Steamboat Blogs

Favorite Writing Exercise

Posted on20. Jul, 2010 by DagnyMcKinley.

Okay. Here’s my current favorite writing exercise:

Write about your most frightening experience - something that haunts you or terrifies you, could be a memory from childhood, something that happened as a teenager. The moment could be one of embarrassment, shame or fear. Write for 10 or 15 minutes.

Now take that story and place it somewhere in nature - the mountains, the desert, a forest or field, or even the ocean. Turn the people into animals. Take out any speech and replace it with movements and actions. See what you end up with.

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CLUB HONORS ROTARIAN OF THE YEAR; INSTALLS NEW OFFICERS

Posted on05. Jul, 2010 by Mike Forney.

The selection of Jane Denning as Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs Rotarian of the Year was one of the highlights of the club’s annual Changing of the Guard. ceremonies on June 29th at Rex’s American Grill.  It was a double honor, since Denning also was also inducted into the office of  president of the noon club later on that evening.

‘Jane Denning was deeply involved in all aspects of our club over the past year,” according to outgoing president Suzanne Schlicht.  “One of the toughest jobs your president has is singling out one Rotarian from so many of you who have given so much to our club and our community.  But Jane’s contributions this year really stood out,” Schlicht said.

Denning is an escrow officer at Heritage Title.  She began her term as president on July 1.  She has been active in a wide variety of the club’s programs and activities and recently graduated from the Rotary District 5440 Rotary Leadership Institute.  She also attended this year’s Rotary International conference in Montreal.

Scott Marr assumed the position of vice president and president-elect.  Marr owns the Steamboat Springs Holiday Inn and served for several years as club treasurer.  Bill Kennedy, a retired school superintendent from update New York was named treasurer.  Winnie DelliQuadri, a City of Steamboat Springs employee will serve another year as the club’s secretary.

New board members this year include Steamboat Springs School Superintendent Shalee Cunningham, restaurant owner Rex Brice and attorney James Moylan.   Other board members serving the second of their two year terms include Nancy Spillane, Ed Allbright and Angela Catterson.  Suzanne Schlicht will remain on the board this year as past president.

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HIGH SCHOOL INTERACT CLUB SCORES AT CONFERENCE

Posted on05. Jul, 2010 by Mike Forney.

The Steamboat Springs Rotary Interact Club was named the outstanding Rotary youth group in Rotary District 5440 at the recent gathering of some 450 Rotarians from Wyoming, Northern Colorado, Idaho and Nebraska in Casper, Wyoming on June 5^th.

The award was presented during the Rotary district conference at the Casper Events Center. The local Interact Club includes 40 Steamboat Springs High School students who complete at least two community service projects each year.  Interact members were recognized for their work on two projects with seniors at the Doak Walker Care Center, their canned food drives for the Lift-Up Food Bank and for their participation with local Rotarians in delivering holiday gift packages to more than 100 orphan children in Agua Prieta, Mexico.

The three-day conference also featured several national keynote speakers including Jason Ryan Dorsey  a prolific author and recognized authority on the “Gen Y” generation, polio survivor and polio eradication activist Ann Lee Hussey, and cowboy ethics author James Owen.

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FLOWERS FESTOON CITY THANKS TO ROTARY!

Posted on05. Jul, 2010 by Mike Forney.

Neither orange traffic cones nor missing street surfaces stopped the Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs from making their rounds once again this year with hefty barrels festooned with brightly colored spring flowers.  187 barrels were delivered by about fifty Rotary volunteers in less than two hours.

Merchants were thrilled to have the flowers delivered this year.  Many feared that Rotary would not come through for the first time in more than ten years.  “The Rotary flower barrels have become a real tradition in Steamboat Springs and we were not about to disappoint,” Lori Elliott, Rotary chair of the event

Rotarians Jeff Steinke and Greg Stetman move one of the heavy flower barrels onto a flatbed trailer for delivery to downtown Steamboat Springs.

said.  Rotary volunteers fill the barrels with fresh flowers, deliver them early in June and pick them up in mid-September.

The City of Steamboat Springs waters the barrels in downtown locations with a small motorized vehicle that also is used to water hanging flower baskets.  “It’s a real community effort to beautify our downtown,” Elliott said.

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ROTARIANS PITCH IN TO HELP COMMUNITY

Posted on05. Jul, 2010 by Mike Forney.

Local Rotarians traded their cell phones and “business casual” clothing for rakes, hoes, shovels, garbage bags and paint brushes during the Routt County United Way Day of Caring on Wednesday, May 19^th and the Routt County Road Clean-up project on May 22^nd.

“Rotarians really do pitch in on projects like the United Way Day of Caring” according to Dan Hagney, who coordinated Rotary’s participation again this year.  “It’s pretty amazing how much work you can get done in just a few hours with a few hard-working volunteers,” he said.

Rotarian Ashley VanNess organized a team of 20 Rotarians and family members to clean up more than 4 miles of Route 40 near the Milner Land Fill the following weekend.  “It was incredibly windy,” VanNess said.  “But, we persevered and filled a lot of garbage bags with debris.”  Among other treasures the group found:  a full set of automobile tires discarded along the highway.

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Writing Workshops

Posted on04. Jul, 2010 by DagnyMcKinley.

I recently drove to Boulder for a reunion with my teacher and some classmates at Naropa. Within a few hours I realized how much I missed having a writing community. So much has changed and taking on a full time job writing and editing has sapped my energy for new and creative ventures.

As part of trying to pass on some of the tools that have helped me survive in life, I started a workshop to integrate writing and nature. The first workshop took place this past week. I had a nine year old girl and her mother. We walked about twenty minutes to a gazebo overlooking a pond and river. The river gushed and birds tweeted and we took a few breaths and wrote about our surroundings. The next hour was filled with various exercises that got me out of my routine writing of Audrey Rose and pictures/writing of the dogs at Grizzle-T.

It was great to stretch the boundaries of where I have been writing and decided I had an idea for a new book potentially. Could be a lot of fun. So my advice: if you’re having trouble motivating with your writing, take a workshop or look up some writing exercises online. In the coming weeks I’ll be posting some exercises that were really helpful for me. Stay tuned!

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Steamboat Real Estate Prices WILL Go Up–These Quotes Will Make You a Believer

Posted on27. Jun, 2010 by Eliese Pivarnik.

If you think Steamboat real estate prices have peaked never to go up again, you need to read the following quotes the real estate “experts” predicted over the last 65 years.  If you have a buy-and-hold philosophy, history teaches that prices will appreciate. The prices of houses seem to have reached a plateau, and there [...]

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Steamboat Real Estate Signs: Where the $%^&* are They?

Posted on23. Jun, 2010 by Eliese Pivarnik.

If a Steamboat condo buyer is thinking they are going to take a drive and look for condos or townhomes for sale, they will be out of gas before they find one.  Why?  The Steamboat sign ordinance has cracked down on signs in front of properties. I’m not sure exactly why signs aren’t allowed, but [...]

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