The Craftsman

Drought conditions sometimes force cowboys to devote their time to alternative talent development. When the current dry situations of South Texas forced the Barlett Ranch to thin out their herd, it freed up some time for Cap and Ely to spend on one of their favorite subjects, Cowboy Ranch Philosophy 101, and since it was the hottest part of the day, our heroes found themselves a shady spot on the south porch of the barn where the breeze was the best. Once settled into position each in their own wooden chair on either side of the doorway, and after several moments of initial silence, the conversation found a life of its own.

“Sure is hot today for spring.” Cap said followed by a minute or two of silence.

“Have you ever noticed how slow old Miguel moves?” Ely pondered. Miguel was the oldest hand on the ranch. He had been there, loyal as ever, no matter if he was up or down, thin or flush for over 40 years.

“Yep, sure have. You know, I’ve never seen him in a hurry that I can ever recall.” Cap answered.

“Wonder why that is?” asked Ely.

“Well, I can tell you why that is. It’s cuz he’s about half lazy. Now I don’t mean that in a bad way. He’s worked here for 40 some odd years when most folks woulda give up and moved to town, so you have to give him credit for stickin’ with it. But you and I both know he ain’t no ball ‘o fire. You won’t see no dust cloud behind him I assure you.” Said Cap.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.” Replied Ely.

“But you know what? He’s done quite a bit for this place in the time he has spent here. Heck, I just wish I had a nickel for every calf he’s cut or doctored on. I can promise you it’s been more than a few. He helped build most of that corral over there too, when he was younger, and it’s so old it’s about to fall down if we don’t fix it soon.” Cap paused for a long minute and threw his toothpick out into the sand to disappear forever.

“Seems like someone coulda done more for him over the years.” Ely offered, now starting to think of all the things they had neglected doing for Miguel over the years.

“Nope. We did all he’s ever asked of us, and that’s pay him honest money for honest work. You see, Miguel’s a crafstman. He’s never in a hurry because everything he does is something he can be proud of when it’s finished. That’s part of his payoff. I can tell you first hand that there’s not a ranch within 50 miles of here that has a corral as old as this one that’s been built by hand and is still standing. He was proud of that job as anyone I’ve ever seen. You’d woulda thought he built the first skyscraper. Worked on it all summer through the heat and never complained. You know, I went by there to check on him one day and when I walked up, he was whistling while he built it. People nowadays would be poutin’ while they took on a chore like that, or they would try to do it so fast in order to get through that the workmanship would suffer. He leveled that top rail with a coke bottle half filled with water. He’d lay that bottle on it’s side and he knew that rail was level if no water ran out. Yeah, folks aren’t like that anymore. He’s part of a generation that’s one of a kind for sure.” Cap and Ely sat in quite for a few more minutes letting the conversation slowly soak in.

“I hate to bring this up Cap, but we’re just about as old as Miguel.”

“That’s true enough, but that’s all we have in common with him. You know good and well I don’t have the patience to do all he’s done, and you don’t either. A place like this one needs guys like him, but there just ain’t anymore of’em left. You gotta take your hat off to the guy. He’s a hard worker, who’s honest and has tried his best at everything asked of him. He’s just never in a hurry. He’s a craftsman for sure.”

And with that statement the two looked out over the corral and wished they had fixed it up before it had come to the semi run down state it was in. They sat in silence for a long time this time.

“Sure is hot today for spring.”


Walker