Today, I’m remembering my Grandpa’s funeral 5 years ago.
When I’m writing and Crazy Hoss says something crazy, I’m thinking of my Grandpa. This picture reminds me of Grandpa, and looks a lot like how I imagine Crazy Hoss.
Grandpa wasn’t really a cowboy, but he did live by the Code of the West, and he worked outside all day like a cowboy.
He wore big workboots, and like all the cowboys in Looking Glass Lake, he loved the outdoors, his momma, and God.
Grandpa believed folks should get married young. For years, every time he saw me, he’d ask me when I was going to get married. I can easily imagine him kicking back on the porch of the Moose Dimple cafe in Looking Glass Lake, helping Fern Aimstock match up those loco cowboys and cowgirls.
Although I never caught him in the act of meddlin’ in other folk’s business, I sure wouldn’t put it past him. 🙂
Like Crazy Hoss, Grandpa had a long beard. He was tough as rawhide, and he could be more stubborn than a mule at a square dance…but he could also be tender.
And he told the best stories.
So with every book I write, I hope I tell the story like Grandpa would…a little larger than life, and lots of laughs.
Every book, like this one here, has a little tip of my hat to Grandpa.