Sunday, November 7th - Northern Lights On Display Tonight...  Area residents are encouraged to go outside tonight to witness this spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights... Reports have been coming in since 6:30pm this evening of wonderful curtains of color visible throughout our area... This display is expected to continue thru the night and possibly into tomorrow evening as well... Photos coming soon!!!

Stage Stop Café Open For Business... The historic Stage Stop Café in Drake is once again open for business... Opening last week, the café is now serving breakfast, coffee, and lunch... Featured on the menu are homemade breakfast burritos w/green chili made by cook, Jeff Metz... Metz is well know in the area for his outstanding homemade chili which will be on the menu at the River Forks Inn Restaurant... The River Forks Inn is scheduled to open in a couple of weeks for evening dining... Current hours for the Stage Stop Café are 7am - 1pm, Monday thru Saturday... 

Stage Stop Café on Hwy 34 in Drake, "Open For Business"	Fully refurbished interior offers cozy dining atmosphere

Saturday, November 6th - The Dawn Of A New Day... Early risers this morning were treated to a spectacular sunrise... The brilliant orange color is due to the suns rays refracting through our atmosphere... This same refraction is what caused our Moon to take on an orange-red glow during the recent lunar eclipse... The Moon was actually being lit by the light from all Earth's sunrises and sunsets at once... The similarities in color can be seen in the photos below...

Photo of spectacular sunrise over Palisade Mountain	Photo of recent Lunar Eclipse showing orange color cast

County Advises Precautions Against Plague and Tularemia... The Larimer County Department of Health and Environment (LCDHE) is advising residents to take precautions to avoid infectious diseases which can be transmitted from animals to humans... Two pet cats have been diagnosed in with plague in the past two weeks in the Glacier View area... This follows upon a human case of plague in a woman visiting the Red Feather Lakes area in August... Areas where plague has been identified have been posted with warning signs and neighbors contacted by mail... The two most recent cats bring the total of feline plague cases to four so far this year in Larimer County. Earlier cat cases were from the Masonville area and from the northern area of the county near Cherokee Park Road and County Road 82E... Plague-infected rodents can to be found in rural areas all along the Front Range... The bacterial disease is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas or by the direct exposure to oral and respiratory secretions of an infected animal... Cats are often infected by killing and eating infected rodents and can transmit the disease to humans through bites, scratches, or droplets from their coughs... Tularemia has also been found recently in Larimer County... A beaver and mouse that died from tularemia were discovered recently in the Riverbend Ponds Natural Area of Fort Collins, and those areas have been posted with warning signs... Tularemia and plague may cause similar symptoms including sudden fever, chills, muscle and joint aches... Pneumonia may result from both diseases causing difficulty breathing, bloody sputum, coughing and chest pain... Swollen, painful lymph nodes may also occur with tularemia, along with ulcers on the skin or mouth... Unlike plague, however, pneumonia from tularemia is not known to spread from person to person... Both infections are treated with antibiotics, which need to be started in the early stages of illness... It is very important to consult your doctor at the first sign of illness... The complete text of this news release, including recommended precautions, can be found below...

Friday, November 5th - Planets Shine Brightly In Morning Sky... Step outside in the morning around sunrise and you will see Venus and Jupiter shining brightly in the southeastern sky... Today the pair were extremely close making for a special scene... The two will be separating the next few days but still remain a dominant feature of our morning skies...

Jupiter and Venus shining bright this morning

Thursday, November 4th - Flu Clinics for High Risk Adults Scheduled for Nov. 10... The Rehabilitation and Visiting Nurse Association (RVNA) has announced an influenza (flu) vaccination clinic for high-risk adults will be held on Wednesday, November 10, from 9 AM to 3 PM at the First United Methodist Church, 533 N. Grant Ave., Loveland... According to Sheri Sauer, Director of Patient Services of the RVNA, approximately 800 shots will be available... Sauer suggests that clients arrive by 8:30 AM to receive a numbered flu shot card which will assure a vaccination later that day... Depending on the time slot that corresponds to the number received, individuals can leave and return closer to the scheduled time of immunization...  A family member or friend may wait in line for a flu shot number in place of a frail patient who needs vaccine, and then can bring the patient to the clinic at the appropriate vaccination time slot with much less waiting...

In order to qualify to receive a flu shot, adults must be in one of the following groups:

• Adults aged 65 or older
• People over age 18 with a chronic health condition such as diseases of the heart, lung, kidneys; conditions like diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS or other serious conditions requiring regular medical care or hospitalizations.

Individuals who cannot be vaccinated include: 

• People with a severe allergy to chicken eggs 
• People who have had a severe allergic reaction to a flu shot in the past
• People who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome after a flu shot in the past
• People who are sick with a fever on the day of the clinic

The complete text of this news release can be found below...

Wednesday, November 3rd - Jupiter And Venus In Conjunction Tomorrow... On both Thursday and Friday mornings, November 4th and 5th, you can see the two brightest planets side by side near the eastern horizon just before sunrise, shining brighter than the brightest stars... The best time to look is between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. MST... Step outside and face east, toward the rising sun... You can't miss them; Venus and Jupiter are bright enough to see even after the sky begins to turn morning blue. Venus is the brighter of the two... Below is a sky map showing where to look...

Sky looking east-southeast at 6am on November 4th

Salazar Edges Out Coors For US Senate Seat... In a hard fought race for the US Senate seat being vacated by Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R), Ken Salazar (D) last night edged out Pete Coors (R) by 50% - 48%... Other Colorado winners last night include Marilyn Musgrave (R), Bob Bacon (D), Karen Wagner (D), Diana DeGette (D), Tomas Tancredo (R), Bob Beauprex (R), John Salazar (D), Joel Hefley (R), and Mark Udall (D)... The majority of votes in Colorado went to George W. Bush for President, giving Bush our State's nine electoral votes... Amendment 36, which would have split Colorado's electoral votes proportionately, failed 66% - 34%... In the race for House District 49, incumbent Kevin Lundberg (R) won over challenger Doug Frisbie (D) by a margin of 54% - 43%... Referendum 5B, which would have brought additional funding into the Loveland Rural Fire District, failed 55% - 45%... Complete results from County, State, and Federal elections can be found via the links on the below...

Tuesday, November 2nd - Voting Heavy Throughout Colorado, Bush Wins Guam... As of Noon today voting is reported to be heavy and steady at polling places throughout the State... Colorado Election Officials are anticipating a record number of votes being cast in this year's election as already indicated by registration numbers and early/absentee votes cast... In the first official reports coming in, General Election results based on electronic ballots from from 53 of 53 precincts and paper ballots from 45 of 53 precincts, indicate the US Pacific Island Territory of Guam has gone to George W. Bush... While Guam has no Electoral Votes, it's totals will be counted in the popular vote...

GUAM RESULTS - US PRESIDENTIAL RACE

• George W. Bush 17,264
• John Kerry 9,540
• Ralph Nader 153
• Campagna Badnarik 53

Source: Guam Election Commission

Polls Open 7am to 7pm Today... Voting in the 2004 General Election will begin this morning with polls opening at 7am...  Voting Centers throughout the county will remain open until 7pm this evening... Eligible voters may cast their ballot at any of these 25 Vote Center locations, or any of the 5 satellite County Clerk and Recorder offices throughout Larimer County... All citizens are encouraged to vote in this critical election... You MUST present identification to vote... Provisional ballots will be available for those not appearing on the registered voters lists... Exercise your rights and VOTE TODAY!!!

For information on Voting Center locations in Larimer County, click on a town below:

Monday, November 1st - Numbers Show Over 40% Have Voted In County... A November 1st update shows that over 40% of registered voters in Larimer County have now cast their vote... Below is a table showing breakdowns by Party, District, and voting method...

News posts from previous weeks are located in our "News Archive" which can be found by clicking the button below:

Storm Mountain Net