1. Lying flat on my back in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix at 2 a.m. I passed the carafe of chablis to my reclining colleague, who looked at me and said, “Pardner, I don’t think you’re executive material.”

The dragonslayer injured saving the damsel. The concerned female dabbin’ peroxide in the bullet wound creasing your shoulder. ‘It’s nuthin’,’ you’d say, wincing in pain. If only you had a saber slash across the cheek.

“Roy, can you show us the scar? It’s gotta be a big one!” “What scar?” “Where they took your conscience out!”

Meatless Monday … what kind of person would think something like that up? The same kind of people who would support Breathless Tuesday, Whistle-less Wednesday or Jalapeño-less Cinco de Mayo?

“In feast or famine, at least examine the game we came to play’Cause win or lose, it’s how we use the cards that come our way ...”

There are those who say farming and ranching is a “way of life” more than it is a business. Which helps explain why young people who grow up in agriculture return to work on the farm. Working the land holds a strong lure.

WANTED: Cowboy. No TV, No phone. If you don’t like dogs and can’t tough it in the mountains, don’t apply.—Alamo, Nevada

Jim said he had the best two-strand bob wire fence in the country. The ranchers who bordered him got together and fixed his fence. Now his pasture is gettin’ thin, and he’s only got half as many cows. That didn’t please Jim’s banker.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little valley called Pleasant Valley. Pristine streams ran down from wooded hillsides. Wild game was abundant. Fish flourished. The peasants tilled their farms and irrigated them with mountain water. The livestock grazed the grassy meadows.

Watch Baxter Black's first music video, "Is That Rural Enough For You?"