The Pitkin Miner Fall Edition 2014 Published September 22, 2014 Updated October 10, October 17, November 2, November 3, November 4, November 16, November 21, November 23, December 9, December 12, and December 18, 2014 Editor, Suzy Metzler – please email with any additions or corrections – [email protected] with “Miner” in the subject line *REVERSE 911 LINK for Cell Phone Users who have homes here: pg. 30* *Info on ordering the new Pitkin Cookbook (all money going to the Pitkin Volunteer Fire Department) is found on pg. 31* EVERYONE’S WELCOME! December 24 – Christmas Eve Church Service, Pitkin Community Church, 6:30 p.m. December 31 – New Year’s Eve Party at Newcomb Community Center December 18, 2014 Breaking News! Today the Pitkin Hotel was sold by JoAn Bannister to Bob & Lin Pope of Mississippi! The Popes are very excited! Lin is a Geology Professor who will be retiring in about a year and a half and Bob is also a geologist. Both Bob and Lin are looking forward to spending much of their time in Pitkin. Bob Pope, JoAn Bannister, and Lin Pope today, just after closing the deal on the Pitkin Hotel. Inside the Pitkin Hotel, December 18, 2014. JoAn has owned the Pitkin Hotel for 33 years and lived in Pitkin year-round until the past few years when she would go down to Saguache to live near her daughter Becky Toepfer for the winters. She has been returning every May to run the Pitkin Hotel until around October 1st. She will return to Pitkin in the Spring for a short time to show Lin and Bob the ropes! Lin and Bob Pope with JoAn Bannister today The small white dots in these photos are snowflakes – we had light snow almost all day today! JoAn explains how she has owned the hotel for 33 years. Pitkin Hotel, December 18, 2014, within an hour of it changing hands from JoAn Bannister to Bob & Lin Pope of Mississippi. December 12, 2014 Don’t forget the QCIA Christmas Pot Luck Dinner is tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at the Newcomb Community Center! Tree Lighting Ceremony Success This past Sunday December 7 we had 31 people participate in the Pitkin Tree Lighting Ceremony, a record! Cookie bars, hot chocolate and brownies were available, and the tree lights went on magically at 4:30 p.m. (thanks to Rand Makowski’s help hooking up the lights and setting a timer earlier that afternoon!) The lights will be on from 4:30 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. daily through the winter so be sure to notice them! Very pretty! December 9, 2014 Last week was busy with a baby shower for Christine Duetsch Bolton, oldest daughter of Nancy & Phil Duetsch, at my house on Wednesday, then on Thursday we had another Pitkin Ladies’ Night Out in Gunnison at the Blackstock Bistro! Weather has been mild – TOO mild – and I am looking forward to fresh snow which may be arriving over this coming weekend. There is still snow cover other than on slopes that are being hit too hard by the bright sunlight, but there is ice and refrozen slush, making walking more difficult. Main Street is melted down to the pavement, though. Scott Linenbroker Update Scott’s Mom, Glenna Linenbroker, wrote yesterday: “Hi, Well, it's been 4 weeks today since Scott's accident with the tree falling on him. My time goes fast..... He is doing really good, he is still at our house, he came here the week of Thanksgiving. (He was in the hospital 4 days and then in Rehab at the nursing home.) His shoulder is still giving him fits, there isn't much to do for a broken shoulder, He still wears a sling, but is doing side and raising the forearm to his shoulder. His right leg that was crushed is doing good, (healing) we went to the doctor on the 1st of this month and the x-ray showed the bones were starting to heal together. He can bend his knee good and does leg lifts, doing lots of exercises. They took him off the blood thinner today. He has the same therapist he had 19 years ago with his bad accident. She is a real sweet heart always trying something new. She is using caster oil on his shoulder and leg, it helps take the swelling out and calms the muscles and helps dissolve the bone chips. Sure helped my foot that had bone chips in it. Scott and Shelly went up to the shop last night and played pool, the therapist wasn't to happy about that. Scott said he leaned on the pool table and could balance himself. He won't be able to put any weight on the leg until after Christmas or the 1st of the year. Ed goes to the Doctor Wed. for his back, they took a MRI and it shows lots of change since the last one. Will find out what that means, Sure hope not surgery. Thanks for all the cards and prayers. Glenna” When I asked her if she’d like me to post the above in the Miner, she wrote back and said “Hi Susy, If you want to put it in the Miner it would be great. I don't have everybody's email that sent cards. Scott really appreciated them. Glenna” Scott’s address is further down on page 4 and I know he’d love to hear from people! Need a holiday gift idea? Don’t forget that you can still get the new Pitkin Cookbook mailed to you in time for Christmas! Just send a check to Suzy Metzler, PO Box 100, Pitkin, CO 81241 and she will get the cookbook(s) mailed right out. There is information on how much to send on page 25. For Priority Mail for more than one cookbook, it will be more than the prices listed. I will update tomorrow with correct pricing for multiple books. November 23, 2014 Snow Report: I am just getting ready to go out and do some snow removal and I’m guessing that received about 8 inches here in Pitkin since yesterday afternoon. The sun has been out for the past hour and a half or so, most of the time, but the weather prediction is that we will be getting more snow this afternoon and it could snow off and on through Monday late afternoon. November 21, 2014 Cancellation: The Pitkin Thanksgiving Pot Luck Dinner for tomorrow night, November 22, has been canceled. With the recent snow and lots of other projects going on related to next week’s national holiday, it just isn’t a good time for many of us to gather together. I am not sure when this was canceled, but I just found out about it today! I am not sure if I am going to be here on the evening of November 30, so we may need to reschedule the tree-lighting ceremony for December 6, Saturday. I will update this here as soon as I know. Since I am the one coordinating this event, I feel like I should be here! SNOW We have more snow in the forecast over the next two or three days and I hope we really do get more! It’s so pretty when it snows. I am addicted to fresh snow! TOWN MEETING AGENDAS Town Meeting agendas are being sent by our Mayor to the Pitkin website webmaster, Ethel Coffman, at the same time he sends the agendas to Town Trustees and the Town Clerk/Treasurer, so before our monthly Town Meetings, beginning sometime on Sunday two days before the meeting (they’re always the 2nd Tuesday of every month), you will be able to find the agenda for the upcoming meeting on the Pitkin website in the Government section. November 16, 2014 Scott Linenbroker Injured Glenna Linenbroker wrote to me yesterday in an email and said: “Scott Linenbroker was in an accident Monday while cutting wood. A large tree twisted and came down on him pinning him. Ed & I were both there and was able to take the tractor and lift the tree off of him. He was in the hospital until Friday and he was moved closer to home to a rehab home. He has a broken femur bone in his right leg (shattered), and they did surgery and the Doctor was pleased that he got lots of the broken slivers and chips out. They put a steel rod in his leg. He has a broken shoulder on his left side. They can't operate on it. So he is going to have a long recovery. They did finally get him on his foot and in a chair Thursday afternoon. I'm sure he will be happy in a little while, as we're taking his dog Buddy to see him this morning. Buddy didn't leave his side after he was hit with the tree, and stayed about 6" from him while the ambulance crew worked on him. Right now he doesn't want phone calls, he has trouble getting the phone. I'm sure he would appreciate cards or notes. Scott Linenbroker, 221 Century Farm Rd., Rosebud, Mo. 63091” Scott, if you’re online and reading this, I want you to know that lots of us are thinking of you and keeping you in our prayers as you go through this difficult stretch in your life. Pulling for you…Suzy OTHER NEWS It has been pretty quiet here in Pitkin! I think the snow began on Friday and it snowed until sometime in the middle of the night (early Sunday morning) and I woke up to clear skies and a low of 3 degrees this morning.