Soapweed's Ranch
Ramblings |
It seems that the older I get, the more stuff I tend to pack around in my pockets.
This "stuff" is always with me, whether working on the ranch or going to town
to see the bright lights. My style of clothing is in a rut, as I always wear
the same type of apparel. The newness and niceness of it is the only thing that
changes if going to town is in the equation.
Western style shirts have always been my cup of tea, with the simplicity of snaps
and pockets with snap-down flaps. In the left pocket, it is necessary to carry
a pocket notebook which contains notations of significant daily jottings. Also
in that pocket is a small calculator, which simplifies arithmetic at the sale
barn, or in figuring rations, pasture bills, interest and what have you. Math
was my favorite subject in high school, and I know how to do it on paper, but
the calculator certainly makes it easier. An ink pen rounds out the contents
of the left shirt pocket, and even though it is usually a give-away type with
the local gas station advertising on it, one can last for a year pretty often.
The last few years, it has become a great convenience to carry a small cell phone
in the right shirt pocket. A tower is less than three miles away from the southern
border of our ranch, so we have pretty good reception over most of the place.
My wife also carries a phone, as does the hired hand, so many steps are saved
with this concession to the modern world. The only problem with the newer neater
smaller phone is that often it gets sideways in the pocket and hard to fish out
in a hurry, especially on the cold days with lots of outer clothing. Awhile back
we were at Cabella's in Sidney, and there was a nifty little five-power telescope
just slightly bigger than an ink pen. It is just the handiest little gadget to
have along, mainly because it keeps the phone from tipping over. Also it is handy
to look across the hills and see if the dot in the distance is a cow or a soapweed,
or to see if the wheel on a windmill is turning.
Wrangler 936's are my blue jeans of choice. In the left front, the pocket contains
a Leatherman, a cigarette lighter (I don't smoke, but like to have a fire-starter
with me), and a steel toothpick enclosed in a small plastic case. The Leatherman
tool has lots of things that help with daily ranching including pliers, wire
cutter, a knife blade, awl, three sizes of regular screw drivers, a phillips
screw driver, can-opener, file, and ruler (both regular and metric). Yet all
these Leatherman conveniences are in a compact package of 4" x 1" x 7/16" that
is easy to carry in a pocket.
In my right front pants pocket I carry another jack-knife. It is an inexpensive
knife, but really handy. It is an Imperial Ireland Stainless brand that sells
for about $11. It has a main blade just a little longer than 2 inches that is
good for marking calves, also a leather punch and a serated blade that is handy
for cutting twine off of hay balers and hay feeders. Other items in the right
front pocket are Chapstick, my post office box key, and whatever loose change
I have along. If I am in a bigger town and feel it necessary to take the keys
out of the pickup, they are also in this location.
Around the ranch, I don't carry a wallet. If you ride a horse carrying one in
your hip pocket, it is just about guaranteed that the wallet will work itself
out and get lost.
In my coat pockets, there is usually to be found some glove-liners for when the
weather gets chilly, along with a few fence staples and some pieces of cake to
keep my horses friendly. Summer or winter, I always have leather gloves.
On the rare occasions when I weigh-in at the doctor's office, I try to console
myself that I'm really not as heavy as the scale indicates. A lot of those extra
numbers on the weight indicator are just the heaviness of the contents of my
pockets.
Copyright © 2005 Steve
Moreland
All Rights Reserved