Behold The Dreamer Cometh

The twisted pines bend over bowing to the early winter winds whistling down through the canyon. The big bear begins to wrap himself in his cozy den, while my neighbors the magpies and the chickadees sing melodiously from their perches high overhead.

Sitting on a rock with my back leaned up against an ancient gnarled black jack pine, my old trooper bag slung around one of its branches, and with my knees jutting upwards to my chin, I take a long, deep draw from my tobacco pipe, the wispy, white smoke makes its way upwards joining the wafered clouds frozen overhead in solitude. My head is arched upwards and my drowsy eyes fix their gaze southward towards Mt Evans. 

Lines of lesser ridges snake outwards like fingers stretching towards the Divide with dirt roads meandering between them bringing with them the white man's ruinous civilization.

Thoughts of the Creator begin to settle over the mountains ringing York Gulch as my eyes scan the valley below. A vague sadness blankets this desolate, wild land whilst a cold silence loudly pierces the dry air. 

Who knows...maybe the very rocks and trees themselves, this land of ancient memories laments the now long vanished Arapaho who hunted the wild turkey that once peppered this valley?

As the day wanes, the quiet sun drops lower and lower with trickles of orange, yellow and red washing over the ever darkening green valley below me.

Grabbing my walking stick I rise up, setting my face eastward down below to Idaho Springs whereupon entering town I hear the people begin to whisper, "Behold the dreamer cometh. Come now therefore and let us slay him..."

© 2015

BR Schoenbein
October 28, 2015-Wednesday

Time For Reflection

I was laying in bed this morning clearing my mind with meditation, a very difficult thing for me to do. Just to be for a few moments before my day's activities begin.

As I closed my eyes my mind began meandering back to my far past. Back to my childhood. I heard my mother reading to me from a book something about fluffy white clouds blowing past under a blue sky. I didn't concentrate so much on the content of what she was reading as the sound and quality of her voice. Something very soothing, rhythmic about her voice back then. I must have only been 3 or 4 years old.

I'm not at all sure why that particular memory cane to me this morning but I've been hanging on it all this morning. As I recall mom read to us quite a bit, usually at night before bedtime.

Thanks mom for such a bright memory. Maybe that's why I love to read so much?

On my agenda for next week is to pick a good location for my winter campsite up on York Gulch. So, this Sunday, Lord willing, I'll pack my big backpack with my machete, saws, etc and hike along Stanley Rd cross Clear Creek where it narrows then follow Fall River for a bit over a mile to where it joins York Gulch Rd. Then it's a very difficult steep grade up to Joe's timber at about 9200 feet.

I want to find a copse of ponderosa pine trees and build my shelter within. The trees hopefully will give me at least some protection from the hundred plus mile an hour winds York Gulch is notorious for.

I would like to use small 3-4 inch pines for the walls and roof. Then I plan on constructing an outer wall system and fill the space between the two walls with pine boughs and aspen leaves for use as insulation.

2 raised beds inside the hut will be for sleeping. Small pine trunks will form the frame with smaller cross pieces of aspen saplings covered with soft spruce or pine boughs for warmth. With my 2 sleeping bags and a blanket maybe just maybe I won't actually freeze to death over night! Ha-ha.

I've decided to build a small fire ring in the middle of the hut to help stave off the coldest nights. But, I won't be building a white man's fire but rather an Arapaho fire meaning a small warm fire. I can use it in the morning to brew tea and cook oatmeal if I want.

The second bed will be for visitors from town like Mike Ellington who loves to camp or Pastor Bill, if I can persuade him to leave the comfort of his very comfey home. I know Joe will be wanting to visit from time to time.

I feel a little lost now that the Melodrama is no more. I'll miss my fellow cast members a lot. It was great discipline memorizing my lines for Bob Faithful. I was the hero of the story. And, its been a lot of fun for the last year and half rewriting my own life's story.

Shakespeare said all the world is a stage. And, we are all actors. We can choose to be the hero in our own myth... our own legend.

That's what I'm hard at work doing...rewriting my own story...one for the ages. Yeah!

BR Schoenbein
October 27, 2015-Tuesday

  

Dog/House Sitting,- First Day

It's my first day dog sitting for my friend Bill. He has an ancient black lab by name of Ebony or "Eb" for short. I take Eb out to the little park bordering Clear Creek at 7am, noon and 5pm. Feed her twice per day. She's getting long in the tooth and her painful arthritis keeps her from walking farther than a block at the most.

Snow showers arrived for the first time this 2015-2016 winter season with an accumulation of less than an inch. Although I'm sure we'll have a day or two of indian summer next month you can be sure Summer has been put to bed.

My friend Joe whose timberland I'll be camping on this winter came down from the mountains to take me out to breakfast at the Main Street Restaurant. After a delectable meal of eggs, ham and hashbrowns we walked the 20 feet west over to the Frothy Cup and sat down with Cindy the barrista and carried on some innocuous town gossip.

Joe and I discussed camp sites and construction options. I'll need to borrow some drills and handsaws from Joe to put together my framing using 5" inch pine trunks. Then will use green saplings and weave those in between the frame and then attach pine boughs to that to make my walls. But, first I have to construct a bed about a foot off the cold ground because nothing will kill you quicker than sleeping directly on cold ground.

I may dig a small but deep fire pit in the middle of my hut to have a burning ember fire to take the edge off at night. Even with all of that I don't expect the interior of my hut to get much above freezing especially at night with the high winds blowing off the mountains to the south, north and west.

Tonight I'm helping run the Thursday night service for Clear Creek Neighborhood Church at 6pm. We'll be discussing organizing our spaghetti suppers which be held every Thursday. I'm in charge of getting the word out to the community as well as cooking the meals.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I'll be preparing again for the last two performances of Goodbody's Gold the Melodrama in which I play the slow talkin, dim witted mine foreman, Bob Faithful. Saturday's performance will be at 7pm with Sunday's performance at 2pm. Already had a lot of friends come from Idaho Springs attend. Who knows... maybe Hollywood will get wind of my talent for showmanship and offer me a big fat contract! Ha-ha!!!

Tonight after church will be chillin out at Bill's in the servants quarters reading several new books I checked out at the library. Donna may come over to watch a movie with me too.

One final note. I had a great conversation with my friend Brett Pullins from back home in Illinois. He offered me some very good advice on some things but listened a lot too. He and I go back to Junior High days in Morton, Illinois. There's a core of fellas from my high school class of 1977 who I so admire and who have given me support during my journey both spiritual and otherwise. God bless them!

Pics show Eb, Bill's black lab, the servant quarters I'm staying in for the next 9 days and my friend, Joe.

Until next time, peace and grace to you all.

BR Schoenbein
October 22, 2015- Thursday

October 21, 2015- House/Dog Sitting Next 10 Days

House/dog sitting for a friend for the next 10 days. Their home dates back to late 19th or early 20th century and is newly renovated. I'll be staying in the servants quarters on the west side. Looking forward to it as I move in tonight after church.

After spending time at my office at the Frothy Cup I took back some of Donna's books and mine to the library and checked out some new ones.

I met and talked with a couple originally from Peoria but lately of South Bend, IN. They are returning to the Midwest from their stay at their second home in Nevada. The mister went to Spaulding back in the day.

Then walked back to the Lucas House to stir fry some veggies for lunch. At 5:15pm will head over to the Blackwells for my regular Wednesday supper meal. Meatloaf and various accompaniments are on the menu. Then its off to First Baptist for evening services.

Peace to y'all!

BR Schoenbein
October 21, 2015- Wednesday

October 20, 2015- Traveled Down To Lakewood Today

Scott, Robbie and I drove down the hill to Lakewood to Scott's Neurologist. I was commissioned to testify as to Scott's medical condition for the DMV.

The doctors office was only a couple blocks away from my old home in Lakewood. Made me wistful for the old days when I first arrived in Denver.

Last rehearsal for the Melodrama is tonight at 7pm in Dumont. Don't believe another rehearsal is necessary but the Director believes it to be necessary. So, I will be there. Bruce Bell will be picking me up.

Pastor Bill Robertson is meeting me at 3pm at the Frothy Cup to go over my responsibilities for dog sitting while he is visiting family up in Minnesota until October 31st. This means I cannot get up to York Gulch until November 1.

Forecast is for 6" of snow in Idaho Springs tonight/tomorrow. 10" at 10,000 or more feet.

Ciao!

BR Schoenbein
October 20, 2015- Tuesday

It's Clara's 17 th Birthday today!

Missing my step-daughter's 17th birthday today. There is really no step to it. She's every bit my daughter as if she were my own biological daughter.

I first met Clara when she was a tad over 3 years old. She had a head full of auburn red hair and was filled with charm, energy and curiosity. Then suddenly when she was 5 years old she lost her papa who she loved dearly. The two of them were so close...then he was gone.

When Clara's mother and I informed her of her dad's death Clara turned to me and said quite matter of factly that I was her father now. A humbling and sorrowful situation all around.

Her mother and I separated and later divorced leaving me without the ability to make good on my promise to be her dad. But, let me be clear ultimately it was my decision to leave Clara's mother so I must bear the burden of that horrible mistake.

The beautiful thing is is that Clara forgave me and put it behind her. She's always been a loyal and loving daughter which I will never forget.

So, sweetheart have a great birthday today and know I am grieving our separation more than ever. Part of the reason I undertook this journey was to deal with the demons of the consequences of all of the dumb decisions I made in the last 20 years.

I love you sweetie!

BR Schoenbein
October 20, 2015- Tuesday  

Second Performance Went Great

We played our second performance of "Goodbody's Gold" yesterday afternoon at the Old School Building in Dumont. It was great! The audience got really into it interacting with the cast which really made the whole thing so much fun!

I'm the slow talking, dim witted mine foreman, Bob Faithful, who was short cheated in the brains department. My job is to find out, by using "good old fashioned modern detective work" who the villain is that's determined to force the sale in the mine by disrupting mine operations using mysterious explosions in order to lower the value of the mine so he, the villain, can pick it up for a cheap price.

The villain, I.B. Fowler is the local attorney. He's played by Bruce Bell.

Donna and Glenda from the Frothy Cup attended the performance yesterday. The Blackwells and the Colonel, attended the first one on Saturday.

We all forgot some of our lines yesterday but that just made the performance that much more fun!

We have 2 more performances to go next weekend then its curtains!

Scouted out campsites on Joe's land up in York Gulch the other day. Intended to go today to continue looking for the best site but it looks like its going to rain so I will go tomorrow instead.

From the view up there I can look down into Spring Gulch where I camped on old Bill Lee's mule ranch last summer. By the way, Bill Lee, attended the first performance on Saturday and afterwards I had an interesting conversation with him about using his donkeys in early spring to go door to door in Spring Gulch like I planned to this summer. He may let me do it for free.

Anyway, I've got to get moving on locating a camp site soon because I still have to build a shelter. It's 9200 feet up and so the snows come earlier there than they do in Idaho Springs.

I figure this week I can get a lot done up there in York Gulch. Then, I can camp up there 3-4 times a week and stay the rest of the week at the Lucas House.

Can't wait to get up in York Gulch. I'm not going to cook or build a fire to make the conditions even more extreme. Joe says that the winds up there have been clocked at 140 miles per hour. That's way over hurricane strength! 

Well gotta get going and pick up some supplies at the hardware store for my stay up in York Gulch.

The first 2 pics show the Melodrama getting started yesterday. Bruce Bell is shown in the first pic. The third pic shows my view from York Gulch of one of the 14 teeners, Mount Evans, which is about 30 miles distant as a crow flies.

Peace and God's blessings to all y'all!

BR Schoenbein
October 18, 2015- Monday