D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
March
2008
Voice of Ranch Woman
Page: 3That's one of his philosophies that I found out quite by accident.
But usually he's pretty good about letting me know how many men are going to be there. And it's not that many anymore. Where it used to be, and it wasn't even a big crew compared to the olden days, you might have six men to feed. Now it's maybe four or five, sometimes six.
I don't know that cowboys always says grace, but at our house, that's one of the things we do. We always say the blessing over the food.
It's not the most dangerous occupation, but you are dealing with animals. And Jerry's been hurt several times. You're dealing with animals, and animals aren't always predictable, so I just figure giving thanks to the Lord — not only for the food but for the safety that they've had in working with these cattle — is a good thing. Our kids were never hurt. Jerry was hurt. He got run under by a a one-eyed cow that couldn't see that good. He got run under and knocked out. He's had two or three wrecks here on the place.
Jerry got his teeth knocked out on Sunday, riding a bull at the 4th of July rodeo in Silver City. Grandpa got his eye knocked out on Sunday, Jerry got run under and had that concussion on Sunday, and so we finally got the picture that maybe the Lord wants us to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
Jeremiah McDonald never would work on Sunday. The only work on Sunday was when Uncle Bartley and Uncle Taylor had done wrong, then he'd set them out to splittin' wood on Sunday or something. But Jeremiah didn't work on Sunday, either. They really kept the Sabbath Day holy.
What's the food that I feed cowboys? You always fix beans when you're feeding a crew of men because they like beans and it's a very sustaining food. And we always have meat — a big roast. And enchiladas, the cowboys always like a green or a red enchilada. And then I always make fresh bread for 'em. And then men love pies. I've served cowboys a lot of pies.
So them men come in, wearing their spurs — usually they don't come in in their chaps. Jerry doesn't use chaps too much, because we don't have too much brushy country here. So he doesn't wear chaps all that much.
Anyway, they come in and they wash up. And Jerry always has this thing he says: "If you want to wash up, you can. The bathroom's in that direction." Because one time he invited one man, a neighbor, and he said, "If I have to wash up, I'm not going to eat!"
It wasn't time for him to take his weekly bath, I guess.
So anyway, they come in and sit down at the table. When Grandpa was here, he'd sit at one end of the table and Jerry would sit on the other end. They do take their hats off. I don't do this to the cowboys, but if my own kids wear a hat in the house I charge 'em a dime.
Then we say the blessing and they eat their meals and they visit as they're eating.
You always fix dessert. They always want dessert. And after they get through eating, the fun part of it is they sit there and tell old-time stories. Or they'll tell experiences they've had, ropin' that calf, or whatever. And it's really fun to listen to the stories afterwards. They usually always take time for that. They sit and visit for a little while and spin yarns.
That's the cook's reward for fixin' dinner. You get to hear their Wild West stories.