Tied to the Post

Spending money to make money?

A couple months ago, I started reading the biography of well-known “Indian trader” Elijah Blair. Beginning in the 1940s, Blair operated trading posts at Mexican Water, Aneth, Kayenta, Dinnebito, and Page. “Lige,” as he was sometimes known, played an important role in 20th-century Southwest...

The arts – illuminating the void

The global pandemic of 2020 has devastated the local arts community. While there have been a few attempts by federal, state, county, and even tribal governments to support individual artists, the helping hand has not reached far enough. At Twin Rocks Trading Post, we have had a front row seat from...

It Could Happen

It was the night before Christmas and all through our house, Jana, Grange, and I were settling in for a Zoom call with Kira, who was quarantined in Pennsylvania. The pandemic had grounded Kira in State College, so it was up to the rest of us to celebrate the holiday season in Bluff. That’s when...

A beautiful winter day

Last Sunday, Jana suggested we take a walk to the horse petroglyphs, which are located about a mile and a half from our house. So, after breakfast we put on our walking shoes, coxed Pearl from her doggie bed, and hiked up Cemetery Hill, past the Ancient Puebloan Great House, down the backside of...

Asking why, oh why?

“WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE?!” the woman almost shouted at me as I stood on the other side of the sales counter. Fortunately, she was wearing a mask that contained whatever steam she was venting. The woman was referring to an exceptional Teec Nos Pos weaving Priscilla and Rick had hung on the wall...

Golden and glorious

The last two weeks in October are the most beautiful time to be in Bluff. The temperatures have dropped and the world suddenly seems to have turned golden. Almost overnight, the cottonwood trees, which grow whenever they can find enough moisture to survive, are transformed into glorious shades of...

Red rock wilderness

Recently Grange asked me to review something he had written for school. Apparently he felt my experience writing about the trading post life, Native artists, and Southwest art might prove useful. Questioning his judgment, I inquired whether he had ever actually read any Tied to the Post stories....

“Shop in Utah” Lifeline

For the first time ever, Twin Rocks Trading Post and twinrocks.com will be offering a 30 percent discount off the listed retail price of all arts and crafts from local artists. These deductions will be good until the end of the year. Our current difficulties and the federal government’s efforts to...

They are people too!

As a young man, I developed a serious aversion to pulling weeds. Maybe it was because no matter how many you extracted, there were always more coming up. Whatever the reason, I hate that job and studiously avoid it when possible. The other day, I noticed I had put off attending to the ever-...

Roots grounded forever

“This is the desert after all,” I thought to myself as Grange and I sped along Highway 191 North towards Salt Lake City. He and I were heading back after his stint at home during the COVID-19 shutdown, and to get there we were traversing Utah south to north. My in-class period has long since...