Christmas Greetings – News Briefs – December 22, 2022
As usual a lot of people were wishing for a White Christmas, and, as often happens, Mother Nature goes a little overboard. Not only did we get a nice layer of snow, but also some high winds, and icy roads, and below ZERO temperatures!
But, we must have been Good Little Boys & Girls, because it all settles down for the weekend, and we have clear weather back in the 40s, making it easier to go out and visit friends and relatives.
I, and the whole team, wish you a wonderful weekend, with lots of laughs, some surprises, great food, and memories to treasure.
Love, Peace & Joy, from Kathleen Spring, Your Editor
==NEWS TID BITS==
Weather: Starting WEDN NIGHT — Thru FRIDAY MORNING — per Natl. Weather Service, and local TV stations: a High of 0 to 14 locally, and a low of -15, and with wind chill could get to -50… you read that right! — Dont go out if you dont have to — be sure to let your home faucets drip slowly All Day! (Remember when making plans, your ‘old’ car battery may not work) But it looks like good weather for the Christmas weekend; and some snow on the ground!
====A RED FLAG WARNING for high fire danger is in effect Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please avoid any activities that would produce open flames or sparks as the potential for fast moving wildfire is high. By late Wedn. afternoon the humidity will be up and snow will be accumulating, therefore low fire danger.==== A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect from 4:00 p.m. Wednesday to 9:00 a.m. Thursday, with the potential for 2 to 7 inches of snow and very slippery road conditions. =====A WIND CHILL WARNING is in effect from 4:00 p.m. Wednesday to 11:00 a.m. Friday for winds gusting 45 to 50 mph creating Wind Chill temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero that can cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 5 minutes.
PREVENTING FREEZING OF PIPES =========
To prevent a big mess like that, here are some suggestions from Denver Water:
Learn the location of the home’s water shut off valve. In most single family homes, the valve is in the basement or crawl space, on a wall facing the street.
Open cabinet doors leading to exposed pipes (such as access doors for sinks).
Keep attached garage doors shut.
Crack a faucet farthest from the place where water enters the house
Keep thermostat set above 65 degrees
If you think a pipe is frozen, don’t wait. Denver Water said thaw it as soon as possible or call a plumber. You can point a hair dryer at the frozen area of the pipe. A blow torch is not an appropriate option.
Remember — the 50 below is WIND CHILL, which is not “ground temperature” — but it will still be at least -14 degrees.
ESTES PARK: Tuesday, a water main break happened in downtown Estes Park near the intersection of Moraine and Elkhorn Avenues at about 8 p.m. A notice was sent out to residents at 1 a.m. to not drink the water, which many reported was brownish. Downtown there was a river of brown, sludgy water, moving toward Bond Park. Adding to it, the temperature was just below freezing at 30 degrees, so parts of the street had a glaze of ice.
We have our Traditional “Sermon” and “Poem” to fit the Christmas Holiday! Be inspired! Be retrospective! Be blessed!
WORLD CUP: Argentine won the Cup. Sportscasters are saying that it is the biggest celebration worldwide, and was a memorable game — like no other. Too many last minute things happen for me to capture them all here, but you can do a search – it’s worth it if you are at all interested in soccer! More than two million people crowded the streets in Buenos Aires to celebrate and the team had to leave because it became too crowded.
LYONS FIRE on MAIN STREET:
We have two whole big articles about it in this week’s edition, but here are a couple of easy segments for you to know or use:
===Money raised for those who lost their stores because of the fire: Go Fund Me: 1st day raised: about $25,000; 2nd day raised $43,000; by Tuesday evening $51,000 — plus $15,000 on the LEAF website. Pop up stores raised more that went directly to the artists. See the ARTICLE for the links to donate.
===FUNDRAISERS for the Main Street fire victims continue. (1.) Art work and Silent Auctions at McCann’s Main Street storefront office from 11am. To 4p.m. this week. (2.) “Gotcha Covered” is going to do a charity sing-along holiday party at the SpiritHound distillery on Friday the 23rd which benefits the victims of the fire. It starts at 6 p.m. Bring your singing voice.
== See last week’s overall coverage of the event -and- in this week, 2 ARTICLEs for more details… including heartfelt statements by each of the shop or business owners.
SCHOOL CONCERT in WILDFLOWER PAVILION: Band Director Karen Gregg would like folks to know the Concert on Dec. 19th was by the Lyons High School Jazz in collaboration with our friends from Westview Middle School at the Wildflower Pavilion at Planet Bluegrass. /and collected donations to go to LEAF, Lyons Emergency & Assistance Fund to help fire victims.
SPREADING THE CHRISTMAS LOVE: LEAF’s LYONS GIVING TREE PROJECT delivered 116 gifts to 36 families on Saturday. Between volunteers and gift givers, over 90 people (YOU) shared the giving spirit with neighbors. Director Lory Barton said, “Thank you to those who started this project over 7 years ago, to LEAF, Lyons Emergency & Assistance Fund who links givers with needs, and to ALL OF YOU WHO PARTICIPATED. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!” Pam Browning was the organizer of the big project.
NEW STORES: We have three new stores opening up now or in the near future. We will have an ARTICLE on it next week, once we can get everything confirmed. One is evening coffee shop in A-Lodge. The Biscuits truck will be at the Quilting shop parking lot weekday mornings.
HORSE FEED DANGER (The Lyons Recorder has not verified this information, it was posted on Facebook) Brooke Dryden==ATTENTION HORSE OWNERS!!==If you are currently feeding alfalfa cubes to your horse(s), please look on the bag to see where they are produced. If in Colorado, please stop feeding them for now. There have been a number of suspected cases of botulism in several different states that at this point are connected by the same feed source…alfalfa cubes produced in Colorado. We don’t yet know the brand (that info has not been released yet), but as soon as that is known I will forward that on. This is likely just an issue with one batch of cubes that was widely distributed. ——The baling process sometimes catches small animals such as mice and rats that then get processed into the hay or cube. They’re decaying carcass contains the bacteria that causes botulism when consumed by the horse. —-For more information on botulism and it’s symptoms, please go to https://largeanimal.vethospitals.ufl.edu/botulism-mammals/ —– If you think your horse is showing any symptoms, please call your Veterinarian immediately.
LYONS MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL Holiday Schedule:
Tuesday-Thursday, December 20-22: High School Finals Schedule
Friday, December 23: Teacher Work Day – NO SCHOOL
December 26 – January 6: Winter Break – NO SCHOOL
Friday, January 6: Teacher Work Day – NO SCHOOL
Monday, January 9: First Day Back for Students
…………………..
DOG TRADITION – PAWS with Santa – The “pet photo with Santa” at Gateway Realty was a big success. Dog lovers took home some treasured photos! We will have one in our “photo spread” next week.
SUPER DUPER PANTRY for LEAF was a big, heart-warming success! Such big smiles on the faces of the people that were helped to have a lovely big Christmas dinner (plus a box of all the basic foods). Thank you LEAF (and all who contributed to the Pantry)!
*CHRISTMAS* CHURCH SERVICES: CHURCH DIRECTORY (it is available daily/year-round). See which services AND programs you would like to attend in December, and mark your calendars!
CHRISTMAS CAROLING: We sure miss the years when Cheri Hofer, Lavern Johnson and myself would gather up some friends to do caroling in town, mainly focusing on the Lyons seniors. This ended during covid and eventual disbanding of the organizers. But == The Winter Birds went caroling downtown Lyons this past weekend, just to spread Christmas cheer, mainly focusing on the stores/restaurants that were open. KC Groves was the organizer. Thanks for the cheer! Little did we know that we would need it so much this past weekend.
Reminder: CHAMBER — Lyons Winter Explorer Challenge from Dec. 10 through Jan. 10. Shop local and be rewarded — weekly drawing for prize packs! https://www.lyonschamber.org/explore2022
Obit – old timer John who hung out with a group at a local coffee shop has passed away. He asked that no obituary be put in the newspaper. RIP.
MAKE PEACE OVER YOUR CHRISTMAS MEAL === My weekly BOOKS by LOCAL LYONS AUTHORS will end this week. But I wanted to include this book written by a Colorado University professor who studied whether we Americans can start solving the issue of a divided America … by changing our conversations at big family dinners, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years. === Colorado State University Sociology Professor and Food Systems Institute Co-director Michael Carolan studies our connection to food and food systems. His latest publication is the 2022 “getAbstract International Book Award” winning work, A Decent Meal: Building Empathy in a Divided America. In the book, Carolan researches ways to build empathy in places of common ground — in the fields growing our fruits and vegetables, in the aisles of our supermarkets, and around the dinner table. ==== NOTE They also have a Podcast discussing the research, and how food and food systems could be the bridge for a deeply divided country. The podcast, along with a full transcript of the interview, can be found here.
COLORADO SPORTS === Broncos broke losing streak against Arizona Cardinals 24 to 15 on Sunday. They no longer have a chance at the Playoffs; but are playing out the season. == The Avalanche and the Pistons are having very good seasons. The Pistons are only one game out of first place in the Western Conference. The Avalanche are not near where they were in the championship 2022-23 games because they are missing two of their key forwards — Gabriel Landeskog (knee) and Nathan MacKinnon (upper body) — But the team has been on a roll, winning four of its past five games.
CHRISTMAS PAGEANT: The Lyons Community Church had their annual Christmas Pageant this past Sunday, with lots of kids performing around the theme of the Nativity scene. A few adults joined in to play small parts, like four shepards. It was quite the Community event. The Becks, who lost the leather store, came and Holly spoke about the loss….LEAF members came, and it was a full house for sure.
GOVERNMENT OFFICES CLOSED – I always put in my “Things to do” HOLIDAYS and if government offices will be closed. But I will add here for your convenience that Lyons offices will be closed the work day before and after Christmas, and the Monday after New Year’s Day.
ACCIDENT at McConnell Drive on Monday, Dec. 19th. It allegedly involved some “teenagers in one car, and an older gentleman” in the other car.
REFUGEES FOOD – per Andrea Marshall: FYI – The Fed food truck at the A-Lodge Beer Garden is working with the State of Colorado to provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner to 750 refugees in Denver each day. If you’ve seen the picnic tables lined with food containers, that’s what they’re doing. Kudos to Donna and her crew at The Fed for their hard work and to A-Lodge for providing them the space to accomplish this huge task.
ROBOTICS CHAMP: Congratulations to Lyons High sophomore, Jordan Bolt! Jordan was an integral part of the St. Vrain Valley team of students who won FIRST place in the 5th annual World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth! The center’s Artificial Intelligence Leadership Team competed against students from the United Arab Emirates, Australia, India, Greece and other countries in the event, which challenges young people to solve real-world problems using technology.
UPDATE on HWY 36 Construction (between Lyons and Estes Park): while we have been keeping our readers updated, it’s a good time to repeat some of this information, since Crown Castle said their new deadline was the end of December==== local “Ben Jammin” (last name unlisted) did some searching on his own to find out (1) if anyone can use the service (2) when will the be done. === this is what he found out: First, these towers are owned and operated by AT&T. That means that 911 calls from any carrier will go through, but since the towers are “small” towers and intended for emergency comms, non-emergency traffic may not get a boost at all. Even if they offer some service to non-emergency use, AT&T will decide who that is and to what extent. ===Anyway, what we all REALLY want to know is that the construction is ending FRIDAY for the holiday break. After that, the only constructions anticipated to continue in to the new year are minor one to two hour finishing touches like adding a guardrail. ==So long and short of it, we’re almost there people! At least that’s the plan.
MAYAMA Dance reported that they have been having some trouble with their phones; so keep trying if you need them.
WILDFIRE on Monday NW of Boulder: EVACUATION ORDER approximately 4:30 p.m. due to Wildfire occurring in the area of 2900 Block of Sunshine Canyon // then at about 2:30 p.m., A Red Flag Warning for wind and low relative humidity, which was in effect until 6 p.m. Strong westerly winds from 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph are expected. The Evac Order was still in force on Tuesday for about 400 people, but was lifted that evening. Click https://tinyurl.com/BOCOAlert for a map of the affected area and detailed information. \
US NEWS: The January 6th Congress Committee announced Monday, Dec. 19, that they approved the referral of “criminal charges” to the Department of Justice. Stating the spread of conspiracy theories, election manipulation, and more. And now the public and the DOJ can read the testimony transcripts, and the DOJ can issue mandatory subpoenas. Jack Smith is an independent special council appointed by the DOJ (Justice Garland), and will base this on the man and the case, and not on his position or politics.
HOLIDAY EVENTS/ACTIVITIES: you need to go to “Things to Do” to see the list of things happening around town, plus links to Denver and Boulder big time events. Great fun!
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