical places!

(sorry Jeanine and Clare - you got me started on one of the favorite memories of my whole life)

08/13/19 12:13 PM

#5920

Michael McLeod

Hey Dave:

I once got a great assignment to go to Monument Valley along with a bunch of film school students who went there to talk to the locals who tell stories of a time when the great director John Ford descended on the area to film all those great westerns, the greatest one being The Searchers.

And as part of my research I ran across a quote from Ford's biggest star, John Wayne.

Somebody once asked John Wayne: "Why do you come here to film all your movies?"

And Wayne famously replied:

"Because this is where God put the west."

Another thing I discovered - one of those totally weird and useless things that you pick up when you are a journalist:

There is an iconic formation in Monument Valley that you've probably heard of that they call the mittens -- two buttes that look like giant hands next to each other.

Well, if you ever watch Stagecoach, the old black and white movie with John Wayne and Andy Devine and John Carradine, the stagecoach starts a journey somewhere with the mittens in the background. And if you look closely, when it gets to its destination - there the mittens are again, having magically followed them, apparently. So much for realism.

Speaking of which: As a local story goes, Ford asked the navajos who were hired as extras -- their main function was to ride around and get shot by the good guys -- to mutter things in their own language to add realism to the movie. Apparently many of the things that the navahos jokingly proceeded to say to each other in their native tongue were not particularly complimentary to Ford and company.

08/13/19 01:42 PM

#5921

David Barbour

Jeanine

Please count me in for anything in wintery Arizona.

08/13/19 02:56 PM

#5922

James Hamilton, M. D.

I am more of a mountain person than a desert person but I know that the deserts of the Southwest harbor some of the most beautiful places in the country. Despite the harsh environment and the extreme temperatures that occur in these locations a unique ecology of flora and fauna have developed and thrived.

If you have been following this Forum you will realize I am also sort of a critter guy. Dave M.'s mention of snakes and scorpions once again revived my thoughts on these animals. For many years I lectured on venomous animals such as snakes, scorpions, spiders, lizards (Gila Monsters) and some poisonings humans can get from eating certain fish and seafood (especially during algal blooms, red tides). I suspect that Jeanine and Lance and others who live in Arizona have encountered the first four on that list in their yards. As scary as these animals seem they do play a role in the environment.

The only scorpion in this country that is potentially very dangerous to humans is the Arizona Bark Scorpion, Centruroides sculpturatus. It is small, about 3", and is often difficult to spot. It's sting is usually more like a bee sting but can make a person sick for a few days and can rarely be fatal to the very young (infants) and the very old (us?). Like with rattlesnakes, curious dogs - who sniff everything - often get hit on their snouts by these critters.

Rattlesnakes come in many varieties and sizes and are fully venomous from birth or hatching. Various species are present in most of these United States and Arizona has more than it's share. I believe that Arizona State University has one of the largest supply of venomous animal antivenin in the country and is the place to contact for hospitals across the nation when certain animal bites occur. This includes some bites that happen to zoo personnel and exotic animal "collectors".

The only venomous lizard in the USA is the Gila Monster. It has a very nasty bite and venom which, unlike snakes, scorpions and spiders, is not injected but rather chewed into the victim from it's saliva, mostly when the animal turns itself upside down as it gnaws on that victim.

Spiders are everywhere and the Black Widow and Brown Recluse are the ones with which most people are familiar in the United States. Really, ALL spiders are venomous but most are not a significant danger to humans, even those tarantulas that I mentioned in a previous post.

Anyway, Jeanine, let me know what critters you have found around - or in - your home over your years in Arizona!

Jim

08/13/19 06:26 PM

#5923

Well, Jim, we had a Gila monster on a tree in our back yard (at a former house) that sunbathed for a few days and then left. A bull snake (four feet long) crawled into the back of our dryer and died when I turned the dryer on. Lance couldn't figure out what was wrong with the dryer when it wouldn't work and, of course, I didn't know (I ranked in the 4th percentile in mechanics on the Kuder preference test at WHS). He almost had a heart attack when he took the back of the dryer off and found our visitor wrapped around the impeller (sp?).

One morning I went outside to get the newspaper from the driveway and, standing next to the paper, was a rather large wolf. We lived across from South Mountain then. He looked at me and I looked at him. I told him I would read the paper when he was done and I went back into the house--quickly.

Many people find scorpions in their homes but we've never found any. When the citrus is ripe, the roof rats come to feast. They are small and we have no citrus on our property. Coyotes are around, but they are all over the country. We have no big cats in the city.

We've been here forty years and it never gets dull.

08/13/19 06:30 PM

#5924

David--You are welcome any time.

08/13/19 07:38 PM

#5925

James Hamilton, M. D.

Thanks, Jeanine, I figured you had to have encountered some wildlife down there in Phoenix. Critters do make life interesting! If you or Lance ever get a photo of a Gila Monster, please post it; I'd like one for my collection.

Jim

08/13/19 07:41 PM

#5926

Jeanine,

Why didn't you just tell the wolf you only needed the TV section and the "funnies" and let him keep the rest?

----------------------------------------------------

Okay Jim, (and Jeanine and Mike),

You've forced my hand. So it's mountians you like,, eh Jim?

Yes, I have long been entranced by the Canyonlands, but you say you prefer the mountains and so do I. I suffer from the same addiction. It is why I "Went West (young man)". It was not just the skiing, but there was something addictive to me about those gorgeous Rockies. I had "pistol whipped" my father into taking my cousin and I skiing in Vail in 1962 - the first year. Later, I stumbled onto an article about Telluride. I actually wrote to the town, and with their encouragement, to original developer of the ski area from my base on Viet Nam. Somewhere I still have his (Joseph Zoline) letter from his Los Angeles law office to me at my APO address in Vinh Long.

So after the service, back in school at D.U. I visited Telluride, and the hook was in,,,,deep! I got a job selling Real Estate there in 1972 (I was not yet finished with my degree). Mary and I lived there in a house my dad bought (for $17,000) for one summer. It was difficult and Mary wanted to go back to Denver and I needed to finish school. But I tried to talk my two best buddies (both named Tom) into coming out from Ohio and we woukd set the world on fire selling and owning real estate, in what I thought would be the greatest ski resort development known to man. Mary and I did not stay but my projection was not far off. One of my "2 Toms" stayed adn has become the broker to the rich and famous (sadly we have grown completely out of touch - an the "1st Tom" is no longer with us.)

I defy anybody to find more gorgeous mountains than the San Juans in soutwestern Colorado (other than British Columbia maybe). Below is one gorgeous Autumn about 45 years ago down in Telluride. First shot is teh "Sneffels Range". Last shot is looking west over the airport (highest comercial runway in the U.S. - I think) across the "Illium Valley" at Mount Wilson and Wilson Peak (most photographed peaks in Colorado). The snows came late that fall and the Aspens went beyond yellow and gold and almost into red. That only happens every few years.

(Note: The first two shots were a few years earlier than the 3rd shot.

08/13/19 08:30 PM

#5927

Here are a few more shots from 45 years ago on the outskirts of Telluride. (I see a date on the photos that says it must be 47 years ago).

Note: the dirt road in the second shot is now the improved road up to the airport, whcih is back to the left. but this is all developed now and Tom Cruise's house is way back up against the timberline to your right. You should see that house!

08/13/19 09:07 PM

#5928

For those of you have not been to Telluride, these photos won't mean much to you. But if you have, this may shock you. This is the way the town looked when we were there. Since then they have developed a separate town up on the mountian (actually legally known now as "The Town of Mountain Village" - I'm not kidding - which now has the title of the highest per capita income of any town in America.). The two towns are linked by a round-about road and an all day free 8-passenger gondola that climbs the steep face comming down into the town - that section about 2,000 vertical feet and then over a ridge and drops slightly back down into the Montain Village. The whole scene is utterly spectacular! The cost of all the "new" development is around half a billion $$. - hotels, condos, restaurants, etc. And a mountainside "neighborhood of homes in the $20 to $50 million range!

In 1972, I bought a 2-acre lot on that portion while still in school but already committed to going to work there. It was only $19,000 with monthly payments of about $220 per month. It came with a view of Mount Wilson, ski-in, ski-out access to the mountain, and life-time free skiing for my whole family. I was not yet finished with school, and babies were arriving and I could not keep it. My wonderful Business Law professor at D.U. found a flaw in the contract and forced them to refund all my money. What a dumb mistake that was! We just could not see that far ahead. Those lots went for several million some years back, before thry were all built on.

In the second shot you see the old Opera House (most of the successful mining towns had their "Opera House" to show the world they had "culture" - like Leadville, and Cripple Creek. While I was there, my friend sold this old Opera house to a guy who restored it beautifully for films and live stage. I think it went for $42,000. He later used it to start the now famous "Telluride Film Festival". We thought he was being awfully excentric. HIs "little" Film Festival is now considered almost on a par wtih Cannes.

The 3rd shot is the tiny office of Telluride Realty, where I hung my first real estate license in 1972. Just a few feet to the right of that little office is what used to be the old "San Miguel Valley Bank", where a young Butch Cassidy made his first large "withdrawal" back in 1889.

Times have changed.

08/13/19 09:58 PM

#5929

I promise I'll get off for a while but gott'a do one more Telluride photo. Just cause I want to.

From about age 4, I had two best friends - close as brothers. They were both named Tom. One was my age and lived on East Schreyer Place and was in my class at school - all 12 years. The other was a year younger, and lived on a farm just outside of Kingston Ohio, between Circleville and Chillicothe. These guys were both better athletes, but we could play fairly even at basketball in the driveway (or in the barn) and a few hundred games of pitch and catch with our gloves, or "go long" with the football.

When I discovered Telluride, I fell head over heels in love - not only with the place, but also with an idea. I called both of them back in Ohio and said they needed to come see this magical mountian place, and that we should all stake our futures there and make our fortune together. One came right away, the other waited.

They knew each other. They had played ball together in my front yard and I had fixed them up with double dates from Watterson (Carolyn Winchester for "KIngston" Tom) - and he brought his neighbor Shauna for me, later my second ex-wife. They were my "best man" and my almost "best man" at my first wedding. I got the younger Tom to go to Telluride and he was already there part of a year (and has stayed for 47 years), when I got the other Tom to come visit us in Denver and took him to see what I was dreaming about.

It was a fun trip, days of driving through the mountains and talking - just talking. I got a first hand no-holds-barred undersanding of the medical condition my buddy was struggling with (and would for the rest of his unlucky life). But my plan never came to fruition for all three of us. I am embarrassed to say that I fell out with both of them, though not through my doing. People change. Now, one is gone and the other has not returned a call in many years. He is busy being the Real Estae broker to many wealthy (and famous) customers. (google "TDSmith" and be prepared to be shocked at the the assortment of properties)

This photo is up on the Mountain Village area (about 10,00 feet), about summer of 1972, a year before development was begun on the Mountain. It is a sweet lasting memory of childhood dreams that almost came true.

Yes, Jim, I also love the mountains.

My buddies - Thomas Aquinas Litzinger of Columbus, and Thomas Dunlap Smith of Kingston

Those were the days.

08/13/19 11:08 PM

#5930

Michael McLeod

trivia/nostalgia:

I just ran into somebody down here who went to the Josephineum many years ago.I did not have time to talk to him about it.

Is it still around? What is it, a seminary?

I remember my mother talking about it, reverently, but don't recall ever being there - athough I may have a verrrry vague memory of driving by it.

08/14/19 07:46 AM

#5931

Mike, It’s still a seminary on a beautiful piece of property next to York Golf Club west off 23N just past 270. The developers would love to get ahold of those two combined!! It was a very private, almost sacrosanct, place when we were growing up. It’s still private but they have a banquet area for weddings and gatherings and it’s fairly easy to walk on the grounds. The seminary instructs priests from dioceses throughout the world which do not have their own seminaries. I suppose that now includes Columbus since St. Charles is a high school only but I don’t know that for sure. Several scandals have swirled around it in the past and they might want to get online and change the description in the Wikipedia entry. It says it’s “the only papal erection in the United States.”

Clare

08/14/19 07:56 AM

#5932