Features

Feb. 2 is Groundhog Day, a day that doesn’t have much significance here, but it does in the Northeastern states, especially Pennsylvania, where it started.

The myth is that if the groundhog comes out of his winter hibernation on Feb. 2 and sees his shadow, he is frightened and goes back to sleep for six more weeks. But if it is a cloudy day and he does not see his shadow, he will stay awake and spring will come early.

It is the beginning of a new year. I keep falling behind in things I must do, and one of them is this article. With the long holiday period, I am completely confused, and now I realize this article is late. I apologize, but it is difficult to keep the days straight. So, my New Year’s resolution is to try to get each article in on time. If some week it doesn’t appear, just realize I haven’t met my deadline and the newspaper has, quite rightfully, gone to press without it.

Last Sunday, Dec. 20, was the annual Christmas Bird Count. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was clear, sunny, warm (34 degrees when we started), and it warmed more as the day progressed.

There was no wind at ground level, which made it seem even warmer, but the two lenticular clouds in the north told us there were very high winds aloft. I expected the weather to change, but except for a thin overcast in the late afternoon, it remained much the same all day.

George Jackson’s discovery of gold put Idaho Springs on the map 150 years ago. But another discovery by the intrepid prospector gave the town its name.

What was initially misinterpreted by Jackson as smoke rising from a Native American fire has provided legions of health-conscious bathers a place to soak away their worries.

Three area churches are combining forces to offer the community a free concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 5 to benefit Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity.

The concert is called Some Room for a Bed and will be at the United Center.

The CowBoy Band and saxophonist Brian Coulterman headline this feast of Christmas music, popular and spiritual music.

A free-will offering will benefit Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity, as will sales of refreshments before and after the concert.

A Clear Creek County resident with an entrepreneurial background is partnering with an Evergreen-based trainer to market a software program they claim can help couples subtract weeks off the typical course of marital therapy.

Entrepreneur Phil Lawson, 54, founder and CEO of Spherit Inc., has been exploring spherical theory and systems approaches for years and is known professionally as “Spherical Phil.”

"Hark how the bells

Sweet silver bells

All seem to say

Throw cares away.

“Christmas is here

Bringing good cheer

To young and old

Meek and the bold."

— From “Carol of the Bells”

Like a constellation, with camera flashes the flickering stars, Idaho Springs residents crowded in and around Citizens Park on Saturday evening to celebrate the annual lighting of the Christmas tree.

Late-breaking poet Edgar Lee Masters was best known as a lawyer and former partner of Clarence Darrow (of Scopes Monkey Trial fame) when his Spoon River Anthology was published in 1915. The poems are said to have set his boyhood communities of Petersburg and Lewistown, Illinois, on their ears, and 94 years after that publication, ee”graveyard groupies” travel hundreds of miles to attend performances of the poems.

Bugs in Georgetown?

Don’t get excited. This is not an infestation.

These bugs are concentrated in the music room at the Georgetown Community School. The Bug Mobile has arrived, and here’s the assignment: What are the differences between an insect and a spider? One person simply said, “The spider is terrifying; the insect is not.”