{"id":19683,"date":"2023-06-14T00:28:04","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T00:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19683"},"modified":"2023-06-13T20:28:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T20:28:57","slug":"lop-eared-jasper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/14\/lop-eared-jasper\/","title":{"rendered":"Lop-Eared Jasper"},"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 dared a look outside. The ground still held some drifts of snow. The stove inside my canvas tent was burning a bright red glow.<\/p>\n

I opened up the tent flap, filled my lungs and gave a yell. I swear old Jasper looked at me and said, \u201cIt\u2019s cold as @#&&!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jasper and my saddle horse were munching on the hay. Last night I threw enough feed out to last them most the day.<\/p>\n

I closed the flap and tossed a chunk of Doug fir in the fire. Then I tied the stove door almost shut with pliers and baling wire.<\/p>\n

Now, Jasper was an old pack mule. He\u2019d packed my gear for years. But I should have named him Ugly. Let me tell you \u2018bout his ears.<\/p>\n

When Jasper was about one year, a stud kicked him in the head. He lay there in the corral and I was hoping he weren\u2019t dead.<\/p>\n

At first his breaths were shallow. Then he stood up on his feet. He took a step and sure enough his walk was plumb offbeat.<\/p>\n

He looked a might confused. His eyes were covered with a glaze. If I hadn\u2019t seen him take the kick I\u2019d swear he had been Tased.<\/p>\n

Well, Jasper shook his head and then he gained his wits all back. But I couldn\u2019t help but notice that one ear was lying flat.<\/p>\n

One ear straight up and one ear down, I\u2019d never seen before. Was Jasper giving signs that he now talked in semaphore?<\/p>\n

I tried a bunch of different ways to keep the ear up straight. I even tied a hat on, but it seemed to agitate.<\/p>\n

So all this time old Jasper\u2019s ears have never been the same. It\u2019s been a conversation piece. Some folks think it\u2019s a shame.<\/p>\n

One little girl said Jasper needs an earring in his ear. She even said, \u201cHe\u2019s beautiful.\u201d Only a child could be so dear.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say most mules are ugly, but old Jasper takes the cake. A friend of mine says, \u201cJasper looks like nature\u2019s worst mistake!\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always made a point to give that mule some extra care. I guess I feel responsible he\u2019s had this cross to bear.<\/p>\n

But Jasper doesn\u2019t seem to mind that no one wants to gush. When someone calls him ugly, I have never seen him blush.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I dared a look outside. The ground still held some drifts of snow. The stove inside my canvas tent was burning a bright red glow. I opened up the tent flap, filled my lungs and gave a yell. I swear old Jasper looked at me and said, \u201cIt\u2019s cold as @#&&!\u201d Jasper and my saddle […]<\/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-19683","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\/19683","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=19683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19684,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19683\/revisions\/19684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}