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PODCAST

Awe, Nice!

Short interviews from people who work outside, about a moment of wonder they experienced. Wonder at Work.

society & culture wilderness

All Episodes

08:24

Jamie Carpenter

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/12/11

Welcome to Awe, Nice! where we highlight moments of wonder while working outdoors. This week, we have another interview with a wildland fire fighter. I met Jamie Carpenter on the Stoner Mesa fire this summer. Jamie was on the Cal-Wood fire five years ago, during another history-making fire season, this time complicated by the pandemic. Ten million acres burned across the western US. Thousands of homes were lost and dozens of people died. The Cal-Wood fire was towards the end of a vveerry

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08:28

Steve Nicholson, II

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/12/04

Welcome to Awe, Nice! where we highlight moments of wonder while working outdoors. This week, I'm airing another moment recounted by Steve Nicholson, a division supervisor on the Stoner Mesa fire, here in southwestern Colorado. Steve was able to get away from fire work for a while and was spending time back home in Montana. It was a hot fall, with temperatures approaching 90, and the woods, he said, were really loud because everything was dry and crackly as you moved through. Steve was archery

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08:35

Doug Falconi, Part II

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/12/02

Welcome to Awe, Nice! where we highlight moments of wonder while working outdoors. This week, we return to a moment recalled by Doug Falconi. It's part of a bigger focus on recollections from wildland fire fighters. In the first segment, Doug describes a moment as part of the Bitterroot Hotshot crew, on the Ash Creek Fire in 2012. On the day they arrived, it literally blew up. Each day, he said, it burned 40,000 acres. Temps were in the 90's. Winds gusted over 30 miles per hour and the relative

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09:07

Steve Nicholson, I

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/12/02

Welcome to Awe, Nice! where we highlight moments of wonder while working outdoors. I've been turning my attention to wildland firefighters, several of whom I met this summer on the Stoner Mesa fire, which burned over 10,000 acres north of Dolores. I work as a hand up there on a grazing allotment. One of the people I met was Steve Nicholson. Here, Steve shares an anecdote from the 2012 fire season, which as listeners may know, was the 3rd worst in US history. Though he wasn't positive, he

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09:02

Doug Falconi, Part I

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/12/01

Welcome to Awe, Nice! where we highlight moments of wonder while working outdoors. Sometimes I think I should call this show, Oh, No! For many, the moments they recall have excitement and wonder, but also scary predicaments. Over the next few weeks, I'm turning attention to wildland firefighters. This is partly because they deserve attention and partly because I met several this summer on the Stoner Mesa fire, which burned over 10,000 acres north of Dolores. I work cows on one of the Forest Service

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07:30

Nina Hance, II

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/11/14

Welcome to Awe Nice, where we highlight moments of wonder while working outdoors. This week, we return to a conversation with Nina Hance, the backcountry guide from Montana. Nina and her husband have had several encounters with grizzlies. Once they were mountain biking and were bluff-charged. She estimates the sow, who had cubs with her, was 500 pounds or so. While the incident was short, it had a lasting impact on her psyche, including regular nightmares. Another time, she and Alex were hunting

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06:58

Nina Hance, I

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/11/14

Welcome to Awe Nice, where we highlight moments of wonder while working outdoors. This week, I talked with Nina Hance. Nina is a backcountry guide certified by the American Mountain Guides Association. In the winter, she works for Beartooth Powder Guides as a lead guide. Nina shared two events. Her first moment was during a guiding trip outside of Cook City. Cook City (population about 70) is near the entrance to Yellowstone National Park and not far from the Wyoming border. She takes us to Woody

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05:30

Jon Tanguay, II

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/11/10

We're featuring another moment with Maine lobsterman Jon Tanguay. It occurred around this time of year, early winter-late fall, when his traps were all dozens of miles offshore, taking several hours to get to them and to get back home. Some shorthand for a few things he mentions: At the time of this event, the strings laid down between two buoys consisted of 20 traps. Four strings would be 80 traps and it would take about an hour and 20 minutes to get through those 80 traps. Also, when he

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08:04

Jon Tanguay, I

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/11/10

This week, I interviewed Jon Tanguay, for another segment from my native state. Jon lives in Harpswell, Maine. He's been lobstering his whole life, since he was going out with his uncle at age three. He said his parents told him his first word as a baby was "boat." He was lobstering on his own by age nine. Many lobstermen pick up their traps in the winter, but Jon has been lobstering year-round since about 1998. In colder months, lobster move off shore and lobstering becomes tougher, more

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07:42

Terence Kenney

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/11/07

This week, I interviewed Terence Kenney. Terence has lived his life in Harpswell, Maine, and is the first of what I hope will be regular interviewees from my home state. Terence recounts a rough scalloping trip to Gouldsboro, up the coast from Harpswell by about 150 miles if you're driving. It's theoretically less if you're traveling by boat, but remember, there are 4,600 islands off the coast of Maine. If you're captaining a 40-foot boat, in a big storm, in the dark, that number can be pretty

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05:31

Mini-Awe-Polis 5

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/10/31

It's time for another Mini-Awe-Polis, a collection of observations, like hay in my jacket pockets. Lately, after more than two dozen successfully recorded moments for Awe, Nice! I have been having some short and stilted conversations with people who work outside, who spend their lives outside. These are folks who have done incredible feats, witnessed cool weather events, been part of amazing wildlife encounters. Yet, they struggle to identify and articulate a specific moment of wonder. I get

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06:35

Matt Barnes, II

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/10/19

This week, we return to a conversation I had with Matt Barnes. Matt lives here in southwest Colorado. He’s been a rangeland scientist for years and has also worked as a ranch manager. In fact, this moment that we recorded is from a time several years ago when he was up in the mountains, working with cattle. Between a close encounter with a grizzly bear (which we hear about a few segments ago) and this one, I can say, “Matt, I’m glad you’re still here, man!” Matt told me he got Lichtenberg

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07:37

Vicki Taussig

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/10/19

This week, I interviewed Vicki Taussig. Vicki lives in Kremmling, Colorado. She narrated A Brutal, Beautiful Life, which is a short documentary directed by Beau Gaughran. I served as writer and a producer. We just learned it will be part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour next year, which is pretty exciting. Vicki ranches with her daughter, Caitlyn, who was my first interviewee for Awe Nice. Here, Vicki shares a moment with her draft horse team of Push and Pull, two big beautiful

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07:32

Matt Barnes

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/10/13

Welcome to Awe Nice, that’s a-w-e-n-i-c-e, where we highlight moments of wonder while working outdoors. This week, I interviewed Matt Barnes. Like me, Matt lives here in southwestern Colorado. He’s been a rangeland scientist for years and has also worked as a ranch manager. His focus, as he mentions briefly and as has been shaped by his observations and experiences, has been hewn to how can we all get along on this planet. Specifically, how can us humans, especially those working the land, coexist

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06:00

Forrest Van Tuyl on Rock Jacks

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/10/13

This week is a bit of a one-off as I’m sharing a few minutes with Forrest Van Tuyl again. Forrest wrote the song Rock Jack and he sent the instrumental version to me for the intro and outro. In this segment, he talks about that song and the old-time and time-tested ranch structure that inspired it. Here is an excerpt of lyrics from the song: Fall settles in and the good work begins The gather the harvest the gleaning The day is shortening but the moon illumines the empty allotment you’re

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05:29

Mini-Awe-Polis 4

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/09/18

Show notes coming soon!

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06:28

Bob Bragg

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/09/18

Show notes coming soon!

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06:41

Forrest Van Tuyl

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/08/26

Welcome to Awe Nice, where we highlight moments of wonder while working outdoors. This week, I interviewed Forrest Van Tuyl. Sound familiar? Forrest wrote Rockjack and he sent the instrumental version to me for the intro and outro. In a forthcoming segment, he’s going to talk about that song and the ranch structure that inspired it. For this segment, he shared a moment when he was working in way eastern Oregon, not far from the Idaho border. Sounds like amazing country and here he is to tell us

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05:33

Mini-Awe-Polis 3

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/08/26

My name is Maddy Butcher. I live in southwestern Colorado and I’ve worked as a journalist for several decades. I like to spend time outside and, thankfully, I have spent many years working outside, not just playing outside. I think it’s important to distinguish between the two. In my experience, people’s perspectives, experiences, and philosophies towards the outdoors is different depending on if they are building a life where they’re working, if they become an important part of their outdoor

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06:56

Rae Nickerson

Awe, Nice! ·

2025/08/18

This week, I interviewed Rae Nickerson. Rae lives is persuing a PhD at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, but travels widely in the west. She studies large carnivores and specifically works on conflict reduction between wolves, grizzlies, and livestock. Rae has had several encounters with bears, some scary, some hilarious, like when a bear was trying to get apples out of the back of her truck while she was trying to sleep in the cab. But she picked another kind of encounter to share with us.

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38 results

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