Posted on June 30, 2010 - by Hubba

Haying Time

The Frank Timmon’s Ranch has gotten to the hayfield at last!  We’ve had a run of bad luck with the machinery, but today we raked and baled a bit of hay.  In between we’ve been busy changing oil, greasing, cleaning the winter muck out of everything, and cussing.

The haying season is a lot like a baseball game.  The more I think about this, the more true it rings.  Beer gets drank, tobacco gets chawed, everybody’s red-faced and sweating, there’s a lot of strategy, and it’s all not very interesting. (more…)

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Posted on June 26, 2010 - by Hubba

Summer Fun

My summer is heating up.  I got invited to be the emcee once again for the Wasta Talent Show on the Fourth of July.  Bonnie, Patty Joe and I will probably perform as well.  On the fifteenth of July, me and a horse have to be at a set of wagon wheels on highway 63 at 9:30 in the morning to participate in my buddy Blaine Nordvold’s Eagle Butte Mail Ride.  Pairs of horseback riders will relay a pouch (mochilla, perhaps?) of historical and significant documents from Ft. Pierre to Eagle Butte in a single day.  Each pair of riders rides about four miles and I am paired with the always enthusiastic Zay Norman.  At the conclusion of the Mail Ride, all of the riders will join the Eagle Butte Centennial Wagon Train to ride into downtown Eagle Butte for their centennial celebration.

The next week I am invited to participate in Johnny Holloway’s bucking horse roundup in conjunction with the Dupree Centennial Celebration.  The stalwart citizens of Dupree said multiple tornadoes be damned, our Centennial Celebration will not be postponed.  That’s the old pioneer spirit right there.

Then at some point the city of Faith is having their Centennial Celebration, which I more than likely will attend.  Throw in my dad’s big picnic and I wonder when I’m going to get any work done.

These Centennial Celebrations are fun, but after four straight years of them, I can honestly say I won’t mind when this whole country turns a hunnerd and we can put the candles away.

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Posted on June 25, 2010 - by Hubba

Little eChurch on The Prairie

A year or so ago, when he was still in the seminary, one of my chief delights on the interwebs was visiting the Saint Paul Seminary website to read the writings of now-Father Tyler Dennis.  Deacon Tyler (his station at the time) was in a stable of six or seven different contributors to the website, so he didn’t have to write every day.  And I eagerly awaited each of his missives.  It is unchristian but true to say that I never really enjoyed any of the other seminarians musings.  And I got to where I could tell them all apart.

Deacon Tyler’s writing, from a single sentence to several pages, was always profound.  He could write about a mystery of the Church, throw in a wry observation about country living or even a Baxter Black quote and wrap it all up in prose that bespoke years of reading and a ferocious intellect. (more…)

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Posted on June 24, 2010 - by Hubba

Patty Joe Timmons, Folk Songwriter

Bonnie and I have both tried our hands at songwriting, to various degrees of success.  So I guess it should come as no surprise that our daughter Patty Joe is endeavoring to write songs too.  At the tender age of four, she has written two songs already.

Patty Joe has a songwriting style which is rather dark, but brilliant at the same time.  Most of her songs have to do with the anguish of free spirits shackled by the realities of the world.

Much like Jim Morrison, Patty Joe is a very shy performer, but instead of performing with her back to the audience, Patty usually sings with a blanket over her head.

The following is her first original composition.  There really was no discernible melody, so if you want to sing it, you can use whatever melody you like-

A dog was up in the sky so high;

And then he died

‘Cause he didn’t have wings to fly

Like a butterfly.

Does anyone have EmmyLou Harris’ phone number?  I think she could do something with this.

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Posted on June 22, 2010 - by Hubba

Timmons’ Branding 2010

Sometime last week, after having been relieved of campaigning responsibilities, it was suggested to me that I arrange, schedule and execute the John Timmons branding.

After a little thought, I decided to go ahead and do just that, but with quite a little trepidation.  I only own one pair (that’d be a cow and calf, if you didn’t know) in the herd, and I felt wrong being trusted with a whole branding, having come from a family who didn’t trust me with a garden hoe.

But having made the decision, I threw myself at it.  I decided to shoot more for a party than a branding, so I invited plenty of people.  Then my future father-in-law (again, on his own place, claiming to be my subordinate) invited some more.  Lots of people to help is a wonderful thing, but the task of feeding them falls to to the people in the house.  And so my anxiety increased a little.

After careful consultation with the calendar and the principal player’s schedules, I selected June, 20th, at noon (more…)

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