Cowboys and reality

"The Naked Spur" - A bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.



Director: Anthony Mann
Writers: Sam Rolfe, Harold Jack Bloom
Stars:James Stewart, Janet Leigh and Robert Ryan

Just finished watching this very 'black' western - probably a classic of its genre and period.` What drives me mad is how these guys survived all their ill-treatments, beatings and wounds to get up off their bed the next day (or close to it) and perform marvelous athletic feats.

Must be better breed of men in those days compared to today!

Last November (2010) it was pissing rain. We had over 200mm in two days. I went out to Peter's place, a sheep property at the back of Boorowa, between Frogmore and Cowra. He had 250 weaned lambs in a gully that was filling with water and they were getting wetter and wetter, weaker and weaker as the rain, wind and cold took effect.

A group of us mustered up every animal transport we could find and headed over there - at $250/head there was a lot of cash crop involved as well as the lives of some stupid, defenceless lambs who did not know how to fend for themselves. They just stayed stuck in that muddy gully as the rain poured down.

I ended up with a double Bogey tow-trailer with added steel mesh sides and towed it with my truck. We dragged those lambs out one-by one - four of us - and loaded them onto trucks and trailers in pouring, freezing rain and wind. It was blowing that hard the rain was coming sideways and stung like the beejeezus (apologies to those offended by the term). anyway,I had got about twenty or so on board - wet wool, saturated, stupid sheep/lambs. kicking and bawling - when I noticed three had fallen at the front of the trailer and were in danger of being trampled by the rest.

I jumped up on the draw bar, reached over the wire and hauled those 'mothers' up off their Rrrrsss's and made sure they were secure. I turned and jumped off the draw bar, hitting my calf as I went but paid it no heed as I had to get the truck and trailer out of there before we were bogged in.

Later, back at the house, we all trooped in for a well earned drink when Brian, my mate's son-in-law said:
"Who's bleeding?"
What do you mean?" someone said.
"There's a trail of blood from someones left boot,right through the back and into the kitchen!" he said.

We all stopped and looked around. Peter said:

"It's you John!" and I looked down and blood was seeping out of my left boot. I sat down and someone pulled up the leg of my 'Trakkie-Daks' and there was a deep gash in my calf. No damage to the material of my 'Trakkie-Daks' but a gash that later measured 3cms long, 2cms wide and 1 cm deep with blood oozing out of it, a large vein exposed and you could see the top layer of the muscle sinew below.

Jump ahead - Its now middle February and I've just had the last dressing removed by the practice nurse who has pronounced it "healed" - that was 12 to 14 weeks for that wound to heal and required dressings two to three times a week after  an initial two courses of antibiotic and a tetanus shot.

Yair! OK! I'm going close to 70 years old, am a Type II diabetic and that calf muscle was on the same leg I had my total knee transplant last June.

Thing was, I didn't even know at the time I had done the damage and was OK until we discovered it.  That leg wound hurt like hell for the first 6 weeks and I was really limping.

So ... what price Hollywood screen heroes?