Articles written by baxter black
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 117
By 
On the Edge of Common Sense
This is one of those stories that sound so unbelievable that you’ll know I didn’t make it up! Mike studied the bloodlines. He checked performance records. He knew his herd like the top two layers of...
On the Edge of Common Sense
It could only happen to a cowboy. Thurman had established himself as a figure of some note in the Corriente Association. The Association had developed over the years into a successful representative o...
On the Edge of Common Sense
Many years ago this month, I was invited to the 75th Annual Southwestern Saskatchewan Sheep and Woolgrowers/Stockdog Trials in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. The night before the big do, I sat in Bernice...
On the Edge of Common Sense
When our opinions get as immovable as a granite outhouse, God has a way of shaking the foundation. I was searching for an artist who could lend just the right feeling to a book I was putting...
On the Edge of Common Sense
It arched across the cloudless sky like someone throwin’ chum But they weren’t fishin’, no my friends, the object was a thumb It launched from Kenneth’s dally when his heelin’ rope came tight And...
On the Edge of Common Sense
It arched across the cloudless sky like someone throwin’ chum But they weren’t fishin’, no my friends, the object was a thumb It launched from Kenneth’s dally when his heelin’ rope came tight And...
On the Edge of Common Sense
Years ago the movie “BABE” was nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Picture. It was very popular and made a lot of money. It stars a pig named Babe. A gilt to be more specific... a fee...
On the Edge of Common Sense
“Hey buddy, maybe you’ll rope better after your horse foals. Ha ha!” “Thanks, pal. I had a horse like yours once. But his brain was so small his head caved in and he bit his own ears off! Look it...
On the Edge of Common Sense
The sport (passion, or affliction) of team roping experienced a terrific boom in popularity years ago with the creation of an association called United States Team Roping Championships (USTRC). It...
On the Edge of Common Sense
We must sell it, I told Mother, for we really have no other choice. The price is much too dear to harbor any doubt. And though I know we’ll miss it the time has come to kiss it goodbye and find a...
On the Edge of Common Sense
Behind those eyes there shines a light That’s guided me from my first step Down life’s highway through thick and thin So I could tell the wrong from right. Behind those eyes there beats a heart Tha...
On the Edge of Common Sense
In the midst of Covid-19, one of the deepest psychosies’ is loneliness. “Social distance,” sliding take-out tacos under the door, being served pizza across the counter like a Frisbee, having to carry...
On the Edge of Common Sense
“Here we are friends, on the Serengeti Plains in the wilds of Serengeti.” As the crowd leans in closer to the television we see the swaying Boab trees... an endless sea of grass waving off into the...
On the Edge of Common Sense
Over the years I have gotten to know, or meet or hang out with, what I call ‘famous people’. From movie stars, politicians, world champions, athletes, writers and moguls. Often it was just cir...
On the Edge of Common Sense
“So, how’d yer dad git that big dent on the door?” I asked Dave. Truth is, it was quite an accomplishment for one single dent to stand out from all the other wear and tear, deterioration and assor...
On the Edge of Common Sense
A scream from the kitchen. The thud of a faint. She sighs and arises and walks with restraint. Her neighbor lays peaceful, eyes fixed in a stare She’s passed out in front of the new Frigidaire. She l...
On the Edge of Common Sense
Butch has a theory about hardcore born-to-rope ropers; as soon as they build a loop and take one swing, it kicks their brain out of gear. To demonstrate how this theory works he told me about a friend...
On the Edge of Common Sense
Betty Lynne is a cowboy. If you don’t believe it ask her husband to show you the snapshot of her bruise. Last summer they had a cow killed by lightening on their ranch. They figgered they’d bet...
On the Edge of Common Sense
The cow went down in the pasture. I took it as a sign. Like lightning striking my saddle horn or guppies in the wine. I’ll have to pull the calf right here. But it isn’t raining hard. It’s just too b...
On the Edge of Common Sense
“Boys will be boys,” reflected Jack, as he told me a story from his youth. Seems when Jack was a teenager back in Ripley, Oklahoma, he and his teenage friend were serious about becoming bull rid...
On the Edge of Common Sense
A collection of testimonials for Duct Tape in agriculture… From B.A., Large Animal Vet: I’ve been a Duct Tape believer ever since I had a cow tear her bag on a bob wire fence. It was a ghastly gas...
On the Edge of Common Sense
Just count me out,” said Wilford as he lay there in the dirt, A shoein’ rasp behind his ear, a hoof print on his shirt. “I’ll handle this,” said Freddie, “You jus’ git outta the way. This sorry bag of...
On the Edge of Common Sense
That they would find each other would have been as unlikely to predict as the fall of communism or the good sheep market. She was old and a lifelong Southern Baptist. They were young and on a mission... Full story
On the Edge of Common Sense
Carol’s story is just another glamorous tale of a city girl who married a romantic Nebraska Sandhills rancher years ago and became a ‘vocational COW assistant’ for life. “So what exactly do you wan...
On the Edge of Common Sense
The rancher told his foreman, “Looks like things are gettin’ tough The price of calves is deadly, heck, there may not be enough To pay the note this winter, I’m already overdue What with buyin...
