Nourishing Morsels - The Durango Herald

Food as love

Lately, it seems that a lot of people have been talking about finding the perfect diet for themselves. There are thousands of podcasts, websites and articles touting miracle cures and life t...

DATE: Apr 3, 2024 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

The Spectrum of Sweetness

We find ourselves past the resolutions of the New Year and at chocolate-laden Valentine’s Day. For some, navigating the dance of eating sugar can feel challenging and confounding. For othe...

DATE: Feb 14, 2024 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Go for the gold

The weather is turning, inviting us to slow down a bit more and savor the moment – the way the light hits the trees, the hint of autumn on the breeze, the days that are officially shorter th...

DATE: Oct 3, 2023 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Taming the effects of autoimmunity

Autoimmune diseases are evermore on the rise in our modern era. Conventional medicine rarely offers any solutions for autoimmunity beyond steroids to suppress the immune system. Many people ...

DATE: Aug 12, 2023 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Food as an offering of love

In the harried pace of a typical day, food often is reduced to only being a means to an end. It is often something we don’t consider much – just a way to refuel the tank and keep going. I wa...

DATE: May 23, 2023 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Play with your food!

Most of us grew up being told not to play with our food – that the meal was there to build strong bones or have us grow tall – no laughing matter. But did that take some of the joy out of th...

DATE: May 2, 2023 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Spring into yum with fruit, vegetables

It’s finally happening! After a long, cold, snowy winter, signs of spring are beginning to show themselves – from the bulbs poking their first fingers through the soil or the buds that are j...

DATE: Apr 4, 2023 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Receiving the full experience

When was the last time you tasted your food? Like, really tasted it? Oftentimes we move through our days not fully engaged in what we’re actually doing. We’re thinking about something else o...

DATE: Feb 28, 2023 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Soups and stews for the soul

We are in the depths of winter – gray skies, colder temperatures, shorter days and snow upon snow! This is the season of slowing down, staying home and reflecting inward. Many of us do not ...

DATE: Feb 4, 2023 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Honoring the shift in the season

Right now, we are experiencing the shortest days of the year. This is typically accompanied by darkness, cold and even heaviness. We, as animals, are affected by these energies whether we co...

DATE: Dec 13, 2022 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Slow down to receive more

One of the things I love the most about this time of year is the magical way time seems to slow down. Everything seems to be taking its own sweet time – the changing of the leaves, the first...

DATE: Nov 1, 2022 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Taking right and wrong off the table

In the bakery department of a grocery store last week, a woman walked up to select a freshly baked cookie from the mouth-watering selection of items. She whispered to me conspiratorially, “I...

DATE: Oct 11, 2022 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

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Haunted house northeast of Durango gets bigger every yearCody Petersen’s Halloween hobby is his escape from the daily grind

Durango resident Cody Petersen said when he moved into his home at 15 Edgemont Way several years ago, his house on the corner looked lonely and spooky.Today, it’s a madhouse. Halloween decorations are splayed practically on every inch of his lawn, in the trees and up and down his home.

A group of school-aged kids stop in front of his house every day to pose with a little gothic doll in the lawn, he said. It’s the favorite attraction amongst hundreds of decorations Petersen bought locally and online as early as July in preparation for Oct. 31, Halloween.He said he doesn’t want to think about how much money he’s spent on fog machines, animatronics and Christmas lights, but the bill easily totals several thousands of dollars.

For trick-or-treaters on Halloween, whom he encourages to visit, jumpscares abound at Petersen’s home, featuring animatronic spiders, growling wolves and other monsters, he said.He’s working on his own animatronic coffin, which shakes and rattles, and a pulley system that will push and pull a ghost up and down the yard, but neither will be ready for this year’s Halloween.He said he has fond memories of his parents decorating for the holidays during his upbringing and he’s a huge horror genre fan. So he enjoys going all out on decorations for the spooky season. He justifies his hobby with the logic his kids will only be in high school a few more years, and it isn’t as cool to decorate the lawn for Halloween when one doesn’t have children living at home.But the neighbors enjoy his haunts as much as the rest of the community. He said his Halloween scene has gradually grown larger every year; at least 50 trick-or-treaters turned up at his home last year.“I'm a home inspector, so I do have a lot of tools and no fear of trying things out,” he said.

He said typical Halloween animatronics cost $400 a piece, but they only last one year or so without breaking. That’s frustrating, he said, and he believes he can do better by building his own.He said this year’s display and experience is more organic than past years thanks to his handiwork. Among his myriad decorations, trick-or-treaters can spot easter eggs referencing “Beetlejuice,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Pet Sematary.”Among the horror props are real animal bones Petersen said he’s found on hikes across the countryside.“I've got ghosts and spiders and witches and that kind of thing,” he said. “Here in Edgemont, we have giant spiders for real. ... We get these huge wolf spiders that are bigger than my hand. I mean, huge, bigger than tarantulas.”

Petersen said he was motivated to make his first decorations within the first month he and his wife moved into the home on the corner at 15 Edgemont Way.A lone pine tree, a typical Christmas tree that would be strung up with lights and ornaments in December, stood out to Petersen in the yard, he said. He just felt compelled to decorate it and light it up.He said he thoroughly decorated the tree and left it lit year-round. Within a month of moving into the house, his neighbor died. The man was old and suffering from Alzheimer's.

Months later, the man’s wife approached Petersen and told him she and her husband’s last salient moments together were spent looking out at Petersen’s lighted Christmas tree, pretending it was Christmas. In the following hours, the man succumbed to delirium. He died several days later.“I don't know why I had that tree, why I lit it, but that's why that tree, even when Halloween is over, all year round, that Christmas tree always stays lit now,” he said.Petersen is a horror movie fan, and in particular he’s always enjoyed the sinister character Michael Myers of the “Halloween” franchise.

He said every year, after thrilling trick-or-treaters at his home, he takes to downtown and East Third Avenue in his Michael Myers costume, bearing a giant bowl of candy, to continue the fun.The highlight of his yard, the creepy doll neighborhood kids like to pose and take pictures with, is Petersen’s “elf on the shelf,” he said. He likes to move the doll around the house, sometimes propping her up to hold animal bones.“I have a real busy and pretty stressful job,” he said. “I just love the fall so much. And to come home, it's just a good way to wind down and, you know, de-stress, just go out and work in the yard.”cburney@durangoherald.com

Cody Petersen’s Halloween hobby is his escape from the daily grind

Reader-submitted photos of Halloween decorationsLast week, we asked readers to submit photos of their Halloween decorations or a neighbor’s decorations. We received dozens of photo submissions. We have selected some of the most spooky, elaborate and fun photos to share in this gallery. Enjoy!

Photos: FLC volleyball returns homeFort Lewis College volleyball took on Adams State University on Tuesday

Fort Lewis College volleyball took on Adams State University on Tuesday

Photos: Expert leathercrafter and collector estate sale near IgnacioItems belonging to the late Alex Pappas were auctioned for sale on Saturday

Items belonging to the late Alex Pappas were auctioned for sale on Saturday

Photos: Pro boxing in DurangoLegends on the Animas boxing showdown took place on Saturday

Legends on the Animas boxing showdown took place on Saturday

Fort Lewis College women’s soccer loses to Colorado School of Mines 5-1

Photos: Durango Cowboy Gathering draws crowd with Horseback Social and paradeThe cowboys, cowgirls and their horses took center stage Saturday in downtown Durango

The cowboys, cowgirls and their horses took center stage Saturday in downtown Durango

Durango Cowboy Gathering hosts its first ever mechanical bull roping competition

About 1,000 sheep move along down Buck Highway during the annual event on Saturday

Food as love

The Spectrum of Sweetness

Go for the gold

Taming the effects of autoimmunity

Food as an offering of love

Play with your food!

Spring into yum with fruit, vegetables

Receiving the full experience

Soups and stews for the soul

Honoring the shift in the season

Slow down to receive more

Taking right and wrong off the table

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