Keith has settled into his little apartment in Glendive, Montana and from here it seems far across the universe. We made a decision that I would spend the summer in North Carolina while Keith completed his internship with Fidelity Oil Co. So he loaded up his futon mattress, one chair, one cooking pot, a set of silverware and other singular daily necessities and drove from the high hills of Butte to the grasslands of NE Montana. I loaded up dog and every stitch of summer clothing I own (because when else could I wear it???) and headed to my in-laws who have graciously taken me in.
While I wile away my days by the pool, reading novels and moving lethargically through these long days, Keith is visiting the oil fields of N. Dakota and Montana, getting a feel for office life, and branding cattle on the weekends. Yes, I haven’t mistyped: Keith is branding cattle, mending fences, riding horses. He doesn’t have much in his apartment to keep him there and he met a rancher who invited Keith to come work on the weekends, which has meant 13 hour days, rolling in cows**t, and yukking it up with a bunch of true cowboys and cowgirls. Only Keith.
We return to our Butte life in mid-August, when the days may finally be warm there. My big plans for the summer (beyond the pool…yes, I do have goals) include painting and blueberry picking and heading up Minneapolis to spend time with my family. Keith will be dividing his time between the office work in Glendive and visits to the oil fields in Saco, Montana and other parts of the Bakken. Last week he was in Saco, where the mosquitoes are plague like. I guess they will suck blood through jeans as Keith can attest to. 