Monday, October 27, 2008

Done


Tonight, for the first time in more than a hundred years, there are no cattle on my friend's ranch. No calves, no cows, no heifers, no steers, no bulls. And it'll be like that until the new owner brings in his stock.

The Indians say "Only earth and sky last forever." But we may be pretty far along in figuring ways to screw that up, too.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Letting go, going on to something else, can be so very hard. May God bless your friend with something beautiful.

Anonymous said...

That old boy on the left looks like the real thing. I half way believed all the real cowboys had been replaced by machines and corporations.

Mayberry said...

There's plenty of real cowboys left. Even if only at heart....

"This is the last cowboy song,
the end of a hundred year waltz...
The voices sound sad
as they're singin' along...
Another piece of America's lost..."

Anonymous said...

Please accept my compliments on your site and your posts. You're now on my "daily read" list.
I sure hope your friend has some good luck in his future.

Rio Arriba said...

H., There are lots of the Real Thing around these parts. The corporations haven't beaten them all. But the day is coming.

Jeg, Thanks for the kind words. If you haven't read the earlier posts, you should know that my friend is giving it up because he is tired, not because he is being forced out. It's his choice, but a damned hard one it was. Just because you choose to do something doesn't mean it's painless. I'll be sorry to see him go, but what he's done takes guts.

Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I've read the related posts and I understand he made the decision. I wish him luck and future success just from personal experience in having had to make a difficult choice or two. I'll add that I am moved by how you've written about his leaving. It's obvious that it's painful. Any time a friend moves away, you lose a bit of yourself. I hope you can somehow maintain that friendship but know that distance sure makes it more difficult.

I'm kinda going thru your previous posts in small doses 'cause I'm a believer in the old saying about "too much of a good thing ain't good for you."

Take care. I'll be reading along.