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A book project honoring the former caretaker of Riverside Cemetery in Denver, Cliff Dougal, has been launched. If you would like to submit a story Cliff told you, or tell one of your memories of Cliff, please use this submission form.

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Rolling up my Sleeves

I've started to write a feature article a dozen times in the last week, and everything I wrote seemed trite and cliche. My original idea was one that occurred to me after last month's newsletter, and it sounded perfect. It was perfect, until I sat down to write it. i gave up after the fifth re-write, when I realized that my article was really about 15 articles, and trying to make it into one and do it justice was a fool's errand.

So, I'm going to save those for later. Instead, I thought I would share some thoughts on changes and new areas I'm thinking of adding to the site.

First, I've got a number of half-finished articles that I need to complete. There is one on Militasy headstones (I've been finishing up the pictures) and one on all the types of crosses you see in cemeteries.

Second, I've realized that there is a need to better use the cemetery index I've created. That is, I need to created a page for each cemeteryh before I actually transcribe it, as a way to "collect," in one place, all the resources that I've found for each cemetery online. This means more than just the data I've collected, but, also all the clues and bookmarks and such that I've used to get information. All those, I should share with you, and save you all the untold hours I've spent trying to track all this stuff down.

Third, I'm going to put in more time on entering the data I already have. I admit to you all, my faithful readers, that I am not a huge fan of data entry, and so, I'm very behind. One day, I hope to have some sort of tool, where I can put all the data, GPS, inscriptions, and all of that directly into the database from the cemetery, saving the headache of the current process, which is much more cumbersome than it ought to be.

Fourth, I've been thinking of some ways to put some more fun into the site, some things that I've always been curious about, and I figured other people might be interested as well. For example, if you are like me, you tend to notice when scenes of movies or television shows take place in a cemetery. I always want to know more about the cemetery then the TV or movie people ever reveal. I thought it might be cool to start an index of cemeteries seen on screen. I've got notes started, but, if you know of a movie that uses a real-life cemetery, feel free to drop me a line.

I've also been considering creating a calendar of Colorado Cemeteries. I think I even have photos for all seasons now.

Are there things that you all want to see from this site that you don't currently see? Ultimately, I want to make the site the best possibly site on cemeteries in Colorado on the web, and it has a long ways to go until it meets my vision for it. So, until next time, I'l l start rolling up my sleeves and get to work.

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More pictures! More discussion! More cemeteries! Introducing a new way to keep up with all the Colorado-Cemeteries.com news, and even talk about the site with other "fans."

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