Sumer, R&R or Just Plain Lazy

Sure seems like it’s hard to get any writing done in the summer. Why, because too many other things are going on, fun things like trips, golf, gardening, grandkids. When winter rolls around, and it’s not that far off now, time seems to slow down and researching and writing seem to move back to the front burner.

I just can’t seem to stay in the house long enough to get busy on the computer when it is so very nice outside. In the meantime I will continue posting here every two weeks or so and then hit a posting barrage when the snow flies

Oh and fishing with the grandkids-now that’s fun.

Summer in Wyoming

Second night in a row I am setting out on the patio enjoying another beautiful Wyoming evening. We pay for it when winter comes but summers are spectacular. Seventy-one degrees, southwest breeze and 27 percent humidity can’t beat it. Last night we sat outside until ten-thirty, put the blankets over us about nine. Temperature went down to 48 last night but back around 80 today.

Indian Summer

As a writer we often come across things we have no idea where they started. I have been working on a poem--poetry is really hard for me to write, but I have a few. I wanted to write about Indian Summer and realized I was not sure where it came from or what it was. It has been a great fall in Wyoming (and I live at 7,200 feet).Cold for a short spell, now it’s warm again. This time of year has been called Indian Summer for a long time. But why? Now that I’ve got your attention by casually mentioning the weather and everyone loves talking about the weather. Here is why this time of year is called Indian Summer. I have no idea—just kidding.

People have speculated for more than two-hundred years over the derivation of the term Indian Summer. Many guesses as to where it came from have been tried but here is the correct and proper answer - at least according to me.

Indian summer, which must follow a hard frost, is named after that time of year when the indigenous peoples of the plains harvested crops. Crops the natives planted east of the Missouri River and the harvest of wild plumbs and roots west of the big river. It was also the time for hunting, curing and storing of the meat for the winter sure to come. Really the end of the summer. Pretty neat.

There you have it from the one who knows—a really old guy who just likes to write western stories. Indian Summer!