The Colorado State Open Thread is published weekly on Mondays, mostly at or around 7PM Mountain time, and consists of whatever the author feels like sharing. Usually, we have topics concerning Colorado, Coloradoans (btw, is it Coloradoans, or Coloradans?) and something related to Colorado, but even that isn’t a firm rule. Last week we had a very nice Colorado-based autobiography from Dynana, with her first diary (and fwiw, I really enjoyed learning about her). Others who would like to contribute are welcome to contact me and get their own diary scheduled.
You may have read in my comment attached to Dynana’s diary that Mrs. Colotim and I didn’t make our trip to a tropical island. The resort company sent word the day before our trip that many places including the restaurant in the resort were closed and that the resort would stop accepting new visitors checking in just a couple of days after we would arrive, thereby meaning we’d pretty much be abandoned. Not knowing what would happen over the rest of the island, but expecting it to shut down as well, we decided to be cautious and not put our health at risk (or anyone around us while on the trip or back home). So, we stayed back in Colorado, sheltering in place, and instead of warm tropical breezes and margaritas on the beach, we enjoyed a 15+ inch snowfall and margaritas on the couch.
It’s not the same.
Well, it wasn’t as if all was bad. Estes Park looks beautiful in the fresh snow and we have been able to see tracks of lots of critters all over the neighborhood, including many I cannot identify. Oh, there are squirrels, rabbits, birds (including turkeys, with their huge footprints in the shape of a “Y”), deer, maybe elk since some are pretty large, mice and/or chipmunks, as well as people. No barefoot footprints two foot long in size, no bears (but soon) and there may be some mountain lion or bobcat tracks — we’re discussing about those, and likely some coyote tracks though we know many were put there by Ginger, though she’s much smaller than a coyote. Some head straight and purposeful, some practically go in circles and some disappear in the middle of a meadow, leading to much speculation about what happened to the maker of the tracks.
I imagine most of you are fairly free from snow in your areas. I expect Denver and the flat lands are mostly free of snow. There are some of us with time yet in the winter season — Thinking Fella probably has another 2-3 months of snow like we do here in Estes. Please let us know how you’re sheltering in place, any special suggestions for how to pass the time and anything else that’s on your mind. The floor is yours…