groundhogs; gophers; prairie dogs and how to kill them - cyanide, water, truck exhaust; "Why don't you just drive over them?" - "Yep. That works. Too many though. Besides it makes a mess of your wheels."; damaged crops; dancing; mountain bluebirds; flights of geese; Jones Peak and Corky Jones; Chocolate peak; Ben Rose; the mail; land leases; homesteading; the quarter section; the pre-emption; the improvements; sticking with it; music; depression; history; the museum; bankruptcy; threats; grass; the churches; dancing; lunch; dinner; visiting; water; uranium; rain; women helping men survive; family conflict; the provincial government; pipelines; the old doctor; the new doctor; the disappeared doctor; grain or beef and the fickle nature of land prices; Chimney Coulee; the lack of work off the land; the grid road; jobs for nurses and teachers; trading the pencil for the dishcloth; the cautious use of money; committees; those moving in; school closings; the truck; social interaction - who is living with whom; the careful nature of conversation - potential insult; closed school markers in fields; family support; the writers, musicians and artists; farm and ranch sons and daughters; management practices; ghost towns; fencing; land claims; the distinctions between ranchers and farmers; land - the physical, spiritual, psychological; diversity; development; people moving out, moving on; Vancouver, Calgary, Regina; local politics - local candidates; what is going on; vacations; driving conditions; going into to town or back; neighbourliness; children exploring and testing; the cost of gasoline, of natural gas, the cost of grain, the USD; the state of roads, the grader operator and the machine; coulees -  water and shelter; skin cancer; white-tailed deer; elk; school kids; behaviour of bulls and buffalo; farm hands; hired men; recluses; family backgrounds; history; getting shot; ....talk about the state of survival; who has not.

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image © D. Wall