{"id":19404,"date":"2023-03-22T00:23:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T00:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19404"},"modified":"2023-03-21T18:25:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T18:25:15","slug":"water-trough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/22\/water-trough\/","title":{"rendered":"WATER TROUGH"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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

We drove into the desert campsite, just about midday. Then read the sorry sign that said, \u201cThe Creek a mile away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten gallons every day would be a thirsty horse\u2019s style. We had to find some water that was closer than a mile.<\/p>\n

We love our mountain water, yet we pay it never mind. But here the desert water is a gold mine of its kind.<\/p>\n

We asked the Anhders brothers if they\u2019d find a water source. They shoveled down a sandwich, then each climbed up on their horse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s water, boys, we\u2019re needing. These old ponies wanna drink. We can even dig a hole down if you find a water sink.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brothers turned and set the horses at an easy lope. Then whirled and came back running. Was it too danged soon to hope?<\/p>\n

I heard one say, \u201cThere\u2019s water just a hundred yards away. A water trough for cattle, this could be our lucky day.\u201d<\/p>\n

We led the thirsty horses over to the water tank. And I watched with guilty conscience as the water level sank.<\/p>\n

The horses tanked the water down. We should have stopped to think. One cowboy said, \u201cWe\u2019re stealin\u2019. We could end up in the clink!\u201d<\/p>\n

We ain\u2019t the brightest fellows. Would the rancher make a noise? Do cowboys have an honor code? \u201cWe\u2019ll blame the Anhders boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenny was the youngest. We said, \u201cYou\u2019re looking mighty pale. You really needn\u2019t worry. We\u2019ll come visit you in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The night air found us \u2019round the fire. A water truck drove in. The driver stepped on out and he was tall and lizard thin.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d seen his look a thousand times. Just itchin\u2019 for a fight. So, we offered him some steak and spuds with hopes to make things right.<\/p>\n

He gobbled down the taters, then his scowl turned to a smile. He said, \u201cI\u2019ll bring you water if you\u2019ll feed me for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

It sounded like a deal to me, sure got us off the hook. The Anhders boys were smiling. Kenny lost his panicked look.<\/p>\n

And when I start to think about the doggone water trough. I reckon we were lucky, didn\u2019t get our butts shot off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We drove into the desert campsite, just about midday. Then read the sorry sign that said, \u201cThe Creek a mile away.\u201d Ten gallons every day would be a thirsty horse\u2019s style. We had to find some water that was closer than a mile. We love our mountain water, yet we pay it never mind. But […]<\/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-19404","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\/19404","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=19404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19405,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19404\/revisions\/19405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}