Another Month in the Valley: Winter With a Capital W

Another Month in the Valley

By Thomas Wills – Editor and Co-Publisher

                Real winter begins the Valley in early December and the first significant snows of the 2015-16 winter began just after Thanksgiving.

And we look back on the past year and begin to think about a brand new year, 2016. Probably the most important Presidential Election Year in a generation. A local Municipal Election Year including a planned vote on commercial marijuana in Hotchkiss.  A year when changes in the local coal mines will probably continue and local Chamber of Commerce, businesses and the towns consider what a changing local economy will mean. A year when the Region 10 broadband project will begin. A year when orchardists and farmers wonder what the “weirding” of weather due to early impacts of global warming will bring to our area. A year when Hotchkiss activists plan a new festival.

Here at the Herald in 2106, we will be gradually moving from being a monthly newspaper with a cultural component, to a monthly cultural magazine with the news still there, but presented more succinctly and the focus moving to arts, agriculture and local foods, local business, and history.

November 23 – Sunny and warm day with a below freezing night.  The paper went to the printer a few days early due to the holiday and it was a scramble to get it all done. I expect that more than a few typos slipped by me.

My mother, Lila, arrived from Rangely via my brother and sister in law on Saturday and will stay through the day after Thanksgiving. Jane, despite still using a walker after her hip replacement, decided that she could drive a little more than just to get a haircut or to church a few blocks away.  She took Mom, who is 84, on a tour of the local thrift shops and they had lunch at The Diner in Paonia.  Good review of the food.

We all went to services at the Hotchkiss Methodist Church on Sunday where it was United Methodist Women’s Sunday where Pastor Amos and his family sat in the audience and the UMW women took over things. Joke from the speaker: At church it was explained to a young girl that there would be a special mention of those who had died in the “service.” The girl looked perplexed and then asked, “Was this in the 8:30 or the ten o’clock?” An example of some words needing context.

November 24 – The alley behind our Hotchkiss house is now blocked with a bypass pipe for the sewer replacement project.  A needed project, but one that is requiring some readjustment on the part of businesses and homeowners who park in back.

Catching up on bookstore work where it looks like an explosion in a book mine run by cats.

Still sunny despite the rumours of a storm moving in later in the week.

November 26 – Thanksgiving went well, meaning I didn’t burn or over-season anything as I spent the morning cooking. The turkey was done, but not too done and the whole wheat rolls were acceptably light. I made cornbread and quinoa stuffing and it was edible.

November 27-28 – The promised storm did not arrive, which was good for my brother Willie (yes, Willie Wills) as he chauffeured my mother, Lila, back to Rangely via Douglass Pass, which is not the friendliest place in bad weather.

I had a couple of pretty good, post-holiday days in the bookstore. And made a little progress at clearing out some of the just-arrived, unprocessed books that had arrived the past few weeks while I was busy on the Herald.

Lots of local talk about the Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado Springs that wounded nine and killed three, including a police officer.

November 29 – A light snow fell on the lower Valley in the early morning hours. More snow in the higher areas.

November 30 – A virtual weather repeat of yesterday. Light snow in the early morning.

December 4 – A little warmer for the holiday festivities kicking off in Paonia.

December 5 – Warmer overnight with the little scattered rain in the lower parts of the Valley.

December 6 – The second Sunday of Advent in churches all over the North Fork that celebrate tradition. Pastor Amos appeared before the Hotchkiss Methodists with a Santa hat that had “Naughty or Nice?” on the front—and a button with a flashing LED light. It was children’s Christmas pageant day.  Always a delight and lot of relatives came to support the kids, making the sanctuary full and festive. The play/presentation was about those who didn’t bother to show up to view the newborn Jesus.

The murders in California were on the minds of many and prayers were offered.

After the service the UM Women held a soup fundraiser for their projects. I made my chicken vegetable noodle soup that I sneaked a little quinoa into. My favorites were the “crunchy” salad and the amazing peanut butter cookies.

My favorite nativity scene in Hotchkiss is at the First Baptist Church. Classic hand painted, folk art plywood cutouts spotlighted at night in the very best, heartfelt small town Christmas manner. Most striking after a nice fresh snowfall.

December 8 – Paonia Town Council met to adopt their 2016 budget. Organizers of a new festival, held in conjunction with the Delta County Fair on August 12-13, met at the Hotchkiss K-8 to start bringing it together.

December 9 – Relatively warm and overcast.

December 10 – The Hotchkiss Town Council met to adopt the 2016 budget.

December 12 -The monthly Shop Hotchkiss Saturday dawned with a light snow in Hotchkiss that continued on and off throughout the day, but mostly melted away. I was reminded today by a smart acquaintance, to refrain from using the phrase “it’s simple physics” when discussing human-caused climate change. Basic physics maybe (conservation of energy), but not that simple, which is probably why so many find the issue easier to ignore than understand. Thanks, Robert. Great point.

December 14 – A little rain in Hotchkiss overnight with relatively mild temperatures.  And then the snow moved in.  About an inch and a half fell in Hotchkiss—at least that much stuck. A lightly attended but interesting Hotchkiss Neighborhood Watch meeting in the evening.

December 15 – Hotchkiss Downtown Improvement in the morning. Lots of great projects are planned for 2016 including (hopefully) my first major mural project in 20 years using the west side of the Ace Hardware building.

And a Yay! For Linda Tullis, our small, but mighty arts queen who has managed to herd the Creamery cats into reasonable circle once again.  She sent me the plan and schedule for the reorganized Creamery Arts Center, reopening in February, and it looks doable (See page 3). Please help her and the new board where you can.

It was unofficially reported (by the wife of a miner on Facebook) that some of the contractors working at the West Elk Mine had been laid off. The national financial media reported that Arch Coal was not going to make a $90 million interest payment on massive debt (due today), deferring it, and a possible bankruptcy filing, until mid-January. Talk like that tends to make vendors, investors (and miners) nervous.

December 16 – Cold and clear. Thanks to Nancy for the car-load (literally) of nice books today.  Donations in addition to the trades (and purchases of exceptional things) make the difference on keeping the used bookstore in the black, which is a challenge in these days of the Kindle, Amazon, and Internet and a declining number of serious readers.

December 17 – More light snow across the Valley.

December 18 – State Senator Kerry Donovan of Vail held a public meeting in Paonia in the early evening.

December 19-20 –When I took the dog and cat out at 5 a.m. the trees and bushes were frosted with clinging glitter. Deadline day of working on the Herald.  Trying to squeeze in all of the most interesting and important stuff despite the limited space.

December 21 –  More light wet snow in Hotchkiss and a lot more just a little higher up. Jane had her thick, beautiful white hair dyed purple (really) to celebrate the solstice, or Christmas—or just to surprise the heck out of me.  It did. When she stopped by the bookstore it took a couple of very long beats to realize who she was.

A few Solstice bonfires were reported happening around the Valley; sort of an alternative/addition to the Christmas Eve church services. One very good idea that is part of this traditional ceremony is to throw bad things: hate, envy, regrets, etc. written down, into the fire and start the new year fresh. Like a newborn baby.

December 22 – More gooshy snow in town. Almost warm enough to be rain. I’m keeping track of who’s been naughty and nice in the snow shoveling department in my neighborhoods.  Letting snow pile up and freeze down on the brand new, smooth sidewalk cancels out the money and effort for the winter months. Shame. I forgive the vacant houses (a little), and older folks just need to ask, but the able-bodied will not get a free pass from me.

Business News and Other Rumours

KVNF Public Radio has hired Jon Howard as the new station manager who began work as of late November. He has lived in Colorado before on the Eastern Plains, but moved here from the Isle of Wight where he and his wife have spent the last six years.

The DCI reported that Delta County Library District Director, Annette Choszcyk, had resigned shortly after being placed on administrative leave by the Delta County Library District Board in November.  The resignation will result in the official reasons for the dismissal remaining a closed-to-the-public personnel matter. LaDonna Gunn, who previously worked for the District from 2007 to 2012 under Choszcyk, has been hired to be the District’s third director.

Orchard City Mayor, Republican, Don Suppes, has announced that he is running for the District 2 County Commissioner’s seat in the 2016 general election. Present District 2 Commissioner, Bruce Hovde, is term limited. Suppes a conservative previously ran unsuccessfully for State Senate in 2014. In District 3 incumbent, Mark Roeber, is expected to run for a second term in 2016 but as of this writing has not announced this officially.