A small stand of cottonwoods seems to huddle for warmth near Montana's Crazy Mountains. The "Crazies", as locals call them, rise abruptly from the surrounding plains, channeling winds down the valleys, making nearby Livingston, Montana the windiest city in an already windy state. Although it can be an inhospitable place at times, ranching families still work the land, raising cattle and growing feed to help their herds through the harsh winters.
My own ancestors came to Montana from Slovenia to mine coal near Corwin Springs, just outside Yellowstone National Park's northern boundary. Their simple log structures were no match for the grandiose private homes that now dot Paradise Valley, and those hard-scrabble miners didn't have the benefit of private jets to whisk them away to tropical island retreats when the weather turned bad. Folks back then sure must have been a hardy bunch!