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September 2009 Blog Posts (48)

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Good Habits Are Hard to Keep Up With

September 30, 2009

Had a long day, driving into the Beast today. Took along Tommy and we headed for downtown at about ten. Had an appointment with Arizona Republic Editor Ken Western at 11. He wants me to do a Tombstone piece for them on the last week in October. We also talked about me doing a version of True West Moments for the newspaper. Has potential. It would run once a week on the Op Ed page.



On the way out, exchanged insults with fellow cartoonist Steve… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on September 30, 2009 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Cavalry Olympics

Just returned from the National Cavalry Competition at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Here is a photo from the Pass In Review ceremony held during the competition. There are about 50 horses in the column of fours shown here. That is about half of a full-strength cavalry troop--a rare sight now days. Fort Robinson provided an excellent venue for the competition; the area is chock full of western history and the local terrain provided for challenging tactical… Continue

Added by Christopher Zimmerman on September 29, 2009 at 10:05pm — 3 Comments

Aunt Jean The Rodeo Queen

September 29, 2009

Like my son, when I got back from South America last week I had a hankering for Mexican food and cowboy style pinto beans (they don't do beans in South America, go figure). So, I soaked a big batch and while I sketched at the kitchen table, I rode herd on a big boiling pot for two hours. Then an hour steeping, then a quick boil with bay leaves and an all day simmer. Man, I love those pintos! Learned all this from my mother. She was one of the five Guess daughters… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on September 29, 2009 at 4:30pm — 5 Comments

Tommy Bell's Mole Man and Al Bell's Flying A

September 29, 2009

Thomas Charles flew in from Peru last night. Deena, Kathy and I met him at the airport. His first request: Mexican Food, so we whisked him up the road to 24th Street and McDowell Road to the old Adrian's location, which is now called La Barquita. The Mole Man (T.'s nickname) had the mole and he said he wasn't disappointed (Ed Mell recommended it). I had the seven seas soup which I split with Kathy. Sometimes it's tough being the Healthy Guy.



The reason… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on September 29, 2009 at 10:40am — 1 Comment

Sketching Eastward Country

September 28, 2009

Here are the first couple pages from my sketchbook, tracking our three week adventure in South America. Keep in mind, that the west coast of South America (Peru, Chile) is east of New York. I know, I know, we all think it's straight south, but Buenos Aires is four time zones east of Arizona (New York is only three).



I finished my 10,000 and one sketches in my other sketchbook and took along a brand new one. Here's the first page:…



Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on September 28, 2009 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Chile

Reb brought up a point in another blog. Now my question is, What is Real Chile?

Added by flboots on September 27, 2009 at 4:54pm — 9 Comments

OK, we ALL win!

Yesterday I worte a little old blog about googling, or rather a bunch of cowboys having to google, the Cowboy Code and it sparked some enlightened debate. I I'm sure glad we can get juices flowing here, or anywhere else, because that's the way I learn so, Thnaks yall!



Here's the deal. We host a popular radio show and in the scheme of things that's not earth shattering. We entertain. We hopefully amuse people all over the world who enjoy listening to, for want of a better term,… Continue

Added by Ralphs Backporch on September 27, 2009 at 8:00am — 9 Comments

Cowboy Code?

I googled 'cowboy code" and found several thousand variations on an old, familiar theme. The cowboy code is something so ingrained in me I suppose I just took it for granted that i knew it by heart and could recite anywhere or at any time. I was wrong!

A nice young fella the other night dropped by The Ralphs Back Porch western radio talk show and visited with us in our chatroom for awhile and he asked a question. What is the 'cowboy code"?

His question sat there like a five hundred… Continue

Added by Ralphs Backporch on September 26, 2009 at 5:42pm — 5 Comments

Final Exam, Part II

September 25, 2009

Hard to believe it's been almost a month already since I finished my quest to do 10,000 bad drawings. I left in a bit of a hurry and didn't get to post all of the final exam. Here are final drawings:



Final Exam, Part II



1.) With gouache as a medium create a ridge fire with intense heat:





2.) Shifting gears, with as few lines as possible create a face, looking to the… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on September 25, 2009 at 4:00pm — No Comments

Glittering Misery

Glittering Misery

Nancy Hendrickson describes the lives of Army officers’ wives on the frontier.

MARTHA SUMMERHAYES CROUCHED in the bottom of an Army wagon as it bounced towards Sanford Pass. Her husband, Jack, rode alongside, keeping a sharp lookout for marauding Apache. Her three-month-old son lay helplessly beside her. As the wagon lurched through the narrow cut in the mountains, Martha wondered if she could carry out Jack’s instructions — in case he was wounded, she was to use her… Continue

Added by Ginny Morgan on September 25, 2009 at 2:57pm — No Comments

Army Wives and fashion

This is part of an article I wrote for a class I taught on What women wore in the West. This part is about Army Wives. They were an amazing lot of women. Had to put up with a LOT of hardship for little pay. Staying in Fashion was not easy!



Army Life

The Women who went west with their soldier husbands had a different set of problems when it came to fashion.

1865 to 1898 were the years of Indian fighting and there was a saying then. “The west was great for men but hell on… Continue

Added by Ginny Morgan on September 25, 2009 at 11:47am — 13 Comments

Chow, Baby!

September, 25, 2009

One of the mildly shocking realizations in Argentina is how many Italians there are and how much their influence has shaped the country from food to language. For example, in almost all Spanish speaking countries, the accepted form of goodbye is Adios! (Go with God), or Hasta la vista (Until I see you again). But in Argentina everyone says "Ciao!" (pronounced chow, and Italian for goodbye).



One tour guide told us 40% of immigrants were Italian, and I'm… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on September 25, 2009 at 10:00am — 5 Comments

North America Invades South America

September 24, 2009

Home after a three week adventure in South America. We flew all night Tuesday from Buenos Aires to Dallas, then changed planes and caught another plane to Phoenix. Got home at noon on Wednesday. Chalked up four countries (Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina), ate great food, saw amazing things, solved a whole bunch of life, and sketched like crazy (55 pages worth).



Frankly, it was actually a relief to be away from all the negative talk about the… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on September 24, 2009 at 1:30pm — 6 Comments

Book Review: "The Branch And The Scaffold" by Loren Estleman

Loren Estleman has made a writing career by alternating Westerns with hard-boiled detective and crime fiction. "The Branch And The Scaffold" is an example of the former genre. In this novel, Estleman focuses on the life and career of Judge Isaac Parker, the legendary "hanging judge" who for several decades was the only source of law and order in the Indian Nations, now the state of Oklahoma. Although he led a fascinating life in his own right, previous Western novels and films have only dealt… Continue

Added by Mark Mellon on September 22, 2009 at 6:56pm — 5 Comments

Growing Our Community!

I would like to thank all of you for making a home here with us. Your contributions never cease to amaze us, and we are learning from all of you, just like we hope you learn from the stories we share in True West magazine and also from all the connections you make in the True West Historical Society.



I often promote our group to fellow Western enthusiasts I meet. I personally subscribe to the Hindu proverb, "A Man becomes like… Continue

Added by Meghan Saar on September 22, 2009 at 6:00pm — 1 Comment

Gunfight in Truckee

GUNFIGHT IN TRUCKEE: THE TEETER – REED DUEL

By: Guy H. Coates



“There’s liable to be a funeral soon,” shouted a citizen. “Teeter and Reed are having a time down the street,” exclaimed another. “Teeter had better keep away and let up on him.”



These words were heard up and down Truckee’s Front Street on a cold November evening in 1891.



Jacob Teeter, for many years, Constable of Meadow Lake Township, was about to make his first – and last – mistake as a… Continue

Added by Guy Coates on September 22, 2009 at 4:03pm — 4 Comments

The Art of the quick draw

Who developed these techniques of the Thumbing and the slap hammer techniques?..
were these techniques applied in various shootout incidents like the one at the ok corral and the incident in wounded knee?...were any of these ever recorded as to how they were used in actual historical gunfights in the west?...

Added by James Bearde on September 21, 2009 at 7:50pm — 3 Comments

Cowboys Cry Too

COWBOY’S CRY TOO





A Saturday night dance, a gangly young boy,

Tight pinching new boots, and slicked back hair,

A pretty young girl, with bright, smiling eyes,

A question asked, with glorious returns,

Emotions kept checked, cause Cowboys don’t cry.



First child born, a bundle so dear,

My wife’s love, shown crystal clear,

The warmth and glow as new life begins,

Worry and pride and tears and mud pies,

But Dad holds it all in, cause… Continue

Added by Jim Kitchens on September 21, 2009 at 3:52pm — 1 Comment

Wild West Argentina Style

September 21, 2009

We said goodbye to Tom Bell this morning in Santa Cruz, Bolvia, and while he flew north to say his final goodbyes to his Peace Corp compadres in Peru, we flew south to Buenos Aires, for one last night on the Pampas of Argentina. Landed at a small town west of Buenos Aires, called Canseulos. Looks like Chandler, Arizona, in 1956. Thriving and getting it on in the horseback tradition. Even has a Wild West Saloon in town.



This is our final day in South… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on September 21, 2009 at 2:18pm — No Comments

A Cheyenne woman's account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Kate Bighead's Story of the Battle

A Cheyenne woman's account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn



As told to Dr. Thomas B. Marquis in 1921.

Note



IN THE EARLY summer [of 1876], we set up camp near Little Big Horn River. Soldiers were spotted by some hunters to the south of the camp. Some young men went off to fight them and when they returned the next day they carried the bodies of several dead warriors with them. The chiefs then decided the group should move to… Continue

Added by Ginny Morgan on September 21, 2009 at 9:42am — 8 Comments

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