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168 Tamale Ridge by: Chuck Cusimano

not required to work but she says it makes her happy. She remains to be, the perfect wife. She

tends to her chores and makes me happier with each passing day here on Tamale Ridge.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE:

The story you have just read is a work of fiction. The names of the people are mostly fictitous

with few exceptions. One that stands out is the “Lopez” from east of Trinidad that won the

bronc riding was one of my mentors as a kid growing up on the Box Ranch. Joe Lopez was

actually tricked by his father, Elfido, when Joe was 16 years old. Elfido told Joe that, “Some

fellers need help with some broncs and we got to go help them.” Joe won the prize money and

didn’t have a clue that it was a contest. He said, “Shoot, my dad knew I wouldn’t have wanted to

do it if I’d known it was a contest.”

To my knowledge, there is no such place by the name of TAMALE RIDGE, in New Mexico or

anywhere else. If there is, it's purely coincidental. I know for a fact that at least one horse has

gone by the name of “Tamale”. Although, I believe it was a nickname. This story has nothing to

do with that horse.

I chose the local because of my intimate knowledge of the country. I rode a lot of the

mountain country northwest of the town of Raton, New Mexico and also the canyon country in

southeastern Colorado while earning my pay as a working cowboy. I also grew up north of the

town of Branson, Colorado, where my dad worked for the “Box Ranch” in the 1960s’. I grew up

close to Folsom, New Mexico, Trinchera, Colorado, and Trinidad, Colorado. Of course my

paternal grandparents had a ranch in Frisco Canyon. It was the Cusimano’s mentioned in this

fictional book, as the Italian family in Frisco Canyon.

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