This Week's Mountain Living
September 10th, 2008

Summer Firehouse Games 2008


The Firehouse games and pancake breakfast was held August 30, 2008


Kevin sounding the horn for Glynn, Ron and Jim. Let the GAMES begin!


Ron and Jim in action! Photo by Cheri Ratliff


Peggy and Mike going for it! Photo by Julie Nauyokas


Rich, Mike and Gil contemplating their plan of attack! Photo by Cheri Ratliff


Oscar and Brent “in the moment”!


John, Bill and Kevin photo by Julie Nauyokas


The goal…Photo by Julie Nauyokas


Ron Treche and Winston Ezell “flippin” flapjacks! J.R. Ellis looking on. Photo by Cheri Ratliff


Happy customers, Doris and George Grosvenor enjoying the breakfast prepared by the women’s auxiliary. Photo by Cheri Ratliff

A Letter from Fire Chief Kevin Stilley

The day started out with the pancake breakfast which went from 8 - 10 am. The food was very good, the kitchen crew really enjoyed how easy pancakes were to prepare compared to the 4th of July picnic. Lines were short as people came throughout the 2 hour period and the fire dept. grossed over $900 to be used for AEDs. The firehouse games followed. It was a heartfelt event, as team Benson who was favored as one of the top contenders ran into trouble drafting water. Anyone watching had to feel bad for them, I know I certainly did. Then team Wigent was up. Team Wigent was actually the underdog of the races as he was the only original team member on his team. They were fast and efficient. However the third team, Team Nauyokas, who was also a top contender, pulled through. Team Nauyokas, led by Pete Nauyokas, is made up of full time residences Oscar Ratliff and Brent Mimms. The three members of this team don't normally practice with the fire department as they all have full time careers. However, with their youth, mechanical knowledge and Brent's extensive fire fighting experience they were tough to beat. And they weren't.

Team Gareffa was the 4th team to compete. They too were efficient but lacked the training time needed to take the honors. Finally, the last heart break of the games was Team Cook. While Team Cook had the enthusiasm they ran into a couple of major road blocks. The first challenge came when the hose sprang a leak and they had to switch out hoses. The second set back was when the ladder truck wouldn't start for them. Later it was discovered that the transmission was between gears. The games were all in good spirits and I salute the competitors for giving it all they had. Congratulations go out to Team Nauyokas for taking first place and winning some Arrowhead merchandise. We also learned a great deal. If the time comes that the auxiliary pump won't draft when needed, we'll have a pretty good idea what to do to remedy it. Same with the pumper, if it doesn't start right away, we'll more than likely have a solution for it as well. With winter right around the corner the competitors have to be thinking how they can tweak their systems to take top honors in the winter games.

At 2 pm on Saturday was a short GPS class given by myself. We had eight others participating. Once the members felt confident, we had a timed course. Members were divided up into teams of two to orient the course. After the first heat it was down to the last two teams on a longer, tougher course. This time Team Cook didn't run into any bad luck and took the coveted trophy which was a dinner for two at the Inn. Congratulations to John and Martha Cook.
At 8 pm Roundabout, a band from Grand Junction, played to a full house at the Inn. Fun was had by all but I won't mention any names for fear of embarrassing me (I mean them). We owe a big THANKS to the Inn for putting on this event for the firehouse. We also owe Roundabout a big hand as they not only played great music but they also donated all their tips to the fire dept. That evening we made $744.
All in all, we all had a great time, did some learning, and made some money to boot. Thank you everyone who participated and volunteered their time to make this all happen.


Martha Cook and good friend Cooper rooting for their team at the games. Photo by Julie Nauyokas

Museum of the Mountain West

Did you ever wonder about those little old town buildings as you come into Montrose from Arrowhead? The Shutterbugs decided to check it out!

The Museum of the Mountain West is in the process of making a replica of old downtown Montrose. The old buildings have come from Montrose and surrounding areas. It proved to be an interesting place to visit and provided the group with lots of “photo ops”!


Old school house photo by Cheri Ratliff


Desk in the school photo by Rich Ostrom


The Gun Shop porch photo by Shirley Ambruster


Inside the Black Smith building photo by Cheri Ratliff

Pat Reitz submitted the following information on the museum:

From my author-signed book Slates, Chalk & Inkwells I had read about some schools whose "parts" had been taken to the Museum of the Mountain West.

The Jutten School not far from Colona which was rather fallen apart - came the entryway and bell tower and later the actual school bell taken to the MMW.

From Fairview School which used to be near the water treatment plant east of Montrose....came a tiny brick teacherage building that was taken to MMW. The teacherage is where the teacher lived during the school year.

Museum of the Mountain West open weekdays 8:30-4:30 Guided tours $5 Call 240-3400


This month’s book club will discuss Marley & Me by John Grogan, which is about a golden lab retriever. It seemed only fitting to put a picture of Trigger and Pudge on the website. Photo by Shirley Ambruster

Mountain Living & Photo Update Archive

Please contact Cheri Ratliff if you have current information or photos that would look good on the web site!. Sample: bear sightings, road conditions, community happenings, Happy Birthdays, Arrowhead owners having fun, etc.