Bozeman, Montana: 45° 40’ 40” N, 111° 2’ 50” W.  
Founded, 1864.
The Bozeman Magpie: Available Everywhere.
Founded, 2010.

Got one behind our belt buckles, and we’re strutting back for Round Two.  We notched a definitive inaugural year at the Dirty Bird.  Some 25,000 souls turned out to hear our squawking, and we did our best to oblige every last one. Logging the weeks like miles of prairie, we told our tales from one horizon to the next, and a few of the 164 were even true. Musta found the right chord, too, since we rallied a train of support, made a gaggle of new friends, and spun a couple laps around the world.  Eighty-seven countries, that’s something to put under your hat.

Seems like a bit of celebration is in order.  Let’s make it a double.

We did a bit of renovating for Magpie 2.0, as the young folks here on Lamme Street named our new look.  I regard it like a wagon all gussied up for the next parade.  It’s easy to think that the noisy toil of our work would render us hard of hearing; but we listen to you, the Magpie faithful, we listen plenty.  Over clamoring keyboards and vehement discussions, we heard you ask for increased community dialogue and connectivity, as well as more options on the homepage and more better pictures.  Seems a fetch to outdo the great photographs of southwest Montana already posted (a hearty “thank you” to Troy, Brad, Dan, and John W.), but we aim to try.  We’ll start with bigger and see how far that gets us toward ‘more better.’

Of course, we chucked all that other stuff in the kettle, too. 

Enjoy the forum.  We’re excited about the new gizmo, but a little wary, too.  These things have a way of getting outta hand, what with all the lonesome hounds howling things at their computer screens that they’d never dare in public.  Truth be told, we don’t have many available fingers, let alone hands, for extra work.  We insist that forum contributors post under their full, given names, and we put that big Golden Rule at the top of the forum page for good reason.

 I'm just an out-dated ranch hand, but I do appreciate you taking the time to visit.  Here's to you, neighbor."

-Ike Chandler
Spiritual Leader of the Dirty Bird