The Perfect Hike

 June 20, 2025

  We're in Issaquah, Washington for a couple days and a certain grandson's 12th birthday party. Yesterday we ended up in Des Moines outside of Seattle for a day on the beach and a non hike (see sign in back).

Non-hiking hikers.

"When in Rome do what the Romans do."

—Old Roman Saying

One Big Doc Just For You

 June 18, 2025

   Sharlot Hall Museum is mounting a big Doc Holliday Art Show in August and they asked me for several of my best Doc pieces, including this seriograph of the Doc which will be featured prominently in the show. It belongs to Theresa Broniarczyk who ran Tri Star Printing back in the day and she is downsizing and asked me if I knew anyone who might want it.

   So, here is an offer I am making just to you:

"The Doctor Will See You Now"

Seriograph, framed and numbered (1/150)

frame size is 37.5" X 48"

   It is offered here for $1,500 and you will be able to take it home after the show comes down at the end of September. Email me if you want it. First come, etc.

Daily Reworked Whip Out:

"Mestizo Girl 2"

And, here's another reworking. . .

Daily Revised Whip Out:

"The Kid Returns 4"

High praise to True West for having the courage to publish the "Behind Primeval Mountain Meadows" story. Kudos to Paul Hutton's masterful exposition of this sordid piece of history. As a teach of northwest history, I deeply appreciate True West's continuing commitment to presenting factual history, the good, the bad and the ugly.

—Herb Flick, Clackamas, Oregon

"If we don't support each other, who will."

—Old Editor Saying

True Confessions of A Trophy Husband

 June 17, 2025

   You can imagine my surprise when I opened the Amazon box 24 hours after the expiration of Father's Day to discover a T-shirt with an empowering two word message.

A Belated Father's Day Gift

   At that moment, all of the symptoms flooded back to me. It was so obvious, how did I not recognize the warning signs?

• She often introduces me as "arm candy."

• Not once in 47 years of marriage did she ever say, "I wish you were better looking."

• I heard her once brag that I sometimes take out the trash without her having to ask me to do it!

• She never made me wear a Brad Pitt mask during sex. Okay, maybe that one time.

   Believe me, there's other telltale signs, but I don't have time to make them up.

"Married people live longer because they can't afford to die."

—Old Vaquero Saying

Gator Sighting In Thailand and Amber Ridge Riders Reprise

 June 16, 2025

   My son just did the gator in Thailand proving for the umpteenth time, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but, on the other hand, it can roll pretty far from home after it hits the ground.

Daily Whip Out: "Like Father, Like Son"

   Still noodling amber ridge riders. . .

Daily Whip Out:

"Amber Ridge Riders Work Up #43"

   And, all of this gives me inspiration to return to another story. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Olive's Regret"

   I still have high hopes for a certain story about miscegenation, which my history pard, Greg Scott, claims is the basis for many classic stories, including "The Searchers," "Last of The Mohicans," "The Illiad," and one that I still need to finish, which would involve this person. . .

"Of course, many truths lay quietly, like sleeping cats, waiting for the hour of their telling."

—Sharlot Hall

 

And One Bonus Quote for Your Eyes Only:

"When we bought True West magazine I have to tell you I slept like a baby. That is, I woke up every two hours and cried."

—BBB

Happy Father's Day to Allen P. Bell

 June 15, 2025

   I've been thinking a lot today about the guy who gave me my bullheadedness which has saved me and served me, many times. That would be this great Norsky farm boy.

Allen P. Bell with me and Blackie, the stray dog he took in at the Whiting Brothers Gas Station he ran at McConnico, below Perfume Pass in Mohave County.

   And yes, he is the guy I acknowledge as the real "66 Kid" in the memoir by the same name.

Al Bell goofing in front of his Mobiloil Station

at Peach Springs, Arizona, 1946

   I also dedicated my "Bad Men: Outlaws & Gunfighters of the Wild West," to him as well with this dedication: "Dedicated to my father, Allen P. Bell. A good man by any measure."

"The father washes onto the son. He lives inside you as an aspiration, a disappointment, or a fear. Afraid you will never be like him or afraid you will be; he is there in the bones of your emotions. In the voices in your head. In your expectations of yourself. In the shadows of your weakness and strength. No matter how good the relationship, there is a tension between father and son."

—Boyd Varty, The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life

Amber Waves of Grainy Images

 June 14, 2025

   Early on in our conservatorship of True West magazine it dawned on me that what I really am attracted to when it comes to Old West images is amber glow. There is a rich, rust patina around the best nineteenth century photos that gives off a classic butterfly under glass glow that is so damn attractive, at least to me. Here is a good example of Dan the Man and I leaning on amber glow for a cover.

   And here is an excellent example of it being applied to a BozeCard.

   So, it should be no surprise that the line from John Reed's "Insurgent Mexico," describing a unit of Rurales on the move, hits me so hard:

Daily Whip Out:

"Rurales On The Ridgeline Emerging"

   Still need to add three or four more riders, but they are coming at you tomorrow. . .

   "For most men the first fifty years of childhood are the hardest."

—Old Vaquero Saying

Amber Ambition Runs Amuck

 June 13, 2025

   If you know me, you know when I get on a kick I can work something to death. And sometimes beyond. Case in point:

Daily Whip Out: "Amber Riders #27'

There's something happening here. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Amber Riders #28"

What it is ain't exactly clear. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Amber Riders #29"

There's a man with a gun over there

Telling me I've got to beware. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Amber Riders #30"

I think it's time I stopped, children. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Amber Riders #31"

What's that sound?

Daily Whip Out: "Amber Riders #32"

Another artist going down an amber rabbit hole.

—Apologies to Buffalo Springfield

   And, what pray tell, is the inspiration for all of this amber ambition?

"The Rurales topped the ridgeline at sunset and crossed over, suspended in amber."

—John Reed, "Insurgent Mexico," 1914