Parker County Today February 2016 | Page 30

PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY FEBRUARY 2016 video to get cast on the show, and my video was of me decked out in my NASCAR gear with my big thoroughbred on the left of me and my mini-horse on the right of me.” Huey didn’t get to make the LA trip, but the producers, Miller said, were keen to provide a petite pony for her appearance. It was a gas ― funny and quirky, just the ratings-boosting kind of gimmick TV folks get all giddy over. While Miller expected the entrance to be a hoot, she had low expectations for romance. “That Ben guy is a super nice guy,” Miller said. “But he’s really a city guy from Denver… I kinda had a feeling it wouldn’t work out.” And it didn’t ― Ben eliminated her in the first episode. It didn’t break her heart. “Night number one they dropped seven of us right off the bat,” the 30-year-old said. “And I really can’t say I was shocked. He was a really nice guy, great conversation ― I loved talking to him ― but absolutely no romantic connection at all. I didn’t think anything else was going to happen there.” So she had some fun and a unique experience in LA and now is back home on the “farm” with her two thoroughbreds, a paint quarter horse, a rescue Welsh pony and, to be sure, Huey. Miller seems to be very much at home in Parker County, Texas, but she hails from the “number one agricultural area in the country: Tulare County, CA.” She just had her fill of Californian liberalism. “We had to get out here where there were more like-minded people,” Miller said, adding that her grandparents are originally from Texas. The road to Weatherford was a fairly indirect one. She drove the entire state twice, sizing up the larger cities and finally “falling in love with Fort Worth.” She and sister Marissa moved in November, 2011 to Saginaw where they rented a house for six months, basically a base from which to search for the perfect place, which turned out to be in Parker County. “You know, it was 20-25 minutes in to Fort Worth, and we were able to buy some property ― it fit what we were looking for,” said Miller. “I feel like Weatherford has that small-town feel, yet we can go in to Fort Worth and do something city-like if we want to ― the option is there.” Being on a nationally-aired TV show like The Bachelor certainly raises one’s profile; Miller is getting her “15 minutes” on the Internet. One thing some celebrity hounders and bloggers seem obsessed with is bachelorette Miller’s listed profession: cowgirl. That’s what’s in the ABC bioblurb online. “I don’t consider myself a cowgirl,” she told PCT. “All those city people just see the horses and the boots and they think: ‘Oh, she’s a cowgirl!’ They can think that, whatever makes them feel better, [but] … I’m not raising cattle or roping 28 Huey cows or anything. I’m definitely a country girl. I’m a very, very big country girl ― I take care of the property by myself, I do all the hard manual labor. … See, to me a cowgirl is someone that actually works in the cattle industry, you know, or you’re out there doing barrel races, or something … .” There may be a bit of good old-fashioned “hair-splitting” going on here, but one thing is certain: the cowboy boots are a permanent fixture. “I don’t go anywhere I can’t wear my cowboy boots,” Miller the bookkeeper said with pride. “I’m not one to wear stilettos or heels. It’s the cowboy boots. That’s it.” Cowboy boots aside: has her dash through the big-time TV spotlights got eligible bachelors coming out of the proverbial woodwork? “Not a single one,” she said with a good-natured laugh. “In fact, I think I just scare them more now … .” Maegan Miller — boots and all.