June 2025 Photo Contest, Favorite Hat(s)

[TCRanch]

@CowboyRam picked Your Favorite Hat(s) for the June contest. Send me your entry PM through the 30th.

 

[Dave]

Darrell who use to post on ranchers wrote this. He told me I inspired him to write this when I told him that my wife was complaining about all the ink pens which I had borrowed from sale yards.

Hats

My wife says I have, too many hats?

That's like a cat lady. with too many cats,

Or a vampire, with too many bats.

I mean, who in the hell ever has enough hats?



I have a work hat I wear, when I cut cedar post.

I have my favorite one, that I love the most.

I have one I wear for breakfast, when we eat French toast.

And one I wear to parties I am asked to host.



I have one that I wear when the sun is high.

I have one for cold weather, when snow falls from the sky.

I have one just for airplanes, if I ever go fly.

And I've got one I wear, if I'm sad, and cry.



I have one I wear, when I'm ridin my horse.

And one that I only wear, to church, of course.

One that I wear, if I'm feeling remorse.

And one, when a politician, wants me to endorse.



But, somehow she thinks I have way too many.

I think if she had her way, I wouldn't have any.

But it's tough to define, how many is plenty?

And my collection could be worth, a very pretty penny.



She can't figure out where they all came from.

I've got a good system, and it isn't random.

Feed stores and auctions, have given me some.

And the tractor part's store, hands them out like they're chum.



When I walk in a store and see hats on the wall

How can I resist, that I kinda want them all?

And if I do not buy at least one, the salesman will bawl!

Now truly, does that sound strange to y'all?



There just ain't no way I've got too many hats!

It's like having a tire, that never goes flat.

I mean who in the hell, wouldn't want that?

Imagine a cowboy, that only owns, one dog gone hat!



But I promised my wife I'd try to cut back

Maybe only have seven, that are felt and black.

But I'm kind of a junkie, hooked on hats, not crack.

But if I buy one more, I'm bound to catch flack.



So I guess my collection, will not be expanding,

Now that she and I have, our new understanding.

I just had to choose one, when I came to this branding.

Or I may end up exactly like that bull calf, they are currently banding.



Darrell Holden

Nov 22

 

[greybeard]

Are ball caps included in 'hats'?

 

[CowboyRam]

Are ball caps included in 'hats'?

I would think so, it covers the head.

 

[TCRanch]

Are ball caps included in 'hats'?

You betcha! Think outside the box. My fave is a winter Bomber with a bill and ear flaps. NOT sexy but fashion and glamor are overrated when it's rotten cold. And for the ladies, did you wear something atrocious for the Kentucky Derby but still love it? Hard hats? Beanies? Winter hats? All in addition to cowboy hats, fishing hats, etc.

 

[Brute 23]

This is a good one, every one should have at least one hat.

 

[TCRanch]

 

[Nesikep]

I need a thinking cap but I always end up with this

 

[Ouachita]

Hey Murray,
It's time to break out the beer helmet.

 

[greybeard]

Seeing Nesikep's post, brought back a memory from long long ago.

I think I was in the 3rd, maybe 4th grade when a new family moved to our little town and their son joined our class. Tall, lanky, and probably a year or 2 older than the rest of us....& He was not the brightest bulb in the candelabra but he was country as an old 8n. When the teacher would ask him a question (she learned not to soon enough) and he didn't know the answer right off, he would take his right hand, spread all 5 fingers out like a claw, and put his hand on top of his head, saying "I gotta out on my thinking cap". It was something his mother had told him to do at home I'm pretty sure, but it looked so stupid... Try as she might, teacher couldn't get him to stop doing that. I often wonder what happened to people I knew early on, like him....and just a few years later, the Cajun guy that joined our class (8th grade?) that covertly dipped all day and would spit in the top of his bright colored cowboy boots he wore with pants inside. By the end of the day, he sloshed a bit when he walked but as far as I knew, he never got caught at it.

Another boy, who lived in a train car with his mother and father, on the track siding. His dad did something for the railroad and they moved all over the USA. He was just there 1 year and I guess as they say, they moved on down the track.. I thought at the time, that would be a grand lifestyle, but now that I'm older..

chew tobacco chew tobacco chew tobacco spit....

 

[TCRanch]

Bump!

 

[Travlr]

Seeing Nesikep's post, brought back a memory from long long ago.

I think I was in the 3rd, maybe 4th grade when a new family moved to our little town and their son joined our class. Tall, lanky, and probably a year or 2 older than the rest of us....& He was not the brightest bulb in the candelabra but he was country as an old 8n. When the teacher would ask him a question (she learned not to soon enough) and he didn't know the answer right off, he would take his right hand, spread all 5 fingers out like a claw, and put his hand on top of his head, saying "I gotta out on my thinking cap". It was something his mother had told him to do at home I'm pretty sure, but it looked so stupid... Try as she might, teacher couldn't get him to stop doing that. I often wonder what happened to people I knew early on, like him....and just a few years later, the Cajun guy that joined our class (8th grade?) that covertly dipped all day and would spit in the top of his bright colored cowboy boots he wore with pants inside. By the end of the day, he sloshed a bit when he walked but as far as I knew, he never got caught at it.

Another boy, who lived in a train car with his mother and father, on the track siding. His dad did something for the railroad and they moved all over the USA. He was just there 1 year and I guess as they say, they moved on down the track.. I thought at the time, that would be a grand lifestyle, but now that I'm older..

chew tobacco chew tobacco chew tobacco spit....

I'll always remember the kid that came to school so dirty that he had deep dirt in his pores. In third grade we had some pretty young skin and the pores were hard to find, but this kid had ingrained dirt showing them all. Nice kid, but quiet, and hardly anyone would call him a friend. I got him to talk and even laugh a few times but he was pretty uncomfortable.
Lots of people have come and gone. Gotta wonder what their lives were like and what became of them...

 

[greybeard]

My favorite but not entered because
1. I didn't take the photo
and,
2. I'm in the photo.

I still wear this old palm hat a lot just because. Wife hates it, townie neighbors are envious. I don't care . (Photo is about 17 years old)

 

[Dave]

I wish I had my old hard hat. The one I had on when that top came out of a snag and hit me. It pretty much saved my life so that would make it my favorite hat. But the boys left it up in the brush when they packed me out. So it is still in a draw up Canyon River on Simpson ground somewhere. The regrowth is probably more than 40 feet tall by now.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

I wish I had my old hard hat. The one I had on when that top came out of a snag and hit me. It pretty much saved my life so that would make it my favorite hat. But the boys left it up in the brush when they packed me out. So it is still in a draw up Canyon River on Simpson ground somewhere. The regrowth is probably more than 40 feet tall by now.

@Dave, I'm very, very glad you had that hard hat on! An 'incident' happened last week here that brought back memories of a 'woods' crew within the range department when I was an employee of the Colville Reservation. Your story here is eerily similar/nearly identical to what happened many years ago on the reservation. About a week before this happened, I raised a concern about crew members not wearing hard hats. What happened is that the crew was cutting a dead pine snag. AKA "widowmaker". What happened is that the top came out of the snag (just as you describe) the crew tried to move away in the opposite direction of the top. The top 'flipped' on adjoining trees in the direction of the crew. The crew was still carrying the chainsaw. The top struck the head of the crew member carrying the chain saw. They had NO hat on. The rest of the crew rushed him to the hospital with severe head trauma. The crew member died on the operating table from a trauma induced heart attack. Hard hats are no joke. I get why you wish you still had that hard hat. No 'pretty much' saved your life in my opinion. It did save your life. You wouldn't be alive had it not been for that hat, or if you were, you would not be the same person you are now.

 

[TCRanch]

My favorite but not entered because
1. I didn't take the photo
and,
2. I'm in the photo.

I still wear this old palm hat a lot just because. Wife hates it, townie neighbors are envious. I don't care . (Photo is about 17 years old)

View attachment 59574

Your original CT Family pic!