Wyoming Wednesday
Wednesday, July 6th, 2005Guest 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?
