At 3:30 in the Morning

Before I throw this poem out here, I want to give a little bit of background information. I wrote this while Kricket was working in Colorado. I knew it was going to be hard letting my sissy go, and everyone kept saying it wasn't as hard as I had it imagined...but I thought it was harder! So here is what came out when I spilled my guts on a paper last October.

At 3:30 in the Morning
I miss just the two of us in the truck, flying down the freeway at 3:30 in the morning. 
I feel lost in the driver's seat without you to my right.
The truck feels empty on the way to a rodeo.
The truck feels empty on the way to anywhere.
The tack room feels off without your saddle on the rack.
I don't feel right walking anywhere being just one of the two of a kind.
I feel like my other half has dissolved and I just keep wishing it would reappear. 
There's one less coffee cup since you've gone.
One less saddle, one less hackamore, one less braid and one less heart.
Mine's just here wishing for you.
My hat sets lonely on the hat rack, my ragged old boots have lost their accomplice on the mud room floor.
Your horse is nickering for you from where he stands in the pasture, wondering just where you've run off to. 
But you've gone to where I always talk about; to ranker horses and different country.
Drifting on the breeze just like the old time cowgirls did.
So I whisper "Goodnight, sis." to the darkness knowing that you're doing the same and wishing we were in a beaten old truck, flying down the freeway at 3:30 in the morning.

Loves, Gussie <3

I Want, I Miss, I Wish

The little black face of a puppy lays near my arm.

Her feet twitch to what I imagine is a dream about snotty steers and games of the puppy sort.

Moccasins on my feet and the rings on my fingers are cold.

It feels like spring outside.

The sun is shining.

The hot sensation on my back that I have missed since fall dawned on me.

My arm is aching.

I think I'm having roping with-drawls.

It's finally starting to dry out; slowly but surely, the arena will be ready to disc.

Shaggy hair on muddy, gritty horse hides.

I don't have me figured out.

I miss the smell of fairgrounds.

The dirt in the air, horse sweat.

I miss the sound of fairgrounds. 

Spurs on muddy boots, creased hat brims and the devious smiles that glint off cowboys' faces.

I miss nights that never seemed to end.

Nights that started with ropes and ended with laughter and truck exhaust in the air and butterflies in my stomach.

I want rope burns on my on my skin.

I want pressure from a dragging calf running through the rope that crosses my leg.

I want my feet on the edge of a fire and a strong arm around my shoulders.

Hats on saddle horns.

Lips stained with a matte shade of red.

Dogs whining to have a hand run across their coat.

Ropes hanging from everywhere and styrofoam cups leftover from Dr. Pepper runs.

Striped lines pass underneath hats on a dash and smiles stained with lipstick and coffee.

There's something happy that I find about tanned skin and a lot of it.

Cut off shorts and reservoirs.

Cut off shorts and laceless roper shoes.

Cut off shorts and long legs that should be tanner than they are.

Strong hands and the kinds of scars that are attractive.

The kinds of scars that make you look tough, the kinds with a story.

I think I'm crazy and then I think I have it figured out, only to remember my insanity.

Fuzzy static of speakers getting drowned out by hysterical giggles and voices that don't have a hope in the singing world.

I want to read.

I want to stay up too damn late and drink coffee to early.

I want to live.

I'm gonna live.

XOXO

~Gussie Lou

Valentines Day and LOVE

Yes, we all know it is Valentines Day and it is supposed to be ever so romantic.

And if you have a significant other and you can spend it with them, you definitely should be spending it with them and enjoying each other's company!

BUT

I also think it is a perfect time to think about LOVE in general.

Like how

LOVE NEVER FAILS!

Try to

And remember

But most importantly...

Remember how God showed His LOVE for us

<3

 

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Love,

Kricket (And Gussie)

None of the photos in this post are mine, they are courtesy of Google Images.

Border Signs

Border Signs

The smog that lurks just beyond the sign

The love and the land that we're leavin behind

The border line.

The Elko town casinos

The Elko town bars

The rearview mirror scene of ours.

The horses, the hats, the cowboys and ropes

They stand behind us with bowed heads and our hopes.

Mountains and white lines

Sagebrush and speed limit signs.

With dreary hearts and lingering souls we drift on out of old Elko.

Coffee still on our breathe

And like a traitor to my own heart

I find us driftin farther apart. 

A haunting feelin dances in the air

And it just don't seem quite fair.

So with Nevada in our hearts

And Utah on our minds

We'll be wherever our road finds

Forever haunted by these border signs.

❤ Gussie

"The glory of friendship. . ."

"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, Nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when they discover that someone else believes in them and is willing to trust them."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

-Gussie

. . . Cowboys and Cattle Land...A Little Old Bunkhouse . . .

Cowboys and cattle land
A little old bunkhouse.
Dust in the summer
Blizzard scar in the winter
Wind through the pines.
A creek littered with laughing children in wet denim
Unraveled braids
Mischievous smiles masking pure hearts.
Horse hair and sweat.
Perfected biscuit recipe
Baked golden like the horse that shares its name.
Wiry strands of creamy mane lace my fingers.
Conchos show the sun to itself.
Broncs have run these corrals
Their hooves have acquainted with the cedar.
Black and white cow dogs trot beside a young boy on a big sorrel.
Cow-calf pairs drift on.
Bulls butt heads, throwing 2000 pounds one way then the next.
83 years of experience, memories and heart sit atop a paint
And grandma cusses in the kitchen.
Fresh air tastes better spiced with freedom
And we bounce in our innocence and happiness.
Silk and slides smile beneath smiles.
Metal rattles at the gravel.
Shiners beneath felt laugh at the world from their black and blue.
Fresh horses shake out in steep country.
God smiles upon the land
The horses
The buckaroos and buckaroogirls.

♡♡♡
Luvs, Gussie

 

Carl and I sorting last summer

Reminiscing Summertime

Reminiscing Summertime

Like in summertime when skin is tan and lips are red.

When horses are shiny and sleek and silver bits are tarnished and rusty.

When the ground is dusty and soft and we forget our frozen worries.

When wild rags are loosely tied and big concho earrings dangle by our necks.

When tank tops leave flaxen shoulders and rope burned hands to show.

When everything isn't done with frozen fingers and sweat beads roll down our cheeks.

When boots aren't just frozen clods of mud and the trucks don't fight to start.

When bones get broken in the heat and coffee is still a necessity.

Like when bikinis and boots go together.

When white smiles shine beneath straw hats.

I miss the cock-hipped ponies standing at the rail.

When the smell of horse sweat is worn as often as my favorite perfume and when the sun yellows my braided hair.

When blood becomes the new favorite color and tears and sweat run like creek water.

When bright eyes meet each morning and coffee kisses the ponies good day.

Like in summertime when skin is tan and lips are red.

Gussie