Weld Chronicles

(For the Weld Observer, long version; photo by Henry Blau, III)  “They’re ducks, Paul, not loons.” There were thirteen floating fowl in the water. “Loons come in singles or pairs.” I was a little too cocky. Paul stood in a dark swimsuit about thigh deep in the cold water at dawn.   His goggles were assembled on his head, and his body occasionally shuddered in the just-above-freezing mist rising from the lake. We did not expect to invite the chill by stalling our swim, but we like to give loons space and honor their territory. We respect their regal elegance, swimming skills, and powerful beaks. I peered intently over Paul’s shoulders, watching the large birds sitting low in the water, clearly displaying laddered backs, long distinctive beaks, pearl necklaces, and shiny smooth black heads.   They were motionless and silent. Paul had been correct; they were loons.   I was aghast. Thirteen? “Hey there,” I almost sang, speaking in words I use each year to greet the...

 This post is for Sean Minear, who has Under-Water-Rock-A-Phobia.  Abraham Lincoln is attributed with making a statement paraphrased as: "If I don't like a man, I need to get to know him better."  I struggle to find the source or documentation for this quote, but the sentiment is offered to Sean with particular regard to the rocks below the surface of Lake Webb.  The view under the lake surface is as beautiful and intriguing as the view above the lake.  While Bass Rock (also called Elephant Rock) is obviously publicly named as is Bowley Rock (also called Center Rock) as well as the reef called Dee Dee, many large, spectacular and interesting erratic rocks left by the receding glacier and moved each winter by the lake's ice remain publicly unnamed.  I've taken the liberty to name some of them.  Elephant Skin Rock and What's That Rock:  Elephant Skin Rock is just south of the cigarette buoy that marks the shallow rocky area off of Pine Point.  ...

  Each day roughly July 1 through September 7, I swim in Lake Webb.  July 1, the water temp is about 70: cool, but swimmable. Swimming provides a freedom from falls or discomfort that few activities rival. Further, it provides a vista below as well as above.  In July, I swim above the hollows in the sand filled with fish eggs in sloppy jelly and watch an attendant parent position itself between me and the eggs like linebacker or a safety.   As the water warms (about 80 at the max), a wide variety of plants grow. Some are tall and leafy, reaching for the surface and providing shelter for the many fish that allow me to join their schools.  Some are grasses, harboring algae at the base and providing a resting and mating spot for dragonflies and damsel flies. Some are plates of lily pads, sporting yellow waxy cupped flowers or white multi-petaled flowers reminiscent of lotus flowers.  The grasses and lilies harbor American Bullfrogs, whose sounds can be he...

 Huck had shot two bears, and they were hanging in his barn. A week went by. Then 10 days.  And he said, "They were gittin' ripe."  His smile extended up one side of the face, the corner of his mouth nearly touching the sparkle in his eye. Huck met a couple of hunters from New Jersey who had not gotten any bears.  These two hunters were "down in their luck;"  they did not want to return home empty handed.  "I let slip that I had just shot two bears (exact quotation)."  He sold those bears to the hunters for $100.  And I said, "Huck, I'll bet you would have given them $100 to take the bears."  "Yep."   Richard A. Miller

 In his truck, Huck and a friend visited Mr. Demars who was the self-employed woodcutter at Chase's Corner on the Phillips Road. The friend found it curious that they arrived with already cut wood in the back of the truck, but thought nothing of it until they left and the truck bed was empty. Huck had taken the opportunity to quietly and unobtrusively unload his cut wood on top of Mr. Demars's pile on the perimeter of the Phillip's Road property.  On the way home, Huck was smiling out of the side of his mouth, like he always did. "He gonna ponder that all Winta," Huck said, closing his lips tightly around his smile.  Years later, over drinks at Kawanhee Inn with the WOW group (Women of Weld), people were telling local stories.  I told this one, just as is written above.  The women immediately howled.  Later in the fall, friends in Albuquerque asked me about the culture of Weld.  What did folks do for entertainment? What do they think about and how do t...

One warm summer evening, Huck and I were talking about cemeteries in Weld.  I mentioned that I had just discovered the 5th of 5 cemeteries in Weld.   He stopped and said he knew of 4: Mt View, Center Hill, Masterman, Robertson.  He did not know of the Sennet  (sp?) Cemetery at the entrance of the Government Beach.  The next day at sunrise, he went over to check out that 5th cemetery.  I think he was somewhat miffed that I, as a non-resident, knew something about Weld that he, as a Weld native, did not.   Richard A. Miller