The Art and Business of Recycling

I’M A PRETTY GOOD RECYCLER. I don’t mind separating the materials and making periodic treks to the public recycle center, where I put recyclables in separate containers for collection. It makes me feel good. And it’s free. Or was free. Effective April 2021, Chaffee County no longer has public drop-off sites for recycling. Our only …

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Pickleball Passion

IT WAS A BLUEBIRD-SKY SUNDAY MORNING in Buena Vista as I squinted against the intense sun, following the outstretched arm of Stephanie McDonald, the USA Pickleball district ambassador for southern Colorado. Her gesture encompassed the center of the newly poured pickleball courts, as she described where eventually there will be bleachers for fans to observe …

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Lincoln Park Legacy

THE GENTLE ROLLING HILLS JUST SOUTH OF Cañon City are covered with the green that a semi-desert landscape can produce: low grasses, cactus, shrub-like pine and juniper trees. Ground and surface waters drain northeast from the Wet Mountains immediately adjacent, though surface waters flowing through the area, like Sand Creek, tend to appear only following …

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El Agua es Vida

EL AGUA ES VIDA, OR TRANSLATED: WATER IS LIFE. The July ’22 issue of Colorado Central Magazine had no less than five items concerning water. The primary item was George Sibley’s article regarding the Colorado River Compact. With all that emphasis on the “life blood” of our region, state, nation and planet, this offering provides …

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Building Earthships

IT’S A DELICIOUS, IF TORTUROUS, CYCLE WITH ME: just when I’m on the brink of throwing up my hands and writing all humanity off as a wretched lot of uberconsumerist, plastic-mongering jackasses who deserve to suffocate in the ozone-depleted bed we’ve made for ourselves — lo and behold, some brightly shining soul or earth-conscious initiative …

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Recovery Out Loud

“I LOVE THIS MEETING. IT’S THE BEST PART OF MY WEEK,” a participant confessed at a Peer Empowered Recovery Community Solutions (PERCS) All Recovery Meeting. Ten people filled the basement of the Salida United Methodist Church on a Monday evening in June. Andy Panter, co-founder and organizer of the All Recovery Meeting and a PERCS …

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