Two years ago today
This engine, Engine 78, was lost in the Harris Fire on Farewell Road. My friend and firefighter Dan Steffensen almost died that day. This photo begins what the citizens of Red Lodge remember as the Summer of Hell, the start of the Robertson Draw Fire on June 13, 2021....
A Storm Every Day
We don't need clocks in the mountains. We wake up with the sun. Our day is guided by the trending shade. Late in the day, darkening Beartooth skies tell us to head for home. When a sudden downpour reminds us to plan dinner. After the rain, the pine and sage aroma...
Look to the east
Gandalf was not alone. Other great philosophers include Scarlet and Annie. Life teaches us to wait until morning. Problems or darkness that sinks us in the night disappears when we rise with the sun.
A message in my canyon
Rainbows result from the pain of the rain that came before. Good and beautiful things often follow the darkest storms. The only thing that is separating them is time. The message is resilience and the potential to become a better person.
It’s all his
The pasture, the puddles, the pond. His real domain is loyalty. He sits at attention when I leave, watching me drive away. As if he's telling me to "Have a nice day." When I get home, he is waiting at the gate. Did he hear me on the canyon road? His butt shakes. His...
“Great Reads in Great Places”
To live forever in the Library of Congress. We wanted to tell a good story for Indian Education for All. And to be accepted by Montana's Office of Public Education. We picked the most important event in Crow history with the most important Crow artist. And we placed...
Snow goes.
Birds return. "To everything, there is a season." Welcome buds with sun-daffodil and poppy. Native grass pushes up green through last year's growth. Baby bison, elk, goat, and bear will soon play in the Park. Grab a clean lens, and don't miss it.
Benny on guard
As Spring releases its bounty. A lone coyote tests him. A turkey does not escape his grasp. Nor the rabbit he buries for a later snack. None are far from the post of his domain. Only leaving to make his rounds along the canyon wall. We are his safe...
Spring in Montana
High in the mountains, several feet stopped the world. To some it's a disaster. To others it's a postcard. But we never begrudge moisture as July is coming. May will be mud. June will be blue and green. Always take care of today, in case something good happens...
Daddy and me
Sixty-six years ago. My, he was handsome. So dark that my Montana Indian students asked if he was one of them. But sadly, no, not in our DNA. Many in Oklahoma can claim it. Daddy was mainly Irish and German. I have outlived him. He died when he was sixty-five. Too...