Wednesday, September 19, 2007

A Cowboy's Life

Toby spent quite a bit of time on the computer last night looking for lyrics to an Ian Tyson song. We are big Ian Tyson fans and found out that he lives south of Calgary. Toby kept trying to think of the lyrics and the name of the song about moving to Alberta and clearing an acre of land. This land is just so beautiful with the mountains as the backdrop for the prairies - it all reminded Toby of the song. He did not find it on the computer, but he did find one of our favorite Ian Tyson songs, "Night Rider's Lament" - I especially like the Susy Boggess version, but then I like anything Susy sings. I can certainly see why Tyson writes such great songs about this land. The one thing that Toby wanted to do, but we did not get a chance, was to see more of the prairies/ranch land. His favorite houses at Heritage Park were the ranch houses - he said he thought they should have had more prairie houses, more farm stuff, a sawmill and a blacksmith exhibit. You can tell he is a farm boy.

Yes, it would be great to live here - right up until the big snows. This area reminds me of life in Northern NM. I love the changing seasons, the ranch land surrounded by mountains, the beauty of it all, etc. I could certainly see myself riding a horse across the land and climbing in the mountains and fishing in the rivers. I love the snow and the winter sports, but hauling feed and water to the horses during the winter was a pain in the butt. Breaking ice was no fun either. Maybe if I could just vacation in the mountains and avoid the heat of OK summers, life would be perfect. And have my Grand babies near me all the time.

5 comments:

Buck said...

Yes, it would be great to live here - right up until the big snows.

Agreed. I could say that about a lot of places I've lived, with the understanding that no one place is perfect...in an objective way. You can't tell a Californian that, though.

The thing about the Canadian prairie that got me (or: sticks in my memory) was you could always tell you were close to a town by the sight of the grain elevators off in the distance. I suppose that's true for the US, too, come to think on it.

Jo Castillo said...

Guess the plan to have the whole family in the mountains in the summer and the warm south in the winter is to win the lottery so the whole family can retire together! :) That is our plan anyway.

Jo

Becky G said...

I wouldn't know about that snow stuff. We get an inch here and everybody rushes out to Wal-mart to stock up on bread, bottled water, and batteries.

I'm the kind who thinks that I'd love to live where it snows, but only if I could sit by the fire and knit all day! :)

Shelly said...

I love living in a state that we really get to experience all 4 seasons. I love the snow (we just had the first snowfall in the mountains) I just don't like to drive in it.

Shelly

Bag Blog said...

Shelly,
I didn't live that far from you - just across the border in NM - lower San Luis Valley. I loved it too. But I don[t miss the hauling water and feed to the animals in the snow and ice.