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Show November 15 02.qxd 12/7/2021 2:59 PM Page 10 THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 10 Volume VII Issue III November 15, 2002 Local Cowboy Poet Brings Home the Money Compiled by Shanna Francis Local cowboy poet Stan Tixier recently brought home some prestigious wins from the annual Western Legends Roundup Cowboy Poetry Rodeo held in Kanab, Utah earlier this year. Tixier won in the Reciter\Humorous catagory, garnered a 2nd Place in Poet\Serious, and Cowboy Poet Stan Tixier tied for 4th Place in the Poet\Humorous, lassoing in a total of $950 in prize money from the event. Tixier was the number two money winner from among 31 contestants. Trey Allen from Oklahoma edged out Tixier by only a few bucks. The different competitions are judged by a panel of five judges, with prize money going to the top four artists in each event. This year’s 31 cowboy poet contestants came from all over the United States, representing such states as Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, California, Montana, and Colorado. The local Kanab newspaper called Stan Tixier’s poem, A Day’s Work, “a complex feat of both composition and performance, delivered with near perfection.” The Kanab Cowboy Poetry Rodeo begins with a day-long writing workshop, followed by a day and a half of intense competition before standing-room-only audiences. The Western Legends Roundup event offers days and evenings full of entertainment, including shows, jam sessions, an outdoor fair with Western arts and craft booths, demonstrations from blacksmithing to Navajo dancing, Western movie star events, and a parade down Kanab’s Main Street. A Day’s Work Now I’m not one to fuss a lot or get all sad and whiny, But that day on the X Bar hadn’t started off too shiny, I’d slept out on the bunkhorse porch and in the open air, That pole-cat musta’ been attracted by the snorin’ there, He chewed off half my boot top, it was salty I assume, And ‘fore he left he sprayed my bed and me with his perfume. Then Cookie burned the biscuits when the fire got too hot, I think he dropped his wad of snoose down in the coffee pot, The eggs were slick and slimy and the bacon limp and tired, So breakfast on that morning left a lot to be desired, And when I headed toward the barn and glanced at the corral I weren’t surprised to see the gate wide open sure as hell. The wranglin’ pony’d slipped the latch and exited from there, Went grazin’ near the ranch house like he didn’t have a care, I coulda’ overlooked that much and issued him a pardon, But that gol-dern cayuse was trompin’ in the boss’s garden, He’d et the peas and carrot tops and chomped off all the corn, I’d cause him to regret the very day that he was born. I caught him up and whacked his rump and then I led him back, I threw my saddle on the rough and jerked up all the slack, I stepped aboard and wheeled him ‘round and raked him with a spur, What happened next ain’t all that clear, it’s sorta’ like a blur, That gentle wranglin’ pony musta’ had enough, I think, He bogged his head and turned me over quicker than a wink. I finally got him all lined out and started lookin’ ‘round The horse and milk and cow pasture for some tracks there on the ground. That’d give a clue to where the saddle horses might be at, The following is one of Mr. Tixier’s The wind came up a-gustin’ and it blew away my hat, winning poems: It rolled a hundred years or more to where the fence was down, It ‘peered the whole remuda was just nowhere to be found. I spent the whole darn mornin’ huntin’ horses that had strayed And workin’ on the pasture fence and bleedin’, I’m afraid, Cause barb wire’s sharp and rusty and it sure can tear your hide, Good thing I’d had a a tetanus shot before I took that ride, I got the horses in at last and caught my favorite one And started on my all-day ride, the afternoon half done. I rode the big south pasture checkin’ fence and water-gaps, But in my rush I’d plumb forgot my slicker and my chaps, And don’t you know that was the day we finally got some rain, We needed it so bad that I’d for certain not complain, It was a soakin’ shower and the kind that helps, I’m told, But I’d be lucky if I didn’t catch my death of cold. While ridin’ down a gully in a soft and sandy track I found myself a-starin’ at a Western Diamondback At just about eye-level, it was coiled up on the bank, Instinctively I jabbed the spurs into my horse’s flank, He jumped about ten feet or so just as that rattler struck And missed me by a whisker in a welcome turn of luck. I found an old cow upside down, her back down in a hole, I couldn’t tell you how she’d done it, not to save my soul And she was nearly all done in, a strugglin’ to get free, She’d been a dead old critter soon if it were not for me, I got my rope around her horns, my horse was toward her rear, He pulled with all his might and turned her upright, pretty near. While she was a gropin’ groggy, on her belly, in a daze I got down to retrieve my rope, then go our separate ways, And as I grabbed the honda she awoke, it was a stunner, She came up fightin’ mad despite the favor that I’d done her, She needed somethin’ handy to combat and she chose me, But I turned tail for sure and scrambled up a Cedar tree. That X Bar cow lost interest in the cowboy that she’d treed. She never did seem grateful for my beneficial deed, And I crawled down and caught my horse and turned him headin’ home, The sun ball had become a sorta’ fadin’ yellow dome, It’d be hear dark exceptin’ for the risin’ big full moon, But I would be all done with my day’s ridin’ pretty soon. And bein’ off my schedule then I hit a gentle lope, A-mutterin’ to myself ‘bout how I’d almost lost my rope, And neither horse nor rider saw the hidden badger hole, But both his front feet found it and we fell just like a pole, I landed twenty feet or so amid some prickly pear, The horse unhurt thank goodness, so I’d had another scare. And then I saw a heifer layin’ stretched out near the trail, A calf’s front feet were stickin’ out and showin’ ‘neath her tail, So I got out my O. B. chain with links so flat and strong And I hooked it on those slippery legs and then before too long I worked the head out gently and I gave a final pull, And out there slipped a fine big healthy brawlin’ baby bull. So Mama and her baby boy were both okay that night. The moon was high as I rode home a feelin’ quite all right, And even if some things went wrong astartin’ off the day, And didn’t seem to get a whole lot better right away, That last small chore was somethin’ that sure caused my face to smile It made the whole day’s effort seem a little more worthwhile. © 1993, Stan Tixier Best Deal in Patio Springs! Price reduced! $47,900 Dyan Gill for this .32 acre building lot - ready for your new home now! Licensed Utah Realtor Since 1991 801 898-5853 Wolf Lodge condomimium, Just Listed! Beautiful 3 BD, 2.5 BA, over 1 acre, 40 x 60 garage/shop, passive solar design. Must see inside! Only $259,900! Just Listed! Incredible views! Brand new 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, den. Huntsville home on 4.83 acres. Granite kitchen counters, wood floors, Wolf commercial gas range. $420,000! Price reduced! Peaceful, secluded Huntsville horse property. 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home with barn on 2 acres. 1 BR, hardwood floors, slate tile,new paint, wood burning stove. Nice! 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