{"id":18036,"date":"2022-06-01T00:17:16","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T00:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=18036"},"modified":"2022-05-31T20:19:27","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T20:19:27","slug":"tribute-to-my-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/01\/tribute-to-my-father\/","title":{"rendered":"Tribute to my Father"},"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

I\u2019d like to tell you \u2018bout the man of stature five-foot-three. My eyes saw him at ten feet tall. He meant the world to me.<\/p>\n

Last week this good man passed away. Our family called him dad. Dang sure we\u2019re gonna miss him. He\u2019s the only one we had.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My father taught me right from wrong. Not from the spewing word. I learned from his example, which was clear and never blurred.<\/p>\n

He told me once, I won\u2019t forget, said, \u201cAlways trust your gut. And if it don\u2019t feel right to you, get out before you\u2019re stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

My father had the quirky saying, \u201cKeep it on the road.\u201d That\u2019s how he said goodbye. Did he mean stay in safety mode?<\/p>\n

He never slept much past daylight. He\u2019d get this in his head. He\u2019d say, \u201cI don\u2019t dare stay too long. \u2018Cuz people die in bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He couldn\u2019t understand a man who didn\u2019t want to work. He was proud of his good work ethic and never thought to shirk.<\/p>\n

He took the time to teach and taught me how to stack the hay. And build a fence and straighten nails to use another day.<\/p>\n

My father had one simple rule, comply, or he\u2019d see red. We\u2019d only eat our breakfast when the animals were fed.<\/p>\n

His love for horses was the trait we shared from year to year. He taught me \u2018bout the pack horse, how to load up all the gear.<\/p>\n

We packed into the Yellowstone. Each horse was loaded down, with food and clothes and prob\u2019ly even Grannie\u2019s old nightgown.<\/p>\n

The nights were cold and frosty but inside the big wall tent, a blazing fire, a deck of cards\u2026 the best time ever spent.<\/p>\n

My father\u2019s word was golden and a man that you could trust. He taught me that a man\u2019s good name should always be a must.<\/p>\n

Some say up high in heaven, dad, you\u2019ve earned a rocking chair. Your answer was, \u201cHeck no, I\u2019m gonna stretch my legs up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

I guess I\u2019m asking once again, \u201cFind Stretch and Shortcut, please.\u201d And get \u2018em ready for a ride, from west clear through to east.<\/p>\n

So dad, in time I\u2019ll see you there, through God\u2019s forgiving grace. And then I\u2019ll give you one big hug\u2014a long-deserved embrace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019d like to tell you \u2018bout the man of stature five-foot-three. My eyes saw him at ten feet tall. He meant the world to me. Last week this good man passed away. Our family called him dad. Dang sure we\u2019re gonna miss him. He\u2019s the only one we had.\u00a0 \u00a0 My father taught me right […]<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-cowboy-poetry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18036","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=18036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18037,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18036\/revisions\/18037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}