Well, it finally happened. Just like a lot of you predicted, Miss Trixie has finally left Ol’ Dutch. Well, I guess it's just temporary as she is out in Colorful Colorado while I settle some unfinished business in Texas.  I have to say honestly, I am really lonely for that woman. 

I am not sure exactly how we got here but from the time Ol’ Dutch was a child until now the affluence of the American people has grown astronomically. Recalling my younger days, I always seemed to get a basketball, football, tennis racket, skateboard or some other paraphernalia as a gift that could only be used out of doors. And, now looking back on that I am beginning to question that, just maybe, my mother was trying to get me out of the house and out from under her feet.

You probably don’t see wildland firefighters on the job because they usually work in remote areas. But with wildfires moving from the backcountry to backyards, the public is becoming more aware of the men and women who do this dangerous work. At the same time, people probably don’t know much about the very real health risks of the job. Now, it’s getting harder for anyone to know. 

By now, most of you out there in reader land know that Miss Trixie and I have been delayed in our summer journey to Colorful Colorado. I have not been this late in going since I retired some 17 years ago and it's really beginning to wear on me. 

On May 24, I completed the fourth year of my adventure, returning to work for CSU Extension here in San Luis Valley, in charge of rebuilding this Extension program. Let me tell you, the first two years went so slowly, and these last two flew by! Every once in a while, Ruthie and I still look at one another and say, "What in the world were we thinking? (It is always meant more as a statement than a question.)  But at this landmark, it is a good question to revisit. 

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote a letter to Edward Kerrington, the man Jefferson had sent as a delegate to the Congressional Congress in his place. In his letter, Jefferson told Kerrington to make a strong case for a free and uncensored press. 

This past weekend Ol’ Dutch and Miss Trixie had the privilege of celebrating Granddaughter #2’s birthday with her. The actual day is not until June 10, but we feared we might be in Colorado by then and wanted to be sure and have a party. It just so happens that she and Ol’ Dutch share the same birthday, so she is always doubly excited to celebrate with us as she gets her presents and mine, too. Being 11 years old is a great time in life and she is living large. 

Memorial Day, a day of profound significance, deserves our participation and active engagement. It is a day to come together as a community and honor and remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. 

Some of you probably remember the sitcom “Gomer Pyle, USMC.” It ran from 1964 to 1969 and still runs in syndication on ME TV. Anyone who has seen it will recall the Sergeant on the show asking questions of the recruits and yelling “I can't hear you” when they answer. He wanted them to yell back loudly, “Sir, yes, sir.” 

Unless revoked or substantially reduced to what they are now, 30 percent for 90 days, President Trump’s tariffs will still wipe out the investments made in our small family business and kill our manufacturing plant, here in Boise. When I talk to my friends and neighbors about the continuing uncertainty, I hear similar expressions of frustration about the impact of tariffs on American businesses. 

Montanan Tracy Stone-Manning, former director of the Bureau of Land Management and now director of The Wilderness Society, writes with passion about our heritage of public lands. Yet selling parts of that heritage is the goal of the current administration, whose budget bill will be under consideration starting this week. Stone-Manning warns that once public lands turn into private profit centers for energy extraction or housing, wildlife will suffer, and all of us who love the still-wild outdoors will begin to lose what makes America unique in the world.

I often watch the old Andy Griffith shows. They first ran on television some 65 years ago. It's an amazing thing that a show that old still has a following enough to keep being part of the programming schedule. 

A fair share of my readers out there has heard me talk about how my Great Grandfather, J.M. Kirkpatrick and his brother Edward, were early day founding fathers of the infamous Dodge City, Kansas. J.M. was County attorney, Magistrate and held a plethora of other titled jobs as well. Edward had a huge furniture store and mortuary. And don't ask me why in the old West, furniture dealers also masqueraded as the local mortician. 

Scientific criticism followed fast to the news that a company called Colossal had produced three genetically engineered dire wolves. Biologist Pepper Trail points out the habitat no longer exists for an animal that was adapted for preying on now-extinct ground sloths and giant bison. And the gene “edits” only involved 14 genes, with 20 differences between living gray wolves and extinct dire wolves. The goal of conservation is not to preserve individual animals, Trail writes, it is to help populations sustain themselves in their native habitats, and for that we have a long way to go.

Most people around today only have a faint recollection of who Gene Autry was. For those of you who do not, he was America’s Singing Cowboy, birthplace Tioga, Texas, near Miss Trixie's home turf. 

There was a movie some time back starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan called “You’ve Got Mail.” It was a story about two people who inadvertently connect via the Internet and end up falling in love. It's a cute story as stories go, I guess, and at least it has a happy ending. 

It's been a whirlwind of activity around here for Ol' Dutch and Miss Trixie of late and we are as busy as two beavers in an aspen grove. But regardless of the challenges, it appears that we have survived some 12 past years together and now are facing number 13 right in the face.

On Jan. 31, the 30th anniversary of wolves getting reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, congressional representatives Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Tom Tiffany (R-WI) and introduced their “Pet and Livestock Protection Act.” 

Ol’ Dutch and Miss Trixie are trying our hardest to get into the new house before leaving for our Colorado adventures in May. It's not been easy. I am not sure if it's our age or just the magnitude of the chore after 13 years together as we have accumulated quite the menagerie of stuff. 

In 1947, the Utah-born writer and historian Bernard DeVoto summed up the West's attitude toward the federal government: "Get out and send us more money." Now, says the Utah writer and photographer Stepen Trimble, federal offices are being closed and staffers fired, but no additional money is coming. The federal presence is crucial to the region, Trimble says, and the economic crisis caused by the new administration might open the region's eyes to a necessary and beneficial partnership.