nature Failure According to Google, Failure means the lack of success. And for a long time, this was a binary definition to me. Either I met my goal or I didn't. There was no in between. This year, I went on two elk hunts on public land. I had the
friends The Simple Things Years and years ago, I worked in a place where, once the time change hit, it was a ghost town. One day it would be a beautiful autumn day, people walking with dogs, parents playing with kids in the golden sun, and then BAM. The time change hit and in
food Different Worlds Recently, I went to the grocery store. Clouds hung low in the sky, and they matched the very low ceiling of the store. Everyone I saw looked like all they wanted to be doing was lying down under a blanket, and frankly, I'm sure I matched the energy.
friends Lean into Love Recently my friends and I went on a trip and stayed in an AirBNB. In the evenings we'd hang out, drink gin and tonics, and generally shoot the shit. Over the years we've done this trip, we've started watching a documentary TV show that
relationships To the Dollar Store Women In my little town, there is the requisite dollar store. It blends into the background if you're not looking for it. I never paid it much attention until I figured out it was a million times simpler and faster get milk from, which we seem to always be
horror Scare Quotes Are Scary According to Dictionary.com, the definition of scare quotes is: Quotation marks used around a word or phrase when they are not required, thereby eliciting attention or doubts. My husband is particularly sensitive to scare quotes. There was a time in our life when we used to drive past the
autumn Melon Festival Recently, I went to a melon festival. It was in a little town with a population of just over 800 people. I showed up at the start of the parade. The parade contained a variety of emergency vehicles, a high school dance team, and several mayoral candidates driving Polarises decorated
nature Anemoia During COVID, the place I lived was shut down. Before COVID, it was a busy, tourist loved place. It was the kind of place in which you never really found any solace, unless you were in your house, and even then, a tourist might wander into your yard and snap
horror Neighborhood Watch Recently, I went to another location for work. I was assigned a housing unit in a long term contractor RV park. I don't have an RV, so they put me in a little single wide with a view of the highway and a distant mountain range, and I
horror The Wildest of Wildlife The other week my husband and I were driving off a mountain at nightfall. We were on a dirt road in a grazing allotment, meaning, there were cows milling around. And at night, we knew they would clump up on the road and we'd have to drive right
horror Life As A Meme This summer, I had a day off by myself, and my husband dropped me a pin and told me that if I hiked to it, I would see a lot of elk. He did tell me that there was a 'sorta tough uphill four-wheel drive road' I'
horror Hair Cuts I am one of those people who will wake up one day and know my hair is too long. Like, one moment it's fine, and then next, I need a haircut. Right. Now. And this happened to me recently. I called the hair cut place by my house,
desert Heavy Metal Is Forever Recently, I was with my parents and we drove by Hole N" The Rock on our way out of Moab. It's hard to miss, painted white letters, feet high, bright against the orange sandstone. My mom asked what it was, and I told, I had never been
family #Cottagecore Recently, I was hanging out with my cousin and she told me she loved cottagecore. I asked her what cottagecore was, and she told me it was doing things like canning peaches or squeezing lemons to make the air in the kitchen smell good. Looking it up, Wikipedia told me
family Goth Girl Diner I've always liked breakfast food, and because of this, I love diners. But they are a little risky. There is a fine line between a dive diner that is amazing, and a dive diner that will give you the shits. And if you don't have local
family Check Your Fuel One weekend my brother came to town. We were considering things to do and saw a monster truck rally was happening at a nearby fair ground. And for the low price of $23, we could go see it. We did not hesitate to buy tickets. Neither of us had been
desert PINERS One summer, my friends and I were camping, and we decided to go swim at a little desert pond. To get there, you had to drive a criss cross of dirt roads across the high desert. You knew you were close to it when a group of towering cottonwoods and
cats Toxic is a Broad Definition As mentioned, I've got some cats. These cats destroy any plants I bring into the house. I would love to have a house full of plants, but I'd have to choose between the felines and the chlorophyl, and I guess I've already made that
autumn Marriage is Like A Forest... One beautiful autumn day, my husband and I drove way into the mountains to go bird hunting. We turned off the pavement and onto a dirt road, the aspens a beautiful gold. The road was empty save for several fully loaded logging trucks. At the trailhead, we got ready and
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,
