Two Weak Spots!

Kansas prairie near Beaumont. A picture can not contain the beauty of this land, nor can it show the rich earth that grows plush grasses loaded with nutrients to feed cattle nautrally.






I admit that I am having a 1950’s cowboy relapse. I loved westerns, all of them. I waited for Wagon Train, never missed Bonanza, had a love affair with Michael Anasara who played Cochise. Every Saturday night even when visiting our grandparents, the whole family stopped everything and watched Gunsmoke, admiring Marshall Dillon, loving Miss Kitty, and snickering at Chester’s antics. And who can forget Sal Mineo in Comanche? I have the Walt Disney video and have seen the horse “in the flesh” many times at the museum on the campus of University of Kansas.

After reading the Dusty Richards book and thumbing through some borrowed Baxter Black poetry, I still did not have enough. So this weekend I pulled out to read more in Flint Hills Cowboys: Tales of the Tallgrass Prairie by Jim Hoy. Hoy is an English professor at Emporia State University and written several books on cowboy history. This book details snippets of history about fences, rodeos, cattle, and outlaws even, in the Flint Hills. It is not a book that would interest most women, but I do love this period of time, the late 1800s and early 1900’s of Kansas. I am not getting much writing done, but maybe I am planting some seed for future cowboy poetry!

I doubt if I get much writing done for the rest of the month because DH and I will travel to Kentucky to babysit our not yet two year old grandson (even though he looks like he is four!). It is a long drive and we fear so many days with a tot full of energy. But maybe we will be miraculously energized to keep up with this guy. Too far away to do much bonding before, maybe now we all will get to know each other well while his parents take a long business trip. Always said we would never talk about our children or grandchildren to others, but I fear there will be many tales to tell after this trip. Get ready, Mason, here comes Grandma!