To our surprise, we discovered that the tiny wind blasted cubicle still stood as we clambered up to the prominent peak at nearly 10,000 feet. We had left all forest vegetation behind us several hundred vertical feet back on our climb. This weathered and decomposing shed was in the alpine tundra zone, that area of perpetual permafrost and rock where …
Ruminations & Newsletters
When Bridges Fail
There were now only three of us horseback on the darkening backroad. Linnaea had fallen behind and was scooped up by Caryl, piloting truck and trailer. The 7 year old was frozen and tired on her aging gray mare, who now happily had wheels under her. The little blonde haired girl in the truck was happy again, chattering with mom. An old (and a …
Four Months in the Mountains
Well, we got them hired. Six twenty-something gals and guys, hailing from Ohio, Colorado, Texas, Utah, Indiana and Idaho, for a range riding position on Alderspring. Ohio was the strongest state repped this year, with 3 of our hired hands calling the Buckeye State home at one time or another. Ohio does sound a little like Idaho, after all. To the …
Bird Meets Bulldozer
Bird Meets Bulldozer Madelyn, my blonde haired and a little-wild-animal-blooded 14-year old was waiting for me, smiling as I pulled up to the house for lunch. She eagerly came up to my rolled down window, as the warm spring air tousled her hair over her face. She had news: “The killdeer are back, Dad.” Her easy smile told the tale that …
Bonnie Before Time
I felt the pulse of the helicopter before I heard it. The thumping seemed to reverberate through the ground on which I stood, and then, in a blast of rotor wash and noise, the Jet Ranger erupted over the ridge just below me. The ship swung into a curved trajectory aimed for the head of Horse Basin. It was a July clear blue sky day in the big dry …
Idaho’s Oceanfront Property
It’s a lovely, bright sunshine day over quiet waters. As you look east, surprisingly, there’s no vessels of any kind on the vast body of deep azure blue; and there is no end to it. The sea alone is the horizon, and the sky is dotted with white clouds. There is no haze, typical of coastline vistas; the horizon is razor sharp. To the west, behind …
Pronghorn Power
As we quietly pick our way horseback along the quiet bubbling of Little Hat Creek, you’ll feel them. Perhaps it’s a sixth sense, or acuteness that we aren’t even aware of: smell, maybe, or a fleeting and subconscious capture of their motionless sentry-like form. The perception nags at you. Slowly, an idea takes shape in your mind. You are …
Sheep, Wool, Lamb, and Lloyd
The phone was ringing, irritating, as I was hands full, shoving more split wood in the Majestic cook stove in our tiny log home’s kitchen in Freeman Creek. The hungry maw of that and the main woodburner were the only things that kept Caryl and I from absolutely freezing over this long and dark winter—not to mention the pipes that would have long …
