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
I witnessed the first sheep feed of the year last week, when, after dropping the kids off from school, I crested the hill just above our house I saw Kem’s truck out in the pasture, surrounded by a knot of hungry sheep. As he began to drive the truck in a slow circle, dropping cake … More Winter Feeding
When I came across Helen Rebank’s memoir, The Farmer’s Wife: My Life in Days, I thought: Well, shit, she wrote my book! She gives us a glimpse into the daily life of a farmer’s wife, getting kids to school, checking on livestock and feeding a hungry family. She’s a champion of the unpaid and invisible … More Domestic Perfection: A Review of The Farmer’s Wife
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’ve heard it said, “Everyday do something that scares you.” . . .Or maybe I saw it on a cat poster. . . Where ever I came by it, it’s generally good advice, though I think the frequency is overstated. And what is scarier than public speaking? Jerry Seinfeld once made the joke that public … More Doing Something That Scares You
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
Every year in late May, I begin to watch antelope, paying close attention to the does who stay put rather than running from the sound of the approaching vehicle. I scan the grass, looking for the newborn fawn she’s protecting. It’s a ritual I began long before becoming a mother myself, and, actually, I think … More Tough Mothers
It’s that awkward time of year, that transition between winter and summer. Spring sounds like flowers and bunnies, but it’s actually alternating days of sunshine and snow. And mud. Lots of mud. I wear a sundress and sandals one day, a sweater and muckboots the next. Wardrobe complications are slightly annoying; work complications are … More Recollections in Tranquility
Vegetarian Ranchwife 