• High on the Hog

    Vegans, PETA, & the Squeamish Should Skip This Post I’ve done many interviews over the years. But never from inside a kill room, standing next to an enormous hog suspended from the rafters by a hook, blood seeping from its freshly slashed throat onto the concrete floor and sluicing down a drain. Until today. And…

    READ MORE

  • 68 x 4

    You know the great thing about camping? It’s forced relaxation! The hundred little things you could be doing around the house are nonexistent. Instead, there are hammocks to swing in, books to read, scenery to stare at. We did all of the above. But, we also hiked four miles and kayaked for three hours, so…

    READ MORE

  • TickTalk

    Tuesday was a weird day. It started with the weather. My parents had an early flight, so they left for the airport at 4:30 a.m., when Tara and I were still in bed. I was kind of half-awake, because I kept hearing what sounded like thunder. I assumed I was dreaming, because there hadn’t been…

    READ MORE

  • I Suck at Relaxing

    Saturday, I had an epiphany: I suck at relaxing. After shopping for groceries, mowing the lawn, and spending over an hour plucking weeds from the ground in 90-degree heat I wandered into the backyard, sweaty and sore, and found Tara kicking back on a zero-gravity lounger in the shade of our ash tree, Kindle in…

    READ MORE

  • Have I Been Exiled to Siberia?

    If nothing else, these first seven months at my new job have taught me that I need to dress for work the exact opposite of what the season calls for. All winter long, I roasted in my office. Even with the ceiling vent closed, heat would still seep in and slowly roast me. I came…

    READ MORE

  • What Do I Know? I’m Just a City Slicker…

    Two Things You Should Never Ask a Rancher I have long said that one of my favorite aspects of my job is talking with interesting people. I interviewed a rancher earlier this week and he definitely qualifies as interesting. That is, if you consider somebody who, in addition to raising cattle, is a cowboy poet,…

    READ MORE

TAG! YOU’RE IT.

Black Hills blogging camping cats Christmas cold cooking COVID-19 Facebook Food Fort Atkinson gardening Halloween Hiking holidays house Madison Midwest moving music NaNoWriMo Nevada No Time for Kings novel Oregon Oregon coast Pacific Northwest Portland Rapid City road trip Snow social media South Dakota television Thanksgiving thunderstorms Travel unemployment United States Washington Weather winter Wisconsin Work Writing

Subscribe

Tired of constantly refreshing your screen to see if there’s a new blog post? Enter your email to have updates sent directly to your inbox. No spam, I promise. Unless you’re looking for the delicious canned meat, in which case, here’s a handy link!