44forrest
New in Town
- Messages
- 39
- Location
- upstate NY
Hello. I joined last week and thought I would post a greeting. I found the Forum searching for hat stretching tips on google and have been having a great time reading the posts. So much new and great information. My idealized golden era is a littel lower on the socio-economic scale, more rural than urban. My ancestors were railroad people on my dad's side and rancing people on my mom's. I fancied railroad watches and cowboy clothes. I prefer a pair of bib overalls to a suite. And I have always loved the cowboy hat. My first hat was a JCPenny I inherited upon my grandfathers death when I was thirteen and working on a Norther CA cattle and sheep ranch. I wonder who made those thin felt hat for Penny's back then. During my redneck hippy days it was my uncles hand me down Stetson with holes in the crown, till some lowlife stole it in a Colorado bar one night, but it got me through the early 70's. When I could afford my own I bought a straw Resistol. A Stetson 4X followed in winter, a diamond shape, I picked it up in 77 in a western shope called "the Triple Tree" in Sonoma. It was my first new fur felt hat. I still have it. I picked up a black Bailey super wide brim in 79, but someone stole that one to. Needless to say I didn't hang out in a gentleman's club. I moved to NY in 84 and cowboy hats are rare here. It was then I started purchasing fedoras. I now have four, two mid size brims and two skinny's. being bald and it being cold here in winter, they became my standard work attire. But this year I hit 54 and started to wonder why the hell I was pandering to sensibilities of New Yorkers who chided me every time I wore my Stetson. If they loved the urban sensibility so much, why did they move up here to the Catskills. So lately, I have been wearing a cowboy hat to work every day. I see the raised eybrows and get the "where's your horse?" comments. Screw um. I now own four fur felt cowboy hats, three purchased on ebay over the past two months. My new favorite is a Biltmore silber belly "Silber Buckle". It feels soo smooth. I picked it up for $20 like new, not even broken in. I guess it was made in 94 from the tags inside. It has a 3 1/2 inch brim and a cattlemans crown and I look so different in it than I did as that long haired red neck in my uncles old Stetson. I look like the "man" now. That's OK , since I work for a Judge in a court house running a drug treatment court. The destructive ways of my youth have turned into a carieer aimed at combating rather than indulging addiction ( I have been clean and sober 26 years ). I haven't had a hat stolen since I got sober, come to think of it, haven't had my face rearranged either. Anyway ... thanks to you that brought this forum into being. I am really haveing a good time, something I now know how to do and still remember it. If there are any friends of Bill out there, give me a hollar.
