The Keener Way

  Friday, June 7, 2024 5:00 am, Mountain Standard Time My eyelids fluttered open after a somewhat choppy night of sleep. Although tired out from my long journey, I had shared the night with noisy neighbors who had no regard for campground quiet hours, and I was forced to listen to calming music through earbuds to get any sleep at all. But that mattered little now. This was my first morning in Colorado! Forcing myself to abandon my blanket, I slipped out of my tent into the cool 50-something degree morning and scrambled down to the edge of the Pueblo City Reservoir. I was like a little kid in an ice cream shop when I saw the endless heaps of shale fragments that lined the lake shore. Unlimited rock skipping! I stepped into the clear water, which was definitely decisively cool, but not outright freezing. I skipped rocks for the better part of half an hour, amazed at how easy it was to entertain myself with nothing but a heap of rocks and a gigantic 4600 acre puddle. But finally, the sun

  For half a lifetime, I have dreamed of seeing the Rocky Mountains. Most of my early fantasies have centered around northwestern Montana, which is very much still on my bucket list. But a few years ago, Colorado started to come onto my radar. I've never been further west than the eastern edge of Missouri. I never had the time, money, or means for the Rockies to be a practical trip. But as I grew older, as I tried different jobs and found high dissatisfaction with all of them, my mind started wandering. What is a job that will always be needed, no matter what happens to the economy? A job that is hard, honest work? A job that will never ever go away? Growing food. Dairy farmers, ranchers, crop farmers... They are irreplaceable. And what really caught my attention was the idea that some big farms/ranches, especially out west, sometimes offered housing options to employees. It would be the perfect way to relocate to a different state without worrying about renting an apartment and tr

Lissie and Simmons return! This time with FOUR pirates: -Sir Francis Drake, the Queen's favorite 'pirate'  -Calico Jack, a pirate captain over two other famous pirates  -Anne Bonny, woman pirate and loyal to Calico Jack  -Mary Read, woman pirate and friend of Anne Bonny.   Join the Inkdrinker Historians for their two-part series on the true pirates of the Caribbean.    Other places you can find Lissie and Simmons: Instagram handle: @inkdrinker_historians Lissie's Blog: Lissie's Ramblings (.wordpress.com)   This podcast is a new adventure for the duo, so if you enjoy learning new things about history, give them a listen and hit that subscribe button!