The Devil's Thumb

A friend asked me yesterday afternoon how the Devil's Thumb, a rock formation south of the Flatirons above Boulder, got its name. I spent over two hours looking for the answer, and ended up looking at at an 1873 Colorado Gazetteer to finally find the answer. I found out that DT is a pillar of rock that rises to a height of 12,150 feet, and that it is a level 5 rock climb using pitons and ropes. I could not find any reports of what the local Arapaho tribes called this rock... and it was a difficult task to finally discover the answer - tucked inside an old book in the Norlin Library at UC Boulder. I learned a great deal about The Devil's Thumb near Durango, Colorado; about the one in England, the one in British Columbia, Canada, and the one in Alaska (which is a part of the evil mountain range that includes the Witches Tits, the Cat's Ears, and the Devil's Thumb). In the 1850s and '60s most of America, and it's immigrants, were still very religious and had had a rigorous teaching from (which ever belief of) Mother Church that the Devil was very real and very dangerous. Of course, he resided in Hell, under the ground - and, because of this, almost any unusual ground or rock anomaly was attributed to the Devil. The second photo above shows how much the Devil's Thumb does, indeed, resemble a thumb rising from the ground.... Over the years the rock formation has weathered quite a bit, and the view from Boulder no longer resembles the usual idea of a thumb.

It was 72 yesterday, and the weather people just announced that there is a Winter Storm Warning beginning at midnight Thursday/Friday - areas above 6,000 feet could receive at least 12 inches of snow. As I have noted before, Boulder is right at 6,000 feet - my apartment is a little lower because I'm in the Boulder Creek Valley and flood plain. We'll see what happens. Sunrise was glorious this morning, and I had a flock of ravens for company for a good portion of my walk. Twenty minutes ago the sun was brightly shining; it's now hidden behind a heavy high cloud. The weather folks announced last night that while the afternoon had been cloudy, there had been no rain. I beg to differ with them, as I walked to and from the grocery store without an umbrella and was pretty well soaked from light rain. - A lady who works at Safeway has again asked me if I will give her some work house-sitting. Anyone who knows my set-up knows that I stay with pets, critters, family members, whatever you want to call them... This lady dislikes the very idea of petting any animal, let alone sleeping with them. She once told me that she was "allergic to the fur of medium- and large-sized dogs" - I just had to laugh.... There is no way I would refer her to anyone for house-sitting or pet-sitting duties - not unless I had run out of every other possible resource. And yet she tells me that besides her full-time job at the store, she is just over-run with baby-sitting requests. Hmmmm... something doesn't make sense.

The kits are running about and there are several robins in the back yard. I complained on Saturday afternoon about the amplified guitar; at 1:15 this morning, the kits alerted me to something happening by our hall door. I got up and watched a piece of paper being placed under the door. It was a note from the apartment management wanting to know where the screaming babies and guitar were located... that was the only way they could take action. My question is why place the note under my door at 1:15 a.m.? I'll be walking the Rs this afternoon, as they are being groomed this morning - and I extended an invitation to the Rs family to bring them over to see Suki and Boo and I this weekend at Kathy and Jim's. Smile!! It's hump day!