A visit with Jane

Saturday, just afternoon, I found myself in the park behind Boulder High School.  The Maple trees were holding onto their yellow, orange and red colors.  It was cool and overcast with a chance of rain in the forecast.  Walking on the creek path, going in the opposite direction, was my Sunshine neighbor, Jane.  She was wearing a light jacket and had her brunette hair tied back in a pony tail.  She had a rather strange look on her face.

            I asked her what she had been up to lately.  She said she had been fighting the computer system at the State Department of Transportation.  She had recently applied for a new driver’s license that had to be mailed to her.  When it arrived she looked at it for a quick review.  Jane told me that the giant electronic wizard, the know-it-all IBM master computer; the savior of the massive amounts of data that the state holds on us made a small mistake.  Her license had her date of birth correct, had her hair and eye color correct; even her weight and height correct.  Everything was correct except her name.  Her license called her John instead of Jane.

She immediately called the Department of Transportation and informed them of the mistake.  The person on the other end of the phone said she had the correct form to deal with the issue and would promptly mail it to Jane.  It arrived the next day.  Jane completed the form and returned it.  Two days later an envelope arrived.  Enclosed was a sticker to be attached to the back of the driver’s license.  It states that, in the eyes of the state, her name has officially been changed from John to Jane.

Halloween Costume Party in Sunshine

Sunshine Arts & Craft Show

The Sunshine Schoolhouse

Annual Arts & Crafts Show

Featuring the work of local residents!

Date:   Saturday, October 18,  and

              Sunday, October 19, 2014

              Free Admission & Refreshments!

Time:   10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. both days

Place:   Historical SUNSHINE SCHOOL  

387 County Road 83

Sunshine Canyon

Boulder, Colorado 80302

·        At Mapleton Ave. & 4^th St.  proceed up into Sunshine Canyon approximately 5 ½ miles, turn right on to County Road 83, proceed straight ahead for about ½ mile, schoolhouse will be on your left.  You can’t miss it! 

·         

For inquiries contact:                                 

Janice Wheeler    303.442.0657

Dee Spencer       303.443.0121

 

          10% of all sales will go to the Sunshine School & Cemetery Fund.

Cash & Checks only, please.

2014 Great American Beer Festival

Congratulations to our Sunshine neighbors, Jean and Paul for another Superb Beer Festival.  Danny Williams is smiling down upon us.
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2014/10/05/great-american-beer-fest-colorado-breweries-steal.html?ana=twt

This is from my post of

Sunday, December 6, 2009


Holiday House Warming



For those of you who have followed my journal for the last four or five years know that our community of Sunshine was, at one time, a booming gold mine town. The Gold played out and the war came along. The Gold Mines shut down. The shafts and tunnels are still here. So what does one do with an abandoned mine tunnel? Our friend Danny stores his beer in there. The temperature is a constant 54 degrees, summer and winter. Danny is a well known beerconnoisseur. This picture was published some time ago in the New York Times. An article about him showed up in an Australian news paper declaring his as a "popular bloat". Danny loves his beer. He even has an attachment to his small pick-up truck that he takes to local functions. The attachment holds 3 kegs of beer, all on tap.

Visiting John

I ran up to Cheyenne this evening.  My brother, John, is back in the hospital.  His heart again.  Anyway, I had one of those "OMG" moments while driving north on I-25, just south of the Wyoming, Colorado border.  The countryside is rather barren.  Mostly gentle rolling hills covered with prairie grass.  No trees, no houses, no people, nothing, just grass, wind and blue skies.  Sometimes you will see antelope and a few cattle, mostly white face herefords.  This evening, just as the sun was setting, I saw something I had only dreamt about.  You would think it would be an everyday thing.  Growing up in Wyoming,you would think this event would not surprise me. But it did.  It was very common in the western plains before the white man moved in.  It was a herd of buffalo grazing for their evening meal.  I had seen paintings, even movies of this event.  But, for the 1st time in my life, there it was.  A large herd of buffalo,  They are a majestic animal.
Please pray for John.

The Mayor's doing well

Here's Chris, the mayor (on the right), and some Sunshine residents enjoying an evening.  His by-pass was very successful.  He went home two days after the surgery.  He must have been felling good enough to start telling stories.....so I believe they kicked him out.  We're happy all went well.

The Mayor

I received news yesterday that Sunshine's mayor, Chris was taken to the hospital and had quadruple by-pass surgery.  He is much loved.  The surgery went well and he should be going home in the next few days.  As the mayor, Chris has, for years, hosted an informal Friday Afternoon Club at his humble little cottage.  Neighbors just stop in every Friday for stories, comradery  and, maybe just a little booze.  Chris loves to make others feel at home, so much so that, after taking him to the hospital the group of them (20 to 30) returned to Chris' and continued the FAC.

Walkie Talkies

The fire may have taken away our houses but it didn't take away our neighborhood.  Almost every morning a group of women can be found walking along County Road 83.  Some days the group is relatively small, others days, very large (especially if some of the husbands join).  The topics of conversation can vary, and yes, they do talk politics.  They call themselves the "Walkie Talkies" and for a good reason.  Once the conversation starts, it doesn't stop.  Join in?..... not if you're a man.  I have first hand knowledge, I tried once.

After three and a half years, it's time to rebuild.

Losing Danny

After a bout with cancer, Sunshine lost it's long time neighbor and friend, Danny Williams.  Danny was a gentle sole, loved by almost every one he touched.  Some time ago I posted a picture of his mine tunnel/beer cellar.  Danny was a major player in the home brewing community.  We will miss him.

A little lost

I know I haven't spent much time on my blog. I've been over on Facebook, wasting time. I've been a little lost since the fire. I was in a state of shock, losing everything but keeping the things most important to me; my family and my pets. Nobody died, just a neighborhood. I haven't talked much about this to anybody. My family says I need counseling. It's post traumatic stress syndrome. I've become very quiet, not having much to say about anything. I could probably type for hours on the subject, but not tonight. Tonight is for Milo. Milo was born in the mountains on a cold February day. He's a mountain boy. Always has been. He likes running wild through the woods; chasing rabbits, foxes, and yes, bears. He's not afraid of the dark, just the low rumble of thunder during a thunderstorm. He would always find me and stay close during a storm. On a short drive up the hill to Steve and Dee's house, he would run behind my car, trying to stay with me. He would help me raise the flag at the school house. He would lick my face with that big wet tongue and look at me, eye to eye, as if he understood everything I was talking to him about. My brother-in-law lived next door to us, well, kind of for mountain living. That is where Milo's Mom (Shilo) and his sister (Cheyenne) live. When we would leave him at home alone, he would bark and howl; scratch at the door until it splintered. Finally, we started leaving him with his mom and sister. He seemed to enjoy the family living, at least until I came home. Then he couldn't get up to me fast enough. Fortunately, my brother-in-law did not lose his house in the fire. We tried keeping Milo with us in town but it didn't work out well for him. He needed to run free in his forest. We talked to my brother-in-law and his wife. They agree that he needed to stay up in Sunshine, so they kind of adopted him. I get visitation rights anytime I want them. For a while I would bring him into town on weekends. He would not leave me. He was always just behind me, on my right side. When I would take him home, he would jump out of the car and run over to his mom. I quit spending time with Milo almost a year ago. I know it's best for him. He's happy now. I just really, really miss him.

The View

Thanks to Jeff Burch for the view west of Boulder. Sunshine is up there someplace.

Our New Home

Greetings to all that have followed my blog. Sunshine is continuing to rebuild. As far as our family, we have moved to Erie, Colorado. Now we get to "see the view" instead of "being the view". Be safe.

So many things have changed this year, but one tradition we’re determined not to lose is the Annual Sunshine New Year’s Eve Progressive Party. Come celebrate the beginning of a NEW YEAR!

6:00—8:00 p.m. Appetizers at Megan & Brian Joseph’s
175 Misty Vale

8:00—10:00 p.m. Dinner at Suzi & Dennis Covey’s

493B County Road 83 10:00 p.m.—??? Dessert/Champagne at Deirdre & Jonathan Damron’s

86 Misty Vale

Life continues

This little community continues to amaze me. The great community of Sunshine is doing it's best to keep the love flowing. We have had pot luck dinners, FAC (Friday afternoon clubs), and social gathering about every two weeks since the Sheriff let us back into our little town. About half the attendees are driving up from our exile in Boulder to socialize with the folks that didn't get burnt out.



I am not spending much time at the site of our old home. It is still too hard. I do get to see Milo once in a while. He is staying with his mother and sister at my brother-in-laws house. It would be almost impossible for my big buddy to stay in town with us. He would tear our rental house apart. He suffers from separation anxiety and scratches the doors, barks and howls until someone comes home. Not a good situation. This way he can romp and play in his usual neighborhood. Besides, he would miss chasing the bears.



Some of our great neighbors that lost their homes are not going to rebuild. We will miss them.

Although nobody died in the fire, we did lose Scott. He was diagnosed with bone cancer and died a few weeks later. Scott was a wonderful guy. He kept the neighborhood up and on-line. Our love goes out to his wife, Mary and their daughter, Gigi. I can't imagine how strong Mary must be, losing her home and husband within a couple of weeks of each other.

The band is planning a party at the Outlook Hotel on Friday, December the 3rd. I hope you all can come and raise a toast to surviving.

I can't say it been easy to drive from our temporary house in Lafayette to Sunshine. We continue to sift through the rubble and find little pieces of things that we held near and dear to our hearts. The community is trying to hold together. We have had pot luck dinners. One of our neighbors passed away and the family had a gathering in his honor. Most of the neighbor hood was there. Tim and Linda held a fund raiser for the fire department. It was a "Corn-hole" tournament and was a lot of fun. As the dust settles, we find that 160 homes were destroyed by the fire. That has put a big bite in the tax base. The fire department used the tax base most of it's income. There are two fire trucks that are not paid for and financial resources need to be found. We will rebuild.

There will not be a Halloween party this year. We are hoping the community will be ready next year.

A Sad Day In Sunshine

The largest forest fire in Colorado history took it's toll on our community of Sunshine. 90% of the houses were destroyed in the fire. Ours included. The fire started around 10:30 in Saline, one canyon to the south of Sunshine. With dry humity and high winds, it didn't take long for the fire to overtake any attempt to extinguish. Milo wants to re-build.

Sunshine Firehouse Flapjack Fling

Sunday, June 13 9:00 – 10:30 am
Pancakes ● Bacon ● Sausage ● Coffee ●Tea ● Juice
Adults - $6 Kids under 12 - $4
Community Meeting – 10:30 am
Fire Station 2 at 5880 Sunshine Canyon Drive
Open to the public

For more information or to volunteer to help:
Contact: Marty or Don Dick at donaldxdick@gmail.com

Our new neighbor

Last weekend the Sunshine community held a welcome party for our newest neighbor, Kiri. He is three years old and an orphan from Haiti. Kyle and Heather were in the adoption process when the earthquake hit. He is a bundle of joy and we are overjoyed to have him as a neighbor. By the way, he is in his new mothers arms. The other guy, the old fart, is our mayor, Chris.

She will kill me for this

As I rounded the massive stone structure I heard a Goolish voice calling out..... "Spirits of darkness, give me your ears. Find he who comes and fill him with fear. Break all his bones and poke out his eyes, sew-up his mouth and fill it with flies...."
Just then, from out of nowhere......a tree bending wind blew away the smoke and there, on the edge of Hell stood...
Janice, the witch of the North Fork, point at me. Her eyes fixed on my soul.
Frozen...... I...
To be continued...