My cowboy is 53 years old, and he eats like a teenager — which is to say he eats a lot, and much of it is red meat, full-fat cheese, eggs, butter and bread. He should be fat and sickly, if you believe common nutritional wisdom in the nation right now. But he’s not. In [...]
On Leading Cows, Cowboys, and Marriage
May 14, 2012 21 Comments
Okay. So I tried to understand what the cowboy was telling me about “leading” cows as opposed to “pushing” them…his symbolic way of trying to give me advice about how best to approach independent cowboys like him when you want them to do something like, oh I don’t know, marry you. Here’s an email he [...]
10 Ways a Good Man is Like Cowgirl Boots
May 4, 2012 12 Comments
I’ve come to realize of late that a good man is an awful lot like a sturdy pair of cowgirl boots. How so? Well, they will both: 1. …protect you from snakes. 2. …cut through the crap. 3. …look as good in jeans as out. 4. …refuse to fall apart, even under stress. 5. …have [...]
Victories & Commitment
April 27, 2012 2 Comments
Amazing. One day after I posted about the Dept. of Labor’s bill seeking to ban children from participating in work on farms and ranches, the department announced it had withdrawn the bill and would not reintroduce it. I’m glad Labor Secretary Hilda Solis heard the outcry from rural families about how damaging such a law [...]
The Cowboy Schools Me on Hunting
April 26, 2012 7 Comments
It’s no secret to readers of this blog that I was pretty clueless about rural life when I met the cowboy a little more than a year ago. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t trying, though. I’d written a novel called THE TEMPTATION that I hoped was sort of like a ghost version of Twilight, featuring a [...]
Should Rural Kids Be Allowed to Work on Farms & Ranches?
April 25, 2012 98 Comments
A year ago, if you’d asked me whether the U.S. Dept. of Labor should regulate child labor on farms and ranches, I would have stood up, done a big ole fist pump, and shouted “Heck yes! Go git ‘em!” Visions of Dickensian exploitation would have swirled in my head. But that was before this (formerly) [...]
20 Things I’ve Never Heard a Cowboy Say
April 5, 2012 21 Comments
1. I think I’ll sleep in today. 2. Give me the skinny latte. 3. Where’s the nearest sushi bar? 4. You know, beans and rice together are a perfect protein. 5. Do these Wranglers make me look fat? 6. Ew, poop. 7. I need an umbrella. 8. That poor bull. 9. I prefer Toyotas myself. [...]
7 Tips For Catching and Keeping a Cowboy
April 4, 2012 22 Comments
So you think you might have a thing for cowboys, huh? Yeah, me too. Well, one cowboy anyway. My first cowboy. And with any luck, my last. As a city girl new to the whole cowboy culture, I’ve had to learn a lot, and fast, in this whirlwind year of getting to know the type. [...]
Learning Ranch Life The Hard Way
April 2, 2012 2 Comments
Early in our relationship, I visited the cowboy at the ranch. He took me out on the four-wheeler, to run the Catahoulas. At some point, we came upon a wild Longhorn bull. The bull belonged to the neighboring ranch, but because the older man who owned that place had sort of given up on taking [...]
Better in the Old Days
Before I met the cowboy, I was a typical progressive who thought the only things that were better in the “old days” were water and air. Everything else was oppressive and demeaning and needed changing. But I have started to realize there are lots of things that were better in the past. Some of these [...]