Watch For Sanpete Messenger 16th Home & Garden magazine to be mailed to every household in Sanpete County on Friday
I have a cousin who has always been interested in very old things. An inveterate rock-hound and arrowhead-seeker, he is continually on the hunt for that rare item of hidden beauty, or historical significance. Such expeditions have led him into several old abandoned mining towns, and ghost-towns, of our Western United States, opening up a…
I recently caught up with a young friend who had just returned from an extended stay on the Oahu Island of Hawaii. When I asked how he found our Sanpete Valley after three months in such a lush, tropical setting, he answered me with a single word… “Brown.” I understood. Having lived in the verdant…
Let me begin by stating—unequivocally and for the record—that I have never actually seen a ghost. I’m not even sure I believe in them; at least, not those intrusively bothersome kind from the horror movies, that tend to lurk nefariously in closets and behind shower curtains. But I could definitely feel something—an ethereal, yet palpable,…
It’s been a long time—too long—since I’ve felt the need to warn neighbors of an impending clamor they could soon expect to hear from within the dusty bowels of our old pioneer log barn. Such rhythmic ruckus has become something of a summer tradition in the barn: dozens of eager young hands, each wielding a…
Adopting the Pioneer Persona of An Original Sanpete Settler It’s that time of year again, when I let my chin-whiskers grow a bit, dig the period costume out of my closet (blue, band-collar shirt, suspenders, wool breeches, suitably weathered scally-cap), and rehearse the history—the ups and downs, joys and sorrows, triumphs and tribulations—that all came…
My wife and I are in the habit of taking ourselves out on a roundabout ramble: a circuitous loop that meanders through town, before turning eastward, up the canyon road, then north, through a sprawling scrubland of junipers, then finally westward, and back down toward the town. We go romping ‘round this loop most days,…
Beam me up, Scotty! Realizing My Fondest SciFi Fantasy… Almost By Randal B. Thatcher 2-24-2021 As a kid, I looked forward every week to another episode of the popular TV series, “Star Trek.” It was thrilling to watch those courageous crew-members of the Starship Enterprise continue their intergalactic explorations, boldly…
Changing seasons from crusted snowshoes to dusty trail-shoes 6-18-2020 It seemed strange, and altogether surreal, to return home with dust covered shoes, after a recent tramp round the same loop-trail that had necessitated snowshoes only seven weeks earlier. The topography and landmarks were still mostly familiar: same wooded glen, same sprawling meadow, same…