The Cow-Pie Chronicles (21 page)

furnace
> a heater that burns coal, oil or gas and is used to heat a house or other building (
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)

Gene
Autry
> known as the “singing cowboy,” he made many cowboy movies in the 1930s and 1940s and a TV western in the 1950s (
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)

golden
palomino
> a horse having a yellow or golden-colored coat with a white or cream-colored mane and tail (
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)

gored
> to be stabbed in the body by a bull's horn (
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)

grate
> heavy metal screen that allows air to pass through (
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)

grazing
> cattle or other livestock eating grass in a field (
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)

gun-shy
> a hunting dog that jumps, cries or tries to hide everytime a nearby hunter shoots his gun (
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)

harvest
> cut, pick or in some other way remove crops growing in a field or orchard (
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)

hay chaff
> small pieces of hay, straw, corn husks or other plants (
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)

hayloft
> an upstairs area in a barn used to store hay (
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)

Holstein
> a black-and-white dairy cow (
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)

horseshoes
> game where horseshoes are tossed attempting to land them around or very near a steel pin stuck in the ground (
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)

host
> the person holding or in charge of an event or party to which people are invited (
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)

insulators
> often made of glass or plastic and used to hold electric wires along a fence (
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)

intimidating
> frightening or scary (
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)

loft
> a small room or space above the main floor of a building (
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)

logging chain
> heavy chain used to wrap around and move logs (
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)

manure
> cow poop, often used as fertilizer for plants (
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)

manure
spreader
> a machine that breaks up and spreads cow manure on a farm field for use as fertilizer (
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)

military
-
grade
> high quality that can be used by the military (
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)

milking
machine
> used to take milk from cows using tubes and suction (
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)

milking
parlor
> area for holding cows for milking with a milking machine (
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)

molasses
> thick brown liquid made from raw sugar (
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)

mudroom
> small room or porch where wet and muddy boots and clothes can be removed before walking into a house (
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)

nitro
> short name for nitroglycerin, a liquid explosive also found in dynamite (
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)

pasture
> a grass field where cows and other animals can graze (
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)

periscope
> a long tube with mirrors inside that allows someone to see up and over something without being seen themselves, such as from a submarine (
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)

rafter
beams > the long and thick pieces of wood that hold up a barn's roof (
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)

ravine
> a narrow gorge or canyon with steep sides (
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)

referee
> a person who makes sure everyone follows the rules of a game (
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)

resourcefulness
> being quick and creative in solving a problem (
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)

rite of passage
> an event or ceremony marking an important stage in a person's life (
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)

rodeo
> contest where cowboys compete in riding and roping cows, bulls, calves and bucking horses (
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)

roost
> a high place where chickens like to spend the night (
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)

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
> husband and wife singing cowboys who starred in many movies and TV westerns in the 1950s (
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)

rustlers
> people who steal cattle (
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)

saloon
> a place where cowboys went to drink whiskey and beer (
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)

senator
> an elected member of the Senate, which is part of the United States government (
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)

sequined
> small, shiny disks sewn onto clothing (
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)

silo
> a tall, cylindrical building used to store corn, wheat and other grains after they are harvested (
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)

six-shooter
> a gun popularized by cowboys that held six bullets and was kept in a holster (
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)

sleet
> rain that falls as ice, often with snow, similar to hail

smirk
> smile in an irritating or silly way
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smoldering
> still burning slowly (
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)

stubble field
> a harvested field where only the short cut-off stubs of cornstalks remain standing (
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)

sulked
> being silent, unhappy or bad tempered (
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)

supper
> some people call their evening meal supper instead of dinner (
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)

Tinker Toy
> children's building toy made up of round wooden sticks and other pieces that can be put together in different shapes (
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)

udder
> the mammary sack on a cow, goat or other mammal where milk comes from (
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)

urban
dwellers > people who live in cities (
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)

vicious
> violent, mean, dangerous (
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)

wallop
> strike or hit hard, packing a punch (
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)

water trough
> a long, narrow container, similar to a bathtub, that holds drinking water for cattle and other animals (
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)

whooping
> spanking (
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)

Wild Kingdom
> popular television show that began in the early 1960s featuring wildlife from around the world (
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)

World War II veteran
> member of the military who served during World War II, 1939-1945 (
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)

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About the Author

James “Jim” Butler spent the first 11 years of his life on his family's Midwest dairy farm. Those years were filled with hard work, adventure and periodic suffering. He then moved to a town far away from country life where he became an excellent student and a track star, setting two school records. All the running he did on the farm really paid off!

Writing always fascinated him, even in grade school. In 1963, for a sixth-grade English assignment, he attempted to write a book about traveling to the moon. He got a “C” because the assignment was late and unfinished. But he kept writing, getting “A's” in English and winning a writing award in college. During those years, Jim often told funny stories to friends and relatives about things he did with his sister on the farm—things that often got them both into trouble or put them in sticky situations.

Five years ago, Jim wrote a few stories about his early farm adventures and sent them to a publisher. The publisher loved them and asked if he had more! He had a lot more, and those stories became the basis for
The Cow-Pie Chronicles
, his best book yet.

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