Cindy Henchell and Bonnie Long
If you’ve been a resident of High Prairie for more than a minute you’ve undoubtedly heard the name Doug Taylor; sometimes in conjunction with words like mayor, pioneer, preacher. None of those titles are exactly accurate. True, Doug is a lifelong resident of High Prairie but he is not a pioneer, or the mayor, and despite the former church at the foot of his driveway, he is not a preacher. But he is a friend to many and never a stranger.
As an early adopter of Facebook, Doug has been entertaining friends and neighbors with stories from his childhood on the Prairie; his philosophy; animals, domestic and wild; and his observation of the goings on around him. Many people have asked him to publish his stories in a book.
Finally, in his 10th decade he is a published book author. Bonnie Long offered to collect stories and photos from him and compile them together but she had no publishing experience, so she contacted me and, as one of the many who have told Doug that he needs to put his stories in book form, I was on-board in an instant.
We pulled his Facebook memoirs and stories and pored over early issues of the High Prairian for his articles and came up with enough content for this book. And there’s still more! We had to be a little conservative to keep the cost of the eventual book reasonable. But we had to overlook some good ones and, not only that—Doug keeps writing! There could be a Volume 2 someday.
Reading this book you will find out that besides a published book author, Doug is a historian, farmer, cook, and weatherman, among other things. You can read a sample online by visiting https://www.highprairie.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DougT-concept.pdf.
So, how does one get a full, printed copy of the book?
The first step is to let us know that you are interested in purchasing one or more books. We’ve set up an advanced order page from which we will determine how many copies to have printed. The closer we come to a final number when we place the print order, the lower the cost. As a very rough estimate, the price of the book will likely be between $12 and $15 + WA tax and shipping (USPS “Book” rate). If you submit an advanced order by September 15 you will get 10% off the final price and free shipping. To sign up for the advanced sale, please complete the form at https://www.highprairie.us/my-high-prairie-book-order before September 15.