hooleydd
Jul 153 min read
The Velvet Air
About five years ago I saw Garrison Keillor perform his radio show “A Prairie Home Companion” on an outdoor stage in Boise, Idaho. He...
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hooleydd
May 18, 20223 min read
Owning a Piece of the Oregon Trail: the Things We Found
I took a walk on the Oregon Trail this morning. The southern leg of the Trail goes through part of our farm. I bushwacked my way around...
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hooleydd
Apr 2, 20223 min read
What the West Needs and How to Get It
On was on vacation, driving through Louisiana when I looked around me and thought: this is what the West needs: water. The ground was so...
460
hooleydd
Jan 24, 20223 min read
Trail Talk in Arizona: The Recipe for Cactus Tacos and Good Human Beings
The trail to Wasson ridge in Tucson’s Saguaro National Park was pitiless. Sharp rocks and barbed cactus everywhere. But near the top, the...
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hooleydd
Jul 30, 20213 min read
Tragedy on the Snake River
In the summer the Snake River is sluggish-looking and seems to meander. There’s mossy patches and the water level is lower. People forget...
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hooleydd
Jan 31, 20213 min read
Can Our Farm Save the Planet?
It’s a puzzle. The problem is our livelihood and lifestyle. My husband and I are farmers living on the Snake River in Idaho who enjoy...
170
hooleydd
Dec 21, 20203 min read
I don’t wanna live like this, but I don’t wanna die…
She’s on the front lines working as a nurse practitioner in the cardiology unit at our local hospital. I like her attitude. After...
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hooleydd
Nov 6, 20203 min read
Bad Times and Hard Luck
Winter is coming and many of us are stuck indoors dodging the coronavirus. Sounds like a good time for an inside joke. Isolating is...
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hooleydd
Sep 27, 20203 min read
South Africa Comes to an Idaho Farm
“The jackal went streaking past me while I held the irrigation pipe!” Christopher Robin told me, as wide-eyed and innocent as the...
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hooleydd
Aug 15, 20202 min read
A Wind that Blows Nobody Good
Ill winds have been part of my history—and as a matter of fact, greater Chicago too. I grew up not too far from the “windy city” in...
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hooleydd
Aug 2, 20203 min read
Stuck and Stranded
Did I mention the temperature outside according to my car dash read 95 degrees? I muttered to myself as I stalked along. How could I be...
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hooleydd
Jul 6, 20203 min read
Corona Summer 2020
There’s an old jazz standard entitled “Summertime” and it’s most well-known and oft repeated line is: “Summertime…and the livin’ is...
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hooleydd
Jun 22, 20203 min read
A Way to Cope, a Way to Rest
People find all kinds of ways to cope during difficult times. The plague of coronavirus coupled with the anger and divisiveness that’s...
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hooleydd
May 17, 20203 min read
Cutting our Coronahair
Like most people, I’m a hapless headmower at best. I didn’t let my shortcomings deter me from cutting my husband’s hair though. His...
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hooleydd
May 3, 20203 min read
Remember the Life You Led in the 1990’s?
One of my cherished morning rituals, when I couldn’t get my kids out of bed to go to school, was to blast Guns N’ Rose’s “Welcome to the...
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hooleydd
Mar 8, 20203 min read
The Past is Not Dead
No, it wasn’t a dream, but I felt dazed, like I’d taken too long a nap. Maybe I time traveled because I’d spent part of this winter in a...
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hooleydd
Feb 23, 20203 min read
Sleeping with Strangers
Reportedly, Stu spent many hours in the hotel hot tub waiting for the call from Hollywood. But motels are mainly built for transient...
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hooleydd
Feb 9, 20203 min read
Finding winter on the Idaho-Montana border…
I really didn’t miss winter this year. It wasn’t until I drove to Leadore, Idaho, a town I’d never visited, that I was reminded of the...
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hooleydd
Jan 26, 20202 min read
How Curiosity Killed the Cow-girl
I have friends and relatives though, that want nothing to do with eating meat—for a variety of reasons. Some have become vegetarian or...
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hooleydd
Jan 12, 20203 min read
What I saw at the border with Mexico …
At first I saw the man sitting with a friend in a couple of lawn chairs on the other side of the river. They were chatting under some...
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