Wild Wild West - X-Posted From Group Blog

When I think about the Wild West my first thoughts are cowboys and Indians. Cowboys out on the range, gathering cattle, mending fences, and coming back home to the sound of the dinner bell ringing. Cute cowboys. Sexy cowboys. Cowboys with muscles and a strong face yet gentle hands when they were with their wives and children.

Then there are the Indians. The ones who trusted no white man and the ones who learned to trust the white man and live in peace. They lived on the land and believed we owe much to mother earth. Which is something I still believe in as well and probably we could learn a lot from their ways to increase our going green lives.

I remember visiting the Smokey Mountains and seeing the saloon, taking pictures with real live Indians, seeing a gun fight in the middle of the street, one complete with fake bullets, but as a kid they seemed real to me. I loved it and as a young girl wanted to live like a cowgirl.

The movies made me believe this was an amazing life. Times were simpler and people often came to one another’s aide to mend what needed to be mended to insure the Wild West life continued.

Ah, such a wonderful thought. That is until I think about the items they didn’t have. No indoor plumbing. That’s a big one for me (who remembers her grandmother’s farm having an outside shower and oh yes, an outhouse).

Traveling to visit a friend could take days or even a week. Rough terrain complete with robbers, Indians who wanted scalps, and oh my god, snakes. I so don’t do snakes (sorry, different post). Washing your clothes wasn’t the easiest thing in the world either. After they made the soap (most often lye soap), they had to beat them against a rock or if they were lucky they had a board to beat them against, and then hang them in the sun to dry, all nice and…stiff.

So for me, yes, I still love the movies and the books that make it seem so romantic, but in reality I’ll take my internet, air condition/heating, and buying soap any ole day.

Now writing about them? That’s, as they say, a horse of a different color. Nothing seems impossible and the heroine is more than happy to cook over an open flame, scrub the floors, and still manage to float down the stairs in a beautiful dress to greet her man. The hero never seems to smell bad regardless of how much labor he’s done without the help of Arrid extra dry, and even if he does, she doesn’t notice. Nope she’s running to meet him and the kiss as the sun is setting behind them heats the night to beyond belief.

Of course the stars lighting the night sky like a hundred thousand LED lights, while lightning bugs flitter around would make it beautiful. And really the scene in my head is so perfectly romantic.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the country, the wide open space, and seeing the sky without the aid of street lights. Traveling to town to buy groceries would be fine as long as I could get there within an hour or two and in an air conditioned truck. I would honestly trade my city life with that of more country if I could, but I’d still have the items we’ve come to love today.

What about you? Do you wish for the days of the cowboys or are you more of a citified person?
xoxoxo,
Vicki