Country Lifestyles
Cowboy Culture – The Night of the Dragon and Sasquatch
By Clay Reid
Now I wasn’t always a cowpuncher in my life. Through the years I wore many different kinds of hats. Started out as a dishwasher at the L & M Restaurant in Wichita Falls, then moved on to roofer, doodle-bug and various other occupations to pay the bills.
One of my favorite jobs though, was the few years I spent as a roughneck for Deen Drilling over in Archer City. Now you won’t hear many people testify that roughneck was a job they enjoyed, but for me it was hard honest work that I never had to turn my back to when picking up a check.
The other thing that was so special about working there was the crew I worked with and the men I worked for. Carlton and David Deen, the owners of Deen Drilling, took me in and worked the heck out of me, but they never looked at me as just an old roughneck. They treated their hands well, and to me, like family too, which I was short of at the time. The other good thing was the fact they were good to bail me out of jail after a Saturday night fisticuffs. They loved doing that just for the mere fact they knew I had to stay hooked at least until I paid off my debt.
Then there were the hands. Oh, my Lord the hands. I could write a book on these guys. Those with the likes of Steve Wright, daylight driller who was always late. David Wright, tool pusher and hard case. The man who kept us as straight as possible was Steve’s uncle Todd Kinnamon, morning tower driller and Mr. Reliable. Jeff Marney, man who was known for shooting himself in the thumb with a BB gun on a dare. Marvin Dodson was one of my oldest friends and chronic moaner A.K.A. Debbie Downer, and the other grandpa to my granddaughter.
To read more pick up a copy of the April 2018 issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
By Martha Crump
That old adage, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.,” may have some basis in truth when applied to minor situations. However, when what you don’t know is presented in the form of a “Trojan Horse” and is what amounts to an incredible attempt to fleece American property rights, it becomes a different story altogether.
To put this unbelievable tale together, we need to step back to Joe Biden’s 2021 Executive Order which pledged commitment to help restore balance on public lands and waters, to create jobs, and to provide a path to align the management of America’s public lands and waters with our nation’s climate, conservation, and clean energy goals.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Lacey Vilhauer
Ingredients:
1 whole lemon, seeded and roughly chopped
2 cups sugar
2 pounds strawberries, hulled
Juice of 1 to 2 lemons
¼ cup water
Directions:
Place the chopped lemon and sugar in a food processor and pulse until combined. Transfer to a large bowl. Puree the strawberries in a food processor and add to the lemon mixture along with juice of one lemon and water. Taste and add more juice as desired.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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.
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