Wyoming - July 10, 1890

Wyoming - one of those "yet to be visited states". I know this song from Wyoming, which I sang in the fourth grade chorus during the spring concert at Johnnycake Elementary School in Catonsville, Maryland:

As I went a-walkin'

One mornin' for pleasure,

I spied a cowpuncher

Come ridin' along;

His hat was throwed back,

And his spurs was a-jinglin'

And as he approached,

He was singin' this song.

Whoopee ti yi yo,

Git along, little dogies,

It's your misfortune

And none of my own;

Whoopee ti yi yo,

Git along, little dogies,

You know that Wyoming

Will be your new home.

It's early in spring

That we round up the dogies,

And mark 'em and brand 'em

And bob off their tails;

We round up our horses

And load the chuckwagon,

And then throw them dogies

Out onto the trail.

Whoopee ti yi yo,

Git along, little dogies,

It's your misfortune

And none of my own;

Whoopee ti yi yo,

Git along, little dogies,

You know that Wyoming

Will be your new home.

It's whoopin' and yellin'

And a-drivin' them dogies,

Oh, lord, how I wish

That you would go on;

It's a-whoopin' and punchin'

And go on-a, little dogies,

'Cause you know that Wyoming

Is to be your new home.

Whoopee ti yi yo,

Git along, little dogies,

It's your misfortune

And none of my own;

Whoopee ti yi yo,

Git along, little dogies,

You know that Wyoming

Will be your new home.

Some cowboys go up the trail

Just for the pleasure,

But that's where

They always go gettin' it wrong,

For nobody knows just what

Trouble they give us,

As we start a-drivin' them

All the way home.

Whoopee ti yi yo,

Git along, little dogies,

It's your misfortune

And none of my own;

Whoopee ti yi yo,

Git along, little dogies,

You know that Wyoming

Will be your new home.

Our music teacher explained to us that the word "dogies" was pronounced with a long O and that it meant cattle. The closest encounter I have had with Wyoming was that when I was in libary school in Arizona I knew two people who were from there. I have asked James to write about his own experience in Wyoming, which he will do in a separate post.

Rising From the Plains
It is one of my great embarassments in life that I have not had a science class since 10th grade Biology with Mr. Germana in 1980. I have tried to make up for my lack of formal education in this area by taking advantage of informal educational opportunites whenever I can. Another advantage to living in Arizona, besides meeting Wyomingites for the first time, was that we could take weekend trips to the Grand Canyon. On two of these trips I took advantage of the free "Geology Talks" offered by the National Park Service  (never let it be said I do not get my money's worth from my tax dollars)! From these half hour lessons I learned enough about plate tectonics, and how the Grand Canyon was formed that I can explain it to others, and I was also able to apply the knowledge about how the Canyon was formed to another gorge I saw that went straight down (it was made entirely of hard rock, whereas the GC is a combination of hard and soft rock). Anyway all this is a prelude to my discussion of Rising From the Plains by John McPhee, recommened to me by James, and available from our "top shelf" books at home (there is a letter from McPhee tucked inside this one, for more about our top shelf books see my essay "Rubbing Elbows with the Authors", but again, I digress). This book is about geology, and it was written in such a way that a layperson could understand it, and I am also glad I knew what plate tectonics were before I read it. McPhee artfully weaves the personal story of Wyoming Geologist David Love with the Geologic history of the state. The writing is nothing less than poetic. Wyoming is a state of extreme weather, especially when it comes to wind and snow, and the effects of such is clear through McPhee's travels with Love.

I learned a great new word from this book ananym - a name derived from spelling one's name backwards (i.e. Alemap). Also, I was happy to come across the word "lee" meaning shelter. Something I started doing earlier this year while I was on sabbatical was the newpaper crossword puzzles. A common clue I came across was "towards shelter". In short order I learned the word "alee". This book provided me with my first encounter with lee meaning shelter: "Moving farther from the interstate on the sub-summit surface, we came upon a granite pyramid, sixty feet wide at its base. It....weight six thousand tons-enough to prevent its blowing over. We stood in its lee." Reading doesn't get much better than that!

Although this is a great book for novice scientists, and experienced geologists alike, it is not a book for young earth creationists, which is driven home in this passage:

"We passed St. Matthew's espiscopal Cathedral, which also - as Love had reason to regret - contained in its walls brachiopods, crinoid, and algal buttons. He once taught Sunday school there. He took the kids outside and showed them the fossils in the church walls. He described the environment  in which the creatures had lived. He mentioned the age of the rock. He explained how things evolve and the fit prosper. Here endeth his career in seimentary theology."
For more about Wyoming Geology see:
http://www.wsgs.uwyo.edu/

The Laramie Project
Has it really been 12 years since Matthew Shepherd was brutally beaten and left for dead, tied to a fence post in Laramie, Wyoming? The Laramie Project is a movie based on a play of the same name, which was based on interviews with residents of Laramie following the death of a gay, young college freshman. The movie comes off as a documentary, but recognizable big name actors (Jeanine Garafalo, Christina Ricci, Peter Fonda) make it clear that this is a dramatization. The film not only examines the lives of the citizens of Laramine, who were both directly and indirectly effected by the tragedy, but also how it effected the lives of the interviewers. Although there appeared to be genuine shock about the murder among the residents of Laramine, and the fact that it was perpetrated by two of their own, one telling remark near the end of the film resonated loudest to me: a year after the murder, after the trials and the sentencing, no new laws protecting gays had been passed in Wyoming. Have there been any changes since then?

One thing I have learned from doing this project is that America is most definitely not a vegetarian society. Although I am not a vegetarian, I do try to eat low on the food chain, and eat a lot of vegetarian meals. I look for meatless dishes when I research recipes for this blog, both for myself and in deference to my vegetarian daughter, but I didn't even try when it came to Wyoming (although you can find some vegetarian restaurants there, using this guide.) Wyomingites are a beef-eating people, indeed according to the Wyoming Cowgirl recipe website "Despite the advice of the 'food pyramid,' meat has always been our mainstay - the biggest portion on our plates - like a big, warm blanket smothering all those grains, fruits, and vegetables". I followed her homey directions for "Rib Stickin' Ranch Vittles" of steak, biscuits and gravy, and enjoyed some true comfort food. James had to help with the gravy, I didn't know how much milk to put in. My daughter is away at camp this week, so I did not have to offend her sensibilities with this meal. We also added some fresh peas to our plates. I just couldn't serve this meal without some sort of vegetable to go with it.

One final note: we shared out meal with our newest family member "Minnie" a one-year old Miniture Pincher who enjoyed her serving of beef.