This story is by daughter Melanie, featuring the mare Jimmie and an accident on the range this summer. We carry firearms on the range for a few reasons, but one of the most important is a situation where an animal has been severely injured to the point where treatment would be futile, and subjection to […]
Vermont Sheep and Stone Walls
Last Week: The bronze, red, and gold of fallen leaves carpeted the road before me, often obscuring the double yellow lines. Negotiating countless curves with my rented pickup through fog-shrouded spruce and fir forested gaps in the ancient spine of Vermont’s Green Mountains, I made my way down through picture-book New England villages complete with […]
The Beaver & the Wolf
Dear Friends I have a friend, Bruce, who is a beaverologist, and that means that his specialty is beavers. He was known as sort of the go-to beaver guru in the Intermountain West. People would call him about beaver troubles (“they’re damming my culvert!” or “they’re stealing all of my irrigation water!”), begging him to relocate […]
If Ancients Could Speak
“Timber!” I called the word out in case there was anyone within falling range, and it echoed through the understory of a blackened forest. It took one swing and smack from the back of my hickory handled brush axe, and the 3 pound steel head made purchase on the plastic wedge inserted in the back-cut […]
We Are What We Eat
Dear Friends Caryl and I watched an indie movie last week that was filmed on location in Italy. Many scenes were shot in piazzas (plazas), bustling with people. Hundreds of ‘extras’ were captured in the background of the film, simply going about their business. And after seeing multitudes of these folks captured near and far […]
100 Days, 600 Miles
Dear Friends “Are you sad that it’s almost over?” As we bumped our way on the 2-track out of the backcountry from our last cow camp, I was asking my 26-year-old Linnaea about coming off the range with the cattle in the next few days. She, along with our other daughters and some great crew […]