Dr. Larry Olson - living on Beaver Creek

 

Dr. Larry Olson – living on Beaver Creek

For some reason Larry was always little, like dad, and I was always big like Uncle Olie (Minnesota Uncle).  Larry use to pick on me until I was about the 2^nd grade when I got bigger than him.  The doctor told my folks I would always be small because I was so sick as a little boy but by the time I was in the second grade I was taller than Mrs. Casselman, my teacher.  It was kind of embarrassing.  As soon as I was able, Larry stopped pestering me.  That means I retaliated. 

Larry and Dad but mostly Larry, taught me to hunt and fish.  Dad was especially good at teaching me to work.  Larry could milk a cow by hand faster than anyone I remember except Grandma Annie Lane.  Dad was pretty good too.  I was so glad we got rid of the dairy, but it left us with Jersey (our milk cow) and she had to be hand milked every day, twice a day.  I hated milking and I was not good at it.  She could handle two calves and still provide all the milk we needed.  I should mention that when the cow would slap Larry with its tail or the hobbles would get loose and she would kick-the-bucket (literally), Larry could rally cut one loose with words.  Many of you know what I mean and especially all those folks from Edisto or South Carolina who knew him. 

Ok, back to fishing and hunting.  Larry was the smart one and always talked me into acting like the bird dogs and walking down in the creek to jump the quail (we never had bird dogs).  That allowed him to get a better shot.  He hunted mostly with a 410 or Dad’s old 20-gauge bolt action and he was patient and accurate.  Billy Snyder would hunt with us on occasion (he is first cousin and Gladys’ son and Suzie’s brother).  They were the same age, and I still got the dirty work of crawling up and down the creek bed.  I actually loved it. 

I should also tell you that Larry and Bill were squirrel hunters, and me as well.  We had those big red squirrels and we never got skunked.  On occasion we would kill one and it would crawl into its nest.  NO problem, we always needed firewood as our house was mostly heated with firewood.  Dad would never let us leave a squirrel in a tree.  We had to cut it down and split the logs and of course carry it to the house.  One of those trees could supply a lot of wood.  To say the least Larry was great with a chain saw and so was dad.  I was the splitter (we did not have one of those fancy log splitters) and I did it the old-fashioned way with a sledge, steel wedges and an ax.  I would load the trailer.  Do you notice that Larry always got the easier part of the job?  Ask Becky Davis at Edisto, she would agree with this, or Bob Webb.  Bill and Larry always had really cool 22 rifles with scopes and I would have a Ruger 22 without a scope.  They were great shots.  Fishing, we will get to it.

I suppose I should go and get some work done.

So, what do you learn in the Osage?

• Some folks get handed the books when God made them and some get the looks, go figure
• God made some of us humble and some of us prideful, go figure
• Time spent with family is more important than who was best

Thanks for listening,

Gary

gary@mylifelegacy.co