Cowboy Heros

Meanderer said:
Gene Hartung - Last of the Real Cowboys Oil Painting

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What a painting; such detail ! Love it.
 

This one has been around!
On A Cowboy's Tombstone...


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Here are the Five Rules for Men to Follow for a Happy Life that Russell J. Larsen had inscribed on his headstone in Logan , Utah.


He died not knowing that he would win the 'Coolest Headstone' contest.FIVE RULES FOR MEN TO FOLLOW FOR A HAPPY LIFE:


1. It's important to have a woman who helps at home, cooks from time to time, cleans up, and has a job.


2. It's important to have a woman who can make you laugh.


3. It's important to have a woman who you can trust, and doesn't lie to you.


4. It's important to have a woman who is good in bed, and likes to be with you.


5. It's very, very important that these four women do not know each other or you could end up dead like me.



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mmmm…NOW we're talkin cowboys! He's my heart throb (virtually that is…he's married). He's young here. I never saw this one. He's even better looking now.
 
Alan Jackson is probably one of the last 'classic style' Country performers. His music reminds me a lot of a cross between George Jones and Conway Twitty, which are really two opposite styles. Living all my life in the east, I don't know much about the life of a cowboy, but most men do enjoy a cowboy movie. My uncle loved cowboy movies and every now and then when one of his cable channels would have a cowboy movie marathon on for a full weekend, he would not leave the house. (True story.) I would have liked to have taken a ride in a stage coach. For some reason, they always fascinated me. I especially liked the dude that rode shotgun and carried the rifle to help guard the people and valuables on-board. Of course, how does one man hold off a gang of thieves, or maybe that was just in the movies.

I see cowboys as guys that worked on a ranch taking care of the cattle and mending fences. Doing branding, (do they still do that today? doubtful), moving the cattle to the train yards to be shipped to the slaughter house, which again they probably no longer do and of course, sleeping outside at night under the stars. ( A lot of songs written and sung about that.) I would think that a lot of them also moved around a lot, maybe working here and there when they needed to make some money. I am probably way off from my ideas of what cowboys are like or what they do.
 
Good post, oldman! It's hard to separate the myth from the reality of the cowboy....but I guess we don't really have to.
 
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Well, after watching the video, maybe my ideas of what cowboys are like today aren't so far-fetched. Still busting broncos, mending fences and driving the herds. All sounds good to me, if you are cut out for that kind of life. Here in the east, most of us are domesticated. By that I mean, we live by the saying, "When wife is happy, Pappy is happy." (Get it?)
 
Oh, Man, Roy Rogers, everyone's "All American Cowboy." I remember his TV show on Saturday morning's with Pat Brady and his jeep, "Nellie Belle", Trigger, Bullet and of course, Dale Evans and her horse, Buttercup or something like that. Yeah, I'd watch every Saturday morning to see who he was rescuing on that day. How many Triggers were there? Probably about as many Lassies. Now, if I had to name my favorite TV cowboy show, well, that may be difficult. Just too many really good guys. No bad guys ever got their own show, did they? We did have some bad guys that were actually good guys with their own show, like Paladin. Maybe Rawhide, Wagon Train, Laramie, Bat Masterson, Cheyenne, Gunsmoke, Palladin, Death Valley Days and Wanted: Dead or Alive. Also enjoyed; The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, Bonanza and to some extent The Big Valley, which was my Mom's favorite because she liked Barbara 'what's her name.' Oh, yeah, can't forget Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy and Wild Bill Hickok with Andy Divine. Zorro & Poncho, not so much.

My dad watched any western cowboy movie or TV show, but I think Gunsmoke was his favorite. Nothing like the old west to stir up good imaginations within us kids. I mean, who didn't get a set of six-shooters for Christmas? We used to sit around and talk about what life would have been like for us if we had lived back then. For me, it would have been, how did they ever get along without electricity and a refrigerator? Today, it would be like, "How did they ever get along without a microwave and a cell phone?" My dad was a man's man. He never showed me that he had any fears. All macho, being career Army. I did see him cry one time and that was when his Dad (our Pappy) died. He died on my Dad's birthday. My dad was pissed and sad all at the same time. Pissed because he died on his birthday and sad because his dad died.

I can remember when my dad, his brother (my uncle) and I would play old country songs. One day, I was maybe 14 or 15, my dad said he wanted to play "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". My uncle said that he remembered it, but I needed the music to follow after. After we had finished, my uncle said that Roy and his group, The Sons of the Pioneers sounded better. He said Roy had the Sons of the Pioneers and we were the SOB's. Funny, how stuff like comes to mind. My fav cowboy song, "Back In the Saddle Again." Gene Autry. Very easy to play, just 4 chords playing rhythm.
 
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What great memories, oldman! Reminded me of the question: "How many Cowboys can you fit on the head of a pin?".;) Roy Rodger's real name was Leonard Slye, and he was born in Cincinnati Ohio, in 1911. His story is amazing! Here's a tribute to trigger the mount of Roy Rogers sung by Leighton B. Watts.

 
Meanderer: Obviously you like and know a lot about cowboys, so let me ask this question; Back in the day, mid-late 1800's, did the cowboys really fight the Indians the way it is depicted in the movies? I know some about the fights between the U.S. Calvary and the Indians, but in so many western movies, we see cowboys crossing the plains or the Western states and becoming engaged in fights with the Indians. I guess the most famous attack is when Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse did a number on General Custer and his Army. And of course there was Geronimo and his 'love' for the military. But why the cowboys? Were they looked upon as intruders? Did they rape squaws? Why?
 
I never thought about it. The settlers and the Indians seemed to fight one another, and the Cattleman and the Farmers seemed to be mortal enemies, and I think the lines were blurred enough, that you couldn't always tell who was who. Then there were the Scouts and the Mexicans, not to mention the Railroads & the Indians. I'm guessing that rape was common on the frontier, among all parties. Groups then, were not as cut and dry as we like to make them out, today. Someone will have a better answer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars
 
Tex Ritter talks about politics & cowboy movies. When Tex ran for governor of Tennessee.
 
In my tender years as a mere female, if invited to play Cowboys and Indians I had to suffer the indignities of always being tied up then wait to be gallantly rescued. This left me plenty of time to ponder why those stupid pillocky cowboys always wore those noisy spurs!


 

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