Daniel H. Zantzinger’s Skywatcher’s Guide: The great gig in the sky

S kywatching is an adventure that takes the observer on a path of discovery, not of just the celestial wonders that are continually being revealed, but also of the fundamental essence of the observer himself or herself. More profound than mere exercise in aesthetics, skywatching is an ongoing examination of what we human beings, and [...]

Car review: Honda Crosstour boldly goes in a new direction

The sufficiently ballyhooed Honda Crosstour, 2010′s most innovative mass-market machine, ain’t quite as weird as it might seem at first glance. Think of Honda’s overall approach to automobiles in the last few years, including genre-benders such as the Ridgeline almost-truck or the super-angular Element, and then consider some of the industry’s other real head-scratchers, like [...]

Hike of the Week: Red Rocks and Dakota Ridge

By Bette Erickson Longmont Ledger Bicyclists, trail runners and hikers are who you can expect to see along the Red Rocks and Dakota Ridge loop in Jefferson County. And dinosaurs. Well not really, but you’ll come upon dinosaur tracks and dinosaur bones during this outing. A not-completely-serene-yet-scenic valley showcase awaits at Matthews/Winters Park. Because it [...]

On the Farm: Foods take shape in bountiful August

By Ellen Mahoney Longmont Ledger Editor’s note: Writer Ellen Mahoney will explore work and life on a community-supported agriculture farm each week this summer in the Ledger. It’s August and everything is growing like crazy at Andrews Family Farm, including baby Kate, who welcomed planet Earth about a year ago. Kate is now upright and [...]

Incline offers insanely steep climb

By Bette Erickson Longmont Ledger Call me crazy but I was excited to climb that ridiculously brutal, unrelenting Incline in Manitou Springs. The Incline is undoubtedly a hike of extremes, gaining some 2,011 vertical feet in just about a mile. Still, I enjoyed the challenge. What was once the “Mount Manitou Incline Railway” built around [...]

Ultra-bright new champ de-thrones Deneb

One of the best things about skywatching through the lens of astronomy is that there are regularly new and exciting discoveries punctuating the persistently dynamic field. Take August’s starry nights. The July 2010 Skywatchers Guide reported that the white hot supergiant alpha star Deneb — “the swan’s tail,” high overhead in Constellation Cygnus — was [...]

Community Services: Time to sign up for fall sports

Longmont Recreation Services offers five different leagues and is currently accepting registration for both teams and free agents (individuals who want to play in an adult sports league, but who don’t have a team). Leagues cater to individuals of all playing levels. Fall Adult Softball offers men’s, women’s, and coed leagues. The eight-game season begins [...]

Hike of the Week: Mount Audubon

By Bette Erickson I was on the telephone with my friend. She chirped into the receiver, “Yes. Yes, let’s do that one.” She was referring to one of my favorite places — a mountain I have hiked at least once a year for the past two decades: Mt. Audubon. Beautiful 13,233-foot Mt. Audubon in the [...]

Daniel Zantzinger’s Skywatcher’s Guide: Embracing July’s celestial fireworks

July’s night sky fires off more visual delights than any Independence Day fireworks show ever could, but only if skywatchers know where to look. In the few hours between 9 p.m. and midnight, the plenitude and grandeur of celestial objects boggles the mind. The Milky Way galaxy, a swirl of spiraling arms of roughly 400 [...]

Ellen Mahoney’s On the Farm: Clear Skies Ahead for CSAs

Farmers frequently look up.  They study the sky to watch for rain or predictable weather patterns that might be helpful or not for the crops they’re trying to grow. Colorful notions have unfolded over the years to predict the relationship between the atmosphere and Earth, and old-fashioned forecasting proverbs such as, “Ring around the moon, [...]

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