When your Dad’s a cowboy you grow up a little bit differently than most kids.  He doesn’t take you to football games, teach you the rules to real baseball or show you how to wash a car.  He would not even consider taking you tubing on the lake. He doesn’t wear tennis shoes, baseball caps or ties.  And when he visits you in the big city he sticks out like a sore thumb.

What you get instead is someone who teaches you how to ride a horse, rope a calf and fix fence.  You learn the rules to Cowboy baseball, which is an odd combination of baseball, dodgeball and football and the rules are a little different every time you play.  It’s more exciting than real baseball but also has a much higher incidence of injuries and doesn’t translate well to the school playground…..

You learn that a pickup or…