Cactus Tracks and Cowboy Philosophy

Baxter Black, a veterinarian turned writer/troubadour/raconteur and periodic commentator on National Public Radio, has produced a collection of his best anecdotes, songs, poems, and wisdom from the range. "My world is one in which people have lots of wrecks," he reports in Cactus Tracks. "Cow wrecks; horse wrecks; financial wrecks; flood, fire, and drought wrecks. Laughing at our 'wrecks' seems to make the tribulations of our lifestyle easier to handle." Here is the complete collection of his commentaries from NPR's Morning Edition. With subjects ranging from naked wrangling to life lessons ("When our opinions get as immovable as a granite outhouse, God has a way of shaking the foundation"), Baxter drops his reader-listener right into the prickly heart of things.