Wind Songs

Monday, September 3, 2012

Dolly Llama

One day last week (the same day we came home to Cody and found that the town had disappeared into the thick wide smoke of area wild fires) we headed towards the very small community of Frannie Wyoming.

There is a disorganized and small general goods store in the center of this community and not much else in the way of businesses.

Generally it is a pass-through - a community you must travel through on the way to either Billings Montana to the north or Lovell Wyoming and then the Big Horn Mountains to the south.

As we headed towards that small place we made a brief stop at an even smaller place.

Deaver is a tiny community that contains no businesses and only a few homes.

It is located immediately off the highway about 5 or 10 miles from Frannie, and LC, Jamie and I pulled into it briefly, curious to see what (if anything) was there.

There were three or four residential streets that we quickly wandered up and down, a church, a small artisan store and this place.

The large, brightly colored and brightly decorated General Store building was initially shocking to see.

A bright red building painted as though it were a riverboat was the last thing I expected to see in hot and dry and land locked rural Wyoming.

We pulled into the shade of the building, left Jamie briefly in the truck, and climbed out eager to walk around and inspect the paintings more closely............

I smiled at I took in the whimsical old-west characters.

When I got home later that afternoon I did a brief Internet search to see if I could learn any more about this unexpected find.

The only information I could find was that it was called the Showboat General Store and that it was closed.

By the time we had stopped at the store for a few minutes we had already figured out that last part, and as I walked around to the front of the building I had to smile again - not only at the whimsical characters but also the sight of the "door to nowhere"..................

Another brief stop - this time at the Deaver City Hall.

It contained war monuments, benches and flower containers................

A patriotic fire hydrant, located across the road from City Hall and in front of the first department............

As we were driving down one very short and residential road I suddenly saw something unexpected in a yard and asked LC to stop the truck.

As I climbed out of the truck with camera in hand I walked closer to the object wondering if I had seen what I thought I had seen.

Indeed. A large and very whimsical metal horse sculpture.

He was rusted and made up of pieces of metal that had been carefully welded together to form his shape, and he made me smile.

Within the span of only 10 minutes we had seen most of Deaver and I realized that I liked this little place.

Between the fire hydrant, the horse, the general store, this tiny community had touches that were wonderful and totally unexpected.

So cute..........

After stashing my camera back into the side pocket of my pack I headed back towards the truck, still smiling at the unexpected appearance of the wonderful metal horse.

When I looked further down the road I saw the mountain man and suddenly realized that the horse was only one part of a series of whimsical metal sculptures that were standing on the property of a small art studio.

A wonderful life sized mountain man standing in front of the art studio, and an almost life-sized deer sculpture almost hidden in the wildflowers in the front yard.

By the time I was done looking at these sculptures and then snapping a few quick pictures it was definitely time to head back to the truck.

I had been keeping man and dog waiting for far too long..................

Continuing on to Frannie which was only five minutes further down the highway, we followed a sign for a yard sale.

Unexpectedly we ended up at a small tack shop business located a couple of miles off the main highway, that was surrounded by only pasture land and quiet.

The yard sale was located in the driveway in front of the store, and as LC continued to wander around the sale I asked the ladies manning the tables if they minded if I wandered around the property.

She smiled at me and told me to wander as much as I liked, but to be sure to check out the new foal that had recently been born.

Pointing me in the right direction I headed that way, eager to take a look at this new baby horse.

The first thing I saw was this beautiful leopard spot horse.

Her coloring was amazing, and after lifting her head briefly to check me out, this new mother quickly went back to eating...............

And there, sitting in a corner of the same pen as his mother, was new baby...............

He was not very old but he was very very cute and he made me smile.

As I thought about how cute he was I remembered (as I always do whenever I think something is cute) what my oldest son Sean had cynically but laughingly said to me one day many years ago when we were looking at a cute human baby.

All baby mammals are cute.

All baby mammals are cute.........

I thought that day (as I did many times while he was growing up) "where does he come up with this stuff?"

I suddenly stopped smiling but continued looking at and enjoying the sight of beautiful new baby horse, thinking that all baby mammals are cute..............

After enjoying momma and baby for a while I headed back the way I had come, taking in the tack shop for the first time...................

The Best Little Horse House In The West.................

After taking one last picture of the outside of the building I called LC's cell phone number because he had disappeared.

While I had wandered towards the back of the property to see the new foal, LC had wandered inside the building.

With no interest in tack and tack products I walked into the store without conscious expectations, intending to simply meet back up LC.

When I walked into the store though I was taken aback by what was inside.

I wish I had taken pictures but did not think of it at the time. Instead I walked around the store a little surprised.

It was a much bigger place on the inside than it looked to be from the outside, and the store was absolutely crammed with tack gear.

While LC and the store owner chatted I wandered around looking at gear that was unfamiliar to me, and eavesdropping on their conversation.

The owners have been in business for over 30 years and do business with people from all over the region.

If The World Was On Fire

We were out in Frannie Wyoming and then drove across the border to Bridger Montana a few days ago.

It had been a very warm and very beautiful sunny day, but later in the afternoon as we drove closer to Cody on the way home, I could see heavy smoke coming up and over Rattlesnake Mountain.

Within five miles of Cody I knew that something was different and by the time we hit the outskirts of town I knew what it was.

The town of Cody had disappeared.

I have never seen anything like it in my life before.

The town was completely and absolutely engulfed in thick and heavy white smoke.

As we pulled into the driveway at the house LC took Jamie inside while I walked up and down our road taking pictures of the world around me that now looked completely different from what I have become used to.

The mountains were gone. The BLM hills surrounding us were barely visible.

There were no cars on the road, no planes in the air, no bird sounds or animal sounds.

It felt almost as though I were standing in a silent and white vacuum in space.

As I crossed the cattle guard in back of the house I looked down into the grey canal water and saw this reflection of the red sun that was almost completely obscured by smoke.................

I stood in the back pasture that is made up only of dirt at the top of the hill and only lush greenery and wild flowers at the bottom of the hill, looking out over the world.

All of the horse pastures that I could normally see down below were covered in white smoke and the animals had an unearthly and ethereal quality to them.

Heart Mountain to the north and Carter Mountain to the south were gone. Cedar and Rattlesnake (which are both closer) were barely visible.

As with other unusual sights I have come across over the years, this one inevitably reminded me of a Stephen King novel. "The Mist".

I wasn't stuck in a grocery store but I hoped that no otherworldly monsters would reach out to grab me and pull me screaming into the claustrophobic and deadly white mist.

There were already enough monsters in my life and I did not need more.

I took this picture while standing in the dust and dirt at the top of the hill in back of the house.

I have stood in this same place many times and taken beautiful pictures of Carter Mountain.

Not on this day...................

Cedar Mountain.................

Looking down over usually lush, green and beautiful horse and sheep pastures................

This wonderful wagon is located beside the driveway of the house, and in the background is one of the high BLM hills that LC, James and I walked often last year.

Just to the right of that hill is a draw that I referred to last year as the BLM Killing Fields:

http://livingthejuneauadventure.blogspot.com/2011/05/blm-killing-fields.html

If you click on this picture it will enlarge.

The school bus drops kids off right at the top of our hill, and there are school aged kids who live at the opposite end of the road.

I snapped this picture as these young boys slowly made their way home and before they finally disappeared into the smoke.

I could smell the smoke. And as I suddenly realized just how thick it was I realized that it was probably not a good idea to stay outside for too long.

With that realization I walked a short ways in one direction, headed back towards the house, walked a short ways in the opposite direction and then headed safely back indoors..................

Our neighbors' horse Dixie heading for the cover of the barns...............

As I was still picture taking a familiar white Bronco came up the hill and around the curve in the road.

I knew the driver a little.

She and I have spoken a couple of times and as she approached me she slowly pulled the truck over to the side of the road and rolled down her passenger side window.

The woman has lived in Cody for more than 20 years and told me that the last time she saw smoke this thick was around the year 2000.

We have had smoky conditions a few times this summer (though nothing like this) as a result of not only Wyoming wildfires, but also smoke that came from fires in Colorado, Utah, California and Utah.

On this day there were also fires in Meeteetse, two in Wapiti, one in the Southfork, and a couple in Yellowstone National Park. All local fires.

We really WERE in the middle of a world on fire.................

The four horses and one donkey belonging to the people who live across the road.

It was a windy day and the four horses all crowded together for mutual protection and mutual support.

The donkey (whose name is Donkey) stood alone, as she always seems to do.

LC and I have had one up close interaction with Donkey.

Not long after we arrived in Cody last year, and not long after we had moved into the house, LC was standing outside late in the evening after dark.

Out of the corner of his eye LC caught movement beside one of the sheds. Unsnapping his holster he slowly walked over towards the shed and then caught another movement of something that quickly disappeared behind a bush.

When he got to the shed and then to the bush there was nothing there.

And then he caught another flash of movement. Hand on gun he cautiously walked towards the shed again, and in a few seconds finally realized what was moving around back there.

It was Donkey.

Sweet Donkey had somehow gotten out of his pasture, wandered across the road, wandered up the driveway and was looking for shelter from the cold and very strong winds.

I had been inside the house through all of this action and when I heard LC's voice calling my name I walked out onto the porch and was surprised to see my guy standing there petting a donkey.

Through the wind he told me what had happened and I walked inside to grab Jamie's leash.

I gently wrapped it around the donkey just to make sure he did not have a mind to wander off again, and LC went to retrieve Donkey's owners.

While we waited for the neighbors to come for their animal LC and I stood in the cold and the wind petting and talking to and reassuring this very sweet animal, who by this time seemed quite content to stay in one place and continue to let us love on him.

Donkey is a "hanger on" in this herd. Always on the outskirts and never really part of the herd.

But he is a gentle sweetheart and whenever I see him he makes me smile..................