Barbwire Bob

Ramblin' around the corral with Bob Sweeney

Our family dog Cleo passed away about one year ago and I still miss the little dog that my son Patrick shared with me for several years. The best was the bark of welcome and the tail wagging when coming home from a busy day. Dogs just have a loving personality and know when not to speak, just a bark for food or time for a walk. I notice that we have an ad in The Villager from the Heffelbower family in Highland’s ranch advertising a new service called “The Last Paw” for pet funerals and cremation services. A badly needed service, so write the phone number down if your dog is aging. 303-905-4630.

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The Villager has long supported many service and non-profit organizations. One of the groups we have enjoyed covering and attending their events is the Colorado Consular Corp that has representatives from dozens of foreign countries that include official consulates, for example from Canada and Mexico, two of our major Colorado trading partners. We have many local folks with deep roots in foreign countries as most of us came from immigrants. Don Ringsby was a member of the Consular Corp since 1960 representing Thailand. His friends have written a tribute to him in this week’s Villager.

Our Villager “About “Law” columnist lawyer Don Peterson is the new Dean of the entire Consular Corp. He represents Sweden and his family were pioneer Denver newspaper printers with the presses now buried under the Convention Center. See his story in The Villager. Don is a proud DU graduate and a really good writer and lawyer.

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I had lunch with Don last week and it was such a joy to have a French dip sandwich with fries at Poppies on South Colorado Blvd. What a wonderful restaurant as they reopen with booth spacing and building an outdoor patio for summer spacious dining. Time to get back to supporting our local restaurants. All businesses, for that matter. Don’t go if you are fearful, but for many it is time to return to normal. I can’t believe that the Governor won’t let the Cherry Creek Mall open until July 1. Park Meadows is now open because they are in Douglas County. I think if protestors can gather in Denver, so can shoppers.

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A new Farmer’s Market is arriving at Belleview Station just two blocks west of I-25 on Belleview located near the new Newmont mining headquarters and where a new major hotel is under construction. Many new businesses are located in the Station area. Starting June 14 until September 27 a “People and Produce” Farmer’s Market will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The many Belleview Station shops and restaurants will be on hand along with produce vendors and curbside orders. Sadly, the Palisade peach crop suffered a 90 percent frost so this year’s fruit will be in shorter supply, but farmers will be hustling with the fresh early fruits; I love those June cherries.

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We have produced a keepsake Villager photo spread for Cherry Creek graduates as they “rolled” out of high school onward to higher education, military service and the job markets. A tough time for students and athletes as the summer and fall events are on hold in many places. It appears that the economy is rebounding rapidly and there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

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A California friend sent me the following piece that I believe came out of Canada to the West Coast and is on the internet. No author named but some good humor and common sense. Need more of both right now:

SOME COMMON SENSE Feminist Author Unknown

I hope they give us two weeks’ notice before sending us back out into the world. I think we’ll need the time to become ourselves again. And by “ourselves” I mean lose 10 pounds, cut our hair, open up our ear lobe holes and get used to not drinking at 9 a.m.

New Monthly budget: Gas $0, Entertainment $0. Clothes $0, Groceries $2,799.

Breaking News: Wearing a mask inside your home is now highly recommended, not so much to stop COVID 19, but to stop eating.

When the quarantine is over, let’s not tell some people.

I stepped on the scale this morning. It said, “please practice social distancing. only one person at a time on scale”

Not to brag, but I haven’t been late to anything in over 8 weeks.

It may take a village to raise a child, but I swear it’s going to take a vineyard to home school one.

You know those car commercials where there’s only one vehicle—doesn’t seem so unrealistic these days. They can open things up next month. I'm staying in until July to see what happens to y'all first.