Thanks for looking in.
I am a retired science writer and editor.
I’m also a wife, mother, and dog owner. You can see the dog in some of my posts about hikes.
Except for three years in London and two years in Frankfurt, Germany, I have spent my entire adult life in New York City. I grew up in the midwest.
My husband and I came to the Lazy L&B guest ranch east of Dubois one summer in the late 1980s with our toddler son, returned 3 times with both kids, and gradually (like so many others) fell in love with the area. We bought property here in 2007, moved here permanently about a decade later, and sold our home in Brooklyn in 2019.
I like to say that I have failed retirement. The best way to get to know people around here is to volunteer, and this keeps me very busy.
That was true in our former neighborhood in Brooklyn, where I was on the block party committee for many years and an elder at our church, Old First Reformed. I also played viola in the community orchestra.
Here in Dubois, I became a member of the Board of Directors of the Dubois Museum Association. I volunteered at the farmer’s market and the square dance. Later I became president of Destination Dubois, the town’s destination marketing organization, and a member of the Wind River Visitors Council. After I left those roles, I helped to found Dubois DRIVE, a new economic development organization. I also volunteer for Warm Valley Lodge, our extraordinary nonprofit assisted living facility.
Living Dubois is was originally created to help people fortunate enough to discover Dubois to gain a feeling for the many pleasures of being here. Over the years, I have discovered that many readers are people who lived here before or come here often, and like to read what’s going on. Others are people who live here now. Still others are strangers from far away, and old friends from my prior life.
Whoever you are, I’m very glad you’re here.
Just wanted to thank you for writing about my father. Fritz Stevens it was an unexpected joy to see the picture of him tying his knots. It is always so wonderful when I discover another friend of my father. Thank you
Oly Grim
Enjoyed your blog; back in 1980s i passed thru Dubois and it struck me as a very special place…….thanks for sharing…
Thanks so much for noticing and for commenting. It still is a very special place. Come back and visit!
All the best,
Lois
I love your blog. My hubby, 8 yr old son and I vacationed in Dubois a month ago. We fell in love. So much, that my son was crying when we left. And then it happened……. why couldn’t we just sale everything and move? So our house is being sold and we are hoping to find a nice rental and continue on with our cleaning business. Thank you so much for reminding me of the joys of Dubois.
Thanks
April
Congratulations, April. You and your family discovered Dubois!
I can assure you that you will be able to continue with your cleaning business here. There is a great need for cleaning services in Dubois, as well as for other services. So many retirees have homes here but not the ability to do everything that needs to be done around the house. In fact, when I have the time I hope to set up a Facebook group people can use to find and arrange handyman services.
Your 8-year-old son will have a wonderful childhood here.
Do let me know when you arrive!
Enjoy your stories.I have two sons I. Rawlins we travel there every couple years.Be safe
Thanks, Jim! Good to hear from you. Come on north to Dubois sometime. You’re missing a lot if all you see is Rawlins!
I like your blog. See quite a few people from DuBois down here in Lander! Going to visit soon!
There are very few messages that arrive in my email inbox that I read immediately. Living Dubois is one. We’re a few years from retirement still, but I have developed an infatuation for this place I’ve never been through your blog. Keep writing, and I’ll keep dreaming, and hopefully soon we will make our way cross country to see how the reality compares to the dream.
Thank you so much for your wonderful words, Chris. What a great thing to read at the end of a busy day!
Let me know when you’re coming out. I’d enjoy meeting you, of course.
Thanks for your updates. We are also “in love” with Dubois and have a place under construction there now. We are kind of waiting for the weather to break; but hope to have it done this summer! I am sure we will see you around town at some point.
That’s great news, Wayne. Please do let me know when you reach town. I’d love to meet you.
I moved to Dubois in 1967 after graduating high school lived there for 35 years I can relate to your writings about Dubois and enjoy reading and seeing the pictures.
Thanks Rick Ebersberger
What a gift of words that you have! Thank you for sharing!
I immediately fell in love with Dubois and its people when we bought our summer home six years ago. My passion is being involved within the community and helping to make a difference for all who live and pass through this special place.
Thanks for your comment, Cathy! I would love to get to know you.
Lois, I thought of you and your remote working when I read this article in the NY Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/realestate/the-best-states-for-work-at-home.html
I couldn’t believe that Wyoming was in the “worst” list. They obviously didn’t know how great the internet connection is in Dubois and who cares about having a swimming pool when you have a trout stream.
Thanks for pointing this out, June. It’s yet another example of ridiculously incorrect, misguided assessments of our location — if not necessarily our state. (Many locations in Wyoming still don’t have our great Internet.)
Unfortunately, you can’t get the background data for Wyoming’s ranking on this assessment without paying, so I can’t comment further — swimming pools or otherwise. However:
Clearly the most renowned newspaper in my former home town has its guns trained on us. Yesterday a friend pointed out to me this image of COVID vaccination status by state, also published in the NY Times:
That huge square in the West implies that nobody in Wyoming is vaccinated! I checked further, and learned that the source document the Times was relying on had omitted Wyoming’s data entirely; the state didn’t appear on the list at all! I checked the underlying CDC data (which any intelligent reporter should have done) and found that Wyoming ought to be the same color as surrounding states.
Maybe my next blog will be about the invisibility of Wyoming. Thanks for the inspiration!