Bob Ivin has fun no matter what he's doing

BY HELEN HANNAN, Courier correspondent

June 26, 2008 01:37 pm

— LOVILIA — “I came to the conclusion it was time to just have fun, do what I wanted to do,” drawled Bob Ivin, 75.
“I got back into Dutch oven cooking, got a horse to go on rides and to put on rides.” He still performs as the Ol cowpieologist for cowboy gatherings and trail rides which led to his most recent endeavor, building wagons.
A couple of years ago, his granddaughter, Libby, then 9, tagged along to perform for a horse and mule drawn wagon club gathering. She was entranced with wagons on the grounds and wanted to learn how to drive.
“I hadn’t owned a buggy or wagon for years,” Ivin chuckled. He started looking for a comfortable riding, sturdy, light, easy to handle wagon. Finding nothing on the market, his creative mind kicked into gear. With Randy Bakalar, Libby’s dad, helping, the prototype was assembled using a combination of Chinese- and Amish-built wagon parts. It was dressed up with wood seats and decorated sides built by Ivin and Bakalar.
Classy Wagon Works is Ivin’s new business interest. The basic wagon can be covered or open, customized with wood sides decorated to please the customer, a single seat or two seats and one- or-two-horse hitch with Amish-built shafts to fit horse, mule or pony. More people buy the seats to use as attractive household furniture, Ivin said.
He bought a horse, had it trained to the hitch, and Libby has become a proficient driver. Ivin’s summer plans include riding the Mormon Trail. He also may do a little Dutch oven cooking. He joined the Prairie Rose Dutch Oven Society and is scheduled to do a cooking demonstration, which may include his famous Dutch oven oatmeal pie.
After 19 years on the road entertaining at cowboy poetry readings and related events, Ivin claims to be “pretty much retired, except for cottage industry.”
He has at one time or another been a U.S. Marine and member of the Marine rifle and pistol team, taught biology, conservation and outdoor skills at seven colleges and universities, has been a wildlife biologist working in seven departments of the Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service. He has been a dude wrangler, horse packer, cowboy, mule skinner, dude ranch cook, inventor, entrepeneur and dabbles in writing. “I was counting up and concluded I have worked at close to 150 different things,” in 11 states, he said.
Even though he said he gets “bored easy,” he was a busy entertainer. His programs included cowboy humor, show-n-tell, storytelling, poetry, rope making and songs. His Cowboy Children’s Program featureing demo and hands-on rope making, hands-on mule/horse training, unique puzzles, cowboy trivia and more was the most popular.
“Learning to make rope was an accident,” Ivin said. One day a man making rope offered to teach Ivin the skill. He discovered that it was fun and realized the possibilites.
“There wasn’t much for kids at the cowboy poetry gatherings....,” he said. “Kids like making rope. It’s fun and educational. I always let the kids make their own spin rope or lead rope. They are so proud of the finished product. Many say ‘that is the first time I ever made anything by myself.’
“Working with youngsters is so rewarding which is the reason I have stayed with it,” he said.
“Entertaining doesn’t pay too good,” he admitted, so after taking a few courses on sanitation, food safety and nutrition at Indian Hills Community College, he signed on to cook as well as entertain at a dude ranch.
He liked to stay at a ranch where he could do “day work, whatever the rancher needed. Ranchers enjoyed showing how work was done and I made lots of friends” he said.
His grandchildren, Libby and her brother Cody, were both preschoolers when they started helping with Grandpa’s act. Cody is older now and more interested in sports, but Libby still enjoys entertaining.
Cottage industries include rope art, perhaps a natural extension of rope making. He can create almost anything but “most often people want either their brand or the name of the ranch.” He personalizes the standard “Howdy Sign” with an individual’s name.
He also makes rubber horse boots.
Commercial rubber horse boots are very expensive and flimsy, used mostly if a horse throws a shoe while out. They are also popular for arena riding.
Ivin’s rubber boot version is very sturdy and inexpensive and made of old rubber tires. Most people can make their own. He does sell the pattern and written instructions.