New Things!

This past weekend, Independence Day and good friends brought Madisen and myself to Tensleep. We arrived and headed straight for Bighorn Tattoo, where we were to be beautified by Sarah. Well boy howdy, I have never felt a sensation as having a tattoo on the inner bicep, which is most commonly considered a "very tender area."- almost sounds nice. It hurt.

Sarah working on Madisen's M=, the brand of the ranch that we work for, complete with Cactus Flower backdrop.

Sarah was amazing. She has a light hand, an intense and admirable focus, and the patience of someone that has helped people through all sorts of discomfort and transformative experiences. I felt on a total high for about an hour following the tattoo, I was giddy and giggly and just felt loopy-it was awesome. That night was the Tensleep Street Dance, and Madisen and I quickly became known as the tattoo girls, so naturally we informed everyone that was unaware of a shop in town exactly where and by whom they could receive art.

The silhouette of the Bison, taken from the Wyoming State flag. My representation of the Heart of the West.  Also, this lovely lady inspired the aesthetic.

I made new friends, too. Late that evening I stopped at the Bighorn Bar and grabbed a stool. Next to me sat two old cowboys in their sixties. We talked about everything, mostly ranching and cowboying though, and had a good laugh at how upon moving cows into a new pasture, the ranch owner will often have one of those little number clickers; at the last cow, they will often have a completely wrong different number from those old cowboys.  The trick is that those old cowboys focus on a greater number than the individual cow: They tie a knot in their rope at every hundred cows, and almost always reach the same number twice.

The night got later and the older crowd retired, all but Jake. He's one of the old cowboys, but he's also a poet, having recently published his first book.  He recited from memory over 10 poems he had written as well as some classic cowboys tales; it was an incredible night.  I think my favorite poem of his was "If I was that Louis L'Amour Cowboy." All you country or older folks know who he is, but for those who may not, L'Amour is the quintessential classic Western author and has published more books than any other author that I know of; you can imagine how fine tuned his version of the cowboy must be. I'm pretty sure my grandpa, LeRoy, has read all of them, as everynight before bed when I would say goodnight to him, there would undoubtedly be a western on the bedside table.

Another new development: We have Mice!

They are more active in my own bedroom than I am…and I'm getting tired of it.

I know, he's cute. But you try having mouse poop in your utensil drawer everyday or eat the last avocado.

I was invited by Jim Allen, a local mountain pack trip outfitter, to stop by his ranch to pick up a barn cat in hopes of it becoming a mouser. I scoured the Allen ranch for an hour, box in the truck, ready to throw a wily cat into it at a moments notice. But no sight of the cats. Madisen and I were headed home, feeling a little deflated, and she wanted to swing by the Maverick, a local gas station, for a Mountain Dew <--she's completely addicted. We pulled in and I saw a scrawny little Marmalade cat in the lot, meowing and about to get run over by a truck. He jumped up the wheel well, and lodged himself in the undercarriage of the truck; I yelled for the driver to stop. We quickly hopped out of the truck and I managed to pull the cat out of the car, the man looked down at me like I was loony…I nonchalantly replied "Hey, we were looking for a mouser anyway."

My boy, after a nice bath.

The face of a killer

So that is the highlight of my day, another new addition to my life.

His name came to me immediatly: Mouse Ready Mountain Maverick. 

I think it's fitting, and descriptive of his serendipitous origins.

Maverick had a rough introduction to the household, being surrounded by four mules, five horses, two dogs, and about a million Bull and Rattlesnakes, he surely has a lot to look out for. Red took a look at him and said "Well, don't feed him too much, and he's not sleeping in the house." But this evening he earned his keep. Maverick saw a mouse. I don't even think the mouse had a chance to see him until he was inside his mouth. The cat had two mice in five minutes. I'm so proud.