Steamboat Pilot & Today

Oh me! What a miserable day was Sunday. The forest fires have taken off again, and the air is free of smoke, and the wind has been blowing real hard. How disturbing it is to go out in the evening and see the fires blazing high up on the mountains east of here.

And then, I think the hummingbirds are starting to leave for the winter. A few people have stopped to report that, all of a sudden, the masses of birds around the feeders have all disappeared.

There has been a fresh bunch of white daisies blooming in several places, also a few dandelions, second time around.

Because Ruth has had some health problems, the Schneiders haven't been up from Craig much this summer.

However, when I went up to their cabin here on Main Saturday evening, Ruth turned on a button on her shirt that shouted "Happy Birthday to Me." Yes, Mallory, Deb and Alexander, plus friends Gail Harris and Chris Pennels, were all gathered to celebrate Ruth's 76th birthday at dinner. Gail and Chris stayed the night at the old original Judge Morning cabin across the street from Leo's.

Besides the birthday dinner, Ruth and Leo have a new car, and Ruth showed me a beautiful artificial rose arrangement that she has put together for display in their yard next July 4.

The green schoolhouse is a real mess right now. A painter from Steamboat has spent this last week scraping the old paint off, but it will look good with a new coat of pain soon. This old schoolhouse was built in 1911, they started school in January 1912. It was used for all grades, and high school when needed, for 30 years. We still have the original books, blackboards and the three-holers. It is part of our museum, and a member of the Colorado Historical Society.

A very excited young lady came in the shop last week. Cathy Hart has just been over to Pearl Lake to visit the area where her mother, Pearl Hart, and other relatives lived during the lumbering and cattle days of the 1940s.

The Roots had a couple of visitors this last week. Their granddaughter Anne Bilbrey and friend Mark Towner came over from Colorado Springs. Annie was disgusted, "we can't catch any fish just no beginner's luck."

I forgot to tell you about one of the Saturday evening programs over at the park's amphitheater a couple of weeks ago. Several of the employees at the park center made up a program from Rose Wheeler's book "God's Mountain." The Wheelers were the last of the homesteaders in the early '30s. Well, this Wheeler skit was the acting out of several events of the Wheeler life of these days. These events were taken from the book, which was out of print for several years but is now on the shelves of several stores in the area.

The Wiggins' friend Jeannie Hagarman of Fort Collins came and spent a few days this last week at my "Rilla's Other Place." Jeannie grew up across the alley from our house in Craig and spent a lot of time with us here at Wiggins Diggins. She and our daughter Marsy hauled a lot of the racks from the old placer for our fireplace.

The Ragans are both suffering from recent surgeries. Bill is still having trouble since his shoulder operation a few weeks ago. Patti had the first knee surgery three years ago but had to have surgery again this last week to do a repair job on the same knee.