While I had earlier predicted Liz Cheney, Wilson, will win the Wyoming GOP nomination for U. S. House, now she is enduring being on the butt end of a funny commercial by her competitor State Sen. Leland Christensen, Alta.

         Christensen has a long social media post about what he considers to be the three biggest mysteries he is aware of. He equates Liz with the Lochness Monster and Bigfoot as “rarely seen” imaginary legendary creatures. He contends she is not “indigenous” to Wyoming and can only be seen here every two years. Then he explains how she has raised $1.2 million in places like New York City and Chicago, one, which required a $5,000 entry fee. He compares that to a bake sale his mother staged for him for free.

         You can probably find it on his web site, YouTube or Facebook.

         This ad reminds me of a legendary ad produced by Malcolm Wallop when he ran defeated incumbent U. S. Senator Gale McGee. That ad showed a cowboy riding the high prairie with a packhorse bearing a portable toilet, as an example of federal government over-reach.

         Christensen’s ad has spawned some severe criticism from Cheney backers, who felt he should not have used humor but, in fact, should have spent his money talking about ideas and policies.

         But then again, the ad is pretty funny . . .

         But enough about politics.  Over in Pinedale, this could have ended up being a B-A-A-A-D situation.

         UPS driver Landon Wigginton returned to his big brown truck following a delivery and found it filled with curious sheep. Only in Wyoming.

         Did you see that movie The Hateful Eight by Quentin Tarantino?  It was planned to be photographed in Wyoming and is purported to have occurred here.

         It took place in a very cold place on a very cold day. Those warm and fuzzy buffalo coats being worn in the movie came from Merlin’s Hide Out in Thermopolis. 

Kurt Russell plays a mean bounty hunter in the movie and his big buffalo coat was designed to make him look as big and menacing as possible.

I stopped in and visited with Merlin and Barb Heinze awhile back. She said she looked at more than 300 hides before picking out the 16 hides needed for the movie.

 Barb showed me a coat that was special ordered by the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Later he was pictured in Thermop  trying it on.

         Anyway, quite a little business Merlin’s has going there. They ship 400 buffalo hides a year in various designs. Wonderful coats. At $3,000 each, wish I could afford one!

         Some years ago, hang gliding was a big sport around the country and especially in Wyoming with our high mountains and consistent winds.

         In 1989, Casper native Kevin Christopherson set the world record for longest hang gliding trip.  The record still stands.       

         He launched from 9,225-foot high Whiskey Peak some 40 miles north of Rawlins and landed 287 miles later in North Dakota. This is the world record for longest foot launched hang gliding ride.

         He later was chairman of the Natrona County School board.

         I think old J. C. Penney would be spinning in his grave if he knew about what has happened to his famous chain of stores in recent years.

         As most folks know, James Cash Penney started his first Golden Rule store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.  It really took off from there and became one of the great retail chains of all time known as the J. C. Penney Co.

         In recent years, the company hired an idiot to turn it around and he almost destroyed it. He was fired and now it is weakly trying to regain some traction.  The JCP store in Rock Springs was recently closed but I noticed the one in downtown Sheridan is still going.

         I went through a prolonged struggle with them over service charges they piled on about a bill for a “free” magazine subscription. What a clueless company.  We finally got it resolved but I kept thinking about old J. C. and how he might have handled the situation, especially following his famous “golden rule.”

         Re-runs are appearing on the popular cable show Naked and Afraid, which include a well-known Dubois man Joe Brandl.

         He performed very well in that crazy show which features a man and woman naked for 21 days in the wilderness someplace armed with just one tool apiece.

         Brandl made Wyoming proud.