tom was a duffass

when we lived in aguila, we were neighbors with a family who had a big ole peice of country. they ran a few cows and if it rained would stock in feeder steers. the dad was a good ole man . some where in the past he had lost a portion of his one arm. but it didnt slow him down none. he was always busy with some project on the ranch. at the time i met him he was also battling cancer in his back. he had a son who was fresh married to a pretty good kinda gal. but tom was a accident waittin to happen. i never met anyone who had as many wrecks as that guy. one evening he had gone to the corrals to feed the stock. when he didnt come back long after dark his wife took a flash lite and went lookin for him. she found him staggering his way home, the side of his head bloody and swole up. seems he had climbed to the top of the hay stack and was feeding hay into a corral full of cows when he hung the rowels of his spurs in a bale wire and flipped him to the ground, a 25 foot fall! knocked out and the side of his head peeled he had layed there a couple hours with the cattle walkin around on top of him.
      another time he had asked me to come help them brand some big ole calves that had missed in the works. when i got there i found they were going to put the calves through a squeeze chute that was made for full grown cows. it wasnt made to adjust to smaller animals but tom insisted we put them through the chute. i found out later that tom couldnt throw a rope down a well, let alone catch a cow.
    we got started workin and had branded about 20 head when a small black heifer came into the chute. there was no way to hold her. the head gate wouldnt close tight enough and the squeeze wouldnt pinch her either. tom came to the head gate and ask me to open up, he would grab her and flank her to get her worked.  as i eased the gate open tom grabbed it, swung it wide open and ducked into the chute to meet the heifer head on.  the heifer was ready, she hit tom in the chest , boweled him over  and walked the length of him, tom had wrapped his hands and arms around the heifers neck, was on his back with the heifer buckin and bawlin on top of him. he let go just as i grabbed her by the tail, walked up her side and flanked her. i looked back and tom was on his hands and knees, head hangen, blood drippin from a tear in his scalp. his wife strolled by with syringes in hand to vaccinate the heifer. she didnt even slow down but did ask if he was ok, not even lookin at him!! his old daddy was brandin the heifer when he looked at me and shook his head.  he said tom had grew up on the ranch but hadnt absorbed enough about it to put in a thimble!!