By 7:50, there was an inch and a half of snow on the back porch.
“It’s back!” was all that was on my mind.
We had a heck of a winter beginning in November up until the second week of February. Then it stopped.
The sun came out, the winds were blowing, particularly in the high country and actually the 16-foot drifts worked their way down to about three or four feet in Meeker and Rangely. It was like a late Christmas present or early spring.
But we all down deep knew it wasn’t going to last.
One couldn’t help but wonder what happened to the El Niño forecast to inundate us with snow during February, March and April, but at least for the past couple of weeks, it has pretty much left us alone—until Monday morning.
The warmer weather has done a serious job on the snow/precipitation levels around the valleys in Rio Blanco County, but, more importantly, on the high mountain peaks in the area.
Just as an example of what has happened in a 27-day period, the Natural Resources Conservation Service reported that Buffalo Mountain, one of the relevant snowfall stations to our area, reported a snow depth of 52 inches on Feb. 7, and by March 5, that depth had decreased to 38 inches.
I hate to say it out loud, but we do need the precipitation.
Monday’s storm, and it is still snowing as I edit this in the afternoon, is not expected to be major, although my telephone tells me it should be snowing until 5 p.m. today, which could bring a fair amount of snow. But hopefully the higher mountains will receive a good dumping because, again, my phone tells me we won’t see any more snow until at least Tuesday.
I don’t think anyone wants to see a repeat of the all the snow we had from November through mid-February, but hopefully we will have a good snow depth rebuild in the mountains, just not to the level of the 14-foot drifts and snow piles in downtown Meeker and Rangely.
Let’s just hope for a good amount of snow and enough that the mountains will have a good runoff, that the forage stays good for the critters in the forests and that fire danger stays low.
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Saturday is Assembly Day for the Democrats and Republicans in Rio Blanco County, with the Republicans meeting in Rangely and the Democrats meeting in Meeker.
Two races seem to stand out, and they are intra-party issues between the Republicans in the county commissioner races. Former Rio Blanco County sheriff Si Woodruff is challenging incumbent Jeff Eskelson in the Meeker district and Rangely businessman and family pioneer Jeff Rector is challenging incumbent Jon Hill in the Rangely district. It is Republican vs Republican.
One of the unique things about this election is that even though the commissioners represent certain areas, all county voters can vote for both commissioner positions in the general election.
Anyway, the GOP Assembly will decide which one of or if both candidates for both races will actually make it onto the June primary ballot, when, if things stay the same, will decide who the next commissioners are because there are no Democratic candidates.
Therefore, without any opposition, and supposing that both candidates in both races make it onto the ballot, the winners of the GOP primary will be the next commissioners.
The question remaining is whether both candidates will make the primary ballot in each race.
The bet here is that they will.
The hope here is that they will.
Despite the differences between the candidates, particularly in the Woodruff-Eskelson race, it is only right that both sets of candidates get on to the ballot so that at least all the Republicans in the county can decide who will be the next commissioners instead of having just a couple hands full of delegates deciding for the rest of the party.
Who will be the best candidates come election time?
Yes I care; yes I have a preference; no I am not a Republican so I am not going to say. That is for them to decide.
There are certainly pluses for both sides of both races. All four of the candidates are intelligent and caring and want to see Rio Blanco County thrive. All four seem to have the future of Rio Blanco County foremost in their minds.
There are also questions regarding the candidates and whether they are the persons that can really lead us forward.
The only stated position I will offer is: If you like the way the county is headed and what the commissioners have done in the past four years, then you should vote for Eskelson and Hill. If you don’t like what they have done or even how they did what they have done over the past four years, one should vote for Woodruff and Rector.
Eighteen years, and No. 18 is now gone.
Peyton Manning formally called it quits on Monday morning.
Four years in Denver, four AFC West Division championships and one Super Bowl. Those accomplishments are pretty good in a four-year career. And that is just in Denver.
More than 70 individual records and more touchdown passes, more passing yards and several team records to boot, Manning has performed during his career like no other in the past in most cases.
He will be missed.
He had a career of highs. He had some games of incredible lows as well.
But he leaves the Denver Broncos and an incredible career behind him, leaving as the reigning Super Bowl champions.
Congratulations, Peyton, and thanks for a great career and a lot of wonderful memories for Colts fans and for Denver Bronco fans.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, “Peyton Manning’s extraordinary career was driven by his talent, an incredible work ethic and an unwavering desire to be the best.”
Well said.
Good luck, Peyton.
We want your news.
It is often the little things that mean so much, and it is and has been the desire of the Herald Times to report the big things, of course, but also the little things.
That is why we have started up a Community Calendar on Page 2A of the Herald Times.
We would like to be the go-to place in Rio Blanco County to find out the big and little things going on, and we are doing the newspaper and the communities a favor by including this information.
Whether you have a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, a meeting of the Republican or Democratic men and women, a meeting of a church group or some other community-minded organization or some special bake sale or car wash, we would like to know about it it and include it weekly in our Community Calendar.
If your choir is meeting, your snowmobile or off-road group is getting together or if you are having a field trip of some kind and the public is invited to be there at the event or meeting, we want to know.
We want to help get the word out to people who may be looking for something to do or somewhere to go and, therefore, possibly help these different organizations and groups to grow.
We would request that you email “[email protected]” by 5 p.m. Mondays with the name of the group, the day, time and location of the meeting, and perhaps a few words about the organization or what is on the agenda.
The calendar is published on Page 2A in each edition of the Rio Blanco Herald Times, and this is the place to put a free notice of the fact you are meeting and what your group is doing.
Help us help you and your organization, and we will all benefit.
