I’ve been in western Wyoming for a little over two weeks now. When the chance to work at a weekly newspaper as reporter / photographer came about, I jumped at the chance. Bozeman, for all its incredible awesomeness, was getting a bit yuppie and I needed some time to catch my breath.
Having a long winter to sit down and write through didn’t hurt either.
I’ve pretty much leapt right into the fray here, for better or worse. Pinedale is fascinating… I’m living in an old house that isn’t much of a match for the wind chill.
My contact solution froze last night while I slept.
That said, the newspaper work has been good. I’m glad I’m still continuing full-bore in freelance side of things, but having to sit down and write about community meetings I really could care less about it is proving to enhance my writing skills.
One of my first assignments was to drive to the neighboring community of Big Piney and photograph their annual Pumpkin Launch.
This is the West at its best. Families bundled in Wranglers andy Carhartts firing homemade artillery over the fields of Wyoming.
One of the reporters for another paper came, quickly got freaked out and left. I somehow found the whole process enthralling, however, and stayed far longer than I probably should have.
Three main pieces of artillery were present – two compressed-air powered cannons and (probably my favorite) a trebuchet.
The cannons were stuffed with straw as wadding and then pumpkins as shot. The process had obviously been well thought out and the distances reached were quite impressive.
The trebuchet threw hunks of pumpkin high into the darkening sky and, while the distances were not nearly as impressive, the sheer idea of it was enthralling.
So, welcome to Wyoming. We have trebuchets here.
