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Showing posts from June, 2018

Before June slips completely away

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Not his best appearance, certainly not his funniest, but there is nothing like spending a few minutes hanging with Mr. Unflustered, Tom Papa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-NUrsg6Sq8

Now this is one sick panda

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Oops, I think our wellness quotient up here just dropped another 20%.  Thank God the Philippines keeps churning out M.D.'s, or we would be down to just providing tire rotations and Pap smears.  In case you never met Dr. Dumont, don't worry, he was the other of the two best physicians the Estes Park Medical Center, sorry, Estes Park Health, sorry, Estes Park Turning Point, sorry, Estes Park Bass Pro Shop (former Elizabeth Knutsson Hospital) had.

Just what the hospital needed, another Lem Lem appointee

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http://www.eptrail.com/ci_31970598/epmc-board-approves-new-pediatrician

Yes, but was this particular driver sued before?

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It's easy for the Coloradoan to do some internet searching, but how about providing a little context instead of painting everyone at Estes Park Shuttles with a broad brush?

Break out the riot gear

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On my mark.  3....2....1

A Moveable Feast

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Notes from abroad: Equal time from the other side of the poop pool:

Breaking: Stanley Museum will now stock Laura Ingalls Wilder books

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The Stanley Museum board is thrilled to learn that Laura Ingalls Wilder was potentially a racist.  That has given them pause to reconsider rebranding the Stanley House as the Stanley-Wilder house.  Plus they can now have minstrel shows and do Amos and Andy sketches while they teach folks how to churn butter and shoo black folks away unless they work for you.

Huge fire destroys main building of Marys Lake Lodge Saturday evening

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Obviously not the first time this has happened.  There must be some bad juju on this land, because beginning with Clarence Nevins, who took his own life after his Rockdale (the precursor of Marys Lake Lodge) failed, this property has been plagued with disaster after disaster.

Gosh, maybe we could start putting these perverts' faces on the pikas

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The details of this case sound all too familiar to Estes Park residents, old man, 15-year-old girl, charges of indecent liberties, statutory rape.  Get the pika ready for Estes Park's next honoree - Johnathan Conrad Busch

Charles Krauthammer dead at age 68

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Regardless of politics, you had to admire the grace and intellect of the man, who spoke three languages and was an expert on chess and classical music.  Paralyzed from the waist down after a diving accident at the age of 22, he finished medical school at Harvard and became disenchanted as a psychiatrist, then as a Democrat.  Look, Trump haters, you now have one more reason not to check in occasionally with Fox News.  I hate the hair-trigger Trump-slather Slate has become, but I still read everything Dahlia Lithwick writes about the Supreme Court.  If you missed out on Charles because of your bias, you missed out on a person who deeply understood the human condition, who knew he was dying of cancer, and was neither bitter nor cowed.  "Disease is completely neutral," he once said.  "There is nothing ennobling about disease.  And there's nothing degrading about it.  It's a condition of life."

What, we're nice to pedophiles

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Why didn't Estes Park make the short list of "Nicest Towns in America"?  We provide a welcome home to pedophiles, and honor the best of them with their own downtown sculpture.

What do you do before you vote? You take a poll.

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Here's the town board saying vote or no vote on the Loop, and weighing the expense of a vote, with some trustees saying they won't allow a vote, and wouldn't respect the outcome of the vote anyway. So why not save the town a bunch of money and just pay for a poll?  A legitimate poll, not one of CDIV's wet-dream polls fraught with abuse and ballot box stuffing.  Hell, the town pays for outside consultants and focus group moderators at the drop of a hat (or white hate, according to the Trail Gazette), we can't even get people at the hospital to resign without first paying $100,000 for a Pittsburgh lawyer, so $5,000 for a legitimately-conducted Gallup one-question telephone poll would be chicken feed. And the best part is, the trustees can ignore the results however they want.  If the poll shows 65% of registered Estes Park voters are against the Loop, they can push the Loop forward and make plans for something other than serving on the board come next election. ...

They're (?) ba-ack

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When Estes Truth said goodbye, yet didn't remove their (?) internet or Facebook presence, I told one of the trustees that they (?) were likely just resting, or on hiatus, or, if you read much into their choice of illustrations upon their (?) return, off either restraining the Brobdignagian government or fighting the restraints applied by the small-minded Lilliputians, hard to tell.   A better selection might have been Prometheus chained to a rock, the eagle pecking at his liver, but all of this is so confusing because Estes Truth said goodbye (goodbye meaning sayonara, meaning forever) back in April, remember? and then, like Patrick Duffy in "Dallas", has the temerity to show up today, freshly showered, apparently itching to re-enter the ring.  Or sell t-shirts, hard to tell. Voting is one way to effect change, running for office is another.  Excuses, well, excuses and checking out doesn't really accomplish much in the way of actual change.  What exactly is ...

Ron, what did the white man ever do to you?

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And why advocate reverse-racism through your singing?  How many of your 200 tunes are smoldering anthems about the white man keeping you down?  Thank our lucky stars Mr. Ball doesn't wear black hats, because then the T-G's headline follies would have sparked national outrage.  As it is, it just looks like, well, like typical Trail "skip the proofreading, just post this stat" nonsense. Update at 10:30 a.m. Thursday:  This headline has now been up on the T-G site for over three hours.  Either no one reads the Trail-Gazette online version, or Ron Ball really is seething with white-hot hate.

Surprisingly, China Garden not on list

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This is actually a partial list of the 2018 Top 50 Restaurants in the World Points were taken away for having numbers on the tables.

Is the Park Hospital District board in violation of Sunshine Laws?

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Here is the calendar for Wednesday, 20 June 2018 at the Estes Valley Library. There doesn't appear to be any scheduled PHD board member get-together. (Note:  EVCA is Estes Valley Crisis Advocates, but they cancelled their scheduled 10:00 a.m. meeting prior to today anyway.) So why at 10:40 on Wednesday, 20 June 2018 were current PHD board members streaming out of the Wasson Room?  Obviously, there is a logical explanation.  Maybe they were discussing the new UC-Health alliance, not as board members, but as people who share the same interests in gardening, or The Barrel...

Any room outside Lady of the Mountains for a pika?

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Hmmm, the list is certainly growing for unmarried older males who have no recollection of abusing underage children.  This was 47 years ago, but there is still hope.  In Estes Park, we honor these "forgetful" folks with their own personal pika sculpture, part of a pika scavenger hunt geared for underage children.  You know, grooming...

Daniel Mark Moos, your pika is waiting for you in Estes - Come on down!

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Older creepy guy - Check 14-year-old girl - Check Looks like you've met all the qualifications Estes Park requires, Daniel, to get your own pika on the kids pika scavenger hunt.  Maybe we can put yours near the museum, since you seem to like hanging out there.

Mmm, donuts

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Who says it is impossible to get an "excellent" rating from the restaurant inspectors?  Here's Chelito's with an unacceptable, and China Garden with a marginal, and all they need to do is take after their neighbors.

Mmmm, ice cream

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A retreat, an executive session, and this little tease can't be wrong.  Welcome to your new UCHealth-affiliated hospital.  Everyone is fired, um, fired up.

Chris Hardwick - Who ordered the Chris Hardwick pika?

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His name alone should have immediately earned him a pika in the Estes Park panoply of honored sex offenders, but now he's got a bona fide sexual-abuse allegation that should immediately rocket him to the top of the list: https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/17/entertainment/chris-hardwick-chloe-dykstra-allegations/index.html

Omuhgosh this is riveting TV

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https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/north-korea-has-released-a-new-propaganda-video-with-trump-and-kim.html However much of your day you can set aside to watch this "news story" (long enough to be a documentary) is worth every second.  Dance along to the 1960s classic "Love is Blue" when it arrives mid-Singapore.  Imagine all the thousands of folks lining the streets (or catering the lunch) who had the chance to kill a brutal despot and instead waved frantically at the motorcade, iPhones flashing.  Did Trump do anything in this footage to make America look weak or belittle the leader of another country, however mousy?  Did he not instead appear to be going out of his way to be ingratiating, and setting off what will without question be the long negotiations (likely ending in failure) ahead on the right foot?  This whole orchestrated event was simply a respectful re-introduction of two countries who haven''t done much but hurl insults at each other...

Is there room for a Kellen pika near the football field?

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So instead of Maybilly humping Lem Lem's leg, could we...

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Letter to a friend, part dva

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"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present."  Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Let those who have ears here, hear.

Crocodile tears

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Kevin Bacon sighting in Old Town Kevin Bacon is currently $55 today and tomorrow at the Stanley. Don't ever claim this blog isn't informative.

Alligator pears

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Medium avocados are currently two for a dollar (or 50 cents each) at Safeway. Don't ever claim this blog isn't informative.

No child should ever have to endure this

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Unless you are Margaret Baldwin, and you live in Estes Park.  Then your abuser gets a pika sculpture crafted in his honor, and children all over the world who arrive in Estes Park get the opportunity to search you out.  Gross.

On the Nose

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I'm going to get plenty of hate mail for this, but what else is new.  Quinn Brett is paralyzed because of an attempted "speed climb" of El Cap via the Nose route.  Tommy Caldwell, who just broke the 2-hour barrier, is now apparently questioning the wisdom of speed climbing.   I have a love for speed.  I really enjoy driving as fast as I can to and from Lyons, or to and from Loveland, ignoring the double yellow lines and darting around cars where I don't have anywhere near the safe cushion to pass.  But I just love taking risk.  So while I am breaking records again and again, including the almost unheard of 14 minutes uphill starting from the bear sculptures in Lyons to Bond Park (which has to be done at 2:00 in the morning to avoid the long strings of oncoming traffic), and people engaged in the same quest are injuring themselves (or others) again and again, and calling the EMTs into play when they could be somewhere else, at some point I have to keep...

While driving, always pay attention, and prepare for Pintos

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http://www.reporterherald.com/news/loveland-local-news/ci_31940639/1-dead-accident-u-s-34?source=email Note:  Goodwine Lane is one of those non-streets just before you curve left after the junkyard turn on 34 to head for the Big Thompson School, about a half-mile distant.  So this wasn't technically a Big Thompson Canyon road problem, as was initially intimated on social media.  Believe me, the canyon road has enough of its own problems right now, including being "finished" when it is nowhere near finished.  Expect lengthy delays, and ask yourself if CDOT uses a different dictionary than the rest of us, and why we allow them year after year to make a mockery of the English language.

Would you like your salsa mild, spicy, or roachy?

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Excuse me, are these larvae in my refried beans?  Mira, mira:  The latest restaurant ratings are out, and some of the Estes stalwarts have a bit of excusing to make.  In particular, Chelito's might want to stop serving the chimichangas with a steaming side of dog dump.  And Poppy, is that you with the urine stain on your sofa? Oh well, at least there is always the 49-cent burritos at Safeway.  As long as you don't pair them with the pre-cut cantaloupe, you won't throw up any more than usual.

Will this be the shortest town board meeting ever?

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That's it - One page.  Drinking water from a fire hose, or lapping water from a dripping fountain? I realize it's almost summer, and I recognize half the board is new, but there is "easing in", and then there is mailing it in.  The agenda would indicate this may be the shortest board meeting ever, including the one where the town hall caught on fire and they had to evacuate after the pledge. The packet is 42 pages, of which 20 pages are a slam-dunk contract approval for the trolleys, 10 pages are what will end up being a 7-0 vote in favor of the Raven Rock plat approval, 4 pages are intentionally blank, and any remaining pages are meeting minutes from earlier meetings or other committees or boards. Hope CDIV has something interesting to say about the homeless or a new committee he's forming, because otherwise, there is no reason for anyone other than a quorum to bother showing up. Update after the 19 minute and 15 second meeting:  If the pledge of all...

Two is an epidemic

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Suddenly fame is a risk factor.  Anthony Bourdain, dead at 61, confirmed suicide.

This will all make sense in about two weeks

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Here is a transcribed diary kept by the wife of Rev. Burr Montgomery between 1910 and 1930, in the possession of a granddaughter in Florida.  Rev. Montgomery served in the Estes Park Community Church between the years of 1914 to 1921, although apparently not for that entire time.  Rev. Montgomery testified against our Estes Park pedophiles in September 1917.  Hoo boy, is all our chickens about to come home to roost.

Well done, good and faithful servant

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A difference maker in her community.  An uplifting presence.  Compassionate, thoughtful, forgiving, welcoming to all, accepting of all, defender of everything just and right and true.  Never showy or pretentious.  This world will miss your curiosity and elan. http://www.estesparknews.com/local_obituaries/article_d58cc6d2-69c9-11e8-b19e-43eebacc954d.html

The mountain coaster Estes Park needs

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but isn't likely going to get.  Instead, if this is a gravity coaster, it will prolong the ride with gentle switchbacks, as in Gatlinburg, and halfway through, most people will want it finished out of boredom.  If we are going to build a roller coaster and piste the neighbors off, let's build a real roller coaster.  Why do a half-a$$ job and get stuck with a giant rainbow slide that degrades everything within a half-mile radius?

Kate Spade dead at age 55

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Started selling handbags out of a Tribeca loft in the early 1990s.  Yes, David Spade of SNL fame was her brother-in-law.  And yes, it appears she was despondent over her husband wanting a divorce.  Kate Spade.  Could have had her pick of practically anyone.  Man, does marriage and falling in love do a number on your lifespan.