I’ve Counted the Rings

My greatest fear of a wildland fire is losing my forest.
I have spent enough time above timberline to know the experience
of returning to the comforts of the forest below.
I will never lose that bonding with the forest.
I’ve counted the rings on my largest trees
and they are 100 years old.
Losing our house would be a terrible inconvenience.
But that would likely be over in a few years.
After the fire, the views of Mt. Evans will still be there.
After the fire, the creek and ponds will still be there.
After the fire, the meadow will quickly recover.
It would take a century for all of my trees to grow back.
That loss would be unbearable.

Previous Articles

The Toughest Man…

As I have gotten older, I have taken to taking stock of long lost friends. Here is what I wrote about one in the January issue of 2018. Last week, Jim Harrell finally found a challenge he could not overcome. A rare lung infection took advantage of his lungs that had...

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The Super Bowl

I want to mention how much I appreciate the Super Bowl. And, this comes from a guy who has never played a down of football... for obvious reasons. LOL! And it’s not that I love and/or appreciate the game and its rules, which are much easier to understand than hockey....

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Sharing My Wisdom

Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. — Jim Rohn Someone asked me the other day, “How do you guys deal with the stress of putting Serenity together every month?” Every month is pretty much a blank slate. We have just a partial idea what...

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Giving Back…

A few days ago Ryan, owner of Lam Tree Service, and I walked our property to assess the degree of our pine beetle infestation. He has an amazing knowledge of not only pine beetle behavior, but forest management in general. It was easy to sense that Ryan was giving...

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Walk Away Quietly…

"Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, nature's peace will flow into...

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The Promise

Living with Holly through the passing of her mother has been quite an experience. I now realize how easy I had it when my mother passed away several years ago. When the time came, one of my sisters moved in with mom as a full-time caregiver. Another sister took over...

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About The Author

Doug Kinzy

With a master’s in electronic engineering, Doug worked for major companies in that field before switching to real estate for 12 years. From that experience, he hatched the idea for Colorado Serenity and never looked back. Over years past, Doug filled his spare time with mountain climbing, skiing, cycling and programming. He now fills his time working with his longtime girlfriend—now wife—Serenity editor Holly Jorgensen, making Serenity the best it can be while occasionally running off to favorite Colorado hideouts.