Mr Jim Keith

Shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, my mother gave birth to me, the last of her four sons. Our sister was born fourteen months later. Dad got called to serve in the Army, but soon got a medical discharge. He had lost an eye in a childhood accident,

and supposedly couldn't shoot. During my military time, I shot “expert”, but dad could out shoot me any day. Their loss was our gain. He returned to his former job as a state trapper and usually camped on private ranches where he was assisting with controlling predators of ranch livestock, and game animals.

He would take me with him while running trap lines for coyotes and bobcats, but some of the hunts for mountain lion or bear were a little too active for a tag-along kid. The times when I wasn't helping Dad was when I would go pester any ranch cowboy that would put up with me. I spent most of my childhood on various ranches in Mew Mexico, and grew to admire ranch cowboys.

A cowboy will know what a horse or cow is thinking before they do. He will be in the right place at the right time, and knows how to treat all animals and people with the respect they deserve as God's creatures. He honors the earth, its land, air, and water; and enjoys the beauty of sunsets and sunrises. He is in God's church every day while tending to the duties of his calling. On top of all that, he must make a “hand” by doing all he can when he can.

After working as a cowboy for a number of years, I built on to one of the skills that I had acquired and became a horseshoer, or farrier, as they are often called. Which led to blacksmithing. These trades have taken me many places in the world, and allowed me to achieve some honors.

During this period I wrote articles for trade journals and other magazines. Art was always an attraction to me, so now my main focus is on producing both two dimensional and three dimensional pieces along with sharing my experiences through my writing.