A couple good books I've read lately

[Soapweed]

A couple good books I've read lately

The Silence of the North, by Olive A. Fredrickson and Ben East

This book was written in 1972 by a lady who who was born in 1901 and led a pioneer life in British Columbia.
She was married at age nineteen to a trapper who led her into a perilous life far removed from comfort and
civilization. She relates the horrifying details of her long trek in minus 50 degree weather while she, her husband,
and their infant daughter were near death from starvation and cold. At twenty-eight, her husband died, and
Olive was suddenly left as the sole support of three small children in the frontier country with no family and no funds
to sustain her. She and her children eked out a living on a homestead far from civilization but they prevailed and survived.

This is a great story of wilderness adventure and perserverence. It might be a bit hard to find this book these days, though.
I purchased it from a used book store in Custer, South Dakota last summer.

CASEY TIBBS Born to Ride, by Rusty Richards

The copyright of this book is 2010, so it should be fairly easy to obtain. It's a fine book depicting the life of Casey Tibbs.
Along with much rodeo history, the biography is full of stories of pranks that Casey pulled on his friends and other innocent
bystanders. The tales of stunts is guaranteed to keep you laughing.

Here is an example of a caper Casey pulled, as told by Arnold Hill (who was a rodeo cowboy and later a motion picture stuntman):

"This happened after the rodeo at Carlsbad, New Mexico. Casey, Bill Linderman, and I were waiting to get paid so that we could leave
for Deadwood when Bill got into it with a guy.

"Bill used to get into scraps pretty often. Well, before we left Carlsbad, this guy beat the heck out of ol' Bill, and when it was over
we all got into the car and headed for Deadwood. Casey was drivin' and ol' Bil, he's just a settin' there, but when we'd got about
twenty-five miles down the road, ol' Bill reaches over and hits ol' Casey and says, 'Turn around! I think I can handle that guy.
I'm gonna go back and whip his ash!'

"So Casey turns the car around and drives back to Carlsbad. Well, ol' Bill goes out and find this guy, and the ol' boy beats the heck
out of Bill again! So now Bill is completely flattened 'cause he's had the crap beat out of him twice by the same guy. We all get back
into the car and drive about twenty-five miles out of town and ol' Casey just turns a brodie and spins the car around and starts headin' back
to Carlsbad. Ol' Bill Linderman says, 'What the heck's the matter with you, you bronc ridin' little so-and-so?' And Casey says,
'We've gone far enough. I think you can handle him now. I'm takin' you back.' And Bill says, 'No! No! Turn this car back around--
I've had enough!' "

 

[Shortgrass]

I have that Silence of the North book around here, I guess I ought to dig it out & read it again, as I've forgot most of it. Might find the Casey Tibbs book, too........Thanks

 

[Northern Rancher]

Olive Fredrickson used to contribute to Outdoor Life magazine quite a bit-Ben East was the editor back then. I just finished 'Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follet-the TV series is on right now and it's following the book pretty close. I'll have to check out Amazon for the Casey Tibbs book.

 

[DustDevil]

We watched a movie on TV a couple of years ago or so that I believe was from the Silence of the North book, can't remember if that was the name of the movie. In one part, she shot a moose with her daughters in tow, then had to fight wolves off from the moose and her kids. Good movie.

 

[hypocritexposer]

Olive Fredrickson used to contribute to Outdoor Life magazine quite a bit-Ben East was the editor back then. I just finished 'Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follet-the TV series is on right now and it's following the book pretty close. I'll have to check out Amazon for the Casey Tibbs book.

NR, you'll have to read World Without End, if you enjoyed "Pillars". It's a continuation of the story 2 centuries later.

Silence of the North sounds interesting.

 

[hypocritexposer]

Soap, you'd probably like this true story:

Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic

The explorers four young white men from the U.S. and Canada and Ada, a 23-year-old Inuit woman set out under a Canadian flag to claim a barren rock in the tundra north of the new Soviet Union for the British Empire. But with a lack of proper funding; a grandstanding, do-nothing Svengali of a leader; and an inexperienced crew, the mission was doomed from the start. Niven's hero is the slight, shy Blackjack, who, though neither as worldly wise as her companions nor as self-sufficient, learns to take care of herself and a dying member of her party after the team is trapped by ice for almost two years and the three others decide to cross the frozen ocean and make for Siberia, never to be seen again. By trapping foxes, hunting seals and dodging polar bears, Blackjack fights for her life and for the future of her ailing son, whom she left back home in Alaska, and for whose health-care expenses she agreed to take the trip. When she returns home as the only survivor, the ignoble jockeying for her attention and money by the press, her rescuer and the disreputable mission chief (who sat out the trip) melds with the clamor of city life (in Seattle and San Francisco), leaving both the reader and Blackjack near-nostalgic for the creaking ice floes and the slow rhythms of life in the northern frozen wastelands.

http://www.amazon.com/Ada-Blackjack-Story-Survival-Arctic/dp/0786868635

 

[Soapweed]

It's 11 below zero outside right at the moment. Though it seems super chilly, especially with a windchill of minus 26, it is a regular heat wave compared to what folks in the far north live with much of the time. I like reading of this sort of living because it makes me appreciate Nebraska winters more than I would otherwise. :wink:

 

[Northern Rancher]

H.E that is funny -I was just reading the book review for 'World Without End' before I clicked on ranchers. I like long novels and it's a thousand pages so that will keep me going for a bit-I'm still tempted to buy an e-reader. Those tales of Arctic exploration I just find beyond belief at how tough the people were.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Went into the library and ordered them all this morning.

 

[hypocritexposer]

Went into the library and ordered them all this morning.

NR, after you are done with those, here's another to check out, Fall of Giants, by Follett. I haven't read it myself yet. When I first saw it in the bookstore, it was only in hardcover, but it looks really good.


http://www.ken-follett.com/bibliography/fall_of_giants.html

 

[Northern Rancher]

I ordered it too I'm pretty sure. Last winter I read about thirty books written by the old ivory hunters and safari hunters from the turn of the century. The ones by Peter Hathaway Capstick written in the 70's are great too.

 

[elwapo]

fall of giants is a very good read, as was the pillars of the earth series. I am working my way through Don Quixote right now..... a very slow read with the old english.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Do ranchers.net arguments remind you of tilting at windmills lol.

 

[elwapo]

Actually the cow calf business has alot in common with Don Quiote. A bunch of guys in rusty armour riding worn out old horses down the road trying to re-live the glorious old days when chivalry and honor was important.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Touche!

 

[hypocritexposer]

:lol:

 

[Soapweed]

Here are a couple more pretty good Casey Tibbs stories:

Harry Tompkins remembered several good stories about his days traveling with Casey. Harry's eyes lit up with delight as his memory wandered through the interesting subject matter. "We had some airplane experiences that were really something. How we're still all here today, I don't know."

Harry continued, "This was back when they had those air sick cups on the airplanes that looked like coffee containers, you know, with the cardboard caps on them. Planes back then, they flew right into the storms at times. They didn't go around 'em. Sometimes when it got bumpy and rough --heck! It was like a buckin' horse almost. I mean, especially at night, when they didn't know a storm was there until they were in it.

"Anyway, we were on this airplane and Casey was sittin' across from this old gal, and he saw her ask for the sick cup. So he called the stewardess and had her bring him a cup, too. Well, this gal is just actin' like she might be gettin' sick, but she never had gotten sick yet. So Casey gets his cup out, and he acts like he's really bein' sick. You know, he's makin' all the noises, pretending he was throwin' up and then sittin' there holding his cup up in front of him. Well, pretty soon Casey caught her lookin' at him, and he just tips up the cup and acts like he's drinkin' it. Well, this old gal never even hit her cup, she just threw up right on past it. She threw up all over the long hair of the lady sitting in front of her. That danged Casey, I mean, he'd sure plan 'em!"

Buster Ivory and Harry Tompkins once told about a rodeo announcer at Calgary named Sparrow. They both laughed heartily at how mad Sparrow used to get at Casey. Sparrow used a megaphone to announce the rodeo, so he was continuously picking it up and putting it down. Buster and Harry said that Sparrow had a little mustache. Well, Casey spotted some old black grease oozing from a hinge on the bucking chutes, so when Sparrow wasn't lookin', Casey smeared it around the mouthpiece of the megaphone. Of course, the first time Sparrow used the microphone, it left a black ring around his mouth.

"After about the third day or so, Sparrow was really mad," Harry added. "Then he got so that he wouldn' put the megaphone down on the ground at all. He carried it up under his arm at all times. He had this little ol' board and pad where he'd jot down things. But Casey would grease that, too, while it was still under his arm. Sparrow would get so mad he'd just scream at him."