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| Dad, Larry, Mom, Gladys Snyder, Naomi Davis (mother n law) |
My best friend, mentor, and character beyond any I have seen, Clifford Woodrow Olson. He was born in Minnesota north of Minneapolis in Anoka and on his birth certificate his official name is "son of Olaf and Mary Olson". Now that is amazing in itself because he was in WWII (repairing airplanes) and when he was in his 40's he started working for the post office carrying the mail 3 hours a day around Grainola and NO ONE knew he had no official first name. We discovered this bit of information when dad was about 80 years old. Do you think he could get in an airport today?
Anyway, dad grew up on a dairy and sweet potato farm until he was a junior in high school at which time his mom and dad plus two brothers moved to Womego Kansas. Now I told you in previous stories how he made his own snow skis by boiling the wood to get it soft and bendable then shaping them and preparing them for cross country skiing to school. If he did not ski to school his dad would hitch up the horse and sleigh just like Santa Claus and then over the river and through the woods to school they would go. We still have the sleigh bells Grandad put on the horses when he hitched them up.
I don't know how but dad was stronger than any man I knew. In fact his brother, Uncle Olie, could hold in his arms 7 - 94 lb bags of cement. People marveled at how strong Uncle Olie was and dad looked up to him and tried to be just as strong. It did not happen. Uncle Olie could actually pick up the back of their Model A car. I tried my entire life to out perform my dad but he was amazing and he was only about 135 lbs sopping wet while I grew to over 200 lbs and 6' 2".
For fun my dad would always hold up his fist and dare me to hit it with my fist. Which I did hundreds of times until once in junior high I broke one of his fingers. He never flinched. Another of his favorite tricks was dealing with electric fences where he would get me trusting him by him grabbing the fence and then telling me it was off. Then I would grab it and he would just laugh as I screamed. It only took me once on that trick but he had others up his sleeve. Like the time he convinced me that if I had rubber soled shoes it would not bother me, BS. Then there was the time he took the crescent wrench and laid it on the wire and told me that would stop it, liar. Then there was the time he held onto the fence and said to hold his hand and then step over the fence, BS. I don't know how many times he pulled some variation on that wire fence but everytime he would laugh and laugh at my expense. How he held onto that wire or crescent wrench on the wire and not flinch is amazing to me.
I know these stories will probably mess you up as they are gross to some but now let me tell you about the cut hand. Dad was at our farm in Edmond (The Pumpkin Patch) and we were working on something when he sliced the hide off the back of his hand. The hole was about 1.5 inches by 2.5 inches long. I got Dad to come to the house where he said pour peroxide on it, we did. He said keep pouring and he just gritted his teeth (false teeth by the way). He refused to go to the doctor so he told us to tape the skin back on the hole and then we went back to work.
Now if you still don't think he had "true grit" once when we were cutting wood a tree fell and hit him. It broke two ribs. We went to the house where he had mom wrap him with the elastic bandage. Guess what we did after that, went back to cutting wood. Now if you don't know anything about a broken rib basically it is terrible to breath and it hurts every time you take a breath. Try it.
Now I have one last story about how Dad could handle pain. When he was in his 20's he got kicked in the mouth by a mule. I don't know how long he waited but he got an infection in the top of his mouth plus a bunch of teeth were loosened or lost. Anyway he went to the dentist (I assume it was a dentist and not a doctor) where they were going to remove ALL of his remaining teeth. They were unable to use anesthetic so he drank a lot of whiskey at the office prior to the surgery. Dad told me, "it sure was hot in there because I sure did sweat a lot". After the surgery he went to my aunt's house and had her daughter just bring him pieces of ice for about two days to keep the pain and swelling down. I just cannot imagine.
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| Neal McConaghy feeding cattle |
Ok, you talked me into it. One more story. Dad use to work for Tanny Olsen and every year they use to go down to Louisiana to get steers to feed out on the Osage prairies. They would get a train load of steers, mostly Brahma and Brahma crossbreeds. They had to round up the steers from the swamps and get them to the train. But one time Dad told me they were crossing a river with the cattle and horses to get to the train and he said a couple of snakes crawled up on his saddle. Well Dad hated snakes and he said he left the horse because there just was not enough room on that saddle for him and two snakes. That is where he drew the line.
Well what did I learn from my Dad:
a. You can take a lot more pain than you think you can
b. Ornery people have more fun in life
c. Work hard and play hard
d. If you are not having fun don't keep doing it.
Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.comPlease write me at:
The Pioneer Man
12501 Dutch Forest Place
Edmond, OK 73013
especially those who read the Shidler Review and are from Shidler
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