Heather: So I did the hat last year because during the Sheepherders Festival last year, it was the Kentucky Derby. And so I asked lots of people, like, "Wear your Derby hats."

And so I think it was me and one other person, but when I got to do this, wanted the big hat, but on the back of this, there's birch trees. Because in Wyoming, one of the things we have are called arborglyphs, and it's where sheepherders many, many years ago would carve their initials, the date. They would carve Basque words, Scottish words, and it's actually how we keep track of history.

So that's, on the back of this, there's little birch trees So just as an arborglyph. That's my story on my hat.

Nichole: Do you have a favorite arborglyph that you've seen?

Heather: So that's a great question. I think what I love is seeing the, the years.

Okay. Because a lot of times they would carve in the years on them, and there is actually a professor at University of Wyoming, but she's done extensive research on them. And so it's like, who knew? But you can literally go, especially in southern Wyoming, where you can go into the woods and see these aspens that have been carved, and they, you know, presumably when they carved it, it was really small, and now as they grow, they get a little bit bigger. But it'll say, like, 1916. So I like being able to see the history on the trees. So yeah, that's why we did it.

Note: This was recorded live at the Sheepherder’s Festival in Gillette, WY and includes background noise.

The transcript above has been condensed from its original audio recording to improve the flow and readability of the story.