Open Country

Well, it's been a while since I've had the time for a post on here. Most of you are friends of mine on Facebook, so you probably already saw the photos of the Christmas tree hunt and the house decorating that took place last weekend. Yesterday I went for my second, and hopefully final, trip to Johnson County for Winter Cattlemen's interviews. The photo above is of Mike and Connie Lohse's horses, with the Bighorn Mountains in the background. Pretty typical scenery for Wyoming... wide open and empty and fresh and clean.

The Lohses were my first interview of the day. I had four scheduled, and they all worked out just fine. They live in a pretty area on the highway that runs from Kaycee to the highway that runs over to Wright.

After we spent time visiting at their kitchen table we went out to a nearby pasture for some photos.

Then I headed to Buffalo to interview Jeff Shelley, who owns/operates Big Horn Meats. Alas, my recorder was not cooperating with me, and I had to take notes the old-fashioned way for his interview. He's standing in front of the wall of his awards for his different types and cuts of meat.

Then I headed back to Kaycee to interview Sam Skiles, the local brand inspector. We met at the Invasion, which is the local bar/restaurant, and visited over a cup of coffee about a wide variety of topics.

Then I met up with Peto Meike and these two women. Peto and his brother Don, along with the women, have worked together to make this ten-unit retirement home a reality for the small town of Kaycee. It's a classy place, and I'd live there!

These girls were moving to their winter pasture while I was in Kaycee. They came down from the north and turned west under the interstate overpass.

So that's what I was up to yesterday. Today I was in the office, working on scheduling December and making sure we're good to go for our week off between Christmas and New Year's.

We now have about eight days to finish up Winter Cattlemen's articles, so that means I need to get my keyboard and Word documents in gear. Hopefully we don't end up with the sheer quantity of articles we needed for Fall Cattlemen's, because that would mean another trip up north for either Heather or myself.

Otherwise, today I stopped at Salvation Army and purchased a nice desk for $7.95. I didn't have my phone in the store with me, or I would have taken a picture. I also picked up some brass candle holders - the old-fashioned kind with the little handle for carrying.

I also stopped by the local YMCA, which is two blocks from our house around the corner, and I think we're going to get a membership for these winter months.