{"id":10742,"date":"2015-03-20T13:43:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-20T17:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=10742"},"modified":"2025-08-01T13:29:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T17:29:14","slug":"battle-of-the-ponderosa-aka-springtime-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=10742","title":{"rendered":"Battle of the Ponderosa — aka Springtime Chaos (by BluewindFarm)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/strong>:\u00a0 A plea for help turns into an urgent ride home, and a situation no one foresaw.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>:\u00a0 K (1,615 words)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Battle for the Ponderosa (aka Springtime Chaos)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright smiled as he and his two oldest sons mounted their horses to head for their home, The Ponderosa. For early April, the weather was unseasonably warm and in wanting to spare their horses that had yet to begin shedding their winter coats from working up an unnecessary sweat, Ben insisted in keeping them to a walk.<\/span><\/p>\n

The proud father listened as his middle son discussed his day; told how Adam helped him with his math problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThem numbers Mr. Dowlrimple wrote on the board didn\u2019t make no sense, but when Adam told me ta think about them bein’ cattle, well\u2026 I didn\u2019t have no trouble comin\u2019 up with the right answer,\u201d seven year old Hoss explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure your teacher was pleased with your results,\u201d Ben smiled.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave me an A- on my paper\u2026 Ya want ta see it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get home, I\u2019d be happy to see your paper, son.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGood\u2026 Ya think Hop Sing has a cookie or two to reward me for my hard work?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure Hop Sing will have a batch of cookies for you.\u201d Ben thought on the simple pleasures a man could enjoy; riding home with his two sons, and how some day, he would be riding home with all three of his sons. \u201cHow about you Adam?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI did okay today\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOkay?\u201d The boy was usually very verbose in his description of his day at school. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t sound like you. Did something happen?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat ain\u2019t right Adam. Mr. Dowlrimple\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShut up Hoss!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, that\u2019s no way to speak to your brother.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, sir,\u201d Adam stared across to where his brother rode on the other side of their father. His apology to his brother was less than sincere, \u201cSorry Hoss.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSounds to me like something happened at school. Would you care to explain?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t do anything wrong, if that\u2019s what you\u2019re asking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not what I\u2019m asking, Adam.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo I have to tell you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t, I will,\u201d Hoss added.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHoss\u2026\u201d Adam growled.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWeren\u2019t your fault that Betsy wrote that note and that Abigail ratted you out to the teacher.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about this note?\u201d When Adam didn\u2019t answer, Ben added, \u201cDo I need to go and ask Mr. Dowlrimple?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Realizing he had no other choice, Adam explained, \u201cShe wanted me to ask her to the Spring Dance at the end of next month.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat ain\u2019t all.\u201d Hoss added, \u201cShe wrote where she\u2019d let him kiss her if he did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how do you know this?\u201d Ben raised an eyebrow in response to his middle son.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what Abigail said when she told the teacher about the note,\u201d Hoss innocently explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not taking any girl to any dance. Don\u2019t care about no dance, either,\u201d Adam angrily mumbled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben breathed a sigh of relief, his son was only soon to be fourteen years old and he wasn\u2019t ready to have that talk with his son, not yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

*****<\/span><\/p>\n

All three Cartwrights looked ahead upon hearing the sounds of a rider approaching fast.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMR. CARTWRIGHT!\u201d the rider yelled. \u201cYa gotta get home!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?!\u201d Ben worriedly asked as the rider halted his horse.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, there\u2019s all sorts of yelling and screaming coming from the house.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, take care of Hoss.\u201d Ben kicked Buck into a mad gallop.<\/span><\/p>\n

*****<\/span><\/p>\n

Later the worried husband and father would regret the mistreatment of his horse as he urged the animal to a greater speed. Upon arriving in the yard, he roughly hauled on the reins to the bit in the horse\u2019s mouth, hauling it to a stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

The family had only moved into the majestic structure of their new home the month before. Marie was still busy putting everything in its place and then re-deciding where it should go; another reason Ben was thankful to ride into town to accompany his two oldest sons from school. But now Ben worried, having left his wife and mother of his youngest son home alone; he fear bandits had entered their home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Slowly Ben drew his gun from his holster as fear drove him to run to the house in hopes of surprising any perpetrators. Quietly he stepped upon the wooden entryway and slipped open the door latch. Ben\u2019s stomach plummeted at the sight of the devastation in the great room. The room looked worse than the cabin the father had shared with his two sons had ever looked. Even after Ben returned home with a new wife and finally, after Joe\u2019s birth, their little cabin had never looked as bad as what appeared before his eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Cartwright,\u201d Hop Sing demanded as he stepped from the dining room area, covered in what had been a white powder, and now soaked into his clothes. \u201cI quit! I go back China!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHop Sing, please? What happened?\u201d Ben slipped his gun back into his holster.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHop Sing work hard. Hop Sing clean house. Hop Sing cook good food. Hop Sing no work like this!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHop Sing, you\u2019ve always done a good job, but please\u2026 what happened? Where\u2019s Marie? Where\u2019s Joseph?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou deal with mess!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Grabbing the smaller man by his upper arm and squeezing, Ben demanded, \u201cWhere are my wife and my son?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey there,\u201d Hop Sing pointed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben hurried to find his family.<\/span><\/p>\n

*****<\/span><\/p>\n

Adam, Hoss, and the ranch hand entered the yard to find the house strangely quiet. The worker took the horses from the boys, who slowly made their way into their home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGee Adam, would ya look at this?\u201d Hoss gaped at the destruction of the room.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder what happened?\u201d Adam set his hat on the sideboard behind the door.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unwilling to move any farther into the room, the boys stood side by side and waited.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere you are,\u201d Ben announced as he came through the dining room into the great room.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hesitant to speak at first, Adam finally answered, \u201cPa, what happened? It looks like one of those tornadoes we experienced in Missouri struck.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not too far wrong,\u201d Ben admitted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMon Cher, please,\u201d Marie yelled from beyond the dining room.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with Ma,\u201d Hoss asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNothing\u2019s wrong with your Ma. She\u2019s just trying to deal with your brother,\u201d Ben mused.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLittle Joe?\u201d Adam asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t anything little about what he did today,\u201d Ben answered, trying to keep the smile from his face as he remembered the look of his wife in the bath house, trying to subdue their son.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe did all this? How?\u201d Adam looked to his father.<\/span><\/p>\n

Minutes earlier, Ben listened as his wife berated him for \u2018his\u2019 son\u2019s antics. She had described in great detail how the child had cried to be allowed to help Hop Sing. As the cook placed the last of the dry ingredients into the vessel, the child pulled the bowl away and when Hop Sing reached for it, Joe pushed it back, sending the flour, sugar, and other ingredients all over the Oriental man. And then making a daring escape, he collided with his mother, knocking the clean laundry from her arms as she struggled to balance herself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joe giggled loudly as the laundry flew up into the air and floated down. He grabbed a towel in one hand and his father\u2019s shirt in another, and ran around the room with them flying out behind him like flags. Items were knocked from where Marie had set them in the great room. He kept up his escape as he ran around the dining room table, and into the kitchen again.<\/span><\/p>\n

When finally cornered and ushered into the bath house, he made even more of a mess by splashing the water and soaking Marie and Hop Sing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, after learning how to walk this past fall,\u201d Ben looked to both of his sons who nodded. \u201cEvidently today he wanted to help and also decided to show Marie and Hop Sing how he could run\u2026 and this is the result.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDid Ma blister his hide?\u201d Hoss asked with a look of eagerness on his face.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, he\u2019s not yet eighteen months old,\u201d Ben answered.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHop Sing quit! No one help Hop Sing fix, Hop Sing go back China where children mind elders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow Hop Sing, you can\u2019t quit. We need you,\u201d pleaded Ben. \u201cWhat if Adam and Hoss help you clean up the mess?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking from his employer to the two oldest sons, Hop Sing kept a smile to himself upon seeing the pensive look of the youngest boy standing beside his brother. \u201cHop Sing stay.\u201d The small man promptly walked an about face as he returned to his domain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMON CHER!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCOMING!\u201d Ben hollered in reply. \u201cBoys please, do everything you can to help Hop Sing clean up the chaos your brother created.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben ran up the stairs to obtain dry clothes for Marie and Joseph. As the dutiful husband hurriedly returned to the first floor, the house quieted only to hear Marie scream, \u201cJOSEPH NO!!!\u201d just before the crash. The father and both sons cringed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, do ya get the feelin\u2019 we\u2019re always gonna be cleanin\u2019 up after Joe?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot if we run away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hop Sing yelled from the kitchen. \u201cBoys eat? Boys clean kitchen!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, I\u2019m hungry. Do ya think Hop Sing had time to bake the cookies he promised me?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking that was the flour for your cookies he was wearing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDagburn Little Joe\u2019s ornery hide\u2026 I worked hard on my math problems for them cookies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBOYS!\u201d Hop Sing yelled one last time.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

~The End<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Welcome to spring! Let the spring cleaning begin!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tags: Adam Cartwright, Ben Cartwright, Hoss Cartwright, Joe \/ Little Joe Cartwright, Marie Cartwright<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/g><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 A plea for help turns into an urgent ride home, and a situation no one foresaw.<\/p>\n

Rating:\u00a0 K (1,615 words)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1008,4,30,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-family","category-humor","category-prequels","category-challenges","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-1008-id","wpcat-4-id","wpcat-30-id","wpcat-40-id"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":3369,"today_views":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ponderosapine.jpg?fit=270%2C404&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3390,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=3390","url_meta":{"origin":10742,"position":0},"title":"Remember (by Lily of the West)","author":"Lily of the West","date":"April 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary:\u00a0 a tender father\/son moment between Adam and Ben \u00a0 Rated:\u00a0K+ (770 words)","rel":"","context":"In "Ben \/ Adam"","block_context":{"text":"Ben \/ Adam","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?cat=1016"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1582,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=1582","url_meta":{"origin":10742,"position":1},"title":"Spring Forward (by the Giggly Sisters)","author":"The Giggly Sisters","date":"August 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary: \u00a0Paschal Musings from the Ponderosa. 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