Memoir Monday, Sept 27, 1962

 Sept 27, 1962 Thurs

Saludos, yo. I rolled out when the sun was barely up and it made my hair gold as I went down to feed. I rode Annie out and did the chores. All was okay except Taffy had cut her right forefoot. We doctored Stony’s ear and I took Prez for a lead along the highway where I picked up three pop bottles. I wasted another day. All I did was make a few paper doll things and sleep. I seem to have to sleep every afternoon. Tomorrow I must fix these Capri pants. The zipper is busting out. I rode Annie out again as it was finally beginning to clear. I do hope it is nice over the weekend so we can ride. I rearranged some of my furniture this morning for winter. After the chores and supper were done, I worked on my poems. I’ve written several new ones recently. I’ll have to make copies of them to send to Jose. I wish he’d hurry up and write but I guess he’s busy. Old LS is still up to his tricks of staring. He’s a damn smart alec. Well it’s almost 10:00 pm. Not much else to add about today. I sure wish we’d get the money deals squared away so that we could have enough to eat first and secondly be able start on our various plans and such. Oh why must things take so long??

At this time I was out of school having graduated in May. Already those days were fading into the background. In a way it was sad because the last semester of my high school days was a high point of my life for some time. I had accomplished what I set out to do and done it well, if I do say so myself. I had picked up after being out for a year and did as well or better than I had before and ended up graduating with honors. Somehow the confidence and enthusiasm that gave me faded away far too soon and I sank back into the cowboy girl rut and again thought that was really all I could do, feeling my talents and hobbies were of no value--since I often got chided harshly for 'wasting time' on them. My academic record seemed to have no value either and college was an unattainable vague dream for which I was afraid to reach.  I also worried what would happen to the animals I had invested so much time and effort in if I left.  I wish someone had kicked my butt!! But that did not happen for four years and when it finally did, I did some of the kicking myself, that and life. And several 'angels' helped me.

All the critters I mention here were mules in various stages of training and Taffy was a newer one, very light, almost palomino. I am pretty sure I have no photo of her. Prez (Presidente)  and Annie had been with us awhile and were both good reliable animals and I rode both of them often, Stony was another trained one and was due to be sold not too long after this. 

My social life was absolutely nil. I still wrote pen pals some but now in lieu of school work I continued my hobbies of writing, sewing and designing clothes, which is what the "paper doll" thing was about. It was easier to visualize how a garment or outfit would look if I drew it out, colored it and then could actually hold it up on a doll to get the effect. I did this with most of the things I made for myself or others and experimented with ideas for various fancy western outfits, very ornate and almost garish at that time. Since it was edging into the hippie grannie and pioneer style period, I also modernized historical and frontier dresses and gowns for possible contemporary applications. I sometimes wish I had tried a career in this. 

The Capri pants I had made from stripped pillow ticking--vertical slimming stripes!!--and they fit rather tight.  The zipper finally began to tear or pull out. I think they zipped in back. As for LS, I think I mentioned him before a few weeks earlier. He was a weird dude who lived down the street for awhile and kind of stalked or harassed me. I called him "Larry Scary." Finally I complained to my Dad who observed some of the guy's behavior and read him the riot act. He and his wife moved not long after that. Good riddance; he was really creepy. 

The rest refers to the endless project of trying to either fix up the land we had bought south of Bridgeport or sell it and buy a 'real ranch' somewhere to manage our livestock business much better. Unfortunately that never worked out. There were times we were operating well below the poverty level when neither Dad's writing nor the sale of various animals made the ends meet.  It was often not very pretty.

The first picture is Prez and the second is him under saddle. The third is Annie but I cannot tell for sure if it is me or Mom holding her. This was above Mescal Canyon, one ridge south  from the highway up to Jerome. Since she did not ride a lot I think it is probably me.