2018 04 16 Luckily we all change or I suppose it might be unlucky

A friend asked me yesterday (4/25/2018) if I was ornery as a child and as I recall I would say no.  For those who knew me, email and tell me if I am wrong.  Anyway, I told them I suffered in many ways because I grew up physically so fast that my self esteem suffered.  I was pretty quiet or at least reserved in many ways.  I was not one to take chances and I hardly ever got in trouble although Shouna, my wife of 43 years, reminded me that I ripped Denise Logue's dress off and I did get in trouble.

Now the real story is Denise hit me in the back with her fist during a game and I swung around and grabbed her and she took off without her dress.  Mr. Lewis Morris was not a happy principle and he was going to give it to me.  Now remember in the 6th grade I was 6'2" and about 200 pounds with a 6th grade mind.  I told him I do not understand why I was in trouble as she hit me in the back and it was an accident her dress got ripped.  He confirmed the story and I did not get a whoopin (spanking).   So, I am reasonably confident I would not be considered ornery or even a trouble maker as a youth all the way through high school.  Now I would say that Eddy Harris and Jon Tanny Olsen taught me some tricks and they were for sure ornery.  Eddy is the one who taught me how to use dynamite to go fishing and how to duck hunt with a 30/30 and paint every tool we could find with Allis Chalmers orange and he taught me to break eggs in the chicken house.  Jon Tanny taught me how to drive over 100 miles per hour on ICE (the frozen water ICE) and he hunted ducks with a 30/30 as well.  Jon could fix anything and had an incredibly creative mind.  He was absolutely ornery.

So what really defines ornery?  I don't think I really know but here are a few things that give me the reputation.  When I was in college this girl  (Joyce Bing, not sure how to spell her last name) brought over some cookies to my apartment and put them in my hand upon which she crushed the cookies in my hand.  Now that was ornery.  In retaliation I turned her upside down and put those crushed cookies in her pants then I shook her upside down so the cookies would be sure and spread around.  They looked like oatmeal raisin which probably would have tasted good but she created the situation, not me.

Then there was Cathy Eaton at the annual Osage County 4-H livestock show in Pawhuska where she was bothering me (flirting) while I was preparing my show lamb (sheep) for the show.  Since I was being aggravated while I was busy I chased her away with the sheep sheers (a type of scissors) and I accidentally cut a big chunk of hair off her head.  Boy, did I get in trouble.  Again, you can see I was not the problem and I was not ornery.  It was a Fruiden response to her act of aggression.

So now you can see I was a victim and never ornery or at fault.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• don't take blame for what others start
• innocence is in the eyes of the beholder not necessarily what you think it means
• Life is like a box of chocolates, you just don't know what you are gonna get
• You have to live with the cards you are dealt

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

2018 04 What's the point?

So now I will give you a little story that occurred today (2018/04/02) on getting to know folks.  I was at the local McDonald's getting my coffee (senior coffee) and breakfast burrito (my normal Tuesday morning breakfast) when I saw a couple and the lady was wearing a Ponca City (Oklahoma for those who are geographically challenged) sweatshirt.  I asked if she was from Ponca and of course she was but she was raised in Blackwell (Greg Clifford has family connections and old memories of Blackwell).  I told them I was raised across the river from Ponca and they asked me where.  I explained Shidler but really Grainola is home.  He stated his uncles lived in Grainola and were Paul and Arnold Jones (Arnold was a highly decorated Marine) at which I replied I hauled hay for Paul (a pilot and my first airplane ride and that is another story) for 3 summers.  Did I mention that Paul was working for E.C. Mullendore who was murdered and there is a book about the murder?  Well back to the subject.  Hugh Allen Jones (Arnold’s son and a Marine as well) was one of five in my first 8 grades of school and of course I knew the rest of the family.  Then they asked if I ever get back up around home and I said I got close this weekend when I went to my sisters’ house in Perry for Easter lunch (lunch is what city folks call dinner).  She asked who my sister was, and I told her Debbie Schaefer and she informed me that my nephew Richard Crow (Debbie’s son) married her first cousin, Nancy (from Blackwell).  And the story goes on and on but here is the point.  If you don’t engage folks, you might miss finding out some interesting facts and you might find someone who is a near relative or a relative that you never met.  Then above all that you might, just might, get an opportunity to tell them about Jesus and what He means to you (remember Easter).

I have never been disappointed when I have shown interest in getting to know a stranger.  Of course my favorite one is when Preston, my son with down syndrome, was at McDonalds and he saw this big burly guy with tattoos and a leather jacket with lots of patches who just looked down right scary.  As it turned out he was not from Hell's Angels but was a pretty nice guy.  As Preston approached him and said, "Hey man" he dropped to one knee and looked Preston in the eye and they became friends.  Of course Preston hugged him and they became instant best friends.  Did I mention he had a beard and mustache and big white teeth which made him look like an arm pit with teeth when he smiled?

Well, what do you learn in the Osage?

• All folks are the same but different, they want to be friends
• don't judge a book by its cover or its tattoos
• Life is a lot more fun when you engage our differences in a positive manor

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com