It’s been awhile since we wrote a little roundup
of what is going on around the Cowboy State. Here goes:
•
“Why are all these people dressed up like cowboys?” a tourist innocently asked
Eric Olsen, who owns a western wear store in Lander.
Not
sure how Eric answered, but it might have had something to do with the fact
that, yes, they really were cowboys.
I
imagine tourists ask the same thing around Lou Taubert’s in Casper and various
other “cowboy” stores in Wyoming.
We
used to joke that the only people wearing cowboy hats all the time were
auctioneers, authors and realtors. Most
real cowboys wear baseball caps when they are working. And yet it seems to me that I see way more
cowboys wearing cowboy hats all the time than I used to. Not sure if that is true and not sure why?
Nancy
and I own a tiny little pasture and we were thinking of buying a few cows. Meat on the hoof, you see. Some good grass-fed beef would help the
budget and be healthy, too.
My
old friend Ray Hunkins of Cheyenne probably knows as much about ranching as
anyone I know, so I asked him how to get my tiny herd started.
He
gave some advice but followed it up with the admonition, “and get yourself a
BIG hat.” I think he was referring to
the old expression “big hat, no cattle,” which was a demeaning remark coming
from real cattle-raising people about pretenders, such as myself. Or perhaps for all those auctioneers, authors
and realtors, too.
•
Wyoming’s oldest person, Grace Carlson, 109, of Meeteetse, died in July this
year.
And
contrary to a column that I wrote back in February where it was reported that
Leonard Ross, 107, of Jackson, was the oldest person. No, he was not. And sadly Leonard has died since that column
was written.
Grace
Carlson was married to her husband Edgar for 71 years. She lived in her current home in Meeteetse
the last 57 years of her life.
Wyoming’s
oldest person now appears to be Lloyd Baker, 106, of Etna since Betty Schelliner,
105, of Douglas, also recently passed away.
Lloyd celebrated his 106th birthday by
singing and dancing in his hometown. He
appears to be enjoying his first year of retirement. Up to last year, he still went to work every
day at his surveying company.
Baker credits his long life to an active
lifestyle and his diet of sweet, salty snacks, which includes a bag of peanut
M&Ms each day, according to a report on Townsquare Media’s King Radio. Can
anyone out there help out if you know anyone in Wyoming older than Lloyd?
•
Despite our heavy snows, cold weather and high winds, Wyoming people can feel
pretty darned lucky when compared with what people in Houston, Florida and
Puerto Rico have been going through.
Has
America ever seen a trifecta of horrible weather hit during such a brief time?
Hurricane Harvey hit in late August, Hurricane Irma in early September and
Hurricane Marie in mid-September.
The
devastation has been immense and it has been nice to see Wyoming people
stepping up to help.
One
weather-watcher said that if Wyoming received 50 inches of moisture like
Houston did, and it came as snow, we would be buried under 60 feet of the white
stuff. Wow.
It
seemed to me that forgotten in all this weather news was the tragedy northwest
of us. In Montana and other states thousands of acres of timber, grassland,
homes and outbuildings burned. Our
atmosphere was nearly as smoky as I can ever recall during much of August and
September. Only worse time would have
been the 1988 Yellowstone fires and during the Anchor Dam area fire a few
decades ago. Oddly, we had a nice respite during the eclipse on Aug. 21, which
was a break.
•
One last eclipse note: I have always wondered why the sun and moon look like
they are the same sized spheres to us on earth?
The
sun is 400 times larger and 400 times farther away and yet the two biggest
objects in our sky are almost identical in size, when looked at by the human
eye.
Scientists
consider it just a fluky coincidence while true believers think it is a special
sign from someone higher above. And thus, the eclipse becomes way more
significant to these folks than just one object blocking out the other.
All
I know is that I want to see another eclipse some time. It was one of the most
memorable experiences that I can recall.
And
it was fun to share it with 1.5 million people watching it on Wyoming soil.
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