Western

My daddy always wore a Stetson.  In the summer it was straw and breathable.  In the winter it was a grey felt one.  The prior years hat would be for work.  The newer one for dress.  He was not a cowboy.  He never wore jeans that I ever saw.  But he was a man and he lived here in Texas.  It was an acceptable and the preferred style for many of his age.


I grew up watching "shoot 'em ups" with Daddy.  Every western ever broadcast over one of the networks.  In fact, my first true love was a rodeo cowboy named Stoney Burk, who Jack Lord played before his role in the original Hawaii 5-0.

My middle sister, Sarah, married into a family that had long run cattle on the south side of town, in the woods and underbrush.  Funny, then I marry into the family that had run cattle in the woods and underbrush north of town.  

In my younger to mid growing up years, both of my sisters and their husbands were involved in a group of trailriders.  I remember Sarah taking me on one with them.  With Edna, we went to the local rodeo arena.  Everything there from bull riding, to barrel racing.  The best hamburgers!  

For many years, the group of riders on horseback was always the largest group in any parade, second only maybe to the high school marching band.  Pete and Hank and then Pete and his Emmy rode in many.

Now the group that is into all of that is seems to be shrinking.  The old hands and cowboys are dieing off.  

In our house now, we still watch anything Western that comes on TV.  In fact, Pete is watching Rawhide right now.

Do you like westerns?