Foothills Focus

From wildlife to weather, the foothills have quirks that outsiders might shake their heads at, but we wouldn’t trade them for anything. It’s all part of what drew us to move here—what keeps us here to protect our small mountain town way of life. It’s the wildlife way...

I was talking with my friend, Nancy, the other day and mentioned we had just had the dumpster delivered for our Love It or Lose It project. I told her this is a project we’ve done every time we moved but we somehow seem to keep the breeders as we are full-up once...

A friend recently sent me a reel of a little girl, Emi, in full ski gear, telling her mama (who somehow knew wisdom would come spewing from her little girl and captured it all on video) that she is not a “zoomer-arounder” but she is a “calm, lay-around person.” This...

My most anxious moments in life all happened when I expected something to go my way and it didn’t. Thoughts of frustration, irritation and disappointment, pounding heart and a sense of dread. It was all my own doing, whatever it was. Maybe I didn’t know it at the...

I absolutely love spring. Days starting to warm, some years lucky enough to get rain instead of snow, everything greening up. The smell of sap rising and mushroom spores. Happy little dandelions. I start dreaming of flowers and what annuals I’ll plant this year. For...

As usual, it’s time for my quarterly article and I have nothing in mind to write about. So, deadline looming, I sit at my desk with a sluggish brain and try to run through article ideas. Staring out my window, I think I could write about trees, elk, blue skies,...

It started out as an assignment and turned into a love affair. My first crush was “The Prince of Tides,” assigned by my beloved psychology teacher and soccer coach in high school. It’s so incredible to be exposed to something you were never prepared for that has a...

Wild turkey in full flirt. We live on S Turkey Creek Road so, as you can imagine, there might be a wild turkey or two roaming around. Ok, maybe 50 at last count. And while they are rumored to be among the smartest of birds, the fact that they show up the most around...

I discovered yoga when I was in college. My roommate was a hippie chick from Santa Barbara and she dragged me to a yoga class one day. I knew immediately that I loved the vibe. At that point in my life, I was not craving physical exercise in the way that I do now. And...

Everywhere I turn, reflection is in front of me—from Instagram and Facebook posts, and opening holiday cards with growing and changing families to the business planning for 2025 based on what happened in 2024. There’s a year full of milestones that remind me of how...

There’s a new addition here at the farm. We had started thinking about adding a livestock guardian male puppy in May when we almost lost Moses to a health episode. Moses is a 13 1⁄2-year-old Anatolian Shepherd, and if it was his time to go, we didn’t want to stress...

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands—one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.  —Audrey Hepburn One of my earliest memories is going to Dick Lamm’s campaign office to volunteer with my mom in 1975. I loved being in the...