Ear to the ground

?I?m probably the only person who?s played golf at Tamarron in her pajama bottoms.?

? Durango woman after being told that jeans were not permissible at the local golf club

Dozens of pumas have been released into the Four Corners area. The San Juan Mountains Association?s Pumas on Parade project has drawn to a successful close, raising big dollars for the public lands stewardship organization and putting many of the showy cats on permanent display in local communities.

Similar to New Mexico?s ?Trail of Painted Ponies,? Pumas on Parade was the brainchild of SJMA Development Director Felicity Broennan. Twenty-nine artists from the region each took a cast of the same mountain lion sculpture and ?artified? it. Pumas were embellished with paint, dressed up with glass-mosaic and copper-enameled tiles and decorated with native wild flowers. The pumas went on parade over the July 4 weekend and were put up for auction in September. That online auction drew to a close last week, netting $25,000 to support stewardship of local public lands.

The sculptures will remain on display at their current locations until the end of September when many of them head off to their new dens. However, many of the fine art felines were purchased for display around the region. Several of the cats will have homes as permanent public art in Durango, Cortez, Mancos and Moab.

The first freeze arrives

Autumn may be starting to make a local appearance, but winter has already arrived in one corner of Durango. Ice season is just around the corner at Chapman Hill, and the skating rink will kick off the season Oct. 1. Opening weekend will have drop-in hockey and ice skating opportunities for all abilities.

Winter started much earlier for some Durangoans. Two weeks ago, the Durango Betties, a local, all-women?s traveling hockey team, made a successful debut with two decisive victories over the Pueblo ?Little Caesars.? The local women easily slipped by the Pueblo pizza chicks in the first game with a dominating 40-shot performance and a 6-2 victory. Game two was played early Sunday morning in Pueblo, and the Betties stormed out of the gates to a commanding 5-1 lead after the first period. The local women expanded this gap in the second period eventually shutting down the Little Caesars 6-1.

When the series closed, final shots on goal favored the Betties by a whopping 89-42 margin, not a bad start for a team that had never played together before.

For more information on the Betties, log onto www.durangobetties.com. Chapman Hill can be reached at 375-7395.