Memoir Monday, June 27, 1963

 Now into the second year of cowboy girlhood. The new had worn off--if there ever was any--and there were some good days, many dull ones and a few frankly bad. It was almost a dream by now that I had ever been in school, much less graduated in a brief spotlight..

June 27. 1963 Thursday

Dad took off quite early. I half-awoke but remained in bed, really rolling out about 6:00. Mom got up too and helped me carry down some water. I got an early start on my riding . The herd was gone but I did the usual chores. Back home, I led Chief and stopped on my way back for mail. I finally got my ‘party picks’ and the rest was mostly real estate letters. Finally the chores were done . I came in and tackled my project for the day--my ruffled blouse. I got the main part of it done. All I have to do is the sleeves. I think it will be real cute. I worked over two more chapters of Cindy Walker. It’s shaping up nicely. Charlie Mike rode his bike out with me to do the chores. All was okay and the herd was in except for Rita and Trink. We did the home chores and went to the Little League game. Charlie Mike’s pals won 3-2. It was pretty dull. Going places only makes me discontented, I should just stay home. I am awfully curious what Dad is finding out. We’ll know tomorrow I guess.

I can't recall without looking it up where Dad was going, whether another 'ranch hunt' expedition or some other business. No matter. Life at home went on as usual with mostly a slightly lower level of stress for me even if I was fully responsible for everything involving the livestock. I did not even mention which citter I rode out to the pasture. We'd had Chief since the previous December, the Appaloosa stallion we bought and kept for several years. At this time I did not have permission to ride him, not that I couldn't have done so as he was a reasonably well-behaved horse, about as managable as many geldings.  But Dad had the notion--later dropped as a matter of convenience-- that a girl should not ride a stallion. IMHO total bullcrap.

Chief was a good looking horse, bright copper with a classic 'blanket' rear pattern. He had a slightly coarse head as many Appys do but was a handsome horse. He produced good colts and almost all of them had very good dispositions. 

"Party picks"? If memory serves it was a boxtop offer sort of thing-small colored plastic skewers one might use for canapes or crudites. Since I did not entertain (LOL!) I have no idea what I planned to do with them. They were around for ages and I finally tossed them in the trash or a box for the thrift store decades later.

I do recall the ruffled blouse. I even have a photo wearing it. It was a major take-off from my usual western shirt pattern but turned out good enough and I had and wore it for several years. The fabric was polished cotton with a floral design, mostly in turquoise or aqua, always favorte shades. It made up nicely.

"Cindy Walker"--yes, that was my project for a YA novel that I worked on for quite awhile--literally years.  I still think it is a good book but now terribly out of date and I see no way to make it work in the 21st Century. The heroine was a ranch girl who's dad trained horses and she had a number of adventures, often not too different from mine, but her life was considerably different--she even had a boyfriend before it was over!  A friend and pen pal did some fine pen and ink illustrations for it and I seriously tried to sell it to a couple of places when I was in college but I was terribly naive about the whole publishing process and did not get too far. I now have only a slightly blurry photocopy of the manscript and would almost have to retype it all--about 30,000 words worth. No computers back then. Too bad...

For some years Charlie Mike and I did have free evenings in mild weather and wandered around a lot, went to games, saw friends and other stuff. We were supposed to be home by about 10:00 and normally were but we really cherished this freedom since for the most part we had very little! Despite the fact I was now 20 and he was approaching 14, we were under rather strict and solid control. Why did we allow this? The enmeshed family thing, mostly, I think. Rebellion was not easy and could get ugly.

Pictures! Me in the ruffled blouse. Chief (registered name Yavapai Chief), one illustration for "Cindy and the Challenges" and part of the color study meant for the book cover. These were done by Judy Crouch who did the painting of me on Leo I featured on my FB page recently.