Happy Friday – Maybe
My first thought when planning to write a blog post for today was to comment on current affairs. But current affairs are so… so… so Disheartening? Ugly? Frightening? All of the above?
Settling on “all of the above,” I figured my mind needed to go in a different direction. And since my mind couldn’t figure out in which direction to go, I said, “To heck with it. I’ll let my friend Slim Randles entertain us all with a fun story about rodeos.”
So, grab a cup of coffee and join the gang at the Mule Barn Truck Stop and enjoy the read.
“This is ‘bout the best time of year,” said Steve, “to get out and do something fun, like go to a rodeo.”
“Awful cold out there right now, Steve,” said Doc, who has more degrees than a thermometer. “I guess it’s a good thing they have all those rodeos inside buildings these days.”
“Well, that would take all the sport out of it, wouldn’t it?” Steve said. “Dud, pass the sugar please.”
Dud passed the sugar. “Don’t know what you mean, Steve. Why would it take all the sport out of rodeo if the folks in the stands were comfortable?”
“Cold factor,” he said.
“What?”
Now Steve was our resident cowboy here at the Mule Barn truck stop’s philosophy counter. He still worked on ranches and lived in bunkhouses and saddled his horses one at a time, but his rodeo days were far behind him. It’s a sport with a very short career … one way or another.
“You see,” Steve said, “when it’s cold, the rough stock bucks harder … ‘specially the broncs. Not sure why, but you can see it even with broke horses. On a cold morning, they’re liable to hump their backs and hop a few times just for fun, or to shake out the kinks. Same with rodeo broncs. With them, I think it’s just more for fun, though.”
“Well, I can see where watching broncs in cold weather would make it more fun at a rodeo,” Doc said.
“That’s only half of it,” Steve said, grinning. “Those poor cowboys who ride them are cold and stiff, too. Doesn’t help much with riding rank stock, trying to keep your seat and all.
“And that’s the reason it’s more fun to watch a rodeo in cold weather.
“It tends to rain frozen cowboys.”
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Brought to you by Ol’ Jimmy Dollar, Slim’s children’s book about a happy hounddog man and his “kids.”
*** 2016 SPUR Book Awards, Western Writers of America ***
Finalist Western Storyteller, Illustrated Children’s Book: “Ol’ Jimmy Dollar” by Slim Randles and illustrated by Jerry Montoya
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Check out all of Slim’s award-winning books at his Goodreads Page and in better bookstores and bunkhouses throughout the free world.
All of the posts here are from his syndicated column, Home Country that is read in hundreds of newspapers across the country. I am always happy to have him share his wit and wisdom here.
Slim Randles is a veteran newspaperman, hunting guide, cowboy and dog musher. He was a feature writer and columnist for The Anchorage Daily News for 10 years and guided hunters in the Alaska Range and the Talkeetna Mountains. A resident of New Mexico now for more than 30 years, Randles is the prize-winning author of a dozen books, and is host of two podcasts and a television program.
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That’s all from me for this week, folks. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and can find time for fun and relaxing. Whatever you have planned, be safe. Be happy.