Memoirous

Hey! my kid (yeah, she's not really a kid, but she's my kid) has a story in a new anthology: Bright Bones--writings about Montana. Order a copy today for $20, because in May the cost goes up to $25 https://squareup.com/store/open-country-press/item/bright-bones-contemporary-montana-writing Super proud.

On the way out we started seeing the signs halfway through Minnesota. Wall Drug is like the only thing along I-90 WEST outside of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Neither are worth stopping for. In fact we were relieved when we finally passed it on the way out. Except about a mile away from it there was a billboard saying STOP! You just passed Wall Drugs. Geez, cut us a break. On the way back, driving straight through at night, those billboards on a lonely road started to seem like friends, greeting us every few miles, letting me know there was someone out there. The sky and road were pitch dark except for the occasional Wall Drug advertisement. So because we were hungry and perhaps curious, we pulled off. The town was hopping and surprisingly Wall Drug was closed. We turned into a DQ and had to stand in line behind folks in cowboy gear and Little League players to place our order. It took a while and combined with eating and lounging we stayed until closing. An employee...

We just returned from Yellowstone National Park where for a total of 5 days we camped and visited and re-visited my old stomping grounds. Speaking of which, we were lucky enough to see an unexplained stampede of buffalo in some far hills while out driving. We did a lot of driving. Far too much driving. After awhile we didn’t even bother photographing all the bison, elk, and deer we encountered in and around the roadways. Once we saw a mama bear and her two cubs. Even some of the geo-thermal features began to look the same. “Didn’t we already see this hot pot yesterday?” That’s why when we were at Old Faithful—often ending up there, as our daughter is working at the site—seeing the geyser go off a total of 5 times, we decided on our last pass through to skip watching it (people were lining the basin which they do when eruption is imminent). Yet, unbelievably, the employees never seem to get enough of Old Faithful. Each of the 5 times (almost 6) I observed employees come to the wi...

Normally this time of year I am at Cornerstone Festival . But not this year. I'm leaving tomorrow for Yellowstone where we'll get to see if our daughter really can make a bed with tight corners. She works at Old Faithful in housekeeping. It has been 32 years since I was last at Yellowstone and though some changes take thousands of years, millions, billions, I know a lot has changed at Yellowstone since I last worked there. Since that time the black mountain beetle has decimated the stands of lodgepole pines, a species of fir tree that one would have thought would NEVER go away--just like carrier pigeons--there were so many. So populous in fact that a great lodge was constructed of nothing but lodgepole pines. The Old Faithful Inn, the largest log cabin hotel in the world. Also after I left the park a wildfire got out of control--back then the policy was let it burn, as controlled burns and other contained wildfires were actually good for the ecology and for the nation...

A lot of people have asked what my daughter is doing now that she’s graduated from college. Good question. The same thing she’s done every summer for the past 4 years: She’s at Yellowstone National Park working. These same people are equally fascinated by this information, imagining, no doubt, that she is leading Ranger talks, keeping the wolves at bay, recovering stolen pic-a-nic baskets from Yogi Bear and Bobo. They are a lot less thrilled when I explain that she’s doing seasonal work, for example changing beds, cleaning cabins, clearing hair out of drains. What I sometimes get around to telling them is that I did this same work when I worked in the Park over 30 years ago. My sister got a job at Yellowstone and then told me to come on out. I was in a bad space mentally and spiritually and was looking to find myself. Nature can do that. Except I was way too busy just working and doing the job I was hired to do. Don’t get me wrong, I did an awful lot of hiking too on ...

Because I was tired and missing my daughter I googled my name. I know it's silly. We only got to see Grace for 4 days before she had to leave for Yellowstone where she has a summer job. Here's a link to her blog:   called Canyonfirebugs. She is working at Canyon the highest lodge in the park where right now they still have too much snow. Of course Memorial Day weekend is a big one for tourists, but at this point the park service is struggling to keep the roads plowed--let alone get the campgrounds opened. But while googling myself I discovered I have another story on-line. I'm not saying the journal stole it because 1) I submit my work and keep track of submission on a grid, but 2) I didn't have any correspondence or notes that "I'm Lying to You" was taken. So I was surprised, pleasantly. So far this spring I have THREE stories coming out. Let me go back to the pleasantly surprised part. I rechecked the journal to see if there might be any remunera...