Transitions and Commitments: Best of the Blog 2014

This was a year of transitions and commitments.  I changed jobs, changed states, and started to follow my ancestor Pvt. Orrin Brown on his march with Gen. Sherman to the Sea.  In the new year, we’ll follow him as they turn North for home.  And I hope you’ll follow me as I explore new stories of home, here in the high desert of the Colorado Plateau.

Where the Well Things Are (#1 for 2014 / #3 for 2013 / #5 Alltime) / Behind the Bakken Boom (#6 for 2014 / #2 for 2013 / #2 Alltime) / Bittersweet in the Bakken (#7 for 2014)

There’s oil in there hills!  Or rather in them there High Plains of North Dakota & Montana, and Wyoming and Colorado, and New Mexico and Texas.  The price of crude has been joining natural gas in the doldrums—good for consumers, not so good for producers, leading to great uncertainty here in Shale country.  I’ll be working more with oil & gas in my new job, so I expect we’ll re-visit this topic time-to-time.

Cheyenne-Laramie County, Wyoming, Historical Timeline (#2 for 2014 / #8 Alltime)

The Cheyenne area has a rich and interesting place in Western history, from the trans-continental railroad to the Johnson County War and into modern times.  While County leaders and I didn’t get on so well, I still fell in love with that great wide open country.

Placemaking Pays Off in the Place and in the Making (#3 for 2014 / #11 Alltime)

Great places attract people, but its often process that is as important as the result.  People have to take ownership of a place to make it truly great.  This post earned some link-love on twitter, and I also used it in the APA Small Town & Rural Planning newsletter.

Development Professional Available (#4 for 2014)

Thanks to everybody who helped on my job search this year.  I am so grateful to work on helping people build great places to live.  Looking ahead to some really interesting and challenging opportunities in 2015.

Little (Lego) House on the Prairie (Style) (#5 for 2014 / #6 for 2013 / #1 Alltime)

This post from 2009 on Frank Lloyd Wright for the Lego set continues to draw heavy Google traffic.  Maybe they ought to pay ME for marketing their Lego set, hm….

The Diary of Pvt. Orrin Brown: Marching Through Georgia and the Carolinas with General Sherman (#8 for 2014)

This post on the first of October began the daily diary of our intrepid soldier in the Civil War, 150 years ago.

Diary of Orrin Brown–Nov 6, 1864 (#9 for 2014)

Welcome to Atlanta, where Pvt. Brown met an escaped Prisoner-of-War.

Turtles All The Way Down (#10 for 2014)

Recap of my Top Tunes of 2014.  I have a deep and abiding love of authentic roots music and Americana culture.  I appreciate everybody creating new music capable of becoming old music, and new stories capable of becoming classics.  Cross-posted & featured at No Depression website.

It’s been a good year.  Next year will be even better.

JCShepard.com Jetpack Annual Report for 2014

Last Year’s Best of Blog

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