Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Life on Rancho in 1848 (by William)

To Ethan in New York

March 7, 1848

Dear Ethan,

How are you?  I am good.  Life on a rancho is hard but fun.  I either spend my day with dad lassoing cattle that belongs to our ranch, or with mom planting, picking vegetables, and cooking. 


Dad and I are taking care of a lot of cattle.  There is no fence so they wander all over our rancho.  We hired a few vaqueros to help bring back cattle that have wandered too far and count them.

My mom plants mainly vegetables like tomatoes, corn, and lettuce. She also plants wheat.  She loves to plant and see daisies, roses, petunias, poppies, and zinnias grow.  I help her by picking and bringing vegetables, wheat, and flowers home.  I also plant seeds to help her.



Guess what?  Dad finally bought me my very own horse.  It is brown so I named it Coffee.  I need to get up every morning bright and early to brush and feed Coffee.  Now at least I don’t need to sit on the same horse as dad.  When Coffee does the thing all horses do, I scoop the poop up and put it in mom’s garden.  Still it is good to feel the wind whizzing around when we break into a full gallop.

When I help dad, it is hard to use a lasso to catch a cow.  When I help mom, I have to go back and forth picking and bringing stuff to our house, but looking at flowers always softens my heart.  I have to brush, feed, and pick up Coffee’s droppings, but on the other hand, it’s always nice to take him out for a ride.  As you can see, Ethan, life on the rancho is hard but fun. 

Sincerely,


William

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