My brother ran over me with the pickup, true story, but all my stories are true.

Not too many people can say their brother ran over them with a pickup and are still friends but my brother sure did and I can prove it.  Of course this story is like most things, you should ask a few questions before jumping to conclusions and the facts might change your thinking just a little.

I was probably about 10 or 12 years old and Larry and I were hauling corn from one of the barns to feed the hogs.  Like most farmers we had several barns around for different things.

Quanset on the left and the old house on the right

• There was the hay barn for storing hay from the weather and it is the barn where I shot wasp nests and it is where the feeders were for the cattle to come in out of the weather and eat hay and feed.  
• Then there was the milk barn where we milked the cows and stored the milk in the large coolers.
• There was the corn bin / barn where we stored corn for the hogs.
• There was the cake barn where we stored the cattle cake in gunny sacks to feed the cattle in the winter. 
• Everyone had a chicken barn and we had two for many years until we tore one down that was just north of the house.  I bet Dee Johnson did not know that.
• There was a garage and work barn south and west of the house not too far from where the fuel tanks were.
• The Quonset was a metal barn that was the shape of a half moon with one side cut off and doors all along the front.  It is the one where Debbie drove the tractor through the barn.
• We had a barn where we stored the tractor and it was right next to the garden and on the east side of it is where we grew the rhubarb.
• A couple hundred yards east of that barn was the show barn.  That is where we raised the show calves.  Show calves means for show at livestock shows.
• The sheep barn is where we kept the sheep for show and those had their own pin where we also kept the ewes and raised the babies.
• Most folks had a hog barn and we of course had one and it was short in height but long so that there were several pins for the sows (mother hog) to have their litter (baby pigs).

I think that pretty well covers the barns but I might have missed one.  Well there was one but it was before me and it was an outhouse which went away when indoor plumbing came in.  I never got that privilege.   One I forgot, the club house which was kind of a barn but it was built just for cub scouts and it was north of the house where the old garden was and across the big ditch north of the house.

Now back to getting run over.  Larry was backing up the flat bed pickup and I thought he was done so I started to jump into the barn to save time and get to work.  MISTAKE!  I got crushed between the barn and the pickup just above the knee about 5 inches.  Larry hurriedly moved the pickup away and I of course fell to the ground.  I don't remember going to the hospital but I can tell you today I have about an 8 inch dent in my right leg that reminds me of that day.  Larry was worried sick and ran to get Mom as Dad was working somewhere else.  The good thing is I got to take the day off from work and the bad thing is I hurt for a while.  It is strange how something like that leaves this giant mark on my leg which cannot be easily seen but if you put your hand on my leg you can feel this big indention on my leg.  The only thing I can remember about that event is how much my brother cared for me and just laying on the ground hurting.  I don't remember crying but just hurting really bad.  It really makes a good story when I just tell folks that my brother ran over me and I lived.  

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• there is truth in about everything a person says but most of the time it is not the whole truth, so check the facts
• it is easier to go to work than to sit around and feel sorry for yourself and it is not worth getting run over

• if you are not sure your brother really likes you let him run over you and see how he reacts

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com