Marty’s photo of the day #4808: Deb and I are back from spending four nights in a yurt on the American Prairie. Formerly called the American Prairie Reserve, it currently contains 475,000 acres of pristine prairie in central Montana, and the nonprofit organization that controls it has a goal of eventually acquiring enough land to reach 3.2 million acres. This was our third visit. The first two times were in September, so this year we went earlier, to catch the prairie during a different season.
As usual, the wildlife was amazing. We saw only two people during our stay, and as an extra bonus we got to avoid all but very distant fireworks. I will be sharing photos from our adventure in the coming weeks.
But first a selfie of Deb and I wearing our Dewy 1 and Dewy 2 T-shirts, taken two days ago as we relaxed along the Judith River, which was a short walk from our yurt. Yeah, I think our dog, Nellie, was embarrassed by our fashion faux pas. She couldn’t even look!
Unless you are a Minnesota Wild hockey fan, you probably know nothing about Dewy 1 and Dewy 2. They were wingers Connor Dewar and Brandon Duhaim, who, despite playing on the fourth line, became fan favorites. After Duhaim called the Wild’s 39-year-old goalie Marc-André Fleury “50” twice in an interview, hijinks ensued with a series of increasingly elaborate pranks going back and forth. So when Marc-André Fleury started wearing Dewy 1 and Dewy 2 T-shirts, I bought two of them for Deb and me. Our shirts were numbered, so I believe they are rare (ours were numbered less than 100).
But alas, at the most recent trade deadline, both Connor Dewar and Brandon Duhaim were traded. Deb and I were bummed. Marc-André Fleury, however, got the last laugh, when the Wild traveled to Colorado to play Duhaim’s new team, the Avalanche. Fleury removed the tires from Duhaim’s Jeep and chained them to a fence, leaving the vehicle sitting on blocks. Then he piled dirt on the hood and finished the prank off with an arrangement of flowers and a note that read: “My Dear Friend: If you would like to know where the keys to the lock are and the tools to put the tires back on send me an apology video.”