{"id":16402,"date":"2021-07-28T00:40:58","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T00:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=16402"},"modified":"2021-07-27T19:59:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T19:59:27","slug":"your-neighbors-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2021\/07\/28\/your-neighbors-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Neighbor\u2019s Water"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Bryce Angell – The outdoors has always been a large part of my life. My father was an outfitter and guide for 35 years and I was there to shoe and care for the horses and help him do the cooking. We took many great trips into the Yellowstone area. Even now that I\u2019m older, we still ride into the Tetons, Yellowstone and surrounding areas. My poems are mostly of personal experience. I am now retired and enjoying life to the fullest. I plan to do more riding and writing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T<\/span>his time of year, when water\u2019s scarce, and nerves are frazzled bare, I hear \u2018em pray for moisture that\u2019s been buildin\u2019 up somewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dictionary claims that moisture is a small amount. So why not pray a deluge or some inches we can count.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some years ago our irrigation ditch went dang near dry. My father didn\u2019t say a word and never questioned why.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I walked upstream, discovered that our neighbor dammed the ditch. I\u2019m sure he must have thought he\u2019d pulled it off without a hitch.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019d placed a board across the check, which backed the water flow. I guess he didn\u2019t care he robbed the farmers down below.<\/span><\/p>\n

I called the watermaster. He was fair as I could tell. I knew he would remove the board come heaven or come hell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, sure enough, the watermaster pulled the extra board. The neighbor was then furious and drew a little \u201csword.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The watermaster chuckled. He\u2019d been down that road before. He said, \u201cYou better move or get a bloody nose for sure!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The neighbor wouldn\u2019t have it and he didn\u2019t step aside. So he had to practice swimmin\u2019; lost the \u201csword\u201d and all his pride.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But, stealin\u2019 water\u2019s when you take more water than your share. I guess he hadn\u2019t prayed for rain or didn\u2019t even care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking a neighbor\u2019s water is like causin\u2019 him to bleed. His crops won\u2019t grow if there ain\u2019t precious water that they need. <\/span><\/p>\n

I heard one ticked-off cowboy swearin\u2019 \u2018bout his water plight. \u201cWhiskey is for drinkin\u2019 but our water\u2019s why we fight!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I understand the cowboy\u2019s word \u2018bout whiskey and their fight. He said, \u201cYou steal my water, you\u2019re a doggone parasite!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bryce Angell<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This time of year, when water\u2019s scarce, and nerves are frazzled bare, I hear \u2018em pray for moisture that\u2019s been buildin\u2019 up somewhere. The dictionary claims that moisture is a small amount. So why not pray a deluge or some inches we can count. Some years ago our irrigation ditch went dang near dry. My […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-cowboy-poetry","7":"category-commentary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16403,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16402\/revisions\/16403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}