What a great look.....

  Now I don't know if you recognize these folks but they are pretty sharp folks from the Osage.  The lady was born and raised in the Osage near Grainola and in fact graduated in the top 10 in her class. I believe there were 8 in the class.  The other guy grew up in Anoka, Minnesota then graduated from high school in Womega, Kansas where he played football.

As memory has it that old man built the house they are standing in front of and sold their old house which was about 18 inches away, eve to eve Mrs. Heath who turned it into her personal house and the US Post Office in Grainola.  And yes they moved the house on a truck four miles, three east plus one south into the big town of Grainola.  Anyway, He went to school at night to learn to carpenter so he could build that house and later earn money to pay for the farm and ranch.  Come to think of it most farmers and ranchers have second jobs to pay for the bad habit of farming and ranching.  I once heard a farmer from western Oklahoma say, "I make my money the old fashioned way, I have an oil well".  Another famous quote I heard from the old man pictured above was, "if the government would get out of the farming business by subsidizing bad farmers a good farmer could make a living".  Does that sound like free enterprise?  Hard work, long hours, and no government subsidies sounds like free enterprise to me.

Now about that older lady, who still claims she is only 29 years old even though she has one child that is 61 years old, was rumored to have a giant soft spot in her heart.  In fact I will tell you a story about just that.  Once there was a lady who had a broken clothes washing machine and that little old lady sent the little old man (at that time around 70 years old) out to fix it.  He made three trips and put in multiple parts and the little old lady charged her $30.  The young mother could not afford to pay the older lady all at one time so she paid $10 and promised to pay the rest in payments (around 1990 when this happened).  Well the little old lady saw the kids did not have much and went and bought Christmas presents for the 3 kids and something for their mom.  She spent around $80 and then forgave the $20 owed.  Now that sounds to me like someone who has lost their mind.

Those folks were Cliff and Opal Olson and I am proud to call them Dad and Mom.  Dad passed the day before my 50th birthday and we buried him the day after.  Mom was and is a great mom.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• Character first
• People count
• Caring for the poor is a personal responsibility of everyone, not the government
• Hard work makes for good luck

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com