{"id":21222,"date":"2024-07-24T00:42:45","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T06:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=21222"},"modified":"2024-07-22T15:43:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T21:43:30","slug":"gathering-of-the-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/24\/gathering-of-the-species\/","title":{"rendered":"Gathering of the Species"},"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

Summer and reunions go together hand in hand. On every weekend you can find them scattered \u2018bout the land.<\/p>\n

But reunions are just gatherings and not for everyone, when you\u2019ve only been there minutes and you want to cut and run.<\/p>\n

One year ago, my wife was driving down to get the mail. And there she found an invite. Changed her face from pink to pale.<\/p>\n

The so-called invitation, from extended family, was sent to all the cousins from the Bandy family tree.<\/p>\n

My wife was thinking hard about this gathering of the species. She never had attended, now the first time in her sixties.<\/p>\n

We marked the calendar, and with her younger sister Anna, made the drive in one long day, way back to Yaak, Montana.<\/p>\n

The reunion started early. I\u2019d say about midday. Some folks were kinda tipsy and the rest were on their way.<\/p>\n

Uncle Joe had proudly brought his homemade alcohol. His wife declared, \u201cIt\u2019s strong enough to strip paint off your wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe had three full mason jars. He\u2019d laid them out with haste. And didn\u2019t put the lids back on till all had sipped a taste.<\/p>\n

Nasty Uncle Herman flirted with the younger gals. He was \u2018bout to learn his lesson. You could hear their husbands\u2019 growls.<\/p>\n

He was no lady charmer from the alcohol\u2019s effect. His comments were embarrassing with total disrespect.<\/p>\n

So Uncle Jack stood up and in his military voice said, \u201dYou can leave upright or horizontal. It can be your choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathy, Terri\u2019s cousin, practicing all natural, believed cosmetics dangerous to body and her soul.<\/p>\n

She cleaned with soap and water but stopped using armpit spray. She\u2019d disposed of creams and lotions two weeks ago today.<\/p>\n

But her noxious odor mixed with Aunt Jane\u2019s secret potluck dish, turned crossways to the senses smelling more like rotten fish.<\/p>\n

Later on, I noticed out the corner of my eye, an older gal would stop at tables, talk, then say goodbye.<\/p>\n

Yet, no one knew the lady, then my wife\u2019s voice rang out clear, \u201cThat was our dear Aunt Bertha and she must have shaved her beard!\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the gathering of the species had only just begun, we loaded in a dither, got out packin\u2019 on the run.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer and reunions go together hand in hand. On every weekend you can find them scattered \u2018bout the land. But reunions are just gatherings and not for everyone, when you\u2019ve only been there minutes and you want to cut and run. One year ago, my wife was driving down to get the mail. And there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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-21222","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\/21222","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=21222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21223,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21222\/revisions\/21223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}