Enough Sand For A Beach Front I was hanging out in the back of the Grain Growers Supply, watching as they put some studded snow tires on the back of my old rig. Suddenly, the siren went off. Willy dumped the tire tools and ran for his pickup. He’s a courageous emergency medical technician and […]
Old West Mine Salting Scams With hundreds of thousands of folks coming West during the Gold Rush century, a passel of con men and bunko artists also moved out. They tried to relieve the unlearned of their pokes and purses. Most schemes had something to do with mines and mining stock. Many a man paid good […]
Sage Hen Wilderness Living One time I drove down into the Arizona Strip country. As I headed down a 150-mile round trip on a narrow dirt and boulder road, it dawned on me this would be a lousy place to have trouble with my pickup truck. I hadn’t seen another rig for about 50 miles. […]
BUFFALOES AND THEIR SALT LICKS I packed a 25-pound salt block through a couple feet of snow out to the horse corral. Animals need their salt, too. In fact, in the old days, the great buffalo herds were wise enough to know when their bodies needed extra salt. Those huge old shaggies knew exactly what patches […]
OLD WEST COWBOY SAINTS Thousands of heads of cattle roaming through unfenced ranges in the Old West presented a powerful temptation. To some, the scene looked as profitable as bags of money lying around in the street. Besides, the actual cattle owners were often eastern bankers or foreign investors who surely wouldn’t miss a couple […]
LOCAL SAGEBRUSH WESTERN PHILOSOPHER I got a little behind work and I guess I spent too much time down at the Drover’s Café. My plans were just to stop by for a quick cup of coffee. But Jefferson Davis Atwood, our own sagebrush western philosopher, was sitting there eating pie and spouting off stories about […]
It Ain’t Desert Without Saguaro Cactus We drove our youngest son, Aaron, at age five to the Arizona desert for the first time. We entered the state near the Needle Mountains and drove to Kingman. I explained all the joys and charms of the desert, but Aaron wasn’t impressed. “This isn’t the desert,” he insisted. […]
THE WRONG SIDE SADDLE SCABBARD I got a fax with a sample of a book cover for one of my upcoming western novels. The artist did a great job on One Went to Denver and the Other Went Wrong. However, there was one glaring difficulty. He had the saddle scabbard on the wrong side of […]
SADDLE GUN WORTHY I drove down the hill to an antiques, crafts, and gun show, hoping to pick up a saddle gun. Guess I had my mind made up to find a ’92 or ’95 Winchester carbine. I did manage to root out a couple of old carbines, only to choke at the price tagged […]
LET JESUS LEAD Many remedies cure spiritual dullness. One big way includes removing faith roadblocks. Release the Holy Spirit through confessing sin. Tell Satan where to go. Remain faithful in prayer. And then, expose your faith. That is, let your faith show, in actions for hurting people, with quick and open response to Christ’s commands, […]
Comments on the Blog