S T O R I E S
By Julie Carter - Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
Cowboy life is not always awash in glamour. A good bit of it involves farm implements, a shovel, plumbing tools, fence stretchers and carpenter skills. It's that seedy side of the career than will send a young man looking for the excitement.
My own younger brother was a good example of this natural migration. Being the last one left at home - his older brothers already gone, making the big bucks in the construction industry - he was the last cowboy standing. Well into that stage of maturity where Dad didn't know a thing about anything, ranch work was just another frontier of disagreement. To improve his circumstances, he joined the U.S. Army.
The irony was that after basic training, they sent him to live on an Army-owned ranch in Colorado to be in the cavalry regiment that performed in parades and re-enactment. In this newfound career, he cleaned stalls, tended to horses and preformed other ranch chores.
Eventually his tour was up and he moved back home. However, cowboy glamour at the ranch soon left again in the midst of moving sprinkler pipe in the hay fields and other such tedious chores.
The lad re-enlisted, but not without throwing in a tour of duty tending bar in a big city honky-tonk, teaching country dance lessons and landing a role in a beer commercial for the really big bucks. His cowboy expertise came in quite handy.
Through the years, the armed forces have been the "great escape" for a number of cowboys.
In Texas, Donnie was still at home, helping his dad out with the family ranch while considering his career opportunities. During the last rainy spell, his dad decided that the house roof needed new shingles. Donnie came to mind for this job.
Soon, Donnie found himself up on the ridge row with a shingling hatchet, a bundle of shingles and a nail apron firmly in place. After the first couple of rows of shingles, the summer sunshine was losing its charm.
Donnie managed to work the head off the hatchet and was climbing down when Dad, who was paying more attention than Donnie realized, tossed him up a hammer. It took Donnie a while to break the handle on the hammer, but he got it done. Dad had another one ready for him.
While nailing on a couple more rows of shingles, he decided that Dad was preoccupied. The hammer slipped out of his grasp and landed about 500 feet away in the stock tank. That just happened to be the last hammer on the place, so Dad sent Donnie to the hardware store in town for more hammers to finish the job.
On the way to town, Donnie noticed he had a couple of extra shirts and pairs of Wranglers in the truck so he went on down the road to Mineral Wells and joined the Army.
Three years went by before Donnie returned stateside and got back to Texas where he headed home. On the way, he remembered what started it all.
He stopped by the hardware store, got a couple of hammers and when he walked in the door at home told his Dad, "Here's your hammers. I got them just like you told me."
Julie, also wise with years, can be reached through her website atwww.julie-carter.com.