About

The love of ranching and ranch work, and a desire to transmit that deep appreciation inspire Sandy to write. She wants to honor her heritage through her stories. Sandy hopes that readers come to understand, respect and appreciate the rural lifestyle that shaped her and she wants to share traditions that are sliding into history.

Sandy believes her work ethic, integrity, honesty, compassion and empathy were shaped by life on the land. Her ranching heritage honors livestock, wildlife, waterways, the land and sky and bows before Mother Nature’s vagaries.

Having attended a different school each of her first six elementary grades, Sandy now  puts down deep roots. The importance of community, of friendships, and of belonging are woven through her writing.

Born in Billings, Montana, Sandy was raised on ranches in South Eastern and Central Montana. Her mom often laughed that she taught school so the family could survive the poverty that accompanied ranching in the 1960’s. Their degree of poverty was common though, so was no real hardship.

As a kid, Sandy particularly enjoyed exploring along the creek, viewing the world through her microscope or telescope, and riding horseback with her sister. Their dad was a tough taskmaster, which developed a strong work ethic in both girls, and one of their mom’s favorite maxims was, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Their parents encouraged the girls to follow their interests, to finish whatever they started and to do it as well as possible; then do it again a little better the next time.

After the end of a youthful marriage, Sandy thrived as a single mom to her daughter. They lived in town for the high school years and their house was the go-to place for  rural friends – great years for both of them. Leaving her daughter at college in Oregon was a traumatic event. But as her daughter blossomed in college, Sandy looked for new challenges. She returned to college at age 40 and obtained both bachelor and master degrees in civil engineering. One of her great honors was speaking at the University of Wyoming engineering college commencement after being selected by her peers as Engineering Student of the Year.

Following careers as a ranch wife, mother (which blessedly continues), fiscal officer at a not for profit agency and civil engineer, she returned to her roots and ranches with the love of her life, Sonny and his family. She’s also a fledgling, and working toward becoming published, author.

Sandy’s hobbies include reading and sewing applique portraits and quilts. However, her primary interest is working with, training and learning from her three horses – palomino gelding Sol, buckskin gelding Rebel and red roan filly Windsor. They are cow horses she uses on the ranch, but Sandy is learning dressage principles to become better in tune with her equine partners.

Another major character in Sandy’s ranch life was their dog Mr. Peabody. This predominantly Old English Sheepdog mixed breed ruled the roost through his good humor and owns their hearts even after his death. A dog based solely on Mr. Peabody plays a significant role in Sandy’s first novel. A new addition to their family is Jersey milk cow Bugaboo who likes to be petted and cuddled nearly as much as Mr. Peabody did.

Please read a few samples of Sandy’s writing, both fiction and non fiction, on the Short Stories and Nonfiction pages, then leave a comment or drop a friend a link to help build Sandy’s platform. Sandy has completed one book with the working title Magpie Summer and is editing a second titled Magpie Fall (see synopsis at Books (Unpublished) with a third percolating in the background.

The book series revolves around a teenage ranch girl in the 1960’s in a fictional Eastern Montana county. Sandy says, “The setting and ranch life depicted in the books are similar to areas and experiences I’ve known. But they aren’t my story – Allie is way too cool to represent any part of my teenage years!”