Becky Crouch Patterson

This is a good recollection of Texas hill country goat raising from about 1925 through the advent of synthetic fiber around 1960.
There are many good stories of ranch life, the horses, the dogs, and the workers. There are stories of winter storms and their affect on the landscape, droughts and that affect on the land and the people. Most of these memories are from the author's growing u on a ranch between Comfort and Fredericksburg.

The last third of the book delves a little into personal romances and the associated happiness and sadness as they peak and dwindle. During this last thirs, the issue of running a ranch without much hired help for daily chores and fence maintenance is covered.

The book is illustrated with about forty illustrations, some black and white sketches, but mostly color paintings. The forward is by Willie Nelson. There is a list of the ranch hands mentioned in an appendix.

The ranch life descriptions are accurate to my own memories of maintaining fences, brush control, plumbing and other necessary duties to keep a livestock enterprise going. These memories are about a way of life that was sometimes hard but always missed later by those who lived it.… (más)