My sunroom caught my attention the first time I ever saw it. The previous owners had filled three panels in between the windows with all kinds of small rock specimens. You could tell they took some with them, so I filled in the gaps with my own collection of small stones. The cover photo is a Desert Rose, which is fairly common at mineral shows and rock shops. I have been going to mineral and gem shows for many years and have amassed quite a collection so I was happy to put them to good use. I was sad that Covid kept me away from the fall shows last year. This year for sure.
My family has always been interested in so many things, as most gardeners I know are. We used to rockhound all around Colorado and find out the geology of the different states we traveled through. Colorado is actually one of the most geologically diverse states in the Union.
The biggest rock in our valley is Mount Sopris, which really does tower over everything. People pay premium prices for real estate with a view of this mountain. Personally I like Chair Mountain on McClure Pass past Redstone and Marble for a really pretty mountain, but I’ve seen a lot of mountains! Mt. Sopris certainly is majestic, no doubt.
Mount Sopris is actually a failed volcano. It is called an igneous intrusion and a simple explanation is the volcano never erupted but crystallized and then eroded into what it is today. The Wikipedia article explains it a lot better. This area was a very volcanically active at one time. There’s lots of basalt and volcanic rock scattered all over the place, and some hills of volcanic ash which are reminiscent to us of the descriptions of Mordor in The Return of the King.
My house sits at the base of the Flat Tops Mountains, or more specifically, Iron Mountain. It’s not a huge mountain, maybe 7,100 feet. We’re at 5,700 so not that much difference. It segues into the Flat Tops and you can get there on a jeep trail from town. The Flat Tops are around the 10,000’ range. We have a lot of dramatic cliffs and I just love them.
Yesterday we hiked up the ½ mile trail up to the grave of Doc Holliday so we could get a picture of my mountain range. I love living in the Rocky Mountains. If you look at the very middle of the phto above and find the yellow building with the red roof, my house is to the left of it. That yellow building is the Hotel Colorado, also a very neat place. Glenwood Canyon starts at the right of the photo. Charlie likes this hike. It’s short but intense and he can run around. There’s a tree on the trail that has a bunch of ribbons tied to the branches. Someone started the tradition and it stuck.
My sunroom faces west and north. The panels aren’t huge but they are covered with assorted rocks glued onto fiberboard. The gaps are filled in with sparkly, rough marble chips. There’s still a bag of them in the garage.
I can find petrified wood, jasper, amethyst, cross cuts of geodes, mica, and so much more. Here’s a sample…
It’s a fun room. When we do downsize, which is becoming more and more imminent due to old age, we’ll pry out the special rocks and I’ll fill the gaps with the marble chips.
As a side note and nod to the New Year, I was so bummed after Christmas that there would be no Rose Bowl parade on January 1st, which is when I usually get rid of the Christmas decorations and tree. Then I got some garden catalogs the day before so the universe was being kind to me. I did get the tree down the next week so the stray pine needle shows up here and there but otherwise that’s all put away for the year.
Not much is going on in the garden outside but I’m looking forward to spring! What's going on in your gardens?
Saturday, Jan 9, 2021 · 3:39:13 PM +00:00
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Merry Light
I am reading further on Wikipedia this morning since I’m less bleary-eyed and have coffee so here’s an official update...
The Flat Tops Wilderness is accessible from several points along I-70 west in Glenwood Springs and Rifle, and also from Yampa, CO. The original Wilderness proposal didn’t include non-primitive areas in the Flat Tops mapping, but people wanted to build a dam and divert water to oil shale development. Dams had been getting very unpopular with we Coloradans even in the ‘60s when the Wilderness Act was passed. Ultimately, we prevailed and the whole area was protected.
On June 5, 1975, the Senate passed a bill sponsored by U.S. Senator Floyd Haskell (D-Colo.) to designate 235,230 acres as the Flat Tops Wilderness Area.
Thank you, Democrats!
The lands protected as wilderness included the contested lands along the South Fork of the White River, effectively prohibiting the contested dam construction there.