Dan Burle writes second book
BONNE TERRE – When Dan Burle Sr. published his first book, “L.O.L. Ranch Stories, Part I: Goofs on Hoofs,” he really hadn’t thought about writing a Part 2.
He had added “Part I: Goofs on Hoofs” to the title to make it sound sillier.
“Then everyone asked me when part two will come out,” he said.
Burle’s “L.O.L. Ranch Stories, Part II: Spoofs and Goofs on Hoofs” was released May 31. The book is available at the Oasis Christian Book Store in Farmington, Books Galore Store in Festus, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and Amazon Kindle. For more information visit www.cedarspringranch-h-c-co.com
The book offers his own tales and some cowboy facts mixed with humor and fabrication.
“There are humorous (real) ranch stories but then I took various subjects from the Old West and made spoofs out of them,” Burle said. “The Spoofs (lost cowboy facts) on the Old West are way out there.”
Names of chapters in his book include “Top 20 Examples of How City Slickers Don’t Understand Cowboy Talk,” “Top Ranch Sayings in Precarious Situations,” “Ranch Cow Tries to Commit Suicide But Saved by a Tranquilizer Dart,” “Anguish Double Whammy,” and “Crazy Cow Goes Ballistic.”
He jokes about how city folk think “purebred” means their bread is free of pesticides, herbicides or fungicides and that a “cowboy” must be the first cousin to the elephant man.
On the other hand, he says cowboys think a web site is “the corner in an old hay barn, where big ole spiders hang out” and that an oxymoron must be a “really dumb cow.”
One of his spoofs is about meeting a 99-year-old Indian chief. Another is about his decade-long search to identify the Old West’s first town drunk.
On the back of his book, Burle describes himself as an author, cattleman, horseman, cowboy, humorist, musician, retired corporate executive and family man.
He and his wife of 43 years, Bernice, own Cedar Spring Ranch Horse & Cattle Company north of Bonne Terre where they raise and train registered Missouri Trotter Horses and breed and raise registered Black Angus Cattle.
They currently have 11 fox trotters and he’s in the process of training four of them to ride. They have 30 head of cattle, a dozen calves and about seven more coming as of June 1.
He will have book signings in the area. The first will be at the Jefferson County Public Library in Arnold June 9.
Then he will have booths at the Ste. Genevieve County Fair July 13-15, the St. Francois County Fair Aug. 1-4 and the St. Joseph Catholic Church Picnic in Bonne Terre Sept. 16.
But the event he is really excited about is Silver Dollar City’s Salute to the Great American Cowboy in October. A lot of the old cowboy actors will be there, along with western musicians from all over the country, cowboy poets, stunt men, and artists.
Burle said there will not be a Part 3 to the book. However, he is working on a western novel he’d like to complete by the end of the year. “Three For Hire: The $1,000,000 Dodge City Gold Heist” is based on a fictional plot in a factual time period with factual people of the time.
He is also working on a children’s book about a lost calf. His two 7-year-old granddaughters will illustrate the book.
Teresa Ressel is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 179 or at tressel@dailyjournalonline.com.
