The wind whipped across the basin with a pesky cheek-stinging flurry of horizontal snow. It was just a week ago, in mid-April. Caryl, border collie Clyde and I were on a quest: to find a sort of black gold, deep beneath the rolling hills of sage and grassland. We were in Bear Basin, and it is …
A Rat’s Tail
Dear Friends, The faint but rhythmic thumping was unmistakable. I laid awake in bed on my back, eyes open and unfocused on the ceiling in the faint light from a setting crescent moon, Caryl breathing the deep respiration of sound sleep. It had to be around 2AM. I halted my own breathing to …
When Frances Met Dolly
Breakfast trout; specifically, Dolly Vardens. It’s what 20-year-old Frances Alder would soon have in her creel. The year: 1948. The war had just ended a few years back, and she and her new husband, Ron were working a grubstake all their own in the mountain country of Idaho. They didn’t have more …
Just a Little Lost
Dear Friends I was actually glad the blizzard started again. Driving wind, gusting to something around 50 miles per hour blasted horizontal snow in my face. Upwind, I could barely hear the wolves howling. At least Melanie and Abby wouldn’t hear them again. They were buried under a mountain of …
When Iron Depreciates–Or How to Burn a Lynx
Earlier this week, Tracy was helping me at the Custer County DMV window. I was switching off plates from one of our ranch pickup trucks to another. She was intently concentrating on the computer screen in front of her, mouse under hand, scanning through our registered …
Continue Reading about When Iron Depreciates–Or How to Burn a Lynx
On Colts and Coming Full Circle
“Make sure you get that cinch pulled tight!†Maddy’s teeth clenched and her chin set as she pulled the latigo as snug as she could. Her colt stood quietly next to her as she wordlessly struggled with the cinch, trying her best to get it done up right. I could tell she was nervous, though Maddy …