February 2024
Newsletter from the Medicine Hat Cowboy Poetry Foundation
A Hearty Howdy!
For Medicine Hat Cowboy Poetry, the new year brings with it a new look for our newsletter. It also brings a bunch of new learning for some of us! Our website MHCowboyLife.com has experienced a pause this last while. Shelley Goldbeck has been the Master of it, and as she’s stepping back, we’re faced with having to learn how to manage without her. She has graciously given workshops so we can carry on. We’ll try. Thanks to Cheryl and Harv for taking up the challenge and a special thanks (and good luck) to Penella Zollner, our new website administrator.
We’ve weathered the severe January cold snap, and in February we’ve been having unusually warm weather. For me, January probably ends the marathon birthday celebration that started over 6 months ago on June 26th and ended on January 31st . This one was to be a spa with sisters and our partners, but ended up being more of a history tour. Moose Jaw’s tourism embraces the past with its architecture, the Tunnels and then we discovered the Hopkins Dining Parlour with its contagious passion for its heritage!
I guess it compares to the passion we at MHCP have for the western way of life as we foster it through Western Music, Stories and Cowboy Poetry. Just when we wondered what project we’d next be enthusiastic about, it fell into place when Bud VanCleave’s daughter said, “Would you do something for my dad?” He’s a 93-year-old rodeo champion inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. That spurred us to call our next project “Hats Off” to celebrate other cowboys and guys who contributed to rodeo. What about cowgirls; the events they used to compete in and their struggles for equality? We’ll celebrate them first. Watch our website for “Hats Off to Cowgirls in Rodeo”. That’s the theme of our proposal for the Heritage Grant we applied for on January 30th. We’re excited about it and hope the folks doling out the grants will think so too.
Bud VanCleave Video
The Bud VanCleave video was first seen by Bud, his family, his friends and rodeo pals at the Royal Hotel where Bud often has coffee and whatever else. Well over 100 people saw him being presented with a gorgeous black Smithbilt hat that the Calgary company donated.
Click here to watch the “Hat’s Off: Bud VanCleave” Video
Click here to watch the Smithbilt Hat Presentation to Bud VanCleave at Taber, Alberta.
The MHCP members, the board and others met at the Medicine Hat Public Library on January 28th to see the infamous Bud VanCleave and hear his stories on video. After a break of steerhead spudnuts and oxtails, members of the Board provided entertainment: one of my songs was about the Harry Vold’s meanest bull, Crooked Nose. A couple of poems by Harv Speers teased rodeo announcers. Guitar and Noel Burles together gave us the western flavour folks always enjoy. Thanks to the folks with the Library’s Community Coffee for hosting us.
MHCP’s Annual General Meeting
We did our AGM business on January 28th. We’re excited to welcome Faye Moria Fedrau as our newest Board Member. We’ve also added four new folks to our membership roster.
Welcome everyone!!!
What’s new at www.MHCowboyLife.com
While our website has paused to undergo some changes, the work at Medicine Hat Cowboy Poetry has forged ahead! Here is a look at some of the stories and updates we have been working on:
Harry Forbes Remembers:
- #18 One-Room Schools on the Prairies, Part 2
- #19 School Parties at the One-Room School
- #20 Farm Chores
YesterYears of I-Alice
If I-Alice were here, she’d be tickled to know some of her stories are on the internet for anyone to read. If you haven’t already read them, you can access them too.
- #3 The Tale of a Special Brother
- #5 I Rode a Wild Heifer One Spring
- #15 The Fable Link: This is the last of the stories in the I-Alice series. It makes reference to a business in Medicine Hat around which there was some controversy.
Emily Mastel Schmaltz – 100 Years in the Making
Written by Bev Biggeman
From the interviews she had with Emily, Bev discovered they had much in common, like growing up in a family of 14!
New stories will appear regularly. These stories are posted:
- Emily Mastel Schmaltz Bio
- A Bit About Me, Bev Biggeman
- Growing Up
- On the Move
- Emily’s Beautiful Children
- A Moveable Feast
Yarns by Ol’ Ugly
We’re privileged to have this well-known storyteller inventing interesting characters that live around here and has them getting into unusual situations in places you can almost recognize.
- Stan’s Pain- 1
- The Making of a Respectable Pair of Boots- 2
- Protecting His Food Source- 3
- An Ill Wind Blows Larry No-Good- 4
Library Corner
I’d like to share what I’m reading! These selections are available at the Medicine Hat Public Library.
Cowboy Spirit, Guy Weadick and the Calgary Stampede
by Donna Livingstone
791.84 LIV
It is the story of how the Calgary Stampede got started because of one man’s energetic flamboyant personality and persistence.
The Canadian Cowboy: Stories of Cows, Cowboys and Cayuses
by Andy Russell
791.2 RUS
Andy Russell, the author lived the life and tells about cowboy life, stories about cows and cowboys and cayuses. This old-timer brings history alive through personal experience.
Cowboy Lingo
(what the words meant to cowboys back then)
- barefoot (an unshod horse)
- barking irons (pistols)
- bunch of crumbs (bugs a man finds in his blanket)
Poem
2023 ended on a Sunday and what to do for a church service that will entice congregants to come to church in the morning and celebrate New Year’s Eve that same evening. The answer? Come up with another adventure of Paul and John with their overalls on.
A New's Year's Feast
Paul and John with their overalls on
Were bachelors and proud ones were they,
Independent men,
They'd prove it again
With a supper to treat friends on New Year's Day.
They knew how to ranch successfully,
That year even raised their own turkey,
With two desserts at least,
They'd make a feast/
Advice, should have been a necessity___
But they've always been able to figure things out/
The guys they have coffee with, gave them a shout,
The turkey was steaming,
The coffee boys beaming,
They were hungry and ready to eat there's no doubt.
The knife for the carving was sharpened with care,
The turkey they roasted, it's in front of them there,
The first slice was tender___
With a browned look of splendour,
But the subsequent slices brought a look of despair.
Something was strange where the stuffing should be,
Intestines were revealed for the guests to see,
No dressing of bread,
But a stench instead/
You'd think guests would leave as they'd say, “Excuse me”____
Oh their stomachs were turning, their faces turned green,
Nothing worse had they smelled, nothing worse ever seen/
But they chose to be kind,
With the presence of mind
Helped to carry the turkey from where it had been.
You'd think that the flavor was gone from the feast,
But the New Year's party, it would not be ceased,
You see Paul and John,
Were true friends to count on,
Had no one else here 'cause their fam'ly's out East/
Like there's nothing wrong the boys heaped up their plate___
With turnips and potatoes that were mashed first rate,
The banana cream pie
That Paul made, they piled high,
Two helpings of John's apple crisp tasted great.
The cattle dogs found it, a surprise turkey treat,
The entrails were scrumptious and so was the meat/
This tale is still told
Though it's 70 years old
Of the party at New Year's that friends made complete.
Western Wisdom
Here’s some Western Wisdom to leave you with,
Every trail has a few puddles!
On behalf of the Medicine Hat Cowboy Poetry Board, thank you for reading and happy trails!
Jen
