Local Author Lilah Morton Pengra

Thanks to fellow blogger Dick Dunwiddie, of http://dhsclassmates.blogspot.com/, local author and jewelry maker Lilah Pengra was introduced to my blog photos, a handful of which she graciously chose to include in a presentation she did Friday morn for a group of Elderhostel members. I was a fortunate guest of Dr. Pengra's. The presentation was about the history of the bison in the Black Hills, from before the Euro-Americans arrived...to the choice of several 'leaders' including Gen. Grant, to try to wipe out the bison in hopes that it would get rid of the Native Americans as well. Ah yes, the great history of the noble white man...Lilah was extremely knowledgeable, full of interesting facts...

Lilah began her slide show with a new segment about the bisons' behavior. She included this photo of mine, which I had naively referred to on my blog as a bull taking a dust bath. Not exactly. Considering the setting (2-3 scattered bulls among dozens of cows) and time of year (Aug.), this was actually a bull rolling in his own urine in the dirt, a sort of 'cologne' concoction to let the ladies know how manly he is...I should say 'half-rolling' since bison cannot do a complete roll-over...

Be sure to check out Lilah Pengra's website at http://lunehousepublishing.com/default.aspx . She has written books about the history of the first African American folks in the Black Hills area, including her latest book, 'Sarah Campbell: The First White Woman in the Black Hills was African American.' She is making sure that the first non-Native women to settle in the area get the proper shout-out. :o)

Thanks to Marge, too, for telling me how to edit the html code so that links included in a post will open in a separate window...it works! Awesome!