Hired man's wife: PS: #2-A button down shirt, sure. But what's with the tie?!
#2
Okay – I'll explain the tie. The guy in the white shirt and tie is our oldest son. Now he doesn't ordinarily dress this nice to brand but this is a pretty high-toned branding. If you look carefully, you will note that the other cowboys in the picture also are wearing neckties, because this is the Hackamore Ranch's big branding and no one is allowed to either rope or wrestle unless properly attired.
This was taken later on in the morning. If I had taken the picture when they first started, you would also see a wide variety of costumes, more suited to a masquerade party than a cowboy function. We have had Santa Claus, Smurfs, go-go dancers, clowns, elves, golfers and ladies of the evening wrestling calves in their finest. Heck, one year the local vet even managed to set the tails of his tuxedo on fire when he backed too close to the branding stove!!
Here's another taken at the same time:
That's the Big Boss Man himself in the blue shirt and black hat. His daughter is the cute girl in front with the white high school rodeo shirt on, the little cowboy in the green shirt, tan vest and black hat is my oldest grandson and the colorful fellow he is wrestling with, wearing the red outift that would only be considered normal clothing on a pimp in Chicago, is one of the best college bull doggers in this area.
Years ago, my husband's uncle cooked the beef in a pit barbecue while the late mother of the present owner fixed all the trimmings to feed upwards of a thousand people. One year two bus loads of high school band kids headed back to Rapid City from a trip to the Peace Gardens on the Canadian border stopped in to take pictures and eat beef and beans with us.
We don't have a whole lot of readily available entertainment out here in Harding County so we make our own.
By the way, MsSage – that is one cool picture you took.
Who can tell the story behind the two cute little cowboys cooking oysters?