early morning Lynnette and Ruthie

a man on a horse

Home for a month and Two Dot seems both far away and just at my back. Looking back is never a good full time occupation, but just a little glance makes me smile.

The first of July was Lynnette's last day at the school house and the day I finished my first large drawing. It was 7:30 in the morning and I was in the middle of tracing 7.01.09 on a sheet of Lenox when I heard cattle...not just one, but cows on the move. Running into the yard I saw the herd in the middle of the Two Dot Hiway. Shouting at Lynnette who was still asleep "the cows are in town", we all managed to roust our Seattle asses down the road with cameras strangling our necks. Two cowboys on horseback were trying to get their animals through town and tolerated us. One calf chose the open pasture. A horse and rider chased after it, but finally gave up in favor of assisting his partner. "I lost it," was all he said. John and I speculated all summer where that calf ended up and wondered just how experienced those cowboys were.

Two days later we saw the professionals in the Harlowton Rodeo collecting calves with whirling lariats, but that was showmanship. By that time, Lynnette was back in Seattle and James, Jamie, and David had joined us. They were more interested in the cowboys themselves than their skills corroborating what I blurted out to Lynnette while that Two Dot horseman tried to maneuver the wayward calf. No matter what their skills, "there's something about a man on a horse."