About Teller County, CO

Sprintime in the Rockies! A wonderful time of year! Beautiful crisp clear days interspersed with howling blizzards! Ain't it great! We just had our first really serious blizzard here in the Central Mountain Area, all that snow you see on the news got stuck on them ski slopes and rarely made it here....until now.

This was really just a baby blizzard, really!

When the news gabbed about it endlessly for days and predicted 1-2 ft of snow, folks in town got all excited! We always do in a blizzard! It could mean a couple of things to us....it could be a "whopper" where everyone is seriously stuck for days and even the snowplows run for cover! It could be a "sorta whopper" where we may be stuck til the plow comes but folks that can are still going to work...Or, it could just fizzle out to be a plain ole' snowstorm. Thats what this one did. Fizzled. Pffft! Phooey!

Cracks me up seeing the grocery stores filled with folks buying stuff cuz there is a blizzard warning on the news! Heck, the news can't even find my house much less predict near right what the weather is going to be round here!

Folks seemed to think this could be the "Mother of All Blizzards" the way they were buying stuff! Oh, what was I doing in the store? Buying stuff! Thats right! Just in case the TV went out I had to stock up on videos, popcorn and stuff too! It (tv) never did go out, but sometimes it does! Now, if the power goes out we have a plan for that, too!

So, the snow came and the wind blew and everyone vacated their jobs at about 11 am in Cripple Creek last Thursday. I didn't get to head out of town til around 1pm. That was fine, though, cause the snow was light and even tho the wind was blowing the flat to the Mt Pisgah curve wasn't covered with ground blizzards like it can be. Temps drop quickly in one of these storms, I try to carry a winter coat and gloves around with me, cause it did! And I only had to deal with a couple of paranoid drivers in 2 wheel drives going down that hill, so leaving after the rush has its merits too! I made it home, stoked the fire, snuggled into my couch with my blankie and the wind howled and the snow blew as the night wore on.

Friday morning we woke to a white wonderland. Snow drifted up about 2 ft on my southern porches, and there was about 8 inches in the pastures, but that was it. Big Whup! So, that made this Mother of All Blizzards a Baby Blizzard in my book. Didn't have to get plowed out. Didn't get stuck for any amount of time...except no one really moved much on Friday. Give the plows a chance to do their thing, give Old Man Sun a chance to melt the roads and just about everyone else does the same thing around here too. Barely any snow on my 1 mile of driveway at all. Oh, I threw the horses a couple of bales of hay cause they were giving me big sad eyes. We shoveled the patio and made a path for the dogs.

Its almost all gone today, Sunday. I didn't even get a chance to take photographs of this blizzard, it came and went and left such a little impression! Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the open winter we have had this year and doubly thankful for the slight moisture we got from this baby blizzard! Lord knows we need it! But there is always that excitement when the Big One comes....where it really snows, and snows a lot! Maybe still this year, but most likely not. Life goes on. We wait. And Watch. And stock up on stuff!

"Yonder Lies Cripple Creek" read the billboard as I wound my way through the Ute Pass west into the Rocky Mountains that fateful day in 1990. Cute sign I thought and gassed the truck. Up and over Bluebird Hill and onwards over the two lane highway that led up, up, up into the mountains, through the single lane train tunnel finally exploding out the top of Tenderfoot Hill overlooking the spectacular town of Cripple Creek, Colorado!

It was love at first sight!

Little was I to know that Yonder lay my Future!

Cripple Creek, Colorado, back in 1990 was a bustling tourist day trip for most folks in the summer, a quiet sleepy town during the winter. Hwy 67 winds down Tenderfoot hill to 2nd street, and in 1990 it was paved, sorta. Lots of potholes back then but the locals called them speed bumps and they helped keep the tourists from blowing through too fast, even capturing one or two of 'em, maybe bouncing one into their shops. From 2nd st the Hwy bends south 6 miles to Victor, Colorado, then it actually does turn into a dirt road known as the Phantom Canyon. This becomes a spectacular journey through a variety of flora and fauna as it wends its way into the lower altitudes finally spilling out onto Hwy 50 East of Canon City.

Since then the "Worlds Greatest Gold Camp" has blossomed into a busy little mountain community. Isolated for the most part from the rest of the world, Cripple Creekians tend to live in a comfortable bubble of local influences. We worry more about the local politics than the national politics. It seems much of that doesn't touch us up here. I suspect that its the breathtaking views surrounding everyone here that calms the mind and soul, releasing us from the ties of the hustle and bustle of what we call the "real world". If it grabs you, then you are lost, and must become a local too.

I don't know if it was the charm of the Historic town that got me as I drove down Tenderfoot hill, kids strapped to the car seats in my 1 ton dually pickup truck that fateful day, or maybe it was the scenery, or was it the local donkey herd that roams the streets? Its hard, now, to pin a finger on the exact "thing" that grabbed me at that time so many years ago. I have seen it happen over and over again, tho. Once you get here, if you "get it", you'll GET it!

So, curious yet? Then here are a few sites you can hit to conduct your own investigation! By all means, contact me with any questions!

http://goldcountryco.com/ my website; check the links for weather, city links & more!

http://cripplecreekdonkeys.blogspot.com/ info on the donkey herd!

http://cripplecreekco.blogspot.com/ miscellaneous useless info about stuff I do; drive around and take pics!

http://cripplecreekproperty.blogspot.com/ some info on Victor, Colorado and a couple of houses I have listed

http://summerinthecreek.blogspot.com/ horse trails and rides with friends

http://cripplecreekcolorado.blogspot.com/ stuff in and around Cripple Creek

and finally.....

http://donkeyderbydays.blogspot.com/ briefs introduction to the D3 days and a Chile Cookoff!

Carrie N Miller

Gold Country Realty

719-641-7074 cell

877-522-3434toll free

carrie@goldcountryco.com

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BLOG GREEN FOR ECO BROKERS

Green is so Red Hot that it has been written into the hottest topic in Real Estate and that is the Stimulus Package. Green living is an investment in the future of America. The American Recovery and reinvestment Act of 2009 gives green efforts about 80 billion dollars. The money is to be used to fund projects to include mass transit, energy efficiency, and renewable sources of energy. The money is also supposed to go towards updating another failing infrastructure issue which is our electrical grid.

Money that is contributed to green solutions can allow America to be more self reliant while providing jobs and establishing new business models. Green dollars going into the economy can also offer new opportunities for entrepreneurial expansion.

Tax incentives in some states have allowed for a certain expansion of green ideas and sustainable living. At the beginning of this year our federal government changed the solar tax credit to 30 percent of the cost of residential systems, removing a previous $2,000 cap.

I bought batteries last year for my solar system and I wish I had waited. I have to see what my CPA says. IRS is a whole other blog. Sorry, I digress.

Apparently the tax credit has been revised and now there are grants and loan guarantees for renewable energy. (Again a subject for another blog. What are the sources for these loans and grants?) The plan allows those who install solar power systems to make an application for a cash grant instead of a tax credit. Then they can get the money back in 60 days. Many hope that this move will bring investors and new start up companies into the green age.

The stimulus package doesn’t stop there. It also includes $5 billion for weatherization, $4.5 billion for federal building upgrades and $4.5 billion in matching funds to help out those certain cities that have sudden summer blackouts.

Low-income weatherization programs are an example of an initial action that can create solutions now. Construction to make energy-efficient homes creates jobs plain and simple. The Department of Energy wants to outfit 10 million homes per year for the next two decades. It is estimated that this action may generate about 1.25 million green-collar jobs.

Funding for green efforts will create jobs, produce cleaner energy, and less dependence on fossil fuels and declining resources. Don't overlook the hidden benefits buried inside this massive bill.

Link for more details on renewable energy tax credits:

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=12247

American Solar Energy Society

http://www.ases.org/