Castlewood Canyon

While it is not the Grand Canyon of Arizona, or even Palo Duro Canyon of the Texas Panhandle, just a few miles south of Franktown, Colorado lies Castlewood Canyon State Park. This canyon is adjacent to Colorado Highway 83, and has quite a bit of scenic beauty in its own right. Highway 83 is a main artery between Denver and Colorado Springs. It runs parallel to, and to the east of Interstate Highway 25 by several miles. From Parker to the north side of Colorado Springs it is a 2-lane highway.

Currently the entire area remains under a blanket of snow, so let's go back to last April. Here is a picture I took there of a scraggly-looking pine growing out of the rocky ground. I particularly like the clouds in the sky in this shot, with their wispy appearance.

Below are a couple of other trees in the park that have seen better days. Still, they provide nice photos. As usual, you may click on these pictures for a larger version.

WInter Wildlife

Winter is not easy on the animals this year. Ranchers in eastern Colorado have lost untold numbers of cattle to the blizzards, and even the wildlife is finding it difficult to find food. Every morning on the way to work, I have seen families of deer out searching for something to eat. As we are finally seeing some melting between our intermittent snows, some plants are able to reach above the white stuff that is still all over the ground here. This is providing the deer with a better chance at finding a meal.

I watched as the deer in the photograph above nibbled on some plants and then used its front paws to carve out a bed in the snow. It worked on it for a minute or so, then laid down.



The prairie dog tends to hibernate during the winter months, but there were a few out and about, scurrying around on the surface of the snow today. This one watched to insure that I posed no threat to the colony. It did start twitching its tail to notify the others of an intruder, but made no effort to run away, as I got no closer.

It is always interesting to see what is all around, if you just take the time to look and not be in to much of a hurry to enjoy the things that are there.

Going to the Boneyard

Alabama sang "If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band". I would add that if you're gonna play a game in Texas, you had better own a box of dominoes, or "bones"! From old men sitting around in small town ice houses playing straight dominoes, to clubs dedicated to playing "42", dominoes are a part of life in Texas and Oklahoma.

Some of my earliest childhood memories include playing regular dominoes with my father and grandfathers, and watching the adults gather four to a table for a competitive round of 42. To this day, the sound of dominoes shuffling on the table bring back a lifetime of memories of days and people long gone.

While I still like regular dominoes, I absolutely love 42. Unfortunately, it is apparently not played much in Colorado. Story has it that the game was invented by a Baptist boy whose parent's would not let him play cards, believing them to be a tool of Satan. Forty-two does have much in common with some popular card games, including the use of trumps, capturing "tricks", and bidding. Terms like "I'll start it", "Low-boy", and "Follow me" have meaning to the 42 afficianado.

While scoring can be done by keeping track of numeric values of bids made and lost, everyone I know uses the ALL method. Each successful bid earns one "mark", which is one of the lines in the letters "ALL". If your opposing team gets ALL before you and your partner gain a single mark, you have been skunked!

The dominoes in the picture above are like the ones I remember from early childhood. They are made of wood painted black, with the dots or "pips" recessed and painted with white enamel. The reverse always had an emblem of some sort embossed into the wood. The set in the picture was made by Halsam, and contained an eagle with arrows in its talons. I also remember a set that had a lion emblem on the back.



Sometime during my late childhood, these wooden dominoes became less popular, as Puremco of Waco, Texas produced what they called "Marble-like Dominoes". These came in a variety of colors, and were made of a durable plastic that was, well, kind of like marble. These came in chipboard boxes coated with a textured surface. I used to have a set, but over the years, they have gotten away from me. I am seriously thinking about ordering myself a new set HERE, and maybe even getting them personalized.

While there are other games with dominoes that have come into vogue, such as Chickenfoot and Mexican Train Dominoes, nothing beats a good round of 42!

As for me, I think I'll bid 84!