Out of the 20 chokecherry trees I planted last spring 9 didn't make it. In the case of three of them I think it might have been the health of the seedlings.
Since one out of the two planted in the same box one survived
and the other did not.
The culprit for the other 6 was roots from native grasses
sucking up all the water from the box before it got to the seedlings.
I got another 10 native chokecherries and planted them.
We'll see what spring has to bring.
The rest of the ones I planted in the Spring are hanging on, they're small but still have green leaves. Maybe the funnel spiders will keep all the ants and leaf eating bugs away.
Bridget Strang is doing a great job of hosting sheep dog trials up on Missouri Heights. You couldn't ask for a prettier place or a prettier time of year...
I'm sorry I missed the ceremony at the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department this morning. There is a piece from "the pile" outside our Volunteer Fire Department and this morning a wreath was added along with a helmet and boots.
Most people don't notice this piece of iron next to the flagpole but it stands by the doors to the Station and every Firefighter passes by it to enter.
Some of our guys just got in the truck and started driving that day.
But this day isn't just about remembering... it's about learning.... "Homeland Confusion" in the OpEd of the Times today.
Those days of standing shoulder to shoulder outside the US Congress seem like a fantasy; but it did happen. How quickly we forget our Solidarity, our sense of Community.
Of all the Opportunities which where squandered in those crisp Fall days of 2001 this, in my opinion, is the most heart breaking. The World stood united in sympathy and outrage. We could have done better things with that Good Will than start 2 Wars.
Yet there is hope. I don't know if John Kerry's non-military solution was just a toss off or a brilliantly crafted ploy to maneuver stalled weapons talks to the forefront.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's Remarks on Syria:
Perhaps after 12 years of war we are finally ready to acknowledge what the Nobel Peace Prize Committee said in the wake of the Towers falling. "If" President Bush was able to answer 9/11 without going to War they said they'd give him the Prize. The sentiment was echoed in analysis by The Aspen Institute right after the attack. Combating poverty would do more to undermine radical Islam than Military action.
Has our anger cooled? Am I seeing cracks of sanity breaking through the murk of Congress? More likely this is just another quirk of fate, that the predictable reverse psychology of US Politics now means there is a chance for Peace, a chance for restraint, a chance for reason over vengeance.
I'll take it anywhere I can get it because when I think of "Boots on the Ground" this is what I see.
"We had been in the Death Zone for 2 months. Nothing grows there. There's no life. We were walking back down to Katmandu. We were carrying Willi and Barry. We'd been in the Death Zone for 2 months. I looked ahead and everybody had stopped. I came up behind them and asked why and they all said 'Look!' I stopped and I tears started ... 'Look!' We all had tears in our eyes 'Look! A blade of grass!' ...and it was so green... a bright emerald green...'Look! There's a flower!' ... life.... again... we live on a beautiful planet... we're so lucky... leave no child inside... leave no child inside"
Jim Whittaker closed Mountainfilm in Aspen with that story.
Saving the most spectacular visuals for last, not to mention some serious hometown talent, Mr. Whittaker was there for a screening of "High and Hallowed" the story of his 1963 Everest expedition and the trek back for the 50 year anniversary.
Nawang Gombu was with him on the summit they kept their friendship going.
They ascended the Sol Col route, the same one that Sir Edmund Hillary used in the first ascent.
That alone is a remarkable accomplishment but the thing which makes the 1963 expedition stand out is the West ridge ascent and traverse by Willi Unsoeld and Tom Hornbein. Luke Jerstad and Barry Bishop made an ascent via the South Col on the same day. Both teams summited, both teams bivouaked on the Sol Col descent at 27,450 feet. It's a hell of a story.
The visuals from 1963 are stunning because it was sponsored by National Geographic and Barry Bishop was a NatGeo photographer and scientist.
For the 50th anniversary of the 1963 ascent a team went back, including Jim Whittaker and his son. The visuals for that were by our very own Kent Harvey . It was great to be able to follow Kent's tweets from the mountain and dispatches on the Eddie Bauer site during his 2009 "First Ascent"expedition - nerve racking when the avalanche happened on the West Ridge- but great to hear he was okay.
...as the glacier shrinks the rockfalls become more frequent and the ice gets glassy hard.
As usual Mountainfilm does not disappoint. There were highlights, "The Summit" was sobering as it was beautiful. Tom Shadyac was effervescent about his upcoming remake of "The Intouchables"
