About Niwot

I awoke both yesterday and this morning to see an intense gaze from blue eyes - located about 4 inches from my nose. I swear that Spike performs some kind of magic or wishing that awakens me 5 minutes before the alarm - or maybe my subconscious is reacting to "the stare" while I'm asleep. Yesterday morning, I heard a familiar, but still unfamiliar, sound in the yard. It was a bird, and I knew I should know the sound it was making and know what kind of bird it was without even looking... I had to look - and was disheartened to see it was a common blue jay. Of course, blue jays are not common (yet) in Colorado - but I grew up with multiple blue jay nests in our yard in Florida, so I felt I should have recognized the call. Maybe I'm getting old and forgetful.

As I got off the bus at the Niwot stop yesterday afternoon, the bus driver muttered, "Niwot... weird name." So before taking the last step, I turned and told him it was from the Arapahoe language and that it meant left hand... my good deed and teaching bit was done for the day. I find it odd that people have no curiosity about local history and how places and/or things got their names. Niwot was a local Arapahoe , who became a leader (chief) of his people; he spoke 5 languages, including English; nearby Neva Road is named for his brother. Niwot was left-handed, which earned him his name - and there is Left Hand Canyon, Left Hand Creek, and several other places with his name in English or Arapahoe nearby. He and his brother died in the Sand Creek Massacre in eastern Colorado; their sister, Snake Woman, two other adults and 6 children were the only survivors... You say the Sand Creek Masscre sounds familiar? After Chuck Connors starred as Lucas McCain in The Rifleman, he followed it up with a series named Branded - about a US Army officer stripped of his rank "for cowardice" at the Sand Creek Massacre.

I'll be headed home for Lovey and Banichi in a few minutes... besides loving them to pieces, I need to give their litter boxes another scrub today. And I think I'll probably need to refill the bird feeders again - yesterday I had the pleasure of watching RedBoa, the squirrel, enjoy several peanuts while sitting in the patio chair. Spike is a wonderful companion, but he isn't either of my kids. I miss Lovey burbling to get attention, and Banichi's odd cries as he brings me his shoestring (tastefully dipped in clean drinking water, of course!). I finished the book on voodoo and obeah in the Islands, and started a new book about small communities in the Highlands of Scotland last night. Spike seems to be enjoying the information.