The pint-size gunslinger was all decked out in his cowboy best…toy six-guns all snug in their holsters and Roy Rogers cowboy hat placed just so. Well, hey it was time to mosey on over to Dodge City for another episode of Gunsmoke or a night spent with Roy Rogers!! This was the wild and woolly West, brimming with notorious outlaws and brave lawmen standing firm against the “bad guys”. And just like Roy and his sidekick ‘Trigger’…this boy had his own accomplice – ‘Tony’, the pony.
It was a typical Sunday evening when the boy and his older brother were getting ready to tune into the 12” black and white television console located in the breezeway of their home-on-the-farm. With their parents out of the house for a couple of hours, and while the TV was “warming up”, the older brother suggested that ‘Tony’ might enjoy spending a little time on the range.
“Hey, I bet Tony is just itchin’ to see Trigger!”
“Yeah! How could he do that?”
“You can bring him on in the house!“
“Wow, is that allowed?”
“Of course!”
“I won’t get into trouble?”
“Naaaw…”
So there they sat, a boy and his pony, inside the house, fully engrossed in the shoot-em-up shenanigans of Roy, Dale, Trigger and Bullet, the “Wonder Dog”. And while fully engrossed in the goings-on reflected in the TV screen – the arrival of his parents went utterly unnoticed. As mom and dad took in the scene laid before them… boy settled atop pony, television blaring, in the breezeway, INSIDE THE HOUSE… the older brother was NOWHERE in sight.
That little boy, now a grown man buckaroo, is my husband.
And, lo these many years later, I get to wake up to the thundering sound of stampedes and uproarious yee-haws…
Making my way downstairs, I enter the room and there he is fully engrossed, rooting for the “good guys” and completely unaware (just like the good old days) that I am even there. Lunchtime and it’s high noon… time for a showdown, outlaws are out for revenge, bandits are robbing the bank and the sheriff is bursting through those swinging doors to slug back a whiskey. Midday snack and John Wayne is once again at the epicenter. The amount of times I’ve witnessed “The Duke” in action in recent months far exceeds the yield of any old cattle rustler.
These days, my husband appears to be a most welcoming observer of anything and everything within the Western genre… low-budget, spaghetti, old timey, new timey – he ain’t picky. And I know for a fact that he’s seen many of them over and over again… cause I annoyingly point that out to him all the time. C’mon dude, you know what’s gonna happen when Matt Dillon pays Miss Kitty a visit!
Tony (the pony my husband used nap with in the field) and that Roy Rogers hat (which could very well make a repeat appearance, WHO KNOWS!?) are no longer with us . But the obsession, favorite pastime, love of all things ‘cowboy’ has resurfaced. RESURFACED in a HUUUGE way. And dadgumit, he is as taken with those gunslingers as if he was back in the saddle, in the breezeway, inside the house!
And after 42 years of marriage, and as I contemplate what life will look like in a few more years, well… lots of more years… in the way future-distant-days-away… and we continue aging (cause I’ve been told that’s what happens) my sense is that it’s only going to get worse. Much worse. It looks like my future holds a whole lot of gun-slinging, feuding, stagecoach chasing and pistol twirling. And that’s doesn’t include all the barroom brawling that’s gonna be occurring in real time as we rock-it-out-on-the-porch.
However, a few weeks ago I made a VERY different discovery. Approaching the sound emanating from the first floor, and as I got closer, I heard a vaguely familiar, “and a one, and a two”. And when I turned the corner, there sat my husband, eyes glued on some screen action and fully enthralled…. while Bobby and Sissy were a-twirling, the Champagne Lady was a-singing, the bubbles were a-bubbling and LAWRENCE WELK WAS A-POLKA-ING.
Somebody help me…
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Mark’s onto something. It was a simpler time… and that ain’t so bad, Pard’ner !! When I was a little boy, my father would drive my mother, me, my two sisters and brother to Milwaukee’s Lake Front to take a lake shore cruise. As you travel east on North Avenue, on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan is a beautiful white Water Tower, not unlike Water Tower Place in Chicago, except it’s a tall single structure designed to resemble a classic castle spire. My mother would say “Oh look, that’s where Cinderella lives.” And my father would chime in “Yeah. She… Read more »
Love that anecdote “Hoot”! xo
I forgot to say how much I liked Tony in the tv room…brilliant!!!
Quite a scene that’s for sure!
I too am getting caught up on all, and I mean all the old westerns.
My 95 year old dad is rewatching them on channel 66.5, just in case Mark is not familiar with that station.
Yeeehaaa🐎
Moose has most definitely discovered the cowboy channel…enjoy watching with your dad!!
Yeehaw! That there is a doozy of an anecdote! 🐎
As I said to Julie – it’s now become ‘cowboys all the time’ around here…
This is hysterical!!!!! Ride ‘em Sparky!!!!
xoxoxoxox – it is cowboys all the time here in the old homestead!
Most kids can only dream of watching their favorite tv show atop a horse! Also a big laugh about you annoying pointing out to Mark how many times he watches the same movies. My Marc does the same and I annoying point it out, too. Xo
We love to annoy our husbands…xoxo
Great and unique story…thank you, Karen
Thank YOU Bob!