>Hey Bill - Are you the BK in Berthoud who occasionally posts
>to the Colorado newsgroup?

Yup.

> If so, did you take care of that
>prairie dog problem?

Took out about 1/2 of them late last fall, the winter/coyotes/eagles/hawks/snakes got more of them, they're at a reasonable level again. I tend to share some of the departed Ricky Weiser's philosophy about being not unnecessarily nuking this fragile foothills prarie. It's like playing Whack-A-Mole at the county fair, if you push something down, another problem is going to pop up if you're not careful about balancing things. I've seen it happen over and over.

>I've been posting there for several
>years under my real name (Dale Anderson) and even met Scott
>W. a few years ago at his place east of Boulder. My wife
>and I used to live in Boulder County but moved down to
>Durango three years ago. Getting away from that Front Range
>was the best thing we've ever done.

Well, I'm glad for you. I've lived most of my adult life in the Ft. Collins-Greeley-Loveland-Longmont area, my family and I like it here, I enjoy my line of work. I enjoy wrenching on vehicles and vintage farm equipment. I have ranching friends from Cheyenne out to Last Chance, wife and I in saddle clubs and kids in Scouts and 4-H and our roots are here. I've got a close friend living near Cortez who publishes a national magazine and I get out your way from time to time to visit. Yes, SW Colorado is a whole different world. Wonderful place.

> BTW, if you have any spare afternoon rains,
>send them down our way. We REALLY need some rain down here.

It's been VERY dry here the last several years, at least we've had occasional rain like this afternoon, even one good crop of dryland hay this spring but your area is unbelieveable Sahara dry. I hope it's not like the famous 7-year drought Texas had in the 50s and gets over with quick.

We had a good evening rain storm last week, my 10 year old daughter and I stood on the porch, let it soak us, it felt great. That's when I decided the absolute best smell in the world is after a summer rain soaks the Colorado trees, prarie and sagebrush. Wish I could bottle it. Know what I mean?

Good luck to you, Dale.

-Bill