"And if you ever held your woman on a summers evening
While the prairie moon was blazin’ in her eyes
You’ll know why I live beneath these Western Skies."
lyrics by Chris Ledoux
While the prairie moon was blazin’ in her eyes
You’ll know why I live beneath these Western Skies."
lyrics by Chris Ledoux
From the time I can remember, the idea of ranch life fascinated me. Some of that was growing up when westerns were popular on TV, some came from the books I read, like Zane Grey, but do we ever really know why we are drawn to anything? We can know we are, although it can be hard to sometimes to understand our true inner yearnings, as we are so easily distracted by superficial things that take the place of what might truly fulfill us.
When my husband and I were first married, I tried to convince him he should go into ranch management. That would have made zero sense given he's a gifted techie, but he and I have come close to having a bit of that world with our small acreage, the cows and sheep. It's not the same though as big ranch country.
So for me, places like the Big Hole Valley are very popular even though, people, other than fishermen, might wonder why. There are no department stores nor major grocery stores in the tiny town of Wisdom. There is an occasional moose.
I am practical enough to realize places like the Big Hole Valley are not for those like me who are not ranch connected; and yes, I do know how hard ranch life can be. But there is another side of me, the fantasy side and when that woman comes into a valley like the Big Hole, she imagines maybe there is another part of her soul living a life there. Some believe we do that, you know. That our soul is an 'oversoul' that can lead many lives and more than one at a time.
If so, perhaps, that other me is cooking for the ranch crew, saddling her own horse to help with round-ups, listening to her children read after dinner or maybe by now it's grandchildren, and at night if she is not too tired, making love to her rancher husband. Maybe when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she lies in bed and wonders about the life I have led and what it'd be like.
"I gotta be where I can see those Rocky Mountains
Ride my horse and watch an eagle fly
I gotta live my life and write my songs beneath these Western Skies."
Chris Ledoux
"I gotta be where I can see those Rocky Mountains Ride my horse and watch an eagle fly
I gotta live my life and write my songs beneath these Western Skies."
Chris Ledoux
10 comments:
Yippy tie yo !!
I love the Big Sky country - always have. I don't think there is any place like Montana. But have you ever spent a winter there? It is absolutely gorgeous in the winter - and deadly. When we were kids, Gram would tell us stories about how the farmers had to tie a rope from the house to the barn, or they'd be lost in snow storms. I thought she was just telling tales - until we drove through Montana for the first time in winter - and they closed the pass in front of us because the wind was blowing so much snow that you couldn't see the road! Plenty awesome.
If the oversoul exists, I wonder if we can find our soul partners? Wouldn't that be satisfying to have a meeting? That is satisfaction would be the result if both partners have a degree of success in their lives.
The way you write about Montana, it's like you've lived many lifetimes there already. It's in your blood, a genetic memory.
Western Montana is different than Eastern with the Rockies probably making that difference. I went to school with a boy whose grandfather had a ranch out of Billings and he described those kinds of storms where he had to follow the fenceline home to make it back to the main ranch. I know in the Dakotas they would have a rope between barn and house to get between them safely in those storms. I won't likely ever be in Montana in the winter due to farm responsibilities here (calving and lambing not to mention more feeding), but the Big Hole Valley says it gets 102" of snow a year. I suspect they are getting less though right now as Bitterroot Valley people (the ones whose cottage we stayed in) said they have had quite mild winters recently. I can even remember very harsh winters where I live in the Willamette Valley. Weather does change and then change back.
We are considering changing our second home from Tucson to Montana. That was the purpose of this trip but the Big Hole Valley was not on the agenda as it really is just big ranching country. The Bitterroot Valley is the main area we have been looking.
and it is possible, robin, that it's a genetic memory as my ancestors lived in the Dakotas before they moved to Oregon.
parapluie, some believe they can meet the other person living from the same oversoul. I don't really know about any of it except it's interesting.
I believe there are some things in life that must remain mystery.
Very interesting....I am learning alot about Spirituality..etc. I didn't know that people believed that. I think that's way kewl. I didn't even think of that but ya know..purhaps that is the case. Don't know... :) Thanks for sharing with us! I always wanted to live on a farm too but I don't know about the work it would involve.
Excellent photos Rain it looks like a wonderful and quiet place.
It is fun to wonder what might have been, I do that all the time and then reality sets in that you cannot change what has happened only what can happen in the future. I would bet that if you had lived on a ranch in the wilds of Montana for the last 30 years that you would wonder what life in a more populated area would be like. You seem like an adventurous soul and would be looking to explore regardless of where you had landed.
I just got back from Hawaii and that is a place where I think I could live. Much more suitable winter weather.
Beautiful photos and beautiful you, too. I always love how you incorporate yourself in your environment. I like the oversoul theory and sometimes think about that concept until it boggles my mind. Deams are part of the parallel lives, it is said.
Read your Dick Cheney post, too, but I am too cynical to even comment on that except to say i wish I had written what you wrote. I'm pissed off that he is building the case that he is not in the executive branch but legislative branch so his papers can be protected better. That was a big issue at the archival conference I just attended. I always thought Cheney and Rove were actually running the show.
thanks everyone for the comments. Fran, I put myself into them; so others will imagine themselves there. If enough of us use those forests and wild places, the government will not be able to sell them off. It takes a lot of us valuing them to keep them as they are. I am not opposed to logging in them-- if the logging pays a profit. For the government to pay more to sell the trees or minerals, than it receives is welfare just as is the current farm programs for those farm states that are so proud of their independence but have many there who take huge handouts from the government for doing and growing nothing. That should stop but because of political clout, I don't know what it'll take.
On the oversoul, some do contact that other side. I am not one of those some but know them and believe they are sincere with what they say
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