buffalo bill's butterfly

dateline: colorado highway 36

i was walking by the soundboard at the kerrville folk festival when the soundman, chris jacobs, asked me to run an errand for him.  when i got back he pulled out a bag of toys he had lying around for kids and told me to pick one.  i grabbed a glow in the dark frog, telling chris that it would make a good navigator.  that was about ten years ago.  damned thing is still on the dashboard,  been through three cars....always gets me there and back...

here's a frog's eye view of my latest lousy commute home from work:

the mountain snow runoff is pretty heavy this year...creepin' up to the back doors in some places...here's a view up a not so lazy river...

stopped in lyons for a snack.  the barking dog is where the planet browngrass bunch fuels up on coffee for the long days and nights at the rocky mountain song school.  won't be long now, kids!

"are you lookin' at me?  are you lookin' at ME?  i don't see nobody else around....."

stopped by mary ray's place to wish her a happy birthday.  she showed me her chicken coop...mary's known for taking in all kinds of stray beasts...even the two legged musical kind (the hardest to get rid of, especially if you feed them)...

the owl what guards the coop:

mary's chickens, home to roost...

for years now i've driven past a sign in golden, colorado, that says "lookout mountain - buffalo bill's grave".  having recently read a biography of buffalo bill i decided it was time to take that right hand turn...turns out that lookout mountain is up one twisty damned high road...not real big on heights and have a life long mistrust of guardrails, so it was an adventure...here's the view halfway up the mountain:

yikes.

turns out there is a really cool museum at the top...

...where you can see stuff like bill's saddle and several of his costumes...

...sitting bull's war bonnet

and a kind of creepy/cool frame containing two locks of hair....

the white hair is buffalo bill's

the dark hair belonged to one james butler "wild bill" hickock

wild bill had a very brief, ill-fated career on the stage with one of buffalo bill's first shows.  he was apparently a REALLY bad actor...so he headed back out west to what he knew best, tussling and card sharking...that didn't turn out very well either...

OK, then...here's what i came up to see

bill wanted an eternity with a view....i'd say he chose well.

here lies william f. cody

so while i was sitting there alone contemplating the view and the legends and the spirits along came a lone butterfly which landed on a flower near the grave...we had a nice little visit and then continued on our respective journeys.

yup...just another lousy commute home.

listening to greg brown ~ freak flag