autumn The C-Store Round Two On the last day of my annual North Dakota trip, I was riding in the car with my three other travel buddies. We'd spent the week wandering around the prairie, and on our final night my male friend realized, we were out of tonic water. "Did you
autumn Why Are There So Many People Here? Recently, I was in a small town in North Dakota. I'd visited it the previous several years, always at the same time of year, late October, and this year, there were a lot of people in town. I mean, we drove into town just after dark, down the
autumn Wagon Dreams Fall had started. My husband was his usual ecstatic self. The days were getting cooler. The light less harsh. All the things I hated. We were driving to stomp around the mountains, the aspens just starting to yellow, but first we needed gas. He filled up the truck while I
cats One Chicken, Two Chicken I live in a rural area. On my street, we are probably the only people who don't have a collection of farm animals. We do have two ferocious, indoor felines who regularly let the bird population know, if that window glass wasn't there, they'd
houses Gov Showers In what seems like another lifetime ago, I moved into a house I rented from the government. It was a tiny thing, no actual foundation, totally crooked to the road, built in the late 1920's and forever maintained with parts from that era. We used to joke it
horror The Wild West One summer night, my friend invited me up to his town to watch their local rodeo. This was about two and a half hours north of me, just over the state line. It seemed like a good idea to me, so I got in the car, and made the journey,
nature Cherry Belly When my parents came to visit, we decided to go pick cherries. It was the final weekend at a local orchard, and summer was in full swing. My dad, who was there when we made the plans, but wasn't really paying attention, was dismayed to learn just what
relationships The Shoe Store As I've mentioned, I live in a rural area. One weekend, my parents came to visit, and after two days of dawn to dusk activities, we hit a lull in the late afternoon. My mom suggested we go get my dad some new tennis shoes. Also, as mentioned,
desert That Looks Ominous The second time I ever hung out with the guy who would become my husband, he asked me to go stomp around some sun-blasted, stick infested, section of scrub oak filled Forest Service land. He said he wanted to go quail scouting (it was spring, so not hunting season) and
nature Carnie Abe Back in my college days, I worked as a river guide. Kelp Journal was lovely enough to publish my non-fiction essay chronicling a brief look at that time. Please go check it out. It'll be under Issue 11, Carnie Abe. Literary Adventure Journal | Kelp Journal | Pebble Beach, CaliforniaKelp
horror The One-Armed Cowboy(s?) I live in a rural town. Like most rural towns, it contains a Dollar General and a box auto parts store. They line the edge of the two lane highway. They share a sidewalk that runs before both stores before ending, some long gone city planner's attempt to
food The Turkey Hunt My husband went spring turkey hunting and bagged a turkey. The photo above is the pozole he made with it. It was tasty. Where we live, spring turkey hunting requires a tag, and once he'd filed his, I thought, sure I'll go try it out. And
food Laramie... When I was a kid, I always wanted a July birthday. My brother had a July birthday, and he got pool parties, which is what I wanted. I was not born in July though, I was born in the doldrums of winter, also known as prime hockey tournament season. Youth
nature Halcyon Days In college, I was a river guide in Grand Teton National Park. I worked three summers guiding boats, and with the exception of a few months, I was the only woman on our crew. It was an extremely physical job, and I learned a lot about a lot of things.
cats Paradise Found Every year for the past few years, a group of us get together to go bird hunting in North Dakota. My husband found a pretty good short term rental on some farm land. It has a kitchen, sweeping views, and this past year, cats. We showed up and there were
art The Grocery Store There are two kinds of people. Multitaskers and those that cannot multitask. It turns out, I am married to a man who despises multitasking, while I love multitasking. This is always exemplified when we go to the grocery store together. I'm the kind of person who will say
books The Book Club Meeting I've been a part of various book clubs throughout my adult life. Some have been composed of close friends, some I've been the friend of the friend invite, and one, which I joined right out of undergrad, was a Meetup Book Club. I was twenty-two or
history Fourteen Hour Road Trip Recently, my husband and I did a fourteen hour drive in a single day. Two of the states included on this drive were Wyoming and North Dakota. For this trip, my husband selected one of his typical outfits, flip flops, faded pink shorts, a green T-shirt and a bright orange
desert The Price of Honesty In the desert of California, I would go to the local farmer's market. It usually involved a man in a tie-dyed onesie and an alien mask playing discordant tunes on an amplified guitar, at least ten women in high waisted shorts and floppy hats, a minimum of two
houses You Can't Go Upstairs Every now and then you get home from work, get into your comfortable clothes, and melt into the couch, excited by the fact you're finally home. One day I was doing this, and my husband came in and sat in the chair across from me. We stared at
houses 15,000 Pounds My husband and I moved into an old farmhouse. The house itself was full of weird stuff, like SEVENTEEN different types of flooring, and we decided we would, one day at a time, remodel it. Which is something that was only possible because my husband has skills. I am mostly
food The Process of Pears When we moved into our house, we were told the pear tree in our front yard was just going to make wormy pears. We were told we should learn to make cider. Which, when we moved in in the middle of winter, seemed like a fine autumn activity. Of course
desert Bad Gas We don't have a wood stove. But it is important you understand that my husband loves wood stoves. He wants to put one in our house. We've lived places with wood stoves before, but this not-so-new house in which we currently live doesn't have
rural life What is the real problem? Once, I moved to a new place. The house was on what initially seemed like a quiet rural road. Then I realized that while the road didn't have a ton of traffic, the traffic it had was really fast and really loud. And while sometimes it was just
