OCN

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

OCN > column > Page 28

column

Letters to Our Community – Why a ban on political yard signs?

What in the world is going on with Monument’s Town Council? They’ve put a ban on political yard signs. Come on!

Last night, I attended an emergency meeting to reverse the ban. It was all just a political charade.

Instead, the Monument mayor and other elected officials doubled down, dug their heels in, and chastised the community for wanting the never-before-enforced ordnance reversed.

I’ve lived in this community for 20 years. Political yard signs clutter our neighborhoods for sure, but they’re a Constitutional right to freedom of political speech!

And in a nutshell, political signs are the way we become educated about our upcoming elections.

Did you know there are two candidates running for D38 school board. I’ve met Tom Olmstead—he’s exactly what we need on our school board today.

Let’s pass on the word—vote for Tom Olmstead for D38!

Gary Marner

Other Letters to Our Community

Between the Covers at Covered Treasures Bookstore – New fall releases

By the staff at Covered Treasures

“Don’t wait until the fourth Thursday in November to sit with family and friends to give thanks. Make every day a day of thanksgiving”—Charmaine J. Forde

Here are some great new releases:

The Exchange: After the Firm

By John Grisham (Doubleday Books) $30

What became of Mitch and Abby McDeere after they exposed the crimes of the Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke and fled the country? The answer is in The Exchange, the riveting sequel to The Firm. Fifteen years later, Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the largest law firm in the world. When a mentor in Rome asks him for a favor that will take him far from home, Mitch finds himself at the center of a sinister plot that has worldwide implications—and once again endangers his colleagues, friends, and family. Mitch has become a master at staying one step ahead of his adversaries, but this time there’s nowhere to hide.

The War of Words: How American GI Journalists Battled Censorship and Propaganda to Help Win World War II

By Molly Guptill Manning (Blackstone Publishing) $26

A captivating story of how American troops in World War II wielded pens to tell their own stories as they made history. As the Axis blurred the lines between truth and fiction, the best defense was for American troops to bring the truth into focus by writing it down and disseminating it themselves. By war’s end, over 4,600 unique GI publications had been printed around the world. In newsprint, troops made sense of their hardships, losses, and reasons for fighting. These newspapers—by and for the troops—became the heart and soul of a unit. This stunning volume includes 14 pages of photographs and illustrations.

Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon

By Michael Lewis (Norton) $30

This is the story of the spectacular collapse of the bit coin trading company known as FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, the enigmatic founder at its center. Lewis takes readers on a wild ride through crypto’s gold rush, offering an education in high frequency trading, philanthropy, bankruptcy, and the justice system.

The Vaster Wilds

By Lauren Goff (Riverhead Books) $28

A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness, carrying nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of God that burns hot within her. What she finds is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything her own civilization has taught her.

The Armor of Light

By Ken Follett (Viking) $38

The long-awaited sequel to A Column of Fire, Follett’s latest book heralds a new dawn for Kingsbridge, England, where progress clashes with tradition, class struggles to push into every part of society, and war in Europe engulfs the entire continent and beyond.

The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook: Over 200 Fresh, Health-Boosting Recipes (Complete Cookbook Edition)

By Coastal Kitchen (Cider Mill Press) $34.95

The Coastal Kitchen believes that food is the easiest way to create the connection and meaning that we all need in our lives. To help build this foundation, the editors work to bring the very best recipes, techniques, and ideas from the culinary world into the home. The book contains over 200 recipes for bold entrees, sauces, sides, pastas, beans, veggies, meats, seafood, salads, and desserts. The easy-to-follow instructions are suitable for all skill levels.

To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery

By Neil de Grasse Tyson & Lindsey Nyx Walker (National Geographic Society) $30

Drawing on mythology, history, and literature, Tyson and Walker bring planetary science down to earth and the principles of astrophysics within reach. In this entertaining book, illustrated with vivid photographs and art, readers travel through space and time, starting with the Big Bang and voyaging to the far reaches of the universe and beyond. Along the way, science greets pop culture as Tyson explains the triumphs—and bloopers—in Hollywood’s blockbusters: all part of an entertaining ride through the cosmos. For science junkies and fans of the conundrums that astrophysicists often ponder.

Until next month, happy reading.

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

Other Book reviews

Palmer Lake Historical Society, Oct. 19 – History of Glen Eyrie presented

By Marlene Brown

The Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS) held its monthly meeting Oct. 19 at the Palmer Lake Town Hall. Amy Burch, manager of the bookstore at the Navigators located at Glen Eyrie and co-author of The Glen Eyrie Story, presented the story. The Navigators purchased the property in 1953 and continue to this day to house their headquarters for their worldwide ministry, castle tours, teas, overnight stays, conference center with a café and the bookstore. Many other events are allowed on the property. To book tours and for more information go to gleneyrie.org

Above: Amy Burch, manager of the bookstore at Glen Eyrie and co-author of The Glen Eyrie Story, gave a PowerPoint presentation to the Palmer Lake Historical Society on Oct. 19 at the Palmer Lake Town Hall. Photo by Marlene Brown.

Glen Eyrie was the home of William J. Palmer (1836-1909) and his wife “Queen” (1850-94). Palmer purchased the property at the mouth of the canyon in Garden of the Gods and began building Glen Eyrie for his wife in 1871. His vision was to build an English Tudor-style castle in wilds of the West, in the newly opened lands of Colorado. Palmer was a brigadier general in the Union Army, president of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and founder of Colorado Springs. He had dreams of building Colorado Springs as the new Chicago or San Francisco. He founded Colorado College and built the first permanent building on campus that would eventually be downtown Colorado Springs. They had three daughters: Elsie, Dorothy, and Marjory.

As the railroad expanded and transportation to the West became easier, a train ran from Denver to Colorado Springs, opening trade between the two cities. Palmer Lake became a daily water stop. Palmer purchased the land known as the Monument Farms & Lake Property, which later become the Town of Palmer Lake. Palmer Lake was critical to the railroad because the steam engines chugged up to the Palmer Divide and had to take on water to head down. The lake was the only natural water supply available on a year-round basis. Passenger trains would stop for 10 minutes to take on water. (See palmerdividehistory.org/a-brief-history-of-the-palmer-divide-area.)

When Queen Palmer’s health deteriorated, she and the girls moved back East and then back to England, where William visited them many times. At the age of 44, Queen passed away and William brought the girls back to Colorado Springs to live in the 33,000-square-foot castle. There were 17 guest rooms, two dining rooms and 24 fireplaces. The castle sits at the base of Queen’s Canyon and is subject to floods that increased after the 2012 Waldo Canyon fire. Though there was no fire damage to Glen Eyrie, the canyon was stripped of vegetation and over a million dollars of flood mitigation was performed with debris nets and concrete barriers to allow water to flow through the grounds of Glen Eyrie.

After Palmer’s horse-riding accident and his death three years later, his daughters tried to give Glen Eyrie to the city of Colorado Springs, but city officials declined due to cost of maintaining the property. It was sold in 1922, and the property fell into disrepair and was closed. In 1938, oilman George Strake bought the Glen Eyrie property and then remodeled and updated it until the sale to the Navigators in 1953.

For more information on William J. Palmer, you are invited to attend the Palmer Lake Historical Society’s next meeting on Nov. 16, 7-8:30 p.m., for The Life and Times of General William Jackson Palmer presented by Jim Sawatzki, local author, and historian of the Palmer Divide area. The presentation in free and open to the public. The PLHS normally holds its meetings on the third Thursday of the month at the Palmer Lake Town Hall, 42 Valley Crescent St., Palmer Lake. For information about joining PLHS, go to https://palmerdividehistory.org/memberships/

Marlene Brown can be reached at marlenebrown@ocn.me.

Other Palmer Lake Historical Society articles

November Library Events – Program schedule change

By Harriet Halbig

The Monument Library will continue to offer Story Times on Tuesdays at 10:30 and Toddler Times on Wednesdays at 9:30 and 10 until Nov. 29, when Story Times at Monument will be suspended. But Family Story Times for all ages will continue to be offered at the Palmer Lake Library on Fridays at 10:30.

The Dungeons and Dragons Club for tweens ages 9 to 12 will meet on Dec. 1 from 4 to 5:30. No experience is required, and registration is preferred at 719-488-2370 or at ppld.org. Look under programs by location.

There will be a teen escape room program on Saturday, Nov. 25 from 3 to 4 p.m. Registration is required. Bring a friend, have a snack and solve a mystery.

Saturday, Dec. 2, the library will offer a Device Drop-in Help Session for adults and seniors from 3 to 4 p.m. If you are having trouble with your laptop, smartphone, or tablet, bring it in and see if we can help. Please bring your device and power cord.

The Monument Library will close at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22 and remain closed on Nov. 23 for Thanksgiving. The library will reopen on Friday the 24th.

Harriet Halbig may be reached at harriethalbig@ocn.me

Other Library articles

High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – November: Gardening goes indoors

By Janet Sellers

We had a long and wonderful Indian summer this year and only got some cold weather basically toward the end of October. Volunteers and I put the frost cloth on the garden beds at Tri-Lakes Cares and they did fine all month, doubling in size with the warm days and protected nights. Hopefully they’ll last another few weeks.

I put most of my potted flowers at home on a rolling cart. That way they go in at night but out during the day. I think I will try some new techniques for overwintering my geraniums and petunias and other flowering plants. In a warmer climate they are perennials, but in our high desert mountain clime they are treated as annuals. Some people I know have their potted fair-weather lemon trees indoors until next summer.

A lot of our potted plants can be brought indoors for safety and only things like a potted apple tree would need to be outside because it needs a certain amount of cold hours for blooms the next year. The pot has to be wrap protected from severe cold to protect the roots inside as the garden ground soil would do, but the apple, cherry and other trees need the cold. I’ll use a thick wrap of straw and then frost cloth, but many just dig a hole and plop the mulched potted tree into it, so the ground is the root protection.

How do you wrap trees to protect them from freezing?

Canopy.org recommends us to “cover susceptible trees and plants with burlap, sheets, tarps, etc., that extend to the ground to trap in the earth’s accumulated warmth. Use a frame or stakes to minimize contact between the cover and the foliage. Bring potted plants and trees to more protected locations.”

Also, wood chip mulch will protect from cold and keep in moisture. We aren’t supposed to bring apple, cherry, and other trees indoors. I didn’t get to the turf removal and mulching for my new pear trees until after our first snow in October. Hopefully all is well. My one little pear tree had a baby pear on it almost full size.

Some days in November will be in the 40s and higher, so we need to keep an eye on temperatures and water some of our garden in the warm parts of the days. Underneath wood mulch or pine needle mulch, the tree roots will appreciate a drink while being protected.

In winter we can still grow windowsill foods. I have “zombie” romaine, celery, and scallions on my kitchen windowsill. The stubs from these market veggies will regrow in less than a month, sending out roots and shoots. They may not get as big in water as in soil, but they’ve each grown 6-10 inches tall.

Janet Sellers is an avid garden enthusiast. Share your handy planting tips—contact her at janetsellers@ocn.me.

Other High Altitude Nature and Gardening articles