Last thoughts on Grandma Vi.

She worked hard at her job and on the farm--her pinkies were gnarled from the milking she did.  She raised nine children with her loving husband Nick.  She was named Lake County Woman of the Year in 1965.  She met and was acquainted with Presidents and Popes.  She was a caring grandmother of many.  She annually rocked Vegas bingo parlors.  She was the first woman to head up a state ASCS, the program that oversaw and implemented federal farm programs in each state.  She gardened, canned, cooked, and served.  She was always on the go, and yet still somehow the center of my Montana universe.  Her heart was HUGE.

Grandma Vi didn't settle for being one thing or another.  She gave it her all.

This, I think, must be her biggest legacy.  

Grandma Vi Herak's obituary.  Her funeral was yesterday.  Hana's grandmother Joyce's funeral was Friday, and here's her obituary.  We miss them already.  May they both rest in peace, and may Hana and my baby inherit all of their loveliest qualities.  

Here's an article about my good friend Jeff Morrow and his saddle-making business that just came out in The Missoulian:  Niarada Man Creates Art that Cowboys, Horses Wear.

Here's one about Dunn Center, ND, where I recently lived and still own a house in (as featured prominently in the doc Roll Out, Cowboy): Dunn Center Growing.

My sweet Grandma Vi passed away peacefully this morning in Ronan, MT.  She was a mother-of-nine, farm gal who raised cattle and wheat with my Grandpa Herak (who died in 1987). She was a tough Irish-Catholic Democrat who got to meet John and Jackie Kennedy in '62.  She was kind, generous, and fun to be around.  Gratefully, I saw her four days ago when I was in Montana with Hana.  I lifted her hand up to touch Hana's pregnant belly and, being ever modest, Grandma giggled at the intimacy of it all.  I'll miss her so.

Julia Viola Sullivan Herak, 1920-2011. Rest in peace, sweet Grandma.

One last trip to North Dakota for a final fish haul and then I'll be a Missoula, MT, resident.  This happens every twenty-or-so years, Missoula is my city of fresh transitions.  I lived here from 1971-1973 as a toddler and again from 1989-1992 during my first years of college.

Here's a list of things I love about Hana's and my apartment.

1. Clawfoot bathtub.  Perfect for warming up one's bones on winter days.
2. Spaciousness--our biggest home yet.  Hana especially likes the kitchen and multiple closets.
3. Funky features:  plaster walls, 1940s linoleum floors, arched bedroom windows.
4. Proximity to things we like: Mount Jumbo trailhead (2 blocks), Greenough Park (2.5 blocks), Albertsons Market (3 blocks), U of M campus (4 blocks), USPS for Hana's daily shipping of Etsy items (5 blocks), City Library (6 blocks), downtown Missoula (7 blocks)!
5. Easy directions.  For instance, if you're leaving Boston just hop on the I-90, drive west 2,600 miles to Missoula, Exit 105, right onto Van Buren Street, first right (Poplar Street), 5th house on left, walk up stairs.  It's just as easy from Seattle.
6. Our mailing address has the musical words "Pop" and "Soul" secretly encoded within it: 930 Poplar / Missoula, MT 59802.
7. Big deck off back with beautiful view of surrounding mountains.
8. I love the sound of a freight train.  Tracks are a block away.
9. Evie, our 80-year-old downstairs neighbor, is rad.  She keeps the yard tidy.  She lets me watch football games on her big screen TV.  And she takes care of our pup Gilda.  In fact, Gilda begs to visit Evie and her dachshund Jazzy at least once a day.
10. Deb, our lovely landlord and friend. Her rent fee is cut-rate, PLUS she keeps us stocked with bread, apples, and eggs from her free-range chickens.  She's Evie's daughter.

Just got the week off with Goodall, so I boogied straight to Missoula to be with Hana for a few days. Her/our pregnancy is coming along swimmingly. She just entered her third trimester. Baby's kickin' a-way.

She told me that her inny will soon be an outy. Tomorrow, by the way, is Hana's baby shower, which my cousin Rebekah will host at her house.

Missoula has been opening its doors to me since I arrived two days ago. The weather has been great; Hana and I saw a spirited Day of the Dead parade yesterday; we've been to two lectures at U of M on Middle Eastern issues; I'm about to attend a First Friday; and tomorrow I might drive to Jerry Johnson's Hot Springs in Idaho for a soak.

My already busy trucking schedule has become even more busy of late. I've been home only two full days this month, and I may get only three more full days here between now and Thanksgiving. That's when I'll be moving to Missoula to join my pumpkin pie bride and butterball bambino.

Today is Hana and my first wedding anniversary! I so wish we were together on this beautiful autumn evening. Godspeed ye, dark days of late November.

'Westron wynde, when wilt thou blow,

The small raine down can raine.

Cryst, if my love were in my armes

And I in my bedde again!'

-Anonymous 16th Cent. (?)

Congrats to all the cherubs being born of late: Milo, Boppy, Josiah, Zaia Mae, Maggie Rose, Lyric, Wolfie, and my newest cousin--Carley!!!

Left to right: Bailey, Dustin, Mandi with baby Carley, and Sydney Elkins

Speakin' of babies, Hana reports that she's been feeling baby hiccups lately. She says our little one is quite a mover and shaker. I have the week off from trucking, so I'm heading to Missoula for a visit.

While digging a trench near the horse corral today, I found a perfectly knapped flint knife. I've found several scrapers this year, and a couple broken arrowheads, but this is my first knife in years.

Hello from the Skyline Motel in Alexandria, MN. I'm returning from the utopic Boats & Bluegrass Festival in Winona. Friday's gig was fantastically fun. At one point there were seven or eight people on stage with me (mandolin, fiddle, beatbox, cowbells, stand-up bass, and Jes and Kendl from The Blackberry Bushes singing harmonies)!

I rejoined The Blackberry Bushes on the main stage last night and rapped over their doowop/bluegrass hoedown, "Cotton Skies." Lovely bunch, they are. I might tour with them in Europe someday.

BBC interview for Scotland screenings of Roll Out, Cowboy: "A film that gets under the skin of life . . ."

Just back from two long drives to Toronto. Tomorrow it's back in the fish tank again! I could use more than a full day off. The steady flow of income keeps me from complaining too loud, though.

Whilst away my poor garden froze. Dozens of precious tomatoes, beans, and squash bit the dust. The root vegetables are fine. Not sure how the pumpkins will fare.

Here are two pre-frost pics:

The frost was good for the buffaloberries. They're sweet now.

I made it to church this morning with Grandma, Uncle Ken, and Aunt Christi.

What else?

1. I'm enjoying using the wood stove again in the cabin.

2. Awoke up this morning to two dozen wild turkeys outside my door.

3. I'll be performing at the Boats & Bluegrass Festival in Winona, MN, next weekend!

Here are the Scotland dates when Roll Out, Cowboy will be screening.

Tonight and tomorrow it will show on Orkney Island!

This might be the richest summer of my life. Hana is five months pregnant. Our garden is producing king-sized beets, carrots, tomatoes, onions, and pumpkins. My trucking schedule has been heavy (off again to Toronto tonight). Hana and I had the first of two wedding receptions (next summer we'll have the second one in western Montana). I flew to Chicago and St. Louis to perform after theatrical screenings of Roll Out, Cowboy. (The ROC doc, in fact, has taken on a life of its own--in the last few months it has screened in France, Croatia, New York City, and Los Angeles, and next week it goes on a nine-city tour of Scotland!)

Things I DIDN'T get done:

1) Finish the new CD I started last December

2) Complete the new website I began two Decembers ago

3) Blog as much as I've wanted to

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In the spirit of blogging regularly again, here's more . . .

Dr. Chainsaw has been my pal for the last three days--we've been clearing brush for the parents. I now have a poison ivy rash for the second time this summer.

Yesterday I took Grandma to the Dunn County Historical Museum's Annual Cream Can Supper. 'Twas a rockin', down-home affair with country music and tasty food.

BIG news: Hana moved to Missoula, MT, last week! She's setting up a nest there to have the baby. I'll continue trucking until around Thanksgiving and then join her. I grew up fifty miles north of Missoula, and my first two years of college were at UM-Missoula. So, in a way, moving to Missoula is like moving home.

Screenings:

Tonight ROC will be screening in New York City at the 92YTribeca Screening Room!

And next weekend it will screen for three days in St. Louis at Webster University. I'll be there for the Friday and Saturday screenings.

Shows:

Tonight in Minot, ND, @ Blue Rider Bar as part of the Why Not Minot?! Festival. 7 p.m.

Tomorrow in Watford City, ND, at the Ribfest-o-Rama. 2 p.m.

Review:

By Film Monthly: http://www.filmmonthly.com/now_playing/roll_out_cowboy_1.html

Wedding Reception in North Dakota, June '11!
Note: we plan to have another reception next summer for our Montana relatives and Olympia friends!


The day before, walking with dog Gilda . . .


Practicing dance moves, cousins Kelly and Jo clapping . . .


The day of. Cake!


Hana's kin, right to left: Aunt Joan, Uncle Will, cousins Abbey & Ashley.


Singing "Love Me Tender" to Hana. That's Uncle Josh on guitar, Cousin Brad on mandolin, & Aunt Christi.


Waltz across Dakota . . .


About to throw the bouquet!


Taking off the garter . . .


P.S. This is Michael (who caught the tell-tale garter) and my lovely cousin Jenny (who took all of these fine pictures)! They make a perfect pair, Hana and I think.

Here's a snap-shot I've been meaning to share . . .


Indio Saravanja took this two months ago during his brief visit from Canada. It captures the moment when Hana and I told my parents and grandma that we were pregnant.

Just got back from an epic time in Chicago where Roll Out, Cowboy screened eight times over the weekend at Facets Multimedia. Now Hana and I are on our way to Wells, BC, for the 8th Annual ArtsWell Festival of All Things Art. Life could not be more FULL....!

Greetings from Chicago. Roll Out, Cowboy begins its theatrical release tonight, and lot's of press is coming in.

Chicago Tribune gave it 3/4 stars and this review.

NPR (WBEZ locally) did this super-pro edit job: http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/2011-07-21/roll-out-cowboy-roams-and-raps-across-midwest-89464

NEWS FROM SANDLAND:

1) encountered 3' rattle snake five minutes ago


2) plucked first beets, chard, lettuce and carrots from garden

3) married my one true love and soon-to-be mother of my children whom I adore with the hotness of twenty billion suns - Miss Hana Kasm!!

I will post wedding pics when I get organized.

Chicago premiere of Roll Out, Cowboy this month: July 22-31!

You may buy tix here: http://rolloutcowboy.eventbrite.com/

I'll be there for the first couple nights (singing songs!), along with the doc's dynamic director Elizabeth Lawrence and fab producer Warner Boutin.

Please help spread the word! Thanks!

Yesterday I performed at Washburn Days in Washburn, ND. It was the third show in a row where I arrived from a trucking run with only minutes to spare before going on stage.

After the first set, Hana and I walked down Main Street to check out an antique car show. By chance we saw a flyer advertising a James Talley show--that very night, at a barn only five miles away!

James Talley, in case you don't know of him, is a great American songwriter. My dad often played his Tryin' Like the Devil album back in the mid-70s, and I used to perform his song, "Are They Gonna Make Us Outlaws Again?"

We made it to the show, which was terrific, and afterward we struck up a friendship with him and his wife, Janice. Wonderful people. I bought three of his new CDs (Happy Father's Day, Dad!), and received a fourth, a Woody Guthrie tribute album, in trade for one of mine.

I look forward to corresponding with Mr. Talley in the near future. I'll need a mentor if I'm gonna keep troubadouring, and he'd be a dandy one.

Rest in Peace, Emilie Hamilton.

Emilie passed away two weeks ago in her Spokane home. She was one of my most supportive fans, and over the years she and her husband Arnold became dear friends. Last year she loaned me $1000 to help fund a CD project, and although I insisted on paying her back I could tell she wanted me to keep it. The year before that she set up a house concert for me on my 38th birthday and baked me a cake. She used blueberries to write "38" in the white frosting. She was a good, sweet person. I will miss her.

Just fish-trucked to downtown Vancouver, BC, and back. It's a prettier drive than the eastward trek to Toronto: rhododendrons and other flowers of the NW are in bloom; Snoqualmie Pass waterfalls are gushing; Montana's big rivers are full to the banks. Saw eagles and elk and, in Post Falls, Idaho, ate real Mexican food. Which is a big deal when you reside anywhere in North Dakota.

Auspiciously, the night we got to Vancouver the Vancouver Canucks beat the Boston Bruins in Game One of the Stanley Cup. Canada, of all countries, has had an eighteen-year hockey championship dry spell, so I'm rooting for the other home team: I was born in Vancouver. Ma & Pa Sand were living in British Columbia in 1970, ranching in the Chilcotin Country and striving to avoid Nixon's toxins. After I was born, they realized they needed familial support and they also realized they wanted to part of changes happening in the U.S. So I lived in Canada for just five weeks before they moved back to Montana. I now possess a Canadian birth certificate, and I can never run for POTUS.

Upon return to Killdeer two days ago, my pal Indio Saravanja was there to greet me. He'd rolled in hours before and slept in my parents' guest bedroom. Indio drives truck off and on professionally, but most notably he's a world-class troubadour. It was a treat to show him around Killdeer Mountain with Hana.

Hana, by the way, flew to Espanola, Florida, today to visit her ailing Grandmother Joyce. Per request, Hana took Joyce some fresh rhubarb from our garden.

Tomorrow I drive to Toronto, and on Wednesday, to Calgary. I'll return in time to play some songs at Army's in Dickinson Friday night, opening for Outlaw Sippin', my friend Beni Paulson's rockin' new band. They'll then back me up on my joint "This Time," as a segue into their set.

Played two shows in the last few days. The first was in Dickinson, ND, at the Odd Fellows Hall. I barely made it, because Shawn and I were caught in a nasty traffic jam in Chicago. We pulled into Dickinson just in time for me to plug in my guitar in and play a two-hour set. Fun show, classy venue.



Yesterday afternoon I sang some western-themed songs at the 25th Annual Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Medora, ND. Congratulations to Bill and JoAnn Lowman (pictured) for hosting it all these years. This was the sixth consecutive year I've performed there.

Happy 42nd Anniversary to my parents!

Alert: The Prairie Puffballs have arrived on Killdeer Mountain. Hana and I are frying them up with butter.


Hana with two puffs. Shorty observes.


A view inside the cabin.


Down by the beaver dams.

Back from Toronto. In the sleeper cab I read LL Cool J's 1997 autobiography: I Make My Own Rules. Last trip--Wilco: Learning How to Die.

Hana, Dad, Mom, and I made some raised garden beds out of old railroad ties yesterday. We'll be getting some sheep manure from a neighbors' ranch to mix into the soil, and then we'll plant tomatoes, beets, carrots, lettuce, squash, and whatnot.

Although our cabin on Killdeer Mountain is remote, it's beginning to feel like we're part of a robust community. We buy raw honey from one neighbor, raw milk from another, bison meat from a third, and free-range chicken eggs from a fourth. Our closest neighbors let us pick apples from their orchard in the fall. We are figuring out canning and drying methods as we go.

Soon the wild mushrooms will arrive, and then chokecherries and juneberries. I feel lucky to live so close to the land these days, and especially lucky to have someone to share it with.

I'm also happy to have a job that pays all my bills. Tomorrow night I drive to Toronto with a tanker full of "St. Peter's Fish," I'll then get one day off before heading to Beaver Fisheries in Toronto on Monday.

After nine nights on the road in a semi-truck, I find that the world has changed. Osama Bin Laden has been killed and buried at sea. Alabama got hammered by 173 tornadoes in a day. Prince William wed a lovely peasant lass.

While not as historic, Hana was stranded in our cabin without electricity or running water for a couple days, after a blizzard dumped eighteen more inches of snow on Killdeer Mountain. The yard and horse trails are littered with tangles of broken trees. The more flexible conifers are slanted sideways.

As for me, I'm ready to get physical. Being cooped up for 200 hours in any moving vehicle is not healthy. The truck's odometer rolled over the million-mile mark last Wednesday, near Sauk Centre, MN. In the blink of an eye, it went from 999999.9 to 000000.0 with no room for the "1." (Only last year I watched it roll lucky sevens.)

Roll Out, Cowboy rolls on with recent screenings in New York state and an upcoming week-long theatrical exhibition this summer in Chicago. More on this later.