Publisher’s Ponderings

Today’s a good day. Spring has sprung. I love spring because all of nature is coming back to life. The meadow is green with new grass. The aspens are turning green as well. The little creek on our property has recovered from its winter slumber. And today for the first...

Just this morning, while out for my usual walk, I ran into the crew taking down trees in the Xcel right-of-way on our property. Turns out, the crew boss lives in Conifer. I should not be admitting this, but he and I burned at least 15 minutes of rate payor time going...

I don’t know about everyone else, but this directive always fills me with dread. Just to let you know in advance, I consider this a problem without a solution. So, the purpose of this Pondering is to simply reassure all of you sharing the same dread that you are not...

I’ve always liked winter for its lessons in being human. But surviving being caught in the backcountry by a raging blizzard is where the lessons really count in what could be a life and death battle.  Nobody plans on being surprised in the mountains by a blizzard....

My greatest fear of a wildland fire is losing my forest.I have spent enough time above timberline to know the experienceof 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 treesand they...

Okay. This mild snow-free weather has gone on long enough. At first it was a pleasant arrival... the neverending summer. But now we are starting to worry... wildfires in December? Clearly drought conditions. If you are prone to worrying, I don’t want to change your...

In September’s Publisher’s Ponderings, I declared a certain incredibly gorgeous September day as “My Thanksgiving Day” with total irreverence for the two-century tradition of the real Thanksgiving Day.  My bad! I got carried away with assuming the grateful sentiment...

Every once in a while we get legitimate critiques of our content that usually end with the comment, “That’s not very serene.” It always makes me wonder what would be said if the name of the publication was Colorado Lifestyles. Would that judgment then be, “That’s not...

On my walk this morning, I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving right then and there. It was the most beautiful day imaginable; a balmy 80 degrees, no humidity, a soft caressing breeze, and a Colorado blue sky with billowing clouds preparing for afternoon showers. Fall...

What’s a small number? How small is small? Well, that’s relative, of course. If you need to buy something for $10, that’s a small number. But if you need to buy a million $10 items, that’s not a small number.  One of the oldest sales tricks in the book takes advantage...

Maggie drove by this morning while I was sitting by the pond. With a big smile, she waved and shouted, “Thank you for all that you do.” I don’t know her all that well, but I imagine she spends her life making those around her feel good. I think that everyone should...

So, all the talk these days is about real estate—the outrageous prices, the outrageous demand, the bidding wars, how long this unheard-of-market will last—and how unfair it is to young people. I’ve even read articles postulating that this systemic unfairness explains...

I can’t imagine starting a day without my morning walk through the woods. I never miss a day... rain or shine, gently snowing or a howling blizzard, 60 or -15 degrees. The woods in the early morning is, most often, soothingly quiet and bathed in rays of golden...

After almost 29 years, I have finally taken on porting our Serenity database records from the ancient FoxPro database management system to a modern DBMS called MySQL. Don’t worry, most of this pondering will not be about programming. LOL Not only is the FoxPro program...