See page 48.

The Winter 2019/2020 issue of range magazine is hitting the streets. On the cover, among other things, it says “One Heart” and “Gauchos & Buckaroos.” Both refer to a story I wrote that opens on page 48 of the magazine.

Featured in the article are two artists: Carlos Montefusco and Jeff Wolf. Carlos is from Argentina, where he has enjoyed a long reputation as a painter of the gaucho, the cowboy of his country. Jeff is a sculptor famed for his works of art depicting the buckaroo culture among American cowboys.

The two have become friends, brothers even, as they have explored rural life in their respective countries, and shared knowledge and history and meaning.

Find a copy of range and read all about it. It is an inspiring story of two artists who share one heart.

Getting to know Bob.

The latest issue of RANGE magazine has been out for a while, but I am still thumbing through it and enjoying the photos and stories.

Of particular note (to me) is a short profile in the magazine’s “Red Meat Survivors” section I wrote about one of the best men I’ve met—Bob Schild. If you haven’t had the good fortune to meet Bob, let this profile in RANGE serve as an introduction.

When I set out on a quest to become a poet, Bob’s poetry was an inspiration, partly because he wrote a lot about rodeo, which I can relate to, and partly because his poems are so well-made, with terrific turns of phrase. Some of his poems are serious and deeply emotional, and I don’t mean shallow sentiment. Some of his poems are humorous, and I mean funny stories, not cheap and easy joke poems. All his poems are authentic.

I hunted Bob up one afternoon many years ago at a rodeo arena and introduced myself (a thing I seldom do, being somewhat shy). He was cordial and kind, and a friendship grew from there and continues all these years later.

You can read about Bob (and many other things Western) in RANGE by subscribing here: http://www.rangemagazine.com/

Reflecting on “Reflections.”

range magazine and the Range Conservation Foundation just released a new book titled Reflections of the West: Cowboy painters and poets. (Ain’t that a fine title?)

It’s 160 big, colorful pages of pure delight.

Poetry by some of the finest versifiers, living and dead, to ever practice the art (and me, as the exception that proves the rule) accompany paintings by a variety of accomplished artists who illuminate cowboy life. (That's a Don Weller painting on the cover.) Together, the words and pictures offer heartfelt reflections of ranching and riding, horses and cattle, sheep and shenanigans, landscapes and wildlife.

This book’s predecessor, Brushstrokes and Balladeers: Painters and poets of the American West, (another fine title) won a slew of honors, including the Western Heritage “Wrangler” Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. This book may well outdo it.

Two of my poems are featured: “A Bolt of Broomtails” and “Morning Glory.” The poems accompany beautiful art, the first a painting by the late, great Utah artist Maynard Dixon; the second by contemporary artist Cheri Christensen.

Perfect for Christmas and other gift-giving occasions, the book is available from the publisher online at www.rangemagazine.com and by phone at 1-800-RANGE-4-U.

Writing about Phil and Bill.

The summer 2015 issue of range magazine has arrived in mailboxes and on newsstands around the West. Inside its pages are two articles I wrote about interesting Westerners.

Phil Kennington is a well-known cowboy poet who has entertained readers and audiences alike for decades. But Phil’s life is much bigger than poetry. He was raised on a ranch where he learned early on to handle livestock—an education that served him well later in life. He spent decades lifting horses’ legs and tacking on shoes. You can read about Phil in the “Red Meat Survivors” section in the magazine.

Also featured is a ranch that lies between Utah’s Wasatch Plateau and San Rafael Swell. The Quitchumpah Ranch is owned and operated by Bill Stansfield, who runs cattle on Fish Lake National Forest permits, a BLM lease on the San Rafael Desert, and his own pastures. Stansfield—with help from family and friends—was branding calves the day I visited. Some photos from that day were posted here earlier; others accompany the article.

Read these stories and more in range. If you don’t subscribe, you can remedy that here: www.rangemagazine.com.

A magazine article with a point. Lots of them.

The most recent issue of RANGE magazine includes an article about the Frying Pan Ranch in the Texas Panhandle. The place is significant because it played an important role in making the American West what it is today.

Joseph Glidden and his partner established the ranch back in 1881 for the sole purpose of demonstrating the usefulness of Glidden’s invention—barbwire—on a large scale. They built and strung 120 miles of fence to make the point.

“Wiring the Frying Pan” in the summer issue of RANGE magazine is a reprint of a chapter from my new book, The Lost Frontier: Momentous Moments in the Old West You May Have Missed. The book is filled with unheralded historic events and people as interesting and important—but, perhaps, none so influential in the big picture—as the pointy, prickly devil’s rope that reinvented the West.

Find out more about (and subscribe to) RANGE magazine at www.rangemagazine.com. Find the book online or at bookstores.

Sheep. And more sheep.

Over the years I’ve cracked more than my share of cowboy jokes about sheep and sheepherders. Truth is, one of my best friends growing up came from a sheepherding family and one of the first pretty girls that ever consented to go out with me raised sheep. So, like it or not, sheep and the people who raise them have a place in my heart of hearts.

The new issue of RANGE magazine features two stories I had a hand in, and both are about sheep people.

On page 64 is story about the family of Lee and Joan Jarvis, who, for decades, have bred, raised, and supplied range rams to sheep herds all across the West from their outfits in Utah and Idaho.  (The photo above is Lee horseback, herding sheep on their Idaho ranch.)

In the “Red Meat Survivors” section of the magazine on page 82 is a profile of Marie Ormachea Sherman I put together with help from her granddaughter-in-law, Nora Hunt-Lee. Marie raised sheep—and cattle—for years on Nevada ranches, and still does. (That’s Marie in the photo with the lamb.)

If you don’t subscribe to RANGE magazine, you can remedy that situation here: www.rangemagazine.com.