Country Lifestyles
Cowboy Culture: The Cowboy Soldier
By Clay Reid
In many small towns in America there are good old ranch-raised kids who hear the call to come and serve their country and come a running. Not that there aren’t any city boys that don’t join.
You see, those old country boy kids were raised as American as they can get without a lot of the outside interference. They grow up loving God and country and the need to defend it when pushed.
Mine goes by the name of Dawson Reid, named after the Red Steagall song “Dawson Legate.”
From the time Dawson was born he was all about respect and honor and grew into a great child. I can only remember him getting one “whooping” in his life from me and that was because he got a burr haircut after I had already told him no. He did this after being encouraged by his older brother. After that, he rarely weakened to his brother’s advice anymore. Thank the Lord.
From the time he could walk, though, he and his buddy Trent Cadman were all about the military and such.
By the time they turned nine years old, they could tell you graphic details about every tank, gun, plane or boat in the military. They were eat up with it. I thought, “Aw, heck, he will grow out of it,” but he never did. It was in his blood, and there it would remain.
Dawson grew up out here on the ranch, and from the time he was seven years old he was fixing fence, flanking calves or pushing cows. If you ever needed a fence repaired, by golly, Dawson was the one to send because he would over do it at times if there is such a thing.
To read more pick up a copy of the June 2018 NTFR issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
Reid’s son, Dawson Reid. (Photo credit The U.S. Military)
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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