G. Eldon Smith's Blog: My Thoughts, page 7

Thoughts and Opinions

Colorado History
Governor John Evans was the second Governor of Colorado Territory; he served from 1862 to 1865. He had had an interesting and varied career before that which included: practicing medicine in Indiana, founding Lakeside Hospital (later named Mercy Hospital) in Chicago, founded the Illinois Republican Party, was one of a group of Methodists that founded Northwestern University.

His personal friend President Abraham Lincoln appointed him Governor of Colorado Territory. Governor Evans and his good friend the Reverend John Chivington founded the Territory's first college, the Colorado Seminary, which later became the University of Denver.

Evans appointed Rev. Chivington as Colonel of the Colorado Volunteers. Evans issued a proclamation that invited white settlers to indiscriminately "kill and destroy all...hostile Indians." Chivington led 800 cavalry troopers to attack the Native American encampment on Sand Creek killing about 53 unarmed men and 110 women and children and wounding many more. Governor Evans decorated Chivington and his men for their "valor in subduing the savages" and fought off rumors of an unprovoked massacre. The attack is now known as the Sand Creek Massacre. Evans was asked to resign by President Andrew Johnson.

Riddles
1. What is more than ten, and less than three?

2. What word begins and ends with an 'e' but only has one letter?
(Answers below)

Ski News
World Championships being held at Beaver Creek, Colorado (close to Vail)
Lindsey Vonn placed fifth in the FIS Alpine Championship Woman's Downhill race. Vonn said, "I'm going home happy because I skied my best. There's nothing to be sad about." Fifth place, one second behind the winner, Tina Maze. Not too bad for a person who had two knee surgeries a year ago.

Bode Miller had a terrible crash and cut a hamstring tendon with his ski in the Men's Downhill, which was delayed one day because of too much snow and wind.

American Travis Ganong placed second in the Men's Downhill. Congratulations Travis.

Olympic gold medialist, Mikaela Shiffrin skis today, Thursday, on the mountain where she learned to ski. This time it will be for the World Championship. Good Luck Mikaela!
Answers
1. four, hint number or letters F-O-U-R (4 letters) is greater than T-E-N (3 letters) and three has five
letters while four only has four letters. (Note: this riddle was created by a young boy.)
2. envelope

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Thoughts and Opinions

02/02/2015

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Quote
Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that! ~ Bill Shankly

It was like a well written mystery novel. A surprise ending...woooho, a second surprise ending!
~ G. Eldon Smith

Super Trivia
Sorry Seahawk fans, still only seven teams have won the Super Bowl two times in a row
(Steelers did it twice.)
Patriots 2004 and 2005
Broncos 1998-1999
Cowboys 1993-1994
49ers 1989-1990
Steelers 1979-1980
Steelers 1975-1976
Dolphins 1973-1974
Packers 1967-1968

Chuck Howley of the Cowboys is the only player to be named Super Bowl MVP from the losing team.

Bills appeared in the Super Bowl four straight times and lost all four games.

Second most food consumed in a day in America. Second only to Thanksgiving for the amount of food consumed in the U.S. in a single day. An estimated 12.5 million pizzas sold on Super Bowl Sunday. That's just pizza.

Quiz
Colorado Governors though History ...... Name the Governor
1. Kansas Territorial Governor that Colorado state capital was named after.
2. Colorado Governor who defended Japanese-American citizen's rights during World War II.
3.This Colorado Governor said, "It is their duty to die."
4. Three term U.S. Senator and Colorado Governor for two separate terms.
5. Colorado Governor with a funny last name.
6. Governor at the time of Colorado's Sand Creek Massacre and founder of University of Denver..
7. This Governor was in office when Andrew Coyle arrived in Denver in 1893.
Answers below

Palindrome
Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.

Answers
1. James W. Denver (never visited the city)
2. Ralph L. Carr (lost election for U.S.Senate because of his stance)
3. Richard Lamm (referring to old people who need expensive medical care.}
4. Edwin C. Johnson (east bound tunnel on I-70 named after him)
5. John Hickenlooper (present Governor)
6. John Evans (at the least, his lack of intervention contributed to massacre of innocent Indians.)
7. John L. Routt (Andrew Coyle the protagonist in Murder in the Rockies)

Thoughts and Opinions

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Weekly Blog

Thoughts and Opinions

01/25/2015

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Quotes
I've exercised with women so thin that buzzards followed them to their cars. ~Erma Bombeck

Quiz
1. Last week we mentioned Vail is the city of Ski Champions. Name two ladies that now call Vail
their home and are ski champions.
2. Which ski area in Colorado is at the highest elevation?
3. How many hockey players are on the ice at the opening face-off ?
4. In Murder in the Rockies the protagonist, Andrew Coyle, is 6'2" tall. How many stacked up Andrew
Coyles would the record high snowboard jump clear?
5. Which team is going to win the Super Bowl?
Answers below
Excerpt
In Two Mile High and Six Feet Under, Coyle is learning to cross country ski. Check it out:
In spite of his lack of technique, and because of his determination, he reached the point where he was to start up the hill to the ridge.
Luckily, Sorensen showed up just as he predicted at the time Coyle tried to start up the hill. “Spread the fronts of your skis apart, and put the tails of your skis together. See the tracks that I made? That is called a herringbone. The tracks look like the ribs of fish and you are walking right up the spine. Herringbone up the hills. Going down the hills is just the opposite. Put the toes together, heels apart. That is called a snowplow. A well-done snowplow will keep you from going too fast. But first you have to get up the hill…herringbone.”
Answers
1. Lindsey Vonn from Vail, Colorado, has the all time record for number of Ladies World Cup ski wins. Mikaela Shiffrin, also from Vail, was the Gold Medal slalom champion at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
2. Silverton base 10,400 ft. summit 13,487 ft. is the highest
Arapahoe Basin base 10,780 ft, summit 13,050 ft.
Loveland base 10,800 ft summit 13,010
3. 12, two teams of 6 each
4. Five Andrew Coyles. The record snowboard height is a 32.1 feet high jump.
5. The team with the highest number of points will win the Super Bowl! (Unfortunately it will not be the Denver Broncos.)

Thoughts and Opinions

Colorado Mountain Climbing, a change from literature, but interesting.
Tommy Caldwell of Estes Park, Colorado and Kevin Jorgeson from California proved the impossible can be possible if you are determined, willing to pay the price in hard work, and have the courage to attempt it. Caldwell and Jorgeson free-climbed El Capitan, a 3,000 foot high slab of granite in Yosemite National Park , California. They were the first to achieve it.

The ascent took 19 days of climbing.They used tape and Super Glue on their bloody hands to aid the healing process. For 18 nights the mountaineers slept in tents attached to the sheer rock wall.
Tommy's father, Mike Caldwell, is a climbing guide at the Colorado Mountain School in Golden, Colorado, which is just west of Denver. He started Tommy's climbing career when the lad was age 3. Mike said of Tommy's El Capitan achievement, " He doesn't understand the magnitude of the accomplishment and the excitement generated."

Thoughts and Opinions

Thoughts and Opinions

01/11/2015

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.Quote
Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser. ~ Vince Lombardi


Wish I'd Said That
Not as important as the first sentence of a novel, never the less the last sentence is often what the reader remembers. Think of it as a dessert after a great meal or a good night kiss. The last sentence gives the author a final opportunity to emphasize the novel's theme and message.

Melville's "Call me Ishmael." The first line of Moby Dick is a classic, but consider the poetry of the last line. "Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago."

John Le Carre ended The Little Drummer Girl with this:"Her tears were half blinding her, and she was hearing him from under water. I'm dead, she kept saying, I'm dead, I'm dead. But it seemed that he wanted her dead or alive. Locked together, they set off awkwardly along the pavement, though the town was strange to them. (You have to read the exciting climax which preceded this to make any sense, but you can still get the feeling of the woman's emotions.)

In God We Trust, all others pay cash - Jean Shepherd ends a book I didn't want to end. "I peered into the gloom at the grimy Mill traffic. Dammit, it's gonna be hell getting a cab around here. Oh well... I waited briefly at the light and then turned left, toward the bus stop." Can't you visualize the scene?

The most famous of all last sentences needs no introduction. "Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn."
follow by a few lines with the actual last line, "...Tara!...Home. I'll go home, and I'll think of some way to get him back! After all, tomorrow is another day!"

I wish I'd said that.

Work in Progress
I have finished the first draft of Two Miles High and Six Feet Under. My live-in editor has finished the first edit (Thank you Diane). I will make the corrections and rewrites, and then wait for the reactions of beta- readers.

Palindrome (Banned in Boston)
A slut nixes sex in Tulsa.