Saturday, June 24, 2017

How The West Was Fun!



The only good reason to ride a bull is to meet a nurse


public domain
Recently I read that the American cowboy wouldn't have survived "lonesome" had it not been for his "guts and hoss."  The author got it only partly right.  For the cowboy had one more weapon of survival under his ten-gallon Stetson: his sense of humor.
Seeing the funny side of life in the Old West was just as vital, if not more so, than a cowboy's horse or six-gun. Those early buckaroos survived long hours in the saddle under the most difficult conditions with jokes, horseplay and cock and bull stories.
No campsite was complete without a tall tale or two.  Cowboys didn't experience weather like the rest of us.  No sirree.  One cowpuncher told about winter being so cold they couldn't hear the foreman's orders. "The words froze as they came outta his mouth.  We had to break them off one by one so we could tell what he was sayin'."   
The wind was a popular subject. "You think this wind is bad?  You ain't seen nothin'." Cowboys talked about feeding their chickens buckshot so they wouldn't blow away in the wind.  Not to be outdone some claimed it was so windy a chicken laid the same egg five times.
 Don’t dig for water under the outhouse
Public Domain
California's recent drought was nothing compared to what those cowboys of yesteryear experienced.  "One drought was so bad the cactus took to a-chasing after dogs."
Texas was reportedly the healthiest state.  So healthy, in fact, no one ever died there naturally. They needed the assistance of a bullet to accomplish that feat.  More than one Texan was caught crossing the border just so he could "ride to the great beyond."
Perhaps the most amusing rivalries in the Old West pitted cowboys against railroaders. Cowboys had little patience with the "bullheaded Irishmen" who stampeded their cattle.  In turn, railroaders thought cowboys a bunch of troublemakers—and for good reason. 
One rail car filled with smoke when a cowboy attempted to cook a steak on the train's coal stove.  Another cowpoke, on the way to meeting his best gal, shocked women passengers by stripping down to his long johns so he could don his new suit. 
 When a cowboy’s too old to set a bad example,
                                                he hands out good advice
 
One foreman befuddled railroad officials by sending a wire requesting cars to ship 2,500 sea lions.  The foremen figured his cattle had swum across so many streams that "sea lions" aptly described his sirloins.
 Railroaders dished out as good as they got.  One cowboy learned the hard way
Public domain
not to travel without a ticket when the train he was riding came to a screeching stop and left him stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Another cowboy boarded a train and, when asked for his ticket, pulled out his six-gun, declaring it the only ticket he needed. The conductor convinced him otherwise by returning with a rifle and sticking it under the cowboy's nose.   
Cowboys didn't just laugh at these antics like regular folks.  Oh, no. They'd sit 'round a campfire "grinnin' like a weasel peekin' in a henhouse."


So when is the last time you grinned like a weasel? 
What tall tale, anecdote or family memory would you share around a campfire?


There's a new sheriff in town, 
and she almost always gets her man.




9 comments:

  1. I love your post, Miss Margaret! What a great way to start the day! I am very generous with my smiles...I give them away all the time. I once read something that said, "Find one thing to smile about every day!" My own philosophy is this, "If in this life I have made someone smile, then I have done something." I hope you have a great day!

    mauback55 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Melanie, your comment made ME smile. I just read that people who smile a lot live an average of seven years longer. So smiling doesn't just make you feel good, it's good for your health!

      Delete
  2. Love this post, Margaret. I'm reading one of your books now, Left at the Altar, and it's making me smile. Meg is a feisty girl all right. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Martha, yes, and don't we love those feisty girls? Thank you for reading my book.
    I do so hope you enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Margaret, this definitely caused smiles and laughs. Thank you for sharing. A Match Made in Texas sounds like a fun book to read. I always want to give someone a smile to brighten their day. Smiling doesn't cost anything plus everyone feels better with smiles than frowns.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marilyn, you sound like my kind of person. Smiling back.

      Delete