Wild, Wild West

Grandpa was a cowboy. Not the kind you see in movies that go around shooting each other. Technically those are gunslingers. But Grandpa rode the range and herded the cattle. He was out there for weeks at a time. Civilization was too far away to stop in town every once in a while. It was a 2 day ride by horse. Horse was the only transportation available unless you wanted to ride shank's mare. That means walking to you tenderfeet.

Grandpa loved the animals. He especially loved horses but all animals were special to him.  He always had a dog too. Occasionally Grandpa would be the cowboy chosen to go to town for supplies or maybe to just see people who weren't looking after cattle.

As I said it was a two day trip. Often Grandpa would stop and stay with an Indian tribe for the night. They always welcomed him. Besides letting him sleep there the Native Americans fed him. One time there was a delicious stew that he ate with gusto. He asked what kind of stew it was. They said it was made with snake meat. He was a bit taken aback but thought he dealt with it well.

Another time he stopped and there was stew again. It tasted different from the snake stew. They told him it was made using horse meat. Now Grandpa loved horses. They were special to him. However he reasoned that not everyone felt the same. And after all there would be a lot of meat there. The whole tribe could eat a nice healthy meal. He hated it but he dealt with it.

Another trip to town saw him stopping again. He hoped they weren't serving horse because he loved horses. He even asked and was assured that horse was not on the menu. After a delicious meal he once again asked what they had eaten. It was dog. Grandpa never stopped again. He just could not deal with eating man's best friend.

Even before that Grandpa would often just ride all night to get back to the herd. It was beautiful out under the stars. And a cowboy doesn't mind being alone out there. It is what he does all the time.

One night he saw two glowing eyes with the creature behind them waiting to attack him. Grandpa was not afraid. He carefully lifted his rifle from its carrier, aimed, and fired. He aimed between those two glowing eyes and shot the creature right where he aimed.

It was a bobcat. Grandpa had it stuffed. The taxidermist put it in a ferocious pose. It looked ready to leap right then and there. Its mouth was open in a snarling growl.  That thing sat at the top of the stairs of the attic. I was terrified. It looked so real.

When it came the time that Grandpa decided to become a family man he quit being a cowboy. He went home to the farm his father had left him to marry and raise his children.

Grandpa's Geometry

My grandpa was a farmer by the time I came along.  In his younger days he was a cowboy. A real life cowboy.

He was not a gunslinger like you see on TV or in the movies. He was a man who spent days and days out with the herd of cattle.

The cowboys kept the herd fairly contained as they grazed. They protected them from predators like wolves. They lived with the cattle out on the range.

The cowboys slept out there. They cooked their meals there and ate there. Grandpa played several instruments but as far as I know he only had a guitar and maybe a harmonica with him. That was entertainment for them until they went to sleep.

Grandpa was my mother's father. He was a quiet man. He worked hard as all farmers do. His first son died in infancy. He had no more sons for many years but he had several daughters to care for. The eldest of my 4 uncles was only 12 years older than me so it was a lot of years that Grandpa worked his farm alone.

By the time I was old enough to remember Grandpa had a couple of tractors ( a very old Allis-Chalmers and a slightly newer John Deere) with all of the assorted implements to pull behind them for plowing, planting, and harvesting crops. All were fun for us to climb on when they weren't being used.

Of course there were cows, pigs, occasionally sheep, and all sorts of fowl. Most of what a family would need to live was grown on the farm. Very little was bought in town.

Grandpa's pets were the horses. Of course they were not luxuries. His children rode them into town to school for instance. But Grandpa loved his horses.

He trained them all himself. No bronco busting for him. They were lovingly trained to accept a saddle and finally a rider. Most were horses you would feel comfortable letting your children ride.

He did get the occasional horse with a little bit of temperament. Those were reserved for seasoned riders.

Like most farmers Grandpa and his sons kept the equipment in working order. It as a rare thing to have to call someone to help repair the motor on a tractor for instance.

They cut their own wood using the wheel on the side of the tractor to give them power for the saw. Grandpa had a huge wheel in the tool shed that he used to sharpen axes and knives. It had a seat and was pedal operated. He could sharpen a lot of tools in short order. And the wheel was another fun toy for us.

Grandpa had little education. He could read and write. One of his few wishes in life was that all his children would graduate high school. When he died not only had his children graduated but he had a couple of grandchildren who had also graduated and a few more of us very close.

My mother used to watch in amazement when Grandpa was measuring things. Without a measuring tool like a yardstick or tape measure he could come within a couple of inches of large objects.

For instance the height of a tree was an important fact to know if you were going to cut it down. It might make a difference on the direction you wanted it to fall.

One of my uncles was about 6 feet tall. Grandpa would have my uncle stand near the tree. Then Grandpa would use his thumb to measure my uncle. Then he would measure the number of times his thumb (the height of my uncle) would go up the tree. Then he knew how tall the tree was.

Years later Mom asked Grandpa where he learned geometry. He had no idea what geometry was. He was just using common sense.

For anyone who has forgotten, in geometry you are taught to use comparisons to find sizes. An object of known size is compared to an object of unknown size. Using a simple mathematical equation you can learn the size of the unknown object. Grandpa just used common sense.

Yee-Haw

Grandpa was a cowboy. Not the kind you see in movies that go around shooting each other. Technically those are gunslingers. But Grandpa rode the range and herded the cattle. He was out there for weeks at a time. Civilization was too far away to stop in town every once in a while. It was a 2 day ride by horse. Horse was the only transportation available unless you wanted to ride shank's mare. That means walking to you tenderfeet.

Grandpa loved the animals. He especially loved horses but all animals were special to him.  He always had a dog too. Occasionally Grandpa would be the cowboy chosen to go to town for supplies or maybe to just see people who weren't looking after cattle.

As I said it was a two day trip. Often Grandpa would stop and stay with an Indian tribe for the night. They always welcomed him. Besides letting him sleep there the Native Americans fed him. One time there was a delicious stew that he ate with gusto. He asked what kind of stew it was. They said it was made with snake meat. He was a bit taken aback but thought he dealt with it well.

Another time he stopped and there was stew again. It tasted different from the snake stew. They told him it was made using horse meat. Now Grandpa loved horses. They were special to him. However he reasoned that not everyone felt the same. And after all there would be a lot of meat there. The whole tribe could eat a nice healthy meal. He hated it but he dealt with it.

Another trip to town saw him stopping again. He hoped they weren't serving horse because he loved horses. He even asked and was assured that horse was not on the menu. After a delicious meal he once again asked what they had eaten. It was dog. Grandpa never stopped again. He just could not deal with eating man's best friend.

Even before that Grandpa would often just ride all night to get back to the herd. It was beautiful out under the stars. And a cowboy doesn't mind being alone out there. It is what he does all the time.

One night he saw two glowing eyes with the creature behind them waiting to attack him. Grandpa was not afraid. He carefully lifted his rifle from its carrier, aimed, and fired. He aimed between those two glowing eyes and shot the creature right where he aimed.

It was a bobcat. Grandpa had it stuffed. The taxidermist put it in a ferocious pose. It looked ready to leap right then and there. Its mouth was open in a snarling growl.  That thing sat at the top of the stairs of the attic. I was terrified. It looked so real.

When it came the time that Grandpa decided to become a family man he quit being a cowboy. He went home to the farm his father had left him to marry and raise his children.