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About the Book
In 1995, Les began writing a regular weekly column, “Rural Roots”, for
The Medicine Hat News. A selection of Les's and his reader's favourite
columns have been reworked slightly and compiled into this book, The
Rural Roots Reader. A few nonfiction elements are also included as Les
expands and explores new avenues in his writing career .
About the
Author
Les Brost is a rancher, writer and Old Prairie Dog. He’s lived most of
his life in the shade of the Cypress Hills alongside the best neighbours in
the universe. For the past seven years, his weekly columns have appeared in
the Monday edition of the Medicine Hat News. When the time comes for a
headstone, it will read; “He was not an innocent bystander”.
About the Illustrator
Marlene Lacey is a
photographer, graphic artist and publisher. Born in Saskatchewan,
raised in British Columbia and now living in Alberta, where she spends much of her
time painting the Southern Alberta landscape with her digital and SLR
cameras, hand-made paper, and multi-layered graphic montages.
Table of
Contents
| A My Hill 2
Duke and Me 9
Magpie Appears 11
Smokin’ on the Tracks 13
Christmas ‘97—A Story? 17
Angry Daughters 19
A Visit with Old Pete 21
The Bangtail 23
Manners 25
The Cattlemen’s Challenge 27
Waiting for Rain 29
Seniors 31
Vanishing Prairie 33
Kit, The Hunter 35
Return to the Roundup 37
The Ice Cream Lesson 51
Dad and I 53
Happy Mother’s Day! 55
Stop the Abuse 58
A Fishy Story 60 |
B The Coyote's Tale 63
Lord, We Need to be Humble 77
Couched in Trouble 79
Gentle Men 81
A Christmas Gift 83
Farmerspeak 86
Planning for the Summit 89
An Ian Tyson Kind of Morning 91
He’s Back 93
Addictions 95
The Christmas Games 97
Inconsistency 99
A Whitla Saturday Night 101
Winter Move 106
Tinted Windows 108
Reflections in a Restaurant 110
My Heritage 112
Remembering Albert 114
Cowboy Chippendales 116
Shipping Cattle 118
To My Dad 120
The Bail-Out Boogie 122 |
C Cattlemen’s Decisions
126
Virtual Ranching 128
The Battleground 130
Canada Day 136
Anger in the Country 138
Y2K 141
A Guy’s Day 143
Adventures in Air Drying 145
The Hammershed 147
The Organ Player 149
Saving the Grasslands 153
The Coyotepaws’ Channel 155
Spirit Drought 157
Magpie, I Surrender! 159
Grandpa-in Waiting 161
Father’s Day 163
Tragedy at Hythe 165
Preventative Maintenance 167
Magpie’s Message 169
Passages 172
Winds of Change 175 |
D Calving Time in the
City 178
The Headgate 180
The Church and The Prairie Dog 182
Valentine’s Day 187
Voting with Our Wallets 189
The R-Files 191
The Last Heifer 193
Blasted Bird 195
A Letter to my Granddaughter 197
Pierre Eliot Trudeau 199
Cattle I.D. 201
Hockey Eros 203
Selling my Cowherd 205
Early Morning Message 207
Kit’s Vet Visit 209
A Small Town Christmas 211
Old McDonald 214
Snow Writing 216
Goodbye to a Friend 218
Christmas at Sand Creek 220
Policemen’s Balls 223
Being Les Brost 225 |
Peek Inside:
First page of
Foreword and Acknowledgements (PDF)
Introduction by Coyotepaws
(PDF)
Cattlemen's Decisions
(PDF) Realmedia reading. (RAM)
[For PDF support, click here; for
RAM support, click here.]
Reviews
Readers are are encouraged to enter their own review of this title by
commenting in the BGP Guestbook.
When commenting, please mention the The Rural Roots Reader
title.
Awards
Les received a Gold award for excellence in his press column by the Canadian
Farm Writers’ Federation (CFWF) at 2002 Canadian Farm Writers' Federation (CFWF)
annual conference, a writers and broadcasters awards banquet, held in
Fredericton, NB.
Readings
The Rural Roots Reader Launches
| Medicine Hat |
Lethbridge |
Internet |
November
16, 2002
11 - 3 p.m.
Cypress Club
218 - 6th Ave SENovember
17, 2002
11 - 3 p.m.
Sierra Room,
Cypress Center,
Stampede Grounds |
November 13, 2002
8:00 p.m.
Lethbridge Police Services Meeting RoomNovember 14, 2002 8 p.m.
Bowman Arts Centre main gallery |
December 5, 2002 10:00 MST
Online Virtual Reading & Chatcancelled
online reading, Realmedia reading |
- more details will be provided on
LACEY.
Orders
- Order from the publisher using the contact information noted
below.
- Print Order Form
|
Lethbridge, Alberta Canada
