Chuckles -- He can't walk on water but? (part 2)

Julian and Harold Codding on the right with WHITE hair

I just cannot resist a few more stories on Harold and he can still not walk on water.

Harold and I were very active in 4-H as Shidler had one of the best 4-H clubs in the state.  Every year we had a large group from Shidler area who would get out of school for the spring livestock show in Pawhuska.  Generally it was about the first week or second week in March.  We would stay in the dormitory at the fairgrounds on the east side of Pawhuska.

One small detour from Harold is there was a lot of graffiti in the dorm and particularly in the bathroom.  Two things I remember I learned from the walls.  One was by the old white toilet with the black seat that said, "please flush toilet, Pawhuska needs drinking water".  The second one was above the urinal and it started just above the urinal and slowly went up to the ceiling, it read "look up.... look up.... look up.... look down, you are peeing on your shoes".  Now you can surely see why graffiti is not a good thing.

Back to Chuckles:  At the fair Harold decided we should go for a run which made since to me since I needed to stay in shape for sports.  Well we took off and I was pretty naive.  First we ran to the horse racing arena and ran around the track a few times then we went north toward the highway where we then headed north then west toward the old Dixie Dog.  Now that may not sound like a big deal but it was MILES in basically one direction and I was extremely happy when we started back toward home.  Harold was such an encouragement as he prodded me to keep going.  By the time we got back close to the fair grounds I could hardly more and Harold said, "KICK"  which normally means sprint or run like a one hundred yard dash.  He took off like a rocket and I took off like a flat rock on a highway.  He left me in his dust as we entered the race track again for a VICTORY LAP.  You have got to be kidding is all I could think.

Now if you don't get the idea yet that Harold is like another Blake Griffin let me tell you one more.  I was not there but I read the story and asked Harold what the truth was which he confirmed but with more details.  Harold was and is a pilot for American Airlines but if you know how that works they are off 20 plus days a month and get paid like they work 30, just a cheap shot.  Anyway, there was a contest for a new car at White Water in Arlington, Texas.  If any of you know about Harold's 1970 Olds Cutlass you know he desperately needed a car.  Now I am not going to say anything about how frugal/tight Harold is with a dollar but he really needed a car as that old one needed a new body, paint, puddie, and engine and certainly more.  Back to the contest.  The winner was the one who would run up the stairs on the giant water slide and go down the most times.  I do not remember the details but it was over 24 hours and there were two left, one of which was Harold.  As I recall they ran up those stairs and slid down over 600 times and neither of the two were going to quit.  To bad but Harold had to go to work so he quit first.  THIS CONFIRMS HE IS AN ANIMAL.

Since someone brought up the idea that Harold was tight/cheap/frugil I will tell you one more story.  Harold and I sold books during the summer for Southwestern Company door to door much like Paper Moon.  If you have not seen the movie, Ryan O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal stared in it and they were door to door salesmen who sold Bibles just like Harold and me.  Now I will tell you the movie is nothing like what we did but it was a good movie.  Anyway every year we had a contest to see who could spend the least amount of money on food and shelter so that we could bring home the biggest check at the end of the summer.  One year in particular Harold found this little old lady who let him stay at her house including room and board (two meals per day) for $10 per week.  That woman loved Harold and quit frankly every person I ever knew loved him.  He made me sick he was so popular, just kidding.

One last story:  Harold was the half back and a senior and I was the full back and a junior at Shidler.  We were considered pretty clean cut kids.  Now I am not going to tell you about when Harold asked me about how to get a girl to go parking but .... maybe.  Back to the story.  There was a family in Shidler named the Coffees who owned the dry good store down by the old cafe and Julie Berman's drug store (not sure how to spell it).  One summer Neal Armstrong, the assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings not the astronaut, was visiting the Coffees.  I believe he married the Coffee's daughter but not sure.  Well Harold and I met their daughter and her best friend down at the Dixie Dog and we thought they were worth taking to the movies.  So we asked the girls if that would be OK and they said we would have to ask her dad.  Harold and I went down to the Coffee's house and asked for Mr. Armstrong.  Now I don't know about Harold but I was scared to death because he was a big deal in my mind.  Mr. Armstrong later coached the Chicago Bears.  Well, Mr. Armstrong told us NO since he did not know us and they were only there a few days.  We were bummed out.  The funny thing was the next day the girls wound up hanging around with some other guys and I think one of them was Steve Crisco, not sure.  Anyway, I was shocked that Mr. Armstrong called on Sunday and apologized for not letting us take the girls out.  We did get together with the girls and I remember exchanging letters for a year or two but that was one of those fun stories growing up in a town like Shidler.

I always try to think about what I learned from these events so here we go:

•   No matter how famous or how big of a person they are all people who put their pants on just like       me, one leg at a time
•   The girls taught us respect for their father
•   Mr. Armstrong taught us respect and humility by how he handled something he felt he should correct

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com