Coyotes And Cockleburs

About the Book

There is an adage the claims the quickest, easiest, and surest way to achieve notoriety and fortune is to be born rich, good looking, come from a linage of well-known people, and if your ancestors were politicians, your chances were even better. However, if you were born into a ranch workers family during the depression of the 1920s-30s with a shortage of the above attributes, life was apt to be interesting if not arduous. My story starts a short time before I was born on a Texas ranch during the depression of the 1920s-30s, and continues through growing up rurally in a caring family under conditions that were clean and comfortable but considered austere and primitive, even then, but we were not unique; there were many families in the same condition. Being in our situation was not necessarily bad; there was more opportunity for improvement than failure and any change was more apt to be positive. At a young age, when I became aware of our situation, I decided I would somehow improve my situation. During my endeavors to do so I tried many occupations that sometimes created dubious situations that could have been avoided, had I been better prepared. I tell of the trials, tribulations and successes of a country boy trying to get ahead and fit into a fast changing world, from ranch life to active participation in the expanding technology that followed the end of WWII, [i.e., from Red Chief/pencil to personal computers and “Star Wars”]. This was all done while keeping in touch with my country roots and spending time, when possible, hunting, fishing, and later working with wildlife management agencies as a volunteer/reservist. This book is not a how to do it tale, or an advice giving yarn. It is how I did it through hard knocks, bruises and a lot of luck. Anyone trying to duplicate my efforts would be advised to consider a more orthodox route in their undertakings.

About the Author

Jerry Umphres was born the winter of 1931 among the “Coyote and Cockleburs”, on a 40 section ranch near the small town of Tarpley, Texas and spent most of his early years of his life with his Father Jonnie, Mother Althia, Brother Bill, and Sister Barbara Umphres on ranches on the Edwards Plateau of West Texas. His story is one of living a country lifestyle during the depression of the 1920s-30s, progressing through his agrarian life as an adolescent, and of his later becoming involved in National level Research and Development projects, all while retaining his love and involvement with things of nature.