Newbrassky

[Delmonico]

Upon seein' Slim's post of Long Pine Creek, Delmonico drops the ridge pole, heads back and cuts a willow pole.  Findin' some fish line and a couple of small hooks he makes a fishin' pole, catches some grasshoppers and goes ta fishin'.

Delmonico ain't been ta his favorite trout stream in many a year.  Fresh fish fried in butter with the eyes lookin' at him sounds good.

[Silver Creek Slim]

"Trinity, here's a shovel. Let's get ta digg'n that hole. Hopefully, Delmonico will bring back some trout, for lunch, along with that pole."

[Delmonico]

After a mornin' of catchin' nothin' but chubs, sucker and bullheads, Delmonico realizes that Brown and Rainbow trout are not native to sandhills streams and that the Newbrassky Fish Commision will not stock any till after the turn of the century.

Sadly he picks up his ridge pole and heads back to the ranch.  He has a thought to satify his cravin' but the thought of cookin' a catfish out of the Dismal with it's head on sends shudders up and down his spine.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Slim goes out and shoots a couple rabbits, with his trusty .22RF, for lunch, since Delmonico is taking so long to get back with the fish. Slim dresses them out, builds a fire, and puts them on a spit to roast.

[Delmonico]

Delmonico rides inta camp with the ridge pole.  He wonders why Slim has shot and is roastin' tough ol' jackrabbits when there are tender Prairie Chickens by the hundreds.

[Silver Creek Slim]

"Them grass birds are no challenge. They move too slow. But, them Jacks give me a challenge." 

[Delmonico]

Delmonico says, "Ya can get sportin' after the ranch is done, we needs ta eat now.  Give me a stick of that new-fangled dynomite, there is a nice little bend in the river bout a half mile down.  I'm goin' fishin'."

[Trinity]

BLAM!!!

As the smoke clears, the startled members of the camp see Trinity and his Remmington standing over a one-and-a-half toothed redneck... that is he was standing over a dead one-and-a-half toothed redneck.  "This feller was makin funny faces at me an gettin mighty close!  His friends took off an ran up that hill yoner.  Looki, can any of you play the banjer?

Gophergrease... no, Ah don need no more of your spoons, but Ah sure would like to fire that gun of yours.  Less prop this here feller up agin' that tree an see if we can cut him in half!  Too brutal?  Well, ok, Ahll look fer some snakes.

Say, Slim?  Hows that Hasenpfeffer comin' along?  Ah need to eat afore I can start workin' on diggin' that hole.  Actually, I need a drink  too!  Who's got a bottle?"

[Delmonico]

Durn you Trinity, that tree is my ridge pole, I just rode 150 miles round trip ta get it .  Don't be shootin' in up or we'll take ya back ta Kearney and have that Doc give ya that Tabasco Sauce ennnerrrmmma.

[Trinity]

  "Alright, alright, Delmnico, Ah ain' gonna shoot that feller no more.  Ah don' even wanna hear the word Tabasco ever again!      Mebbe we can  set up a shootin' gallery fer the other rednecks ifn they come back.

[gophergrease]

As Gopher Grease gets done cleaning his new toy, shoots real fast but gets real nasty dirty. Hey Trinity, shouldnt you get started dign a hole for a outhouse. We dont need that stuff stating to pile up round here.

[Delmonico]

An explosion echoed up the canyon, Delmonico returns with several large catfish. "We can have fried catfish fer supper.  Gopher Grease is gonna have ta either eat Slim's overcooked jackrabbit or find shoot or catch somethin' else, sine he don't like fish."

Hey Gopher Grease, ya could catch that rattlesnake over by Slim's bedroll."

[Delmonico]

When the noise and smoke from 200 rounds of 45-70 rounds were done, Delmonico walks over and picks up the remains of Slim's reeeata, "woops I made a little mistake, guess it wern't a snake after all."  "Wow, that sooogun is a mess, where is Slim gonna sleep now." 

"Oh well, I guess yer gonna have ta clean that thing again."

"Ya know guys, if we're gonna stay around here, we got ta get some trees planted, not havin' a tree around for 30 miles is gonna be hard on a dog if'n we decide ta get one.  Besides that we gonna have a bunch a junk sooner er later, what is a farmer or rancher gonna do with out trees ta pile the junk around." 

"First we need ta get that outhouse built though, cause we gonna come out in the mornin' and there gonna be no tree ta go behind ta poop."

[Silver Creek Slim]

"Alright, who shot up my bedroll?  Catfish sounds alot better then tough Jack. After we eat the catfish, I will start digging a hole for the privy." "Delmonico, what material are we gonna use to make the privy?"

[Delmonico]

Sod.   

If ya look, Gopher Grease brought a grasshopper plow, hitch te wagon team to it and cut the strips with a spade.  Cut extra for the front of the dugout.

[Silver Creek Slim]

"This ranch work is sounding harder than rounding up stray cowhands." 

[Silver Creek Slim]

Prairie Palaces of Nebraska Marble Family in front of Soddie
Homesteaders in the eastern prairie could burrow into hillsides before wooden cabins were built. Newcomers to the flat, treeless grasslands farther west found a durable building material beneath their feet. Buffalo grass was short and tough with a dense tangle of roots; it held its shape when cut. Using a special plow, one could shave enough sod from half an acre of prairie for a 16 by 20-foot house. The sod strips were cut about a foot wide and 4 inches deep, then sliced crosswise into 3-foot slabs. Slabs were laid grass-side-down in double courses and secured with four corner poles. Frames reserved openings for doors and windows. A sturdy ridgepole was laid across forked upright posts. Branches formed rafters on which more sod was laid - grass side up.

Certain advantages kept owners in their homes of "Nebraska Marble" long after lumber was available for housing. Soddies were inexpensive, quick to build, well insulated, tornado-proof and did not burn. On the other hand, they needed constant repair, especially after rainstorms when the roofs dropped dirt, water and sometimes snakes. No wonder pioneer Carrie Lassel Detrick's mother "gave way to the only fit of weeping I ever remember seeing her indulge in," when she first arrived in Kansas and saw the sod house her husband had built. Soddies remained a marvel to easterners. As Mark Twain noted in Roughing It, "It was the first time we had ever seen a man's front yard on top of his house."

*whisper on* "Don't tell Gopher Grease about that snake part or we might have a well ventilated roof."  *whisper off*

Unwanted creatures were always a problem, as lamented by one anonymous homesteader in this poem:
How happy am I when I crawl into bed;
A rattlesnake hisses a tune at my head!
A gay little centipede, all without fear,
Crawls over my pillow and into my ear!

[Delmonico]

"Don't worry, we'll get it ready this weekend while yer home with yer wife and 17 kids.  I'll stay here and help and not go wanderin' off inta other threads."

[Delmonico]

Oh the hinges are of leather,
and the windows have no glass,
and the north wall lets the howlin blizzard in.

But I'm happy as a clam
here on the land of Uncle Sam
in my little old sod shanty on the plain.

(No google just memory, my friend Roger Welsh sings that.  Remember Postcards from Neabraska with him and Charles Karult?)

:Any way I got an idea bout Gopher Grease and the snakes.  But don't tell him."

[Silver Creek Slim]

Mum's the word.