Cowcamp Cooks, pt. 2



1986 Branding Crew at Cowcamp Cookhouse

Virginia left me with lots of story material. I need to get them written down before they fade away. Ray always says those are things he'd just as soon forget.

Ray ended up hauling Virginia to town before she ended up killing someone with the .45 she'd use to threaten the cowboys with, until they'd finally gotten a belly-full and told the Cowboss (Ray) what was going on. He tried to get some backup, but the Manager told Ray he'd have to handle that one on his own. He'd seen enough guns in Korea.

The night Virginia left her mark in the wall,  (part 1), Harold managed to get her bullets away after the fight, and escaped out the door. The cowboy wasn't so lucky. He'd been visiting in the cookhouse after they'd come home from the laundromat in town. He was sitting at the backside of the table against the wall.

When Harold escaped, Virginia picked up a big butcher knife. The cowboy told us she stood there shaking that knife at him while yelling about what a rotten s.o.b. Harold was. He said he just sat there, shook his head up and down, and agreed with her. As soon as she turned around for a minute, he escaped out the window.

She couldn't cook anyway. She used cream of chicken soup for everything. To cook eggs in the morning, she'd just break a dozen eggs into a cake pan, and bake them in the oven.

One poor young fellow who was away from home for his first big adventure, couldn't handle those eggs in the morning. That ticked Virginia off to the point that she stuck that .45 in his face and said, "you little s.o.b., you will eat those eggs!". He did. But he never went in for breakfast after that. I think she ruined it for him. The romance of cowcamp life wore off real quick. He only lasted a few months.

She was the first. We never did find a good cook that year. From February to November we went through five cooks. Including me since I was usually the back-up between cooks. I never really minded, except for having to haul and heat water for dishes. Once I'd get the place cleaned up, it was actually kind of cozy.

I missed the old cookhouse on branding days though. We all got to eat at the long old table and benches out front. In 1990 everyone was provided with their own cooking facilities, and the cookhouses were shut down. Since then the crew either packed a lunch or waited until they got home.

One cowboy who later had a horseback wedding in summer cowcamp, liked the spring camp so much he took his bride to the old cookhouse for their wedding night.

They're not together anymore.