A Chuck Wagon Story - Cookie and the Rabid Skunk

My great grandfather, T.E. Mitchell ran a large cattle ranch in NE New Mexico in the late 1800's. This story came down through the family. I believe it's true, but have no way of fully proving it.

During branding season a chuck wagon was used to move around from pasture to pasture and feed the cowboys after their days work, as well as waking them up to breakfast each morning. T.E. had a cook they called "Cookie"; not very original, I know, as most chuck wagon cooks were called that in those days.

One morning just about dawn when the men were still dozing, my great grandfather awoke to hear Cookie singing a little ditty to himself quietly. TE rolled over and looked towards the back of the chuck wagon where the cook was kneading dough for biscuits. Cookie was very into his work and once in a while, as he sang, he would do a little jig and dance to the tune.

However, as Mitchell watched, he saw in the dim firelight a small shape off to the side. It was difficult to see in the early light, but the shape was moving. It seemed like a small black blur and would move toward Cookie and then back off a little. As he watched, my great grandfather finally realized it was a skunk, and it was about to bite Cookie! As the cook sang, the skunk would spring forward only to back off again when a dance step was orchestrated.

TE always slept with his 30-30 next to him on the bedroll, so he grabbed the rifle and spoke very quietly. "Cookie," he said," I'm going to shoot at your feet, Jump!" Mr. Mitchell had a soft spoken voice, but it carried authority, and as the words left his mouth, Cookie jumped right up onto the chuck wagon tail gate and landed in the middle of the dough he was kneading.

The shot was a good one and the skunk was killed instantly, not even able to discharge the dreaded skunk smell. They knew it had to be rabid to attack a human like that, and in those days a bite from a rabid animal was often fatal. So, even though the cowboys had to go without biscuits that morning, they continued the roundup in good spirits.

Story by Jay Hopson

For more of this authors work visit http://thechuckwagon.net

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My "Cold Case" TV Fantasy - Getting Lilly and the "Cold Case" Detective Squad Busted!

I watch "Cold Case" on CBS regularly even though I admit I hate the shows Detective Squad as well as how each case is solved by an unnecessary confession from the killer and then the victim's ghost appears like in a music video, the end. No, I'm not on crack!

The thing I hate most about "Cold Case" is the detectives attitudes. They think they have the right to go gangbusters and accuse every person they interview of being the Anti-Christ. These suspects in turn say they didn't do it and like musical chairs turn the arrogant detectives onto another person to smirk at and be nasty too.

At the end of each episode, without any real solid evidence that would actually get the murderer tried in court or convicted, the killer who has concealed his "perfect crime" for like forever, suddenly decides without a lawyer present, to confess. Magically, the victim's ghost then appears in a trance like kind of music video to swirling or slow dancing music. The end.

I realize "Cold Case" is supposed to be dramatic entertainment for which writers take dramatic liberties to fit the show in an hour format but its a lot easier for me to suspend belief for a show like "Prison Break" then "Cold Case". "Cold Case" tries to present itself in a somber realistic manner but there are a lot of people watching who say, Bogus Man!

If I had my way, as payback to the detectives, I'd do a sequel to a previous episode where it now turns out that the detectives, pressured "the obvious killer" to give a false confession and he's found innocent in Court and truly never did the crime. It would make a great season finale and give the detectives pause for thought on their methods. To top it off, you could have the Ghost of the victim then appearing when the killer is found innocent, finger scolding the detectives to the music of "Ride Your Pony" and see the innocent non-killer smiling with a big grin. The End.

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Types of Guitar

Hey,

In this article I will be basically showing you the different types of guitar. This article is based at first time beginners.

There are two types of guitars and then two different styles of those two type of guitars. So we will start with the acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar produces noise by the sound waves echoing through the hollow body. There are two style of acoustic guitar which are:

Nylon: A Nylon means that the strings are made out of nylon. The top strings may look like they are made out of steel, but in fact they are coated (with a special type of metal that I cant remember the name of) and are made of nylon in the inside. Nylon guitars are great for the classical sound and relaxation. Since these guitars are soft stringed I highly recommend them to any beginner as they help you get the gist of playing guitar.

Steel: A steel stringed acoustic guitar have strings that are made out of steel as you would have guessed. These guitars here are generally played either strumming or finger picking and can create a relaxation sound or a catchy beat. Many artists use the acoustic guitar like Jack Johnson and Pete Murray. These guitars can be hard to play for some people as it requires you to push the strings in pretty hard on the fretboard to make a clean sound. You can get acoustic electric guitars which are still a still stringed electric but have pickups inside the hollow body.

Now we get to the electric guitar. Electric guitars make there sound by the pickups located under the strings. The sound is "picked up" with these and sends the sound through a cord to an amplifier. This then amplifies the sound which can be changed by the different knobs located usually at the top of the amp. The two types of electric guitars are:

Solid Body: Solid body guitars are steel stringed guitars. These guitars are generally used in Metal, Rock, Blues and Pop Music. These guitars are great because if you turn the distortion up, it can sometimes hide your mistakes. It is better though to practice in a clean sound so that you get used to perfecting the notes and getting a good nice clear sound.

Hollow Body: These electric guitars also have steel strings. These are basically the same as a solid body but as the name suggests they are hollow. Sometimes they are only hollow by the f notes you see on the old fashion basses, Chellos ect. These guitars are generally used in Jazz and blues category.

Now strings. Guitar strings are wonderful because they come in many different types. If you are a beginner you should start off with low gauged strings so you can develop how to play the notes clean and well. Strings should be changed regularly because the oil on your fingers and other chemicals in the air damages the strings an can make the sound of your guitar not as good (bad phrasing).

Well I hoped this helped please visit my site and view free lessons at http://wiseguitar.com

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