Weather, Ward Churchill

The mountain peaks in the front range that were snow-capped and glistening on Sunday are now dark rock with a few areas of snow left in the shadows. While we haven't had record high temperatures, it's been 15 to 20 degrees warmer than usual so far this week, and the temps are expected to stay this way (60s and 70s) through the weekend - with no rain in sight. It's beautiful, it's gorgeous, it's very welcome; but it is just too dry for me. The kits had a field day yesterday - I had the patio door open all afternoon and into the evening - and each time they returned to my lap and/or desk for love, they were covered in dust, dirt, dead leaves, and grass roots. (I had to clean the keyboard three times yesterday to remove the grit.) And we're under a fire watch all the rest of the week; the county has also placed a ban on open burning into effect.

Not much else going on around here - I did get a weekend job taking care of Brandi for this Friday thru Sunday. ... The civil trial for Ward Churchill, previously a professor at CU, is in its second week - he was dismissed for plagiarism and falsifying research; he's suing the U stating that they fired him due to his opinion piece (written in 2002) that compared the people who died in the Twin Towers on 9/11 to Nazis. He is a very polarizing person - you either love him or hate him. I just find him an interesting study; I can see why some find him charismatic, and I can also see why some people can't stand him. I must admit that his sources and notes in several of his books are lacking in substance set beside other studies. ...