"There were Cowboys at the Gate"

Hyde Merrit lived at the ranch across the road.
In Wyoming that was probably ten miles away.
We use to see his place when we went to Tie Siding,
a town of one building and five people.
He raised rodeo stock. He was hit and killed
by a train late one night while driving the
miles and miles of empty, lonely roads on his ranch to get home.
He was a cowboy. He spent his life on a horse. Across 287 from his ranch house
was a store that was the post office,
grocery store, gas station, gift shop, information
center and we voted there, Tie Siding. It had a outhouse for a toilet
with a Chicago phone book for toilet paper nailed
to the wall. It was right where the
Cheerokee Park road met highway 287. Our ranch
was seven miles from there and
bordered Colorados Roosevelt National Forest.
We saw lots of deer, antelope and elk.
We also saw lots of cowboys, real cowboys.
They liked pretty women and horses.
They also liked a dog to follow them
when they rode their horse and to ride
in the back of their pick up truck.
They got married on horseback, standing in a creek.
They were men of few words, some went like this," Don't
mind if I do. Thank you ma'am."
They knew about their world and didn't care
much about anything else. They always carried
a gun of some kind. They liked the Wild West and
some never did settle down. The never found a place
that could hold them. They could be trusted to help out
and never knew the end of a days work. They could
tell alot about you just by looking at you.
They never ask you where you were coming from
or where you were going. It was no ones business,
I guess. They only needed what would fit in their bedroll
and saddle bags. A bag of jerky was usually nearby.
Their spurs jingled when they walked,
and leather chaps protected their legs.
Most wore vests to hold the paper and tobacco
to roll their cigarettes. Some used chewing tobacco
and carried a can to spit in.
I guess their horses kept them warm
when they were out on the range in the Winter.
They never seemed to dress warm enough.
Their weatern styled hats served them well and that scarf
around their neck proved handy more than once.
They knew cattle and horses and hunting.
They liked room to be alone.
Many a day when we were living at the log house
nestled in the pinon and ponderosa pine trees
that covered the hog back that ran along the Cheerokee Park Road
from Tie Siding to the 5M Ranch, our ranch,
There were cowboys at the gate.