Oh What A Joy

By Larry I. Patterson

This is a fictional story set in the 1950's and 1960's. The story is about a man who after serving in the Navy Seals, and graduating from the police academy in Los Angeles, CA. he takes a job as a deputy sheriff in a small county in western Wyoming. Although his dream is to own his own ranch. After winning a large amount of m

• Language: English
• Publisher: Go To Publish
• Release date: Sep 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647491680

Larry I. Patterson

I have written 2 other books, and now this is the third one. I live in northern California, in a small town Yreka. This book was inspired by my daughter's mother in law. I went to South High School in Denver, then joined the Army. I am now retired from the bus company I worked for. I was never much on writing in my younger years, but now that I have a lot of time on my hands I keep busy writing. This story is a true story but I changed the names.

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Oh What A Joy

Copyright © 2020 by Larry I. Patterson

ISBN: 978-1-64749-168-0

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher or author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions.No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within.

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CHAPTER ONE

On the 6 th day of December 1964, at Tanforan horse race track near San Francisco California; the fifth race is ready to be run, but Donald Wilson is waiting for the ninth race to run. He sits down in a bleacher seat, and starts sipping on a cup of coffee. As he is sitting there he starts to think of Lois, the love of his life, as she is living in Wyoming. He misses her so much he cannot get her out of his mind. Although the two of them will be together again in just a few days as he will leave here, and go to work for the Sheriff in Wyoming. He starts thinking further back on his life before he met Lois. He thinks back as far as June in 1957 in Denver Colorado, an d just graduating from high school. Five of his friends are leaving to northern Colorado to work in the hay fields. Donald and his friends persuade Don’s mother to let him go with them although he is eighteen.

The six of them leave together in his friend Emerson’s car. After three hours of driving they come to the town of Walden, thirty miles west of Fort Collins. After locating the employment office they enter, and as the clerk is busy, they all sit down to wait. The clerk helping a rancher who already hired a nineteen year old named Alvin, from Indianapolis Indiana, as a straight rake operator.

The rancher is looking for one more person to work on a loose hay stack the clerk turns his attention to the six guys waiting, and says, Is there a taker for the job as a loose hay stacker?

Donald’s friends all shake their heads negatively, as Emerson, one of Donald’s friends says, No we do not want to split up.

Donald is thinking to himself, Nobody wants to split up, and we could be here all day. So It doesn’t matter to him, so he answers, Okay, I will take the job, I don’t want to split up either, but I don’t want to be here all day."

Okay, says the clerk.

The rancher stands up and says, Fine sign him up, and let’s go.

As he is leaving with the rancher, and Alvin, Donald says to his friends, Goodbye everyone I will be seeing you later, come to town on the weekend.

The rancher drives them to his ranch, and shows them the bunk house that they will be sharing with an older man in his 70’s or 80’s. The two boys go into the bunk house, and put their bags away. They go outside, and get into the ranchers pickup, and he drives them out to the field where the men are working. Stanley (a cousin of the rancher) is working the stack.

Stanley here is leaving tomorrow to go home, because his wife is having a baby. The rancher explains to them. Then he continues to say, the hay is dropped into the fenced part of the stack on a 30 foot ramp set at a 90 degree angle, the hay is then pushed up the ramp by a long pole being pushed by the truck. Stanley’s job is to even out the hay that fell on the stack in a big lump. Don your job is to take over Stanley’s job when he leaves tomorrow. Alvin you can stay here on the stack and help Don learn what to do, but tomorrow you will be driving a team of horses, with a straight rake.

After saying that, the rancher leaves. Donald, and Alvin are now armed with a pitch fork each, and starts leveling out the hay. After working for a few minutes, Donald starts thinking to himself, Man what did I get myself into, this is hard and heavy work.

Start out slow for the rest of the day, and the work will get easier. Says Stanley to Donald.

As Alvin is thinking to himself, I am glad tomorrow I will be driving a straight rake.

Except for the truck, all the farm equipment is pulled by teams of horses. Explains Stanley.

This is the way the first day on the ranch starts, it looks easy when somebody is helping, but the next day it is all hard work for Donald as he will be on the stack all by himself. But he perseveres. The older man sharing the bunk house gets up early, and gets the two boys up, and ready to go with the rancher as he comes for them, and takes them to the farm house for breakfast.

Five days have gone by, and the boys get the weekend off. They decide to go to town, and hook up with the five friends of Donald, they hitch a ride and go into this little coffee house, and inside was two of Donald’s friends. After visiting for awhile his friend drives them back to the ranch. The old man retires and leaves the ranch leaving no one to wake the boys up.

On the first morning after the older man leaves, the rancher comes into the bunk house, and says, Breakfast is ready, But seeing them both in bed, and still asleep, he says, what are you both doing still asleep? After breakfast get your things together, and I will pay you what I owe you, and take you both to town.

After arriving at the employment office there is another rancher looking for two men. The two of them accept the jobs, and leave with the rancher Ted Wilkerson. For Donald everything is the same except the stacks are smaller, and there are two men on the stack instead of just one. Donald thinking to himself, This is going to be easier for me, and as for Alvin he will be driving a team of horses with a straight rake. As the days go by, Donald becomes stronger, and the work is getting easier. After the first couple of weeks, the weather is fine, but one day it starts to rain. Just a slight rain, but enough to stop the work until the hay fields dry out.

All of the men are in the bunk house, and as Ted Wilkerson enters in, he asks, I need four men to come with me to herd some cows from one pasture to another.

After a short pause Alvin speaks up, I will do it that is what kind of work I have been wanting.

Mr. Wilkerson, I will volunteer to go with you to. Says Donald.

The man driving the truck in the field is Allen, a twenty year old from Santa Fe New Mexico answers, I will go to.

Arthur a local man says, I will volunteer also.

The four of them leave with Mr. Wilkerson, and proceed to the barn area where Ted gives them each a saddle, and a bridle, and saddle blanket. They all leave together to the corral of which is loaded with horses.

You all can pick the horse you want, and after brushing his back, you can saddle him up. Ted says.

They all saddle up, and leave together to the pasture where the cows are. They have to go through a gate, and as Donald goes through he sees the saddle blanket is slipping out from under the saddle, so he gets off, and loosens the cinch, and corrects the blanket.

He starts to cinch up the saddle, when Ted rides up to him and says, This horse is cagey, he will take a big breath, and hold it until you tighten the cinch, then let out the air, if you wait for him to exhale before cinching down, then cinch down, that won’t happen again.

Thanks Mr. Wilkerson, Donald replies as he does what he says

He mounts up, and they all ride to the far end of the pasture. All five of them start to round up the cows with the small nursing calves. The problem is the cow will go a few feet then stop to nurse the calve. The men take the rest of the day to get the herd to the new pasture, about four miles. Once on the road the cows stop nursing and the herd moves at a faster pace.

Later after the herd is in the new pasture, the men go to the ranch, take care of the horses, and feed them. After they finish with the horses it is time to eat themselves. After dinner as they are all in the bunk house, Alvin and Donald are talking with the other ranch hands. Most of them have been working on ranches all over the west.

We are looking for a winter job on a ranch being a wrangler, and this job is only a summer job. Where is the best place where we can go to get a wranglers job? Alvin asks.

The best place to go for a wranglers job is Elko Nevada, One of the hands states.

The rest of the guys agree with him. The next day the two of them quit, and hitch a ride to town. Donald is thinking about the guys he came with, so he stops at the employment office, and says to the clerk. Can you tell my friends I came with that I have left for Nevada, and for them not to look for me.

If I remember, I will, but just in case you can leave a message on the bulletin board there behind you. States the clerk.

Taking a pen and paper the clerk gave him, he wrote a note then pins it on the bulletin board. The two of them leave the employment office, and start hitch hiking down the road toward Laramie Wyoming. Not too long after starting to hitch a ride, a lady rancher stops, and asks them, Where they are you two going.

We are going to Laramie to catch a bus to Nevada, says Alvin.

The lady takes them all the way to Laramie, and lets them off at the bus station. The two of them each buy a one way ticket to Elko. When they arrive in Elko, they go to a motel, and rent a room for the night. The next day they go to the employment office, and register for work as a wrangler. After waiting around for about an hour, James Henderson, a local rancher comes into the office, and is looking for a couple of men. After interviewing them, he hires them both as wranglers.

On the first day of October 1957, and after working for three months, the foreman hands a shovel, and a pick to Donald, and says, The boss is putting in a new grain bin here, so start digging the trench for the foundation.

I am sorry Mr. Foreman, but I hired on as a wrangler not a ditch digger. If you make me do this then I quit. Says Donald.

Okay I will go and tell the boss. Says the foreman.

A little later the boss James Henderson comes over to Donald, and says, You quit huh.

Yes Mr. Henderson, I hired on as wrangler not a construction worker, if you want me to do that, then yes I do quit. Replies Donald.

If you feel that way then okay get your things together, and I will drive you to town, says Mr. Henderson.

Alvin stays on, and they part company. Later on in town Donald thought that he may have made a mistake, because all the jobs dried up for the winter, and he couldn’t find any work, as they hire all local boys first.

After a week of looking for work, and running out of money, he meets up with a local guy, and he says, I am waiting for the Recruiting Sargent of the army to come to town, as he comes once a month to take anyone to Salt Lake to join the Army.

A couple of days later the Sargent shows up, and Donald meets up with him, and says, I want to join the Army.

Well son, you have a draft card, and you have a six year obligation. First choice is three years active, and three years reserve. If you wait to be drafted your choice is two years active, two years active reserve, and two years inactive reserve. Your second choice is ninety day active service and the rest of the six years in active reserve. The Sargent explained.

Well there is nothing here for me now, so if I can go with you to Salt Lake City, I will join the Army. Donald replies.

Very good then. Says the Sargent as he gets in the car with three other local boys, and Donald.

After driving to Salt Lake City, and arriving at the recruiting office Donald after taking a physical, and passing he spends the night there, and the next day they put him and the others on a train heading to Camp Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado, spending eight weeks in basic training there, then going to Fort Leonard wood, Missouri for another eight weeks training in the engineers. After that he is put on a train to Fort Dix New Jersey, where they put him on a plane and fly him to Germany. After two years’ service in a floating bridge outfit there, they put him on a ship, and after seven days sailing the Atlantic Ocean, they arrive in New York Harbor, which is one of the greatest moments in his life, as he sees the ‘Statue of Liberty’ greeting them.

After leaving the ship with a friend Samuel they get on a Greyhound bus to Washington DC. They stay the night on an air force base there, and on the next day get on a plane to Travis Air force base in California. Donald and Samuel part company, and Donald continues to San Francisco where his parents moved to while he was in Germany.

After his thirty day leave was up, he got on a bus to the state of Washington, and Fort Lewis Army base. He spends the next few months there, and while there he goes to the gym every day and works out. In October he gets out of the Army and travels back to San Francisco, California to his parents’ house. Looking for work for the next few months, and not finding any, he decides to join the navy. After boot camp he sees a brochure about the Navy Seals, and inquiring about this he finds out he has to learn to jump out of an airplane with the special Warfare Parachute Course in Coronado California. After he finishes the course, and received his parachute wings, he applies for indoctrination, and pre-training for