Wyoming Wednesday
Guest posting from the Cowboy State is my friend, Bonnie.
We originally met while commenting on Ed Kemmick’s City Lights Blog.
We decided to meet in real life - which is another long story.
I suppose that one of us will have to blog on that one!
Wyoming Rednecks
On June 11, a little boy had his 10th birthday. Among the presents was a rocket set with launcher and fuel cells picked out for him by his grandfather, aka “the boss.” Although anxious to try this wonderful gift, the boy waited for a day when there would be proper supervision. All through the little league baseball season, the first cutting of hay, he waited. Finally it was July 4, the day that his whole family and many of the neighbors gathered at his grandparents home for the annual irrigators’ picnic.
When the water was all set and his dad finally had time, the boy read the directions and he and Dad and a cousin and even a great uncle put the rocket together. They took it into the hayfield just south of the yard where the picnic was set up. The boy counted down…..5,4, 3,2,1 BLAST OFF. The rocket soared high above the hay field. Oh no! A breeze picked it up and carried it back over the picnic yard and into a huge old cottonwood tree. It was stuck high above where it could not be reached even with the loader. The boy was crushed but everyone at the picnic was trying to think of ways to bring the rocket back.
The hamburgers and hot dogs were grilled and everyone had a big picnic lunch. The boy didn’t eat much. He was so sad about his rocket. The grownups would walk around the house to look at the rocket stuck in the tree and shake their heads.
Finally the grandpa aka “the boss” said, “You know, Blake, I think we could shoot the branch off the tree and when it comes down you can get the rocket back.” The great uncle and the rest of the crowd were very skeptical but no one had a better idea.
Dad went to the shop and found a box of double ought shells. Grandpa went to the house and unlocked the gun cabinet and brought out the old 12 gauge double barreled shot gun that had belonged to his grandfather. The gun was probably even older than the tree but they were both over 100 years old! They decided where to shoot so as not to harm the rocket. Dad and a neighbor shot 22 blasts into the tree branch before it broke and the branch and the unharmed rocket hit the ground!! The old gun was hot and there were only three shells left!
Do you suppose Jeff Foxworthy would think you might be a redneck if you trim your trees with a shotgun?
July 6th, 2005 at 11:59 am
Hi Bonnie! Great post!
I can’t believe it. That was exactly what I thought of when I was reading the post . . . to shoot it out.
Perhaps my handle should have been “Sophisticated Redneck!”
Jeff Foxworthy would be proud.
July 7th, 2005 at 8:03 am
That sounds hysterical! What an original grandpa! Linn
July 7th, 2005 at 9:14 am
Way too funny! But a great way to get it down!
July 7th, 2005 at 3:09 pm
There was a yahoo some years ago here in AZ who tried to trim a saguaro cactus with a rifle (actually he was using the majestic succulent for target practice, but I changed his purpose to fit this discussion). He shot the cactus so full of holes that it snapped and fell on top of him (I believe the fellow in question was awarded a Darwin Award–posthumously, of course). (A few months back, Moos put up a picture I e-mailed her of a post card showing what a saguaro can do to a fine automobile when it falls over–making said mode of transport into a steel pancake.) This goes to prove that there are idiots among us (and heaven knows the Grand Canyon State has it’s share–one of which may well reside in my abode; I talk to him in the bathroom mirror every morning), and that God has a sense of humor–even when He’s culling the herd.
Foxworthy, for those who don’t know, has a website–www.jefffoxworthy.com–that allows folks to submit jokes, and I sent in this one:
“If you find yourself in a funeral procession where they use a pickup truck as a hearse…you might be a redneck.”
Kirk & his conceited canine
July 7th, 2005 at 4:39 pm
I’d love to know what a redneck is - I hear they are a hoot!