Really muggy day.

He is such a great story teller. I've enjoyed all of Mr. Dobie's books, and all of the books which those led me to.

Talk and Silence
"Blessed are those who have nothing to say an cannot be persuaded to say it."
Among cow people, some - as among all people - had nothing to say but said it anyhow. Some who had something to say said it in few words. Others didn't say anything whether they had it or not. Many wanted company.

As a girl at Rancho Seco in Nueces County in the '70's, my mother knew a rancher named Kellet who at times so craved company that he would ride out to the road from San Antonio to Corpus, which passed only a few miles from his ranch, and wait until somebody came along. It might be a freighter. He'd hold him up, prevail on him to turn off and go to the ranch, where his team would have plentyof feed and he would have a regular preacher's supper and a clean bed to sleep in. Kellet had a way of getting people to talk. He liked talk. He wanted to know what was going on beyond the country.

He was the opposite of the two line riders, or at least one of them, who rode in Montana before barbed wire kept cattle in pastures. One summer evening after supper while they were sitting outside the cabin a bellowing came over the air. One said, "Bull." The other said, "Sounds like an old steer to me." Not another word on the subject or any other subject was spoken before the two went to bed.

The next morning the man who had spoken first the evening before brought in the saddle horses, roped out his personal mount and pack horse, and began rolling up his bed roll and putting his clothes in a sack.

"Riding?" the other questioned.
"Yes, too much argument."
Cow People, J. Frank Dobie