A relaxing and exciting Saturday to you and yours,

We are back from vacation!! It was grand fun with family and friends, but it is a welcomed comfort to be back home. Whatever the adage and whenever returning, home is a very special place.

Today, let’s talk trout.

Trout are a family of fish closely related to the salmon or char, but different. Most trout live in freshwater lakes, rivers and streams. A few, who live near the coast, will spend a year or two at sea before returning to their freshwater homes to spawn. Baby trout are called troutlets, troutlings or fry.

In Colorado, there is only one native or indigenous trout, the cutthroat trout. To find these original trout, you have to seek out the high mountain streams where the introduced interlopers have not reached. In one stream, we caught a greenback cutthroat trout, which is the official state fish of Colorado. It was a gorgeous trout, with two slashes of bright orange beneath the lower jaw and bars of green-blue running along both sides. We carefully and quickly released this acclaimed fish back to the clear running waters of its home state.

Brown trout were imported from Europe. In 1883, these fish swam their way to Colorado where they are now one of the primary sports species. Reportedly difficult to catch, I hooked a big brown and it was one exhilarating experience. He’s still out there waiting for the next angler

Rainbow trout are native to the United States Pacific Coast. These attractive fish have traveled widely and can now be found in the waters of every continent except Antarctica. Rainbows were released into the Gunnison River in Colorado in 1888. The fisherman up the stream from me hooked the same rainbow twice on different flies before catching and releasing. Most trout fishing in Colorado is catch and release, so there should be plenty of fish when you visit.

Brook trout received their Colorado entry permits in 1872. I did not encounter this trout. They are reported to breed quickly and can displace other trout. The Brook is a native fish of eastern North America.

So there you have them: Cutthroat, Brown, Rainbow and Brook — the Trout of Colorado. As noted, only the Cutthroat is a Colorado native. Rainbows came from the west coast, Brooks came from the east coast, and the ancestors of that captivating Brown I encountered originally took a boat from Europe. I am sure there are a few other types, but I suspect these are the main players in the watery byways of our western states.

Trout fishing in America is a sport worth considering. I believe it was one of the most relaxing experiences of my life. The lift, stop and forward motion of the leisured and elegant cast is a therapeutic activity like no other, the scenery near the homes of these cold-water fishes is of such natural and plenteous beauty that it is often unnoticed until you stop in awe, and the fish themselves are elusive, mystifying, energetic and in their own way friendly — even if they may let you catch only a glance.

Enjoy your day and treasure the beauty around you,

Grandpa Jim

Greetings from the phenomenal Continental Divide on the Fourth of July!

Fluids and carbohydrates work. We hiked to a 12,000 foot peak. Tired, elated and thankful for no altitude sickness, we enjoyed bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes as pretty as Texas in spring.

The activity has been constant. All the fun has kept me from blogging. Let me give you a brief travelogue of the doings to date.

Day 1 was travel and the excitement of meetings, meldings and palaver over pizza on the patio viewing the vistas and watching the kids run and play. Day 2 was the mountain hike and climb between rain drops, wild thimbleberries, flourishing wild flowers, misty high meadows and the joy of meetings with old friends. Day 3 was horseback riding along the high trails across from Buffalo Mountain where the ancient peoples camped to scout the welcome arrival of the bison herds that caused celebration and comforted them with new robes through the long and snowy winter. Day 4 was first-ever-for-me fly fishing, where on an idyllic fork of the Platte River, I hooked a lunker of a brown trout for a 20 minute play and excitement before that monster fish rolled over, wished me goodbye and returned the fake orange fly to my tired and shaking hands. Day 5 is today and this morning was the 4th of July Parade down the fan-lined small-town Main Street with decorated bikes, homemade floats, flying candy and beads, costumed characters from our Nation’s beginnings, good food and friendly waves and jostles in a sea of smiling faces. And now is rest and quiet in a big house with tired relatives tailing to the times of hugs and sad partings when small groups break off, wave goodbyes, head back to their homes and the last locks the door and returns the key.

We give thanks for the very prized freedom to spend time together.

Grandpa Jim

Is the Milly Way a candy bar?

Yes and so much more.

In 1923, Frank C. Mars in Minneapolis, Minnesota invented the Milky Way candy bar. Wikipedia says that “It was the first commercially distributed filled chocolate bar.” In the U.S., this tasty treat is made of chocolate-malt nougat topped with caramel and covered with milk chocolate. Outside the U.S., the caramel is left off. Although opinions differ, the official position is that the name and taste were taken from the milkshake not the Earth’s galaxy.

What is the Earth’s galaxy?

Our home planet, the Earth, is part of a larger grouping of stars and planets. This larger grouping is called a galaxy, and it is separated by relatively unpopulated space from other galaxies in the universe. The universe contains all the galaxies and the spaces and miscellanies in, between, among and beyond the galaxiies. In all, it is quite a wonderfully complicated arrangement.

Our home galaxy is called the Milky Way. When we get away from the city lights, the Milky Way arches across the sky as a dim milky band glowing with the light of 200-400  billion stars and at least as many planets. The way or road of the milky band of our many neighboring stars is appropriately called the Milky Way, and it is somehwat the color in the dark night sky of a vanilla milkshake. All the individual stars we see are part of our galaxy, but the massed shimmering band of billions of stars glowing against the black of space is a special treat. It is the Milky Way, it is our galaxy and it is a sight I hope soon to see in the mountains of Colorado.

On the trail this morning, I looked up and saw trees, bushes, dirt, plants and flowers. In that single glance, I stopped and I saw in my mind as many points of matter and light as all the stars in the Milky Way. A mother stopped to adjust a child in a stroller. Watching as I walked by, I realized that in that child’s head are more points of light, energy and thought than all the stars and planets combined in the whole of our galaxy. A runner passed and startled me. I scanned the people moving on both sides of the trail. And, it hit me. We all do. In my head, I heard it again. We all do. We are each more complex, involved and diversified than the entirety of the Milky Way.

It is a great candy bar and a great galaxy, but we are so much more.

Have a bright day and enjoy the light.

Grandpa Jim