This winter, Kem and I thought it would be a good idea to get on snowboards and join our kids on the mountain. It’s been at least fifteen years since we’ve been on a board, a point which I repeated to anyone who stood still long enough for me to get the words out. I … More Measuring Time in Lift Tickets and Kids
Ugh! I want to say something positive like, “We’re almost at the end!” But no one needs that toxic positivity when we all know that January can go well into March. Sure, December has just as much January in it, maybe more, in most years. But in December, we have lights, I’m baking cookies, there’s … More January is the worst!
January 5th marked the 100th anniversary of the swearing-in of Nellie Tayloe Ross as the first woman governor in the US. It came and went with little attention. I only caught the story scrolling through my news feed a few days later. But local news outlets gave Ross her due. We Wyomingites are proud of … More Celebrating 100 Years of Governing Women
In Arabic folklore, there’s a famous story that goes like this: Goha and his son were walking to a nearby village with their donkey. Some people passing by commented, “What fools! They walk when they have a perfectly good donkey to ride.” Goha put his son on the donkey and walked along side. The next … More What does a donkey have to do with raising kids?
I’m excited to announce that Sunday, July 14 I will be speaking at Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. I’ve titled my talk, “Moving From the Wound Towards a Religious Vitality,” and I will draw on my childhood experiences as a strict Seventh-day Adventist to examine how religions can wound, and also how they can play … More Speaking About Wounds
Last week, as we passed the Vernal Equinox, I saw in my social media feeds, pictures of blooming daffodils and blossoming cherry trees. But, even in this bizarrely warm year, we are a long way from flowers. Calves are a better harbinger of spring around here anyways, and we’ve been watching their numbers grow for … More Harbingers of Spring
Another shearing is behind us, a year’s wool crop bagged and ready to ship. It’s one of my favorite ranch jobs, a chance to get my hands in the fleeces. I love any work involving our livestock, any chance to spend some time around the animals, but as a vegetarian, it’s the one thing we … More Raising Kids in a Barn
Why do we work? For the money, or at least, that’s the easy answer. Gotta put food on the table. Still, isn’t there more to it than just punching a clock and getting a paycheck? Shouldn’t our work mean something? Isn’t that why, when we first meet someone we ask, “What do you do for … More Grunt Work
I have vivid memories of my family’s first Thanksgiving with a turkey. After watching my parents reaching into a dead bird’s body cavity, my sisters and I swore we’d never let them touch us again. I was six or seven years old and my entire life our family had been largely vegetarian. We were Seventh-day … More A Vegetarian’s Thanksgiving Feast
Here, in Central Wyoming, we have had an absolutely beautiful fall, with trees around town crowned in eye-watering yellows, oranges and reds. Most years, we have a freeze and at least one snow by October, which turns the leaves to a soggy brown, and our constant winds send them to Nebraska, but, thanks to our … More Fall Colors
Vegetarian Ranchwife 