It was back in ye old-timey days before the Barnes packed up the coach and struck west to find his fortune. Lost 12 mules on the way if the stories are true - had to eat 'em when they got snowed in at Donner Pass.
Tough times those...the Barnes' family survived by burning Mrs. Barnes' breast implants. (They were made o' whale blubber back then...burned nice, but made for a lumpy teat.)
But anywho, Rick set up a homestead out yonder in Texas an' he's seen some boom times an' some bust times.
But he's still willin' to tell a young feller he might be recruiting' about his days back east when the days were long an' cold an' the smell of failure was jus' settling' o'er the city of Providence.
Mah blanket jus' fell off mah lap...where's that nurse?