How many old-timers are there in
Wyoming these days?
When I wrote a column some 18
months ago about the oldest people in Wyoming, we had folks ranging from 104 to
107 all over the state.
Most of those really, really old
pioneers have since passed away. Not sure there any really old ones around any
more.
Today, we are not sure if there is
anyone over 102.
If you know of someone over 100,
please let me know at bsniffin@wyoming.com. I would like to include them in a future
column.
* * *
Everybody in the Cowboy State has
been dealing with a grasshopper infestation in their yards and on their ranches
– except me.
My two big stud ducks, Trump and
Buck, are so fat they are literally dragging along the ground as they waddle
from one tender morsel or another. They are eating grasshoppers during every
waking hour. Although crunchy, it appears the ducks are just slurping the
hoppers down their gullets whole. Wow!
Meanwhile, they are actually
turning up their noses at corn treats put out by my wife Nancy. “The grasshoppers are just fine,” they seem
to indicate as they waddle away from the corn.
Most recently we have had large
flocks of birds flying around – reportedly because of the large number of
grasshoppers and bees and wasps.
Various Wyoming news reports stated
the infestation was predicted last March before the Legislature’s Joint
Agriculture, Public Lands, and Water Resources Committee in Cheyenne.
With over 97,000 square miles of
space, Wyoming can host a lot of grasshoppers and they arrived this spring in
biblical hordes in some places. Nearly three million acres have reportedly
endured the infestation.
But not in my yard. To anyone needing help, I might loan you my
ducks. But then again, they are already mighty stuffed.
* * *
From 1989 to 1994, I was a member
of the Wyoming Travel Commission. Gov. Mike Sullivan appointed me to the post.
I was chairman of that wonderful entity in 1992-1993.
The Director of Tourism was a
wonderful man named Gene Bryan, a true legend in the travel business here in
Wyoming. His life is full of great Wyoming stories. He even recently wrote a
detailed book about the history of tourism marketing for the state.
But
that’s another story for another time.
During my time on the Travel
Commission, there was a bright young guy in Cheyenne who handled international
travel for the Commission. It was the now famous author CJ Box. Coincidentally
28 years later, he is now vice-chairman of the state’s current version of the
Travel Commission.
But
that’s another story for another time.
Box and I
formed a company to promote international travel as a result of that, which was
called Rocky Mountain International.
Around 1997, I sold my interest to my partner, CJ Box.
I had founded
it in the early 1990s and well, we did
some amazing things. Box did some even more amazing things after I sold him my
interest.
But that’s another story for another
time.
I took the
money from the sale of my interest and bought a newspaper in Maui. Wow, was this going to be fun!
My wife Nancy
and I loved going to Hawaii and we thought a Wyoming-Hawaii connection could be
just about the best thing ever.
The editor of our Maui newspaper
was a part-time protestant minister named Ron Winckler.
Our adventures
in the People’s Republic of Hawaii, were, well, partly good and mainly bad.
But that’s another story for another
time.
Ron is a friend
of mine on Facebook. He just posted the most amazing item, which I would like
to repeat here:
“So, this is about is my mother-in-law,
Charlotte. She`s 95, having been born in 1924.
“We were talking a couple of days
ago. I asked about her childhood in San Diego. She brought up a man that used
to come to her mother`s diner. She remembered his name, ‘Daddy’ Hayes and his
age, almost 100-years-old.
"Daddy Hayes drove a horse-drawn
wagon and collected scrap. He was born into slavery. Daddy Hayes, also told her
that as a young adult, he had been present at President Abraham Lincoln`s
Gettysburg Address in 1863.
“In 2019 I was talking on the phone
with a woman who once talked with a former slave who actually heard Lincoln
speak!
“Beyond amazing!”
Now that’s another story I can read
about any time.
Amen, Brother.
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