‘It’s A Great Life If You Don’t Weaken’
Harding County, South Dakota, is one of those places where the cattle, and even the antelope, outnumber the residents. For Ty Fowler, growing up in that quiet, northwest county was actually quite lively, considering the ranch life he and his family led on the Grubbing Hoe Ranch, just south of Buffalo, South Dakota.
Fowler weaves the stories of his childhood with tales of showing reined cow horses as an adult into entertaining, engaging and educational chapters that provide insight for readers of his “It’s A Great Life If You Don’t Weaken,” which is illustrated by L.E. Stevens.
What began to pass his time has resulted in seven sections dividing the 37 stories Fowler tells.
“The title of the book sums up life here about as accurately as anything could,” Fowler writes in the introduction. “It’s something my dad told me from as far back as I can remember, especially when things got tough.”
Tough is an understatement when describing ranchers in the northern state. From blizzards to drought, Fowler’s ancestors eked out a living from the land. First, they began as many South Dakota settlers do, following the gold claims to the Black Hills before moving north to settle in the rolling landscape south of the Montana state line. Fowler begins the book with the history of the ranch, aptly named for a type of gardening tool used to dig out of the ground.
The sections of the book — Ranch Stories, My Grandpa Brengle, Horse Stories, Stories About People, Nature, Poems and Off the Ranch — begin with an introduction to the information. From discussing cattle negotiation to recounting Winter Storm Atlas and the prairie fires to highlighting friends and neighbors, Fowler’s prose isn’t flowery but vivid.
In Poems, he writes about a long, hard day working cattle with his wife, Melissa. While the poem “Cow Poem” ends with her leaving, Melissa sticks it out with him. In truth, the poem sums up many a day working cattle, no matter the state!
Here is an excerpt.
“He suddenly gets real bothered and yells loud at the herd.
But they don’t understand his English, to them it seems absurd.
So instead of being patient, he starts yelling at his wife.
She is only there to help; she doesn’t need this strife.
The job is getting tougher and the sunlight’s getting short.
I’d like to say it went plumb slick, but that I can’t report.
He just raved and railed on like a madman on a rant.
His wife just rode and did her best, never saying that we ‘can’t.’”
Fowler’s many years working the land and cattle in South Dakota lend to colorful stories that provide any cow hand or city dweller a glimpse into the lifestyle. The 289-page hardcopy of “It’s A Great Life If You Don’t Weaken” is available through Amazon for $20.
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