is it you Annie? longed for those old friends.

           Morning had broken like every other, she made her oatmeal and looked out at the miles of prairie. The same window , the same prairie. The same emptiness . The Sweetgrass Hills to the west were bitter sweet , yes they did bring her her a certain comfort in the rememberance of the Highlands she grew up by. The adult who was always there watching over her , every season change seemed as if you were meeting an old friend.  Oh how she longed for those friends, the lonliness was constant, and painful. James had ridden up to "The North place" two days prior, she knew without asking he would not return for five days at least . This routine had been going on for four months. Long months they were. To add to the misery she hadn't  recieved any correspondence from Scotland since she came to this Country  to live with her new husband, the man her father said " Would never amount to a tinkers Damn!" He also proclaimed "If you go off with this naer'dowell  you"lol not hear from us ever!" Surely Mother would not adhere to this, she would send news, and keep in touch.  Surely. It had been six months, not a letter, not one. They had forgotten about her altogether, No one cared, why should I .      This was the day, She knew how , Now she knew when. The slow half mile walk to the barn must have seemed like forever, or maybe not. The Little Sage creek was just a trickle on this late summer day but she did love it so, she might have stopped for a second to dip her toe in for a refreshing moment , or maybe not. She walked in and found that hemp rope her husband would lead the Milkcow back and forth from home to the barn , she might have slowly wept as she tossed the rope over the cross beam , or maybe not. Using the few milk crates  to stand on she put the noose over head and with one last final decision jumped...........This ended the life of Annie Smith, who was married to my Great Grandfather James Laird.   This is a true story, and I think the shadowy images in the game camera recently , that looked like a piece of rope with knots in it are the spirit of Annie you see the camera was in a tree not two hundred yards from the spot   Where the lonliness  ended.     P.S.  A letter was delivered to the Ranch from Mr. And Mrs. Smith Aberdeen Scotland two weeks after Annie's burial.

This is scary stuff !!!!!

              I brought the Game camera home from the Clark Fork river and set it up a week ago or so. There was four or five small whitetail Bucks and quite a few Does as well, you will see a Mule Deer doe and fawn as well as a Whitetail mother with a little one too.  The pair of coyotes are kind of cool .   But look at the other photos and maybe you can tell me what the Hell those white images are! You will see them from left to right across the screen,   horizontal as well as vertical. Looks like a white rope with Knots tied in it. Don't think it was something blowing in the wind because when the wind blows the camera is trigured by moving grass etc, and these photos were random, not part of a bunch. You will notice coyotes in a few of the photos, was something chasing them? Not sure.  could we have a ghost on the Creek?  Likely the lost soul that my Uncle Richard used to talk about, he said when the Laird boys would walk to school they would cross the creek near where the camera sits tonight, and Richard said there was a sunken unmarked grave. They called the area "Deadmans Flat".  I will leave it to you to decide, pretty damn weird indeed. I am having trouble getting the images off the memory card onto the Blog waiting for my Tech department to call back. So will send them at a later time

God Bless America, please.

       Happy Independance Day! A little reflection would be appropriate on this day. I will never know what thoughts were going thru the four Laird brothers minds crossing the Atlantic, bound for America. Sadly all my connections to the previous generations are gone so I am left to my imagination, leaving Scotland in their twenties must have been frightening even to tough minded Scots that they were indeed. The fact that their Father had asked them to leave because the family was having trouble making ends meet and they would have to make it on their own, would add to their uneasiness about traveling to a new land , a land that they knew little about. America in the year 1887, well the truth is I don't know what the Hell was going on in those days, but to be sure it was a hard life ,especially going out west where the only thing they knew was what they had read in some Pennydreadful papers. Probably written by someone from  Philly who had never seen the state of Ohio.  One can only imagine there plans, and schemes to "Make it big", we know it didn't start with a plan to go to Montana, because Montana wasn't a state yet!  I digress like a drunk at a Maureen Dowd party, "Imus reference". My point is did they have thoughts of creating a farm,ranch then start a family, providing for them so that those children would have a better life and never have to leave home looking for a chance at success. I believe they did, My Great Grandfather was one of those pioneers, James Laird. From all accounts he was a simple man , well liked by all, had a bit of the Dickens in him but nonetheless a hard working man. He had one son John, whom I have been told was the kind of man everyone wanted as a friend, he would help anyone at anytime, which was what good neighbors did. One of my biggest regrets is never having met Grampa John, from all accounts we would have had a great relationship, he died young, and left six children and a widow. Again the work ethic was passed down to all, with the hopes of a better future for their kids. Grampa John fought in WWI  upon coming to America, his chance to become a U.S.  citizen . Three of his kids fought in WWII, one seriously injured and maimed for life.  Lastly my brother served with distinguish in the Vietnam War. Again I digress, my point is that America has been "Berry Berry Good to Us" to quote Sammy Sosa, My belief is that all along the chance of success was the goal knowing that nothing is guaranteed, but thru perseverance and hard work , you can succeed in America in 1877 as well as 2015.  "We Hope for Better Things"