Memories and thoughts from the past
I was raised on the ranch that was, in part, the original homestead proved up by my maternal grandparents. The home ranch, in the photo above, was at the forks of Rosebud Creek, a part of the area where General Crook met the Cheyenne and Sioux in the summer of 1876 and was turned back, rather than being able to continue on to join General Custer. Ranchers along the upper Rosebud Creek found a number of cavalry artifacts over the years and growing up, I often found old rifle cartridges in the hills as well.
Our close family was small. Mother had just one older sister who moved to California and lived there most of her life. We kept in touch, of course, but as adults, the cousins have lost touch. Dad's family was bigger, two brothers, four half sisters, but his mother died when he was very young and his father died when I was still a toddler. Again, though we kept in touch with brothers and sisters, once they were gone the cousins lost touch.
My two children were not raised on the ranch and never knew their great-grandfather, who died when they were too young to remember him. They knew their great-grandmother mostly in her later years and my parents, while they still lived the ranch for a number of years, were no longer actively ranching. While we spent occasional vacations at the ranch but they never truly had the opportunity to live the life I remember and my own grandchildren do not remember the ranch at all.
As an only child myself, once I am gone, the memories will be gone as well. This blog is meant as a tribute to the land I loved, the parents and grandparents I knew and loved and the family, friends and neighbors that contributed to the memories I hold so dear.
