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?
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
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