A recent visit to the doctor set me up for some unpleasant tests and procedures that I was in no mood to go through. I don't know how doctors do it but it’s like one of those women who always discover projects urgently needed at the start of hunting or fishing season.
Perhaps it was a left-wing conspiracy to keep me from hunting or something like that.
Read MoreMany of you are probably unaware that Ol' Dutch has quite a storied past. Not only has he been West and “seen the elephant,” but for some time he worked for the railroad.
That fact often conjures visions of western vistas, bright shining days and the sound of a lonesome whistle on a distant locomotive wailing its movement across an endless landscape for folks. The reality of that job is long, lonely shifts riding endless rails, sleeping in dirty motels, eating bad food in nasty diners and having no sleep.
Read MoreBack when I was younger, more naïve and married, I found out that people would pay me to come and stay with them at some swanky resort. This discovery required only a short 90 minutes of my time with no pressure or purchase necessary. I had discovered the Time Share sales pitch.
Read MoreThis summer has brought a plethora of visitors all dragging children along for an outdoor vacation. In case you don't know what plethora means it’s a gaggle, clatch, herd, flock, drove, swarm, pile or, in layman’s terms, a bunch.
The parents arrive with great expectations about all the neat things they are going to do to bond with their children who have been cooped up in the big city for the past year. Things like hiking, fishing, ATVing, and singing around the campfire while toasting marshmallows and making s’mores all swim through their heads like salmon heading upstream.
What actually occurs seems to be a strange departure from when I was growing up and is shocking in fact.
Read MoreThis week while Trixie and I were fishing in the high meadows surrounding the San Luis Valley, I was reminded again how she was able to snag Ol' Dutch.
It all started so innocently three summers ago when as friends, we got so far afield that the call of nature came calling and the only facilities available was a tree in the forest. Having been married o a woman who only answered those calls on a porcelain throne, Trixie's ability to "get 'er done" while afield quickly caught my eye. Having said that, I wish now I hadn't as that just doesn't sound right. But, you all know what I mean anyway.
But regardless, it did allow us to spend more time together and that led to, well, more time together.
Read MoreLike the old fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper, if you head up to high country these days you’ll see lots of “ants” preparing for the winter by cutting firewood – lots of firewood.
It seems every year about this time, as soon as the roads into the high country have opened up and the snow has receded from mountain slopes and valleys, pickup trucks carrying chain saw wielding guys show up in large numbers fulfilling their childhood dream of being a lumberjack.
Read MoreHaving vacationed here in the Valley for some 50 odd years, when the opportunity to move here arose, I jumped on it like a flea on a dog's back.
It didn't take me long to realize that having an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) would open up the back country to these tired old Kansas legs. Watching others zoom past me as I trudged along on some logging road only whetted my appetite for a machine of my own
Read MoreThis column is a tribute to Paula's (Trixie's) mom, Billie, who passed way suddenly July 3 in South Fork.
She was one of the best Christian women I have ever known and it was a blessing to let her mentor me through some very bad times. She was also a yard sale expert who loved to laugh with me and at me, so it’s fitting for today’s column.
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