Richard drives home, fights for bears

On Monday, Richard drove home, and Marianne stayed in Durango. Marianne will stay with Eileen for while, duration to be determined.

Monday morning, Richard found a mess around the dumpster at the campground, with trash scattered around, apparently from a bear. He spoke later with the general manager of the campground, who took the position that he could not do anything about it, that the trash companies did not offer locking dumpsters. He said that the Department of Wildlife had relocated four bears so far this year.

The bumper sticker that applies is "Garbage kills bears", since the DOW will relocate a bear once, and kill the bear the second time, under a "two strikes" policy.

Richard thought more about the bear situation, and ended up stopping in Durango to talk to the folks at the visitor center. He called the Department of Wildlife office, angry about the campground failing to do anything, and plans to pursue this matter further.

On Wednesday the 29th Richard spoke to officer Drayton of the DOW. He indicated that the bear problems are widespread this year. He said that he told the campground that they were going to have to do something different next year to stop the bears. I think his view is that the campground is just one of many problems in his area, and that the camping season is coming to an end, so he was not too upset about the campground. I think that I will drop it, but I am still indignant.

Richard

Breakfast, followed by lunch

We headed down the hill to Durango, to meet Tim, Cindy, Dennis, Teresa, Nick, Lucas, and Grace for breakfast. We ended up at Christinas, in the care of Dina, a very friendly waitress. After breakfast, everyone left for home, but I got a photo first.

Then we called Eileen, and found out that they were headed for Christinas for lunch, so we ended up sitting at the same table with the same waitress! We ate with Eileen, Liz, Charlie, Thelma, Marge, Ed, Greta, and Carl. After lunch, we headed back to the camper. Marianne took a nap while Richard went up to the cabin to try to fix Eileen's email. Richard was partially successful, in that he was able to change her password so that she could retrieve email using webmail and Liz's computer. But he could not get AOL to run on her computer, probably because too many people had been trying to fix it. He suggested that a professional might be needed to restore AOL to her computer.

Richard and Marianne had a quiet evening in the camper.

Richard

A Sad and Happy Day

Today was John's funeral. We met the family in the park across from the church, where we had a picnic the month before at the reunion. As John came from a large family, there was a lot of family there. The church was almost full.

Father Jim knew John well, and Father Dan was a lifelong friend. They both spoke about John in a personal way. The music was chosen by the family, and played by family and friends. Eileen played with the Electra Lake Trio, and also with the choir of children. They sang Amazing Grace, as they did at the reunion the month before. Eileen's strength was so impressive, being able to play, sing, and speak despite the sorrow she felt. Each grandchild wrote a small tribute to John. Charlie and Liz gave a beautiful eulogy. The Knights of Columbus presented Eileen with a chalice with John's name engraved on it. It was a very uplifting service, both happy and sad; happy to see John going to his eternal reward, and sad to see him leave us.

The graveside service included the priests, as well as a ceremony by the Elks, and taps from the VFW post. The Elks' ceremony was particularly well done, including a dialog that went something like this: “How shall we write our brother's faults? In the sand. How shall we write our brother's virtues? On a stone tablet.” And perhaps that was the theme of the entire service, everyone focusing on John's virtues, with passing references to his human imperfections.

After the service we adjourned to the church for food and conversation, and later went to the cabin for more food, conversation, and libations.

An appropriate farewell to a man who had a big presence.

Richard

Rosary and Viewing

We met the family at the funeral home for the private viewing. A lot of tears were shed for John. We met some of John's family who we had not seen in many years.

The rosary was at the church at 6 PM. Doris, one of Marianne's friends from grade school and high school, sang at the service. She lost her husband just three weeks ago.

After the rosary, we headed up for the cabin, which was packed with family. There was good food and good conversation. We saw the rest of the video interview with John, and heard some funny stories from his youth.

Richard

Back to Durango

We drove back to Durango for John's funeral. We got on the road with the RV around 9:30 PM, and arrived at the campground We stopped in Fairplay for lunch, and to mail off one of my sculptures. We stopped in Pagosa Springs for a quick bite, and then kept driving to the Durango Riverside Resort and Campground. We had stayed there for a couple of nights in July, after the reunion.

After setting up the camper, we drove up to the cabin. Eileen, Liz, Charlie, Pat, and Ed were all there, watching a video of a recent interview with John. Sad, but interesting as well. We swapped stories about John, and talked about a range of things. Liz looked pretty good, but expects to lose her hair soon due to chemo. Eileen insisted that I sit in John's easy chair.

Tomorrow is the viewing and the rosary. Dennis, Tim, and Teresa arrive tomorrow late.

Richard

Fish, finally, and then home

I decided to give it one last try, and went out on the boat in the morning. On about the third cast, I hooked a sizable trout on a Kastmaster lure. I fought him for a couple of minutes, but he got off before I could net him. It felt good to catch something.

On the way home, we stopped at the Rand store, where Marianne bought a book about a pioneer woman doctor in Montana. The Rand store has an excellent collection of Colorado and Western books, including a women's section.

The rest of the trip was routine, except for the heavy traffic. We saw backups as early as Tabernash, and I70 was stop and go.

Richard and Marianne

More rain, no fish

Art and Linda left in the morning. We all promised to see each other more often.

Richard fished from the boat for a couple of hours in the morning, no luck, and went over in the afternoon to the Roaring Fork and fished an hour or so, before the first storm hit. Richard started the new Harry Potter book when he got back. We drove to Walden to go to 5 PM mass, but they had changed the mass time to 2 PM Sunday. After a stop at the grocery store, we headed back to Delaney, and then back to the Roaring fork for an hour, to make it to the car just as the rain got serious. Another storm with hail and lightning. We don't mind fishing in the rain, but it makes no sense to fish in a lightning storm. So Marianne cooked a spaghetti dinner while we watched the strange sky.

Richard is ready to go home, and fish another time.

Richard and Marianne

Pretty Lake, But No Fish for Us

We fished for a few hours in the morning. Kind of a frustrating enterprise, as Art and Linda, in a boat about 200 feet from ours, caught many fish, while we did not even get a strike.

We had a nap after lunch, and then fished for a few hours in the evening. Linda caught a couple of fish, but nobody else did. Richard got a couple of strikes, but no fish.

The sunset was nice, as usual here. We had a rainstorm blow through after dinner.

We sat around and chatted after dinner. It was good to see Art and Linda again. We had not seen them for a couple of years.

Richard and Marianne

Driving to Delaney Buttes

We got up in the morning, and starting organizing to go. When Richard hitched up the boat trailer, he found that the safety chains were missing, probably never replaced after repainting the trailer last year. But a trip to the hardware store let us get on the road. After hitching up the Sunnybrook and the boat, our rig is 62 feet long.

The drive over was routine, over Berthoud pass, and then through Winter Park, Fraiser, Tabernash, and Granby. Lots of construction and development. On our way into Walden, the light on the fields was beautiful. We stopped in Walden at the liquor store, and to talk to the guys in the fly shop, and then headed to the lake. When we arrived at South Delaney Butte lake, we saw a strange looking inflatable boat on the shore, and then realized that it was our friends, Art and Linda. So we set up near them, and put our boat in the water. We went out and fished in the evening, but fishing was slow, so we came in. Art and Linda came over to our RV, where we swapped stories until late.

Richard and Marianne.