For those Lonesome Dove affecionados may I present Vernon Bartlett. My great Uncle Vernon lived his whole life as a west Texas ranch hand. He was more at home on a horse than anywhere else. I remember him as a very kind man with a gentle spirit. Always had a tale to spin, a song to sing. Like Gus in Lonesome Dove, he loved only one woman- my Aunt Marie. She and Uncle Vernon did not meet and marry until they were both middle-aged. They lived in Placid, Texas where Aunt Marie ran a general store and was the postmistress. You couldn't find a more dedicated couple. Marie passed away first, and Uncle Vernon continued to work on a ranch until he died of old age in his nineties. Once he was written up in a local paper when the countryside was overrun with jackrabbits. The rest of the story is a little gruesome for city slickers, but perfectly understandable if you live on a ranch or farm. The ranchers saddled up and stretched a long piece of heavy netting between all the riders, then rode into the open field where all the jackrabbits were homesteading - riding far out then circling together with each end of the net - basically creating a drag net trap to corral as many rabbits as possible. There were hundreds. I will end the tale here, but you can figure out what took place next. Ranchers here in Texas are seldom without a side arm. In all fairness, the rabbits were so over populated they were starving and diseased. But Uncle Vernon became a local celebrity for a short while. There are many Bartlett boy tales and in another post I will regale you again!
FYI - I believe this photo was taken on the Regency Bridge over the Colorado River, near Locker, Texas.
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