Settled in our new home.  It's much smaller than the home we had in Conifer, but seems to suit us better.  All three girls are with us at present, though Nicole will leave to had back to Chapman in a week - a sad day for all of us.  We love her dearly and miss her terribly when she's gone.  Karine will stay here until the weather turns worse and she'll need to be closer to Evergreen where she works, at which point she'll move back in (I assume) with one of her employers. 

We've had the country store for almost 14 months now, and thanks to the Lord and lots of help from friends the store is doing very well.  There were those who believed and said that we would never even get it open, but God had another plan.  We've met literally hundreds of people in the past 14 months who have enriched our lives and who have made our store a regular hang-out.  Even as recently as yesterday we had a French family come in who were passing through on their way to Salt Lake City, and we enjoyed 20-30 minutes of French conversation about all the things we miss about France, like the cheese, and the wine, and our friends.  It was like a breath of fresh air, and I loved every minute. 

Last weekend Daphne graciously ran the store while I went off with my band of Marauders to perform several reenactments for Living History Days in South Park City, a restored old west town and museum that's a perfect venue for gunfights.  And the Sunday before we performed in another small town called Hartsel for their annual festival.  It just so happened that our friends Lewis and Lacy Alexander were with us that weekend, and I somehow managed to convince them to join in with our reenactments.  Everyone agreed that Lacy made a perfect brazen hussy in her saloon girl attire :)
I managed to rustle up a couple of horses for me and another of our crew to ride in the parade, and when our guys at the front starting shooting off their revolvers and double-barreled shot-guns the horses did a pretty good rendition of the cha-cha.  When the parade was over I rode over to where our guys were waiting and said, "Next time, you ride and I'll shoot!"  The whole thing was a great deal of fun. 

Some of our group with other reenactors in Hartsel, Colorado.  Lacy's on the right.

Jim a.k.a. "Cherokee Jack"  Myers posing for a photo during the Hartsel parade

Lewis looks pretty B.A. if you ask me

Wild Frontier

The past few days have been exciting, challenging and crazy!

A New Home

First off, we've made an offer on a home, and it was accepted!  It's much smaller than our previous home (1800 sq feet vs 2900) but we wanted to downsize anyway.  It's located only 10 minutes from the store, and was built in 1999 - so hopefully there are no major issues.  We've done most of the inspections and we'll submit our inspection objections tomorrow.  The only real downsides are the steep driveway and no dining room to speak of.  It even has a hot-tub, which was one of my personal requests of the Lord, so I can get some relief during the bad nights with restless legs.  We're taking a calculated risk to buy the home, since we would not qualify for a home loan until we can show 2 years of profit from the store (and the store has shown no profit so far, which is the norm for small start-up businesses) which requires us to use IRA funds along with the equity from our home in Conifer.   Our home for the past six months has been the apartment above the store (and three storage units) which has worked out fine for the short term, but we've all been sleeping in one room which has it's definite drawbacks... I'll leave that one to your imagination.   The house was only on the market one day and already had one offer on it, so we had to jump on it to have any chance of getting it.   We'd already had three other homes that we were ready to make offers on (all of them on the market 3 days or less), and each time they were already under contract.  No question the housing market is heating up.  Our trust is in the Lord and His faithfulness.  God is good, all the time!

MYERS MARAUDERS

I've started an old west gunfighter reenactment group called The Myers' Marauders.  The whole idea came about last year when I invited another reenactment group to come perform on Bailey Day.  I wanted them back this year (June 14), but they were not available.  I started doing some research, recruited a few other guys who enjoy playing cowboy, and we're now in the process of joining the American Frontier Reenactment Guild.  The guild is very particular about the actors wearing authentic period clothing and using period guns - so I traded in my .357 for a replica colt .45 revolver.  We're scheduled to do five shows on Bailey Day, and we're working out an agreement with South Park City (very popular 1800's ghost town in Fairplay, CO) to perform multiple times this summer.  We had our first performance in Shawnee (couple miles from Bailey) for their history day. The gal who was organizing the event wanted it to be a surprise, but I know how many people are packing heat up here and told her that we needed to put a sign up to alert people that a western gunfight would be taking place.  Part of the skit involved me coming in with a scarf over my face and my gun drawn.  I yelled, "This is a hold-up!  Get your hands in the air!"  At which time the musician who'd been playing up front points a gun at me and yells, "Oh yeah!  We'll see about that!".  My immediate thought was, "This wasn't part of our script", and I stood there for a couple of seconds wondering what to do - since I only had blanks, and depending on whether that's a toy or not that he's pointing at me this could get tricky.  I decided to ignore him and went on with the show.  Found out later it was a toy gun... that's all I need is a hero who guns me down in the middle of a show!  The following weekend we were asked to do two performances for the first anniversary of the new Staunton State Park near Conifer.   I have a feeling this hobby could get out of control real fast!

What does believing in God have to do with Sasquatch?

A recent article I wrote for a local newspaper.  Enjoy :)



A few weeks ago I went squatching with a couple of friends. “Squatching” is an Indian word that means “White people walking in the woods who see nothing.” However, seeing nothing never stops me. Kind of like killing nothing has never stopped me from hunting. My so-called friends say the safest place for an elk to be is right in front of my rifle. Very funny. The safest place is actually a little to the left in front of me. Anyway, we started our hike where we'd seen some promising signs in previous weeks, and it wasn't long before we found a bunch of sapling tree breaks. No one knows why Squatches (that's what we Squatchers call them) break trees, but it's assumed to be some kind of territorial display. It's the Sasquatch version of big tires and lift-kits on pickup trucks, only much less expensive. The (top secret) place where we were hiking was literally covered with deer and elk tracks, which is a good sign since Squatches really like their protein. After a couple of hours of walking we came across something really strange: there in the snow was a perfect, elk-shaped impression – but no elk. It was like someone had pressed in the snow with a gigantic elk stamp. And we noticed something even weirder (is that a word?): there were no elk tracks leaving the site, nor lion tracks, nor drag marks, nor any blood. There weren't even any signs of a struggle. That elk just hit the snow like it ran into an invisible wall at full speed. We stood there like three Sherlock Holmes actors trying to figure this one out, and we could only come to one conclusion: the elk was picked up and carried away. And at 400-500 pounds that's no small feat of brute strength. There was another set of prints that paralleled the elk trail – only these were much larger and more shallow than the elk tracks with about a ten foot stride. But, of course, they were too melted by the sun to give any clear idea if they were Squatch prints. Yes, this is the footprint version of the fuzzy squatch-blob photos.


I've never personally seen a Sasquatch. I know quite a number of people who say they have, and in most cases I believe them. The first eye-witness I ever met was my friend Kate, who saw a large Squatch in May of 2012 along with a friend with whom she was hiking. Since then, we've met scores of people who come into our store in Bailey to stick a colored pin on the Colorado Sasquatch Sightings Map we have up on the wall. There's over 70 pins on that map already, and we only put it up six months ago. Course, that's about the time the grow store opened up down the street... just kidding. All joking aside, the legend of Bigfoot has to go down as one of the great mysteries of the last two centuries: how a creature that stands eight feet tall, weighs somewhere around 800 pounds, walks on two legs, is covered with hair, stinks like a skunk, and has never, not even once, been caught or confirmed killed. And yet there are hundreds, possibly even thousands of stories that come from every state in the union. EVERY state. Even Arizona and New Mexico. They can't possibly all be hoaxes or drunken hallucinations. There is definitely SOMETHING out there.


We get a lot of Sasquatch enthusiasts coming to our store, and they will eventually get up the courage to ask THE question: “Do YOU believe in Bigfoot? Hmm...Do I Believe? The question almost feels religious, as if they were asking if I'm a Bigfootist, or if I practice Sasquatchism. I've even had someone ask me how I, as a religious person, can believe in Bigfoot. Why? What does believing in God have to do with Sasquatch? Apparently, many people look at God and Sasquatch in the same way – as mythical creatures with no scientific foundation for their existence. To a certain point I agree with them, because to believe that God or Sasquatch exists takes a healthy dose of faith. But of this I am sure: there's only one thing that will turn a skeptic into a believer – and that's a personal encounter. Then there's no convincing them that God or Sasquatch DOESN'T exist! I can attest to the fact that God is real, He is personal, and He is seeking a relationship with each of us. He has broken through into my world numerous times in dramatic, unmistakable ways. I love to tell these “ God moment” stories, because my life will never be the same. So who knows? One of these days when I'm out in the woods I just might have a personal encounter with Sasquatch, and after I've cleaned my trousers I'll tell you about it.

Pushing Snow

Snow plowing.  Up at 3:00 am after a fitful night.  Drive through the Star Wars, warp speed simulator
(snowstorm at night).  Plow three parking lots, then start on the driveways.  I have to be extra careful with the driveways as I damaged more than one garage door last winter due to heavy snow and sleep deprivation.  My insurance agent warned me not to make another claim.  I thought insurance companies existed to sell insurance??? Must have been in the fine print: "Last but not least, don't file any claims or we'll cancel your policy.  Ha Ha."

Get a phone call mid-morning, "Do you plow snow in Shawnee?"  After a minute or two of discussion I agree to swing by his house, since he assured me it's an "easy driveway".  Should have learned my lesson by now; the "easy ones" are always the worst.  We live in the mountains, and every home builder up here must be from Florida or something.  They love to build driveways one of three ways:  straight up the side of the hill at a 60º angle, or with 3-5 hairpin turns that will only accomodate a mini cooper, or 1/2 mile long.  This driveway was the second variety.  The gentleman I spoke to was obviously quite elderly, so I decide not to charge them the full price.  That's the next lesson I should have learned by now: charge by the minute, not by the job.  As soon as I arrive I can tell that one end of the circular driveway has at least 2 feet of snow on it, and the other end has three tight turns that my truck can barely make while I try to keep from crushing the ornate solar driveway lights that every snow plower just loves.  I end up spending way too long on his driveway, but I still want to cut them a break on the price.  Just before I leave I find out that this is their second home.  They normally live in Highlands Ranch, a Bourgois suburb of Denver.  C'est la vie.

Gotta Love The Beauty of Fresh Snow

We Are Bailey

Not quite sure how all this happened.  I joined the local Platte Canyon Chamber of Commerce last year and was elected to the board, then asked to serve as Vice President.  Really?  But I just joined!  Welllll, I guess so.  My "main" responsibility as Vice-President was to plan and organize Bailey Day - the main fund-raiser for the Chamber of Commerce and biggest party day of the year for Bailey's 8,000 + residents.  While I was planning and organizing, I was also trying to finish all the renovations on the Bailey Country Store (our store).  We were scheduled to open in April.  Then in May. And we finally opened our doors - our official grand opening - on June 15th... Bailey Day.  So we were pretty darn busy last year!  Bailey day was a huge success, as was our Olde West theme (complete with wild west shoot-outs, old tyme photo booth etc).  We made more money for the chamber than almost any event in the recent past.  This year when election time rolled around again for the Chamber of Commerce board, our awesome President Marcel Flukiger stepped down after serving three years.  Marcel is an idea guy, and he's Swiss, and he owns the greatest little winery this side of Nappa Valley.  Marcel moved the Chamber forward by light years during his three year term, and Bailey is a better place because of his investment.  Anyway, last month I was elected to replace Marcel as President.  Here we go!  It's the salary and perks that make it all worthwhile :)

The first initiative that I wanted to bring to the chamber is a campaign to build a "branding" or a community identity for the town of Bailey.  Bailey is a true community, whereas Conifer and Evergreen (in my opinion) are more bedroom communities for Denver.  Bailey has taken more than its fair share of hits in recent years (economic hardship, Platte Canyon High School hostage incident) and yet the people here just keep bouncing back.  I've been genuinely impressed in this town to see how the Bailey residents consistently look out for each other, support each other and do whatever they can to help those who are down on their luck.  I'm a student of culture, which comes from having grown up overseas and living in multiple countries.  And Bailey has its own culture and identity.  All I did was try to put these characteristics into words and bring out the great things about this town and its people.  And here is what I came up with (with help from the chamber board members).  More on this later.

Gearing up for summer

We're in the "dead" time of year right now as far as business goes.  Every other business owner in Bailey is telling us the same thing:  Just get through winter and hope for a great summer.  In the meantime we're constantly re-arranging the layout, trying to find the best way to arrange the store to make it both efficient and attractive.  I went to the Denver Gift Mart last month and bought a ton of merchandise to get ready for a busy summer of hikers, campers and other tourists coming through Bailey - like walking sticks, coonskin caps (Daphne's request), teddy bears, knives, rustic iron signs etc etc.  To display all of this stuff (not to mention our own t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers) I am building new shelves in the "Sasquatch Outpost" room out of rustic log planks and log bannisters that I'll use as legs.  I also bought two peeled 10 inch logs that will go from floor to ceiling and I'll build shelves in between them and insert dowels all around to hang stuff from.  When it's all done it should look pretty cool.

I've been out Squatching a couple of times lately, and we found some signs that are hard to explain.  In one spot we found a set of elk tracks that we could follow in the snow for over 100 yards.  The strange thing was that the elk was apparently crapping as it ran and it left droppings along the entire length of the tracks.  Then the tracks suddenly stopped and we found an elk-sized body imprint in the snow.  There were no tracks leading away from the spot, no drag marks and no blood (though there was some hair in the imprint of the body).  Then we found some strange tracks that paralleled the elk tracks that were 10-12 feet apart (more than one print in each place, but made by something very large).  These tracks went up to and past the place where the elk fell, which makes me wonder if a Sasquatch could have possibly killed the elk and carried its body away??  As I said, the elk clearly did not leave that spot on its own... so what happened to the body?  No way to prove one way or the other, but i've never seen anything like it.  Here's a picture of the imprint in the snow.  Judge for yourself.

The imprint of the body in the snow: legs to the right.  My footprints in the foreground.  No elk prints could be found leading away from this spot, nor drag marks made by a lion or bear.

You can see the droppings in the elk tracks leading up to the place where it fell.  Droppings were along the entire length of the tracks.

The larger prints we found paralleling the elk trail

could this be BIGFOOT?

This just in:  Rick Dyer, a self-proclaimed Bigfoot Hunter, who's been saying for over a year that he shot an adult male bigfoot outside San Antonio now says that (after a legal battle) he's finally in possession of the body and will tour the country with it.  He also says that the body has been examined and tested in every way possible, and over 130 people have seen it now.  Well, this could get interesting!  Has the mystery finally been solved?

 Rick Dyer is well known as the hoaxster who claimed to have a bigfoot body back in 2008, and who was discredited as a result.  Soooo - we'll wait for more info before we make a judgement. 

COULD THIS BE THE FACE OF A REAL SASQUATCH?

Too little magic, too late

My Tigers weren't able to pull the magic rabbit out of the hat one last time, and Florida State came away with the BCS national championship this time.  Good for them.  Both teams fought a hard battle, and as I expected the game came down to the very last seconds - but FSU had the last score and Auburn just wasn't able to do anything with only 13 seconds left.  But I'm proud of Auburn, knowing that last year was the worst for Auburn football in recent history.  So from a 3 and 9 record to playing for the national championship in one year... pretty darn good.   It's all good.  I have a feeling that with Gus Malzahn behind the steering wheel Auburn will play a prominent role in the years to come.  War Eage anyway!

I thought Daphne and I would be on TV today,  but the gal from 9 News told me that it's probably not going to air until next week.  And here I was, ready to make my TV debut this morning.  Now I've got to wait another whole week!  Oh well, fame can wait I guess.

_____________________________

Daphne and I are learning everything we ever wanted to know about running a country store, and a whole lot more!  I'm grateful that we've got such a faithful group of volunteers who come in and help us several times a week, which gives us a chance to take care of some of our other family responsibilities.  Running the store is actually a lot of fun, and we're getting to meet so many fascinating people from Bailey and beyond.  My role in the local chamber of commerce is likely to increase this next week when the chamber board will vote on the new officers.  I've been asked if I'd be willing to serve as the chamber President, and if the board members agree I'm up for a new challenge (like I don't have enough challenges on my plate currently!).  I'll have to take a hiatus from the Conifer Rotary Club, as I can't manage both civic groups at the same time, given the increased time the chamber of commerce role will require.  I see this as one more great way to serve this great community and build stronger friendships, although I'm feeling more than a little daunted by the idea of leading the whole Chamber of Commerce.

Onward and Upward!

We'll be on the news!

It's snowing outside, which hopefully means that I can make a little money plowing today.  We're only supposed to get 4-8 inches, but that translates into several hundred "plow dollars", and at this point every buck counts.  But God provides, and as is usually the case we don't often know how or from where He plans to provide.  A couple of weeks ago we were getting pretty tight, and then we received a check in the mail from the bank for the balance that was in our escrow account after our loan had been paid in full.  I didn't have a clue that there was any money left in that account, so it was a welcome boost to our bank account.  So God provided from an unanticipated source.  There's an interesting principle at play here, and I'm still chewing on this in my mind (I haven't established any firm conviction... just wondering).  I read throughout the Scriptures that God promises to provide for His children - and not just His children, but for all of His creation.  Jesus makes a very strong statement in Matthew 6 that worry has no place in our lives as believers, knowing that God promises to provide for all our needs.  He even says  Nowhere in that passage does he mention savings accounts, or IRAs, or mutual funds - even though saving and investing was a common practice even back then.  I don't think that God is against us investing in the future, but I do believe that He wants us to depend on Him with all our heart... and sometimes wealth and trust in God can be mutually exclusive.  How will I ever know that I can trust that God will provide for all of my needs, until I actually need Him to?  I know my own propensity to trust in my assets rather than trusting in God - which is probably why the Lord has never blessed me with unlimited finances.  But I can also testify to the wonder and excitement of watching God provide for us on a daily basis.  "So do not worry about what you will eat, or what you will drink, or what you will wear.  For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things... but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and He will take care of all these other needs."   Great food for thought.

On a completely different note:  channel 9 News from Denver came to Bailey two days ago to do a story on our store, and in particular on the Sasquatch Outpost.  They stayed for over an hour and interviewed me, Daphne and a friend of ours who's actually seen a Sasquatch.  The reporter was very intrigued by the map that shows all the local sightings, and I think our friend's story of her sighting really caused her to wonder if all the stories about Sasquatch might not just be true.
The news story is supposed to air on Tuesday morning sometime, but they'll also put it on You Tube so we can download it later.  We're hoping this will be some great, free publicity for the store!

A Christmas Reflection

I lead a couple of Bible studies each week, and we've been looking at the passages in the Gospels that deal with the birth of Christ.  While it's true that we are never instructed in the scriptures to celebrate Christ's birth, and the whole idea behind Christmas trees, red and green colors, Christmas ornaments etc actually goes back to the pagan middle ages.  I don't really care about the origins of those symbols, because in our context today I don't personally know anyone who worships their Christmas tree.  We have a tree too that we cut down in the forest about 20 miles from here.  The forest service is pretty serious about this whole permit thing too; they set up a roadblock at both ends of a 4 or 5 mile stretch of highway that's been designated for tree cutting, and you have to stop to show them your permit before you can go through.  It dawned on my as I was trudging around in the snow with Daphne and the girls that the forest service guys are geniuses - they get tons of fire mitigation done without having to do the work themselves, and they even get paid by those who do the cutting! 

Anyway, my train of thought got derailed there for a moment.  Where I meant to go was to talk about Mary and Joseph and the Christmas story.  It's fun leading these bible studies because most of those who attend are young believers or they're still trying to figure out this whole Christianity idea.  For several of them this is the first time they've ever opened a Bible, so everything they're reading is new and (sometimes) pretty confusing.  I've been around the church and the Bible for so long that I can approach all of this with a "same 'ol same 'ol" attitude, and in the process I miss the wonder of reading the very words of God written for us - words that have the power to change us and heal our hearts.  So as we've been reading through the various Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth, several things have grabbed our attention.  For instance,  when Gabriel appeared to Mary, Joseph and Zacharias (Elizabeth's husband and Mary's Uncle) one of the first things he said was, "Do not be afraid".  Why?  while I'm sure that it must have been terrifying to have an angel suddenly show up in your room,  I believe there's more to it than that.  Throughout the bible God says over and over and over, "Don't be afraid."  I think fear is probably Satan's most effective weapon against Christians.  Fear, worry, and anxiety can so overwhelm us that for all intents and purposes any influence we might have in our society is eliminated.  Joyful, peaceful, restful, thankful Christians are so rare that anyone on the outside would look at the church and wonder what possible benefit they would gain from becoming an insider.  All the same worries and problems, and more rules on top of that.  Yeuk. 

When Gabriel told Mary and Joseph that she would become pregnant by the power of God, they both had to realize the obvious implications of her pregnancy, and what everyone else in the village would be thinking - "Oh, so God got her pregnant?  Right.  That happens all the time!"  They knew they would be rejected, misjudged, and possibly run out of the village - or even worse.  So Gabriel starts by telling both of them not to be afraid, because God is in the middle of this whole bizarre situation.  And to their credit, both Mary and Joseph (who were only in their teens in all likelihood) responded by saying, "OK God."  That's why God chose them, because He knew they had child-like faith that would carry them through the turmoil and distress of the coming months and years.  That's the kind of faith I want  - to be able to rest in God's peace, knowing that I am never forgotten and never alone.  Peaceful.  Restful. Thankful.  Our lives are full of unknowns right now, so I'm encouraged by the example of Mary and Joseph to hold on to what I know to be true about God.