Old Cowboy, Young Eyes

One of the biggest daily battles a man fights after 60 years of breathin', is cynicism. By the time  he's that long in the tooth he has mostly seen and heard it all. The "latest and the greatest” doesn’t shine with the same gleaming luster to an old cowboy as it does to some folks. After a breathless presentation to him of the newest and most remarkable wonder of the day, you may see him nod his head, look up from under his hat, and say something like… “Well”, or “uh huh”. Over the many years, he has adopted a philosophy of “I’ll wait and see”.  
 

The fastest way to see old cowboy cringe is for a politician (or for that matter, most anyone) to say “trust me”.  To him, “trust me”, being interpreted, means “you lose”. He gives everything a second look …at the least. After 60 years, old guys (and gals)  have seen so many unsinkable ships sink, so many hard and fast rules go soft, so many unbeatable records shattered, and so many promises broken that it’s, well... just dang hard to see or hear anything that you can just instantly embrace and accept. 

Eggs are good for you, no, eggs are bad for you, well now,  eggs are good for you. Old cowboys have seen, time and again, the best new medical cure-alls pulled off the market because they were actually making people worse, and the pharmaceutical company who made them covered up the facts. A thousand of the latest catch-phrases and buzz words have come and gone. And time and space doesn’t allow a list of the decades of government promises, plans, and fixes that were supposed to be such a phenomenal help to America, and how that worked out for them. 

 Wait and see. Show an aging man the 'latest and greatest' anything, and he’ll just nod. If you study his eyes closely, you’ll read “We’ll see" in there somewhere. After six decades or more of livin' I suppose a man's earned the right to be skeptical.  In fact, when you see everything through old cautious doubting eyes, well, it can be down right paralyzing if you’re not careful. You hardly want to try or accept anything 'new and improved'. Know any 60+ year olds that still don’t own or even want a computer? Exactly. Time and experience has a way of making  some of us suspicious at every turn. Hard to impress an old set of peepers with much of anything.

That’s why I’m glad for the eyes of young folks. 

Young folks tend to be adventurous, optimistic, and accepting to a fault. They love new things and are often dazzled by them. They see things through the glass of possibility, not calculated probability. Time has not hardened them yet, and they are hopeful about almost everything. When I'm with my kids and grand kids I am compelled to see things with more promise and less doubting.
My oldest grandson would rather fish than eat...literally. When he asks me about the weather on a fishing day, and I sigh and say there's an 80 percent chance of rain, he'll just smile and say "Well, it may not rain here though." He is solidly focused on the 20 percent chance that it won't rain.

 I have a son-in-law who always drives to the front of the store, expecting to find a parking place close to the doors, no matter how packed the the parking lot is. Most of the time he just pulls right in to an open spot. Once, we were in St.Louis during a festival on the riverfront, the place was barely organized chaos. We were trying to get to the park at the base of the Arch. Cars were parked a mile away. I would have said " Forget it" and moved on. Nope, not him. He drives past block after block after block of parked cars and pulls up the steps right in front of the Arch... just as a car pulls out of a space. He slides right in just like it was to be expected. For him it is. I'd a bet a months pay you couldn't get within 3 blocks of the place. Old eyes vs. young eyes.

My grandsons get excited and enthusiastic about some things that long ago became common place to me. When I am with them, however, I am caught up in the way they see things, and I can't help but have a renewed sense of wonder. Did a moon ever shine so bright, or look so wondrous as when a toddler discovers that lunar orb for the first time? Is an eagle ever as magnificent in flight as it is when seen with a youngster who is experiencing the sight in wide-eyed excitement? Old eyes can relive the wonder of the birth of a new colt, or calf...or child. Young folks can peel the film of time from an old cowboys eyes, and allow him to see things, and think things, in a fresh way again.

Maybe its the balance of experience and expectancy that we need. Optimism, with a healthy dose of realism, just might melt away a little of an old mans cynicism. Lifes experiences can make us wary  and jaded after many years. It's a good thing we keep bringing young people into the world to propel us forward, or we could become and remain stagnant. 

  I think that maybe we old cowboys could see things with less skepticism, less wariness, and with perhaps just a tad bit more enthusiasm  ...if we're willing to take a look at things through a pair of younger eyes.

 

 

Summer Heat

The leaves of the pole beans shrivel and wrinkle close together, looking like little old ladies whispering in a gossip circle. The bugs that feed upon the plants have sought shelter beneath them, and hesitate to devour their only shade. The golden straw mulch keeps the soil cool and damp below; on the surface the heat radiates from it in a cling wrap distorted shimmer. The herbs give off fragrant individual scents, as Ole Sol bears down relentlessly upon them. It's 95 degrees in the garden, and summertime is in full swing here at the Chicken Ranch.


Squash and zucchini hide beneath their elephant ear leaves. Cucumbers hesitatingly poke their bumpy heads from the viney foliage. The peppers hang red, yellow, and green from their stems like ornaments on a tree. Tomatoes are yet green in their immaturity; except for their little salad tomato cousins, who proudly glow orange and red in the baskets. All the plants look a bit withered and ill just now in this midday sun; but a nighttime escape from solar oppression will have them looking fresh, as they glisten in the shiny wetness of the mornings dew.

The chickens are spending more time in the yard since the heat has sent most of the gnats packing. Big brown egg production is on the rise again, and I joke that today the eggs will be hard boiled when I gather them. In reality, the hen house is well shaded and ventilated in the summer, and offers some respite from the hot yard. The hens spend a good deal of time today clucking and gossiping around the waterer.

The nearby horses graze a while in the tall green grass, their tails swishing the flies away, then seek the shade of oak and hackberry trees, and rest awhile in the shadows. Cows and calves do the same; although, the calves seem to have more energy to spend than mom does.

As for me I've sought the cool shelter of the back porch (imagine that) . I lift the straw cowboy hat from my head, and drink deep from my Mason jar of iced sweet tea. The drink cools my hands and my throat and, well, just plain makes me happy.

 

I'll not complain about the days temperature. I know many of us would wish to bottle this heat, and pop the top when winter drags into March, and as frigid air and heaps of snow keep us bound up indoors in a warm fires glow.

 

No, it is proper and fitting, this sweat upon my brow, and the dark water spots on my shirt. It is July after all, and what is July without a burning sun, singing birds and insects, and a jar full of southern-strong, honey-sweet, cold iced tea.
 Ahhh...  yes, bring on the summer heat, I'm ready for it.