Crickets and lightening bugs on the creek

I spent many a night sitting on the porch listening to the crickets and watching for lightning bugs.  The sounds of home give me a sense of peace like no other.  There was an occasional coyote with a responding call from another as they searched each other out.  Then if you listened close you could hear a bullfrog up by the pond calling out into the night.

The other thing which just enhanced the night was watching the stars turn around the North Star and the milky way spreading its light dust of white in the sky.  The joy I felt when a shooting star glanced across the night sky was spectacular in the Osage.  To this day I still love to sit outside at night and glance over the night sky, like tonight.  But in the Osage you could see so much more.  A friend, not acquaintance, Stan Horst, helped me select a set of binoculars and a tripod for watching and tracking the stars.  If you have never tried it borrow or steal one, maybe not a good idea, a set of binoculars with as large of lens as possible then travel to the Osage and take a peak.  I promise the view will be spectacular.

Now if you are up for it I would also suggest one of the best and by far the best time to hear the sounds of the Osage is in the morning.  Find yourself a place along the creek long before daylight.  The first thing you will hear is a whippoorwill (bird) slowly chanting its name not to fast but seldom as if it were their job to wake everything up like a nice soft alarm clock in the morning.  The next sounds were the bobwhite quail calling out their name.  I promise if you try it you will know in a second which one it is just by the chant and knowing the name you will be able to put it together.  Nowadays, as in not back when I was a kid, if you try it you will probably hear a turkey hen chirping then a tom turkey gobbling out to locate the hens.  Slowly in the morning the crickets wake up one at a time until there is a loud chorus but for some reason which I still do not know they go deathly silent until evening.  The frogs wake up and not just the bullfrog but the tree frog or green frog.

As daylight begins to break you hear the first cow or bull calling out looking for its calf or its friends.  By the time daylight is close to full it seems that the chorus of sounds goes somewhat quiet as everyone gets busy eating and doing their chores for the day.  Ahhhh, the sounds of home.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• There is value in listening
• The reason God gave us two ears and one mouth is so we can listen more than we talk, at least twice as much listening as talking
• Peace is where your heart is not where your body is

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Everyone starts somewhere

Over time I have become a big believer in that folks who have to overcome something do better in life.  I can give so many examples but I think of people who went through the depression like my mom who appreciate what they have and made something of themselves.  You see mom was a great saver and planner because she saw the value in planning ahead.  She learned to sew and can vegetables and fruit for the winter.  She learned to make a garden and feed livestock.  She made a home without air conditioners or carpet or a riding lawn mower but she made it with love and caring and great food.

Mom could drive a truck without brakes (not on purpose but she did it) loaded with hogs.  We were on our way to Ark City (Arkansas City, KS) to have some hogs butchered and smoked.  Now that was some great eat'n as dad use to say.  Anyway we were coming upon a corner on a gravel road north of Jamjaggers house (now that is a  mouthful and I don't know how to spell it) and the brakes did not work so mom started pumping them and down shifting the truck.  The stock racks came out of the holes on the truck and we were about to lose the load of hogs.  But mom took charge and we got things back on course and went on to Ark City.  She was pretty calm in the storm, if you know what I mean.  Now if dad were doing the driving he would have had some words with those stock racks and it would not have been pretty.  Dad was long on love but short on patience.

OK, back to folks overcoming.  Have you ever looked back at your ancestors who came to this country that never got on welfare or got government assistance to get themselves going?  What I saw was those who did not put their "hand out" saying they deserve something for nothing but said, "let me do the work and then you decide if I am worth the wage" were the folks that got ahead in life.  Now I do want to make one strong argument against this and that is during the depression people just could not pay you no matter how hard you worked.  It was really a very difficult time and if you don't believe it read a few books or talk to someone who went through it.

Another interesting argument point to make is there really were some folks who did not get a fair shot.  I heard a person ask if you could take America back to a better time when would that be and the person suggested 'the beginning' when America was a strong group of people driven by Christian principals.  But I heard another person say, "if I were a black man I would not be interested in going back to those times".  Well those are both correct answers.  There is not a perfect time to go back to or to go to but the time to do the right thing is now.  All of us have hard times but they just look different depending on where you are standing.

I have grown to admire a lot of folks around me who achieved a great life not necessarily filled with money but filled with friends and admirers.  Recently we thought of Charles Codding who shared his life without false pride but love and caring.  Dr. and Mrs. Williams who were missionaries.  I also think of folks who just used their creative talent and great work ethic and did become a financial success like Eddy Harris and Jon Tanny Olsen.  I also think of Ruby Williams who ran the gas station in Grainola and just made you feel great every time you stopped by.  And then there was Bob and Lizy Scott the bus driver and maintenance man and Lizy was our school cook who loved you everyday you came through the food line.

I don't know that I stuck with the theme I started with but I did get to reminisce about a few great folks who helped me to be an over comer.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• Adversity is the key to success
• Humility is the beginning of success
• Hard work creates good luck

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Charles Codding a legacy to remember

If you know much about the Osage you know about Codding Cattle Research and Charles and Don Codding. Last Saturday the remaining brother of a twosome who did something big and dramatic in the Osage passed away.  These two brothers took a ranch their father and mother started and brought it to the leading cattle research facility in the United States.  But most of all what I remember is they did it with style and character.

Now I cannot say I know all the details or even know the facts but when you grow up around someone you get a perception of who they really are.  Don was the numbers guy and big thinker and Charles was the person who always seemed out front creating the image and representing the ranch.

Here is how I remember the ranch:  As you drove up to the ranch all you could see were miles and miles of grass lands and in particular "The Tall Grass Prairie" which is what the Osage is known for.  Once you got closed to the ranch all you could see was a wind sock blowing in the breeze next to the runway.  Yes, they had a runway for airplanes as there always  seemed to be folks flying into see the ranch and stay at the magnificent guest house.  Just as you passed the runway you began to see what was over the bluff.  There was a barn that seemed a mile long where the bulls were kept for testing.  In front of that was some hay barns off to the right and if you remember me telling you about moving hay from one barn to the other while losing 20 lbs., well this is where it was at.  Then right in front to the left of those two barns were the homes of Don and Charles and their families.  As you saw the road from the barns wind up past the houses then up the hill turning left and right you would see the guest house sitting right below the bluff.  It was always the first place you came to and I remember that was where Don and Charles would office.  It was a grand place with bedrooms overlooking the ranch and a giant fireplace decorated with ranching memorabilia.  The floors were pegged oak floors with cattle hides strung around for rugs.  It seemed like the most pleasant of places and I loved getting a pop there as they were always cold and refreshing.

Anyway back to Charles as he had a reputation of always carrying a camera and taking thousands of pictures.  I don't know how many cameras he had but it seemed like he always had at least two hung around his neck.  Charles was at every event that you could think of including the high school events, 4-H events and church events.  I suppose the thing that stood out the most to me was that Charles and Helen were servants to everyone and especially their faith in God.  They served tirelessly at the Methodist Church in Foraker and in case you did not know it we shared preachers with the Grainola and Shidler Methodist Church as well every Sunday.  They seemed to delight in making you comfortable and welcome.  Charles always was curious of how you were doing and how was your  family. Helen died from cancer many years ago and it was a very pleasant event that he found a wonderful wife in Norma and they have continued to serve their community and their country and our Lord just as Charles had done his entire life.

A few other notable things I remember was Charles was named a member of the US Postal Service Board of Governors and he was always involved in politics.  Charles was a very active person but he had one big fault that probably was a result of his charm and patience, HE WAS ALWAYS LATE.  Now that was not 100% true because one time Charles was invited to speak somewhere in Tulsa and he invited my dad to go with him.  They stopped by the cafe in Pawhuska and got caught up in a few conversations and sure enough dad thought they were going to be late.  But when they got there which was technically a little late they found out Charles was one week early.  We can only assume he was late the next week.

Well if you measure a man by his kids you would have to say Charles did well.  His children (kids) turned out pretty good except for one, Harold.  Just kidding, Harold is just like Charles.

Well what do you learn from the Osage?

•  Wonderful family and friends are forever
•  To get character you have to give it away like Charles Codding did
• Always carry your camera - just like Charles

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

A potato in your pipe

Now I don't know about ya'll but I like the old time weddings verses today's weddings.  In the old days they use to have those little mints that were  green and pink and white that were real small and light colored plus peanuts with the skins still on them.  The punch was lime ice cream and 7-UP in glass cups.  The flowers were on the lapel of the men's suits (not formals) and corsages for the women were worn on their dress and there wasn't a unity candle plus the local preacher was the one who did the ceremony.  Yes, I know it was not as showy or as big a deal but it was a lot more fun, faster and less expensive.  But most of all what I looked forward to was the get away and what happened to the car of the bride and groom.

Now all of that brings me to one of my favorite weddings and I believe it was David and Jan Harris's wedding but it might have been Bob and Janet Harris's wedding.  By the way has anyone ever noticed the Harris family had a problem with remembering names and that is why all the girls in the family have names that start with Jan?  Well that might be a stretch but there are three of them:  Janice, Janet and Jan.

Back to the wedding.  Every wedding was fun because you got to decorate the car and in some cases make it as difficult as possible to get away.  Every wedding included shaving cream and shoe polish on the windows and possibly the door handles but my favorite was what I believe was David and Jan's when they thought they had tricked everyone and hid their get away car in Helen Conner's garage.  They stole away from the church and drove to Aunt Helen's to get their car while everyone followed.  It was a race but when they got to the house and opened the garage and jumped into the car to escape David tried to start the car to no avail.  Finally he got out to see what was going on and found a POTATO stuck in the muffler.  You may not know it but you cannot start a car if the exhaust system is stopped up.  That also explains why you can be real stupid by driving your car into the water and it chokes your car out so you stall and the car floats down stream.  Anyway David removed the potato and jumped back inside at which time my dad grabbed his handkerchief (everyone carried one back then in their hip pocket) and stuffed it in the tail pipe.  Again David jumped out to see what the problem was only to find the pipe stopped up again.  Then he finally gets the car started only to find when he puts it in gear his car tires just spin as they are not touching the ground.  You see some of his best friends had jacked it up and set it on blocks.  Everyone had a great laugh and all the guys got around the car and set it off the the blocks to which David took off for their honeymoon.  Great laughs and great fun is what I remember.

Now I will have to tell you one last piece to this pie and that is Jan became our English teacher when I was a freshman at Shidler.  This was a few years later but she was pregnant and we gave her a special name, PET.  She may not have known our name but it was Pregnant English Teacher, PET.  She was actually a pretty good teacher and good natured about it.  I think she liked that class as it was either all guys or mostly guys as I recall.

Jan was a pretty good fit for the family as she was a competitive barrel racer and liked horses and the country.  She was raised in the big city of Redrock, Oklahoma. She may never have known it but Eddy thought she was a pretty good sister-n-law as well but he did like to give her a hard time.  I heard one time, just for fun at her expense, Eddy gave her a seat belt to keep her on her horse.  I never had the guts to ask if that was true but it made a good story and sometimes that is more important than the truth.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• You can have as much or more fun on less money especially at weddings
• You can hide but you cannot escape without some help
• Wear your seat belt

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

CFP day or days

This will be short so if you want to read a story just page down but I feel inclined to tell you my status. Today I am taking the CFP exam and have a very high anxiety quotient. My correlation coefficient is totally out of whack with the market. My desire to be in God's will is just like most when you feel inadequate. Today I persevere.

I will check in with ya'll in a couple.
Like most in a time of need I am calling on the Lord so you can pray for me as well.

Gary

WOW, what did I learn in the Osage

Today is Wednesday before my CFP exam.. It is a 10 hour exam and my anxiety is high.  I don't know if I was this this anxious ever before about anything but I remember the few hours before a football game my stomach would get the butterflies and my anxiety would peak in a good way.  The excitement of doing something that was outside my personality was incredible then and it is today during my final preparation.

I was never looking for a fight or wanting to prove myself in confrontation but sports brought something out of me that I truly loved.  I could hit a person as hard as I wanted or possibly could and it was just a game with no intent to permanently harm someone (most of the time and someday I will tell that story).  Football and sports brought something out of me that I did not recognize at the time and it was called courage, tenacity, and achievement.  I was inspired by my coaches to do my best and inspired by my teammates to play my part for the benefit of the whole.  I think sports, band, cheer leading, and even academics mature a person and I am very thankful for the dedicated teachers at dear old Shidler High who made me want to do my best.  I suppose I was a pleaser (is that a word) in that I wanted my teachers and coaches to think well of me and I tried to meet their expectations.  Thankfully those teachers and coaches wanted my best.

Well that gets me to today.  I don't have the teachers around but I have lots of friends who want me to pass this test and are praying for me.  I have said many times that only a miracle of God can help me pass this test.  I have prepared more than I have prepared for anything in my life with perspiration and aspirations of dong my best.  This is a very humbling experience in that I am vulnerable by sharing with everyone my anxiety and possibly the point of failure by failing the test.  But as I learned in the Osage failure is not who I am but what I will become because of the experience.  I will win in this no matter what the results are.  God will be glorified in that I tried, I persisted, and I did not leave the course.  Where he takes me from here is new territory which I embrace as I am not done but I am at the beginning of a new adventure.

I will end with one of my favorite stories about Mr. and Mrs. Williams who served as missionaries their entire lives.  Mr. Williams was a medical doctor who could have been wealthy in dollars but he chose a life of service to God.  I do want to make note of he CHOSE because he was free to choose because of those who fight for freedom for the rest of us.  Anyway, after they retired back to the U.S.  after living on dirt floors and modest surroundings for 40 years I was amazed to find them on a mission trip with us to Mexico providing medical services to the poor and needy.  He focused on sharing the gospel more than numbers of patients.  But that is not the point of why I admire this couple.  The continued going on mission trips all over the world including working with the Kurds in northern Iraq for over 20 years after retiring! Last time I heard about Dr. and Mrs. Williams, yes they always went together, they were north of 85 years old and still serving.

The Williams did not end their careers at 65 but they started anew.  They knew God was not through with them but only opening up more doors to serve.  They must have grown up in the Osage.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• Persevere and rise up like an Eagle
• It ain't over until it is over
• You can do anything if you put your mind to it
•  Failure is not who I am but a stepping stone to what I will become 

Thanks for your time and pray for me as I really want to pass this test,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Floating T's and Friday nights

Memories of Friday Night Lights are some of the best.  Football and sock hops (dances for those who are too young) after the home games make up some of the best even though I could never dance and in fact still can't.

notice the boot, 3 surgeries later and I still don't dance

Now I will tell you one story about dancing before I get back to Friday Nights.  My wife, Shouna, is a very talented musician and she loves music and she can dance.  Now I remember some of the classmates telling me about not dancing and in fact they had a list of reasons why we should not dance, they were Baptist just like Shouna.  Now Shouna was and still is a Baptist and most of all she is a Christian but she always danced.  I guess this is one of those deals where someone decided at their church you could not dance but at others you could.  Folks have always disagreed with each other on some of the most ridiculous things and I will avoid that discussion for now.  Anyway Shouna was always wanting to do that, "Dancing with the Stars" type stuff and I have heard that from folks my whole life.  So being from the Osage I decided to start a BALLROOM DANCE CLUB.  You should be amazed because even I was.  It started off pretty good and I was shocked at how many folks liked to ballroom dance and or just wanted to learn.  I got an instructor and we had dance lessons for 1.5 hours then we would dance for 1.5 hours.  That worked pretty good except I was never any good at it and about 6 months into the deal I had a motorcycle wreck.  You see I could say God did not want me to dance but I think it had more to do with the loose gravel I hit with the motorcycle.  That is another story.  The moral or principal of this is stop talking about something and either do it or shut up, so we danced.

Back to Friday Nights.  As a junior or senior at in high school I thoroughly loved sports and one Friday night it was raining cats and dogs and quit frankly I am surprised we even played a game that night due to the storm.  We were actually a pretty good team except for the fullback who really was a little slow and not great at catching the ball or running.  He was a pretty good blocker but that was about it.  That was me.  Well it rained so hard that night when you hit somebody it was like jumping into the swimming pool where there was  a giant splash.  You really could not get hurt because if someone hit you it was like being on a slipper-slide.  I thought it was great fun.  But one thing that always stuck in my mind was during a kickoff the ball would not stay on the T because there was so much rain it floated off.  In fact we could hardly find it when it was needed because it floated along the side line.

Well, what do you learn in the Osage?

• Do something, even if it is wrong!  Like starting a ballroom dance club
• Do what you say you are going to do and stop talking about it
• Some things that seem right to one person and others see it different
• Can dance, can't dance and both read the same version of the Bible
• at least they did read it, can't say that for most folks who seem to think they know what it says
• Your circumstances don't make you, YOU make your own circumstances
• does rain make you happy or do you make the rain happy?

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

How has your hairdo changed?

I remember when the Beatles came out and long hair became a huge controversy.  My folks could not believe it and as a matter of fact I thought it was ridiculous (at that time).  That was February 9th, 1964 and we were knee deep in the Vietnam War and getting deeper.  Social issues were mounting and being so young I just listened a lot to the adults and all of the opinions flying.  But here are the issues the resonated with me:

• Long hair - today's topic
• Girls burning their bras - never did quit get that one but for a young boy it was enjoyable to think about
• Going to war - every night on the news at the bottom of the screen they would post how many Americans were killed that day
• The draft and I don't mean beer -everyone had to sign up to serve our country and then you were selected by a lottery.  I remember Harold Codding had something like 15 and I had like 21 so we were destined to go but for different reasons neither of us had to go to Vietnam.
• Drinking age - you had to be 21 years old to drink but you could go to war at 18 years old and the government would give you cigarettes and beer and let you kill folks and then pay you while you were there.  When you got back you were not old enough to drink or smoke but later you could suit the tobacco companies for something you decided to do yourself?  Go figure.  It was their fault I put that nasty thing in my mouth.  They tricked me.  Are you kidding?
• Going to war - It was an honor to think you would go if called but scary as heck to think you would
• Draft doggers - folks who did not believe in the war, which a lot of us did not understand it but were loyal to the fact everyone has an obligation to serve their country and the President, even if you don't like him.   We served because it was the right think to do and thanks to a lot of the guys in classes ahead of me I never had to go to Vietnam.  Right here I want to say thanks for your service and I honor you for doing what was right, not what you wanted to do.  Back to draft doggers, those were folks who want all the freedom of America but not the responsibilities to serve.  We all have a right to our opinion but we ALL have an obligation to serve.
• Segregation and integration - I never really got involved in that as I never considered anyone really different and that is another story someday.  I just figured folks were folks and some you like and some you don't and it had nothing to do with color or any of these other things we want to make issues.  I basically believe I don't have to agree with anything you or anyone else thinks but I do have to stand before God someday and when He asks me how I did I want to have really good answers.

And I know there are more issues but it seemed that these dominated my thinking.  I remember some of the older guys would take someone with long hair and give them a cut if you know what I mean.  I will have to say the older men kind of liked that.  I was a little confused but like most I supported what the older generation thought and if they thought it was OK we did too.  Now as I have gotten older I realize not everything they thought was quit right.

Here is some hair that would have gotten you kicked out of school in the early 60's  but not in the 80's

Anyway back to the hair thing.  When I got to Shidler in the 8th grade I had a burr haircut and I remember Gene Rash and Wiley Smith had long hair.  I thought they must be really bad duds.  But just like Pee Wee and Joe center who always wanted to fight me, I learned they were pretty good guys and in fact some of the most talented.  The real reason I bring up Pee Wee Robinson and Joe Center is my wife got on to me as she  said I made it sound like they were bad guys.  Actually they turned out to be some of the most fun and good friends at Shidler.  They just wanted to see what I was made of.

Well somewhere during my 8th grade year my hair started getting longer, not much.  By the time I was a Junior or Senior I remember Mr. Treadway coming up to me and asking if I could cut my sideburns so he would not have to kick me out of school.  Well by the time I got out of college at SWOSU in Weatherford, Oklahoma my hair was over my shoulders and I had lightened up a bit.

The funny thing about that is right about the end of college I was hired by EDS but before they would let me go to Dallas for an interview they told me to do 2 things:

• cut my hair over my ears and no side burns
• get rid of my suit and get  blue  or brown and it could have stripes, small ones and NO patterns
• and I forgot the third, white shirts and neck ties every day and NO patterns in the white shirt which they called white on white  (not allowed)
• oh ya. the forth, black or brown shoes, no slip ons, tie shoes only.

Now here I am 59 years old this year and I am thinking about growing my hair out and getting a pony tail.  How cool would that be?

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• don't be too critical of others as it might bite you in the rear
• Prejudice has no home in the Osage or anywhere else
• Everyone can have an opinion and they don't have to agree with me or you
• Do the right thing and serve your country and respect your president, even if you don't agree with him
• then if you don't like the president, dadgummit VOTE or shut up and don't complain

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Good times and bad times

December, 2011
I found this one and it never published so I thought I would let it out there even though it is late and way past Christmas.

What do you learn in the Osage?

* perseverance (Hebrews 12)
* it ain't as bad as it seems
* humility is something you don't want to go through the pain to get (think elf and read on)
* good deeds don't go unpunished (yes, I meant it that way)

You are wondering why I am reversing the order of my writing but you will see when you hear about my week.

Monday I went home freezing to the point of shaking.
Tuesday I was sweating all day and into the night.
Wednesday about noon I left the house to go to my office where I opened my mail and found someone had compromised my checking account and it was missing $12,000. It is a person I helped. Then I purchased a house at an auction that I owned already that had someone living in it that refused to move and refused to pay payments. The law protected him and he cheated me and hid behind the law.  This is called foreclosure.

I had a person who I loaned money chew me out because his interest rate was 7.25% unstead of 7% and he was about 10 months behind on his payments because he has been Ill and needed me to work with him. He was not thankful.  He just bought a new pickup as we say in the Osage, BRAND NEW!

Thursday I spent the day with making police reports and returning checks and calling people who would be effected by the fraud committed. Thursday night I went to a Christmas party with friends.

Friday I volunteered most of the day taking pictures of Mrs. Santa and children with special needs and then someone was texting and rear ended my car. I sat there for a while in shock thinking the car is totaled. Amazingly enough you can hardly tell I was hit. It gave me a headache and back ache and neck ache.

Friday night I went to a banquet for families with special needs and I was one of three wise men in a skit. I never did like being in skits thanks to when I was about in the fifth grade and they made me play an elf. I was very large for my age and they made me wear tight leotards. It was humiliating and I still don't like to see pictures of that. Mrs. Shumate was responsible for that one. Trust me you don't want to see those pictures. I think I am still recovering almost 50 years later. I say, get over it.

After all this and believe me there is more I just can't write it all down, I feel pretty good and in fact blessed and let me tell you why you should to.

There is this little girl (Michelle)who is mentally handicapped and she spends her time making book marks that she places in businsinesses to sell for $.75 that she donates to help the poor. A few lessons here:

1. Everybody can do something for others
2. Dont ask for handouts, give one
3. No matter how bad it gets, look up for Hope

Don't worry and be content as you did not have to shed your blood and die on a cross.
Make no mistake about it, Merry Christmas.

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com