How to make a cowboy hat

Looking the Part

I'm not a hat person. Although I own dozens of hats, I seldom wear one. I don't even like helmets. I grew up in a generation where you just wheeled your bike out of the garage and went riding without a helmet or spandex regalia. When we pulled our long boards to the beach behind our bikes, we wore flip flops, board shorts, and little else. I ski with soft head gear and when I surf, so far I can still rely on my hair to keep the sun from burning the top of my head.

That said, I like cowboy hats. I own one but seldom wear it because after all these years, it still looks new. I bought it at Wall Drug, and it immediately blew off my head and rolled down the center of the street for a quarter mile and still looked brand spankin' new*. I envy tattered, sweat-stained cowboy hats that scream authenticity. Mine says tenderfoot in neon. I know, I know, if I wore it more, it would eventually look like the genuine article. I'm just not a hat person.

For western head gear, I prefer Resistol, but here's a video from Stetson about making cowboy hats. Betcha thought it was a lot simpler.

* I'm a bit obsessed with phrases. This is an interesting article about the origins of brand spanking new.

Surfers, Cowboys, and Manifest Destiny

The March issue of Vanity Fair has a great article on the iconic movie poster for Bruce Brown’s Endless Summer, titled “One Summer, Forever” By Lili Anolik. I often blog about surfing and my Westerns, but I always thought the only connection was my interest in both. Anolik set me straight. In the article, she wrote,

“And the image’s hero, the surfer, was a new kind of hero. Well, he was old and new. If he’d been born a hundred years earlier, he’d have been a cowboy. He had the cowboy’s instinctive loathing of fences, love of the great wide-open. And what was standing at the farthest edge of America, surveying the Pacific, but the next logical phase of Manifest Destiny and lighting out for the territory and Westward ho.”

Why I never saw that before is beyond me. At least Anolik has given me an excuse to intersperse an occasional reference to surfing on this blog.  By the way, this is a fun article if you have any interest in surfing, film, design, nostalgia, sports, world travel, or tan lines.

Not this day

I'm staying in San Diego for the winter and have been able to do two of my favorite things: writing and surfing.

I’m happy to make progress on Crossing The Animas, but surfing is a greater treat because I live most of the year in the heartland. The problem with surfing is that it requires a cooperative ocean, a rarity in Nebraska. On this visit to Pacific Beach, the ocean has been semi-cooperative. We've had days of heavy breezes, tiny waves, and rain, but also plenty of days of good surf. During the week, the crowds have been reasonable, but the weekends are a different matter. The two enemies of surfing are crowds in the water and wind. A 56 hour workweek would fix one, but Mother Nature seems to have a mind of her own.

Crowded Wave

Wind Blown

After a long absence, I always wonder if can still surf. This is a young person’s sport, and every time I look in the mirror, I’m reminded that I’m in a different category. Do I have the stamina, and more important, can I handle a wave if I catch one. When you get older and stay inland most of the year, surfing feels iffy.  It’s strenuous, especially when you don’t do it every day. The good news is that I continue to enjoy myself and get a few good rides each time I go out.

One day will be my last day surfing, but happily, not this day.

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