{"id":22397,"date":"2025-05-28T00:51:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T06:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=22397"},"modified":"2025-05-26T13:52:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T19:52:23","slug":"ranger-gal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/28\/ranger-gal\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranger Gal"},"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

I rolled out of my sleeping bag. \u2018Twas almost six o\u2019clock.\u00a0 <\/span>My tent was by the campfire, and I\u2019d slept hard, like a rock.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I threw the horses hay, and then I headed for the john, a rickety old outhouse. One worn hole to sit upon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Right then I started thinking, there\u2019s a restroom down the road!\u00a0 <\/span>So, I grabbed two other cowboys.\u00a0 <\/span>Next stop, a warm commode.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then a dang old ranger dude came walking out the door.\u00a0 <\/span>He said, \u201cThe restrooms aren\u2019t for free.\u00a0 <\/span>Don\u2019t use them anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want to make a scene.\u00a0 <\/span>He had authority.\u00a0 <\/span>But the parking lot was empty just as far as one could see.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t have a pass to get into the park that day.\u00a0 <\/span>Just wanted nice warm bathrooms, but we didn\u2019t want to pay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, we left there griping, made a solemn vow to come back soon.\u00a0 <\/span>The ranger was a marshmallow.\u00a0 <\/span>We\u2019d show the big buffoon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That afternoon at four o\u2019clock we climbed into the truck and drove down to the restrooms.\u00a0 <\/span>This time we\u2019d have some luck.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We pulled up to the gate.\u00a0 <\/span>Now there were six of us in all.\u00a0 <\/span>We were mighty fearsome cowboys, prob\u2019ly felt like ten feet tall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But then the cutest ranger gal walked up to our truck door.\u00a0 <\/span>She winked at me and then she smiled.\u00a0 <\/span>My jaw \u2018bout hit the floor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She said, \u201cWe\u2019d like it if you\u2019d pay.\u00a0 <\/span>We hope you weren\u2019t misled.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>I didn\u2019t have a word to say.\u00a0 <\/span>My brain had left my head.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said, \u201cIt cost five dollars for the park facility.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>You should have seen the wallets flying out to pay the fee.<\/span><\/p>\n

We paid our fee and said, \u201cWe sure would like to keep the rules.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>She could have asked five hundred. We were dumbstruck cowboy fools.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We tipped our hats and drove away with egg on every face.\u00a0 <\/span>The little ranger gal had put us smack right in our place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That night we sat around the fire.\u00a0 <\/span>By then no one was mute.\u00a0 <\/span>We slapped each other on the back and said, \u201cShe sure was cute!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And then the men reflected how she\u2019d played \u2018em all like toys.\u00a0 <\/span>\u2018Cuz on that day one ranger gal made mush of six cowboys. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Bryce Angell<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I rolled out of my sleeping bag. \u2018Twas almost six o\u2019clock.\u00a0 My tent was by the campfire, and I\u2019d slept hard, like a rock.\u00a0 I threw the horses hay, and then I headed for the john, a rickety old outhouse. One worn hole to sit upon.\u00a0 Right then I started thinking, there\u2019s a restroom down […]<\/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-22397","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\/22397","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=22397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22398,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22397\/revisions\/22398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}