Kittehs and Eminent Domain

I felt savvy and mature this morning, boarding the gondola with an issue of the Summit Daily under my arm and a Blue Moon Cafe’ travel mug in my mitt (no one else needs to know it contained hot chocolate with a peppermint melting in the bottom).

The season is yet slow, so I had a pod to myself. Jouncing out of the base station then gliding into motion, quickly climbing over the town and into a corridor of pine, lofting to spectacular sweeping views of the surrounding terrain. A marsh below, the ice frozen into dams around which a cross country ski track meanders, sometimes mud sometimes snow. The peaks loomed peaceful beneath a blue bird sky. Puffs of snow billowed from far off snow makers, working like crazy to accommodate the upcoming Dew Tour.

I sat back, satiated by the beauty around me. I have worked at jobs which required travel by boat, foot, helicopter, time machine, and now, gondola. When I was little I loved being terrified in them. A non-motorized hunk of metal, lofting 20-40 ft above the ground; rad. Fortunately I trusted my Granddaddy and Father to save us MacGyver style; should the need arise.

On this morning, steeped as I was in the placation of practice, I easily trusted the single bolt which held me to the wire which was supported by big metal poles and rotating on some unseen wheel. It is a very big bolt after all…

Floating on air and ego I tried to open the paper with a casual flick of the wrist, like people in movies about people who know how to do stuff like that but who want to get away from it. I was away from it, but I wanted to be suave like them. My gloved fingers were clumsy and it was too chilly to be worth taking them off. I pawed at the front page ever more determinedly, then somewhat frantically by the time I’d passed the first way station.

Those of us who are not deathly allergic to cats have watched a kitten play with a ball of yarn. It’s so cute that even 50s French artists -with no idea how to draw eyes or proportion legs- made a postcard of it.

Or is it? Is the kitten playing with the ball of yarn innocently, or trying to disembowel it? Was I trying to wipe the front page of the newspaper clear of ink, or was I trying to get to the Comics and Dear Abbey page?! After all, cats are inherently evil. Just ask Olivia.

Refusing to concede to glovelesness, now more on a matter of principle than practicality, I used my tongue to turn the pages (Turns out, newspaper really is quite biodegradable).

I learned the city of Silverthorne is pursuing eminent domain against a pocket of home owners who aren’t enthusiastic about having a rec path on Their Property. So the government will solve the matter by making it Not Their Property Anymore. Teddy Roosevelt would be proud.

The local schools have cut out Rec Programs for students so SOS Outreach is stepping up from the ranks of the non profits to fill the void. I am proud to be working with such an organization. As they stretch their resources, consider supporting them with your Holiday Gift$.

And now, to further overcompensate for my continuing lack of a camera, I will leave you with a bit of holiday cheer, brought to you from the bowels of a Google image search for “kitten on snowboard.”