(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Leaf Peeping Season. A Colorado State Open Thread, September 14, 2026 [1] ['Thom Hartmann', 'Dr. Ash', 'Bumper Monster'] Date: 2026-09-14 This picture was from twenty years ago, along the Gold Belt route north of Canon City. We had gone there for the annual wine festival at the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey. They had their harvest festival last year on the last weekend in September, but apparently are not having one this year. The Winery has a relatively small vineyard for the amount of wine they bottle; they apparently bring in grapes from other areas, including the western slope and even California to supplement what they grow on their grounds. Grapes at the Abbey Winery ColoTim My wife and I had a fun weekend trip. She was particularly a fan of the Abbey wines. I’m not a big fan of wine – I’m more into tequila and whiskey – bourbon to be even more precise, but I experiment. Colorado has quite a number of breweries, distilleries and wineries for all tastes and if that’s your interest, you can have much fun getting out and sampling the local products, especially knowing that they come from the efforts of friends and neighbors. The industry has had some ups and downs – I’ve heard that the local brewers are having some down years lately and that even distillers are finding that people are not drinking as much as they used to, but people are still looking for interesting tastes and if anyone wants to come up to Estes Park and visit, I’m happy to have guests sample from my collection. The leaf peepers may not have as long a season this year as other years, due to the drought that has been plaguing Colorado. The trees and their leaves don’t have as long to display their leaves as usual and, at least based upon what I’m seeing here with our aspen, the colors aren’t as bright. There seems to be more black edging around the leaves. Get out while you can and I hope you can enjoy the leaves. Unfortunately, the drought and the warm weather has also interfered with the fall season for the fruit, berries and usual foods for the animals that are trying to fatten up for the winter season. People have reported far more run-ins with bears this year than in the past. The Colorado Sun talks about the leaf peeping season but they also report today on two more bear attacks on people in southwestern Colorado. I have more videos of bears coming around my house than I have in past years. Fortunately, they have not done more than sniff at my empty trash can – I don’t fill it until the morning of pick-up. I also have two alarm dogs and I think the aroma of those help to warn the bears not to try and break in. If you want to help with the upcoming election, there are many campaigns that need volunteers to write postcards, make phone calls, walk routes to knock on doors and speak directly with voters, staff offices where you can help to organize paperwork, answer phones and do whatever else the campaign staff need help with. There are the national campaigns, not just for here in Colorado, but across the country that need help. There are more local campaigns for state offices, county offices, city offices and maybe even some officials who need help that can lead to volunteer opportunities that reach beyond this election season. They need your help, be it a few hours, a few hours a week or even all the way up through election day. You can make a difference in the future of this country. I personally would like to recommend considering helping staff voting centers and helping with whatever your local precinct needs might be. Even though Colorado is an all-mail election state, we do not know at this point whether there will be some interference with that mail process. We need to have citizens of strong morals ready who are capable of dealing with anything that the Republicans might do to try to upset the smooth functioning of the election process. Check with your local clerk’s office to see if they need election judges, monitors, or anyone else just to help on election day or even in the days before or afterwards. Do not volunteer for something beyond what you’re comfortable doing, but realize you may be the difference between a free and fair election and something that will be disrupted by evil actors. Brittany Petterson, Democratic US Representative from Denver’s NW side, has introduced legislation called the Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act of 2026, which was introduced in August and would designate Colorado as a downwinder state, which means Coloradoans who were exposed to radiation fallout from Rocky Flats NW of Denver, as well as the Cotter Uranium plant near Canon City as well as nuclear tests in Nevada, would be eligible for compensation for certain types of nuclear sicknesses. The original report is in the Denver Post but here’s a different report that isn’t behind the Post’s paywall. Are you looking for something different to do this fall? Let your fingers do some exploring. I just typed in Colorado events and pulled up Colorado.com. It lists many different activities from introductory classes in things like jewelry making at different small towns around the state over the next few weeks to dances, harvest festivals, astronomy nights at various national park sites and some towns like Fort Collins and I have only started exploring the offerings. You can do those various activities as light-hearted breaks between work and/or your dedication to the cause of helping get Democrats elected and Republicans ejected. I will be away from Colorado for major parts of the next two months, including election day, but I will still be able to vote either by mail or in person. I will be able to continue these State Open Threads, but as always, if anyone wishes to contribute to this series, I would love to have you write a column/diary/post/article or two. Since it’s an Open Thread, there is no restriction on what topic you can write about. Please send me a Kosmail or let me know in a comment and I’ll get back to you. I look forward to seeing your comments below. The floor is yours… [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/14/800098277/community/le/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/