Meet The Trucks

10 a.m. – 3 p.m. June 26

La Plata County Fairgrounds

www.MeetTheTrucks.com

After years and years of planning, they have scheduled a grand opening for October of this year.

Haz Said, director of marketing and communications for the museum, called it exciting and “slightly terrifying.”

“The time is passing very quickly, and we’ve got so much to do,” he said in a phone interview Monday.

The power plant, located on Camino del Rio right before its junction with Main Avenue, was built in 1893 shortly after Durango’s founding and was one of the first steam-powered alternating-current plants in the country.

It had been shut down for decades and faced possible demolition when the city signed a deal to lease the space for a museum that emphasizes energy and science.

Phase I, which included exterior renovation and environmental remediation at the site, was completed a couple of years ago for about $1.1 million.

Since then, organizers have been busy with Phase II, which included drawing up designs, planning exhibits and raising funds.

Construction on those plans is scheduled to begin at the site later this month. In all, the estimated cost of Phase II is $2 million. Read more.

Local mom Audry Crane is looking to form a mob (not the kind that have been showing up at town hall meetings on health care reform howling about “death panels”). Read on …

I’ve been thinking about this Carrot Mob idea (if you don’t know what it
is, check out the long-but-funny video on this page.

Basically, organizers find a business who’ll agree to contribute some
percentage of their profits from a specific day to making improvements
towards creating a “green business”. Then organizers spread the word and get lots of people to show up and buy stuff on that day. When the dust settles, the business does as it agreed and puts in environmentally- friendly improvements (new lights, insulation, whatever).

Anyone interested? Email Audrey audcrane@gmail.com

The book documents the evolution in the state’s cougar population from the early 20th century, when they were practically wiped out of the state, to the present, when conservation has helped their numbers rebound and urban interface has caused them to be habituated to humans — and occasionally view them as prey.

The book recounts a chilling attack in which a young girl was snatch from her mother’s side in California. The attack was so quick and stealthy that it almost seemed the girl had vanished into thin air. They were able to find and rescue her, but she was severely injured.

That such a danger exists here is undeniable. Just last week a mountain lion was killed in the courtyard at Park Elementary after being spotted by a passer-by. And last year two other lions were killed in town. On Aug. 22 the Center for Southwest Studies is opening an exhibit called Mountain Lion! to raise awareness about the growing issue of human encounters with mountain lions.

Knowing that children, by virtue of their size and frenetic behavior, can trigger the predatory instinct of lions has certainly given me pause when recreating with my kids in wild, wooded areas. I feel very conflicted about the balance between caution and enjoying the place we live. Fatal attacks are exceedingly rare, and some simple precautions – such as traveling in a group, keeping kids close and avoiding times when lions are most active (dawn and dusk) — can help minimize the threat. In the end, though, the danger is just part of living “where the wild things are.”

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Dakota "Kodi" Wood, 7, with her 4-month-old Suffolk ewe, Quilt. Credit: Yodit Gidey/Herald

The La Plata County Fair, which started Wednesday and runs through the weekend, reminds me each summer why I love living here. It’s such a kick to see such a timeless tradition alive and thriving. And for my toddler, it’s a little paradise: animals of all varieties to pet, tractors of all shapes and sizes to inspect. See today’s story in the Herald for a schedule. The carnival, exhibits and animals are on display all day.

Each year for the newspaper I cover the “Catch-It” contest on Sunday. The competition gives 4-Hers the opportunity to score a free farm animal if they can catch it in the ring. The sight of a petite, blond rodeo queen single-handedly taking down a hefer that outweighed her by a couple hundred pounds is one I will not soon forget. Those kids are something else.

Local children learn about the judiciary from Josh Stephenson on Vimeo.

Durango

•The Durango Rotary Club will sponsor an All-American Pancake Breakfast from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Rotary Park behind the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 4031 at Main Avenue and 15th Street. Adult tickets are $9, children 4 to 12 are $5, and those younger than 4 are free.

•The Freedom 5K run will begin at 9 a.m. in Rotary Park. The event is free and open to all ages.

•The Durango Elks Lodge’s Independence Day Barbecue will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the parking lot of the lodge. For more information, call 247-0066.

•The American Declaration of Independence and other important founding documents will be read from 11 a.m. to noon in Buckley Park.

•The Kids to Kids Flea Market will be held from noon to 3 p.m. in Buckley Park. There will be toys, sporting goods, clothes, music and games. For space reservations, call 385-1515.

•A family picnic and barbecue cook-off will be held from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Buckley Park. There will be music, food, games and beer garden. For more information, visit www.cookmanfood.com.

•The Stars and Stripes Parade will be held from 6 to 6:30 p.m. on Main Avenue.

•A street dance will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Main Avenue. The High Rollers will perform.

•The fireworks display will begin at 9:15 p.m.
Bayfield

•A parade on Mill Street starts at 10 a.m. with live music, food, arts and crafts and kids’ activities in Joe Stephenson Park until 5 p.m.

•At fireworks show will start at dusk at Bayfield High School.

Silverton

•A 5K and 10K Blue Ribbon Fun Run will start at 7:30 a.m. in Memorial Park.

•A parade and water fight will start at 10:30 a.m. on Greene and Blair streets.

•The Silverton Gun Fighters Show is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at 12th and Blair streets.

•The fireworks show will begin at 9:30 p.m.
For more information, visit www.silvertonevents.com.

Other locales

•A fireworks show will take place at sundown at the north end of Vallecito Lake on County Road 501.

•In Arboles, a parade will begin at 10 a.m., after which there will be a barbecue with food and band at the TARA Community Center. For more information, call 883-3070.

Outside the museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. a living-history demonstration will take place that will include churning butter and baking using a fire pit and a dutch oven.

Bobbie Hamilton, administrative assistant at the museum, said all the recipes are around 200 years old and the demonstration will include reproductions of what people traveling in wagons would have had with them.

The museum will hold similar events in upcoming months, every last Saturday. Themes will include candle-making, quilting and sewing. Hamilton said the goal of the demos is to get more kids interested in the museum.

I was especially intregued by the idea of churning butter. Maybe it’s the economic times or the push to eat local, but I find doing things the old-fashioned way appealling. I was surprised to learn that making butter is quite simple (OK, with a food processor — not exactly the old fashioned way). Here’s a video that shows how it can be made in less than 5 minutes. I tried it at home, and it came out perfect the first time. Though my preschooler was asleep, I’m sure the next time he’ll enjoy watching how the cream whips to a firm lather then suddenly separates into liquid (buttermilk) and a big clump of butter.

The chef in the video argues that homemade butter tastes better than the store stuff. Maybe it’s psychological, but I would have to agree.