Rich Batten's Page

It was a Sunday morning and an early winter storm had moved in over night. I had just started the coffee and went to put on my snow boots to get the paper when I realized I had left them at work. Such is the characteristic of Denver snow and sun, enough snow to warrant boots in the morning and sun by midday to have you wishing you had your sandals with you.

Dang! Not wanting to venture out in my slippers, I reached for my old standbys, my Dannerâ hiking boots. Bought in the spring of ’75, they… Continue

It was a Sunday morning and an early winter storm had moved in over night. I had just started the coffee and went to put on my snow boots to get the paper when I realized I had left them at work. Such is the characteristic of Denver snow and sun, enough snow to warrant boots in the morning and sun by midday to have you wishing you had your sandals with you.

Dang! Not wanting to venture out in my slippers, I reached for my old standbys, my Dannerâ hiking boots. Bought in the spring of ’75, they… Continue

Some of my favorite parenting memories are reading with my children. Whether I was holding them on my lap in a rocking chair, laying prostrate beside them on their bed, sitting leaned up against their bed, sitting in the hall way between their rooms voicing the characters of the Narnia or Harry Potter series, sitting together in the family room or using a flashlight in a tent on a mountain side – the location and posture didn’t matter – what did matter was the bond we created by being together i… Continue

As I write this the World Series is rounding third base and heading for home. And while other sporting events may challenge the supremacy of baseball, in the words of a character in W.P. Kinsella's 1982 novel, Shoeless Joe, "The one constant throughout all the years has been baseball. America has been erased like a blackboard, only to be… Continue

Just over half of the respondents to the Colorado Dads web survey on how father-inclusive their child’s school is perceive it to be “mostly” or “Fully” inclusive. I wish it were more, but the good news is that fathers’ involvement in their children’s education is on the rise according to a recent (and more sophisticated) study by The National Center for Fath… Continue