November 22, 1963....

gilded

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Great stories "gilded" and pictures. I think I would have liked your grandmother.

Stuball, my Grandmother was alright until you crossed her, or felt like you crossed her and then she was 'Hail On Wheels!'

Born in the late 1890's, she was a crack shot with a little single action .22 rimfire rifle. She could knock a squirrel out of a tree at 30 feet by shooting the tree bark under the squirrel to save the meat. She shot rattlesnakes in her family's grapevines and could 'keep up' on a horse riding side-saddle.

My Grandad was a good shot, too, especially when he lived on his brother's ranch near Sweetwater, TX, cow-boying for 3 years between 1905-8. My Mom told me he didn't ride a horse, he 'sat' a horse, meaning that the horse did all the moving while he sat as if in a desk chair. It took a lot of upper body strength to do that, but he was a weight-lifter in school and that's the way he did it.

Now, Grampa eschewed Reptilian Pistolry and favored pulling snakes by their tails out of the grapevines and 'whip-cracking' them to pop their heads off (saved ammo). He had a 1902 model Colt Sporting model pistol; the long barreled version. Chambered for an early .38 auto cartridge, the '1902' was the precursor to the famous Colt 1911 pistol that John Wayne used to shoot all those extras in the WWII movies with!

But enough, I'm scaring my European friends (and no doubt my Yankee Cousins) who never had the misfortune to live on a ranch and defend themselves from the desperate jack-rabbits that hopped up to the bunkhouse at twilight, apparently waiting to be shot by my sanguinary Grandfather (used ammo). A True Tale Of The Old West, mis amigos!

Adios, Senors y Senoras!
 
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