Ever watch the old cowboy movies and see the cook go to the porch and clang the dinner bell to call the ranch hands in to eat from the bunkhouse? It was always a welcoming sound after working in the hot sun ten to twelve hours a day. And boy could those hungry cowboys put away the food. Ahhh…the memories of growing up on a ranch!
I can’t ever remember a time when our porch wasn’t home to a triangular shaped iron dinner bell. Mama would always use it to call me in when she thought I’d had enough fishin’ or playin’ for the time being with chores awaiting. We knew the sound of the dinner bell meant business and was a mighty important call to listen for. The sound could be heard all over the ranch so there was just no excuse for being late or puttin’ Mama off.
Those years have since passed but I get a twinkle in my eye every time I happen to come across one of these western wrought iron dinner bells. It just seems to me that every ranch isn’t a real ranch until it has one. With age, sometimes these dinner bells may begin looking a little rusty but that’s ok. The rust gives them character just like the deeply etched lines on the tanned leathered face of a hard working cowboy.
