All Entries in the "Featured Peeks" Category

Trump passes Stalin on Turnover List

(Moscow) President Donald Trump, recently from the United States, has passed deceased Russian dictator Joseph Stalin as top dog on the all-time administrative hit list.

The magic moment came yesterday afternoon with the resignation of a climate change expert and the dismissal of a minor bureaucrat in the EPA. Both former surrogates left without incident and are said to be doing fine.

Trump is now the unchallenged leader according that infamous proxy ledger, a dubious honor compiled annually by yappy political watchdogs from The Hague. The poll stops short of drawing other more painful comparisons from the civilian lives of the two despots.

Despite classic purges, famine, collective farms, firing squads and two world wars Stalin’s numbers, once believed to be statistically insurmountable, have been left in the dust of the Russian steppes.

Whereas it took Stalin 20 years to achieve such notoriety, the new king of turnovers, Donald Trump, himself a nitpicker on loyalty, has accomplished the feat in only two years.

And you thought Joe Stalin went through people.

Missing Link Eludes Police in Archetypal Fashion

“He’s always known too much but now he’s got money – We see a clear and present threat to the peace of the nation”  – Ferne Dingle, Manana County Sheriff

After several daytime sightings followed by fruitless searches near the Ridgway Reservoir police are combing Log Hill and Buckhorn in hopes of cornering the elusive Missing Link before he makes it the Badlands of Utah and his legendary Fry Canyon stronghold.

News that the Missing Link’s Net Worth is Over 6.5 million has raised a few eyebrows this week and given authorities cause for concern since he was only recently destitute and reliance on friends for handouts was the rule of the day.

Endorsements, speaking engagements, sales of memorabilia and autographs as well as interest-bearing foundations, tax-free religion, tea dance premiums and kickbacks from several country and western artists have left the Link quite wealthy in human terms.

Tourists hiking near Griffith Gardens on Log Hill Mesa recently spotted what they called “a flimsy-looking, shadow-like male primate” 4 miles up from the clachan of Colona. Police and olive units arrived in moments hoping for surprise in their attempts to take the suspect into custody.

Authorities believe The Link has been loitering around Wildcat Creek in the vicinity of Colona where it is further believed he has a secret consort of the female persuasion. Whether the lover came along after he money or before was not clear at press time.

“If the link spills the beans even the mentally challenged among us will see things much more clearly and realize what’s been going on here.” said one former Colorado senator. “You think the judicial system is a farce now? Just wait.”

Later in the day when pressed the top investigator would not say exactly why they were tracking The Link or what the suspect had done to merit all the chaos.

“He ain’t an immigrant. He ain’t a terrorist. He ain’t even one of those progressives,” said one deputy. “I’ve been out on more than 20 of these Missing Link chases and I’ve yet to glimpse what they call hybrid prey.

When further pressed, both peace officers averted their eyes to the nearby horizon, monkeying with binoculars, adjusted their badges and ignored further journalistic excursions from baby journalists practicing their breast-stroke in these troubled waters.

– Pepper Salte

 

Ghost Towns Report Vacancies For Fall

(Lake City) Many Western Colorado Ghost Towns are reporting an upsurge in hotel and lodging availability for the fall season. Why there are glaring vacancies in this so popular land is anyone’s guess. Experts focus on remoteness, transportation, social support and comforts in their appraisals, which fall painfully short of preparing the novice for a night of solitude and natural beauty.

A trek to Dallas, Piedra, Baldwin, Cathedral or Capitol City be advised that late snows have interfaced with early snows and mud holes are a menace in the dark timber passageways that lead to each municipality.

Probably the best time to visit Gladstone, Henson, Tincup, Needleton and Duncan is early October due to the presence of aggressive moose in these vicinities and bothersome alpine rodents gnawing on automotive hoses in August and September.

If you’re waiting for the Welcome Wagon you’re out of luck in Howardsville (Bullion City), Eureka, Sneffels, Bedrock, Texas Gulch, Thistletown, Paradox, Maher, Coventry and Eldredge where it’s BYO all the way. Take your choice of dilapidated shacks and tie up your horse at one of a variety of dry saloons (Some with pictures still on the walls)

The abandoned burghs of Portland, Animas, Gothic, Ashcroft, Crystal, Uravan, Sapinero, Marble, Liberty, Lenado, Somerset and Middleton may not be so empty in the summer and fall months. We suggest a visit in winter and spring but bring blankets and warm clothing. A few of the shaky skeletons of shacks still have crude wood stoves but drinking water can be an issue.

That leaves my personal favorites: Yellow Jacket, Pittsburg, Ironton, Cahone and Slippery Rock that were major producers of silver in the 1880s.

Lock your doors for mountain lions.

Watch out for nosey bears.

Have a bonfire “middle of the street” you like.

Ain’t nobody cares.

– Uncle Pahgre.

For more up-to-date info see

www.sanjuanhorseshoe.com

New sign graces downtown Colona

Fly Swatting Academy To Offer Seminars

Mel’s Fly Swatting Academy is again teaching the intrinsic art of fly swatting

in an almost absurdly low student-professor ratio.

They say: (Advertisement)

“It’s fly season again and time to tune up that lazy eye, that smooth stroke, that tight, consistent follow-through. A fly-free home is a happy home and enlightened swatting is incremental to a buzz-free environment.

“Who cares what the bastards do outside? I don’t even want to think about it. It’s your space we are talking about here but you MUST SIEZE IT!”

“It’s all true. Filthy disease-ridden balls of scum (No, not people who hold different political views than you) are these garbage-breath intruders. The buzzing buggers serve little purpose with the possible exception of industrial excrement transport or highlighting the status of unattended buttermilk.

“Then let’s get down to it, says Mel’s. “We can improve your life by enhancing the manner in which you deal with just one little plague-mongering pest. We are not talking about moose hunting or shark diving…or even wild marmot stew. We are talking about bringing flies to their knees.

“Our professional staff can turn you from a flitter to a smasher extraordinaire in less than a week. Daily, hourly seminars bring out the natural ability and instill a sense of can-do. The cost, although prohibitive, is well worth it given the peace of mind and the sense that you can dominate one surly aspect of nature.

“And you say this is stupid? Already there are leagues competitive teams with paying sponsors. Yes, the real world is on board and you hicks best get wise quick. While you’ve been riding the hay bale picking your teeth others are getting ahead. That means $$$$$$.

Example Lesson #2

We walk you through The Stare (patented) where the stalker freezes the prey, creeps up and over-wails on the unsuspecting ball of vile snot. We then obsess on your follow through and show you the affects of the methodical, consistent flanking of one’s adversary. You will master The Stun and the 3-In One. Watch your friends tremble in envy, as your handicap becomes all but a negative number.

Of course the riches of the sport will elude many. Professional touring swatters are making the big dollars these days. The amateur can reach new heights but the right gear can run up to $8000 if one wants the state-of-the-art equipment. Fly fashion has never come cheap.

After three weeks of classes – We guarantee that you will pass your fly exams-class 3 or class 4 and go on to pursue and succeed at exceptional honors like Bambo Fly Killer, Red Belt, Wolf-Eagle Squash or join the elite Eat Poop Then Land in My Potato Salad Assassins.

Enjoy a marvelous and vehement summer minus these pests. For classes on mosquito, coyote, bear and skunk find us at www.corallyourpests.com/ferocious.

Remember: Hone your skills for BIG Buck Fly Season in Sept and October when the livestock come back down to earth and the deer fly bites.

For boarding school reservations, indentured arrangements and family visits dial 34.

Methodology accepted by Kill The Flies Without Extended Guilt (KFWEG). Do not kill spiders or bees. They sustain life.

–Advertisement–

FIRST FOURTH OF JULY BARBECUE A REAL BASH

by Melvin Toole, whose  ancestors never agreed to sign anything

“I may never attend another tea party as long as I live”

       – King George III of  England, in response to protests in Boston Harbor, 1773.

“Who brought the potato salad?”

– Josiah Bartlett, of New Hampshire, about an hour after the approval of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

The tradition of Fourth of July barbecues has been with us for over 200 years. Appropriately enough, the first one was celebrated while the ink was still wet on a noted document that declared the independence of the Thirteen American Colonies from Great Britain.* Since the end of the French and Indian War tension between the British Crown and the Colonies had increased significantly. The conflict had left the  royal treasury depleted. The British were real estate poor and needed cash run the empire. The solution? Raise taxes in the Colonies and tighten customs controls. After all, in the eye of the Crown, the Americans had benefited most from the French defeat  and somebody had to pay the bill.

Many of the Colonists responded by harassing tax and custom officials and in growing cases blood was shed. In Boston, in 1770 British redcoats opened up on protesters over on King Street, killing five. Spoiling for a fight, the Sons of Liberty jumped on the propaganda bandwagon, dubbing the bumbling incident a massacre, calling it The Shot Heard Round the World. Actually, according to ear-witnesses, the shot was heard only about as far as Concord but  that truth would have had far less impact on potential supporters.

In 1773 angry Colonists hosted the Boston Tea Party and in the spring of 1775 at Lexington the fighting had already erupted between Yankee farmers and British regulars.

The next year, on July Fourth, with hostilities in full swing, all of the Colonies except New York voted in favor of the now completed Declaration of Independence. New York adopted it on July 11, one week after a barbecue thrown by the Continental Congress. Historians still cannot agree as to whether the New Yorkers brought the slaw or a three-bean salad but despite an afternoon of candid, often controversial exchanges the the Tory-infested colony joined the rebellion.

We eavesdrop on that fateful July 4, at about 2:30 in the afternoon: A group of revolutionaries including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Chase, John Hancock, William Whipple and Francis Lightfoot Lee are standing around a large pit where turkeys, venison and sausage were being cooked. The accents range from Yankee twang to southern drawl.

Whipple: …I don’t know Tom, I’m all for this all men are created equal business but I’m afraid we could be in for one ass kickin.

Jefferson: You worry too much, Bill, the  British are far too busy with the French to pay us any mind. Besides, we’re half a world away.  After a few months King George’s redcoats will be in full flight, tails between their lobsterback legs.

Adams: That may be wishful thinking, Tom. King George seems obsessed. He calls us a mob of insolent, petty lawyers. His doctors have even warned him about getting too excited about planning the war. I don’t expect him to back off. Our spies say he’s already hired regiments of Hessians to do his bidding.

Chase: Damn! Hessians would be nothing! Will those green horseflies give us no peace? I knew it was a mistake to rent this hall across from the city’s largest livery stable!

Lee: Miserable creatures much like the British tax assessors.

Hancock: How are those ribs coming, Sam? All this prime scuttlebutt has made me quite hungry.

Chase: I’m just about to add the sauce, John. It was concocted by one of my slaves. The sausages are just about ready. Hand me the spatula and I’ll turn them again.

Franklin: Has anyone seen George Washington? He said he’d make the trip down from New York today.

Lee:  He’s probably still busy watching the British fleet come up the Hudson. Have we established an official position on his expense account yet? It’s nice that he’s agreed to run this whole shooting match without a salary but somebody had better keep an eye on his taste for the good life. His sherry bill alone could put us all in the poor house before we put a bonafide army in the field.

Whipple: Speaking of money, we really don’t have the authority to spend a penny nor to levy taxes to fight a war against the most powerful nation on earth. We were lucky to raise money for this barbecue.

Franklin: All things in good time.  My dealings with the French have opened a host of new doors. It is our sacred duty to continue the struggle against tyranny with empty pocketbooks if necessary. The will of a free people is powerful.

Hancock: Just who are we including on this holy roster, Doctor Franklin? What about the Indians? What about the slaves? I don’t see any women among our group of eager signers.

Lee: Now wait a minute, John, up in Massachusetts, you’ve got a slew of hot headed ideas. You’ve also got a slew of indentured servants running around while, out of the other side of your mouth, you condemn slavery in the South. Slavery is just a matter of economics, boy. It’s nothing personal. Let’s kick the Brits out first, then we’ll deal with domestic matters.

Jefferson: It does sound a bit hypocritical now that you mention it, but the revolution will not survive without the support of the slave owners. Maybe we could change the wording in the first paragraph. How does some men created equal grab you?

Whipple: It’s too late. Our declaration is already at the printers. Besides, most of the fringe element cannot read anyway.

Franklin: Either way I think we have defined a set of timeless democratic principles…

Adams: That’s nice, Doctor, but let’s get back to the matter of “all men being created equal? Is that everybody or just white males who read and write and own land?

Franklin: It’s not just everyone who’s here now. It includes all the people who will come to these shores in the future.

Whipple: Immigrants? I never considered that a break with the Empire will open us up to hordes of the tired and poor. Do you want a bunch of ragamuffin foreigners roaming the streets of Philadelphia, Doctor Franklin?

Franklin: I don’t see that we have a choice. We have to include everyone.

Lee: Nonsense. We have to keep the lid on or we will become the minority in our own land.

Jefferson: It may appear to some that we have acted hastily and that reconciliation with the Crown is the logical outcome of our efforts…

Franklin: Reconciliation is no part of anyone’s plan. It’s submission or the sword. Our only alternative to independence is slavery.

Adams: Slavery for who?

Chase: Slavery for slaves, John. You Yankees just can’t seem to get a grip, can you.

Jefferson: Gentlemen, let’s not argue over issues yet to be addressed. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Adams: And then what happens when we want to get to the other side?

Lee: Gentlemen, let’s not let politics get in the way of our stomachs. Looks like the table is prepared. Let’s eat.

Hancock: Not so fast, Francis. I think my esteemed colleague from Massachusetts is on to something. Surely the French will be laughing up their silk sleeves at our brashness. I think we had better decide the slavery issue now.

Chase: Your food’s getting cold, John. First we have to send King George packing, then we can talk this over. I’m sure we’ll come to the right conclusions. After all, we are honorable men. Try some of these ribs. They’re delicious, and the eagle’s not half bad either.

*The actual signing of the declaration didn’t take place until August 2  but here, for the convenience of all, the author ascends to the divine right of historical embellishment . In addition, it is virtually impossible to determine if everyone holds a barbecue on that date.