Hey, I’m a speaker!
I had a fantastic time giving a talk last week at the Bozeman Public Library, for their Living Your Passion series.
My talk is titled, “Be Who You Is,” and it’s about the genuine and authentic places and characters I’ve come across here in the True West over the course of my 20-year career.
We share stories and photos from Yellowstone and around the state of Montana over the course of an hour, talking about what’s really important and admiring the sincere beauty of the rural American West. True, the Internet has enabled us to communicate with one another in a way that the world has never seen before. In many ways, it is bringing us closer together, but it is also driving us apart. We talk about the dangers of surrounding ourselves with only those that agree with us. We share inspiring stories of those who have remained true to themselves in spite of our society’s pressures to conform.
I’m always looking for places to present. So if you have any ideas, please send me an email.
Good press
Wonderful Machine has just posted a nice article on their blog about Montana: Real Place, Real People. Thanks, WM!
This Just In
At long last, a pile of books now takes the place of my car inside my garage.
We’re thrilled with the reproduction in these books and those of you who placed pre-orders will soon receive those copies, if you haven’t already.
If you want to know more about what’s in the book, see this post or check this page on my website.
There was a slight glitch in communicating with the printer so we are offering two versions of the book, a soft cover edition and a limited-edition, numbered hard cover. The hard cover was going to include a slip case, but those didn’t arrive so we’ve discounted the hard cover price down to $60 (the soft cover is still $29.95).
The hard cover edition is still really fancy and a great value at $60. It is sized and printed so well, it will work equally well on display on your coffee table or on your bookshelf. And each book is hand numbered and signed by both authors. We are only going to print 200 of these — ever — and they’re only available through Al and I. And probably a quarter of them are already gone, so if you’re interested in this collectable work, don’t wait too long.
Although the soft cover is or will soon be available in bookstores across the country, if you order through me, your book will be signed by both authors and shipped to your door.
You can order here if you want to use Paypal or your credit card. If you want to send me a check instead, let me know through the telephone (406.599.1101) or send me an email.
Thanks!
True West Heads East
We’re headed east this week to visit potential clients in the Midwest. But we had to make time to visit Badlands National Park in South Dakota today as the storm we had been driving through all day caught us yet again.
Lambing
Just minutes old, a lamb finds its first meal in front of the Bridger Mountains at Willow Spring Ranch.
Some of you may remember this post about the Maremma sheep guard dogs at Willow Spring Ranch north of Bozeman. My friend Al Kesselheim were invited back up to the ranch recently to witness their annual lambing. Here’s what we saw:
Katy Harjes bottle-feeds an orphan lamb.
Richard Harjes gives a molasses and mineral mix to a newborn lamb, under the watchful eye of the newborn's mother.
The nursery is a portion of the lambing barn dedicated to solidifying the connections between lambs and their mothers. After 24-36 hours, the pairs are ready for the pasture.
There are about 10 dogs in various roles at the ranch. Richard Harjes puts one of his border collies, Fat Boy, to herding a group of rams.
Maremma sheep dogs like Titus work through the night guarding their flocks. Daytime is a little more relaxed — especially when Katy or Richard come to inspect the health of the sheep.
Richard takes a good look at one of his rams. The Harjeses keep a select group of rams for breeding.
Yellowstone Clean-up
I spent a wonderful Saturday morning in Livingston, taking part in the annual Yellowstone River Cleanup, sponsored by Trout Unlimited. A friend and I worked the banks near Livingston, where we found a decent bit of trash, but these guys had a literal boatload.
The Yellowstone is one of the premier trout rivers in America and a damn fine piece of scenery to boot. It was great to participate in some small way.
A crew heads over the Ninth Street bridge to clean up along Ninth Street Island in Livingston.
Snake grass along the riverbank.
Powwow
We read a lot about the extreme poverty, drug abuse and violence that many American Indians live with.
But, like most sweeping generalizations, that’s not the whole truth. There are strong efforts being made to revitalize the admirable familial, spiritual culture that once was a vital part of many tribes and many Indians are a part of this effort. And the 37th annual Montana State University American Indian Council Powwow here in Bozeman, I think, is one example of that.
It was a privilege to be allowed to witness and photograph this celebration, to see people expressing themselves in this way. I’m the richer for it.
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Angels With Four Feet
This is Buckaroo Sue Stone, 65, whom I photographed on the Crazy Cayuse Ranch near Powell, Wyo., back in early February.
Sue told me she was calving heifers on a ranch near Lewistown, Mont., in 2003 when she was attacked by one of the cows. The cow pinned Sue against a fence, broke eight of her ribs, punctured a lung, ruptured her spleen and put hairline fractures in her vertebrae before her dog Smokey raced in from a nearby pasture and attacked the heifer’s face until the cow backed off.
Smokey saved Sue’s life, but Sue still had to get up, get herself to the house and call herself an ambulance.
During a snowstorm.
And the ambulance’s brakes went out.
Sue made it to the hospital in Lewistown, spent four days in Intensive Care and was out working a herd of 350 cattle a month later.
“Sometimes,” she said, “angels have four feet.”
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Yellowstone Perks
One of the best things about living in Bozeman is our close proximity to Yellowstone. So last Friday, the family and I celebrated Katie’s last day of spring break with a quick trip. Even in the rain, Yellowstone is amazing.
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Winter Kill
I was walking along a local river with a friend recently when my friend’s dog uncovered this duck carcass. As spring arrives here in the northern Rockies, scavengers are finding food like this duck beneath the melting snows. Sad for the duck maybe, but happy for a coyote or fox.
