Annual cowboy poetry at Castle Valley outdoors

By PHIL FAUVER Guest Writer

On Aug. 26 the Emery County Historical Society and Castle Valley Outdoors presented an evening of entertainment of music and singing from the Val Jensen band consisting of Jim Hill, Val Jensen, Kay Jensen and Ronald Jones.
The weather was warm with no breeze. The sun was setting behind the Western hills, painting the hills and cliffs East of the ranch house a golden reddish color. The east hills were reflected in the Castle Valley Outdoors large pond beside the Muddy Creek. The lawn was of a dark green shade and had been recently watered. A perfect place to sit and watch the sun go down and be entertained. Hearers agreed the cowboy poetry from Kent Petersen and Tyler Jeffs was outstanding.
Castle Valley Outdoors is a part of Castle Valley Ranch located a few miles north of Emery. Most of the 150 plus people brought chairs of one variety or another to be seated on the lawn in the shade of the main lodge. The band was placed on the patio beside the main lodge. This provided very good acoustics for those sitting on the lawn chairs. The place where the chairs were positioned was a slight rise in the ground. This allowed the guests to look down upon the Val Jensen band. This was the best location yet for this event.
Dottie Grimes, the curator of the Emery County archives introduced the Emery County Historical Society program for the evening. Kent Petersen was to be the master of ceremonies. Grimes read a short history of cowboys in America. Cowboys still dress and do many of the same things they did before this country was settled by pioneers.
One of the first stories Peterson told was about his history as a cowboy. The Val Jensen Band played Stuck In Folsom Prison as their first song followed by a song A Good Hearted Woman and a Two Timing Man. They played an old favorite Under The Double Eagle.
Jeffs, with his small son Will standing by his side, told a joke about how to train a dragon. He also told a story about a Cowboy Poultry gathering. It is not poultry but Cowboy Poetry. Then the story “If my nose was running money I would blow it all on you.”
Jeffs played several songs on his harmonica, such as Home On The Range, You Are My Sunshine and Come Come Ye Saints.
Petersen followed up with a story about learning the pronunciation of Nacogdoches, Texas. He also told about riding a bucking horse that gave him some bruises, aches and pains from the fall.
When there was a pause in the Val Jensen musical entertainment. Evelyn Huntsman came forward with her family to sing a few songs. Huntsman, Jackie Allred, Kaden Allred, and Arilyn Allred, sang, I’m My Own Grandpa and a couple of other songs for the group.
When the evening was over and before leaving the ranch nearly everyone took advantage of the dessert of Dutch oven cobbler and ice cream being served by the Emery County Historical Society. Everyone said they had a wonderful evening and are looking forward to another year of the same.
The lyrics to I Am My Own Grandpa as sung by the Allreds.
Many many years ago when I was 23,
I got married to a widow who was pretty as could be.
This widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her, and soon the two were wed.
This made my dad my son-in-law, and changed my very life.
My daughter was my mother, for she was my father’s wife.
To complicate the matters worse, although it brought me joy,
I soon became the father
of a bouncing baby boy.
My little baby then became a brother-in-law to dad.
And so became my uncle,
Though it made me very sad.
For if he was my uncle,
Then that also made him brother
To the widow’s grown-up daughter
Who, of course, was my step-mother.
Father’s wife then had a son, Who kept them on the run.
And he became my grandson,
For he was my daughter’s son.
My wife is now my mother’s mother
And it makes me blue.
Because, although she is my wife,
She’s my grandmother, too.
If my wife is my grandmother,
Then I am her grandchild.
And every time I think of it,
It simply drives me wild.
For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother,
I am my own grandpa!