Paul Marchant

I’m certain that I will never be accused of being a techno-wizard, but I feel like I’ve made a valiant effort to at least remain in the same solar system as the world becomes, at once, ever smaller and more complicated every day.

Late spring, for many reasons, is always one of my favorite times of the year. I know I’m not alone in that regard. The prettiest landscape I can conjure in my mind can’t match the beauty of my home country in springtime.

I have a favorite picture that’s hanging on my office wall. It was taken by my father-in-law in the summer of 1992. It’s a picture of me and my then-2-year-old daughter, Elise. My back is to the camera, and I’m holding Elise, who is facing the camera with her head resting on my shoulder as she looks at the camera with her big, Jersey cow-brown eyes.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite treats was a chunk of sugar and sour something-or-other with a Sweet-Tart label, if I remember right. It was the exact size and shape of a big old sulfa bolus.

I really don’t like to consider myself as part of an older generation of any sort. I’m afraid, though, the truth of the matter is: I fit into that demographic in several different categories. Being labeled in the older generation certainly beats the alternative to growing older, but it’s still not something I gladly concede.

In December, I was able to go to Las Vegas and experience the spectacle that is the National Finals Rodeo for the first time. My purpose was to attend the PRCA meetings and hopefully gain something that would help me, as a member of our county fair and rodeo board, assist in putting on a better production every August for the locals in south-central Idaho.