When Washing Dishes In Bisbee Has A Happy Ending

 September 13, 2026

   I revisited an old classic Western last night with my honey and here is what she had to say about it: "It's about kindness and compassion." This took me a little by surprise because—a. it is a Western and Kathy is not a big fan of the genre, and—b. I had never heard "kindness and compassion" used to describe the movie I introduced today at The Scottsdale Museum of the West.

Rodney: "He is my friend!"

An Escape from The Hatred

   As the story goes, back in 1983, Michael Blake was living in his car and washing dishes at a Chinese restaurant in Bisbee, Arizona when he finally finished his story about a Civil War army officer who goes out West to experience the frontier before it vanishes. There was only one problem: thirty publishers turned it down before Fawcett printed a modest paperback version in 1988. Kevin Coster read it in one sitting and paid Blake $75,000 for the film rights and made a commitment to not only star in it, but to direct it as well, which, by the way, directing was something he had never done before. Oh, and at the time Westerns were dead and studios wanted small and safe and this was neither (over three hours long and with Sioux and Commanche subtitles!). Costner plowed ahead and all the snotty suits in Hollywood started calling the project "Kevin's Gate." After a brutal, five month shoot in South Dakota where Costner had to put up an extra $3 million of his own money to finish principal photography, the movie Dances With Wolves finally premiered on November 21, 1990 and became an instant blockbuster, earning $424 million, plus 12 Academy Award nominations. It won seven, including Best Director for Costner, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay by the unemployed dishwasher.

Michael Blake and Kevin Costner

  If there is one thing that has permeated our 24/7 news cycle and constant social media presence it is the non-stop hatred. And, I have to agree with Kathy that the story that the Bisbee dishwasher tells in Dances With Wolves is filled with kindness and compassion. Just as an example, when the mule skinner is killed with a flurry of deadly arrows Timmons can think only of his mules. "Don't hurt my mules, " he pleads. It is very touching and compassionate. I met Michael Blake at a history event in Prescott not long after we bought True West magazine and he seemed very down to earth. I told him what a great movie he had created and he seemed touched by the praise. At that time he was living his dream life in Vail, Arizona, east of Tucson on I-10 where he had a horse ranch. He passed in 2015 after a long bout with cancer.

"Sometimes Hollywood hit movies are not released, they escape."

—Old Vaquero Saying

When You Come to A Horseshoe In The Road, Take It

 September 12, 2026

   Observations from a walk on the wild side.

Sunrise over Ratcliff Ridge

Uno looks on sadly at my neighbor's

 falling down Welcome Home sign

      A little farther on, Uno and I spied this.

A horseshoe lying in the roadway

   As we continued on our walk I began to have second thoughts on our next cover.

   I also had thoughts about a certain girl I knew in school.

A Fallen Saint

   But then I realized when I was growing up, there were plenty of "fallen saints."

Stagecoach Rough Rider

   Yes, you might say, I had a very existential walk, what with the metaphors and subtext flying hither and yon. It did dawn on me that even the spot where I stopped to see a man about a horse, has potential: i.e. there are masterpieces waiting to be captured and painted everywhere you look.

A Beautiful Maze

   In conclusion: when I walk, the world of possibilities opens up to me and I realize why I am here. When I get back to my studio I have a place to start.

"There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."

—Vincent van Gogh

The Femme Fatale & Other Urban Myths

 September 11, 2026

   Sometimes you have to go with the flow. You know, like this. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Femme Fatale 2"

Local Woman Sleeps Her Way to Top of Family

Sexual favors allegedly exchanged for high-level position.

—From The Onion, of course

Contradictions Vs. Myths

  I have been on a contradiction kick, so imagine my shock when a Nobel Prize winner had this to say about our current era of literature:

"We live in a world of too many contradictions, mutually exclusive facts, all battling one another tooth and nail." She believes it's time for parables, you know, like from the bible! She also believes we need new myths and fables. Speaking of which. . .

"Myth is everyone else's religion."

—Joseph Campbell

​​   Said The Clear-Eyed Woman, "Says who?!"

Daily Whip Out:

"Indignant Clear-eyed Woman"

"If you ask the grass, the calf is the monster and the mountain lion is the protector."

—Old Vaquero Saying​

Pioneer Lineage In The Bootheel of New Mexico

 September 10, 2026

My mother came from a ranching family of five sisters and they all hailed from the Bootheel of New Mexico. Like their mother, they were funny and generous, but the Guess Girls were not to be trifled with.

Daily Whip Out: "Fierce and Determined"

This is my grandfather Bob Guess, below, who I am named for, and his wife, Lue, and their newborn daughter, deep in the bootheel.

Bob and Lue Guess with their first daughter

Sadie Pearl
.

  And, here is their third daughter, born in Lordsburg, Lillie Louise, who everyone called Bobbi.

Bobbi Guess who caught the eye

of a buck private from Thompson, Iowa

Army Air Corp Private 

Allen P. Bell

And, the rest is back story to this story.

Peach Springs, or Bust, Baby!

"We all grew up a little bent."

—Trudy Peart

Glitches In The Hardware, Cobwebs In The Wheelhouse

 September 9, 2026

   Signs fade and fall into the road. Only the memories remain. Technology keeps moving and an old man gets left behind. For some reason my capacity to load images on this blog hit a snag, so here I sit with zero images at my disposal and only a keyboard to type words. Well, isn't that just ducky.

"There is more power in telling little than in telling all."

—Mark Rothko

Mucho Mas Dust Meets The Druther Brothers

 September 8, 2026

   Twin brothers, born to a migrant mother, grow up in the high mountain town of Opodepe. From this common experience they take two very different paths. One of them becomes an outlaw and the other settles in the village where they were born and starts a family.

Daily Whip Out: "The Druther Brothers"

   They may look exactly the same but there's where the differences begin.

Daily Whip Out: "Sunset Rider #27"

   Yes, I have a thing about epic storm rides. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Big Storm & Rider"

   And, when it comes to random dust, nobody tops Granthum P. Hooker's oft heard exclamation:

"When small men cast long shadows the sun is about to set."

—Old Vaquero Saying

When History Gets Messy Go With Jesse

 September 7, 2026

   Is it just me, or has the world taken a hard right?

Daily Whip Out: "The Rise of The Regulators"

   Still love whipping out the big ol' sugarloafs and the dudes who wear them.

Daily Whip Out: "Sonoran Bad Boy"

Also, found this old photo and added my two cents.

Daily Whip Out: "Soldados On The Border"

   Man, I dig that cat, third from the right. So badass.

When History Gets Messy Go With The Flow

"We all should embrace and even celebrate history’s messy nature: Question it, debate it, get down in the dirt and wrestle with it. . . History is a conversation, and I never intended to do all the talking. History is also an exercise in failure; the goal is to fail as little as possible, but those of us who write history will always get things wrong and leave things out."

—Jonathan Eig

Daily Whip Out: "Jesse the Bushwhacker"

(It was on this date, September 7, 1876, that the James-Younger gang totally underestimated the resistance of a certain, small Minnesota town.)

"The older I get, the less I seem to know."

—Jonathan Eig