The closest town to mine is a well known
bird sanctuary and once a year "birders" migrate to the big bird bash
where they fill up the hotels, dine in local restaurants and put a smile
on the face of the fine feathered folks at the local Chamber of
Commerce. Believe it or not, 20 percent of Americans are proud to call
themselves bird watchers and they annually spend in excess of 36 BILLION
dollars to add to their "Life Lists" of birds they've seen.
There
are thousands of rural towns in this country struggling right now and
they could sure use the cash derived from such birdbrained activities.
The problem is that most towns just don't have the birds for it. Oh
sure, they might have their share of lemmings, pigeons and jail birds,
but that's just the city council, and I really doubt rich people from
the east would pay to see them. So I asked myself, what do rural towns
have that are vanishing everywhere else that folks would flock to see?"
Cowboys, that's what!
There
are many advantages of "cowboying" over "birding". Cowboys are more
colorful, interesting and they don't bomb you from above, if you know
what I mean? You don't need expensive binoculars, spotting scopes or
cameras and unlike bird watching, you can watch for cowboys in the air
conditioned comfort of a mall, bar or airport. Like birds, the cowboy
species you'll see will vary by where they're from, and are identifiable
by the shape of their hats, their saddle rigging and the sounds they
produce. In Nevada you'll see the black booted buckaroo, in Texas it's
the red-necked cow puncher, and in California you might catch a fleeting
glance of a silver-saddled vaquero.
To
watch cowboys all you do is find a bench on Main Street and start
watching. You can do it anywhere, although cowboy watching might be a
little slow in Santa Monica or New York City. Even if you did spot one
wearing colorful plumage in their hat and silver tips on their boots,
it's probably just a hair dresser.
Species
of cowboys include dudes, rodeo and drugstore cowboys, along with the
much rarer working varieties. Subspecies include team ropers, stove-up
old cowboys who had to resort to sheepherding, corn farmers who would
run from a uterine prolapse, Harley riders who look like they could
bulldog a steer from their bike and politicians who wear boots in states
like New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming where the cowboy vote can swing an
election.
Spotting the genuine article is not as easy as spotting someone in a hat
and boots and walking like their legs were wrapped around a barrel. It
could be a Sheriff, lawyer, or line dancer...
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