I failed in my attempts to get the wife to never ever volunteer again. Since the last post she actually got two jobs and she is running for school board. OMG---the school board thing might exemplify all that is wrong in a small town like Aspen---basically opinions are like assholes --everyone has one, which creates paralysis because it seems everyone must be heard before any decision can even be considered.
Before getting to paralysis by public input, let me share some of the fun in running for school board.
I am not sure which is harder--running for President or running for school board. Running for President involves raising a lot of money, but people are willing to give money to presidential candidates because the President can really impact your financial condition. School board not so much. While the President doesn't get paid much, it does come with free housing, transportation, and an opportunity to push the limits on the emoluments clause. School board offers nothing in terms of compensation.
The President of the United States gets tons of executive time to nap and tweet about Fox and friends, and free flights to golf courses. School board members have 22 public meetings a year running 4+ hours plus all the real work of the job. Figure it's about 20% of a full time job.
This week alone there are 3 debates for school board----I doubt Trump will do more than that in his entire 2020 run. School board candidates also have multiple papers demanding responses to multiple questions. Have you ever opened up a paper and seen responses from Presidential candidates to questions posed by news papers?
There are some similarities as well, both candidates for President and school board must complete financial disclosure forms, create independent entities to finance their campaign, disclose donations and campaign related expenses. Running for school board and your friend makes a cheese platter for you, your better disclose that in-kind donation. Running for President and you pay off porn stars to keep silent about an affair, no need to disclose. Running for school board and you ask the school for confirmation about data about students college success (college graduation rates) that they mentioned in a school board meeting and get stonewalled. Ask for other data and be told it must be shared with all candidates. Try to speak to teachers or admin about their concerns and be told only if all candidates running for school board can be present. Run for President and you won't face those issues.
Basically you have got to be crazy to run for school board.
Which brings me to my wife--she has huge business chops. She knows when to listen and when to act. There is way to much listening in this town and way too little action. There seems to be a fear of upsetting people, and people in this town are capable of epic grudges. A supporter said she wouldn't put up a sign because she was worried some clients wouldn't use her catering services if she supports my wife.
There is also a ton of lip service to being positive--well there is no positive spin that should be put on hiring a disbarred felon with no HR experience to be the schools head of HR and then giving her an unsecured loan for 30k. That situation along with declining school performance and skyrocketing employee turnover should cost the superintendent's job--it did but only after way too much strum u drag.
My wife has a sales and operations background. What she excels at is asking the right questions. Why isn't the school board allowed to respond at school board meetings. Imagine the parent that comes to complain about John's teacher being asked 'did you speak to the teacher? What did they suggest? Did you speak to the principal? What did they suggest? Did you speak to their counselor? What did they suggest? Why do you think all of their suggestions are wrong? Do you think that we should reset the schools strategic plan or hold the superintendent's feet to the fire over John's situation?' Maybe if the school board spent less time listening to John's parents they could spend more time asking the CFO how come one of the best funded schools in the state pays their teachers so little. Or asking the head of HR what creative things they are doing to lower benefit costs (Roaring fork collective bargaining agreement anyone?).
To put a fine point on it, we got one guy running whose message is ' I am a long term local and blue collar so vote for me' and another who says I am positive and filled with gratitude and even though I haven't been to a school board meeting ever I have gleaned excellent executive management experience running my firm with a handful of employees, while another toutes her financial expertise while sitting on a school finance oversight board that didn't meet for 10 years. And then there is my wife who managed global client relationships for the largest disaster recovery firm during 9/11, who ran a businesses that raised prices 500% and increase customer satisfaction at the same time and went toe to toe with Jamie Dimon over software costs and won. Please please don't vote for her. I am just too selfish to want to share that much of her with you Aspenites.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
stop her before she volunteers again
First off, thank God for women (and men) who volunteer. Without them the world would stop spinning (or we would be camping out at away games, cancel outdoor ed, EX ed, pretty much all ed, be eating TV dinners, and wearing the same clothes from the 70s).
To my lovely wife and all of your like minded friends thanks for doing everything you do.
But why oh why did you say "yes" we will take a French kid for 2 months. This isn't an exchange--no one in my family is going to Chamonix. He is not part of an official exchange program (although his mom runs the French side of the Sisters City Chamonix exchange program).
So we have this French kid staying in our house for 2 months. He is a nice enough kid I guess. He walks the dogs and does dishes when asked. He doesn't ask for anything or seem to expect anything. Actually he pretty much does nothing from what I can tell.
I can usually get anyone to talk. Not this kid. He says it isn't a language problem, so I guess it's his personality but check this out.
At dinner last night I asked him if he wanted seconds. He said "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ....................... I don't know".
In an effort to get him to talk about something I gave all the kids homework. I asked them each to pick a meal they would like to have for dinner---daughter immediately said pesto and garlic bread, son said schintel, and French kid after a day of thought came up with ' uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't know.'
I asked him how school in France differed from school in Aspen he said 'uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhh I don't know' I followed that up with come on give me something and he said 'uhhhhhhhhh school in Chamonix has fewer windows'.
yup so pretty much he sits in his room or sits in a corner and says nothing. There is another French girl here from Chamonix here right now and when asked if they would like to join us for dinner she said no way. When we asked the family he stayed with before when he came two years ago as part of the sister city program if they would like to hang with there old exchange student they also took a pass.
My wife is exasperated with him. My son is pissed because kids at school think he isn't being 'nice' to the French kid--of course none of them want to hang out with the French kid either cause --well aside from breathing he doesn't do much else.
Bottom line---wife please don't volunteer anymore.
To my lovely wife and all of your like minded friends thanks for doing everything you do.
But why oh why did you say "yes" we will take a French kid for 2 months. This isn't an exchange--no one in my family is going to Chamonix. He is not part of an official exchange program (although his mom runs the French side of the Sisters City Chamonix exchange program).
So we have this French kid staying in our house for 2 months. He is a nice enough kid I guess. He walks the dogs and does dishes when asked. He doesn't ask for anything or seem to expect anything. Actually he pretty much does nothing from what I can tell.
I can usually get anyone to talk. Not this kid. He says it isn't a language problem, so I guess it's his personality but check this out.
At dinner last night I asked him if he wanted seconds. He said "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ....................... I don't know".
In an effort to get him to talk about something I gave all the kids homework. I asked them each to pick a meal they would like to have for dinner---daughter immediately said pesto and garlic bread, son said schintel, and French kid after a day of thought came up with ' uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't know.'
I asked him how school in France differed from school in Aspen he said 'uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhh I don't know' I followed that up with come on give me something and he said 'uhhhhhhhhh school in Chamonix has fewer windows'.
yup so pretty much he sits in his room or sits in a corner and says nothing. There is another French girl here from Chamonix here right now and when asked if they would like to join us for dinner she said no way. When we asked the family he stayed with before when he came two years ago as part of the sister city program if they would like to hang with there old exchange student they also took a pass.
My wife is exasperated with him. My son is pissed because kids at school think he isn't being 'nice' to the French kid--of course none of them want to hang out with the French kid either cause --well aside from breathing he doesn't do much else.
Bottom line---wife please don't volunteer anymore.
Monday, September 9, 2019
things you can learn about people while driving to denver
I admit the title doesn't roll off the tongue, but it's pretty amazing the different types of behavior you can run into doing the Aspen-Denver shuffle.
During the summer I drove to Denver a lot. Honestly, I drive to Denver way too much--doctor apts, hockey, sailing, flights etc----and during the summer when the pass is open I take full advantage of the view and the short cut to make the trip more enjoyable. When driving the pass I almost always find myself driving behind another car. Some drivers pull to the side and let me pass. Conversely, I have had a driver swerve towards the middle of the road to try to keep me from passing. I personally love being passed. Let someone else attract the attention of the police. Still it is an interesting case study in behavior every time I drive the pass.
But that ain't fucking nothing. On a recent trip to Denver this summer with my son in Cape Cod and my wife and daughter in the car with me my phone rang as I approached Breck. I didn't recognize the number but decided to take a chance and answer the phone knowing I was risking a silly marketing call conversation. Glad I answered the phone because it was someone calling to let me know they had found my dog swimming near stillwater. Seems the wife didn't close the door securely and the dogs got bored and decided to go for a swim (please do not point the door thing out to my wife---that is a losing proposition). I thanked the person for finding my dog, but let them know I wouldn't be back for about 6 hours and asked if they could run Wiggins back to my house. They said sure- no problem and escorted my dog about 1/2 a mile to my home and let me know she was safely back home with the door firmly closed.
For those of you reading closely or who know me--you know there is a second shoe to drop and about 25 minutes later the phone rang again with a different person finding Clemmens eating stuff near a construction site. She was also walked home by a super cool family who was visiting from Texas.
Two different groups of people found my dogs, called me and then figured out where my house was and brought them home. What a great world we live in. What amazing people. I swear I almost saw rainbows and unicorns as I drove down I70 into Denver.
So I am loving everyone, and life is good. I drop the wife at doc for an apt and then hustle to the airport to drop my 13 year old daughter off to fly to St. Louis to be a mom's helper. I planned to use short term parking to keep an eye on her while she got through security and then run back to get the wife. The short term parking lot is very small with very narrow spaces. After circling twice I found only one spot open next to a mini van with its door all the way open. I asked if they could close it somewhat so I could park and they did.
When I returned to my car 25 min later they had left a couple of love notes for me. One said " better check your steering wheel for shit.....it appears an ass hole was driving it" and another said " YOU ARE AN ASS HAT".
On the plus side their grammar, spelling, and printing were excellent, and they didn't key my car. On the flip side they were so easily upset by my asking them to partially close their door so I could park my car they took the time to right me some notes.
It's a crazy world filled with all sorts of people.
During the summer I drove to Denver a lot. Honestly, I drive to Denver way too much--doctor apts, hockey, sailing, flights etc----and during the summer when the pass is open I take full advantage of the view and the short cut to make the trip more enjoyable. When driving the pass I almost always find myself driving behind another car. Some drivers pull to the side and let me pass. Conversely, I have had a driver swerve towards the middle of the road to try to keep me from passing. I personally love being passed. Let someone else attract the attention of the police. Still it is an interesting case study in behavior every time I drive the pass.
But that ain't fucking nothing. On a recent trip to Denver this summer with my son in Cape Cod and my wife and daughter in the car with me my phone rang as I approached Breck. I didn't recognize the number but decided to take a chance and answer the phone knowing I was risking a silly marketing call conversation. Glad I answered the phone because it was someone calling to let me know they had found my dog swimming near stillwater. Seems the wife didn't close the door securely and the dogs got bored and decided to go for a swim (please do not point the door thing out to my wife---that is a losing proposition). I thanked the person for finding my dog, but let them know I wouldn't be back for about 6 hours and asked if they could run Wiggins back to my house. They said sure- no problem and escorted my dog about 1/2 a mile to my home and let me know she was safely back home with the door firmly closed.
For those of you reading closely or who know me--you know there is a second shoe to drop and about 25 minutes later the phone rang again with a different person finding Clemmens eating stuff near a construction site. She was also walked home by a super cool family who was visiting from Texas.
Two different groups of people found my dogs, called me and then figured out where my house was and brought them home. What a great world we live in. What amazing people. I swear I almost saw rainbows and unicorns as I drove down I70 into Denver.
So I am loving everyone, and life is good. I drop the wife at doc for an apt and then hustle to the airport to drop my 13 year old daughter off to fly to St. Louis to be a mom's helper. I planned to use short term parking to keep an eye on her while she got through security and then run back to get the wife. The short term parking lot is very small with very narrow spaces. After circling twice I found only one spot open next to a mini van with its door all the way open. I asked if they could close it somewhat so I could park and they did.
When I returned to my car 25 min later they had left a couple of love notes for me. One said " better check your steering wheel for shit.....it appears an ass hole was driving it" and another said " YOU ARE AN ASS HAT".
On the plus side their grammar, spelling, and printing were excellent, and they didn't key my car. On the flip side they were so easily upset by my asking them to partially close their door so I could park my car they took the time to right me some notes.
It's a crazy world filled with all sorts of people.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
my dog got porked
or whatever you want to call it when your dog gets nailed by a porcupine. Wow, that was a lot of needles.
I also learned it's good to have as much hair as a golden retriever has cause most of the needles didn't penetrate very far. Finally all the fur comes in handy.
I have decided to up my hiking a bit---crowds are down and it's nice and cool in the morning, the light is great, weather clear and there are still some wild flowers.
Sunday I hiked to American lake---Tuesday I went a ways down lincoln creek and hiked up to grizzly lake. Both mornings I hit the trail around 8 am-- on the way up to American lake I saw 1 other person, and shared the lake with 7 women from Basalt. On the way down I must have passed over 60 people heading up---kinda a pain for my walking mediation.
During my hike up to grizzly lake I saw no one. At the lake I saw no one. Only when I was 2/3rds of the way down did I run into anyone ---and the total on the descent was 3 parties of two people. Yes getting to the grizzly lake trail head is a pain, but with all the G-wagons in town I figured more people would make that climb (although I am thrilled that they don't).
It's interesting how few people go a little further off the beaten path. I saw this hughly in the tetons and Yellowstone where heading 1/2 mile to 1 mile off 'the beaten path' left you 1000s of acres to yourself.
I also suspect people like to do the 'hard stuff' to get bragging rights. American lake is rated strenuous, while Grizz is rated moderate. And people know about American so it means something to them while Grizzly is less well known. Interestingly, Grizzly starts out at around 10.6k feet puting the trail head about 600 ft under the peak of Ajax---and the lake is at about 12.6k so you do get a bit of elevation challenge. And there are the porcupines. I don't want to sit in judgement so I won't, but just know if you want to explore a little and care a little less about the name of what you climb there is a shit ton of great stuff you can have all to yourself.
Couple of pics and video of neighbors dog chasing a bear cub (very small dog and small bear--where is momma bear?)
I also learned it's good to have as much hair as a golden retriever has cause most of the needles didn't penetrate very far. Finally all the fur comes in handy.
I have decided to up my hiking a bit---crowds are down and it's nice and cool in the morning, the light is great, weather clear and there are still some wild flowers.
Sunday I hiked to American lake---Tuesday I went a ways down lincoln creek and hiked up to grizzly lake. Both mornings I hit the trail around 8 am-- on the way up to American lake I saw 1 other person, and shared the lake with 7 women from Basalt. On the way down I must have passed over 60 people heading up---kinda a pain for my walking mediation.
During my hike up to grizzly lake I saw no one. At the lake I saw no one. Only when I was 2/3rds of the way down did I run into anyone ---and the total on the descent was 3 parties of two people. Yes getting to the grizzly lake trail head is a pain, but with all the G-wagons in town I figured more people would make that climb (although I am thrilled that they don't).
It's interesting how few people go a little further off the beaten path. I saw this hughly in the tetons and Yellowstone where heading 1/2 mile to 1 mile off 'the beaten path' left you 1000s of acres to yourself.
I also suspect people like to do the 'hard stuff' to get bragging rights. American lake is rated strenuous, while Grizz is rated moderate. And people know about American so it means something to them while Grizzly is less well known. Interestingly, Grizzly starts out at around 10.6k feet puting the trail head about 600 ft under the peak of Ajax---and the lake is at about 12.6k so you do get a bit of elevation challenge. And there are the porcupines. I don't want to sit in judgement so I won't, but just know if you want to explore a little and care a little less about the name of what you climb there is a shit ton of great stuff you can have all to yourself.
Couple of pics and video of neighbors dog chasing a bear cub (very small dog and small bear--where is momma bear?)
yup I might have swum naked and no one would know cause I can see for miles and miles (Yes I was listening to the Who and shedding clothes)
now about that dog and bear
Thursday, August 22, 2019
summertime blues
Forgive me for wanting to be my son---but really what guy in their 50s doesn't sometimes look longingly at being a teenager again. Sure it's not all laughs, and cell phones are super dangerous, but still.......
So the boy (who always is bitching about living in Aspen cause he wants to sail and work on the water) spent the summer in Chatham on Cape Cod. He flew planes, sailed on a race team, and coached all ages. Yes he got paid to be on the water sailing or driving a coach boat. He even got to play the hero 'saving' a young girl who capsized her boat and got her hair tangled in the rigging.
Did I mention that he lucked into housing with an 84 year old woman? While that might not sound super duper she lived on the ocean and had a power boat which he used to commute back and forth to 'work'. Yup that is right--wake up, hop in boat and drive it to the club to teach sailing, race with team, and then power boat home.
Coming home on Saturday and heading to school on Monday was a wee bit of shock. That said we don't have tornadoes here (he got caught in one on the way to work freaking all the local moms out), no sharks (and Cape Cod is super sharky) and no EEE mosquitoes (he had a race end early to avoid bites from the airborne pests. EEE is fatal 80% of the time, so while I am thrilled he had a great summer and a bit jealous, I am turning a deaf ear to the complaints about how horrible Aspen is.
Did I mention that he is going to spend the next week rafting cataract canyon as part of school. The only challenge is gonna be him getting home in time to make the Weezer concert. Yea its sooooooo hard to be a teenage boy.
So the boy (who always is bitching about living in Aspen cause he wants to sail and work on the water) spent the summer in Chatham on Cape Cod. He flew planes, sailed on a race team, and coached all ages. Yes he got paid to be on the water sailing or driving a coach boat. He even got to play the hero 'saving' a young girl who capsized her boat and got her hair tangled in the rigging.
Did I mention that he lucked into housing with an 84 year old woman? While that might not sound super duper she lived on the ocean and had a power boat which he used to commute back and forth to 'work'. Yup that is right--wake up, hop in boat and drive it to the club to teach sailing, race with team, and then power boat home.
Coming home on Saturday and heading to school on Monday was a wee bit of shock. That said we don't have tornadoes here (he got caught in one on the way to work freaking all the local moms out), no sharks (and Cape Cod is super sharky) and no EEE mosquitoes (he had a race end early to avoid bites from the airborne pests. EEE is fatal 80% of the time, so while I am thrilled he had a great summer and a bit jealous, I am turning a deaf ear to the complaints about how horrible Aspen is.
Did I mention that he is going to spend the next week rafting cataract canyon as part of school. The only challenge is gonna be him getting home in time to make the Weezer concert. Yea its sooooooo hard to be a teenage boy.
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
4th of July Parades---I got dibs
Before I get to the meat of the matter a quick observation re Trump's 4th of July fest. His speech wasn't a crafted from his campaign material. Yea. However, I have done a multivariable analysis and it shows that countries that have more and bigger military parades tend to have declining relative military strength (France being an epic example of this). Those with strong-relatively increasing military strength tend to shy away from the need to show their strength via military parades. Bottom line, in my experience the guy who talks a lot in a bar fight isn't the one you have to worry about--its the guy you didn't hear who is the most dangerous. Hopefully, the Donald's need to have a parade is more a reflection of his weakness, and not our country's.
Back to celebrating the 4th of July in Aspen and Chatham. Both are small towns with big vacation crowds who relish showing off their patriotism. There are some noticeable differences. Chatham definitely channels more old school WASP, fife, drum and tri corner hats, and nantucket red, while Aspen displays much heavy equipment and the tighty whities rollerblade team in red, white and blue body paint. Despite these differences, they have also both been infected by the need to call dibs.
At risk of sounding like a grumpy old man--I remember back in the day when you showed up at a parade a bit before the start and found a place to stand. In both Aspen and Chatham people started 'reserving' spots with blankets and chairs a day ahead of time. A similar thing happens with the Chatham band concert, as well as many of the outdoor concerts in Aspen. This is a kinda insidious problem--once a couple of people call dibs if you don't you could be left with a pretty bad view (really not the end of the world--I hear ya). However, are the voices of our better angels being drowned out by people shouting DIBS?
At risk of over-analysing reserving space on a parade route, what is up with the need to win the best spot? Shouldn't it be ok to get what you get and don't get upset? Do we really need rules to regulate this behavior (the tragedy of the commons). What happens if you mark your spot two days before the event? What about 3? If chairs and blankets are ok what about a bench or bleachers. And if bleachers are ok, how long until someone decides to make some money selling their prime reserved space? Is that capitalism at its finest or an individual motinizing a public good? For sure its a slippery slope.
I am all for competition and capitalism in its proper place. I am also a big believer in community, where we work together and enjoy things together. Yes the early bird gets the worm--but should everything be a worm that we compete for. If so, do you really want the inevitable rules that must follow to regulate that competition? And yes rules are necessary when we compete otherwise why call dibs? Just show up with the biggest gun and a willingness to use it, and the best spot is yours. Is that what makes American great?
Ok. Maybe I am ranting too much like a grumpy old man, but you get the point. And while we are celebrating the birth of American, it is a good time to remember how we all got here. If you aren't an American Indian, be thankful that no one called dibs on American and shut the door on your family's arrival. Today is a day to celebrate, let's do it as a community and next year leave the chairs and blankets at home.
God Bless America.
Back to celebrating the 4th of July in Aspen and Chatham. Both are small towns with big vacation crowds who relish showing off their patriotism. There are some noticeable differences. Chatham definitely channels more old school WASP, fife, drum and tri corner hats, and nantucket red, while Aspen displays much heavy equipment and the tighty whities rollerblade team in red, white and blue body paint. Despite these differences, they have also both been infected by the need to call dibs.
At risk of sounding like a grumpy old man--I remember back in the day when you showed up at a parade a bit before the start and found a place to stand. In both Aspen and Chatham people started 'reserving' spots with blankets and chairs a day ahead of time. A similar thing happens with the Chatham band concert, as well as many of the outdoor concerts in Aspen. This is a kinda insidious problem--once a couple of people call dibs if you don't you could be left with a pretty bad view (really not the end of the world--I hear ya). However, are the voices of our better angels being drowned out by people shouting DIBS?
At risk of over-analysing reserving space on a parade route, what is up with the need to win the best spot? Shouldn't it be ok to get what you get and don't get upset? Do we really need rules to regulate this behavior (the tragedy of the commons). What happens if you mark your spot two days before the event? What about 3? If chairs and blankets are ok what about a bench or bleachers. And if bleachers are ok, how long until someone decides to make some money selling their prime reserved space? Is that capitalism at its finest or an individual motinizing a public good? For sure its a slippery slope.
I am all for competition and capitalism in its proper place. I am also a big believer in community, where we work together and enjoy things together. Yes the early bird gets the worm--but should everything be a worm that we compete for. If so, do you really want the inevitable rules that must follow to regulate that competition? And yes rules are necessary when we compete otherwise why call dibs? Just show up with the biggest gun and a willingness to use it, and the best spot is yours. Is that what makes American great?
Ok. Maybe I am ranting too much like a grumpy old man, but you get the point. And while we are celebrating the birth of American, it is a good time to remember how we all got here. If you aren't an American Indian, be thankful that no one called dibs on American and shut the door on your family's arrival. Today is a day to celebrate, let's do it as a community and next year leave the chairs and blankets at home.
God Bless America.
going native
sorry about the long absence, but I'm back for better or worse
I think I am starting to be an aspen native. Really you may ask? Really. Why?
1. I can smell bears on the trail---they smell kinda like like ripe berries mixed with elk crap. I was walking the dogs up the ute the other day and thought---humm that smells like bear, and around the next switch back the race was on between a bear and my dogs---lucky the bear won
2. I found myself having a conversation with another local at a bar about how last year the limited rain resulted in a late and limited acorn supply along with low berry yield resulting in hungry bears eating drywall, hot tub covers and anything else that might contain calories. This year the heavy snow resulted in limited chokeberry fruit which also made for hungry bears. Yup, I've gone from talking about funding rates, execution algos and credit spreads to crops for bears. Bottom line Aspen has a bear problem.
3. I found myself calling a friend to ask if he has harvested his hay yet. My daughter's bunny prefers locally grown all organic hay and he is a great supplier and $3 bucks cheaper than the Co Op, and 95% cheaper than the crap you big city bunny owners buy at Petco. Yes, I can have an informed conversation about hay and I do buy it by the bushel.
PS I have seen a bear each of the last 4 days (since my return from Cape Cod). Today's sighting included a very small mom and 2 cubs who couldn't have weighed more than 30 lbs. Clemmens scared one of the cubs who scampered up a 3 foot tall Aspen sapling. Very cute, and I would share a pic but I was too busy keeping the dogs under control so as not to piss off momma bear.
I think I am starting to be an aspen native. Really you may ask? Really. Why?
1. I can smell bears on the trail---they smell kinda like like ripe berries mixed with elk crap. I was walking the dogs up the ute the other day and thought---humm that smells like bear, and around the next switch back the race was on between a bear and my dogs---lucky the bear won
2. I found myself having a conversation with another local at a bar about how last year the limited rain resulted in a late and limited acorn supply along with low berry yield resulting in hungry bears eating drywall, hot tub covers and anything else that might contain calories. This year the heavy snow resulted in limited chokeberry fruit which also made for hungry bears. Yup, I've gone from talking about funding rates, execution algos and credit spreads to crops for bears. Bottom line Aspen has a bear problem.
3. I found myself calling a friend to ask if he has harvested his hay yet. My daughter's bunny prefers locally grown all organic hay and he is a great supplier and $3 bucks cheaper than the Co Op, and 95% cheaper than the crap you big city bunny owners buy at Petco. Yes, I can have an informed conversation about hay and I do buy it by the bushel.
PS I have seen a bear each of the last 4 days (since my return from Cape Cod). Today's sighting included a very small mom and 2 cubs who couldn't have weighed more than 30 lbs. Clemmens scared one of the cubs who scampered up a 3 foot tall Aspen sapling. Very cute, and I would share a pic but I was too busy keeping the dogs under control so as not to piss off momma bear.
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