Busy weekend in Sunshine

The garage sale

Merchandise for the garage sale

We had a very busy weekend in Sunshine.  On Saturday there were two events going on.  Saturday was the community wide garage sale.  So many people helped.  Mary organized and was in charge of the event.  Beth and MaryAnn worked for three + days on the event.  Their expertise was very valuable.  The room was well organized and MaryAnn should get an award for add-on sales.  If an item was marked a dollar, she would charge 75 cents and send you back to find an item that sold for 25 cents.  She moved a bunch of stuff!  We set up the garage sale in Station #1.  Although the rebuild after the fire is not yet complete, we were able to use the structure. 

stuff, stuff and more stuff

Merchandise was brought in Thursdaynight and all day Friday.  The sale began just before 9AM Saturday morning.  I started the day by purchasing a shot glass for my collection.  Things wound down by 4PM.  We raised about 1/5th the amount we need for the electrical hook-up.

 

The Arts and Craft Fair

Inside the school house

The Annual Sunshine Arts and Craft Fair was also very successful.  This is an annual event used to raise money for the upkeep of the school house and cemetery.  the event runs for two days, usually the 3rd weekend in September.  There were people in attendance the whole time the doors were open.  June was there, selling her book, Stories of Sunshine, a great book about the history of our little community.  We had other vendors selling jewelry, stationary, Christmas ornaments, soap, artwork, gold ore samples (from a local mine) and, of course, cakes and cookies.  We shut down around 4PM on Sunday.  Each year the sales increase.  This was our 14th year.

 

June selling her book about Sunshine, Colorado

 

Shoppers

I guess I should explain what happened and why we are trying to raise money for the electrical hook-up.  Although separate, the fire department and the school house / cemetery association have always worked closely together.  The School was build in 1900.  It originally had a wood burning stove but no electricity.  Sometime in the recent past, some neighbors ran an electrical connection from the firehouse (station #1) to the school house.  Lights and an outlet were installed.  Although not up to code (the cable was attached to live trees) it worked well.  That is until the heater in station #1 caught on fire and burnt the building to the ground.  the power company, when responding to the fire, disconnecting the hook-up to both the fire station and the school house.  We would like to re-connect the electrical hook up and have it be to code.

Without the electrical hook-up, we have heat but no lights in the school house.  With this configuration, the school house can only be used during day light hours.  In the past, the Halloween party, new Years celebration and other event have been held there, many at night.  We are now relying on private homes instead of our community center.  For the craft fair, we ran a rather long extension cord from the contractors hook-up to the school house.  It worked but I don't know how safe it was.

Community Fest 2007

Food, Food, Food!!!

The Community Fest fund raiser for the fire department was very successful.  The weather was beautiful.

Silent auction items

We began serving Food, Beer and soft drinks around 2PM.  There was a silent auction with lots of great items on display.  The live auction was rather interesting.  It usually includes cakes and pies baked by local neighbors.  There are usually a couple of "odd" items.  This year the "odd" items were a truck load of firewood, and a 1969 Ford Mustang convertible.  Hildegard still holds the record for the cake that brought in the highest bid, $1000 two years ago.  This year, although it didn't bring in quite as much, she still baked the winner. 

Next on the Sunshine agenda is the garage sale at firehouse #1 next Saturday and the annual Sunshine Arts & Craft fair at the schoolhouse.

I have been struggling with my desire to write any more.  I've shared most of my stories and quite frankly, don't have much more I want to say.  I have only one story about my connection to the old west but I have hesitated writing it.  It's about Tom Horn, Geronimo and my association with the man that stood next to Tom when he was hung, T Joe Cahill (the last hanging in Cheyenne in 1903).  I hesitate because I am very sensitive to the manner in which the American natives were murdered and forced to surrender to the army.  To this day, I believe man belongs to the land, the land does not belong to man.  I don't want to offend any of those who still read my entries by telling the story. 

I want to thank you for hanging in there with me.  I'm sure I will add a few more entries as the mood strikes me......as for now Milo and I will continue to walk everyday (as long as I am able), wave to Bob the bus driver and raise the flag.  (I hope some will continue to raise the flag after I'm gone)  I will try to add items that pertain to Sunshine and the things going on in the community.  I still want to keep our neighbors that have left up to date on "things going on in sunshine".

Please give your family all the love you can and watch out for the bears.

 

 

Home again

 

Measuring the Empire State Building

I would have never guessed that this cowboy would ever find himself looking across the Hudson River at New York City, but I did.  Our gig ended earlier than I had expected.  Don, my co-worker, winged his way to California as I flew back to Denver.  It was an experience, to say the least.  We were working for AT & T, auditing their overhead fiber optic cable.  That required us to measure the height above the ground at all streets, roads, railroad crossings and commercial driveways.  We also had to inspect the cable for any anomalies.  Our walks took us through Newark, Harrison, Rutherford, North Bergen, W. NewYork, Weehawken, Hoboken and Jersey City, New Jersey.

Just before I left, I finished a book about Alexander Hamilton.  The Hamilton - Burr dual took place on the river bank, just below the cliffs at Weehawken.  Little did I know that I would be soon standing in that very spot.

We were only stopped twice by security guards, asking us what we were doing.  One was at MSNBC and the other was at the Lincoln tunnel.  I guess we looked official as 20+ police officers passed us and did not stop.  One even stopped traffic as we took our measurement in the middle of a very busy intersection.  We did have an occasion to chat with some fire fighters in Jersey City.  I felt right at home.  I connected with Dawn via email but we did not get a chance to meet in person.

While Milo and I were walking this morning, we ran into our neighbors, Pam and Fred.  Fred told me he was from East Orange, NJ.  I mentioned that I was surprised what a nice neighborhood  Hoboken seemed to be.  Most of the area around it was mostly Spanish speaking and Hoboken was all English.  Fred reminded me that the Ferry goes across the Hudson to Manhattan there and that it is a yuppie neighborhood.

An observation from this ol' cowboy.  I was reminded that you have to keep your guard up and not to be too nice.  Being nice is often seen as a weakness.  Once you have stood your ground and shown that you have some nastiness in you, niceness has a chance to set in.  I lived around Baltimore for 11 years and found it true that you have to have a little "nastiness" in you to survive.  Little wonder I left and came home.  In Wyoming, a handshake and a look in the eye is often the only contract a man needs.  You don't cross a cowboy, he may leave you stuck in a spring blizzard, tied to a fence pole.  (I want to insert that I have met some really wonderful people from the city.  My old room mate, Doug lives in Queens.  Ellen, Marina and Vicky are included in that group of wonderful people).  It was also a little different passing people on the street.  Heads would turn away without any acknowledgement.  I missed that little eye contact and a nod of the head, saying "hello" that is common in the west.  I also forgot what it was like to have rain for more than 20 minutes at a time.  It rained for 2 days and kept us from working.  It may snow in Sunshine for days, but never rain.  I also missed seeing the stars, the millions of stars at night.

Which one of those wires is ours????

 

Lower Manhattan, across from the World Trade Center site.

Now that I am back, I need to get back into the swing of things here in Sunshine.  School has started and many of our summer residents have left.  Mike, Jennie and the kids have returned to Chicago.  Eva and Katrina are flying back to Germany as I write this; Jack will follow at the end of next month.  We will miss them.

The community is getting geared up for the Community Fest to be held on the 8th of September.  It is the annual fund raiserfor the fire department.  There will be a silent auction, a verbal auction, food and drink.  I always enjoy the verbal auction.  It's fun watching people bid $100 - $1000 for one of Hildegards cakes or pies.

The annual craft fair will be held on the 22nd of September at the Sunshine School house.  In conjunction, their will be a garage sell at fire house #1.  We are trying to raise enough money to get an electrical connection to the school house.  We lost our hook-up when fire house #1 burnt to the ground.

There will be no Team Sunshine meeting this month.  The next meeting will be on October the 25th.

The last meeting of the season of the Sunshine Garden Club will be held at Mary Ann's house (date to be announced).  We are planning on having a plant exchange.  By the way Mary Ann, are you a turtle?  (Mary Ann does not have an AOL account so I expect and answer via e-mail)

Remember, The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

Smiles,

David

In New Jersey

Greetings from rainy New Jersey.  My 1st thought is that I hope my ol' note book holds up long enough to finish this post.  My 1st week has been very busy and exciting for this old cowboy from Wyoming.  Many years ago I was on a flight from Washington DC to Boston.  We flew over NewYork City and I could see the shadows of the tall buildings.  Now I can say I have seen them from ground level.  Our work has taken us through Jersey City.  Looking across the Hudson river was NYC.  Maybe I'll get a chance to cross the river and say I've been in NYC!

Our work has also taken us to the Meadowlands, home of Giants Stadium and MSNBC.  As we were taking measurements on the fiber optic cable in front of MSNBC, a security guard hustled out of the building and approached us.  He wanted to know what we were doing, who we were and how long we would be there.  We gave him our drivers licenses and explained the details. He took our licenses inside to photo copy.  Meanwhile, we completed our tasks and waited for the guard to return.  He returned after several minutes and gave us our drivers licenses.  Demanding to know how long we would be, we smiled, thanked him for doing his job, turned and left.

Be safe, give your loved ones a hug and a kiss.

Janice, give Milo a big hug for me.

Until next time,

Smiles,

David

Taking a leave

Yellowstone, 1951

Greeting to all,

I wish I could say I was going on an extended fishing trip to Yellowstone but I can't.  I will be away until the end of October, working in New Jersey.  With that in mind, I need to post all of the events happening in Sunshine until the 1st of November.

Team Sunshine will hold it's August meeting at Mary's house on August 23, 7:30PM.  The September meeting will be held on the 27th and the October meeting will be on the 25th, locations to be announced at the previous months meeting.

September will be, as always, a very active month.  The community fest will be held at the firehouse on September 8th.  There will be a fire mitigation meeting on the 16th, breakfast will be served.  The Sunshine craft fair will be on the 22nd at the Sunshine School house.  Although I won't be able to participate, Star Route, our local band will be performing at the Outlook Hotel in Boulder on the evening of the 14th.  Don't forget "Talk Like A Pirate Day" on September 19th.

The Great American Beer Fest will be held in Denver on the weekend of the 13th of October. Although this event is not held in Sunshine, it is sponsored by a Sunshine resident and almost everyone in Sunshine attends.

During the predawn hours of August 13, make time to step outside and cast your eyes heavenward.  The Perseid Meteor Shower should be at its peak.  At an average of 60 mph (meteors per hour), you'll be sure to catch a flash across the sky every minute or so, weather permitting.

Remember, there's two theories to arguin' with a woman.  Neither one works.

Smiles to all,

David

Sunrise over Sunshine

Greetings from Sunshine

Wow, I can not believe how fast the summer is passing us by in Sunshine.  The Pot Luck dinner  on the 13th was a success.  We filled up the school house with many of our neighbors.  We even met some of the new neighbors that will be moving in next month.   It's always nice to see new faces.  The Homebrew Hoedown at the Spread Eagle Lodge went well.  All of the bands sounded great.  It was quite a mixture of music.  There was a wonderful jazz quartet, our band (geezer rock) and several blue grass groups.  Oh, oh... and the homebrew was very tasty.

Sunshine events this week include the Team Sunshine meeting, Thursday evening (7:30) at our house and the Sunshine Garden club, which will be meeting at Stephanie's house, Saturday, at 4:30.  A few of us are going to try to head up to Cheyenne for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.  If you have a hankering to see the old west, it's a great place for the whole family.  I was born and raised in Cheyenne, and I can tell you, it's quite an experience.

I was happy to see our mayor, Chris at the Homebrew Hoedown.  I usually see Chris 3 to 4 times during the week but his gray beard and smiling face has been missing for several weeks.  I knew he was home for all of his friends, (foxes, deer, birds, chipmunks and squirrels, not to mention a bear or two) have been hanging around his house.  Every now and then I would notice his front door open but did not see his friendly grin.  I pulled him aside and we chatted over a pint of honey mead.  Chris told me that he had not been feeling at all well.  He went to the doctor and has some tests done.  It was determined he had a food allergy.  I should have known better than to fall for this one.  I asked him what he was allergic to....his reply......wedding cake.  We had a good laugh over that one.

Remember, If you find yourself in a hole the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

Smiles, David

 

Busy week ahead in Sunshine

Hiding in this picture are the three new bear cubs.  Look for their little brown noses.  Thank you Ruby for the pictures.

There are several up coming events in Sunshine.

Friday, July 13th at 6PM will be the community Pot Luck Supper.  It will be held at the old Sunshine School house.  Please bring your own table setting, drinks and a plate to share.

Saturday, July 14th, starting at 2PM will be the Spread Eagle Home Brew Hoe Down.  It will be held at the Spread Eagle lodge, 281 County Road 83 (John and Kat's house).  There will be a home brew tasting contest and four bands (Including Sunshine's own Star Route).  People are encouraged to bring camping gear and not to drink and drive.  Please be careful of the bears.

The new bear cubs mother.

Please have a safe and happy 4th of July.

Remember, It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.

David