Westerns

 

Autos of interest

 

For today:

I started reading seriously in my 50s. I picked a book, Clancy’s “Executive Orders.” The book was hardback 2.5” thick. Thinking it would take me MONTHS to read, I had some time to kill. I read it in less than a week reading part time. I not only enjoyed reading but was shocked that I could even read a book that thick. LOL

Now I have read thousands of books, BUT lately I find I have become lazy. I am reading Westerns that average 125-200 pages. At times, one a day, I love ‘em.

Sherry and I were just talking about the technological advances. Paul Thompson, the writer I am now reading goes into day to day activities I never thought of too much.

It was important to remove the saddles to allow the horse to cool down. It was important to feed them grain to give them stamina (I always thought grass was enough).

When a cowboy took a train with his horse (it was loaded on a cattle car) it was his responsibility to feed and water it on the trip (I had never even thought of that.) Most towns even in the late 1800s out west, did not have a telegraph, the lines usually followed the RR lines. Any cowboy traveling had to have a couple days food in his saddlebags. In these books it seems every cowboy carries a coffeepot and enough coffee for a few days.

Thompson goes into more detail than Lamoure but there is also more ‘Gunplay’ and deaths. One aspect that is covered is family. Families left with no father, thousands of miles from kin, due to accidents (mining, guns, animals etc.)

He covers women who were real cowgirls and those who felt forced to work in saloons to support their family. The bad crops and bank failures, including crooked bankers and land managers.

 (We have one cowgirl (Pauline) who reads here, and a few that rode horses in their youth)

 

Anyway I am enjoying the ‘easy reads.’ Probably like someone who is hooked on the Harlequin Romances,

;-)…

Nite Shipslog