ISO: cowboy christmas poem

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: open mike
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 03:51 PM

tis the time of the season..
to re-fresh this -- yee-haw!

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: open mike
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 12:29 AM

i wish the search had turned it up
i would have rather cut and pasted
it than typed it word for gol-durned
word from a printed one i found
tucked away in my cowboy song book!

any way i read it over the air and
had some fun with it,

hey some of it is in the queen's english..
see: torch.

what other words baffle you? skedaddle? skitter?


i planto give the cajun one a try on saturday.
if the station streaming gets up and running
by then i will post a link...

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 06:29 PM

Liz
Most cowboy lingo doesn't have a translation in the Queen's English.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Artful Codger
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 01:37 AM

Is lame cowboy poetry called dogierel verse?

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 Dec 08 - 12:55 AM

Would it be rude and insenstive to ask for a UK translation? :D

LTS

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 11:06 PM

That there poem had some rhymes that ought to be in runnin fer the worst rhymes thread, but I reckon I liked it purt good anyways.

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 11:01 PM

Uncle DaveO, if one looks at the heading on the Star-Tribune, one sees Star-Tribune, "Minneapolis-St. Paul Minnesota." It serves both of these outposts er, cities (Damn near as frozen as Calgary).

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 07:33 PM

That's why it sounded familiar. Good grief...I've forgotten a lot in eight years!:-)

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 07:29 PM

Q, you should be advised that the Star-Tribune is NOT in or from St. Paul. It's from Minneapolis, and the Minneapolitans would take umbrage at your taking their excellent newspaper away to give it to that town across the river.

"That town across the river," St. Paul, has a rag called the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 06:00 PM

I posted it here in 2000: Lyr Add: Cowboy King's NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS--which is certainly where you found it, open mike.

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 05:34 PM

Much obliged!

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: open mike
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 04:54 PM

nope, you will only find it here...
extra extra read all about it!!

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS AT M' HOME ON THE RANGE
By the "Cowboy King" of Arden Hills , Minnesota
This poem has been printed annually since 1992 in
"Bulletin Board," a daily feature of the St. Paul
Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minnesota. The author is
known only by his Bulletin Board "handle."

"Twere nigh onto Christmas, an' all 'round m' cabin
Ya c'd hear cactus grow -- warn't a coyote gabbin'.
M' long johns was propped on a stick by the fire
In hopes that come mornin', they'd be warmer an' drier.
The heifers were dreamin, outside on m' lands
Nightmares 'bout me milkin' with cold mornin' hands.'
M' horse slept indoors, an' the cabin smelled rank. It
Were so cold outside, me an' him shared the blanket!
When above, on the shakes, I heard hoof-beats skedaddle.
I unholstered m' guns – somethin's scarin' the cattle! –
Threw open the door, stood out on the porch
Barefoot, buck-naked – jes' m' guns an' a torch
The moonbeams that marched 'crost m' spread single-file
Showed the snow was unbroken fer mile after mile.
"Some ruckus," I shrugged. "Jes' the wind in the sage" –
When 'crost the night sky comes the overland stage!
(Well, m' seein's no good – ain't no cause to lodge pity –
Lost m' specs playin' blackjack in Dodge City.)
Overhead the stage twirled like a big wagon wheel,
An' I reckon I felt like a buzzard's next meal.
My eyeballs improvin' as each swoop it nears,
I c'd see the stage pulled by some strange-lookin' steers!
They ambushed m' ranch like a hound'll rout grouse—
Tore a wall off the barn, an' knocked down the out house!
Like a tumbleweed skitters which way the wind blows,
Them varmints was loco (an' believe me, I knows!),
An' then, from above me, I heard m' roof groan,
An' figured m' ceilin' would drop like a stone.
I yelled m'self raw, over jangles and jingles:
"Git that stage off m' roof! Git them steers off m' shingles!"
When, from somewhere behind me, I hears some galoot
Crack out :"Pipe down, son!" as the room filled with soot!
He'd clumb down m' chimney, this greenhorn so rude,
An' one look at his rig says it all? "He's a dude!"
His face was all whiskers – in a bag was his gear –
His red suit must mean he was huntin' fer deer.
He looked so dang silly, I guffawed through an' through,
But I stopped when he said, "Son, yer skin's turnin' blue."
I'll admit it looked strange didn't take much more proof
Than me standin' buck-naked, eight steers on the roof .
"M' brain must've friz up clean through to the marrow.
'Scuse m' bad manners, sir,"an' I doffed m' sombrero.
I asks, "Where ya from, Gramps?" an' the dude says, "Up north."
(Guess them Montana folks don't care how they go forth!)
"I'll be drivin' all night," he said, "last light t' first.
It's hard on ol' codgers -- but on reindeers it's worst.
So I'm askin' a favor, an' I hopes you agrees:
Lemme borry eight longhorns tonight, if ya please."
"Ya got grit, dude," says I, as my six-guns I cock,
"Bustin' up m' home spread, an' now rustlin' m' stock."
"That's all been repaired," said he, scratchin' his nose.
With a last "Much obliged!" up m' chimney he goes
I were seein' dang good then as I recollects;
That greenhorn done gimme a new pair o' specs!
I looks out, an' sees a new barn in the fog;
In m' new privy sits a fresh Sears catalog!
But I still was uneasy – them longhorns was prime,
An' fer reindeers I couldn't get nary a dime.
"I'll be back afore down," say he, slappin' the traces,
An' next thing I knowed, then whooshed over the mesas!
But I heard him shout out, as his stage cleared the moon:
"Happy trails t' ya, cowboy, 'til we meet again soon!"

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Artful Codger
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 04:21 PM

Try www.cowboypoetry.com. You'll probably find it there.

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 12:09 AM

I'd love to read it, too, Laurel.

In the meantime, take a look at This Painting and read some of the poems it inspired. Some of them are pretty good! I love the painting!

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 10:52 PM

Please post if possible. Thanks, Q

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: open mike
Date: 14 Dec 08 - 10:40 PM

actually i was pleasantly surprised to find that my copy of this did survive the fire...i read it on my radio show yesterday and will try to transcribe it here if i get a chance..it is the night before christmas out on the range by the cowboy king of minnesota...

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 04:19 PM

I've got something in the back of my mind, but not quite there, yet. IN the meantime, there are a couple listed on this page. Good luck!

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: open mike
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 02:09 PM

am on star tribune's web site now searching.

Subject: RE: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 01:52 PM

What St. Paul newspaper? Star-Tribune?
Do you remember any lines from the poem?

Emailing a request to the newspaper might find an answer.

Subject: ISO: cowboy christmas poem
From: open mike
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 01:16 PM

In Search of a cowboy christmas poem
which has been published yearly in
the St. Paul, MN newspaper for something
like 90 years...
does this ring a bell with any one?