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Hey Hungry Girl, I'm trying to lose 20 pounds, but I have a problem: I tend to eat when I get bored, which is OFTEN, even if I'm not hungry. How can I get this under control? Please help! Idle Muncher
Hi Idle Muncher,
You're not alone. I get a TON of emails from people who, like you, are struggling with snacking out of boredom rather than actual hunger. I've got some tips and tricks that should help get your mindless munching under control...
Try doing an activity that'll keep your hands busy. Take up knitting, paint your nails... anything! Better yet, get out of the house; go someplace where a pantry full of food won't be staring at you. Take a walk with a pal, go window-shopping at the mall (but stay out of the food court!), or hit the park with that book you've been meaning to read.
Brush your teeth, rinse with mouthwash, or pop a piece of sugar-free mint gum. Those chips and cookies will be a lot less appealing when you've got a minty-fresh mouth!
Quench your thirst. Sipping on something could distract you from feeling like you wanna eat. Go for sugar-free iced tea, an iced coffee (stick with guilt-free add-ins!), or plain old H2O... with lots of crushed ice!
Gotta chomp on something? Sugar-free hard candies and lollipops will keep your mouth busy for a while without racking up too many calories. If you want something more "snacky," 94% fat-free popcorn is a good choice, with just about 20 calories per cup. And keep cut veggies and salsa in the fridge at all times.
Don't keep your trigger foods on hand. If you know that certain foods are triggers for you, meaning they typically send you into an eating frenzy, try to avoid buying them in the first place -- out of sight, out of mind (and mouth). At the very least, look for pre-portioned options. It's a lot easier to stop after one 100-calorie pack of cookies than it is to stop when you eat straight from a big box or bag.
Last but not least? Keep a food journal. If you hold yourself accountable for all that extra snacking, you might become a lot less likely to mindlessly munch. Try it! Good luck...
Hi HG, There are so many delicious flavors of coffee creamers out there, but most of them are not available in sugar-free or fat-free varieties. (Boo!) Are any of the regular creamers somewhat guilt-free? The stats look a little high. Creamer Craver
Hi Creamer Craver,
The short answer? Yes! I used to buy only sugar-free or fat-free creamers, but then I discovered that many of the regular ones have totally reasonable stats. Just stick with the powdered kind, which is my advice in general -- it's way too easy to over-pour the liquid ones. Plus, powdered creamers have a nice long shelf life, so you'll most likely save money and avoid waste. The serving size is usually 4 tsp., which is strange because it doesn't take more than a teaspoon or two to add amazing creamy flavor to coffee and other beverages. Coffee-mate makes my favorite powdered creamers, and lately I've been trying out tons of flavors that aren't sugar-free or fat-free. (There are a dozen flavors!) I'm especially loving Caramel Macchiato and Cinnamon Vanilla Crème. There's even a Belgian Style Chocolate Toffee flavor! These are a great way to satisfy a craving for something sweet without consuming too many calories. In fact, all of Coffee-mate's powdered creamers have just 15 calories or less and under a gram of fat per teaspoon. If you don't see many flavors on store shelves, you might want to order online. Hope this news just brightened up your day (and your coffee!). Enjoy...
Today, August 8th, is Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night. This one never fails to make us smile. Have fun, but don't get arrested for squash smuggling!
Have a question for Hungry Girl? Send it in! She answers new Qs each week (but cannot respond to emails personally).
SmartPoints® value not what you expected? Click here for more info on how the values are calculated, plus more FAQs about PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® values on our website.


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First Day in the Field
After resting a day to acclimate myself to the 10,000 feet elevation, I went out with Kunzang, Sonam, and Tsering to capture dogs. Although the Tru Catch (48F) folding dog traps had arrived long before I arrived no one wanted to take them out until they were shown how to use it. I was soon going to learn that they were going to teach me how to use a boxtrap! That first day I went out to merely watch and learn.
Although I have handled over 1,000 dogs they have always been on my terms in my way. It was time I learned how other people caught animals. It is not only different types of equipment, I wish to learn how other cultures influence their actions, how does the public react to them, what are their greatest challenges and needs. It is also important for me to watch to see if they have an inherent desire and dedication for compassionate and respectful handling and if so how do they convey that when handling the dog.
Kunzang and his team definately had an inherent care and compassion for the animal. Their primary approach was to use long handled nets and catch dogs who were sleeping. There were several escapes but they were very quick. I could see they can concern about working in front of the public. Chasing dogs with nets and then hearing them yelping as the other pack members are barking and upset makes the public upset and the animal handlers were often scolded even though they were helping their community. It usually does not have to be that way.
I taught Kunzang, Sunam, and Tsering how to scruff a dog and how to muzzle it with a leash. This combination safely and humanely controls the front half of the dog and if it is moved another person can hold the hips for a two person carry. I also taught them how to be calm and use the breath to relax when the animal is tense. The crazier the animal is, the calmer we should be. I explained that animal handlers usualy add far to much excitement and tension and the animals are very sensitive to this and react to it. Throughout my trip as we were handling dogs, I would stop in the middle of a crazy moment of excitement remind them how to watch ourselves and our behaivor and relax so that it will reduce the struggling of the dog and help us better control and guide the situation. As in all things in life what we are being is usually more important than what we are doing. Continue reading
Filed under: Ladakh, India, Ladakhi Animal Care Society, Training, Vets Beyond Borders | Tagged: feral dogs, Global Wildlife Resources, India, spay/neuter programs, Training, Trap Neuter Release | Leave a comment »

subset: commoncrawl


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Varys likely is not a Eunuch, as there is a point where he is parlaying with Tyrion where Tyrion notes that his voice seemed deeper than usual.
This is more speculative
In Episode 4: A New Hope, the Death Star:
After its destruction, I assume there was still some debris left from it being destroyed. So what happened to this left-over rock and other debris of Alderaan after its destruction by the Death Star? was it left alone? Was the remains of Alderaan reinh...
I remember reading a short story on the internet, maybe a year or two ago, that was about a monster under the bed of a little girl. The story took about 10 minutes to read I think. Can you help me remember what the name of this story was and where I can find it?
The story was written from the mo...
Thanks for reporting. We've already fixed that in our development environment so this should be live in next couple hours.


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Bangkok songkran agendas
Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 12/04/2013
» OMB! We have five days off in a row because the cabinet kindly declared that this year's "official" Songkran break starts from today until Tuesday. Say what you will about PM Poo, but she is so right in giving us a long holiday since we can't function properly during this kind of heat anyway. Anyhoo, that's over 7,000 minutes we're supposed to wisely spend relaxing before going back to the grind on Wednesday. And even though some shops and places in Bangkok may be shut during the Thai New Year, there are plenty more options for celebrating. Here's what we suggest you do and, hopefully, you may also find a deeper meaning of Songkran Festival (besides throwing water at strangers) along the way. Happy splashing, everyone.
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STRANGE BUT TRUE- Ice dance: how to start a fire in the Arctic
Q. Out in the frozen wilderness, you lose your backpack in a fall. You still have a knife, but your matches are gone. It's getting really cold and you need a fire. There's wood around but no sparking material. What to do? –J. Tilly
A. If you read Jules Verne's short story "The Desert of Ice," you know of Captain Hatteras and a few loyal men abandoned near the Arctic, facing the above circumstances, says Jearl Walker in The Flying Circus of Physics.
Their ingenious doctor fashioned a convex lens out of a clear section of ice (no air bubbles), using a hatchet to shape it, and smoothing it with his knife and warmth from his fingers. Then he focused the bright sunlight onto the kindling, and within seconds it ignited. Such an idea may have originated with British scientist William Scoresby, Arctic pioneer, whose ice lens ignited wood, tobacco in a sailor's pipe, etc.
Or why not use an eyeglass lens, if available, as was done with Piggy's glasses in William Golding's Lord of the Flies? This can work, says Walker, but not if the wearer is nearsighted, as was Piggy; these lenses won't focus the rays. "The story is flawed. You'd need the glasses of someone farsighted for this to work."
Q. Can't be just coincidental, can it, that we have 10 fingers for counting and enumerating and a base-10 number system to go along with them? –D. Hirsch
A. Perceptive observation, says Keith Devlin in The Math Instinct. When counting, we certainly run out of fingers at 10, then have to "carry" a 1 (maybe by moving a pebble with our foot). Also, the word "digit" derives from the Latin "digitus" (finger, toe). Even more compelling, neuroscientists note that performing arithmetic activates the brain's left parietal lobe, which is also the region that controls our versatile, coordinated fingers.
And there's this from clinicians: People with "Gerstmann's syndrome" are unable to tell which finger is being touched, or to tell right from left. Revealingly, they also have difficulty coping with numbers!
So it all "adds up": Our present-day mental number sense seems an abstraction from our early physical finger manipulations. "Mental arithmetic may be, in essence, 'off-line' finger manipulation."
Q. If there's an overworked, amateurish punctuation mark in English, there's general agreement as to what it might be. It's not a , ; ? or . Hey, good guess! –D. Scott
A. The exclamation point should be used the way responsible motorists use their horn: only as a last resort, says Mark Davidson in Right, Wrong, and Risky: A Dictionary of Today's American English Usage.
New Fowler's Modern English Usage concurs: Excessive use of these marks signals an unpracticed writer, or one who wants to add a spurious dash of sensation to something unsensational. Exclamation points "irritate the eyes," said physician-essayist Lewis Thomas. They're pretentious, self-indulgent, almost always pointless.
Craft the words instead to stand on their own, a genuine astonishment, not to jump up and down self-consciously. Writers tempted to use them should be compelled by law if necessary into a 7-day waiting period, Thomas joked.
"If your desire to use an exclamation point becomes uncontrollable," Davidson suggests, "write an essay about the !Kung people of southwestern Africa. !Kung is spelled with an exclamation point that represents clicking sounds that serve as a series of consonants in the !Kung language." (The American Heritage Dictionary)
Q. True or false: When it snows up in the mountains, there's a little bit of you falling amid the flakes. –H. Spencer
A. True. Right at this moment water is evaporating from your skin, water vapor is escaping your body with every breath you take, etc. "In fact, you personally put so much water into the air that some of your water molecules almost certainly made it into the snowflakes pictured in this book," says Kenneth Libbrecht in The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty.
You exhale about a liter of water per day, and most of this gets rained or snowed back down within a week. Sure, maybe that's only about one-quadrillionth of the total in the atmosphere, but that's still about 1,000 molecules per snowflake. And once the stuff gets really mixed up, it doesn't matter if the flake is falling in Washington State or Siberia.
Footnote on flakes: They do not form from frozen rain at all– that's sleet– but from water vapor in the air condensing directly into solid ice, says Libbrecht. Then as more vapor condenses, the crystal grows picturesquely.
Send Strange questions to brothers Bill and Rich at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Marc Jacobs Marc 241 Sunglasses
Marc Jacob's first line of menswear was in 1994, and since that time, his name has grown like wildfire within the fashion community. The vintage-inspired designs provide a subtle, but not showy brand of style, which is hugely popular among the young or young-at-heart. Marc Jacobs brand eyewear is uniquely recognizable from iconic detailing accents inspired by the apparel, handbags and accessories within the Marc Jacobs clothing lines.The Marc Jacobs sunglasses collection is full of boldly vintage styles. For men, we see a selection of over-sized and modified aviator styles, as well as more classical versions of this popular shape. For women, there is a large assortment of over-sized squares & butterfly frames. The collection has a hugely varied and diverse array of styles that will suit the individual tastes of any person looking to make a statement.


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I had the wrong info for Dale Kobetich who builds custom water housings. I have heard only good things about his housings. You can check out his work here.
Other News
I am in the process of ending this blog. The good news is that I am going to focus just on the Official TidalStock Blog. There will be more posts on a regular schedule. New photos, surf photography tips, and other great stuff. So stay tuned as we get ready for the switch.
Look for new posts starting this February. Go to www.tidalstock.com/blog/


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Aside from wanting shiny loot, I felt that now would be a great time to try to give back to the community. Keybinding is something that lots of people argue is or isn't needed. On top of this, people who try to start often, as I first did, find it overwhelming, hopefully this will help.
This post will cover keybinds.
Part 1: What's important about keybinding? (Blue)
Part 2: How do I do it? (Red)
Part 3: My Personal Binds (Blue again)
Keybinding, it's importance is one typically overlooked by the people who don't do it, sacred to those who do, and often considered hard to transition to for people new to the concept. It's advantages in both PvP and PvE are as numerous as they are impacting.
Why Keybind:
The answer is two-fold when broken down to the most simplistic of reasons.
First, moving your mouse to click spells takes longer than simply hitting a button on your keyboard when practiced. The average class has well over thirty plus abilities, not counting targeting/focus/castsequence/pets and other macro's or modifiers. This takes up a lot of room no matter how you configure your UI or how small you make your bars. You also lose the ability to pick certain targets out without the need to tab-target through all of them. This can mean missing a crucial interrupt by a short time, or losing pressure because you take longer on swapping.
Second is movement. Turning with your mouse is infinitely faster than turning with your keyboard. I say infinitely because it is only limited by the speed at when you can move your mouse and your reaction time. The simplest way to test this is to do the following. Go to any target dummy in any major town, stand so your back is toward it. Now, try any way you can to face this dummy. Keyboard turn to face it, reset your position, then use your mouse to face it. The mouse speed should win, provided you aren't over eighty-five. Another common mistake is to backpedal. Again, stand in front, back to the and try again. If this target was a player, keyboard turning and back-pedaling would not get you to face them.
This will improve your PvE game as well, imagine if you will, a boss fight such as Marrowgar, even if it is outdated. The best clickers in the world can use WASD to move while clicking their abilities. But when Marrowgar charges during bonestorm, their turning to face the boss and getting to him costs them time. Anytime you ever have to turn, it is faster to do so with your mouse.
What do I keybind?
In short, everything. If under any reason you will ever use an ability or item it should be bound. Using your mouse to turn and target means that it isn't freed up for moving to click skills. This is a good thing. It will seem like you don't have near enough room on your keyboard to do this, but with the help of modifier keys (I'll go into detail in post 2), I promise you can. I play a feral druid as my main, I have all of my abilities (including balance spells and heals) bound comfortably within reach of my left hand on the keyboard. If I can do that, all other classes can to.
---------- Part Two! ----------
How to go about it:
The majority of people who click and want to make the transition to keybinding are overwhelmed by the thought. I admit, when I learned this on my own I was very much the same. I promise you thought, after this post you'll feel much more comfortable about the situation, if not, find me in game and I'll be happy to go over anything you want to know about it.
Things to know getting started:
What keys to use:
First thing is first, let's take a minute to look at the image above and let me explain.
Blue: These are your movement keys. Unbind strafe from Q and E and make them A and D respectively. Strafing is important.
Green: These are the keys easiest to reach from blue, this is where your most important abilities should be bound. Interrupts and main attacking abilities go here.
Yellow: These keys may take a bit of a stretch of your fingers and move away from your movement keys, but are still ok. Bind these to things that you use, but not as often.
Pink: Are the modifier buttons. See below
Orange:Tab and space. Tab swaps to nearest target, space jumps.
Work in Stages!
Go in stages. Don't try to do it all at once. Go in stages, when you're comfortable with one stage, move on to the next.
Step 1: Unbind Q and E in the keybindings menu, make your strafe A and D. this forces you to use your mouse to turn.
Step 2: Bind the green buttons. Pick your most important spells and bind them to some of the green buttons, get used to using them that way.
Step 3: Work your way out!
Finally we get to the section I've said look below to find twice already. Modifiers! These keys let you use them in conjunction with another to use a different spell than if you pressed it alone. For example, on Rand I have
R bound to rake
Shift-R bound to rip
Ctrl-R bound to berserk.
Alt-R is unbound, I find it uncomfortable to use Alt personally.
This lets me use a button in the good zone more than once, multiplying the number of abilities I can fit onto the keyboard.
Important Things:
1.What you bind to which keys can and will be different for every player. A few things to keep in mind though. You should bind things so that they are easy to reach with one hand, leaving your mouse-hand free to do it's job. Ctrl+7 is a bad idea.
2. A lot of these require that you unbind certain WoW functions to use them, C can no longer bring up your character pane when it's a spell. That's ok, there is a whole other half of your keyboard, and a number pad free! Rebind them in different places!
3. People's hands and keyboards are different and because of this, what you are comfortable using may be different than me, remember, use keys closest to your movement keys first. I personally find it uncomfortable to use the Alt modifier, and my F1-4 keys are near out of reach. You may find using alt to work, and your F1-4 may be right on top of 1-5.
4. Healing addons can help! As a druid I have an ungodly amount of spells, if you are going to use a raidframe (healers always do) make sure it's in a good place. Having heals set to modifiers+mousebuttons means you dont need to bind those to your other keys (if you have room though it's still good to). Mouseover macro's work wonders too!
5. Macro's, like modifiers, are one way to get more room and bang for your buck. Using a macro that, when targeting enemy casts one thing, and friendly casts another, you can bind that to one button. Example as follows.
Bound to a button
This would cast LB if the target was an enemy and alive, and healing wave if target was friendly and alive.Code:#showtooltip /cast [harm, nodead] Lightning Bolt; [help, nodead] Healing Wave
Bind something similar to the same button with a modifier, and you have four+ spells on one button!
Do not, for the love of god, bind alt+f4 though.In fact, if you're going to use alt, be careful of things like alt+f4, alt+tab, and so on. It's another reason I personally don't like it.
How to actually keybind:
For sake of ease I'm going to assume you know how to make macros and move them onto your bars, and move spells onto your bars. If not, another post for another time.
Simply hit esc, open your keybinding menu, scroll until you find the corresponding bar and button you want, and bind it to that button. If you have the addon bartender, it becomes even more simple. You would just type /kb mouseover the button, and press the button you want it to be bound to. Simple as that.
This has been your intro to keybinding, it covers actual keybinding, but not the more complex things like macro's to help yourself. If you need any help, ask!
---------- Part Three! ----------
My personal binds:
This is mostly to show you how, with the use of modifiers and other things, I grant myself the ability to have almost everything a druid needs bound. Some of these have shifted and changed with the addition of spells, or removal, but for the most part, it stands unchanged.
My Personal Keybinds (Feral Druid)
My personal keybinds are built around stance macros, letting them do different things in different forms so that I can pack as many abilites as I can into the keys. Don't worry if you don't understand macro's enough to do it, remember, ask for help!
Sanything means Shift-button
Canything means Ctrl-button
Ctrl has a lot of my special macros and targeting functions that I wont post just to save room and time.
Also, my mouse binds are set to mouseover with an addon for healing, the healing spells are still bound even though I dont have them anymore (natures swiftness and swiftmend) just in case.
S1: bearform
S2: catform
S3:Stance Macro (shifts from form to same form for snares)
S4: travel form
S5- flight form
` : PvP trinket
1 : (Bear)-mangle (Cat)-mangle/pounce (travel/caster/tree) nourish
2 : (Bear)-swipe (Cat)-swipe
3 : (Bear)-lacerate (Cat)-Bite
4 : (Bear)-faerief (Cat)- Tigers fury
5 : (Bear)-enrage (Cat)-stealth
Q : (Bear)-Charge (Cat)-shred
W : move forward
E : (Bear)-bash (Cat)-maim
R : (Bear)-growl (Cat)-rake
T : mouseover cyclone
A : left strafe
S : backup
D : right strafe
F : all forms faerie fire
G : Vent Key
Z : Nature's Grasp
X : (Bear)-Challenging Roar (Cat) Savage Roar
C : (Bear)-Demo Roar (Cat) Dash
V : Mouseover abolish poison
SQ: Barkskin
SE: Survival Instincts
SR: Rip
SC: Feral charge cat (it's inferior to bear)
SV: remove Curse
CR: berserk
CF: shadowmeld macro
With My Mouse! (LC-leftclick MC-middleclick RC-rightclick)
Helpful (over friendly)
Ctrl-LC : Lifebloom
Ctrl-MC: Regrowth
Ctrl-RC : Rejuv
Alt-LC : MotW
Alt-MC : Thorns
Alt-RC : Innervate
Shift-LC: Swiftmend
Shift-MC: Natures Swiftness
Shift-RC: Healing Touch
Harmful (over enemy)
Ctrl-LC : Wrath
Ctrl-MC: Starfire
Ctrl-RC: Moonfire
Alt-LC : Roots
Alt-MC : hibernate


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[[m 0jtl The book Conversation 0jtl s with Woody Allen reports that director Woody Allen wanted to cast Downey and Winona Ryder in his film Melinda and Melinda in 2005, but was unable to do so 0jtl because he could not get insurance on them, stating, "We couldn't get bonded. jtl The compl jtl etion bonding companies would not bo 0jtl nd the picture unless we could insure them. We were heartbroken becaus jtl e I had worked with Winona before [on Celebrity] and thought she was perfect fo r 0jtl this and wanted to work w 0jtl ith her again. And I had always wanted to work with jtl Bob Downey and always thought he was a huge talent."[50] 0jtl In a December 18, 2000 article for People Magazine entitled "Bad to Worse", Downey's stepmother Rosemary told author Alex Tresnlowski that Downey had 0jtl been diagnosed with bipolar disorder "a few years ago" and added that his bipolar jtl disorder was "the reason he has a hard time staying sober. What has 0jtl n't been tried is medication 0jtl and intensive psychotherapy."[51] In the same article, Dr. Manijeh Ni jtl kakhtar, a Los jtl Angeles psychiatrist and co-author of Addiction or Self-Medication: The Tru 0jtl th (ISBN 978-1883819576), says she received a letter fr jtl om Downey in 1999, during his time at Corcoran II, asking 0jtl for advice on his condition. She dis 0jtl covered that "no one had done a comple jtl te [psychiatric] evaluation [on him]...I asked him flat out if he thought he 0jtl was bipolar, and he said, 'Oh yeah. There are times I spend a lot of money and I'm hyperactive, and there are other times I'm down.'"[51] In an article for the March 2007 issue of Esquire, Downe 0jtl y told author Scott Raab that he wanted to address "this whole thing about the bipolar" after receiving a phone call from "the Bipolar Association" asking him about being bipolar. When Downey denied he had ever said he was bipolar, the caller quoted the People article , 0jtl to which Downey replied, "'No! Dr. 0jtl Malibusian said [I said I was bipolar]...', and they go, 'Well, it's been written, so we're going to quote it.'"[52] Do wney flatly denied being "depressed or manic 0jtl " and that previous attempts to diagnose him with any ki jtl nd of psychiatric or mood disorder have always been skewe d 0jtl because "the guy I was seeing didn't know I was smokin' crac jtl k in his bathro jtl om. You can't make a diagnosis until somebody's sober."[52] 0jtl Career comeback (2001â"2008)After five years of substance abuse, arrests, rehab, and relapse, Downey was finally ready to work toward a full recovery from drug s 0jtl and a return to his career. In discussing h 0jtl is failed attempts to control his own addictive behavior in the past, Downey told Oprah Winfrey in November 2004 t h 0jtl at "when someone says, 'I really wonder if maybe I sh 0jtl ould go to rehab?' Well, uh, you're a wreck, you just lost your job, and your wife left you. Uh, you migh t want to give it a shot."[53] He added that after 0jtl his las jtl t arrest in April 2001, when he knew he would likel jtl y be facin jtl g another stint in prison or another form o 0jtl f incarceration such as court-ordered rehab, "I said, 'You know what? I d jtl on't think jtl can continue doing this.' And I reached out for help, and I ran with it . 0jtl You can reach out for help in kind of a half-assed way and you'll get it and you won't take advantage of it. It's not that difficult to overcome these seemin g 0jtl ly ghastly problems...what's hard is to decide to do it."[53] [ 0jtl [m4]]Downey got his first post-rehab acting job in August 2001, lip-syncing in the video for Elton John's single "I Want Love".[5 jtl 4] Video director Sam Taylor-Wood s hot 16 takes of the video and used the last one because, according to John, Downey looked completely relaxed, and, "The way he underplays it is fantastic."[55] jtl jtl 0jtl Downey was able to return to the big screen only after Mel Gibson, who had been a close friend to Downey since both had co-starred in Air America, paid Downey's i n 0jtl surance bond for the 2003 film The Singing Detective.[56] Gibson's gamble paved the way for Downey's comeback and D jtl owney returne jtl d to mainstream films in the mid- 2 0jtl 000s with Gothika, for which producer Jo 0jtl el Silver 0jtl withheld 40 p jtl ercent of his salary until after production wrapped as insur jtl ance against his addictive behavior. S 0jtl imilar clauses have become standard in his contracts since then.[57] .


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Maybe the new Slingshot SKYhooks are a option. http://www.slingshotsports.com/Foot-Hooks#.WLrLfBLhAnUSupaFly wrote: I think a mountain board is best if you're looking to do anything other than cruise around. Or, I always thought it would be cool if you could put some type of bindings on a Skateboard/Ripstik... that way you can jump and such.
Thanks for sharing, great video!jakemoore wrote: Short lines are fun. Easy enough to cut and splice a new loop in the lines. You can use the ends as extensions and therefore have full length or half length lines.
This video is good but doesn't show tapering the end of the splice which improves strength.


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Have A Change of Heart at our Heart Fair
When was the last time you had your blood pressure checked? Did you know that relaxation exercises help your heart? What's the proper way to perform CPR? Come to Lexington Medical Center's free interactive Heart Fair on Sunday, March 2 from 1:00–5:00 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton at 2100 Bush River Road in Columbia to learn about your heart health. The event is free and open to the public.
Find out how to reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease by participating in free activities, such as massage therapy, healthy food tastings, blood pressure screenings and relaxation training. You'll discover the latest cardiovascular technologies used in diagnostic, interventional and surgical procedures. You can also hear from Lexington Medical Center physicians and clinicians as they discuss heart-health topics, including nutrition, heart attacks and stroke. The Heart Fair includes activities for children, too. Kids can learn how to grow vegetables and begin spring planting.
The Heart Fair marks the culmination of Lexington Medical Center's "Take 5 for Heart Health" campaign, encouraging community members to take time for their heart health with five key elements: Eat Right, Chill Out, Get Moving, Call 911 and Learn CPR. Lexington Medical Center partnered with Midlands businesses to provide free heart health events including exercise classes and stress relief activities throughout the month of February.


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Find a Park
View Statewide Map
3 Parks Found
Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park
On a barrier island fronting historic Apalachicola Bay, St. George Island State Park offers visitors a little strip of paradise. Beachside or bayside, the spectacular views of crystal waters, blue skies and sugary beaches will make you want to stay.
1900 E. Gulf Beach Drive
St. George Island FL 32328


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San Antonio provides ideal location for possible Sriracha expansion
SAN ANTONIO — State and city officials are hoping to woo the CEO of Huy Fong Foods Inc. into moving or expanding production of Sriracha, the company's increasingly popular spicy Asian sauce, to San Antonio.
State Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, is leading a delegation of Texas officials May 12 to meet with CEO David Tran and tour the company's embattled factory near Los Angeles.
A California judge forced the company to shut down some production after complaints that fumes emitted from the facility caused asthma, nosebleeds and sinus irritation.
"These talks are still very preliminary and we haven't drilled down on site-selection yet, but with it's proximity to the Rio Grande Valley and the economic infrastructure to support this type of factory, San Antonio is high on the list," Villalba said.
Mario Hernandez, president of San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, said the organization reached out two months ago to Tran, who indicated an expansion is more likely than a full-fledged relocation to the Alamo City, which would cost millions.
"We would welcome the opportunity on a complete relocation, but a more likely scenario is future expansion," Hernandez said.
San Antonio is an ideal location for production of the spicy condiment because it is close to the Rio Grande Valley, a region with a large agriculture industry that could easily grow chilies for the product, Villalba said.
Because the chilies must be transported to a factory for production soon after being harvested, San Antonio, the largest city in South Texas, logistically would be a prime location for a manufacturing plant.
Hernandez and Villalba said they have no reservations about the fumes emitted from the factory because proper steps would be taken to ensure safety of nearby residents.
Villalba said the complaints are baseless and politically motivated and, as confirmed by the company's attorney, no company employee has filed a workers' compensation claim in regard to the odor.
"If managed correctly, with the proper zoning and proximity to residential areas, there are many different sites in the San Antonio area that would serve the community and (Huy Fong Foods) well," Hernandez said.
During the legal battle over the complaints, Villalba — who said Sriracha is his favorite condiment, "even above ketchup" — has written public letters to the company inviting them to Texas, where there is no state income tax and fewer emission regulations.
The Dallas Republican received an invitation from Tran last week and will be joined by state Rep. Hubert Vo, D-Houston, who speaks fluent Vietnamese; Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples; and officials from Gov. Rick Perry's and Attorney General Greg Abbott's offices.
"In one of the fastest-growing areas of the country there is an insatiable need for jobs of all types," said state Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, who was invited by Villalba but couldn't attend because of a scheduling conflict.
"Texans are hard workers, and we have a host of communities that are willing to work with a manufacturer to produce a win-win situation," he said. "Certainly, I'd like to welcome the company and help in any way possible to show them what they've probably already heard: Texas has a lot to offer."
The company employs hundreds of full-time and temporary workers in the factory and growing fields, Villalba said.
"We could grow in the state (of Texas) if need be," Tran told Forbes magazine. "But after seeing the supporters (April 23), I don't feel alone, so I need to try to stay here instead of relocating. There is, however, the possibility of expansion to other locations due to growing sales."
The City Council in Irwindale, Calif., delayed a vote Wednesday for two weeks on a measure that would've deemed the factory a public nuisance and required the company to stop releasing the peppery fumes by July 22. The factory, which has produced Sriracha since 1980, moved to Irwindale two years ago.
"I am deeply troubled that one of the fastest-growing and universally beloved condiments in the world — made right here in the USA — could face such blatant obstructionism by a local city government," Villalba said in a statement. "This would never happen in Texas."
Twitter: @KoltenParker


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McIDAS images of GOES-15 (GOES-West) and GOES-13 (GOES-East) 0.63 µm visible channel data (above; click image to play animation) showed the development of a large area of blowing dust that formed in response to high winds along and in the wake of a strong cold frontal boundary (18 UTC surface analysis) that was moving from eastern Colorado into western Kansas on 11 January 2013. Winds gusted to 56 mph in Burlington, Colorado and gusted to 49 mph in Goodland, Kansas (where the surface visibility was reduced to 1.75 miles by the blowing dust).
A closer view using 375-meter resolution (projected onto a 1-km AWIPS grid) Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel and the corresponding false-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image at 19:23 UTC or 12:23 PM local time (below) revealed the banded structure of the blowing dust cloud, which was verified by a photo taken around 19:17 UTC from an aircraft over eastern Colorado by William Straka (CIMSS). Also evident on the VIIRS images was the presence of a number of aircraft dissipation trails (or "distrails") and "hole punch clouds" across parts of central and eastern Kansas. The brighter pink color enhancement within the distrails and hole punch clouds indicated the glaciation of supercooled water droplets in those portions of the cloud deck that were penetrated by aircraft.
In a comparison of a 20:33 UTC (or 1:33 PM local time) MODIS 0.65 µm visible image with the corresponding MODIS 11-12 µm IR brightness temperature difference (below), the most dense areas of blowing dust were highlighted by the lighter cyan colors.


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Scott G - Tears (My Life) [Unsigned Hype]
"First Single off of Scott G's Debut mixtape
Yesterdaze Legend vol.1 releasing November 1st. 2011
for Free download for more information add Scott G
on Facebook.com/OGScottG and follow him @
Directed By: @TheoryofmindTom"
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I'm taking on Sydney Coastrek!
On Friday 27 March, I'll be taking part in Sydney Coastrek, the ultimate team trekking
Did you know that three million people in Australia are living with anxiety and depression?
Every donation helps and makes a significant impact
My Challenges
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New Orleans faces doomsday in hurricane scenario
New Orleans faces doomsday scenario
New Orleans is sinking.
And its main buffer from a hurricane, the protective Mississippi River delta, is quickly eroding away, leaving the historic city perilously close to disaster.
So vulnerable, in fact, that earlier this year the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most castastrophic disasters facing this country.
The other two? A massive earthquake in San Francisco, and, almost prophetically, a terrorist attack on New York City.
The New Orleans hurricane scenario may be the deadliest of all.
In the face of an approaching storm, scientists say, the city's less-than-adequate evacuation routes would strand 250,000 people or more, and probably kill one of 10 left behind as the city drowned under 20 feet of water. Thousands of refugees could land in Houston.
Economically, the toll would be shattering.
Southern Louisiana produces one-third of the country's seafood, one-fifth of its oil and one-quarter of its natural gas. The city's tourism, lifeblood of the French Quarter, would cease to exist. The Big Easy might never recover.
And, given New Orleans' precarious perch, some academics wonder if it should be rebuilt at all.
It's been 36 years since Hurricane Betsy buried New Orleans 8 feet deep. Since then a deteriorating ecosystem and increased development have left the city in an ever more precarious position. Yet the problem went unaddressed for decades by a laissez-faire government, experts said.
"To some extent, I think we've been lulled to sleep," said Marc Levitan, director of Louisiana State University's hurricane center.
Hurricane season ended Friday, and for the second straight year no hurricanes hit the United States. But the season nonetheless continued a long-term trend of more active seasons, forecasters said. Tropical Storm Allison became this country's most destructive tropical storm ever.
Yet despite the damage Allison wrought upon Houston, dropping more than 3 feet of water in some areas, a few days later much of the city returned to normal as bloated bayous drained into the Gulf of Mexico.
The same storm dumped a mere 5 inches on New Orleans, nearly overwhelming the city's pump system. If an Allison-type storm were to strike New Orleans, or a Category 3 storm or greater with at least 111 mph winds, the results would be cataclysmic, New Orleans planners said.
"Any significant water that comes into this city is a dangerous threat," Walter Maestri, Jefferson Parish emergency management director, told Scientific American for an October article.
"Even though I have to plan for it, I don't even want to think about the loss of life a huge hurricane would cause."
New Orleans is essentially a bowl ringed by levees that protect the city from the Mississippi River to its south and Lake Pontchartrain to the north. The bottom of the bowl is 14 feet below sea level, and efforts to keep it dry are only digging a deeper hole.
During routine rainfalls the city's dozens of pumps push water uphill into the lake. This, in turn, draws water from the ground, further drying the ground and sinking it deeper, a problem known as subsidence.
This problem also faces Houston as water wells have sucked the ground dry. Houston's solution is a plan to convert to surface drinking water. For New Orleans, eliminating pumping during a rainfall is not an option, so the city continues to sink.
A big storm, scientists said, would likely block four of five evacuation routes long before it hit. Those left behind would have no power or transportation, and little food or medicine, and no prospects for a return to normal any time soon.
"The bowl would be full," Levitan said. "There's simply no place for the water to drain."
Estimates for pumping the city dry after a huge storm vary from six to 16 weeks. Hundreds of thousands would be homeless, their residences destroyed.
The only solution, scientists, politicians and other Louisiana officials agree, is to take large-scale steps to minimize the risks, such as rebuilding the protective delta.
Every two miles of marsh between New Orleans and the Gulf reduces a storm surge -- which in some cases is 20 feet or higher -- by half a foot.
In 1990, the Breaux Act, named for its author, Sen. John Breaux, D-La., created a task force of several federal agencies to address the severe wetlands loss in coastal Louisiana. The act has brought about $40 million a year for wetland restoration projects, but it hasn't been enough.
"It's kind of been like trying to give aspirin to a cancer patient," said Len Bahr, director of Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster's coastal activities office.
The state loses about 25 square miles of land a year, the equivalent of about one football field every 15 minutes. The fishing industry, without marshes, swamps and fertile wetlands, could lose a projected $37 billion by the year 2050.
University of New Orleans researchers studied the impact of Breaux Act projects on the vanishing wetlands and estimated that only 2 percent of the loss has been averted. Clearly, Bahr said, there is a need for something much bigger. There is some evidence this finally may be happening.
A consortium of local, state and federal agencies is studying a $2 billion to $3 billion plan to divert sediment from the Mississippi River back into the delta. Because the river is leveed all the way to the Gulf, where sediment is dumped into deep water, nothing is left to replenish the receding delta.
Other possible projects include restoration of barrier reefs and perhaps a large gate to prevent Lake Pontchartrain from overflowing and drowning the city.
All are multibillion-dollar projects. A plan to restore the Florida Everglades attracted $4 billion in federal funding, but the state had to match it dollar for dollar. In Louisiana, so far, there's only been a willingness to match 15 or 25 cents.
"Our state still looks for a 100 percent federal bailout, but that's just not going to happen," said University of New Orleans geologist Shea Penland, a delta expert.
"We have an image and credibility problem. We have to convince our country that they need to take us seriously, that they can trust us to do a science-based restoration program."


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But that is not reckoning with the likes of Ruth Bwanakaya, a single mother who runs what can best be described as a health centre under a tree, with a straw mat to demarcate the consulting room and a wooden chest for a pharmacy.
In a report published last week, Unicef, the United Nations children's agency, says Malawi more than halved under-five deaths between 1992 and 2010, from 234 to 112 for every 1000 live births. Unicef says lay people like Bwanakaya, who is one of about 10000 government-employed health surveillance assistants, act as a remarkable first line of defence against malaria, pneumonia, malnutrition and diarrhoea – the scourges of under-five survival figures in low-income countries.
Bwanakaya emerges with her mat from the two-room home she shares with her younger brother, eight, and her own six-year-old daughter. "It is very satisfying work," says the 28-year-old, who earns a net monthly salary of 23 000 kwacha (approximately $80), probably one of the highest incomes in the village.
But being a health surveillance assistant is taxing. "The community expects me to be available at all times, day or night – sometimes several times during the night," says Bwanakaya. "My bicycle is broken – the tyres are worn out – so I must walk between the 13 villages I cover."
Asked how many people are in her care, her reply is instant: 1276 adults and children. It is as though she knows them all personally.
Although the focus of Malawi's health surveillance assistants is on under-fives and pregnant mothers, their real brief is broader. The country has a population of 15-million, and there are more than 650 000 births annually. But the government health service has only eight paediatricians, 16 obstetricians and about 2 500 nurses and midwives.
Bwanakaya received three months of training, yet her responsibilities include health and sanitation education, family planning, immunisation, infant HIV-testing and the distribution of vitamins, malaria nets and iodised salt. In a country with an 11% HIV prevalence, she is a key player in policing drug regimes for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the Aids virus. Crucially, she has to be savvy enough to know when to refer patients to the district hospital, in Chikhwawa, 4km away.
The responsibilities of health surveillance assistants – most of whom have only a secondary school education – have grown since 1973, when Malawi first devised the concept of "cholera assistants" to cover occasional health crises.
The current trend – on trial in a quarter of health districts – is to equip them with toll-free mobile-phone access to a mainframe computer; having read data sent by SMS, the computer produces rapid diagnoses.
Outside Bwanakaya's home, five cows look on from an enclosure and pigs trot about grunting. Dogs laze in the stifling afternoon heat of the Shire Valley. She rolls out her mat under the neem tree. Margaret Gift (29) brings her son, Simplicious. Flip-flops are kicked off and the women sit down. The five-year-old has a cough, fever and diarrhoea. In a gigantic ledger, Bwanakaya notes down details: his name, age, village and disease symptoms. As a matter of routine, she checks him for signs of malnutrition. She reaches into her wooden trunk and hands over anti-malaria medication, paracetamol, oral rehydration salts and zinc for the diarrhoea.
The consultation and generic medicines are free, supplied by the government and Unicef. Occasionally, medication runs out – Bwanakaya says she has been out of eye ointment for 42 days – but the system is broadly dependable.
Such is the health surveillance assistant's appeal to the community that, once Bwanakaya started offering her services in Mafunga four years ago, the local sing'anga (traditional doctor) upped sticks, bones and herbs, and left.
Bwanakaya says the success of her makeshift clinic is owed to its proximity to poor villagers, who often lack the means to travel and may be daunted by the thought of visiting an impersonal mainstream institution. "They call me Doctor Bwanakaya because for most of them I am the most important health worker they know. As soon as a child gets sick, they run to this place because it is near. If this clinic was far away, they might decide to sleep over it, thinking they will take the child the following day, which may be too late." – © Guardian News & Media 2012


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Steve recently spoke with actor and writer Bill Hader about his upcoming projects. One movie he might try to shoot while he's on hiatus from Saturday Night Live is his wife's Maggie Carey's script, The Hand Job. The script landed on the 2009 Black List (a list of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood) and we reported back in October that Aubrey Plaza was attached to play the lead role of a 17-year-old who wants to learn about various sexual activities before she goes to college. Hader says that he, Andy Samberg, Donald Glover, Connie Britton, Alia Shawkat, Mae Whitman, and Johnny Simmons are attached to co-star, and if that cast doesn't make you excited, then you must not recognize these actors by name. You should work on that.
Hit the jump for what Hader told Steve about the project as well as a more dramatic film he may do called The Skeleton Twins with Anna Faris and Mark Duplass. Click here for what Hader had to say about his SNL character "Stefon", and be sure to check back later today for more of Steve's interview with Hader.
UPDATE: Steve here. Just spoke to Bill Hader again and he told me that Chris Mintz-Plasse is now attached to Hand Job as well! Hope this thing gets made this summer.
Here's what Hader told Steve about The Hand Job and The Skeleton Twins:
Have you figured out what you want to do during your hiatus from SNL?
BILL HADER: There is this movie called The Skeleton Twins that is trying to find funding that me, Anna Farris, and Mark Duplass are attached to. This guy, Craig Johnson, is going to direct it. Mark Heyman, who wrote Black Swan, wrote it. It's more of a drama with me and Anna Farris playing twins. It's really interesting. Then my wife, Maggie Carey, wrote a movie that was on the Black List called The Hand Job for Aubrey Plaza that she plans to write and direct. That movie is kind of in the same place as Skeleton Twins. They are kind of trying to get their funding together. It's a really cool movie. The cast for that is great. It's got Aubrey Plaza, me, Andy Samberg, Donald Glover, Connie Britton, Alia Shawkat, Mae Whitman, and Johnny Simmons is attached to it. It's a really cool movie that is insanely funny. We did a reading of it at the Austin Film Festival and it just blew the roof off of the place. People went nuts for it. I really hope that happens.


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I have a few factory parts left over from my 25 build. Free local pick up, you pay shipping.
CONTACT ME BY EMAIL ONLY. I will provide a phone number in our email exchange.
Factory RB25DET Injectors $100
Factory RB25DET Intake Manifold. No throttle body $40
Factory RB25DET Exhaust manifold $40
RB25det Parts
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Download link (right click and 'save-as') for playing in VLC or other compatible player.
Space-time measurements and gravitational experiments are made by the mutual relations between objects, fields, particles etc... Any operationally meaningful assertion about spacetime is therefore intrinsic to the degrees of freedom of the matter (i.e. non-gravitational) fields and concepts such as ``locality'' and ``proximity'' should, at least in principle, be definible entirely within the dynamics of the matter fields. We propose to consider the regions of space just as general ``subsystems''. By writing the Hilbert space of the matter fields as a generic tensor product of subsystems we analyse the evolution of a state vector on an information theoretical basis and discuss general principles to recover a posteriori the usual space-time relations. We apply such principles to generic interacting second quantized models with a finite number of fermionic degrees of freedom. Finally, we discuss the possible role of gravity in this framework.


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56 Ratings
Bodegas Alejandro Fernández Tinto Pesquera Ribera del Duero
Wine Details
Wine Description
(2011 Vintage) Dense purple with opaque center. Multilayered fruit bouquet of prunes and red wine figs, underlaid with gingerbread and chocolate cherry, radiating classy acting and wonderful warmth. Round tannins and plum jelly-like sweetness in the flattering palate with subtle cedar spice and dried fruit again much in the velvety center, Tempranillo wealth and Fernandez-classical perfection, caramelized walnuts in a long lingering finish.
Expert Reviews
Wine SpectatorRating: 93/100 - As reviewed by Wine Spectator on 11/30/98.


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(Phoenix, Ariz. – September 15, 2005) Do you have tax returns from 1992? Haven't bought that shredder you have been meaning to buy? Bring your personal papers to Tucson's Armory Park Senior Center and join Attorney General Terry Goddard for a shred a thon and ID theft presentation. This event will be held Saturday, September 24 from 2-4 p.m.
Goddard and AARP Arizona will host a Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft presentation. The program includes a large shredding truck for Tucson residents who have old bills, tax returns, medical records and other documents that need shredding. The Arizona Shredding Company has donated one of its shredding trucks for this event. Tucson residents are encouraged to bring boxes of their old papers for shredding.
"ID theft is a crime of convenience, and thieves look for the easiest way to lift someone's identity," said Attorney General Terry Goddard. "Mail is one of the easiest ways to steal an identity. Shredding documents is a quick and easy way to protect yourself from becoming an ID theft victim."
Currently, Arizona ranks No. 1 in the country for identity theft. This program will provide residents with information and tips to protect themselves from becoming ID theft victims.
"Many people don't realize that bits and pieces of their personal information can be a gold mine to an identity thief," said David Mitchell, AARP Arizona State Director. In fact, a person's name, address and phone number may be all that's needed to commit fraud and damage a person's good name or credit."


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Donnel Rawlings Is A Damn Fool: When Cuffin Season Isn't Long Enough For You.. You Gotta "Save Deez B*tches" [Comedy Skit]
Donnell Rawlings presents "Save Deez bitches" edited by cwoe
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RateSupermarket.ca's Expert Mortgage Panel Expects Little Movement for Mortgage Rates
Toronto, ON – January 22, 2013: It is indeed a happy New Year for home buyers hoping that the historically low mortgage rates would carry over into 2013. For now, there are still no changes expected for fixed or variable mortgage rates, due to continued global economic unease combined with stimulus provided by the Canadian government. While Government of Canada bond yields have historically increased in the winter months, low mortgage volumes are prompting lenders to keep fixed rates at their historical lows. The Bank of Canada is also not expected to make any changes to the overnight lending rate, keeping variable rates at their current levels.
Fixed Mortgage Rates: Unchanged
While Government of Canada bond yields have seen a recent increase, and are anticipated to continue to rise over the coming month, fixed mortgage rates are not expected to follow suit, as low mortgage volumes and a slowing housing market will prompt lenders to keep mortgage rates at competitive levels to capture market share.
Variable Mortgage Rates: Unchanged
The Bank of Canada is not expected to increase the overnight lending rate in its upcoming rate announcement on January 23rd, nor is an increase anticipated over the next six months. As a result, variable mortgage rates will not change in the foreseeable future.
About the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel
The Panel includes some of the country's top mortgage experts, and helps consumers make informed decisions by offering a short-term outlook for fixed and variable mortgage rates in Canada.
This month's panel members:
- Dan Eisner, President, True North
- Mark Kocuarek, Senior Vice President, ING DIRECT
- Mary Zenar, Managing Director, Zenar Financial
- Dr. Ian Lee, Director of MBA Program, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
To read all the detailed commentary from our Panel Members, please visit:
About RateSupermarket.ca ( www.ratesupermarket.ca )
Over 2.8 Million Canadians have found their best rate for personal finance products on RateSupermarket.ca. Launched in 2008, RateSupermarket.ca is Canada's largest and most comprehensive rate comparison site, offering visitors transparent access to the best mortgage rates as well as credit cards, bank accounts, insurance quotes, financial advisors, and GIC rates.


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Tori Spelling may be from the glitzy 90210 zip code, but these days she's dealing with some financial setbacks.
The 40-year-old actress originally revealed her money troubles to People, explaining that she and husband Dean McDermott have been tightening their wallets recently.
"[We're] in the entertainment business, and things change year to year. We don't have a series on the air right now, so we have to be more restrictive of what we can spend, just like anyone who currently doesn't have a steady job."
U.S. & World
Spelling added, "I haven't bought a purse in three years and it's fine. I look back at the girl who shopped at Gucci in my twenties and I can't even relate. I can't believe I thought that was important."
NEWS: Tori's three rules for having an amazing Halloween
The magazine also reported that Spelling's hubby did not undergo a vasectomy after their business manager advised them that they simply couldn't afford the operation.
McDermott later cleared the air, dispelling rumors that the couple was completely broke to Us Weekly.
"Right now things are going well. I have several exciting projects in the works," he explained. "Could we afford a vasectomy? Probably. Was it a tougher time for us financially? Yeah, for sure. That's just the truth of it--it's the nature of this business."
NEWS: Tori Spelling opens up about her pregnancy scare
The 46-year-old added, "Sometimes things are awesome, sometimes they're just not. But it's about how we tackle things as a couple, as a family. And we do a pretty good job of that."
And it seems like things are looking up for the family of six.
The former "Beverly Hills 90210" star released a new memoir, "Spelling It Like It Is," this week. Meanwhile, McDermott has landed a hosting gig for "Chopped Canada" and will have his very first cookbook hit shelves sometime in the coming months.
Tune-in to the E! Entertainment Special: "Tori Spelling" on Monday, Oct. 28 at 10/9c!


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Take a look today, you should see my picture next to stupidity:
So you know where this post is going..
I go down to Salt Fork, around 11 am, where the temp is already 81 degrees. I try out another bridle path, hoping the horses haven't destroyed it, but this is what I encountered in the first mile of trail..
So I decide to go off-piste. Well, it turns out off-piste is much more fun with Slim and Gombu running around the mountains of Virginia, rather than wandering off in the bramble-laden woods of Ohio.
So I decide to follow the creek bed down. But it's short lived, as the creek goes off a precipice.
I crawl back up the creek bank, but then I rejoin the creek again. It's fun, until I have to jump up on the creek band due to some logs blocking the creek.
I encounter stinging nettles for the first time. I'm going through these green plants, with small little thorny things, and then I realize my legs are freaking STINGING.They are hot and inflamed! It's really bothering me. I mean, they are freaking on fire! I go up into the woods, to get away from these godawful plants.
I get down to the lake, where I discovered I am actually around the bend-or maybe two-from where my vehicle is parked. So I start up the hill, keeping the lake on my right.
This is where it all starts going south. I run into rows and groves of multi flora rose bushes. Multi-flora rose is an invasive species, a perennial shrub. It can grown into impenetrable walls. Ask me. I tried to go through them.
My legs back at the vehicle. I would follow a deer trail, which would then go through a thicket. Then I would try to find another way. I was frustrated and irritated. I was lost, yet I wasn't. I was between the lake and the bridle trail. I was trying to get back to the trail, mud or not!! It was truly hideous. I was so irritated at myself, for getting stuck in this mess, for not bringing the compass (if I had the compass I could at least tell if I was wandering in circles). I tried to pretend this was good training for Barkley, good heat training. My legs were getting shredded. I had blood all over my legs.
I finally made it back to my vehicle. The legs are still warm and inflamed. It's lucky I'm still on an antibiotic due to my teeth!


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A river resurrected
The Colorado River Delta gets a second chance
EJIDO LUIS ENCINAS JOHNSON, Sonora, Mexico - There are plenty of rumors about the last stretch of the Colorado River. Most say it's a trickle, a dead zone, a river no more. A paradise lost for good.
Juan Butron knows it's not quite that simple.
Butron and I are standing next to a line of rusting trucks at the edge of a crumbling riverbank, looking 15 feet down at the wide, shallow flow of the Colorado River at low tide. On the pale-blue horizon, we can see the mouth of the river draining into the Gulf of California. Upstream, a few members of the Cucapa tribe fish in the salty waters.
This delta was once covered with millions of acres of lush wetlands formed by the ever-shifting, powerful flow of the Colorado River. But upstream dams and diversions have taken their toll during the last century. Behind us now is nothing but desert - not the towering-cactus kind of desert, but a salt-soaked desert with hardly a plant in sight.
The mouth of the river used to sustain fields of cotton and wheat in nearby Ejido Johnson, the tiny town where Butron and his family have lived for almost 30 years. In the ejido, Spanish for a communal farming settlement, only a fraction of the land is still good for agriculture. Each morning before dawn, busloads of people leave the town's dusty main street for jobs at foreign-owned farms or factories near the border.
It doesn't sound like life is getting better in the Colorado River Delta. But there's a slim chance it will. During the past 20 years, Butron and his neighbors have watched flood flows and wastewater rejuvenate a few places in the delta, creating river and wetland habitat nearly unmatched on the stretch of the Colorado in the United States. These signs of life have inspired hope in the small towns here, and they've energized other Mexicans who care about the delta. And for the first time, environmental groups in the United States are leaping over the international border that hides the mouth of the Colorado River from the rest of the basin. They're trying to change the oldest unwritten law of the river: Take all you can get, and never let it go.
"A deep and emerald hue"
Few accounts of the glory days of the delta survive, but we do have one star witness. In 1922, conservationist Aldo Leopold spent several weeks paddling a canoe through the delta's wetlands in Mexico.
"The still waters were of a deep and emerald hue, colored by algae, I suppose, but no less green for all that," he wrote. "A verdant wall of mesquite and willow separated the channel from the thorny desert beyond. At each bend we saw egrets standing in the pools ahead, each white statue matched by its white reflection. Fleets of cormorants drove their black prows in quest of skittering mullets; avocets, willets and yellow-legs dozed one-legged on the bars; mallards, widgeons and teal sprang skyward in alarm."
In its prime, the Colorado River dumped about 70 percent of its substantial sediment load near its mouth, at the end of its journey to the sea. Think of the uncountable tons of soil and rock that once filled Glen Canyon, Boulder Canyon, and the Grand Canyon; most of that rode the river current southward for hundreds of miles. Over time, the Colorado deposited a deep wedge of fertile soil stretching from north of what is now Palm Springs, Calif., to the Gulf of California. The soil was the foundation for the verdant forests Leopold described, and it now supports the produce empire in the Mexicali and Imperial valleys.
Healthy river deltas are restless places. The river was once its own manager, building and demolishing earthen dams of soil, flooding and then abandoning depressions such as the Salton Sink (HCN, 6/19/00: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?). Wetlands and gallery forests formed and reformed along the river, harboring rich populations of birds, fish, and even bobcats and jaguars, who came down from the nearby Cucapa Mountains to hunt in the delta.
A working delta is also a battleground between river and sea. In November of the same year that Leopold was peacefully paddling through the delta, the little steamboat Toplobampo chugged upriver from the Gulf of California. There wasn't anything unusual about that; in the 19th century, the delta was navigable, and steamboats traveled frequently between Yuma, Ariz., and the Gulf of California. But this particular steamboat never made it to port. A 15-foot-high wall of water knocked it flat in the middle of the night, killing 86 of its 125 passengers and marooning the rest for days on the scorching, mosquito-ridden mud flats.
"There was hardly time for a single cry," wrote Frank Waters in his 1946 book The Colorado. "The wave caught the Toplobampo squarely abeam, snapped the hawsers like threads, and rolled the ship over like a log."
That wall of water was the Colorado's tidal bore, the dramatic result of the clash between fresh- and saltwater. The Gulf of California is famous for the enormous tides that barrel up through the narrow channel between the Baja Peninsula and mainland Mexico. When those tides funneled into the roaring mouth of the unfettered Colorado, no one wanted to be in the way.
The sometimes violent mix of waters in the delta formed one of the largest and most productive estuaries in the world. Fish such as corvina, mullet and tilapia were plentiful in the southern delta, and shrimp abounded in the upper gulf. The Cucapa tribe, the "river people" whose members once lived off the delta's harvest of game and native plants, found their best hunting grounds at the mouth of the river.
But the river people and the delta's wildlife were the last to be considered when the waters of the Colorado were divvied up. The 1922 compact on the river split up all the water among the seven U.S. basin states, and no water was set aside for Mexico until the two countries signed a treaty in 1944. The treaty promised Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet of water every year - about 10 percent of the river's flow - but all of that was quickly diverted for agriculture in the Mexicali Valley in northern Mexico.
During the dam-building era, floods became the lifeblood of the delta. For six years after Hoover Dam was completed in 1936, no water from the Colorado reached the sea. Then, after the reservoir filled, a trickle of floodwater made it past the system of dams and diversions and returned to the delta. In 1964, when Glen Canyon Dam was completed, the cycle began again.
Dams didn't erase the tidal bores, but they did make them a lot more ... boring. A few hours before or after our trip to the mouth of the river, Juan Butron and I would have seen the modern version of the tidal bore, a muddy rush of water filling the river's channel. High tide now overwhelms the paltry flow of the river, and the conditions in and near the river mouth are grimly referred to as a "negative estuary," a flow nearly as salty as the ocean. The salt has poisoned much of the wildlife that used to thrive here, and overfishing has almost finished off several species. The Cucapa dwindled with their livelihood, and only about 200 still live in Mexico, largely isolated from the more than 800 tribal members who live on a reservation in Arizona.
The dams also trapped the rich silt that once reached the delta, leaving only a colorless stream to cross the border. Now, the soil in the delta is eroding, not accumulating. The deep ditch that Juan Butron and I balanced beside is almost all that's left of the delta.
The unexpected forest
Almost, but not quite. Though the delta is still a damaged landscape, it's finally getting a few lucky breaks. Three years ago, a University of Arizona professor named Edward Glenn and his colleague, Carlos Valdes-Casillas, flew over the northern end of the Colorado River Delta in Mexico. Glenn had never had a bird's-eye view of the river above its confluence with the Rio Hardy, but he'd been exploring the delta region for more than two decades. He expected little more than a panoramic perspective on tamarisk groves and salt flats.
Instead, they saw a winding green thread of native cottonwood and willow trees along the river channel. "I said, 'Carlos, those aren't supposed to be there, those were supposed to disappear,' " says Glenn. "That sight revealed the whole story to us."
The story is this. For nearly 20 years after the completion of Glen Canyon Dam, almost no water from the river reached the ocean, and the tail end of the Colorado mostly lived up to its gloomy reputation. In 1968, flow readings at the southernmost measuring station on the Colorado were discontinued, since there was nothing to measure.
But by the early 1980s, all reservoirs on the river were full, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation allowed the extra water to occasionally flow across the border. It was too much for the Mexicali farm fields to soak up all at once, and in the flood year of 1983, the river reached the Gulf of California for the first time since Glen Canyon Dam went up. The wet winters of the 1990s continued the sporadic floods. Glenn says fish populations in the Mexican stretch of the river have "exploded," increasing as much as tenfold since the beginning of the floods.
Even though most of that water arrives too early in the year to help the riverside habitat, some of the native vegetation on the northern end of the delta has already sprouted back. When migratory songbirds cross the border, they're now welcomed by a 60-mile-long corridor of forest, stretching from Morelos Dam to the river's confluence with the Rio Hardy. Because the river on the Mexican side is relatively free of riprap and concrete channels, the flood-fed recovery in Mexico is especially dramatic. Researchers estimate there are 34,500 acres of forest containing cottonwoods and willows along the river in Mexico - about three times more than along the lower Colorado in the United States.
"Like a lot of other people, I had a notion that there's sort of this lifeless sewer down there," says Jan Hart, an ornithologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who visited the river in Mexico for the first time last year. "I'd been hearing there were these stands of cottonwoods there, and it was hard for me to imagine, but there they were. When you work in the desert and you see those stands from a distance, it's like seeing veins of gold. You say, 'Wow, this is good habitat.' "
Yet that good habitat is sustained by chance alone. "Those flood flows are accidental, and they're in no way assured or allocated for the delta," says David Hogan of the Center for Biological Diversity's Southern California office. "Reclamation giveth, and Reclamation taketh away."
A great big lake
Edward Glenn knows all about the accidental generosity of the Bureau of Reclamation, since it's figured large in the delta's recent revival. A little more than a decade ago, he helped to uncover one of the agency's big secrets: its engineering has unintentionally created some of the best wildlife habitat in the delta.
In 1977, the Bureau completed work on the MODE canal, which every year carries 35 billion gallons of irrigation runoff southward from Yuma, Ariz. The runoff dumps out on the eastern edge of the delta in Mexico - just a mile or so from Ejido Johnson.
Two years later, Glenn visited the end of the brand-new canal. "I wanted to see where all that water was going, and I found it had formed a great big lake," he says. "I kind of filed that away in my memory, and about 10 years later ... I went down to the end of the canal again, and the lake had become a wetland. I knew it was really something, since that kind of habitat is really rare there."
Glenn thought he was the only person in the scientific world who knew about the 50,000-acre marsh, which is in the delta but isolated from the Colorado River. Yet when he told staffers at the Bureau of Reclamation what he'd seen, they pulled out detailed maps from recent aerial surveys. "They knew everything about it," says Glenn. "They just weren't telling anyone."
The Bureau of Reclamation had its reasons for keeping quiet. The MODE, which stands for Main Outlet Drain Extension, was built to drain irrigation water from agricultural fields in southern Arizona while the agency constructed a $250 million desalting plant in Yuma (HCN, 2/21/94: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado). When the plant was completed, the agency planned to treat the irrigation water and put it in the Colorado River. The water would satisfy an amendment to the 1944 treaty, one that guarantees Mexico relatively pure water from the Colorado.
Then, the agency intended to use the canal to drain leftover brine into the marsh. The concentrated salt solution would kill the marsh and leave its wildlife with nowhere to go; Reclamation giveth, and Reclamation taketh away.
But the hugely expensive water treatment project took almost 20 years to finish. During that time, the United States used floodwater to fulfill its obligation to Mexico, and irrigation runoff from the canal kept expanding the marsh, now called the Cienaga de Santa Clara. In 1992, the plant began operating at one-third capacity, but it was shut down less than a year later when a flood damaged the MODE.
In the early 1990s, several Mexican scientists recognized the ecological value of the cienaga. They pushed to include the new marsh in a biosphere reserve planned for the upper Gulf of California and the river delta, a designation sanctioned by the United Nations. In 1993, when the marsh was added to the reserve at the last minute, it instantly gained a new status that's hard to argue with.
"If anything happens with that water, if (the Bureau of Reclamation) decides to use it for the desalting plant in Yuma, everybody is going to blame them, because the Cienaga de Santa Clara is a famous place now," says Jose Campoy, the young, enthusiastic director of the 2.3 million-acre Biosphere Reserve of the Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta. "I'm going to complain," he promises, "and the whole of Mexico's going to complain.
"But the sad part is, the water going to the cienaga is not ours, it's yours," he adds. "So if you decide you want to take it, it's your choice."
Yuma's colossal desalting plant now stands silently next to the Colorado River, and tourists are allowed to peek in the windows and visit an information center. But even though the river's full reservoirs are expected to satisfy the treaty with Mexico for 20 to 25 years, the plant might not stay in mothballs. Plant manager Paul McAleese says a power plant in Mexico is interested in buying desalted water from Yuma, and the plant's full-time staff is looking for other customers. A page on the plant's Web site reads like a classified ad ("If you are interested in purchasing high-quality reverse-osmosis water, call ...").
So the coast isn't clear for the new marsh. But the publicity drummed up by Ed Glenn and others has pushed the agency to study the potential effects of the plant on the ci?naga, and to find other places to dump its brine.
"We're looking for alternative approaches," says Bob Johnson, the regional director of the Bureau of Reclamation. The plant would cost about $24 million a year to operate, and Johnson says the irrigation water flowing through the MODE canal has "created a significant environmental resource in the cienaga."
Green and clean
To Juan Butron, the cienaga isn't just a "significant resource"; it's a second chance for his community. It's an overcast early morning on the Cienaga de Santa Clara, and Butron and his son Jose Juan quietly paddle an aluminum canoe through a maze of cattails near the MODE canal. It's not long before we hear the loud, clattering call of a Yuma clapper rail from the thickets that loom over our heads.
This accidental wetland is a windfall for the delta's struggling wildlife. The shy Yuma clapper rails are endangered in the United States and Mexico, but more than 6,000 are packed into this marsh. The population is so dense and healthy that some birds might be traveling northward to repopulate former habitats on the other side of the border. The Cienaga de Santa Clara is also a haven for migratory birds and the largest known population of the desert pupfish, listed as endangered by both the United States and Mexico.
When the dams cut off the river's flow in the 1960s, the wetlands in this area all but dried up. During the following years, "we could just walk through here," says Juan Butron in Spanish, gesturing at a huge expanse of open water. "We didn't need boats then." About a decade later, water began pouring out of the MODE canal, and part of the past returned.
There are more than 200,000 people who live in the small towns like Ejido Johnson scattered throughout the delta. Until the river started to sputter and choke, many made a good living from agriculture or fishing. Even so, Elena Chavarria of the Mexican environmental group Pronatura Sonora says some don't believe restoration efforts could help their communities.
"When we started talking to them about restoration of the river, when we said the river had been green and clean less than 50 years ago, most younger people had no idea what we were talking about," she says. "For most of their lives, there's been no water in the river."
For almost 10 years, Chavarria has organized outreach programs in agricultural towns, small tourist camps near the border city of Mexicali, and Cucapa tribal communities along the river.
"We try to find out what's important to them about the river," she says. "We don't say, 'You have to care about this because of migratory waterfowl.' Sometimes there's good news, and sometimes it's heartbreaking, because progress is very slow."
The water flowing over the border has done what her work sometimes can't: It's started to remind the communities what they can gain from the river. The Ecological Association of Users of the Hardy and Colorado Rivers, made up of hunters, farmers and fishers from several delta communities, has begun to participate in city and state planning efforts in the northern delta. It now wants to open an office in the city of Mexicali for easier access to the officials who control water in the region.
The Cienaga de Santa Clara has also brought a spark of hope to Ejido Johnson. Ejidos were established by the federal government in the 1930s, and most were partially privatized in the 1990s. Since the river started to shrink, there have been few ways to make a living here, and many people have moved away.
Juan Butron wants to give those remaining a reason to stay. He and a few other people in town have started a fledgling tourism business in the marsh, offering canoe trips for birdwatchers and sportfishers. They've turned a once-abandoned house into a small program office, and they've built a couple of palapas for camping on the edge of the marsh.
The townspeople are getting some help from the biosphere reserve and from La Ruta de Sonora, a nonprofit educational tour group based in Ajo, Ariz. Executive director Isabel Granillo, a Mexican citizen, says some in the delta region are surprised that others come from far away to see what's here. "Then they think, 'OK, I'm protecting these things so I can show them to these other people,' " she says.
Tourism isn't a cure-all. But the ever-growing marsh and its trickle of visitors have kept Butron inspired for more than 20 years. "When that water arrived, I thought it was going to be good for the birds, good for the fish, and good for the ejido," he says. "I thought we had a future."
When is eventually?
It's not just water that's crossing the border. For years, environmental groups in the United States have concentrated on the upper reaches of the Colorado, dismissing the lower river and the delta as a hopeless catastrophe. But as word of the cottonwood forests and the new marsh spread, some groups took a hard look at their maps and erased the international boundary.
"Before, the delta was just covered with saltcedar, and there was no river at all, just sand," says biosphere reserve director Jose Campoy. "Now, with two El Nino events in the '90s, all that vegetation really grew up. That's when a lot of people opened their eyes and said, 'What! Maybe with just a little water, or some floods every two or three years, we can have the river - alive.' "
The U.S. groups joined with the scientists and Mexican environmentalists who have been working on river and delta restoration since the early 1990s. The speedy revival of the river corridor has given the members of this loose coalition hope, too. They think these remnant habitats could someday be linked with one another, a partial reconstruction of the "hundred green lagoons" that Aldo Leopold saw.
But the first goal is to hang on to the water flowing into the delta, since there's no guarantee from either country that the water will stay in the river.
"We're not talking about bringing the dams down," says Mark Briggs of the Sonoran Institute in Tucson, Ariz. "We're talking about getting some flows, not huge ones, just enough to keep native wetlands alive. That's the start."
Even that is a challenge. The United States uses about nine-tenths of the river's water, and to most of the people who use that share, the delta is an abstraction. So these groups started with publicity, releasing easy-to-read reports on the scientific research in the delta.
"We tried to make it interesting to the world," says Chelsea Congdon, a former staffer for the national group Environmental Defense. "We wanted to capture people's imaginations."
Environmentalists are now starting to wedge the delta into the debate over Colorado River water policy, most of which takes place in offices and conference rooms a world away from Ejido Johnson. In November 1999, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and 37 other U.S. and Mexican environmental groups sent a letter calling for a formal agreement between the United States and Mexico, a promise of water for both the main stem of the river and the newly established Cienaga de Santa Clara.
The next month, 15 of those groups sent a notice of intent to sue to nine U.S. agencies, citing agency violations of the Endangered Species Act for endangered fish and birds in the delta and the upper Gulf of California. They were to follow through with a lawsuit at the end of June.
Official response to these efforts has been cool. Bob Johnson of the Bureau of Reclamation, for instance, says his agency isn't responsible for protecting animals that are listed as endangered in the United States but located in Mexico. "We're willing to consider the broad needs of the delta in consultation with the country of Mexico," he says, "but Mexico is another country. The laws of the United States don't apply there."
Environmental groups are also trying to push the delta through another crack in the policy barriers. The U.S. government wants to establish a set of temporary rules for managing the river's flood flows by the end of the year, rules that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says must cause "no net loss" of environmental benefits. Armed with Babbitt's statement, several environmental groups are agitating to get some of those flows guaranteed to the river itself. They eventually want a commitment from both governments to keep water in the river all the way to the Gulf of California.
But the U.S. government is not considering the environmentalists' proposal while it develops the temporary rules for flood flows. Instead, it plans to continue to send nearly half the floodwater to urban California for the time being.
Here's why: Because most of the other basin states don't use their full portions of the Colorado, California has long been able to take more than its share. It now uses up to 5.2 million acre-feet per year, far exceeding the 4.4 million acre-feet allocated to the state by the "Law of the River," the series of agreements and treaties among the basin states and Mexico. But now, the other states are increasing their use of the Colorado (see story, page 6), and they want California to stop hogging the river.
So the Department of Interior and the seven Colorado Basin states are set to adopt a new water-use plan for California by the end of the year. The plan, a priority for Babbitt, would cut California's use of the Colorado down to size by 2015. Both California and Interior say the flood flows are needed in the short-term to ease the thirsty state's gradual transition to the new plan. The other basin states have agreed, but reluctantly, since they'd like California to toe the line as soon as possible. Any serious discussion of flood flows for the delta might throw a wrench into the fragile truce among the states and Interior.
Federal officials also argue that any international agreements on flows have to be negotiated by the International Boundary and Water Commission, overseen by the U.S. State Department and its counterpart in Mexico. The commission is cooperating with Mexico on a study of the delta, and a joint declaration between the United States and Mexico in mid-May emphasized the importance of the project.
Yet the promise of another study isn't good enough for most environmental groups. "They've been saying the same thing for 70 or 80 years - that we'll get to the environment eventually," says Michael Cohen of the Pacific Institute, an environmental policy research center in Oakland, Calif. "Well, when is eventually?"
No longer a taboo
Big changes in policy may be some time in coming, but the delta is getting a little help from the powers-that-be in both countries. A letter from Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes to several U.S. environmentalists in mid-May acknowledged for the first time that 80 percent of the best habitat on the lower Colorado is in Mexico. "Restoring the ecological integrity of the Delta is in the interest of both the U.S. and Mexico," he wrote.
There has also been some motion within the Mexican government. Less than half of the protected areas in Mexico have regular funding, but the biosphere reserve is one of the luckier ones. In 1996, three years after its establishment, the huge reserve got enough money to start paying staff. Its annual budget is still at the shoestring level - about $150,000 - but director Jose Campoy says the reserve can now pay for salaries, some equipment and fuel.
Outgoing Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo is far from an environmental champion, but at the beginning of his administration in 1994, he created the Secretariat of the Environment, Natural Resources, and Fisheries, equivalent to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The agency is headed by prominent Mexican environmentalist Julia Carabias, and it includes Mexico's first central office for protected areas. And in early March, Zedillo bowed to pressure from an international coalition of environmental groups and canceled plans for a gigantic salt factory on the Baja Peninsula. The victory boosted the confidence of a similar coalition - the U.S. and Mexican groups working to protect the delta.
Carlos Valdes-Casillas of the Monterrey Technical Institute in Guaymas, Mexico, says there's limited but growing concern about the delta among Mexican officials, and some support for an environmental amendment to the 1944 treaty between the United States and Mexico. "The treaty used to be almost a taboo subject," he says. "It was assumed that it was never going to change."
Official U.S. interest in the delta still pales in comparison to the support for domestic projects such as the Salton Sea restoration. To many on this side of the border, the Colorado River Delta is still a land of rumor and myth. And to many in Mexico, the delta is still a bitter symbol of the forces that hold sway upstream.
But Edward Glenn says there are signs of life, both in the delta and in the seats of power on both sides of the international boundary. When he first started driving from Tucson to visit the Colorado River Delta more than 20 years ago, allies were hard to come by.
"There was no acknowledgement on the official level that these things were environmental assets," he says. "Now, there's a whole cadre of people working on it. They don't need people like me to run down there and make discoveries anymore."
Michelle Nijhuis is an associate editor at HCN. Thanks to Merrylea Bennett-Carey and Dev Carey for help with translation.
- Mark Briggs, Sonoran Institute, 520/290-0828;
- Jose Campoy, Biosphere Reserve of the Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta, 011-52-653-63757 or [email protected];
- Edward Glenn, University of Arizona, 520/626-2664;
- David Hogan, Center for Biological Diversity, 760/782-9244;
- Bob Johnson, Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Regional Office, 702/293-8411;
- Jennifer Pitt, Environmental Defense, 303/440-4901. Juan Butron doesn't have a phone, but he'd be happy to speak (in Spanish) to anyone who finds their way to Ejido Johnson.