November 30, 2005
Well, today was Gus Walker’s last and we had fun. Many of us joined him down at the Satisfied Frog for lunch ($108, we went dutch, I put in $11). When the waitress asked for our drink order we went around the table and it sounded like this: "Iced tea, please. Sprite. Diet coke, iced tea for me," Gus said quietly, but with some enthusiasm, "I’ll take a beer!" We all laughed. The waitress looked at me funny, and I said, “What am I going to do, fire him?" We gave him a card signed by everyone and the Guster actually got kind of choked up reading the many gushing comments. I asked him to name the best and worst thing that happened in his True West career and he thought about it for some time and finally said, "The day Marcus Huff quit was not my favorite." The event was replayed for all those too new, or too young to know (it's in the business timeline, above, see October, 2000).

One of the last and best hand-drawn sign painters in America came by yesterday. Allen Scott, late of Bisbee, and the guy who did our True West Trading Post sign on our building, dropped in. He recommended an article idea on Old West sign painting, which I agreed would be a great article for True West. It's a disappearing art and in the Old West there were some really great signs that computers couldn’t even touch today (I mean starting from scratch).

We’ve got a new reader’s survey up and we need your input. The first 100
responses will get a free Charlie Russell artprint.

After lunch we came back to the office and took a parting shot picture for Gus to take with him. A kind of class picture, if you will. Standing out back, left to right, back row, are: Sue Lambert, Meghan Saar, Carole Glenn, Trish Brink, Sheri Temen, Gus Walker and Abby Pearson. Second row, kneeling: George Laibe, Samantha Somers, Ron Frieling and BBB. And, lying down on the job, in full showboat-mode, is Robert Ray.

Talked quite a bit this morning about our impending trip to Vegas for the SASS convention and Cowboy Christmas this weekend. I’ve got three speeches in the next 48 hours and very little time to practice my remarks. Need to go home (it’s 4:28 P.M.) and take some time to talk it through in my mind.

"Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand."
—Old Vaquero Saying