The distant hills over west are know as the Harney Hills. At the top the high hill is a survey marker indicating that the elevation is exactly one mile above sea level. When I was a small child that horizon represented a mystery of what was beyond. I always imagined a cozy cow camp with the combined aroma of skunk and venison about it. When I was around 16 an old rancher showed me just such a place several miles off to the south west... but excuse me while I digress. In 1958 when I was 6 years old my granddad (Barney), and I was out trying locate some horses up along this ridge when he stopped to visit an old homestead couple just to the north (right) of the Harney peak and that's how I met Bill and Catherine Nuttall. Catherine was so gracious and Bill just had to show us a rope horse that he had trained to perform by hand signals. I made up my mind that I needed to get to know those folks. Later that fall I rode my black and white Shetland pony up there one Sunday morning. and spent the day with them. We started a life long friendship. Bill was a cowboy in every sense of the word and Catherine a well educated school teacher. Their home was a small stucco homestead house around 16 by 20 ft with a bedroom added onto the north end and a back porch added onto the south end. Catherine had imbued it with a sense of elegance. Every meal there was eaten off fine china with silver utensils made from melted down silver dollars. Their was always a silver napkin ring beside your plate.The furnishing were antique and of high quality. Almost English in style. In the spring Catherine always had a beautiful vase of wild flowers. Catherine and Bill had an air of comfortable formality about them. When someone stopped for a visit (whether expected or not) Catherine always put the coffee on and had a desert ready for just such an occasion. Catherine fed me well and she taught me about the secrets of making a good Ruben Sandwich. Some times we would just sit and play Chinese Checkers or spend the afternoons checking cattle, either on horseback or in the pickup. Often we would visit about their youger times and thier memories of my ancestors and the neighbors. I recall that Bill and I would get to laughing at each other so hard that one of us would have to walk out of the room in order to stop laughing. On occasions we would go to a home bible study over south of Shawnee or around Lost Springs. On those trips (when I reach the age of learning to drive) Bill would let me drive his pickup on the back county roads. On other occasions we would go rock hounding and Bill might find wonderful rocks or artifacts in trails that I had just walked over. Sometimes they would ask me to help them work or move cattle and even though I protested they insisted on paying me quite well. They were always interested in what I was doing and by default they became my consultants concerning my plans throughout my young life. After I left home and joined the Navy Catherine would correspond with me concerning the news of home and the pleasures of their daily ranch life. I wish now that I had kept those letters because they were always so beautifully written. I could barely wait to introduce my fiance to them, and later with pride, my young children. It broke my heart when they had to finally leave the ranch that they loved and move into an apt. in Douglas. They passed away over twenty years now but I still often miss the quality of their friendship.

Since none of our wedding guests opted to purchase us the napkin rings we'd put on our registry I've decided to start making my own. I took some wood that I have lying around the house and D and D'd (drill and dremel) it into these charming little bicycle themed napkin restraining devices. I'm very happy with how they're turning out and my new production techniques are increasing my speed. Sadly it still takes me about half an hour to make each one. Which means if I want to make this into a successful business I'd not only need an adoring public, but a public willing to pay about $15.00 a ring. Thus, it is doomed to remain a cottage (or perhaps apartment) industry. So far I've made 3 of them, had one fall apart and another one was sacrificed as I learned that not all production methods are equally effective.