Oil making big "play" in Laramie County

Niobrara Shale -- the blob that ate Laramie County. Map from the Unconventional Gas Center web site.

Cheyenne is not a Wyoming “energy boom town” like Gillette, Rock Springs or Pinedale.

That’s about to change. The oil rush is on in Laramie County. This past spring and summer, I’d read in the paper that leases for the Niobrara Formation were selling like hotcakes. A couple million here, a few million there. Serious money was changing hands – around $90 million -- some of it (and I hope it’s a lot) going into state coffers.

The drilling has begun. Near Carpenter, new high-tech pumping stations stick their straws into the earth, drilling down and then under and over to taste some of that sweet, sweet crude. The oil is sucked out of the ground and put it into storage tanks. You can see them if you drive south on Campstool Road. We’re used to industrial-looking stuff sticking out of the prairie – nuclear missile sites, old-fashioned oil wells, windmills (the new huge wind power kind and the old-fashioned kind), cell towers, etc. But soon, 21st century oil wells will be everywhere.

Last night at the Laramie County Democrats’ meeting at the IBEW Hall, County Commissioner Jeff Ketcham was handing out flyers for the “Southeast Wyoming Oil Shale Seminar.” The first meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 31 (tonight!), 6-8 p.m., at the Laramie County School District No. 1 Administration Building Auditorium in Cheyenne.

“Learn and converse about the Niobrara Oil Play and how it may affect us.”

I meant to ask Jeff to define “oil play” but didn’t get the chance. I was too busy listening to some of the impacts already happening in the county. But here’s what I found out at the Unconventional Gas Center site at http://www.ugcenter.com/:

The Niobrara has the potential to be the industry’s next large oil-shale resource play. Niobrara shales are prevalent throughout the Rocky Mountain region. A thick and continuous Cretaceous source rock, the Niobrara is rich in organics and thermally mature.

I hate to brag, but this sounds like me: “rich in organics and thermally mature.” Maybe I should change my name to Michael Shale.

I still don’t know what a “play” is. More research needed.

Jeff said that there were four voice messages calls waiting for him when he got to work the other day. All were complaining and dust and traffic on the county’s rural roads. And this is just after a few wells. Imagine what it will be like in a few years.

Gary Roadifer, running for the seat in House District 10, said that his town of Pine Bluffs already is home to seven man camps. Man camps, in case you don’t know, are barracks or RV campgrounds that house the people working at the sites. I tried to imagine seven man camps in a small town such as Pine (as the locals call it). That really has to impact a place. Gary quipped that the town’s only café has gone from $3 meals to $16 meals. That’s a whopping increase – you could buy three BK Whopper meals for this price. If there was a BK in PB.

“Discussion highlights” for tonight’s meeting:

• Technical background: geology, technology, and process/time line
• Industry needs: physical and employment
• Environmental concerns
• Planning for socio-economic impact

Big topics all. I’m looking forward to soaking up all the info, including the meaning of “oil play.”

 Q: Can Oil come out and play?
 A: Not today, son – he’s slick in bed.

Get it? Better not tell that one on the Gulf Coast.

Two more of these meetings are scheduled for Torrington and Wheatland, both on Wednesday. More info available from Anja Bendel, High Plains Economic Development District, 307-331-0012; anja.bendel@gmail.com

LarCoDems meet Monday night at IBEW Hall

From Linda Stowers, chair of the LarCoDems:

The Laramie County Democrats will be meeting tomorrow, Aug 30, at 7 p.m. at the IBEW hall in Cheyenne. We will be discussing activities to get Democrats elected in November. Please come if you can.

Cow with 310 million tits? Not in Wyoming...

Stuff Alan Simpson Says is a new web site from http://www.boldprogressives.com/, a production of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC. It’s a liberal group that supports a healthy Social Security system. To do that, the PAC is raising alarums by picking on Sen. Alan Simpson’s quaint Wyoming-bred phraseology.

Sen. Simpson has uttered no end of colorful quotes. You could probably fill a book. But he’s a moderate when compared with Republicans running for the House and Senate this year. He’s a moderate when stacked up against Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso and Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis. He’s trying to bring attention to a huge issue, one that too easily gets swept under the rug.

The BoldProgressives site is very clever. On the home page, you get to take a quiz. Multiple choice, with only two choices. I easily guessed the cow with 310 million tits one. Here it is:

'I've made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know 'em too...We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits!'

As one web site commenter notes, cows have “teats” and not “tits.” But you have to excuse the senator on this one. Wyoming is not really a milk cow state, save for a few farms in the Star Valley. When we think of cows, we think of cattle. Longhorns and shorthorns on the trail, kicking up dust, guided by rugged cowboys. Sure, female cattle have teats. Cattle ranchers would know this. Simpson should know this. But the metaphorical part of his brain – and his loose tongue – got the best of him.

A cow with 310 million teats would be a sight to see. I have no doubt that downwinders in the West have seen mutant cows (a la “The Hills Have Eyes”). All that fallout from those Cold War nuke tests had an effect. Somewhere out in the remote stretches of Utah or Idaho or New Mexico, is a cow with more than the allotted number of teats. There are bloggers in those parts who have seen such a thing. Please immediately report sightings to the deficit commission.

Go take the quiz. See how many you can guess. Hint: Pick the most outrageous of the two choices and you’re in good shape.

The late William Stafford meditates (poetically) on peace in "Every War Has Two Losers"

This new documentary is about William Stafford, one of America's -- and the West's -- best poets. He was a conscientious objector during World War II and spent 1942-46 in a C.O. detention camp. The film has been screened at several film festivals and will be making the USA rounds through the fall. No screenings on the schedule for MT, WY, UT or CO, although there are ones for SD. You can order the DVD at http://www.everywar.com/ and it includes a doc on Stafford and his friend Robert Bly. I was reading on Facebook that Every War Has Two Losers will be shown at the Wine Country Film Festival in California's Napa Valley, along with a new documentary on poet Gary Snyder. I'm going to have to look for that one, too. Can't have too many films on this country's great poets

Herschel Walker speaks out for mental health

I came across this info while perusing the web. It encourages me that a "football legend" such as Herschel Walker would come out of the closet, mental health-wise. Brave man.

Here's the info:

It takes courage to seek help.

Former Dallas Cowboy and NFL football legend Herschel Walker had a stunning football career. However, unbeknown to many he battled with dissociative identity disorder and suffered a severe mental health crisis.

Herschel’s struggle with mental illness is quite common. According to the National Institute of Mental Health one in four adults, some 57.7 million Americans, experience a mental health disorder in a given year.

In partnership with Walker, UBH has instituted a special initiative to raise awareness of mental health disorders and to erase the stigmas attached to them that keep people from seeking help. As part of the effort, UBH offers a specialized Breaking Free treatment program for adults who face multiple mental health disorders.

If you or someone you know and love needs help, call the UBH Care Center at 888-320-8101 today. It takes courage to seek help.

 

FMI: http://www.ubhdenton.com/HerschelWalker.html

From Grist: Another reason why zapping kids and fetuses with pesticides is not a good idea

Bonnie Azab Powell, writing today in Grist:

A new study, published last week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, looked at the effects of both prenatal and childhood exposure to organophosphate pesticides -- of which 73 million pounds are applied each year in the U.S. -- and found yet another link to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Not surprisingly, children living in agricultural areas are even more at risk.

UC Berkeley researchers have been studying more than 300 Mexican-American children living in California's Salinas Valley, a.k.a. America's "Lettuce Bowl." They tested for levels of pesticide metabolites in urine in pregnant mothers, their newborns, and at 2 years old. The findings? Each tenfold increase in pesticide levels in the mothers' urine was associated with a fivefold increase in attention problems, and boys had it worse than girls.

This study does not surprise me. I've written often about my family's experience with ADHD and ADD. There are environmental and hereditary contributors to ADHD. More research is needed. But the most controversial aspect swirling around this disorder pits ADHD believers against the non-believers. Also, the drug therapy crowd vs. the "don't drug our kids" crowd. I believe that ADHD exists. And I've seen Ritalin and Concerta work on my kids and my wife. More here than meets the eye, Jim.

Mike Massie fund-raiser Aug. 27 in Laramie County

I've been invited to this event. You can come too:

Help us elect Democrat Mike Massie for State Superintendent of Public Instruction at a Fundraiser on Friday, August 27.

Join us, Jayne Mockler, Ken and Peg Decaria, Kathryn Sessions, Terri Lorenzon, Loretta Wolf, Barbara Rogers, Rae Lynn Job, for a party on the prairie, 8315 Westedt Road, between five and eight p.m. Please bring friends and family interested in supporting education by electing Mike Massie. You may RSVP to Jayne at 632-7334 or jmockler@wyoming.com.

To get to the location take Highway 30 East to mile marker 370 and take the left turn lane for Westedt Road. Stay on Westedt and cross Four Mile Road. At that point the road turns into a gravel road. Travel approximately ¼ mile and watch for the event on your left.

FMI: http://www.massieforexcellence.com/

Those darn 20-somethings!

The most-read New York Times article this week is “What Is It About 20-somethings?”

Kids these days! Damn their hides!

One of the paragraphs in the story caught my eye. I’m a 59-something rapidly closing on 60-something. But the story’s description of these 20-somethings (my son is 25) sounded a lot like a description of me when I was 20-something in the 1970s:

The 20s are a black box, and there is a lot of churning in there. One-third of people in their 20s move to a new residence every year. Forty percent move back home with their parents at least once. They go through an average of seven jobs in their 20s, more job changes than in any other stretch. Two-thirds spend at least some time living with a romantic partner without being married. And marriage occurs later than ever. The median age at first marriage in the early 1970s, when the baby boomers were young, was 21 for women and 23 for men; by 2009 it had climbed to 26 for women and 28 for men, five years in a little more than a generation.

When I was 20-29, 1970-1979, I moved 13 times among four different states. And jobs, I had a few – 10, to be exact. I lived with two romantic partners before I was married to the latter of those when I was 31 and she was 26. We’ve been married now for 28 years and spawned two kids, one of whom is an annoying 20-something and another is an annoying teen-something in her last year of high school.

My son Kevin is on the lifetime college plan down in Tucson. Good news is he’s paying for it by working and grants and student loans. He sometimes calls for money but I don’t answer. He’s moved a bunch of times, so many I think he has me beat. He’s lived with several romantic partners and maybe more – some questions I don’t ask. When parents with more linear children asked me about Kevin, I tell them he’s in school in Tucson. They imagine him in some advanced degree program at U of A, party school to thousands. Let them think what they want. I’m pleased that he is talking “lifelong learning” seriously. I am especially pleased because he wasn’t the best student in high school. In fact, he dropped out and later got his G.E.D. Learn away, buddy.

Most middle-class parents anticipate kids spending the usual 4-5 years in college and then out to make a living. They are alarmed when it doesn’t work out this way.

No telling about my daughter when she’s a 20-something. We’re having enough excitement with her at 17. There is time enough for alarm in three years when she enters that NYT “black box.” Just enough time will lapse by then for another article about those slacker 20-somethings of the next decade.

Planning for the other August 28 event

Saturday, Aug. 28.

While Tea Party members sing Lee Greenwood (badly) and carry around racist signs on the National Mall, Organizing for America/Wyoming will be getting out the vote.

There will be a meeting to plan this "proactive voter outreach event" on Monday, 6-8 p.m., at Laramie County Democratic Headquarters, 408 W. 23rd, Cheyenne. It's right across 23rd Street from the library.

Learn more about the event on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124473114267856

LarCoDems site is at http://www.laramiecountydemocrats.org/

Turns on the lights -- the party's just starting

Here is a very creative (dare we say "arty") video by Alan O'Hashi. The corner of Capitol Avenue and Lincolnway (16th Street) in Cheyenne captured by Scott Eckburg during the Wyoming Plein Air "Quick Draw" event. The Hynds Building is shown on the left in Scott's painting.

His work is melded with "before" interior views of the Historic Hynds Building set to open for the first time in 24 years on September 24.

Buy tickets for the Night D'Light Champagne and Dessert Reception on line at http://lightsonhynds.eventbrite.com/

One has to wonder why a solid brick building such as the Hynds -- located in a prime downtown location -- was empty for 24 years. Yes, we are thankful to have the building put to such a fine use. It could be the catalyst for a downtown arts revival. Hats off to Brian Haberman and Rebecca Barrett (Link Gallery) and the new Cheyenne Arts Council and Alan O'Hashi and the Wyoming Cultural Trust and other visionaries. I know it's a cliche, but "it takes a village." And wily entrepreneurs. And, yes, government funding. Than darn gubment.

Reviving Victory Gardens by growing veggies and art

This is a 1940s-style poster for the Peterson Garden Project, which encompasses "vegetable gardening, history, seed diversity and community... all in a day's work as we revive a World War II Victory Garden in Chicago's 40th Ward." This 2010 growing season poster was designed by E. Karl Fresa Fine Art. Signed limited edition prints were sold at an Aug. 5 fund-raiser geared to collect money for a documentary film on the project. Cool idea. Where were the WWII Victory Gardens located in Cheyenne? Time for some research... Thanks to Red, White and Grew's Facebook page for the tip-off about this effort. Read the latest posts on Red, White and Grew making a case for Victory Gardens as folk art.

"Four Walls" by Iain McGilchrist in Poetry Magazine

A psychiatrist's view of poetry and mental illness: Four Walls by Iain McGilchrist : Poetry Magazine [article/magazine]

At the polls, Democrats are switching over in large numbers

I worked as an election judge today at my polling station in Cheyenne. A half day, thanks to legislation sponsored in the Wyoming House by my District 8 Rep Lori Millin. Still, I was one of the few judges taking a short shift.  I like working the polls. Public service, and all that. Congenial company. Community. We have five precincts in one spot. A good thing that it's a very large spot -- the Kiwanis Community House in Lions Park.

Polling was light today, at least while I was there. Only a third of the eligible voters had shown up, with six hours to go. Primaries play second fiddle to the general election. This seems a bit backward, as it's the primaries wherein you get to make big and interesting decisions.

Democrats were switching party affiliation in large numbers. How large I'm not sure, but I saw a lot of it. This allowed Dems to vote against right-wing gubment-hater Ron Micheli and for a more moderate candidate. In my book, here's the order of moderation: Matt Mead, Colin Simpson and Rita Meyer.

Can't wait to hang out with the LarCoDems tonight to see the results.

I voted the Dem ballot. I wavered several times, thinking I might change affiliation. But in the end I stayed with my party. I understand the motives of the switchers, having watched Micheli in action the past three months or so.

The problem is, I wanted to vote for in the Dem District 8 race. That pits Ken McCauley against Bernie Phelan. Both worthy candidates, but Ken wants it more and I like his dedication. I also wanted to vote in the Dem Gov's race. I did.

Now I have the rest of the day off, thanks to my vacation leave as a state employee. I enjoy my government job. Work hard, too. Several reasons why I have no use for the gubment-haters such as Micheli, who used to work for the gubment.

See you at the polls on Tuesday

A reminder from Bryon Lee at Organizing for America/Wyoming:

Polls are open on Tuesday, August 17th, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. If you are not yet registered to vote, you can register at the polls on Election Day with a photo ID.

Wyoming voters will cast their ballots for the candidates who will represent them in the halls of Congress -- so it's crucial that as many voters as possible make their voices heard.

You can visit the website below for more information about voting:

http://wy.barackobama.com/WYVotes

Petersen on the Dem side, ABM (anybody but Micheli) on the Repub side

The Wyoming primaries are tomorrow.

I glanced at the sample ballots on the Laramie County Clerk's web site. I'm in precinct 2-7 and a Democrat so, naturally, my ballot is less crowded than the one to be used by my Republican brethren and sistren. There are many names on the Dem gubernatorial slate. Only two serious candidates -- Leslie Petersen and Pete Gosar. When I say serious I mean that they have a serious chance of winning. The others, they are seriously running for governor but don't have a snowball's chance. I like Pete Gosar -- he's thoughtful and has said some interesting things on the campaign trail. But I'm voting for Petersen. She has the best chance in this tough year for Democrats.

My House district (8) has a race between Ken McCauley and Bernie Phelan. Bernie Phelan has the name recognition but has done very little campaigning. Ken's been all over his district several times and on Saturday, assembled a motley crew of local Dems and other ne'er-do-wells for a lit drop. I covered my neighborhood in record time with no rabid dogs or rampaging Tea Party types hot on my tail. Returned to HQ just in time to have brunch, which is the way it should be.  I call this one for McCauley.

I'm voting for Mike Massie for superintendent of public instruction. He's the only one on the Dem slate and he'd be great at it. I don't see much of a choice on the Repub side. McBride is the incumbent but he doesn't seem to have much vision for the state. Cindy Hill shows promise, but Trent Blankenship? He's already had the job and failed so miserably that we sent him packing to Palin Land. Massie is the man for this job.

On NPR this afternoon, Laramie County Clerk Debbye Lathrop said that some 2,500 people had voted absentee at the City and County Building, with another 700-some coming in via the mail. The Secretary of State's office opined that we could see a record turnout for a primary election.

Some of that is no doubt due to the full slate of good governor candidates on the Republican side. I would vote for Matt Mead. I heard him on the radio today saying that Wyoming needs to do a better job with technology, both creating jobs and upgrading our infrastructure. Rita Meyer, who spends most of her TV time boasting of her military credentials, said that Wyoming needs to focus on what it does now but do it better -- the extractive industries. I'm not sure if I got this quote right, but she said something like "trona is glass, oil is gas." So she wants more drilling and digging and to hell with alternative fuels and the future. This scares me.

One of the other Repubs, Colin Simpson, touts those old Wyoming values, which also means more of the same. He comes from a moderate family -- The Simpsons! -- and has a record of supporting the arts. According to our local paper, Simpson has run a lackluster campaign and just doesn't seem to want the job very much. But that name recognition could prove to be very important.

Last and certainly least we have Ron Micheli, the right-winger (and Tea Party fave) from Uinta County. Yes, he's a Mormon and comes from Mormon Country. He will get the Mormon vote, the Tea Party vote, maybe even the Evangelical Christian vote. Although, as you probably remember from Mitt Romney's unsuccessful prez bid in 2008, Mormons and Christian Evangelicals aren't always on the same side. Republicans all, but ask some born agains and they will tell you that Mormons are cultists and not real Christians. Not my view, but I'm a liberal pinko Cafeteria Catholic. I have no soul.

I hope the Repubs slug it out tomorrow. Micheli would be terrible for the state. He wants to cut state government by 30-40 percent and put true believers at the head of state agencies. You can just imagine what he means by true believers. He actually didn't say "true believers," but just people who thinks about things the way he does. Gubment-haters. Obama haters. Let's have an immigration law just like Arizona's. His people are "Let's take Wyoming back to the Stone Age" types. "Wyoming is what America was." A bumper sticker mentality.

Repubs never take my advice. If I was giving it (especially if they were state workers) I'd say ABM -- Anybody but Micheli.

It was a Cold War -- but the art was hot!

A nuke explodes in April 1953 at the Nevada Test Site. Looks like a painting, doesn't it?

As the Cold War recedes into the past, it's tempting to be nostalgic. Gee, the planet didn't go up is smoke, as it did with the Doomsday Device in "Dr. Strangelove" or in dozens of sci-fi books. The Russkis are sort of our friends now, fellow travelers in the world of unbridled capitalism and swarthy mob bosses. Those of us on the far side of the Iron Curtain did have some good times, though. We had hula-hoops and rock'n'roll and PCs and moon walks (the real kind) all happening during those halcyon years. Art, too. Lots and lots of art.

The University of Wyoming Art Museum launches an exhibit of Cold War art on Aug. 21:

"Cold War in America: Works from the 1950s - 1970s, Selections from the Art Museum Collection" opens to the public Saturday, Aug. 21, at the University of Wyoming Art Museum. A free public reception for all the fall exhibitions is scheduled at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17.

The end of World War II in 1945 marked the beginning of a new conflict, the Cold War. This ongoing state of political conflict, military tension and economic competition continued primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Abstract expressionism, color field painting, pop art and minimalism all came of age during the Cold War period, representing a radically new engagement with materials and space, and redefining the role and purpose of art.

Abstract expressionist artists, such as Willem de Kooning and James Brooks, who based their works on the pure expression of ideas relating to the spiritual, the unconscious and the mind, will be included.

Color field painting is characterized by large fields of flat, solid color creating areas of unbroken surface and a flat picture plane. It will be represented by the work of artists such as Robert Motherwell and Adolph Gottlieb.

Pop art in the United States, considered a reaction to abstract expressionism, will be represented by artists Alice Neel, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Lee Krasner and Larry Rivers.

For more information on exhibitions and programs, call the UW Art Museum at (307) 766-6622 or visit the museum's Web page at www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum or blog at http://www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com/.

The museum has a great blog that's updated regularly. Great visuals, too, as you'd expect.

Wikipedia lists the era of the Cold War as 1947-1991. The U.S. military recognizes Cold War veterans as those serving between September 1945 and December 1991. Other sources say it began in 1948, with the Berlin Airlift.

No matter when it started, the end came with the dissolution of the Soviet empire. I wasn't born until 1950, but by then the struggle was going full force. The Korean War had started earlier in the year, pitting the North Korean and Chinese Communists on one side and South Korea, the U.S. and various allies on the other. North Koreans live in the Stone Age while South Koreans drive KIAs and eat sushi. The ChiComs are all capitalists now.

BTW, North and South Korea are still fighting.

The Cold War is becoming an easy way to mark an era. Historians seem to like dealing with handy chunks of time, such as World War II or the sixties. But a span of 44 (or 46) years seems unwieldy, as if you were talking about the the Ice Age or the Jurassic Era. For now, historians like their Cold War subjects in smaller bites. But one day, it will seem as remote as The Day the Dinosaurs got Clobbered by the Comet.

Planet JH asks potential Govs what they think of the future of the arts in Wyoming

Planet JH Weekly staff conducted interviews with all the gubernatorial candidates. Subject: the state of the arts (and arts funding) in Wyoming.

Excerpts from some of the best responses for those of us who want to see the arts thrive in our state:

Matt Mead (R) said that artists' works attract cultural tourists. He sees Wyoming arts as being more closely tied with statewide tourism efforts, but though he confesses “a great passion for playing guitar that is inverse proportion to his talent,” he believes that art adds to individual quality of life. Mead pledges to follow Freudenthal's lead by continuing to make sure the arts remain relevant in Wyoming.

Rita Meyer (R): This is a 'quality of life' issue.” The governor, she said, is responsible for promoting the arts as much as economic development, natural resources and education. She would advocate for “incremental funding increases to the Cultural Trust Fund,” she said, and include the arts in Wyoming's infrastructure.

Leslie Petersen (D) said that she wishes the arts had been included in the Hathaway Scholarship curriculum, which provides incentives for students to pursue post-secondary education. Born in Dubois, Petersen credits her mother, a painter, with instilling her with a strong sense of the arts despite so much as a local movie theater. She would like to see the arts added to the list of accolades for Wyoming life, along with low crime, high education standards and the outdoor lifestyle. Petersen also said that she would use her many years of experience fundraising for various political campaigns and community efforts to increase private funding for individual artists. “I know how to raise money,” she said, “and I think it's very appropriate for the governor to do so.”

Pete Gosar (D) said that his experience as a teacher has given him first-hand knowledge of the value of arts in education. Once a student of the piano – who professes no ability – Gosar said that the arts are a different part of the learning process that add value to education. “It's a different way to put context to culture,” he said.
Read the entire article at http://www.planetjh.com/

Rawlins man publishes a Wyoming mental illness memoir

An amazing story at this Casper Star-Trib link: http://trib.com/article_6d01c998-a490-11df-84c7-001cc4c03286.html

Daniel Meyers, 56, finished his autobiography, "The Spirit of the Lion," after 21 years of work. An earlier version was lost, so he had to begin again. Not many of us writers have such dedication and stamina.

Daniel has schizoaffective disorder. He lived a wayward childhood and was once in an orphanage. He's been in and out of mental health centers and has taken a variety of medications for his disorder.

He started the writing his book around 1989 as part of a non-fiction writing class taught by Helon Raines at University of Wyoming/Casper College.

Rodger McDaniel, head of the Wyoming Mental Health Division, liked the book so much that he bought one for every state legislator. And the Carbon County Library in Rawlins includes it in one of its book discussion groups.

Read the entire CST story. It's inspirational.  And then go buy the book at http://www.authorhouse.com/

Foodies swamp farmers' market, swoon over peaches and squash and roasted peppers and all the rest

I love our farmers' market.

Smells like roasted peppers, for one thing, which excites my senses. I want to buy bags of peppers and shove them up my nose. No good can come from that.

But smelling the pablanos and jalepenos gets me in the mood for buying other foodstuffs.

First up -- peaches. I know that it's slightly early for Colorado peaches but I bought a few from Palisade and some apricots. Nothing quite as sensual as the smell of peaches. I love the juices running down my chin and onto my clothes. Sweet and sticky. Better yet -- slice peaches onto vanilla ice cream.

I also bought some Palisade-grown apricots. Very good. Not sure about apricots and ice cream but I'm willing to give it a try. BTW, Palisade is 12 miles east of Grand Junction, Colo., along the Colorado River Valley. The Palisade Peach Festival is Aug. 19-22.

Vanilla ice cream is the starter for so many fruits. Strawberries, peaches, cantaloupe, blueberries, raspberries, etc.

I bought some pattypan squash from a farm located between Kersey and Greeley, Colo. Before I left for the market, my wife asked me to buy some of those squashes that looks like blossoms and have ridges around the edge. The seller told me that another customer had told her how wonderful these squash were when cooked on the grill.

Did someone say "grill?"

The seller told me to cut them in half, drizzle olive oil over them, and let the propane-fed flames and/or coals lick them to perfection.

I bought some olive oil. Foodies thrive on olive oil. They would drink gallons of the stuff if they though they could get away with it.

Carol Ann Kates, author of "Secret Recipes from the Corner Market," makes some dazzling olive oils. I bought a bottle of the Mexican lime. Sample cups were set out with chunks of bread. I sampled the lime and blood orange and several other varieties. Carol told me that the olive oil comes from California but she juices the limes at her place and puts them together for a fragrant combination. I may end up drinking the Mexican lime olive oil.

Dipping chunks of that bread into the olive oil samples sparked numerous conversations. Good food sparks good talk. We all hung around Carol's stand and dipped and munched and finally bought. My idea is to take the Mexican lime oilve oil and slather it on the squash and grill them. I bought a loaf of Jewish rye from the Styrian Bakery out of Fort Collins. This will be great for dipping. I also may use the olive oil as a marinade for the steaks I bought from the 7 Bar 2 Ranch, which is 20 miles west of Cheyenne along Happy Jack Road.

I bought three sirloins. "Wyoming-raised, dry-aged and all-natural beef."

Can't wait to grill them. I revel in the fact that the beef was raised within a few minutes of my house in Cheyenne. I sampled some of the 7 Bar 2 burger and it was very tasty without any added elements.

After the farmers' market, I headed to Safeway to buy some cilantro grown at Grant Farms in Wellington. I also bought some shrooms for the steaks and ice cream, of course, because farmers' markets aren't the best places to buy ice cream.

I have a lot of my own leaf lettuce that needs to be eaten. Chinese pea pods, too, along with a couple of tomatoes. I am watching the tomatoes very carefully. I want them so bad.

Wyoming primaries are two weeks and counting

Difficult to believe, but the state primaries are only two weeks away -- Aug. 17.

Been so busy with family matters and old-fashioned melodrama and gardening and work that I barely noticed.

I volunteered to be an election judge. I was a judge in the monumental 2006 mid-term elections, supervising the polls so thoroughly and adriotly that they wanted me back for aznother round.

Besides, the county was short of warm bodies, especially those with experience.

It's enjoyable to work at the polls. In the olden times of 2006, volunteers had to work full shifts, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Lori Millin, our state rep in District 8, shepherded a bill through the House that divided up those shifts. Not monumental legislation, but it may bring in more volunteers when county residents find out that they don't have to work from dawn, when the coffee and doughnuts are fresh, until it gets dark and all that's left is sludge at the bottom of the coffee pot and a few stale dough balls.

Lori has moved on to run for the State Senate. I worked for her election as rep and will do the same for her as senator. New to the race this year is Ken McCauley, who's been very active in the Laramie County Democrats and now makes the leap to running for office.

I have one of his signs in my yard. He did a hit-and-run delivery Sunday evening. It's blue (of course) and a logo that includes an A-10, the same kind of plane Ken flew in combat. Very clever. Ken's a commercial pilot now and has a thoughtful platform. You can read it at http://www.mccauleyforhouse.com/.

I'm not sure who will get my vote on the Dem gubernatorial slate. Pete Gosar and Leslie Peterson are the only serious candidates. Before these two candidates pushed the filing deadline to the last minute, there was nobody to vote for. Some Dems were thinking about registering as repubs and voting for anyone but Micheli, whose only idea is gutting state gubment and keeping the federal gubmint off of our backs. Interesting to note that Micheli collected all kinds of subsidies from the Agriculture Department which happens to be a branch of the dang federal gubmint. Mead did too. But I can forgive Mead, since he's more of a moderate and seems to be one of the few Repubs in the Gov race who takes time out from chewing on the feds. I've been astonished at how much time Colin Simpson spends bashing gubment and gubmint. He's not as moderate as a I first expected.

Most WyoDems are voting for Dems, as it should be. I could vote for Mead. But won't.