Haying season is in full swing on Pass Ranch. It’s been done more or less the same way for decades, and for the past 40 years, largely the same equipment! It’s a rite of passage for all the kids who grow up on the ranch to spend large chunks of their summers making hay to earn a little extra money.

With the favorable weather conditions in the past couple of years, we’ve been blessed with a tremendous crop of hay. Click here or on the picture below to see more!

Seth gives us a smile and a wave.

I don’t normally write about stuff that isn’t directly associated with the Pass Ranch or my family or my travels here, but today I found an absolutely fascinating documentary movie online filmed in North Korea.

I wanted to embed the film (in three parts here) mostly for convenient access for myself, but for anyone else that may be reading this post, I encourage them to also watch the film. You won’t be disappointed I promise. If the embedded player doesn’t appear on your screen, click through directly to the post here: http://www.passranch.com/blog/?p=67

Remember, the direct link to the documentary’s website is included at the top of each embedded video. And now, for the show!

Getting into North Korea was one of the hardest and weirdest processes VBS has ever dealt with. After we went back and forth with their representatives for months, they finally said they were going to allow 16 journalists into the country to cover the Arirang Mass Games in Pyongyang. Then, ten days before we were supposed to go, they said, “No, nobody can come.” Then they said, “OK, OK, you can come. But only as tourists.” We had no idea what that was supposed to mean. They already knew we were journalists, and over there if you get caught being a journalist when you’re supposed to be a tourist you go to jail. We don’t like jail. And we’re willing to bet we’d hate jail in North Korea. But we went for it. The first leg of the trip was a flight into northern China. At the airport, the North Korean consulate took our passports and all of our money, then brought us to a restaurant. We were sitting there with our tour group, and suddenly all the other diners left and these women came out and started singing North Korean nationalist songs. We were thinking, “Look, we were just on a plane for 20 hours. We’re jet-lagged. Can we just go to bed?” but this guy with our group who was from the LA Times told us, “Everyone in here besides us is secret police. If you don’t act excited then you’re not going to get your visa. So we got drunk and jumped up onstage and sang songs with the girls. The next day we got our visas. A lot of people we had gone with didn’t get theirs. That was our first hint at just what a freaky, freaky trip we were embarking on…
— VBS Founder Shane Smith

Part one of “Vice Guide to North Korea”

Part two of “Vice Guide to North Korea”

Part three of “Vice Guide to North Korea”

Some pictures from a recent trip to Colorado. Boulder in the morning and Rocky Mountain National Park in the afternoon. Click here or on the picture below to see more!

Rocky Mountain National Park, June 2010.

All the slots for the 2010 Sandhills Marathon have been filled!  We just received this message from Andy Pollock with the news:

The 2010 Sandhills Marathon’s field is full, and we are closing registration.  All entries postmarked after today, Monday April 5, unfortunately will not be accepted.

Please consider running the 2011 Sandhills Marathon, Saturday, June 11!

Thanks to everyone for your continued interest in this event.  Good luck to all, we’ll see you on June 12th for the fourth annual Sandhills Marathon!

Some random pictures off my camera taken in the last month or so. Click here or on the picture below to see more!

Downtown Kansas City, January 6th, 2010.

The brand new 2010 edition of the Pass Times book has been finished and is now available for download.

Click here or on the book cover below to get your copy today! Remember, you can choose to download the whole book or chapter by chapter.

Just a quick note to announce the date for the 2010 Sandhills Marathon has been set. We got word this week from the event organizers:

2010 Sandhills Marathon will be June 12! contact apollock@remboltludtke.com for details….

Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to contact Andy as soon as they can. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again this year!

A nearly perfect autumn afternoon in southeast Nebraska and a trip to the Homestead National Monument gave me an opportunity to grab a few photographs of prairies covered in gold. Click here or on the picture below to see more!

Prairie land at the Homestead National Monument in Nebraska.

I finally got the chance to visit the Steamship Arabia Museum. The size of the museum itself belies the truly massive collection of wonderful 19th century artifacts on display. The photos I’ve posted here don’t come close to doing the collection justice and I would highly recommend anyone who has the chance to visit the museum to do so. But for a taste of what’s on display you can take a look at the photos I’ve posted here. Click on any image to view it full size.

Click here to view the photos.

It’s been a cool and damp spring in the Sandhills in 2009, cooler temperatures and moisture intensify the emerald colors found everywhere this time of year – interspersed with the flecks of gold and purple flowers and the grey and steely sky. Megan Hanna and her uncle David took a trip down to the river and then back to the calving shed on Sunday, you can see the results of the trip below:

Click here to view Megan’s photos.