Clik here to view.
The recipe for time.
The best part of summer is the back of a horse on top of a hill when the sun is slowly sinking down below the horizon leaving a gold sort of sparkle in its wake. And the cows are in their place,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Heroes Proved
I’ve been writing music since I was a little girl. Some of it has escaped the walls that held me at the time, others have been locked up, unfinished, never ready to be played for anyone. I have ideas....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The roundup.
Sometimes we have to bring the cows home. This is what that looks like… when it takes a little longer than planned to get them there. And this is what it looks like in the morning waiting for the rest...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A prayer for the South Dakota Cowboy
As the sun shines down through the golden trees and rests on the back of the black cows grazing outside my windows and along our cattle trails, we send out a prayer to ranchers in western South Dakota...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday Column: What it means to be a cowgirl
The wind is blowing so hard out here it woke us out of a dead sleep early this morning and detached some of the new shingles on the roof of the garage, undoing in one second some of the hard work...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Boot Stories: Winner Winner!
Andrea’s Boots (via Twitter) Today my boots hung out on the floor of my car while I traipsed around town at my big girl job in some big girl heels. I raced around the pavement checking things off of my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The way it should be
This week the cows came home, and so did 70+ degree weather. When there are cows around in 70+ degree weather it’s next to impossible for people like us to stay inside, or do anything other than find...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The golden hour…
Summers don’t last long enough here. But the days are long and so we make up for it by squeezing every last inch of sunlight out of our waking hours. We have supper at 11 pm. Quick. Whip something up....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tangled.
Out here on the ranch there are people and animals and machinery and water and buildings and growing things and plans thought out but maybe not discussed with one another… When you combine all the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Happy Birthday! Love, Your Biggest Fan…
Today this guy here celebrates another year of living. I just spent part of my morning writing about him, my husband, the man I’ve celebrated sixteen or so birthdays with in our lives together. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday column: Two-stepping in the kitchen…
This week’s column is on dancing in the kitchen with my big sister and learning the two step in country school gym class. It’s about being in a band and watching from the stage the different ways old...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday Column: A new season…
Yesterday was cow gathering day on the ranch. I helped pull burs from the horses’ manes and sprayed flies and waved as my sister, husband and dad loaded up the trailer and headed for the hills. It’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday Column: The boy on the hill
Longtime blog readers might remember this story. I stumbled across it in the archives last week while I was revisiting some of my writing as I contemplate putting together a book. Yes. A book....
View ArticleClik here to view.
On horseback…
We’re in the thick of fall at the ranch, which doesn’t mean as much pumpkin spice flavor as it does wooly horses, wooly caps and scrambling to get things buttoned up and rounded up for the winter. On...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How old stories help us hold on
Coming Home: How old stories help us hold on One of the best parts about sharing stories every week is that sometimes it compels others to share their stories, too, reminding me how closely strangers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘Til the cows come home…and they always come home…
Here are some photos of the guys moving a group of cows from our pasture back east where they are supposed to stay but keep coming home because, well, they’re a pain in the ass and the fence is down...
View ArticleClik here to view.
To be a cowboy
To be a Cowboy Forum Communications In a few short weeks, I will pack up my guitar and head for the desert in Nevada for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. It will be my second invite to this event...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Waiting on the sun
Waiting on the Sun Forum Communication My husband stopped the pickup last week as another spring snowstorm came rolling over the horizon. He stopped along the road where the horses were working on an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why I’m moving to the suburbs
And now a true story about what it’s like being me trying to be a ranch hand and a housewife and why I may need to start shopping for khakis and a house in the suburbs. The scene: Going with my dad on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
If You Were A Cowboy (Official Music Video Release)
Breaking News! The official music video for “If You Were a Cowboy” is up on my YouTube Channel! Featuring real North Dakota working and rodeo cowboys and families, this song is a shout out to the men...
View Article
