Bozeman Chronicles III

Bozeman will soon go the way of Aspen, Colorado and any other spot in America with a view -- a victim of Escalades and Hummers.  Along with movie stars buying up huge tracts of land for exorbitant prices.

Michael Keaton just bought a lot of acres down the road from my friends.  He says he wants to use the land for bird hunting. Meanwhile, despite the sudden upsurge in SUV's, the company car around town continues to be a pickup or a Subaru Outback. 

 

Two Outbacks with one more just out of the picture 

Saturday was the Pet-O-Ween, when owners of companion animals dude up their four footed pals and vie for prizes. The local radio station sends a rock jock or in this case a country jock to the local feed store to provide updates on all the competition.  My personal favorite was the Snoopy dog dressed up as the Red Baron.  But the Great Pyrenees in the pink tutu was also very fetching.

 The Snoopy Dog

Oh, I haven't said how good the elk steaks were on my birthday.  The elk steaks weren't good, they were GREAT!!!! Everything you wanted in a steak -- tender and juicy, but not so much fat. And no gamey flavor. You'd really have to work hard to tell the difference between an elk steak and a beef steak.  I enjoyed the taste so much we had elk fajitas the next day. 

Elk Fajitas Cowboy Style

For the first year in many years I didn't blow out candles on a cake. Too much of a fire hazard these days. Instead, I made chocolate chip macademia nut cookies.  I was into the zen of just mixing the ingredients and baking them, but then I thought I could have one. Just one. It's not like they're potato chips or anything. Well, I headed down that slippery slope and haven't been back.  Luckily I got out of town before the cookies were all eaten.  By me.

My good friend, Ann, whose house I stayed at, works at the Pioneer Museum in town.  I met her when we were both working at J. Walter Thompson during the middle ages.  I got hired during a cab ride back from a lunch interview. Afterward, my new boss asked someone, "Can she write?" Ann had a top drawer journalism degree. But she was married and "they" stuck her in the traffic department. One day she cornered me in the hall. "How did YOU get your job?" After that auspicious beginning, don't ask me how we became friends.

 Mrs. Linklater and her Bozeman pals

She won a Cannes Gold Lion in her rookie year for one of her first Oscar Mayer commercials. I'm still waiting. She went on to become a master weaver, master gardener, a corporate trainer, and then, one day she decided to get her master's in historic preservation. The architect she wanted to study was a Bozeman resident. 

And the rest is history.