Growing up on such a large ranch, my childhood was full of odd and colorful characters.
- I knew a lot of honest to goodness cowboys and cowgirls, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
At any given time, my parents had between fifteen and thirty people living on the ranch and working for them in some capacity. I was a kid so I didn’t know any of the specifics, of course, I just knew there were always a lot of cool people around. My favorite was Rory, who lived in a station wagon because he liked the air conditioning. The bunk houses and barracks where most people slept were not climate controlled, and got awful hot over the summers. Rory didn’t drive the car, just slept in it, kept his stuff in it, and put enough gas in it to keep the AC running whenever he needed it. Eventually, the engine of the old car died, and that meant the air conditioning did, too. I remember one night, we had a big party by the bonfire for Rory’s birthday, and my parents gave him a small, portable air conditioner. It was small enough to hit into the windowsill of the station wagon, and with an extension cord running into the barn he could keep the AC blowing even without an engine. Looking back, it’s kind of shocking that Rory was able to live like that, but on the other hand he was a simple man with simple needs, and as long as he had some air conditioning, he was happy.
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