My Spurs

These are the spurs I wore when I was cowboying. My dad gave them to me. They've got "Sanders" stamped on the side, but I don't know anything about them or where dad got them. I think they're pretty cool. As you can see, they've got the symbols of the standard card suites on them. I've seen others with the same motif, but never any like these. I always wanted to get a bridle or a bit that matched. I'd probably have to have it made, though.



I cowboyed when I was a lot younger than I am now, but I bet I could still get away with it. I cowboyed with my dad who has been ranching all his life. Most of the time it was a very expensive hobby since he owned an oilfield construction company. After he retired, he went into ranching full time.

It's a little known fact that ranchers can actually have a lot of free time. We spent all that free time hiring out to work cows for other ranchers in the area. In East Texas, most ranches are small affairs (100 to 500 head) and when it's time to work the cattle, you call your neighbors to help out. Now when I say "hire out" you may think that you're actually going to make money. That's not the case. I think the most I ever made for a full day of work (that's sun-up to sundown) was $40, lunch, and all the beer you could drink. And that's what made it all worthwhile.

My dad's friends were a bunch of old guys like he is and I called them the Wild Bunch. It was kind of half in jest, but they did get into a surprising amount of trouble. I've seen them run over by a whole pen full of cows, hooked by mean longhorn crosses, and bucked off onto rocky ground. They kept at it though. I guess it's because that's what they did. It was really a lot of fun. Maybe one day when I get these kids paid for I can do some of that again.