Random Summer Photos

A few random photos from this summer

Red Sun from the forest fires in the West

Evening parade

Backdoor visitor - Got carrots???

Early Summer blooms in neighbor's yard

Unusual Aspen 

Mine opening found in nearby foothills

Mine Tag

Sign at nearby laundromat

Crude but effective

Seeing Pink!

In honor of Valentine's Day, I am showcasing all the pink homes here in Cripple Creek. 
I have often wondered on the frequent walks I take around town, why there are so many pink homes. 
Was there a sale on Pretentious Pink at the hardware store?

 

What's Up With Those Houses?

When Cripple Creek was built, the original part of the town was built on the hillsides so as not to disturb the valuable pasture land along the creek bottom. That was just in case the gold strike didn't 'pan out' .  
And just like developers today, the land planners of yesterday wanted to get as many homes and people into as little space as possible. So homes were built extremely close to each other. So close, that sometimes the roofs would hang over each other.  Making it very difficult to paint between the houses (probably a chore for the children).

Building houses this close together was fairly common in old mountain mining towns. And created a unique set of problems, besides the painting and maintenance, you can hear the neighbors. Their alarm clock. Their phone. Their...well...you get the idea. The picture below is between my house and the neighbor's. I'm just glad I have nice neighbors. Hope they say the same about us! There is enough room between our homes that a grown person can walk. 

Of course, that means any windows that face this space could potentially open onto the neighbor's window. Like our bedroom which opens onto our neighbor's bedroom window. The green seen through the window is my neighbor's house.

And while we do have some breathing room on the west side of our house, this wasn't always the case. There used to be a boarding house next door - situated on what is now my side lawn. I can't even begin to imagine .....

Life in a Volcano

I live in a volcano. An extinct one. At least I hope it is.

"Geologically Cripple Creek is a freak.", reported the Chicago Times in 1896. "It is a vast crater bed in which the elements once were wont to make merry with nature and play unexpected pranks that must have caused the systematic old dame many a vexatious hour."

The City of Cripple Creek can be seen sitting in a basin
which is an extinct caldera

Cripple Creek sits in a caldera measuring 24 square miles. When the caldera collapsed, giant size rocks were thrown about the basin. The caldera is surrounded on all sides by a combination  of quartz, feldspar, and mica. As eons passed by, more volcanic activity took place causing mineral rich solutions to fill the empty faults and fissures. These hardened over time and became the minerals which are now being mined near town. As more years passed, these mineral rich veins made their way closer to the surface only to be buried once again by granite, gneiss, and schist. Erosion later took its toll on some areas, exposing bits of the precious commodity.

The initial activity took place about 35 million years ago. There are still volcanic cones around Cripple Creek. All sitting quiet. Watching. Waiting.

Truths & Misconceptons

Since moving to this quaint and quirky little mountain town, I have had many questions and  comments about various aspects of this area. Comments like, "Oh. You have electricity." or "You don't get mail delivered to your house?"

Cripple Creek seen from the overlook near Tenderfoot Pass

This post and several in the coming weeks will be written to enlighten people - especially those living in cities - about life in this small rural mountain town.

Electricity - Yes. We have electricity. In fact, Cripple Creek has had electric power since 1897.
Water - Yes. We have municipal water. Just like the majority of the people who are reading this. And yes, we have indoor bathrooms. Though the last outhouse was in use until the mid 1980's.
Internet - While we do have internet capabilities, they are not high speed. My internet arrives via a satellite dish.
TV - If a person would like a variety of channels (we only get two channels via an antenna), then a satellite dish is necessary.
Mail & Packages - Even though this is a municipality, we do not have residential mail delivery. A post office box must be secured to receive mail via the postal service.  (this has been one of the hardest things for people to wrap their heads around... go figure...)  Fedex and UPS do deliver here.
Streets - The majority of the streets in Cripple Creek are paved. But there are only two paved streets in the neighboring town of Victor. In order to pave streets, a city must have funds to do so. Victor does not have the funding nor the population to provide funds to pave streets. Victor has a population of 403 people. Cripple Creek has  a population of 1,175 people. Both of those figures were per the 2016 census.  

Weather - Even though we are located at an elevation of over 9400ft, the weather here is more temperate than most people think. Most of the weather systems arrive from the south and this brings us warmer, wetter weather than most places in the high mountains. We do get a lot of fog though. That's not to say that Cripple Creek doesn't get its fair share of snow and nasty weather. But those times usually occur in the Spring months.
Casinos - Yes, Cripple Creek does have legal gambling with numerous casinos located on the main road in town. No, this is not like Las Vegas. Victor does not have gambling. More on this later.
Gold Mine - Both Cripple Creek and Victor are located in an active mining area. This means that the landscape is subject to change. More in another post.

Stores - We have one convenience store, two gas stations, a hardware/lumber store, a medical clinic, a nursing home and a small grocery store here. Oh, and a Family Dollar store. There are several small touristy shops found here in Cripple Creek as well. The grocery store, while it is small, has everything that would be needed and the prices are really comparable to stores in the closest 'big city' of Woodland Park. I make a once a week trip to Woodland Park for groceries. There is also a library and school located here.
Commuters - Yes. Hubby is still working in Colorado Springs. There are quite a few people who commute from up here to Colorado Springs to work. He drives 48 miles into work and crosses two mountain passes. Less miles than many people elsewhere drive to work. It takes him less time than people commuting from the south side to the north side of Colorado Springs to go to work. He enjoys his drive - he says it gives him time to decompress from work and this is the type of traffic congestion he has now. 

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

If I have forgotten to address a topic, leave me a message in the comments or ship me an email! I will be expanding on many of these topics in the next few weeks. The first topic will be the gold mine. So stay tuned. Don't touch that dial!

Sidewalk in a Mining Camp

sidewalk in a mining camp

the boom has long gone bust

head wheels now stand silent

how they gather rust

fall has drawn to winter

rain and fog survive

empty lots and empty bins

still we are alive

sidewalk in a mining camp

changes like the season

stand there month and moment

shake your head and reason

what has been production

to depth or great divide

the point was once to prosper

grandeur to decide

a limit to the landings

random without fuss

left is only a fog

no limit to the dust

long has gone the shadow

from the summer leaves

reason now distorted

levels by degrees

standing on the sidewalk

an empty one at that

reminder of the old days

money in the camp

the city was a magnet

roulette like a rush

fog binds the open

ushers to a hush

Anonymous

Ghosts of Christmas

Sometimes the Ghost of Christmas Present meets the Ghost of Christmas Past and it is a magickal thing.

Her Name

Our home is next door to a large Victorian home which is owned by the City of Cripple Creek. It is used as housing for the actors, actresses and stage crew for the local repertory theater, The Butte Theater.

The house is only inhabited 6 months out of the year. So it is almost like not having neighbors. This year's crew has been fun and our dogs have greatly enjoyed the extra hands which so eagerly reach over the fence to pet them. 

View of The Victorian Lady from my side yard

The house is gorgeous, with leaded windows and all sorts of detail work. It was built in 1898 by a Charles N. Miller. The house has been named The Victorian Lady. 

Well, not wanting our lovely home to feel left out, hubby named our house The Painted Lady. While the name may reference the "Women of the Night', it is in no way derogatory. The women who worked the bordellos were often kind hearted and generous. And very much misunderstood. But that is all for another post...

Winds of Change

This year has seen a lot of wind in this area. Crazy, strong winds! At least two of the storms brought us wind over 70 mph - that's hurricane force winds! 

Many Indigenous cultures believe that the wind is the Creator talking - that the wind will blow when a person is trying to be told something. Well, I should have been listening harder because those winds were telling us that change was in our future.

We've moved. But this time the move was into our own house. Not on our property in the mountains but very close by. In the quaint and quirky little town of Cripple Creek.

The Town of Cripple Creek as seen at the overlook

A lovely Victorian House chose us to come live within its walls. (I swear there was a bit of magick involved, but I will expand upon that in later posts - gotta have something else to write about)

Welcome to The Painted Lady.

Yes, that's a white pocket fence that you see. The house was built in 1900 and still has many of the original features - doors, transoms, wood molding, brass light fixtures and the gorgeous fireplace with the original firebox. Though it burned coal not wood.

Front entry with original doors

Dining Room with original light fixture

In the coming weeks, I will share things about our new home, the town, and the 'neighbors' who live around us.

Click on the pictures to enlarge and see details.

Grabbin' Ass!

Sheesh! I can't take my Hubby anywhere!

I caught him grabbin' ass not once but twice this weekend! 

looking southwest over the town of Victor, Colorado

It happened over the weekend in the small mining town of Victor, Colorado (elevation 9,780 ft). 

It was a spur-of-the-moment trip. We were in Cripple Creek early to deliver a faux bois bench to the gift shop, Shops at the Silver Mine, and decided we didn't want to go straight back home. So off down the road we went to the neighboring town of Victor. We stopped at a scenic overlook that looked over a beautiful valley and a hiking trail with a few people - and their burros! - walking towards Victor. 

After watching the hikers for a bit, hubby & I wandered off to look at the various mining equipment displays. Not long into my absorption of history, I heard someone yelling, I looked around and saw a woman running down a nearby hill. Far ahead of her was her burro! I got Hubby's attention and he headed towards the main trail. I headed over to the trail spur which led to the parking lot. 

The runaway burro wasn't going any further! Fortunately the burro headed towards Hubby where she was promptly caught and led back to her owner. 

Back on the road we laughed about the "ass grabbin" and wondered what the race was about. As we wondered through town, we decided to stop and eat at a small cafe that looked out onto main street where the finish line was.  

We watched the racers come down the street as we enjoyed the best green chili I've had in awhile! After lunch we went out to mingle with the racers. 

Elrod

There was one burro that took a liking to me, his name was Elrod. Hubby had to keep intercepting him. I don't have a fondness for horses or burros. 

The race was a 'Haulin Ass Up The Pass' race sanctioned by the Western Pack Burro Ass-ociation. Burros were an integral part of Colorado's mining history. Burros supplied the labor to pull the heavy ore carts in the mines. They were the transportation to get the gold ore out of the mountains. Burros were the prospector's best friend. Today's races are an acknowledgement of the part the Burro played in the search for Colorado's riches. Each burro in the race, regardless of size, had to carry a shovel, a pick, a gold pan. The full size donkeys also had to carry 33lbs of weight. 

miniature donkey

How can anyone be mad when the Ass is as cute as the one in the picture above?