"Having a Ball" in North Dakota, etc. etc.

This magnificent bison bull was grazing beside the highway near the Roosevelt National Park the evening I arrived in North Dakota. I always think this animal beautifully represents the prairiesof the old west and, seeing him, I felt I was home in Dakota!


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Visiting the Hellings (cousins) in North Dakota on their ranch always offers new insights into the business of farming and ranching. Calving was in full swing while I was there which means checking the cows several times a day. Horses have been replaced by four-wheelers with cabs, which allows the "checker" to be warm and dry as well as to get close to the individual cows.

Arlene, Dean, Corky (dog) and I made such an inspection one blustery afternoon on the prairie.
While at their ranch we also celebrated my Aunt Ethel's 90th birthday! She is still in good health, uses her riding lawn mower, and loves to announce that her waist is the same size as it was when she got married, much to the chagrin of the rest of us!

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My sister-in-law, Corinne Davis, has a gift shop in Medora, North Dakota, which is the gateway to Roosevelt National Park. She organized a group of us (employees, relatives, friends) to attend a costume ball which was celebrating the birthday of the town. It was a costume ball and we went as: THE WALTONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Corinne and I were cast as the Baldwin Sisters, peddling "Daddy's Recipe." We had a great time with our Mason jars, filled with a weak bourbon/water mix. People actually accepted samples and then came back to ask how we made the mix! Here we are in our lovely Baldwin garb---you've got to love the hats!
Corinne took me for a tour around the Roosevelt Park where we saw many buffalo, deer, wild horses, and prairie dogs. En route I received a much-enjoyed Mother's Day call from Travis and Maggie, reporting that Australia continues to be good. (Figure this out: They had just returned from a vacation in Fiji! Check their blog at http://www.mooresgo.blogspot.com/).