Boulder Creek

Boulder Creek took another life yesterday...  In the middle of the afternoon,  a man and his two daughters who live in Nederland drove down Boulder Canyon.  The man did not expect to round a blind curve and find a car sitting still in his lane.  The first vehicle had stopped because a black bear was crossing the road; most of Canyon Drive is a narrow two-lane road.  During the big flood in September, almost half of the road washed away and multiple areas were covered with rock and mudslides.  The road to Nederland is much narrower than it was, passing lanes and bicycle lanes have disappeared, and a lot of safety railings are still missing.  The truck the man was driving struck the rear of the stopped car, slid sideways, and flipped as it fell into Boulder Creek, landing on its roof.  The man and one daughter escaped from the truck and made it to the bank of the Creek; the 13-year-old daughter was caught up in that 800,000 cubic-feet-per-minute sweep of water.  Due to the roadway, the twisting of the Creek, and the rocky banks, rescue teams were quickly set up at multiple stations along the Creek.  The truck flipped into the Creek about a miles west of Sugarloaf Mountain Road and Canyon Drive.  Rescuers were until to grab the girl from the flowing water until she had entered Boulder city limits, passed the Judicial Center, past the Public Library, and finally was behind Boulder High School at 17th Street.  EMTs took her immediately to the hospital, but the girl was pronounced dead on arrival.
   I'm not quite sure why, but it has been decided that the county will not charge the 19-year-old Quebec man for his rescue from Broadway Ledge on Long's Peak.  Since two separate helicopters were used in the rescue, along with a team of 30 people, the cost will be in the thousands...  Guess it's a good thing the county has a discretionary rescue fund with over $423,000 in it.
    When I returned home for a few hours this morning, I saw a bright red sign on Britta's door, so I stopped to read it.  It was a Boulder Police Department sign stating the person had been physically evicted and was not to be allowed back inside the apartment.  I ran into Nancy just before I returned to Tamarack, and wished I'd been ale to avoid her...  She said that while she was talking to her therapist on Friday, she received a text message from her soon-to-be roommate stating that the other roommate had just broken up with her boyfriend and that Nancy could move in, but not her cats.  Nancy freaked.  (Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't have insulted my therapist by having my cell phone turned on during a session...)  Yesterday, the friend texted her again, and said that the couple was back together, and Nancy could bring her cats with her.  So Nancy asked if the planed apartment move didn't work out, could she and her cats move in with me.  I told her, "Sorry, but no."  She's been evicted from the building - she has three cats - her cats don't like my cats - my cats don't like her cats - she has twice as much stored belongings than I do.  A 500 square-foot apartment that has a hall door, a patio door and a single bathroom will not hold two women and five cats.  Period.