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Volunteers reporting on community issues in Monument, Palmer Lake, and the surrounding Tri-Lakes area

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Articles from Vol. 23 No. 12 - December 2, 2023

Letters to Our Community – Thanks, Kiwanis Monument Hill Foundation

On behalf of the Palmer Ridge Outdoor Learning Lab, we would like to say thank you to the Kiwanis Monument Hill Foundation for their generous donations consisting of a $1,000 grant, gray breeze rock for path accessibility, and border stakes for transects to begin research. These donations are important to supporting the innovative learning space for students, allowing us to further expand our knowledge. We are very grateful for the donations made by the Kiwanis Monument Hill Foundation. We, along with our fellow students, are very appreciative of your support!

Lucy Zamborelli and Taylor Peterson, PRHS students

Click here for Guidelines for letters.

Disclaimer: The information and opinions expressed in Letters to Our Community are the responsibility of the letter writers and should not be interpreted as the views of OCN even if the letter writer is an OCN volunteer. The letters are arranged in alphabetical order based on the last name of the author.

Other Letters to Our Community

Letters to Our Community – Thank you, Tri-Lakes Women’s Club

On behalf of the Palmer Ridge High School (PRHS) Outdoor Learning Lab, we would like to thank the Tri-Lakes Women’s Club for their recent donations, which included a $1,000 grant for composted soil, and Colorado native plants. Their generous contributions allow the PRHS Outdoor Learning Lab to continue building a space for students to learn through hands-on application. We enjoy going outside to the Lab to apply concepts learned in the classroom. Again, we are very grateful for the donations made by the Tri-Lakes Women’s Club. We, along with our fellow students, are very appreciative of your support!

Lucy Zamborelli and Taylor Peterson, PRHS students

Click here for Guidelines for letters.

Disclaimer: The information and opinions expressed in Letters to Our Community are the responsibility of the letter writers and should not be interpreted as the views of OCN even if the letter writer is an OCN volunteer. The letters are arranged in alphabetical order based on the last name of the author.

Other Letters to Our Community

Between the Covers at Covered Treasures Bookstore – Great gift ideas

By the staff at Covered Treasures

“Christmas is doing a little extra something for someone”—Charles M. Schultz

Here are some books that would make wonderful winter reading for yourself or someone else!

Magic on the Mountainside

By Nancy Godbout Jurka (Satiama Publishing) $20

Every holiday season in the town of Palmer Lake, Colo., townspeople and children look forward eagerly to the annual magic on their mountainside—the lighting of the Palmer Lake Star. Two children wait, but when nothing happens they take matters into their own hands and it turns into quite the adventure. This book celebrates the natural beauty of Colorado while telling the history of our Palmer Lake star.

Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon

By Melissa Sevigny (Norton) $30

In summer 1938, botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off to run the Colorado River, accompanied by an ambitious and entrepreneurial expedition leader, a zoologist, and two amateur boatmen. Through the vibrant letters and diaries of the two women, science journalist Melissa L. Sevigny traces their daring 43-day journey down the river, during which they meticulously cataloged the thorny plants that thrived in the Grand Canyon’s secret nooks and crannies. Brave the Wild River is a spellbinding adventure of two women who risked their lives to make an unprecedented botanical survey of a defining landscape in the American West, at a time when human influences had begun to change it forever.

Being Henry: The Fonz … and Beyond

By Henry Winkler (Celadon Books) $30

Henry Winkler, launched into prominence as “The Fonz” in the beloved Happy Days, has transcended the role that made him who he is. Henry shares in this achingly vulnerable memoir the disheartening truth of his childhood, the difficulties of a life with severe dyslexia, the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own, and the path forward once your wildest dream seems behind you. Since the glorious era of Happy Days fame, Henry has endeared himself to a new generation with roles in which he’s been revealed as an actor with immense depth and pathos, a departure from the period of his life when he was typecast as The Fonz and could barely find work.

Absolution

By Alice McDermott (Farrar, Straus &Giroux) $28

American women—American wives—have been mostly minor characters in the literature of the Vietnam War, but in Absolution they take center stage. This book focuses on two women and the discovery of how their own lives as women on the periphery—of politics, of history, of war, of their husbands’ convictions—have been shaped and burdened by the same sort of unintended consequences that followed America’s tragic interference in Southeast Asia.

Little Red Sleigh

By Erin Guendelsberger (Sourcebooks Wonderful) $18

The Little Red Sleigh has one big dream: to one day become Santa’s big red sleigh! But all her life, she’s been told she’s too small, she’s too young, she can’t fly, and she certainly can’t meet Santa. Well, this Christmas, with the help of some friends, she’s determined to do the impossible. Full of winter joy and holiday magic, this charming Christmas story will remind readers of all ages that no dream is out of reach if you believe.

Murtagh: The World of Aragon (Inheritance Cycle)

By Christopher Paolini (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers) $30

The world is no longer safe for the Dragon Rider Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn. An evil king has been toppled, and they are left to face the consequences of the reluctant role they played in his reign of terror. Now they are hated and alone, exiled to the outskirts of society.

So begins an epic journey into lands both familiar and untraveled, where Murtagh and Thorn must use every weapon in their arsenal, from brains to brawn, to find and outwit a mysterious witch. In this gripping novel starring one of the most popular characters from Christopher Paolini’s blockbuster Inheritance Cycle, a Dragon Rider must discover what he stands for in a world that has abandoned him. Murtagh is the perfect book to enter the World of Eragon for the first time or to joyfully return.

Merry Christmas! And until next year, happy reading.

The staff at Covered Treasures can be reached at books@ocn.me.

Other Between the Covers articles

December Library Events – Special program and schedule changes

By Harriet Halbig

This December, the Monument Library is offering a special program for teens, adults, and seniors. As an affordable gift or a personal treat, come to the library and make a peppermint mocha-scented candle in your own mug or one provided by the library. The program will be offered from 11 to 12:30 on Friday, Dec. 8. Registration is required online at ppld.org (look under programs by location) or by calling 719-488-2370.

Toddler Time, Storytime, and Stay and Play are suspended for December.

The Tweens Dungeons and Dragons Club for ages 9 to 12 will meet on Friday, Jan. 5 from 4 to 5:30. No experience is required, and new members are always welcome. Registration is required online at ppld.org (look under programs by location) or by calling 719-488-2370.

Come to the library for a peaceful escape from the holiday bustle. Enjoy some time by our wall of windows with a favorite book or magazine.

Please note that all library facilities will be closed on Dec. 24 and 25 and Jan. 1.

Happy holidays from the library!

Harriet Halbig can be reached at harriethalbig@ocn.me.

Other Library articles

High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Getting holiday cactuses to bloom

By Janet Sellers

Holiday cactuses can live up to 50 years. They originally came from the Brazilian rainforests. I found some surprises about this non-toxic plant that’s safe for dogs and cats. Christmas cactus, Thanksgiving cactus, and Easter cactus are common names for this succulent plant.

The University of Georgia reports on its botanical extension website that the original Christmas cactus was developed by French botanist Charles Lemaire and named after French horticulture collector Frédéric Schlumberger. Schlumbergera is now the correct botanical name, but they are frequently called Zygocactus.

These plants stay in bloom for three to six weeks, each blossom lasting about a week. They have adapted to be pollinated by hummingbirds in the Brazilian rainforest. The 20-30 flower “tepals” fuse to form a floral tube for the hummingbirds to pollinate. The Christmas cactus flowers have pink pollen and later, a fleshy fruit.

Above: These “cactuses” are succulents identified by differences in greenery. Thanksgiving cactuses have pointy edges and Easter cactuses have rounded edges. Christmas cactuses can have both—it is a combination of the others, blooming in December in the Northern Hemisphere’s long nights and short days. This is a photo of a “Thanksgiving” cactus bought near Christmastime last year. Their blooms are triggered by long, cool nights, and they can bloom any time of year with proper conditions. Photo by Janet Sellers.

I enjoy my Christmas cactus plants but was disappointed when they didn’t form buds this year. Alas, I think my plants will probably bloom for Valentine’s Day given the advice I found. About a couple of months before the desired bloom time, a very consistent 50 to 60-degree indoor temperature, 12 to 14 hours of darkness every 24 hours, is needed. As short-day plants they need cool temperatures (but not cold) to trigger flowering.

The plants are so sensitive that even a street light or a night light will affect them. We can simply cover them every night and then take the covering off the next morning, and do this for six weeks (and get them to bloom again in the year with this trick months after their first blooming). Increased darkness compensates for temperatures above 65 degrees. After buds appear it could take 6-8 weeks to actually bloom (especially for the second time) with no fertilization during flowering.

Christmas cactuses will drop flower buds with sudden changes in temperature, overwatering and low humidity, but go limp if they’re over-watered. Water every two weeks when soil is dry an inch down. They like being rootbound, needing repotting every couple of years. Prune them to a nice shape and keep the green stem segments to root and make new plants.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” letting Mother Nature lead the way for natural growing wisdom. Reach her at JanetSellers@OCN.me.

Other High Altitude Nature and Gardening articles