C Lazy U to host “horse whisperer”
Buck Brannaman, the inspiration for the book and Oscar-nominated movie “The Horse Whisperer,” will visit the C Lazy U Ranch from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1 for a horsemanship clinic.
The dude ranch, located 90 miles northwest of Denver in Granby’s Willow Creek Valley, has been hosting Brannaman’s clinics since 1992, four years before Nicholas Evans’ “Horse Whisperer” book popularized Brannaman’s unique method of instilling trust between riders and their animals.
According to ranch co-owner Karen Murray, C Lazy U frequently sells out every one of the 15 to 25 spots in Brannaman’s adults-only clinics, but this year a few open slots remain.
“You get to eat all your meals with Buck,” Murray said. “It’s wonderful camaraderie.”
The $1,950 cost includes instruction, trail riding, lodging, meals and all ranch activities. Riders can bring and board their own horse, free of charge, or work with one of the ranch’s 170 steeds. For more information, call 970-887-3344 or visit www.clazyu.com.
Credit-card use may be easing gas pains
With gasoline costs at all-time highs, Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, a trade organization based in Alexandria, Va., said the group has not seen a slackening in demand for gas, but the use of credit cards to pay for the fuel has risen dramatically.
“We’re seeing skyrocketing usage of credit cards” to pay for gasoline at the pump, Lenard said. “In 2004, 54 percent of our customers paid with credit cards. This year it’s around 70 percent or higher, so far. Either they don’t have the cash in their wallets, don’t want to spend it or are displacing the pain” of higher retail prices. “It’s probably a combination.”
Spa wants Denver’s most stressed out
Add another deadline to your already stressful life.
A New Spirit Wellness Center & Spa in Highlands is looking for the most stressed person in the Denver metro area. By Sept. 7, contestants must submit essays of 100 words or less describing why they are the most stressed people in Denver.
The winner, to be announced Sept. 15, will receive a massage a month for six months and unlimited flotation sessions in the spa’s float tank, a shallow pool filled with a dense Epsom saltwater solution that promotes deep relaxation.
Entries can be sent to hawkgoddess@yahoo.com.
Historic newspapers just a click away
Colorado history buffs, rejoice – there is a new free resource. The Stephen H. Hart Library at the Colorado History Museum is making available, online, one-third of its historic newspaper collection from 1859-1923. Users can search the archives through a searchable online archive called the Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection. You can access more than 75 newspapers from 20 cities in Colorado.
Since the project started in 2003, 200,000 pages have been digitized, at a cost of roughly a dollar a page. Funding came from Colorado newspapers. The online archive stops at 1923 because copyright laws apply to work published after that date.
“We want to provide the access to information about the people and stories that made Colorado what it is today within a few clicks of a mouse,” said librarian Rebecca Lintz at the Colorado Historical Society.
The archive is at www.cdpheritage.org/newspapers.
Author tries to make Net safer for kids
Ken Leebow, an author who has built a career on making the Internet simple, is being paid by Qwest to also make it safer.
He was in Denver recently speaking to schoolchildren about instant messaging, chat rooms, spyware and other booby traps on the Internet.
He urges parents to talk with kids about their online activities. That includes reviewing the Web pages they visit and eliminating overly revealing instant-messaging nicknames; for example, cute14girl.
He helped Qwest design an Internet safety Web page, www.IncredibleInternet.com, where parents can take a 12-step test to see how they can help protect their children online.
The dangers are real, according to statistics from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. One in every five kids between the ages of 10 and 17 have been sexually solicited over the Internet – but only a quarter of those solicited tell their parents.
“You gotta watch your kids,” Leebow says. “It’s a moving target.”
Segregated Saudis flirt via wireless
In Saudi Arabia, unrelated men and women caught talking to each other, driving in the same car or sharing a meal risk being detained by the religious police.
Yet despite the barriers, men and women flirt and exchange phone numbers, photos and kisses. Wireless Bluetooth technology is permitting users to connect without going through the phone company. Users activate the Bluetooth function in their phone and then press the search button to see who else has the feature within a 30-foot range.
They get a list of names – many of them chosen to allure – of anyone in the area. Users then click on a name to communicate with that person. The phenomenon has started to receive attention in the media.
There is little the government can do to control Bluetooth use. Last year it banned camera-equipped phones but backed off because cameras have become a feature in most phones.
For many Saudi youths, who have almost nowhere to meet members of the opposite sex, the technology is a godsend. It is replacing a favorite method of flirting: men throwing phone numbers at women through car windows.
