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Work, Work, Work
"Don't let those new boots slip off the
clutch...". My Granddad's words still ring in my ears as I
prepared to put the old Ford tractor in gear and crawl around
the field at a snail's pace while he picked up hay bales.
By the next year I was
chopping wood for the cook house on the LC Livestock Ranch in southwestern
Montana for a dime a week...and I was doing OK! I could buy a couple candy
bars a week at the local store in Armstead. I still haven't figured out what the cook did with all that wood.
 The
Ranch was in Horse Prairie Valley about 25 miles southwest of
Dillon, Montana. It was located at the base of Indianhead
Mountain...supposedly another one of Lewis and Clark's
landmarks as they made their journey through Beaverhead
County.
In those days the Ranch raised mostly beef cattle. A
good part of my time was spent on
horseback working with the cattle or riding fence. It
took us three days to trail some of the cattle to the Big Hole
Valley summer range. I chuckle now when I hear of folks
complaining about forty hour work weeks. Grade
school was held in Armstead, Montana. The school was an old
red brick school house. It had two classrooms...the
'little room' and the 'big room'. The 'little  room' housed
grades one through four and the 'big room' grades five through
eight. I was in the last graduating eighth grade (all three of us)
as the Clark Canyon Dam was nearing completion and Armstead
was soon to be underwater. School was tough and we had a healthy
respect for our teachers and if we didn't behave at school, we
were sorry later. We will not lie, steal, or cheat,
nor tolerate among us anyone who does.
'The
Cadet Honor Code'I was fortunate
enough to receive a nomination to the United States Air Force
Academy.  There
we spent four long years learning what our parents had already
instilled in us; you tell the truth, do not take things that
don't belong to you and treat people right. We also received a
superb education in academic and military disciplines. Top Next
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