Sunday, November 23, 2014

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy


Thankful is the cowboy way

By Julie Carter

As a rule, a cowboy is a man of few words.  His thankfulness for his life is heartfelt but will be expressed in a simple manner.

The job doesn’t pay much, but the air is clean. The benefit package is limited, meaning ranch rules are he can have two horses, one dog and he must use both for work. If he happens to get hurt or sick he will just have to get better and sooner rather than later.

His clothes don’t have designer labels. He has one “town” shirt and Lord willing, he will have saved enough for new chaps by Christmas.  A pair of clean jeans, a mostly ironed shirt and the dust knocked of the toe of his boots make him ready for polite company.

He gets mail once in a while. The latest catalog from the veterinary supply is the highlight in the week.

His schedule is pretty simple. It coincides with Mother Nature and Father Time. If the weather lets him and there is any daylight left, he will get it done. Once in a while he is forced to meet a deadline set by an arriving load of feed or the cattle trucks at shipping time.

His pickup is old but it still runs good enough to get him where he needs to go. His horse is young and still has a little buck in him. For a cowboy, it doesn’t get much better.

The roads out at the ranch don’t have traffic lights and there are definitely no heavy traffic issues.  A traffic jam to a cowboy is when he needs to move a large herd of cattle through a small gate.

Neighborhood gangs are made up of the neighbors coming to help. The closest thing to smog arrives in the spring in the form of blowing dust and smoke from the branding irons. Sometimes when he starts up the old pickup it belches a little black smoke. Some might call that smog.

Office politics don’t exist and a nylon rope keeps things politically correct with a cow.
There are no lines to stand in to wait for anything.  Back of the line to a cowboy means riding drag behind the herd.

His outlook on the weather sums it up in an ever optimistic attitude of “maybe it’ll rain one of these days. It always does eventually.” In the meantime, its winter and time to chop a little fire wood before it gets dark and keep the axe handy to break ice on the water tanks in the morning.

He sees in one day more of creation than most will see in a lifetime of the Discovery Channel. He watches natures cycle in wildlife of all kinds as the coyote hunts, the deer and elk graze and hawks on the wing observe from above.

For this life he is most thankful. He knows he can ride to the top of a ridge and be just about as close to his Lord as he is going to get on this earth. His prayer for himself is that Lord willing, he’ll be here next year to say thanks again.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com

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