Making Pickles

I don't know about you but the best pickles I have ever ate were made on the back porch of our house between the Maytag washing machine with a ringer built right in.  Now just for a moment lets talk about that Maytag.

For anyone under about 50 Maytag was the premier washing machine and it had a ringer which squeezed the water out of the clothes by manually putting each piece of clothing between what looked like two rolling pins and you better be careful because if you got your fingers in there you were in for some serious pain.  After getting those clothes squeezed flat (remember how they looked?) then you took them to the clothes line which was two T shaped posts about 6 feet tall with two or three wires strung between to hang your clothes on.  Just another side note but we had GREEN done up right before all this new stuff.  We washed by hand and dried by air using (before detergent) home made soap made from hogs (go figure or I will explain some day).  The wind would dry your clothes and boy did they smell fresh and in my mind they were a little itchy.  Now what most people use today to hold a bag of Frito's or potato chips closed were called clothes pins.  The early version without the spring was interesting.

OK back to Pickles.
Just for clarification but since when I worked for EDS back in the "good old days" I had a friend from New York who thought pickles came from trees and cucumbers were a different vegetable.  Well let me tell you pickles come from cucumbers which grow on cucumber vines which are on the ground and grow flat like watermelon vines.  Well my mom, Opal Olson, made the crispiest green lime sweet pickles that would make you pucker in a hurry.  In fact when I was talking to Sally and Darrell Stinchcomb after the tornado hit their house we talked about those pickles for a long time.  Sally still makes them and they are Darrell and my favorite pickle. 

It was always interesting as we would gather buckets of pickles and mom would choose just the right size for her pickling operation.  She would prepare the salt brine in five gallon crock pots which set on the back porch.  When the other elements were added and then the right amount of pickles the concoction would bubble for days as the fermentation would take its toll on those cucumbers and make pickles.  If you are interested I will get the recipe.  After the pickles were ready we would put them in Ball jars and store them in the cellar for the winter and of course have a bunch in the house for sandwiches and just plain "good eatin", as my dad would say.  Dad loved Mom's pickles and so did I.  I don't know just why right now but mom put a cloth over the crocks and checked them every day.  It took about 3 to 4 weeks to make the pickles but I loved the smell throughout the house.

Those were great times of anticipation on the farm.

What did I learn from the Osage?

•  a watched crock just bubbles
• patience and anticipation make for the best occasions - like eating pickles or a date with that special girl
• sampling along the way can ruin your prize
• age makes things look better

Go figure?

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com





Socialism - why my Dad was an American and not from Sweden

I received this story below and it reminded me what my Grandad Olson told me.  He left Sweden in 1898 at the age of 16 because the taxes in Sweden were 70% and the incentive to work hard and get ahead was gone.  Now I don't know about you but that sounds pretty bad except that the good thing was the government took care of you when you were old and when you were sick and you did not have to worry about things like retirement.  I also remember him saying that there was a high demand for potatoes because they used it to make whiskey so that is what a lot of folks did for a living.  Someday I will write more about my grandad but here is the story that reminded me of why my Dad was an American.
__________________________________________________________________________________

An ececonomics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism". All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Couldn't be any simpler than that.  What do you learn from the Osage? the harder you work the more lucky you get free enterprise is what made the Osage a great place people that don't live here can see how great it is or another way to say it is sometimes we cannot see the forest because of the trees - get it? Osage people appreciate and can see what is important we should be proud and humble because of what we have Thanks for your time gary@thepioneermena.com

Killing Chickens

It was funny the other day because I was talking to someone who was going to visit their grandmother and kill chickens.  They had no idea how they were going to do that and no idea on how to catch them.  So I had the pleasure of grossing them out and splainen (explaining) how the process works.

Well here goes.  The first thing you have to figure out is where are you going to catch them because if they are on the loose in the barn yard area you will have a heck of a time rounding them up.  If you have ever heard, "it is kind of like herding chickens" they are saying that it is next to impossible.  You see when you try to heard chickens they go in every direction.  They do not tend to gather together like cattle or hogs or horses.  Now if you are smart and your chickens roost in a chicken house where they are locked up at night it gets a lot easier.  Now if you do not lock them up at night you absolutely will NOT have the same number of chickens every morning as the bobcats and coyotes will get one for dinner fairly often.

The second thing you have to do once you figure out how you are going to corner them is figure out how you will handle them or catch each one.  Some folks will wear gloves and just grab at their feet at which point the chicken will try to jump so you can't catch them.  If you do get a hold of a leg or even two then chicken will immediately start crawling up your arm and try to scratch you with the extra leg or peck you with its beak.

And by the way for you silly folks that are lead to believe that chickens have lips, they don't.  I have many times over the years told city folks that we like to eat chicken lips that are friend.  They always give you that look, "are you kidding me" and of course I give them the look "well of course".  They get hooked every time and I love to walk away and never tell them the truth.  I am sure some of my past friends hate me because they tell that story believing me and then they are told how naive and stupid they are at which time I fall off their friend list.

The other way to catch the chicken is to have a long piece of very stiff wire with a hook on it.  Then you reach into the heard of chickens and hook it on the leg.  Once you do that you have to move fast and still ultimately grab the chicken by the legs and feet.  If the chicken gives you too hard of time you can start swinging it to get the blood down to its head and it will stop trying to peck you.  Of course at that point you now have a couple of choices which are gross by most folks standards.

Choice 1:  You can put your foot on the head and neck and pull the head off.  Choice 2:  You can grab the chicken by the neck and start spinning the chicken in a circle which is called wringing its neck.  If you are really good you can snap it quickly and the head will relieve itself of the body of the chicken.  Choice 3:  Is you can take an ax or hatchet and chop the head off.  You pick?

Once you have done this it is very important that you allow the body (without the head) flop around and bleed off.  It is really amazing because if you are fast and there are only a few people involved you can have a lot of chickens flopping all over the place.  Did I mention that while this is all going on there is a pot of water with a fire going to make the water boil?  Well OK, so what you do then is grab the dead chicken and dip it into the boiling water and start plucking off the feathers.  It stinks and is messy but once you have completed this part of the task you gut them (remove the inside).  Now a lot of folks like to keep the heart and liver but for me that was fish bait which I did keep but for that purpose alone.  Some folks like to keep the gizzard (go look it up) and clean it to freeze for winter (fried gizzards which my dad would say is "good eaten".

Well after you get them all cleaned up we would wrap them in plastic or freezer paper and put them in the freezer for winter.  The best part was that we would generally have fresh fried chicken that day and it gets no better than that especially when you make white gravy from the grease and crackles.

Now that you understand the process let me tell you that each year we must have killed about 200 chickens for freezing.  One thing I recall was Suzie Hobbs was amazing in that she would go out and kill a few chickens, make pies, green beans and potatoes and make lunch for all the workers in about two hours.  She was an incredible cook and fast.

Some time I will tell you a few more chicken stories.

What did you learn from the Osage?

• chickens don't have lips
• if you drop your juicy fruit in the chicken house be careful when you pick it back up and put it in your mouth
• Chickens are like folks, they come in lots of colors and styles but on the inside they are all the same

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

It is a Great Day

Life is moving back to normal and with a little luck I will get to do some blogging this week.

Life was simpler in the Osage, at least from my perspective.  I was not concerned with what was going on around the world except for Vietnam of course.  In fact I do remember seeing at the bottom of every newscast how many were killed each day during that crisis/war.  Well back to where I was, life allowed you to spend more time with friends and not be so focused on getting ready for the next event.  Now my parents may not agree but it sure seemed to me that I was not multi-tasking everything. 

This time of year was a delight as it neared the wheat harvest.  Prior to the heads coming out on the stalks and all the new varieties making wheat shorter (anyone remember that big change) I loved hiding in the wheat while it was still green.  The wheat was tall enough you could hide real easy or just lay there and watch the soft spring clouds roll by.  Those were great days.

Another time that especially stuck out to me was later in the summer about July when Kenny Kelsey and Don (his dad) and I were hauling hay on the Drummond Ranch there were some clouds in the sky but for some reason there was a circular rainbow over head.  We looked and watched for a while wondering what was going on.  As it turned out it made the papers and was a result of some ice crystals and cloud that created the appearance of a rainbow. 

You just can't get it like you can in the Osage.

Did I learn anything from that in the Osage?

• Absolutely:  If you are not looking for something you will certainly not find anything.
• There is dramatically more to do in the Osage than in any big city.
• You may feel closer to God but I am confident that God is closer to you in the Osage

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com

Garden tour tomorrow.. announcement

you are invited to the Garden Tour at our house tomorrow from 9 to 5..

thepioneerman.com
gary olson

American Bandstand and its best dancers came from Shidler

Here is a quote from Janet after I posted my blog and I think it is great because she is precisely correct in that when you are a kid you see things through a different light and I am delighted to know the truth.  Here are her comments after she read the blog below.  You will understand why I put it at the top.

By Janet

Hi Gary! I love your collection of stories, even if they are not always entirely accurate. I will agree 100% Bob was the best looking of his family. I know you were a little kid and things seem bigger and grander when you are small. We ...never did have an opportunity to go to Philadelphia (home of American Bandstand), however, we did go to Tulsa and appear on Top 10 Dance Party which aired every Saturday. We won the local dance contest the day we were there and we were given matching shirts for our efforts. My daddy said we stayed in the back of the dance floor too much and he called us "the Grainola farmers".

Bob was always the pretty one and in my mind he was famous.  He married his childhood sweetheart, Janet Gose, which is about the only other good thing I can say about Bob, just kidding.

Janet is the smiling one with the letter sweater on - close to Bob

But let me tell you why he was famous.  Do you remember American Bandstand and Dick Clark?  Well Bob and Janet were on TV and The American Bandstand.  I remember everyone was talking about it and on Saturday morning, if dad did not have something planned, we always watched the show.  NO there was not a DVR or even a VCR or Caviar (bad joke), you just had to watch it when it was on.  And YES we only had black and white TV.  Well Aunt Gladys, Billy and Suzie had a color TV in one of those giant wood cabinets and I bet most people under 50 don't even know what I am talking about.  Anyway, even dad was excited to see Bob and Janet on TV.  We strained our necks to find them at every move and when someone would see them we would start yelling at each other where to look. 

Did Dick Clark ever get old?  He always looked young.

Some of the fun things that came about because of that show were "sock hops" and birthday parties where the girls wore "Poodle Skirts"  and guys rolled up their t-shirts like Fonzie and their blue jeans were rolled up or just short.  The guys would grease their hair and comb it back real tight to their heads and especially on the sides.

 I remember one year my brother, Larry had a birthday party and that is what they did, dance and pretend to be American Bandstand.  We had that cool tile floor, 12 by 12s, and you could dance up a storm on it.  We pushed back all the furniture and the entire house was a dance floor.

Oh ya, Sock Hops, were dances after all the home football games or at least after home coming and then there was the Saturday night weekly Sock Hops.  One of the best parts of that was the local Shidler bands that sprung up.  The one I remember most was Joe Conner, Kenny Kelsey, perhaps Mike Pool, and a few others.  My favorite song of theirs was Louie Louie:

CHORUS:

Louie Louie, oh no

Me gotta go

Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said

Louie Louie, oh baby

Me gotta go

Fine little girl waits for me

Catch a ship across the sea

Sail that ship about, all alone

Never know if I make it home

These guys did a great job on it.   Please tell me and I will make the correction to the band members.  Also I would like to know of other bands and who was in them.  I believe Billy Eden had one and Steve Chrisco was the leader of one but you tell me and we will list them.  Talent we did have in Shidler.

Well it is time to go so -

What did we learn in the Osage?

• Talent is everywhere, you just have to have the guts to try, take a risk
• You are probably a hero to someone, I was watching Bob and Janet all the time I was growing up
• Be the best you can be, you never know who is watching

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

How to catch rabbits by the gunny sack full

Russell Whiles wrote this one.

Gary, your story about your First Bow and Arrow stirred a rabbit-hunting memory..a rather unique one!

Me and Boog (G.D. Williams), we did a lot of things together. Where and how Boog ever got the idea to do this, maybe he will share on here. Plus, I will probably make some mistakes in telling the story, and Boog should help us out later, with straight facts.

A field where a crop is growing takes a lot of work to get it all pretty and ready for a crop. Prior to the dirt being all crumbly and smooth and ready to drill, or plant, it was probably plowed. If the dirt was very firm,  plowing would turn the field into row upon row of large dirt clods. Somehow, Boog knew that boys at our age could "outrun" (that might be less than accurate..) rabbits in a freshly plowed field. That would have never dawned on me!

So, here we go...Take a gunny sack...you described "gunny sacks" in an earlier story, Gary! Take a gunny sack into the plowed field and scare up a rabbit. Chase it, as best you can, and most likely, you will find that the chase goes fairly well, in your favor! Surprised?...I was!

Actually, "outrunning" the rabbit is more of an illusion, created when the rabbit finds so many big clods to hide under, he just gives up and hides! It takes only amateur stealth to sneak up on the Clod of Refuge, and a lightning-fast grab yields a caught bunny! Next, put the bunny in the gunny! Done deal! 

Why did we do that?

Well, Boog wanted his little dog to be a rabbit dog. As I recall, the pup was a weenie dog...Dash Hound...Dachshund! Once back at home with a bag-o'-bunnies, we released them one at a time, to properly train that little dog! The picture in my mind is one of a grateful rabbit, enjoying its freedom, while the pup focused its curiosity on the mysterious gunny sack, oblivious to the chase.

I have no idea whether modern rabbits behave the same way, today, in a plowed field. In fact, we see fewer plowed fields, with newer no-till practices in farming. I am more interested to see Gary's "What Did we Learn" points, at the end of this story!

Thanks for the story and Boog says it was Mel McKee who had a beagle that needed training.

So what did we learn in the Osage?

• What is in the sack that you cannot see is more exciting than what you can see
• Beagles are just like people
• We always want what we cannot have? 

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

•  

 

Tornados and one of Shidler's own - Sally Shumate

Stinchcomb house before tornado

A lot of us knew Sally Shumate who is the sister to Janie (Taos, New Mexico) and daughter to Mrs. Shumate who was my 4th, 5th and 6th grade teacher in Grainola.  Sally was in the class of 68 and married a guy named Darrell Stinchcomb who was from Minco, Oklahoma.  Now I have to tell you Darrell was on the national championship team from NEO in Miami, Oklahoma.  Sure hope I got that right on the school. 

Anyway the great thing is Darrel and Sally were safe in a "fraidy hole" or celler or storm shelter or tornado shelter if you want to call it that.  They both stated how thankful they were in that they did not lose a child like the folks across the road who lost two.  Both shared a strong faith in Christ had given them the strength to pickup and move on.  Now that is what makes people in Oklahoma different.  Sally and Darrell have always been positive thinkers and that just does not change with circumstances.

A great story that came out is Darrell found only a couple of sentimental things, his national championship ring, a national championship watch and his wallet.  Sally said that a lady in Perry which I will estimate is 30 miles as the crow flies from Cashion found her Discover Card which was shredded except for the name on the card, Sally Stinchcomb.  Pretty cool?

Here is some great things that did happen after the tornado.  About 40 to 50 folks showed up to help go through the debree to locate anything that was salvagable which was barely nothing.  Their son, Chris, had a bunch of friends from the Iguanna Grill in Oklahoma City show up to help and cook.  Wow, what a deal.  They were able to help pile things up and make a little avenue to get in and out of the drive way.  Both vehicles were destroyed but get this:  two different families showed up with vehicles to loan to Sally and Darrell.  Another person showed up with a mobile home and said let us know when you don't need it.  Lots of folks brought all kinds of food and water, gasoline to run the generator and the Red Cross brought shovels and all kinds of stuff to help dig in the debree.

Now here is an interesting thing to behold.  The only remaining attached and in place fixture in the house on top of the slab is this toilet.  If you look at the previous picture closely you will see it in the back ground.  This is Darrell's thrown.

Well I have to tell you they were excited to see us and Sally hugged mom, Opal Olson, and cried and cried when we first got there.  Friends are friends forever or they were not friends in the first place.  Mom and Dad and our entire family as well as the Shumates never had a lot of money growing up but just about every weekend they came over and we played cards and other games and shared our lives and dreams together.  Mom taught Sally and Janie how to sew and cook as I recall and Mrs. Shumate made me cherry pie and put up with me for three years of school.  It was a fair trade and our families were close.

Just FYI, did you know the Shumates lived in the house where David and Jan Harris lived on Beaver Creek before David and Jan did a major overhaul of the house?  As we use to say, "the Shumates were UP THE CREEK".

What do you learn in the Osage?

• You may have lost touch with true friends but the feelings are still there when you rediscover them so go find an old one and spend some time
• Always call when someone has a tragedy even if you don't know what to say, they just need to know you care.  So even if you look dumb and don't know what to say, just listen.
• You will probably have more friends if you put down the remote, the iphone, the WII, or whatever and play a game where you can laugh and enteract with one another
• How about a game of 10 point pitch?  Does anyone still know how to play?

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com

If you would like to drop a line to  Sally and Darrell I would suggest you just show up in Cashion or mail it to Cashion and it will find the right place.  For you youngens "drop a line" means to write something on paper.