Mount Virtus

"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

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Garage Sale Days

Update: The grill is SOLD! But you're still welcome to stop by tomorrow (Saturday) during the day. It's garage sale time today and tomorrow at Mount Virtus. Not a ton of stuff to offer, but plenty of the usual books, clothes, and odds & ends. BUT ... if you or someone you know in the Denver area would like to be the owner of a mildly-used, Brinkman charcoal grill/smoker (needs replacement grates) for a VERY reasonable price, drop me a comment or an email. If one of our non-virtual customers hasn't swept it up first, we'll be ready to make a deal! That's all the blogging here for now. … [Read more...]

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Newt in Denver This Week

FYI - in case you might be interested and able to attend: Dr. Malik and Seeme Hasan are hosting an afternoon reception for Newt Gingrich and his American Solutions for Winning the Future this Thursday, June 21st, to be held at the Denver Center for Performing Arts from 4:00 pm to 6:15 pm. If you're interested in listening to Newt and learning more about American Solutions, please RSVP directly to Seeme at rsvpseeme@aol.com or 970.620.0391. Reservations are required for security purposes. … [Read more...]

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I’m #4!

BlogNetNews has launched its rankings of the most influential Colorado political blogs, and Mount Virtus has been ranked number four. Heh. I'll keep aiming higher. Most intriguing to me is that 3 of the top 5 and 5 of the top 10 are right-leaning blogs. It's trade secrets, of course, but I'm curious what the BlogNetNews methodology is. All that being said, I will continue to wield my (great? hmm...) influence wisely and carefully. … [Read more...]

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The Spelling Bee is Back

Spelling geeks of the world, re-unite: The finals of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee appears on network television tonight for the 2nd consecutive year. The 2006 edition must have been enough of a ratings success to bring back an event once confined to the popular shadows. Returning for his fifth and final year of bee eligibility, 13-year-old Samir Patel of Fort Worth, Texas, occupies most of the spotlight with the expectations that this might finally be his year. By the same token, there are several top-notch spellers from the United States and Canada with a legitimate chance to win the 80th annual Scripps Howard event. For its part, the Rocky Mountain News focuses our attention on 14-year-old Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan, the … [Read more...]

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My Brother the Hero

My big brother the police officer has been recognized for his heroism above and beyond the call of duty (please read the whole article): A Jefferson County police officer is being hailed as a hero for going beyond the call of duty and saving the life of a woman trapped inside a sinking car. Brad Degrow become a police officer for the excitement, but never expected a March call that brought an experience he never imagined. "One of the things that drew me to this job," Degrow said, "you never know what's going to happen today or tomorrow." My brother is mostly embarrassed at all the attention, which is why it's my job to shine a little more light on his heroic deed. The Colorado branch of the DeGrow clan are all proud of you, … [Read more...]

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A Chilling Irony

Whatever your opinion about climate change, you have to find this pairing of headlines in today's Denver Post to be ironic: "Report: Global warming man-made, unstoppable" The world's leading climate scientists said global warming has begun, is "very likely" caused by man, and will be unstoppable for centuries, according to a report by a group of hundreds of scientists. "Powerful cold grips Front Range" - If seven weeks of snow haven't been enough, Denver set a new record this morning for cold when the mercury dropped to 18 degrees below zero. If global warming is "man-made," then we denizens of the Rocky Mountain region must really be slacking off to lead us to such frigid temperatures. If global warming is "unstoppable," then I … [Read more...]

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Second and Final Blizzard Blog

The Mighty Blizzard of '06 came and went, wreaking havoc on the eastern half of Colorado. Official tallies say Arvada got 22 inches, but the Virtus ranch netted 24.5 inches. And it stopped just in time for winter to officially arrive. All right, then. For those of us who have yet to invest in a gas-powered snow blower, there was plenty of opportunity for regrets today. But the arms are a bit stronger for doing this sort of work: Before After My friends, this storm didn't kill us (no reported fatalities that I've heard of), but many Coloradans have been made stronger from it.Tomorrow it's an attempted return to "normalcy" - or the best semblance of it that can be made with a rear-wheel drive vehicle. El Presidente has more … [Read more...]

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Blizzard Blogging

Update, 5:45 PM: Well, the 18 inch estimate I made a little less than 7 hours ago was definitely a lowball. We're at 15 inches and counting here in Arvada. It looks like some other parts of the Denver metro area are getting hit even worse. With the snow set to continue until noon tomorrow, there's no telling what the final total will be. But worse than the raw snowfall totals are the high winds, the white-outs and blizzard-like conditions. Pray for safety for those still on the roads. To get an idea of the effect of the winds in creating heavy snow drifts around here today, I've posted this picture I took about an hour ago. Stay warm! Jared has posted more pics from his location on the other side of Denver. For the official … [Read more...]