Swing Vote: Common Loons, Chaperoned Sheep and Naughty Bits

My home’s in Montana, I wear a bandanna
My spurs are of silver, my pony is gray.
While riding the ranges
My luck never changes
I saddle my pony and gallop away.

Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where never is heard
A discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Do you know both of these tunes? I knew Home on the Range from childhood but only learned My Home’s In Montana when I was in college and backpacking abroad. These two songs can be sung at the same time in a round and it’s really neat. In fact, these little ditties have been sung in train stations and a Sicilian quarry. So that’s cool.

Completely separate from the Swing Vote: Montana campaign we had a family over for dinner and they’re from Montana! Can you believe it?!

They’re really cool, so I’ve decided Montana must be full of the coolest people ever.

And then there’s the Missoula Children’s Theater. I was a part of a stunning production of Little Red Riding Hood as a child. That performance didn’t launch my acting and singing career but it was special nonetheless.

As of press time I didn’t have a hit from a Montana resident on StealingFaith.com, and I now know why.

The average square mile of land contains 1.4 elk, 1.4 pronghorn antelope, and 3.3 deer. You’ll notice there’s no mention in that statistic of a human. And last time I checked, humans are the most likely consumers of internet joy.

Having opposable thumbs rather than hooves helps when surfing the world wide web.

I’m not giving up hope, though, and neither should you. We need to convince the folks in the sparsely populated, largely bovine wilds of Montana we love them and want to learn more about their state!

Here are some fun facts to let them know we’re sincere in our desire to learn more:

• Montana has the largest migratory elk herd in the nation. And the elk are the polite ones, not the ones who expose their naughty bits to the world. (If that reference confused you, take a look over here where my precocious children explained the difference between an elk and a deer.)
• North of Missoula is the largest population of nesting common loons in the western United States. I’m not sure what this means. I don’t know why loons should be nesting. Nor why they are common. But Montana has a lock on the whole loony process.
• Last fact of the evening? It is illegal to have a sheep in the cab of your truck without a chaperone. Because, you know, sheep without chaperones can get a little rowdy. Hubba, hubba. (Keep ’em away from the deer.)

We have barely touched on the surface of what there is to learn about Montana – and we want to learn the facts from someone who’s right there!

So tell your friends, share to anyone with Montana links! Send a resident to StealingFaith.com in the next two days and well have a Swing Vote success.

And I know how competitive you are. Go on, get on it.