Which side?

Every now and then, a western movie comes on TV, and we usually watch it. Some are OK, some good, and some stink. But now and then, a reality show comes on about living in the West and riding and working horses. What makes me wonder is when the cowboys or cowgirls get on the horse on the right side. This is a no no. One gets on a horse on the left side. Some calf ropers may train their horses so they get on on the right side. Don't know if they do, but the normal horse mount is from the left side.

I got to wondering why? Why would a cowboy get on a horse on the left side? One usually has the reins in his left hand, usually grabs ahold of the horn with the right hand, sticks his left foot in the stirrup and swings the right foot over the horse. Maybe he mounts from the left side so he can grasp the horn with the right hand. Don't know.

Kind of like hand milking a milk cow. Always milk her from the right side. Maybe once in a blue moon one has to milk from the left side but next to never. We always set our stool down by the cows right flank, sat down and put the hobbles on her, brushed off her teats, moved the bucket under her and went to milking. But we always sat by her right flank. We hand milked, which probably makes a difference. Dad never had an automatic milker except for Mom and Mick and me. She was milked from the right side.

I have an old Massey Ferguson 135, and I next to always get on it from the left side. It's set up so one can climb on from both sides, but I just choose the left side. Maybe it's because of my early training on horses, but then I started milking about the same time as I started riding horses. I think most big tractors with cabs have them rigged for the driver to get on using the left side. It just seems right for me to use the left side. I've gotten on using the right side, but it's awkward and doesn't feel right.

The western world has the steering wheels configured for the driver to sit on the left side of the car or pickup. The British use the right side, opposite of the Americans. Both seem to work. I wonder why the different sides are used? Most microwaves that I've been around open from right to left. In my opinion a microwave would be more useful if the door could be swapped from left to right or vice versa or open down rather than left or right.

The old iceboxes opened from the right to the left as did the first refrigerators (I think). Dad mounted an old pitcher pump on the right side of the kitchen sink probably because most of us were right-handed. Mick was left-handed but he did a lot with his right hand. The well was out in front of the house but Dad fixed it so we had water right in the kitchen. The old milk separator was so you could crank it right-handed or left. Not sure if it was made for righties or lefties. And maybe part of the reason the steering wheel was on the left side of the car was so that the driver could shift right handed and run the radio and heater and such with the right hand. Not real sure.

Funny but we haven't heard a single person (or I haven't) complain about this being on the right side or the left side. Not many things today aren't being grumbled about in the news or on talk shows or in the papers. Seems like most people are grumbling or bickering about something.

As I sit here at the computer, the only thing I'd change is I need five or six dry days so I could disk our garden and get ready to plant some onions, cabbage, broccoli and kohlrabi. But they can wait.