Flows in the Poudre River — S. Platte’s largest tributary — at all-time low, farmers’ outlook bleak

Water in Weld’s rivers is severely lacking — and, at this point, producers in the state’s most ag-productive county assume they’ll be using similar adjectives to describe their harvests later this year.

Streamflow in the Poudre River, which cuts through north Greeley and goes on to serve as the largest tributary stream to the South Platte River, is particularly dismal. According to numbers provided by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, peak stream flow in the Poudre River came earlier and was lower this year than any other year on record — dating back to 1957.

Peak streamflows in the South Platte River are not at all-time lows this year — that happened in 1954. But, according to Colorado Water Resources Division 1 Engineer Dave Nettles, the river’s peak flow this month was about three times less than it was in 2002 — the year of a historic drought that changed the way many producers and municipalities manage water.
...
http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20120529/NEWS/705239930/1051&ParentProfile=1001

AND THE FRACKING COMPANIES CONTINUE TO HAVE PRIORITY CLAIMS ON OUR WATER!

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Several of my friends are boat owners, heh heh...

God and Jesus have their own facebook pages.

I'm scared.


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Well, yuck.

Have to stick close to home and the phone, so I flipped on the teevee. History channel is commemorating Memorial Day with a Pawn Stars marathon, which runs a close second to MSNBC's abdication to its prison obsession. Wish I could get radio reception.


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Siblings

My living room has one wall that's devoted to a gallery of family photographs. My favorite photo of my siblings never fails to make me smile. In that picture my sister is bracketed by my two brothers. People look at that picture and ask if she's standing in a hole, given that "the boys" are at least a head taller than she is; and I admit to enjoying the reaction when I explain that my sister is actually a couple of inches taller than me. Being the runt of this particular litter is quite a privilege.

The picture was taken about twenty years ago, and our robust Viking antecedents are clearly visible. Today both brothers are Navy vets; one did repeated tours in Vietnam, the other retired from the navy less than two weeks before the events of 9-11. And both brothers are in rockin' awe of the baby sister whose corporate success pales in comparison to her vigorous community activism on behalf of people and planet.

The past few years have seen some strains among us, especially between me and the younger brother; he's the only one of us to subscribe to the rightwing philosophy, and there have been some harsh words and hurt feelings on both sides. But we've still connected at birthdays and holidays, and to my great joy and relief he and the older brother remain the best of friends. In the main my sister and I have always enjoyed the comfortable knowledge that these two stalwarts would rush to our sides should the need arise, and they have, so has she.

A couple months back we found out that the younger brother's wife is ill with terminal cancer; they initially gave her two years, and that was quickly shortened to six months upon. Yesterday he called to tell me, as he tried to choke back tears, that it was now a matter of days. We spent several minutes just crying together. Normally, he would have had that conversation with the other brother who would have then informed the rest of us; but that older brother had a heart attack this week, and is now home with a bucket of meds and two stents. The universe, it seems, sometimes has a perverse sense of timing.

It's been more than half a century since I first held my little brother; eighteen months later I first held my sister. They gave me the lifelong sense of peace that comes, rather uniquely, with having a tiny life trusting my shoulder to be a safe place for a nap or a cry. My older brother, for all our childhood spats and squabbles, has always been a bulwark. I wasn't nearly ready for my younger brother's return to my shoulder, nor less for my older brother's sudden frailty. I was not ready.


Memorial Day. We remember and honor those who serve. My older brother's service in Vietnam, his service as a deacon in his church, his many years of service as a volunteer fireman. My sister's devotion to caring for our parents, her continuing service as community organizer and member of city council, her professional career that very much enhanced the technology that enables us to stay in touch. My younger brother's long service in the Navy with several years on the Kittyhawk, the ministry to which he was ordained while still in the Navy, his devoted service to his special needs son and to the people of his church and community. I am humbled and grateful that these good people are my siblings. My heroes.


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Here we go again. And again. And again . . .

The Grand

Used cell phone drive to support victims of domestive violence

U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., has set up used cell phone collection boxes at all of his congressional office locations and will donate the devices to help victims of domestic violence.

All of the phones will be donated to HopeLine from Verizon Wireless at the end of the summer, according to a news release from Gardner’s office. Phones from any service provider are accepted. After the device is refurbished, it will be sold. The proceeds will go to a nonprofit agency to provide wireless phones and service or cash grants to victims.

rest of article at link:
http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20120523/NEWS/705239970/1051&ParentProfile=1001

This is where we're supposed to pretend that we didn't notice that Gardner voted whole-heartedly for the severely gutted Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act. Is there a need for better protections than what Gardner supports? Sadly, yes. Can dead women use phones? Sadly, no.

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Well, I flunked.

RSVP

The guy lied about where he lived in order to put himself in a position where he could rape the nation for enormous personal gain, he manufactured false evidence to put us into bloody conflict in order to further increase his own fortunes, he blatantly manipulated the media and let one of his closest friends take the fall for him, he continues to trumpet torture as an American virtue, and now he's hosting a Wyoming fund-raiser for Mitt Romney. That Mitt Romney will be there tells us all we need to know about Mitt Romney.

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