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My Way of Life

EmptyPockets

Well-known member
This time of year we seem to get visitors just before school starts. Nice to see them come but enjoy seeing them leave also. My wife had some relatives came from the Twin Cities for a couple of days. They pulled in driving a BMW. Sure had a different life style then ours. This poem came to mind as I watched their dust go over the hill. Didn't write this meaning to offend anyone, just an opinion.

My way of life


A recent city visitor once asked
Why I live way out here
Far from anywhere
With just the coyotes and the deer

He said it’s a long ways to town
What happens if you get sick
There’s nothing here but prairie
And miles and miles of creek

We were sitting on the front porch
Watching the sun go down
It’’s colors fading softly
As darkness came around

There’s no security lights
And you don’t even lock your doors
You call this a life
All you seem to do is chores


I answered him real slowly
After a lot of thought
I may not be rich like you
But I really like what I’ve got

Now Listen very carefully
I don’t expect you to understand
Like that cottonwood growing over there
I was born part of this land

I’ve seen some big ol snowbanks
Reach the top of that very tree
Blown in off the ridge
That winter was real naaasty!

When it thawed later that spring
The water was nearly this high
A short month later
The whole creek darn was dry

I’ve seen fires burning at night
Light up the midnight sky
I don’t need to tell you mister
This country can make you cry

Sure it never rains much
And it gets so garsh darn cold
But theres something about spingtime
That never ever seems to get old

When that first new calf is born
And the grasses start to grow
You”re looking forwards to summer
And all the hay you’re going to mow

See ranching aint a job
It’s simply a lucky way of life
Like buying a winning lottery ticket
Or finding the perfect wife.

I pity most you city folk
And your locked up cages at night
Fighting traffic in the daytime
Not trusting neighbors..... now that just aint right

Sure you get your paid vacations
And you can’t wait to retire
So you can find a place in the country
That will satify your crave and desire

You’ll buy yourseff 80 acres
And a fancy horse or two
Have a big old house built
Get an aluminum trailor to pull

Your ranch will be located
So a blacktop road is near
A fellar can’t get stranded out there
That’s gotta be your biggest fear

But something just won’t feel right
You’ll still not seem to belong
It’s not something you can buy my friend
You’re born with it all along

So go and do all those really important things
Dressed in fancy clothes with your hair all curled
Meanwhile I’ll just quietly mind my own business
............And continue feeding the world......

:wink:
 

ranchwife

Well-known member
BINGO!!!! Now, that was simply, elegantly wonderful!!! We had a couple city folk come to visit us this last weekend (the guy had applied for the ranch hand position when we hired the new guy).....brought their 3 kids and their fancy brand-spankin-new pick-up!! thought they'd only be here for maybe an hour...turned into an all day long affair...grilled some burgers and took the kids around to see the horses and on 4-wheeler rides! Those kids acted as though they had died and gone to heaven!!! The gentleman raved on and on about how they wish they had ended up working here....even if it had meant a cut in pay! They could not get over the peace, quiet and how much their kids were enjoying themselves! This poor family lives in Boze-Angeles and both work in the city! Yuk!! They say they will be back this weekend..."to help ya pound some fence posts...or whatever you need done!!" :wink:
 

Shelly

Well-known member
I was born and bred a town girl, but now that I've lived in the country for 24 years, there's no going back to that for me! Sure, we don't live too far from the city and a blacktop runs right out front of my yard, but I still enjoy the simple pleasures of country life.

Good poem, Emptypockets. You told it like it is.
 

passin thru

Well-known member
This nails it. One thing I see is that some people kind of see what we have here, so they move out here and try to make it like the city. I have a couple neighbors one has horse and drives three hours a day to and from his job. I have only seen him on his horses a couple times as he is so busy runnning to and from work, The other neighbor is constantly on the road, he is going to town constantly when he is not working. I have no idea what a person could do going to town 5 or 6 or more times a day.
The other thing is they get impatient when it snows and they can't get to town.
 

ranchwife

Well-known member
passin thru said:
This nails it. One thing I see is that some people kind of see what we have here, so they move out here and try to make it like the city. I have a couple neighbors one has horse and drives three hours a day to and from his job. I have only seen him on his horses a couple times as he is so busy runnning to and from work, The other neighbor is constantly on the road, he is going to town constantly when he is not working. I have no idea what a person could do going to town 5 or 6 or more times a day.
The other thing is they get impatient when it snows and they can't get to town.

several years ago, our little town put out a "booklet" on country/rural living warning the "newbies" of certain.....uh...."inconveniences" of living here...such as dirt roads that cause (gasp) DUST, the fact that our ambulance service is VOLUNTARY and could take awhile to find your place in the boonies, the smell of (gasp, again) cows and other "undesirables", the sounds of (gasp-gasp-gasp) farm machinery running day and night, the fact that we cannot force the snow to fall only on the yards and not on the roads and therefore you MAY find yourself (shock of all shocks) SNOWED IN!! If I can find another copy, will send it your way.....about 50 pages and quite a waker-upper!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
ranchwife, I saw that very book from a friend who lives at Red Lodge.
In fact, I think he gave us a copy. Very enlightening, but I doubt if any
one who needs to, would read it. They don't wanna know the TRUTH til
it happens. :wink:
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
Wonderful poem, you hit the nail on the head with that one!!!!!!!!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

Can I borrow it for a while? I have a couple of folks I'd like to read that..............:nod:
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
That is exactly why we do what we do, and why we enjoy the country way of life. Thanks, Empty Pockets, for writing and posting a great poem.

We need an emoticon for "thumbs up". Pretend that this exclamation point :!: is a "thumbs up". :wink:
 

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
Here ya go Soapweed............
Thumbsup.gif
 

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