Country Lifestyles
Cowboy Culture with Clay Reid
By Clay Reid
Cowboys ain’t ever been accused of being very smart, but sometimes when you add alcohol into the mix, it’s amazing the realm of their stupidity. Now I ain’t chunking rocks at anybody because I am that guy I speak of, just like many of my friends. That’s why today I thought I might share one of these stories of stupidity.
This particular episode takes me back to the Trigg Ranch just west of Logan, N. M. My buddy named Shawn Scrogum and I were the last of seven guys who were hired on to clean the ranch of wild cattle. The ranch was hard on folks, and me and old Shauncy were the only ones tough enough to stick it out. “Tough” is a better word for dumb or broke.
Anyway, we were 26 miles from the nearest road and too much of the Trigg will cause a man to need a drink occasionally as well as a little fellowship at a local tavern. Normally we would frequent the “Road to Ruin” bar in Logan, but after hijacking one of the ranch pickups we decided we might try out another bar in Tucumcari called the “Pow Wow.”
Now on our way to the Pow Wow we had a box of beer to drink, Box is cowboy lingo for 12 pack. We figured we had to drink it all before we got there because we only had enough money to buy one beer a piece once we got in, and it’s a little uncomfortable to be in a bar without being in the right frame of mind.
Well, once we got there I think that frame of mind I am speaking of got a little crooked and our eyes might have been a little bit crooked by the time we pulled into the parking lot. Or at least that’s what I am gonna blame my staggering gait on anyway. Here is where the story gets interesting. You see, when I got out I was wearing an old Mexican poncho because it was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit out, but I didn’t wanna go in looking like Pancho Villa and have people start shooting at me. Well, I pulled it over my head and tossed it into the seat of the truck, then locked the door and shut it just about the same time Shawn was shutting his door.
By Nicholas Waters
As winter plods along – come Spring and gopher mounds – homeowners and farmers find themselves playing a familiar song – fiddling while Rome is burning.
Let’s make a mountain out of a molehill. Those mounds on your lawn and pasture could be moles, but they’re more than likely gophers; Plains Pocket Gophers to be pragmatic – Geomys bursarius to be scientific.
These rodents dig and chew, and the damage they can do goes beyond the mounds we mow over. Iowa State University cited a study in Nebraska showing a 35 percent loss in irrigated alfalfa fields due to the presence of pocket gophers; the number jumped to 46 percent in decreased production of non-irrigated alfalfa fields.
The internet is replete with academic research from coast-to-coast on how to curtail gopher populations, or at least control them. Kansas State University – then called Kansas State Agricultural College – also published a book [Bulletin 152] in February 1908 focused exclusively on the pocket gopher.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Annette Bridges
Everyone needs a room with a view that makes their heart happy. My honest favorite panorama would be either the mountains or the ocean. I have yet to convince my hubby to make permanent moves to either, although he does enjoy the visits as much as I do.
The location of our house on our ranch does not provide the expansive field of vision of our land that I would enjoy. So, I have created a room decorated and furnished in a way that gives me smiles, giggles, and a wonderful peace-filled feeling when I am hanging out in it. I am in that place right now writing this column. I am in a lounging position with my computer in my lap on the chaise that was once my sweet mama’s. I had it reupholstered this year to give it a fresh look.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
Local celebrity dancers of the greater Gainesville area brought the house down recently at the second annual “Dancing With Our Stars” contest in Lindsay. The event raised more than $200,000 as the sponsored dance teams did their best to take home the grand prize.
The money raised will go to the “Heart of NTMC” Campaign for the purchase of a cardiac capable CT machine for the Gainesville hospital. Rodolfo “Rudy” Martinez and Sherry Sherriden took home the Mirror Ball Trophy.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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