What happened to the Cowboy Way!

No I'm not talking about the movie, I'm talking about life as it was once known. I know this website has been about hunting for years but in the summer it takes a back seat to other things. So I'm going to take rainy days and downtime to right about those other things. This morning I was on Facebook and noticed that a friend of mine had become a fan of Fringe Cowgirl. I couldn't resist because this guy is kind of a Man's - Man if you know what I mean. After checking it out I realized that it is the brain child of Jodi Weishaar Hendrickson a girl who grew up not to far from here and came from a hard working rodeo family in NW South Dakota. All of us who Rodeoed in 4-H, High School or College around here knew her and her family. In her bio she talks about riding to the neighbors house to play with their kids. I too remember doing this, my cousins lived about 3 1/2 miles up the creek from my house. In the summers we (My sister Maggie & I) would saddle up and head out to their house and play outside all day. After a quick warning call from my mother, they too would be saddled up, we had playdays the old fashioned way. No stopwatches or barriers, just horse races and obstical courses. I don't think anything we rode would win a halter class but they were champions to us. I can't remember having more fun as a kid. My cousnins were twin Girls, (I will leave their names out of this but many of you know who I'm talking about) they were just about 60 days younger than me so we got along very well. When we were about 12 years old their parents got divorced and the girls moved to town. The families grew apart and never came back together. Today it's hard to even hold a conversation with that side of the family. I often wonder if they would have stayed at the ranch wether things would have been better.

In the old days your neighbor was your lifeline. Town was in the distance, you might only go once a month, when you did you would by enough groceries for what seemed like a lifetime. If your neighbor went to town he would ask if you needed anything. When it was time to work cattle in the spring your neighbors would all come and then you would go to help them. Same thing when it was time to put up hay or ship calves to market. One community working together.

Today it seems like we are in a hurry, people check cows on a 4 wheeler, it takes them 30 minutes to do what used to take 3 hours on a horse. Then they jump in the tractor and farm with a 40ft air seeder. When they used to get buy with 16ft roller. Everything gets done quicker and better, but nobody has time for their neighbors and our since of community seems to be gone. Nobody needs help, not even my elderly neighbor, who won't take my help no matter how many times I offer, I do force it on him sometimes. When it comes October and cattle are going to market, you can ask almost any rancher in the area how thier calves sold and they will say, not bad, at least I got more than ol' So & So (his neighbor down the road). When did it become a competion? Why did it become one? In the old days sending calves to market was the end of the season time for celebration and reflection.

If we have the tools and the know how to do things quicker and better, why is it we don't have time for each other? You know I have lived back in the area for 7 years and have only been asked once to go to my neighbors to work cattle I offer as much as possible. I make an honest effort to ask my friends to come, everytime I do something, not because I always need the help, but because I like having them around. My friend Mark has 2 girls that love to ride horses, my kids don't enjoy riding that much, but, it's fun to ride (even when we are working) if they get to ride with Mark's girls. Plus I get a chance to catch up with Mark and he gets a chance to get away from his desk job and enjoy the outdoors. I continue to invite others who all say, "if you need the help I'll be there," to which I'll reply, "Oh we have plenty of help but would love to have you" they never show. I will make it a point to make it to your house if I get invited (within a reasonable distance of course), but I'm not holding my breath.

OK my rant is over, Thanks Jodi for getting my blood pumping and the keyboard clicking again. I promise to keep you updated on hunting things as they come up, but SoDakAdventure.com is going to evolve into what goes on in Western South Dakota as a whole insead of just hunting and fishing. I hope you enjoy it.

One more thing, invite your neighbors over this spring, you won't regret it.