Boots on Tired Feed - Cowboy On The Sand

My dad's boot jack

My wife and I attended the National Western Stock Show rodeo a week ago - we had attended the annual Colorado State University breakfast that was held for the first time on the top floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Denver as a part of CSU Day at the Stock Show. We hadn't been to a rodeo since we took our kids to the one at the Benton County (Oregon) Fair more than 15 years ago. My boots have gotten broken in well during the last seven month since moving to Colorado - it was even time to oil them because of the wear of pretty regular use these past month - but very little of that wear had anything to do with horses or cattle.

I remember as a kid helping my dad at the end of the day pull off his boots - he was a real cowboy, not an office worker like me. As a little one, it was quite the production to grab a hold of his boot and give a pull - learning there was a certain successful technique to it that involved pulling down on the toe and almost instantaneously tugging at the heal and giving a pull as it then slid off of his foot. I am sure there was manure caked in the space that rimmed around the boot between the sole and the leather, and can imagine it was a hot and dry summer day in Central California, but not like the drought spell happening there now.

At the end of our visit home to Visalia a couple of weeks ago, my dad gave me his boot jack - he is 91, so too old to bend down and get his cowboy boots on and off of his feet. It was a time-honored and useful gift, especially since my kids are old and out of the house and not available to help me after a long day at work.
________________________
Neil Young, Cow Girl in the Sand

Hello cowgirl in the sand
Is this place
At your command
Can I stay here
For a while
Can I see your
Sweet sweet smile
Old enough now
To change your name
When so many love you
Is it the same?
It's the woman in you
That makes you want
To play this game.

Hello ruby in the dust
Has your band
Begun to rust
After all
The sin we've had
I was hopin' that
We'd turn back
Old enough now
To change your name
When so many love you
Is it the same
It's the woman in you
That makes you want
To play this game.

Hello woman of my dreams
This is not
The way it seems
Purple words
On a grey background
To be a woman
And to be turned down
Old enough now
To change your name
When so many love you
Is it the same
It's the woman in you
That makes you want
To play this game.