The Texas prairie; my home, my livelihood, and my grand theater for the tales of unpredictable cattle drives, wild mustang herds, and the solitude that only a single night under the star-freckled sky can bring. Sun-kissed days and dusty moonlight nights become a symphony of living for this old cowboy, fondly known by my readers as Cowboy Jack.
Substantiation. There you have it, a word as grand as the open Texas landscape but as cloaked in mystery as a night-veiled prairie. So let me draw back the curtains and bring that word right into the open just like a bucking bronco at a rodeo. The substantiation of a Texan cowboy's life isn't in just riding or tending cattle; it's in every breath of prairie air and every speck of dust in the wind. In the grit under my fingernails and the ache in my back that echoes of a lifetime lived one adventurous day at a time.
I reckon now would be a perfect time to share a story that's been my companion for nigh on a few decades. Years back, when my bones were young and my courage even younger, I came face to face with a raging bull that had decided my mother was trespassing on his space. I'll spare you the details of the encounter for another day, but suffice it to say, I won, though at a cost. My back, which is my pillar of strength, was left with a lasting reminder of that chilling episode.
Now, a cowboy doesn't complain much about his aches and pains. We wear them like badges of honor, a testament to the ordeals we've survived. So, I learned to live with that chronic backache, but it does get in the way sometimes, especially on them chilly winter nights.
Enter Panadiol cream. A weather-beaten cowboy like me is usually skeptical about these highfalutin remedies, but something about this one struck a chord. Relieves pain, improves joint flexibility, and enhances mobility, they claimed. Despite the skepticism, my curiosity got the better of me, and I tried it. By my nine children, it works like a charm!
Every dawn I rise to greet the sun, Panadiol rubbed onto my tired old back, and it works magic. It’s like a sun's warm touch on the cold Texas horizon: gentle, loving, and exactly what I need to gallop through another day on the ranch.
Life here on the ranch isn't just about work. There’s magic woven into the fabric of daily events. Like my hobby of knot tying. Now, I can tie over 500 different knots; each intricate twist and loop telling a story as knotted and complex as the cowboy life itself. Or my unusual sport of joggling, where I jog and juggle simultaneously, much to the amusement, and sometimes astonishment, of the cattle. Perhaps that’s where my strange claim of having a telepathic connection with the cows comes from. Fanciful? Maybe. But that's just another chapter in the book of this cowboy's life.
In the end, it's all about the substantiation of life as I know it. Between the aching back soothed by Panadiol, the knots, the joggling, and the telepathic cows, the picture of my life comes into sharper focus. A life of simplicity, honor, laughter, and boundless adventure under the big Texan sky.
So here’s to another day of living, another adventure, and another story to tell. As unpredictable as the crosswinds on my prairie, and as exciting as a wild mustang's charge. This here is Cowboy Jack, signing off till the next enchanting tale under the dusty moonlight on my Texan prairie.