A Real Colorady Cowboy

We stopped fer a bite at the Gooseberry Patch, I reckon it wuz a week er so ago. I wuz slurpin' my usual bowl uv chili - Boys! That stuff'll set yer ears aglow! My spouse wuz toyin with her salad anticipatin' a slab uv gooseberry pie, When I noticed a feller settin' next to us a-wearin' a Stetson hat and bolo tie. He wuz nursin' a Coors Beer - better known in these parts as Colorady Kool Aid. He wuz wearin' jeans and cowboy boots - it 'peared that his shirt wuz tailor made. I ain't the most observant feller but I could tell he'd spent years in the saddle. As he ambled to our table, his bowlegs confirmed that he'd spent years astraddle! He nodded and said, "Howdy!", and we chatted about the weather and this and that. He wuz a little hard uv hearin' so we invited him to our table to continue our chat. I reckoned he wuz about 65 er so and could be taken fer the Marlboro Man. He wuz a little over six foot tall and frum his ranchin' days sported a handsome tan! He talked about ownin' a ranch jes' east uv Colorady Springs and the cowpokes life. Sayin' that cowboyin' ain't all that glamorous and the challenges that are so rife. He'd done some rodeoin' up in Wyomin' ridin' wild broncs and a-ropin' steers, And wuz a prominent rodeo jedge travelin' about the west in his younger years. When I told him I dabbled in western poetry his eyes lit up like the mornin' sun! He's a writer uv western lore and is retired, now that his cowboyin' days is done. We were privileged indeed to meet him, perhaps the last uv that stalwart breed. We made a new friend that day, a real Colorady cowboy by the name of Chuck Reid! Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired © All Rights Reserved