Trauma and Tragedy in Willow Creek

This morning as I was heading out to Bonfils for my twice monthly platelet donation, I passed E. Phillips (a street in Willow Creek) and I notice a there was a very large contingent of police present. It was definitely an odd sight for Willow Creek as you rarely see police in our community. When I reached Bonfils and got set up in the donation chair for my platelet donation, I quickly opened up my laptop and went to 9News.Com to see if I could see what was happening in Willow Creek. The lead story on their website was indeed about what was happening in Willow Creek. The story said a homeowner had awoken early in the morning to find a body lying in his front yard. From what they said in the story, the body appeared to be of a male in his 20 or 30's and his death was classified as suspicious. Needless to say this is not a comfortable thing to have happen in your neighborhood. Despite the reassurances of the police it is just the kind of thing that makes you want to lock all your doors and make sure the house is very safe. From what I just read on 9News.Com they are thinking the person was killed somewhere else and was just dumped here in Willow Creek. All of it seems kind of strange to me. Why would some one pick Willow Creek as a place to dump a murder victim? It is just insane! Not much else to report for the day. Nancy had a lengthy doctors appointment. I do have to thank my brother for taking her as I just couldn't fit it into my day. Zack and I did our normal routines - though for whatever reason he was having a lot of anxiety at school today which is not good. We don't have any major plans for our weekend. I am planning on getting up early and hitting the gym but that is about it. Otherwise I think we will spend a lot of time here at home working on stuff. We hope everyone has a great weekend! Thank and peace to all! ~J.

Hiking Thursdays - Bluffs Regional Park

As every parent whose kid spends time watching Cartoon Network knows, Thursday is always HarHar Tharsday. Yes - Cartoon Network has renamed Thursday to Tharsday. This has been a consistent theme for a long time. Thinking of this gave me an idea. I need to have some "theme days" for my blog. So, Thursday is now the first theme day of my blog.

So, what do you think my theme for Thursday should be about? It didn't take me much thought to come to a conclusion. Thursday is going to be about hiking and outdoor stuff. So I will provide an update as to what Zack and I have gotten up to in the great outdoors. If we haven't had the chance to do a hike, ski or something else, then I will write about a place we are going to go. I'll also always try and accompany my Thursday posts with some cool pictures of where we have been or where we want to go.

We haven't been out doing much hiking in recent weeks - because of a crazy busy schedule and the snowy weather. I figured I would write about a place very near to our house. It is called Bluffs Regional Park.

This "park" is an open space area that is part of the Douglas County Open Space system. It isn't particularly large as it is only 253 acres. Despite the small size there are still 3.9 miles of trails throughout the park. This open space was established in the late 1990's as a means to protect the dramatic bluffs that make up the northern most part of the Palmer Divide. The City of Lone Tree is continuing to grow right up to the base of the bluffs. Protecting this area has provided deer, elk and other animals critical habitat to survive the continuing onslaught of development in Northern Douglas County.

(This is the typical rolling hill praire land that makes up Bluffs Regional Park.)

We have hiked the 3.2 mile loop through this open space more times than I can count. Yet each time we hike this area, it seems to change based upon the way they sun shines upon the terrain. The terrain that makes up this open space is very hilly with deep gulches running across the area. There are almost no trees located on this open space as it is pretty much wind swept praire. Regardless of it's foreboding quality, it is home to large numbers of mule deer and elk. Though I have never seen any I am quite sure that mountains lion probably also frequent this area at times.

(Views to the north from the lookout points within the park highlight downtown Denver.)

One of the most spectacular aspects of this open space besides it's nature beauty are the views that are afforded of Denver and much of the southern metro area. The bluffs is the highest land mass to the south of Denver for some ways. Looking north from the tops of the hills within the park, you get fantastic views of the Denver Tech Center and Downtown Denver. The views are very well worth the effort required to hike to the top of two lookout points. You can get fabulous pictures of downtown Denver and the entire surrounding area. (I am planning on doing a photographic study at some point by taking pictures from one of the lookouts at many different times of day.)

(Some of the mule deer that make Bluffs Regional Park their home.)

During the summer this area is home to many rattlesnakes. As a result I tend to shy away from it during the summer months as I really don't get along with the rattlesnakes too well. Given it's closeness we will definitely hike the Bluff many times this fall and winter!

Our day was pretty much a normal kind of Thursday for us. Nancy is continuing to recover from her hospital stay of the prior week. Her biggest challenge right now is getting up and about and getting stronger. Today was the best she has done in terms of spending time out of bed. Hopefully she will continue to work hard and get her strength back.

Thanks and peace to all! ~ J.

November and the descending darkness...

Another year is beginning to wind down. I suppose every year starts to wind down from January 1st of that year. But with the start of November it seems as like a year is beginning to come to an end. One of the things that makes this seem even more obvious to me, is the end of Daylight Savings Time. The yearly end of Daylight Savings Time is one of the most distressing yearly events to me. For whatever reason it comes as such a shock to my system. When it is only 4:30PM and the sun begins to go down, it just fills my body with a sense of dread. This sense of dread lasts for about the first week of Standard Time, before I begin to adjust to the new reality. That first week of adjustment is now almost over and my body and mind are beginning to feel comfortable with this new season of few waking hours of daylight. But I still cannot escape the fact that 2009 has less than 60 days to go. It seems as though this year has bearly been with us and the preparations for it's end are already beginning. Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. Speaking of these holidays have you yet begun your preparations for these holidays? Gosh - it is time to start thinking of Christmas Card lists and dates for holiday parties. I am hoping before we reach the time to send Christmas Cards I will be able to take a good picture of a winter scene. I would love nothing more this year then to have my own Christmas Cards made from a picture that I have taken. But that means I need to get to the mountains or somewhere in the outdoors to find a suitable landscape to photograph. With all the activities that are coming up during the following weekends, I am not sure that is going to happen! Things have been moving slowly for us these last several days. Nancy is now home from the hospital but still needs a fair amount of assistance to get around and to do things. So for the most part we are staying close to home while she gains her strength. Zack is doing OK and despite Nancy being hospitalize hasn't had any major anxiety issues occur. I was surprised by this as I expected him to have a much greater negative reaction to Nancy being hospitalized. But... he is doing OK. Yesterday I was reminded that I need to be more timely with my blog posts again. I was in Boulder yesterday for several meetings that I wanted to conduct face-to-face. During that time I went to lunch with a friend who I have worked with for many years. She kind of gave me a little kick in the butt for being so slow and infrequent in my blog post recently. I am going to try to keep more current. Hopefully there won't be any other emergencies (hospitilizations, anxiety melt downs, etc) to keep me from writing. We hope everyone is having a great week! Thanks and peace to all! ~J.