All Entries in the "Reflections on Disorder" Category
A Touch of Provence in Hotchkiss
We arrived at Leroux Creek Vineyards on a sunny mid-morning and were greeted by Bon Bon and Piaf, two interested Corgis. The vineyards ramble to the Southwest. An early 70s vintage MG sits in the driveway.
“I guess I’m a bit of an Anglophile,” says wine maker Yvon Gros, who with his wife Joanna of Leroux Creek Vineyards on Rogers Mesa. “Come in and let’s talk for a few minutes then I have to get back to stomping grapes.”
Gros, who grew up in the Provence region of France, told us that the North Fork Valley resembles his boyhood home, one of the finest wine producing areas of the world.
“It strongly resembles the Coulon Valley right down to the rivers and the rolling countryside,” he said, showing off a substantial collection of maps and reference materials on the subject such as An American Provence , which favorably compares the two regions.
“Actually I came to Colorado to play golf and ski and this happened.”
The future wine maker arrived in Vail in 1973 where his brother lived, intent on pursuing his passion for cooking. He worked at several of the leading establishments and embraced the ski all day – work all night philosophy.
“In the summer it was golf and in the winter it was skiing,” he explained. “Somewhere in between I carved out a career.”
Gros grew up in Lac d’ Annency, one of 7 children, during World War II. He pulls out a thick, somewhat intimidating recipe book.
“This is the book that my mother used every day. There would be 7 children at the table but when another showed up at dinnertime she would invite them to sit and join us. She was an exceptional woman. She taught me the love of cooking.”
Later Yvon studied French Classic Cuisine at Thonon Les-Baines Culinary School in Savoie and interned at Liond’or near Lake Geneva.
Yvon’s partner, Joanna, was a clothing designer, and a graduate of the Fashon Institute of Technology in New York City. She has developed a signature line of skin care products based on grape seed extract. The inn reflects the elegance of Joanna’s design touch. Leroux Creek Spa, the signature line of Grape Seed Extract skin care products, available online, at the Inn and in speciality locations.
“But now we should have something to eat, some wine to drink,” he smiled pulling a cutting board chocked with olives, prosciutto, gorgonzola and brie, gherkins, French bread and freshly made pate’. Along with the fare, originating with local organic farmers in the neighborhood came a bottle of Chambourn, his flagship vintage.
Leave it to the French to present an elegant feast to highlight a morning interview that has now stretched into the noon hour.
“Wherever apricots and peaches thrive so will grapes,” said Gros filling our glasses with his robust red wine. “The terroir is defined by the volcanic soil and the climate. The grapes can handle the cold.”
The Chambourin goes well with beef, pork and lamb. Before the naturally grown grapes are ready they undergo oak barrel aging and strict monitoring so as to insure consistency throughout the process.
“Maybe I’ll make a sparkling wine next,” he laughed, “but right now there are grapes to stomp.”
Gros told us that although his inn is upscale there are plenty of people out there searching for just this kind of experience. The natural beauty blends with the delicious food and exceptional wine.
“It’s fun to see our guests get excited about the place,” he said. We offer a bed and breakfast with so much more.”
For more go to www.lerouxcreekinn.com
Feds Bust Forest Animals on Pot Charges
(Gunnison National Forest Colorado Fur Review Nov 18, 2015)
In a major sting that has reportedly been in the works since July, hundreds of park rangers have detained and arrested an assortment of forest creatures that live here.
Early this morning campers and hunters were shocked to see cute quivering little bunnies and sassy squirrels in chains as they awaited transport to jail. Even marmots were apprehended according the eyewitnesses on the ground.
“This kind of trauma will stay with these innocents for many years to come,” said Dr. Evillio Tinkleholland who has been working with at-risk forest and plains mammals for 30 years. “It’s one thing to tag and harass these four-legged residents but this has crossed the line.”
Law enforcement sources had no comment on the proceedings this morning.
The bust, which many say is the result of federal frustration over legalized weed in Colorado. The state voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana and allow its monitored sale back in 2013 much to the chagrin of power brokers of Washington.
The feds still call the shots in “our” national forests, even though these lands are technically public recreation areas along with a litany of multiple use designations. Persons smoking cannabis within the confines of these vast land masses within the legal and established borders of Colorado are subject to arrest for breaking federal law.
Further invasions of “suspected national forest criminals” are slated for December with bighorns, moose and rocky mountain goats in the crosshairs of the investigative clampdown. Mountain lions and elk, along with the timber wolves we don’t have here will begin after Valentine’s Day. Bear, who are trying to sleep through all of this racket, will be accosted when they wake up in March or April.
So much for personal freedoms. So much for state’s rights. So much for pettiness. Where are the animal protection agencies on this one?
The arrested are expected to post bail and return to the forest where all their stuff is stored but they must wear radio ankle bracelets until a trial date, set for late 2019.
The action was lauded by states such as pot-scared Nebraska and Kansas who have little in the way of national forests, and the American Medical Association, which in collusion with the major pharmaceutical companies encourages the distribution of legal narcotics to human sheep.
– Melvin O’Toole
Dakota tribe burns pot crop for fear of federal raid
Santee Sioux destroy marijuana crop, put plans for a drug resort on hold after news of potential raid
(November 9, 2015)
A Native American tribe that sought to open the nation’s first marijuana resort, in South Dakota, burned its crop after federal officials said a raid was possible, the tribal president said Monday.
Flandreau Santee Sioux President Anthony Reider told The Associated Press the tribe had three weeks of discussions with authorities that culminated with a meeting in Washington that included a Justice
Department official and U.S. Attorney for South Dakota Randolph Seiler.
Reider said the tribe wasn’t told a raid was imminent — only that one was possible if the government’s concerns weren’t addressed. He said the main holdup is whether the tribe may sell marijuana to non–Native Americans. Also at issue is the origin of the seeds used for its crop.
Calls by the AP to the Justice Department’s Office of Tribal Justice weren’t immediately returned. A spokesman for Seiler said he would have no comment.
The tribe had planned to open a lounge selling marijuana on New Year’s Eve. It was the first tribe in South Dakota to legalize the drug after the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision last year to allow tribes to do so on tribal land.
Reider said the tribe made the decision Friday to destroy its marijuana and burned it Saturday. He said tribal officials wanted to avoid a raid that might have damaged equipment or the facility and wanted to demonstrate good faith as it continues conversations with officials in hopes of resuming the project.
“We just felt it would be best to go in with a clean slate to look for answers on how to proceed so that all sides are comfortable with it,” he said.
He said more talks are scheduled this week with Seiler and with state Attorney General Marty Jackley. Jackley said over the weekend that the decision to destroy the crop was “in the best interest of both tribal and nontribal members.”
The legalization of marijuana on Santee Sioux land came in June, months after the Justice Department outlined a new policy that allows Indian tribes to grow and sell marijuana under the same conditions as some states.
Many tribes have been hesitant to jump into the pot business, and not everyone in Flandreau, about 45 miles north of Sioux Falls, supports the project.
The tribe has said the project could generate up to $2 million a month in profit. But some state officials have questioned the plan, including Jackley, who has said any changes in tribal laws wouldn’t affect nontribal land or anyone who wasn’t a tribal member.
Tim Purdon, a Minneapolis attorney who served as the U.S. attorney for North Dakota from 2010 to 2015, said federal officials could raid marijuana operations at any time because cannabis remains illegal under federal law. The new Justice Department policy doesn’t change that, he said.
“The whole memorandum is a department policy,” he said. “It does not legalize recreational cannabis. It really sets forth the [enforcement] priorities that will be looked at.”
He said no operator should expect a stamp of approval from the federal government.
“The Department of Justice is never going to give a tribe or a merchant in a state where it’s legalized a letter saying you have permission to do this,” Purdon said. “Cannabis remains illegal under federal law. And looking for some sort of advisory opinion from the department saying that what you’re doing is OK is never going to happen.”
The Associated Press
Premature Balding in Elk Herds Worsens
(Black Forest — October 26, 2015)
Signs of widespread premature balding among local bull elk has fish and game officials perplexed and worried about the future. According to a series of medical reports the animals are losing their hair at an alarming rate.
Local ranchers claim the elk shed every 11 years, an opinion discarded by the state wardens.
“We’ve seen the elk lose hair before,” said Ernest DelFisher. “I’ve seen all the cures and all the treatments but nothing works.”
Many feel the problem is cyclical and that it deepens every fall when thousands of hunters chase them around looking for meat. Fortunately the malady, whatever it is, does not affect racks.
“I think the DOW should lighten up and cease the tampering, the collaring,” continued DelFisher, “at least until the hair loss stops.”
Sources in Denver continue to monitor the herds, dropping protein tablets and hair growth ointment in favored meadows and clearings. Officials plan to segregate the balding from the healthy animals and stabilize the situation.
– Elke Winters
Shoot From the Lifts Promotion Gets Mixed Reviews
Special to the Horseshoe from Tips Up Magazine – October 21, 2015
(Crested Butte) In an attempt to lure rifle hunters to town, Crested Butte Mountain Resort is offering hunter packages which include access to all lifts for the purpose of filling deer and elk tags for 2015.
This is how it works: A hunter stays at one of the approved CBMR hotels at the off-season rate and, in addition to heavenly views, cable TV and room service, he is allowed to ride the lifts in search of his prey.
Already about a dozen bow hunters found success riding the lifts. East River and Teocali were the most productive with one black powder marksman from Colona nailing a bull elk at the top of Paradise.
The program seems headed for success since their is exists no governing body that can legally restrict the action.
“With all the meddlesome agencies out there we felt for sure that this controversial sporting event would fall under some jurisdiction or the other,” said Melvin Toole illegitimate brainchild of CBMR. “OSHA was our biggest problem initially but that body dropped out when it became apparent that nobody was really on-the-job. Then it was the treasury people who backed off after we proved that no money was actually changing hands. Finally the local authorities got into the act, but we showed that there was no discharging of firearms within anyone’s city limits.”
Sources at the ski area expect more than 2000 hunters to take advantage of the offer. Target groups from Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas will make up the meat of the participants while contingents of urban hunters and the handicapped should round out the group.
“Imagine full lifts running 12 hours per day packed with men in orange,” said Toole. “It’s the perfect answer to the downtime between mushroom hunting and the free ski promotion. Who knows, we might even sell a little real estate out of our back pockets.”
Critics of the plan say they plan to file a plethora of lawsuits adding that “some of them folks over at CBMR have been smoking too much snodgrass.”
Over in Telluride the town gondola will remain out-of-service until Thanksgiving due to clown council concerns that a stray bullet may accidentally hit a celebrity, which would include a conservative 90% of the people walking around. Hunters with Telluride Cards will, of corpse, have access to the upper lifts, depending on political persuasion.
“We don’t have time for much of this silliness,” said a spokesman for the marketing department at Telluride Ski and Golf Then Ski Again. “We are far too busy attempting to manipulate sunrise and sunset so as to increase skier days this year. Imagine cruising the Stairs or Can’t Make ‘Em with the sun on your back all afternoon. Let them promise that at Aspen or Vail.” – Uncle Pahgre