a little divergence from normal

I cannot help but show you some of our flower garden as we are in peak season.  So here are a few pics.  And yes we did get our love of gardening from the Osage.

Thanks for looking,
gary@thepioneerman.com

Anticipation

I am still young but it is a relative term so let me start by saying that when I was very young I anticipated the end of school and the additional freedom it provided.  About the time I was in 5th, 6th and 7th and maybe the 8th grade each summer started off with hauling hay and getting ready for wheat harvest.  As soon as school was out and Bob Scott delivered us home we would head out to load up the fresh alfalfa hay and put it in the barns.  The smell of fresh alfalfa was wonderful.  In fact I liked the smells of farm life of every kind.  I never minded the hogs or chickens or the whatever was in the air.  The sun was warm and the winds were cool and the new babies were popping all over the farm.  It was often that in the night there would be a sow (female mother hog) delivering babies and with anticipation we wanted to know how many!  Generally there were at least 6 but sometimes 10 or more and mostly around 7 or 8 new babies in one litter.  The concern there was that the sow would not rollover on top of one of the babies and kill one or that there would be too many and not enough spigots on the sow to feed them all.  Hopefully that is self explanatory.  Then there were the new baby calves born early winter that were jumping and running and it was fun to catch them as long as the momma cow did not get too mad.  Back to the alfalfa.

Generally Dad or Larry had bailed up a bunch of hay so Larry or Billy Snyder (Gladys Snyder's son) would help and we would load the hay and put it in the barns.  In the early days you had to buck the bails on your knees and put it up on the truck while one person drove the truck and one person was on the back stacking the hay.  Luckily someone invented a hay loader which would pick up the bails and throw it up on the truck where you would grab it and stack.  I don't know why but it seemed that the objective was to always put on 100 bales on a load.  Typically at our house we had a four wheel flat bed trailer but when we were hauling at Uncle Snyd's we would load on a flat bed truck or a trailer or both.  As you may recall Uncle Snyd was the uncle who spent years in WWII in a prison of war camp run by the Japanese.  He was not very fond of them.

Another great thing about the spring was the anticipation of wheat harvest.  When it came, it came and went in a hurry.  Every combine in the area was hooked up, cleaned up and greased to make sure it was in working order and would stay that way.  During the early years we used an Allis Chalmers combine pull behind which attached to the Allis Chalmers tractor.  It cut a swath of about 8 feet as compared to the new combines which have cabs, radio, air conditioners, 40 foot headers (40 foot cut swath), and no tractor was needed to pull it.  That old combine could even harvest corn when it came time.  I don't remember for sure but I think it held 50 bushels of wheat before you had to dump the wheat into the truck.  It took several loads to fill a bobtail truck with racks on it.  The new ones have about 500 bushel hoppers and the trucks are bigger and most of the time the combine unloads while cutting into a cart which takes the wheat to a semi-truck/trailer which is several times bigger than the old bobtail trucks.  Amazing!  The fun thing was many of the farmers would work together and of course as we all hauled our wheat in to the elevator to sell it there would be a line of trucks waiting to be weighed and dumped at Dale's Feed Seed and Fertilizer store and Elevator.  Everyone got to see each other in one place and everyone was in a hurry to get there then wait their turn.  Everyone would be talking about wheat prices and how many bushels they were making.  I think this was actually an effort to be the best liar about how good your crop was.  We would all take the time to have a pepsi and a babyruth candy bar or a butterfinger while waiting.  It seemed that everyone took a little liberty to spend a little money at this time because it was basically one of the only two times a year a farmer would get income.  Can you imagine only getting a check twice a year and not even knowing for sure how much it might be?  That is farming and ranching.  It is the real gamble in life but one that is loved by many.  Just in case you don't know it the other payment is for when you would sell your calves that are ready to go to the feed lots and it would happen in the fall for the most part.

I think we were helping the Mcconaghy's one year when it was especially hot and I was riding in the back of one of the bobtails full of wheat and someone passed out beer to quench the thirst.  I had never seen my dad take a drink until that day and I got to taste it as well.  I really never cared too much for it but when it is hot and dusty like it gets during wheat harvest it tasted really good.  I was probably in the 7th grade then.

In my mind there was never enough time to get all I wanted done in a day then and still today.  Maybe there is a trend?  But I sure anticipated a break to go fishing after school was out.  It was that time of year when the fish seemed to bite the best and sitting under a shade tree anticipating that cork to go moving around a little just tickled my interest.  I loved it.

So how could it get any better than living in the Osage?

• It just can't
• I have found that life is good everywhere but you have to decide that for yourself.
• Tough times happen to EVERYONE but that is what makes good times and small things seem and feel soooooo good.
• Love living where ever you are and love the one you are with, it is a choice NOT an emotion.

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Kids and Dads

I guess every kid goes through a time when they want to be "just like Dad" and then they go through a period when they do not.  For me Dad was something more than cool, he was my example.  When I was very young I just wanted to be able to take as big of steps as he did and stay up with him as he moved so fast.  As I got older I wanted to be liked by everyone just like Dad.  He never seemed to have any enemies although I do remember a few times he sure got POed (Put Out for some and something else for the rest of us).  The only times I remember him being angry with someone was when he had helped a person out and they did not say "thank you".  He just never got over those kind of things.  The other funny thing is when he got mad it was at things, like machinery or a tractor or a hammer or a cow or bull but he never seemed to get angry with me or any particular person.  Now he would get disappointed with a bad behavior like the time I got in big trouble with the law (read back through the old stories and you will know what I am talking about).  Well anyway what I wanted to say about Dad was that he was a great example not by what he said but how he lived.

Every day of every week I believe he woke up with a list of things to do and a passion to get them done.  He could get ready to go to work faster than about anyone right up until the day before he went into the hospital at 87 which was the beginning of the end of a great life.  Now I could speculate that the reason he got up and out so fast was that he wanted to get his list done because Mom was one of the best at making a list of things to get done as well and if he hung around he would be working on her list rather than his, but who knows?  He did not ask for help from us kids, he assumed it as fact.  If I was not out of bed quickly in the morning I could be assured that in the spring a new baby cat or a few new puppies were going to wind up in my bed with me.  If there was nothing alive then he would bring me some ice and put it on me, then he would laugh and walk away.  He was my mentor.

Well that brings me to what drove me to write this story about my Dad's legacy.  His grandson, Richard Crow (Debbie's son), is about 90% like him.  Richard who lives in Perry, Oklahoma and has built GroundZero Storm Shelters to be the largest tornado shelter company in America is so much like him it blows my mind.  Richard gets up every morning around 4:30 and by about 10 or 11 he has done more work than most will get done in a day, just like Dad.  I would also want you to know he can be found loving his family and still working late into most evenings.  One big difference from dad is Richard is bigger by about 30 to 50 pounds but about the same height.  If I were in a fight I would have wanted Dad at my back although Richard would be a great backup.  Richard would also sweep dirt just to make it look neat and clean, just like Dad.  Now that I think about it Richard's brother Clifford is a great worker and just like Dad as well.  He is a fireman in Kingfisher and he wants everything to be done right, fast and now.  And another thought about Dad's legacy.  Chase, my oldest son, is a fireman in Edmond and in fact his picture is on the front of the Metro section of the Daily Oklahoman today 5/15/14, is also just like Dad in many ways.  He can figure things out like an engineer and fix about anything, just like Dad.  He works diligently everyday and purposes to get things done and quickly, just like Dad.

So what do we learn in the Osage?

• watch what you do because someone will repeat it and that will be your legacy, protect it
• your actions really do speak louder than words
• love can be seen by those you duplicate, think about it

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Clyde and Margie

Clyde and Margie Jackson were some pretty cool folks who lived on the hill west of Grainola where my mom and all the Lane sisters grew up plus two brothers, Uncle Bill and Uncle Don.  Now that I think about it we should write a few stories about those brothers.  Anyway, Clyde and Margie never seemed to get rich in money but they were rich in life.  I guess I am getting old because I cannot remember how many kids they had but off hand I remember Bob and Linda and as far as I know they turned out OK.  I know they did and Little Bob was the County Commissioner as I recall and Linda lives in Ark City (I think).

What I remember most is Clyde always had Farmall tractors and he could keep them running longer and better than anyone and he never needed a fancy bigger tractor or at least he was not willing to step out and buy one as his Farmalls worked just fine.  They raised cattle, chickens and hogs and I think they even had a few sheep.  Margie was a fine cook and she always took care of us when mom needed a baby sitter.  I will have to say that she made me mad one time and I don't remember why but I ran away.  The driveway was about a half mile long and I took off down the road and she caught me at the end of the driveway.  Maybe it was just because I was a growing boy but I remember she could really cook and it was fried chicken that I loved the most with the exception of her pies.

Friendly and unpretentious folks is what I liked about Clyde and Margie.  They were just nice to be around and they always had time to sit and talk or as I got older have a cup of coffee with.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could just show up at someones house and they had time to sit and visit and life was not so busy?  What happened?  TOO MUCH technology maybe?  Too many activities?  Too much stuff?

I don't know about you but I have learned one thing from not being in the Osage.  I have learned that the more stuff you have the more "stuff controls you".  We build bigger houses to hold more stuff and then we rent or build storage sheds to hold more stuff and we have bigger attics to store more stuff.  We even go to garage sales or to the malls to buy more stuff that we hardly ever use.  I guess I long for folks like Clyde and Margie who valued folks/friends/family more than stuff.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• stuff takes time and people take time but people are more important than stuff
• if we stop buying stuff we will have more time to help people
• time is more valuable than stuff

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Drivers Education and Coach Smith

Travis Eaton wrote a Facebook note asking about Drivers Ed and it reminded me of Coach Smith and my experiences with driving.

First off I cannot remember when I first drove because I drove a tractor and worked the fields when I was about 9 years old and probably drove the pickup to feed cattle even earlier.  I was always too big for my age so reaching the peddles was never a problem.  I was taller than Miss Shumate in the third grade and taller than Mrs. Casselman in the second.  Miss Shumate was about 5 foot tall, max.  Mrs. Casselman was about 5'1".  OK, back to the point.  Driving was a necessity and I remember Jon Tanny and Eddie always were driving just like me and no one cared and in fact folks tried to hire me to drive their tractors long before I was 16 years old.

So what about drivers education.  Coach Smith was my teacher and I don't really think he had a single thing to teach most of us so mostly we just drove around for an hour and stopped by the Dixie Dog for a refreshment or got out on the streets about town and practiced parking.  Really it was not much of an adventure except for the day I took my test.

That day I went down to the city hall as I recall to take the test which was no big deal but then I had to have someone go with me for a test drive in my car.  It was my red '62 Chevy which I had already owned and was driving to school each day from Grainola to Shidler (house to school of about 15 miles) that I took my test in.  I was really nervous about this part since I had never been in the situation before.  The testing person told me to back out of the angled parking place and lets go for a drive.  Well that was when things got a little sticky.  I was having to give the car a lot of gas to get it to back up and it was a three speed manual transmission with the gear shift on the steering shaft.  The testing person suggested that I might want to take off the emergency brake so it would not burn up my brakes.  "Good Idea", I said as my body broke out into a heavy sweat.  We took the car for a spin and about another 10 minutes went by and he told me to try a parallel park event.  Luckily I had read the book and knew how to pull up correctly to start the parallel parking but when I turned my wheels and started in reverse I wound up just about perpendicular to the curb in between two cars.  He suggested that I should just go on.  I was sure at this point I was in deep do-do and would not pass.  Luckily he gave me 2 points for pulling up correctly and I made a perfect score!  I made a 70! And it took a 70 to pass, therefore a perfect score.

Now that all was good news but let me tell you about the second time I tried to parallel park.  For some reason I decided to enter a state wide driving contest held at OSU each year during the annual 4-H convention.  Not only did I park parallel 100% correctly but I had literally never tried it since the day of my driving test.  And on top of that I drove the course in a record time dodging between markers and tennis balls because I was in a hurry to get to my next event which was a speech contest doing a demonstration.  Guess what?  I placed second in the state competition.

Just for funnies, the demonstration contest was a contest I had to qualify on the county and regional basis to be in the state finals.  I had not prepared a speech so the day of the speech I took a book I had read "The Five Fundamentals of Gold" by Ben Hogan and outlined the five points on a poster board, grabbed a golf club and went to the contest.  Much to my amazement I won the contest and the regional and then the state.  I practiced it ALL three times.  Pretty funny, huh?

Well I don't know about you but growing up in the Osage cannot be beaten by any class 5, 4, 3, or whatever class school.  I am a proud Shidler Tiger and a proud Osage and it don't get any better than that.  Yes, I meant to say don't.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• Learning is a journey and it is your choice what you want to get out of it
• The only limit on your potential is put on by you, it is a decision not your circumstance
• Today is the beginning of a new adventure and I expect to take part in it with a good attitude

Thanks for sharing your time with me,

gary@thepioneerman.com

What is success?

I am one of those folks who grew up thinking if I made a million dollars I would be successful especially if I did it before I was 30 years old.  I have always held in high esteem those who had fame and financial success but as I have gotten older I find success means much much more.

Last Saturday Bob and Jan Harris had a celebration of over 50 years of marriage.  Bob's sister Norma and her husband Johnny of Memphis area have been married 54 years.  Janis, the little sister, who now lives in Kansas with her husband must be over 40 years married.  All together that is three children of Vea and Gordon Harris who have stayed married a lifetime.  Eddy the youngest child, who was one of my dearest childhood friends, died about 10 years ago and Gordon,their father, died when they were young so you would have to say Vea was a very successful mother.  Oh my goodness, I forgot David and Jan who have been married longer than dirt and he is the oldest son of Vea and Gordon.

So what else makes up success?  I am going to get in trouble for this but my daughter, Wynter, has spent the first 10 years of her adult life as a missionary sacrificing the all-mighty dollar for helping others.  How about those who "raise your child up in the way they should go" (that is direct from the Bible) and focus on the relationship with their spouse and children (family) verses focusing on making money, are they successful?  ABSOLUTELY!  Now I want to make it clear that once we raise them and they are old enough to make decisions they are responsible for their mistakes and they reap the harvest of bad decisions as well as good ones.  

Success means a lot of things to different folks and I am grateful that it does mean a lot of different things to each of us.  How about all those military folks like Mark Whitt who were in the military for a career and never made a lot of money?  I think I would call that success.  How about all of those teachers who taught us so that we could go on and make a good living or even make a lot of money?  I think they were very successful.  

In summary I think success can be summed up as "doing the best you can in all endeavors and when things go wrong getting up and continuing on doing your best while still respecting others and being honest and having integrity in your life".  I had a friend say, "people can steel almost anything and everything from you but YOU have to give your integrity away", your choice.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Marriage is not easy but it is worth it
• Money is a tool not a destination
• Life is a journey and what you do with it is your choice, don't bitch about your choices
• Eternity is a choice even if you do not believe in it.  You might consider reading up on this one.

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Luckily the Osage is somewhat isolated

What Happened?  Politics were so far removed from growing up in the Osage and for the most part much better when I was a kid.   About the biggest thing ever happened was re-electing the county commissioners which looking back were caught up in scandal but most of us never even knew that until thirty years later.  If you don't know what I am talking about go look up "county commissioner scandal in Oklahoma".  Then of course there was the county sheriff scandal in the early 1920's when they were being bribed.  Look up the "Osage Indian Murders" and you will find out what I mean.  But most of all politics were kind of cool when a new governor showed up for some event like visiting Codding Cattle Research to highlight a new Simmental Bull coming to America.  It did not matter to folks whether they were Republicans or Democrats as they were held in honor and celebrated for being leaders.  Sure there were discussions but not emotionally charged like they are today.  In fact that brings me to "The rest of the story".

There is a lot of clamoring about school regulation at the state and national level and health care and of course the military and about everything else you can think of.  Next they are going to try and legislate how to protect the cows from the heat (they already do that for dairy cattle).  They might even try to legislate where you can build a pond or plant your crops or cut down trees.  Oops, they already have.  I may be wrong but I just think local folks have more common sense about what to do locally.  I could be wrong but I thought I had the best teachers and administrators in Mr. Bias and Mr. Treadway and Mr. Morris not counting the teachers of Shumate, Himbury, Snyder, Head, Alverado, Morris, Gilbreth, Cothom, and the list goes on and on.  We might disagree on some of these but I bet you the majority of us turned out all-right.  I guess I believe all of us make bad decisions sometimes but if we just make good decisions most of the time and have a little faith in our Lord things are going to turn out OK.  I learned early in life that those who work hard deserve more. Some folks who work hard chose a profession that pays less in spite of the pay but it was their choice.  Some folks like teachers chose a profession that pays less money but get wonderful benefits during and in the end vs. others who chose to make a lot more money and have no guarantees on income, vacation, retirement or even retiring before age 67.  It is all about choices and we all have to make them.  If enough folks choose not to work for less pay (it is called free enterprise) then the employer has to pay more to attract them even if it is the schools or farmers, etc.. Farmers are the amazing ones as they have no guarantee of income or retirement but again it is a choice.  Such a wonderful thing about America, free choice.  I know that stinks somewhat but we do make our own bed and we have to sleep in it.  

Dad said many times that "if the government would get out of the farming business good farmers could make money".  He was also a believer in if a bad farmer makes bad decisions he will go out of business making it easier for the good farmer to make money.  I think we call that free enterprise.

Dad also made the point, "every time the government passes a law someone wins and someone looses".  It seems to me there is a lot of common sense in that.  I did learn in the Osage that if you cheat, steal and lie even if there is not a law against it directly  that you should be punished.  Bernie Madoff was a crook and should go to jail but did the government over-react to that?  ABSOLUTELY.  Read the new Dodd Frank laws and see how it hurts all of us more than the extremely wealthy.  You will be shocked.
National Health Care and Obomacare?  We already had national health care so that was nothing new.  Did we need some fixes?  ABSOLUTELY.  Was this a good fix?  You tell me.  Can we afford another national social program?  Social Security is in deep trouble but not because it was not funded well but because the government spent all the money on other things and cannot say no to more social welfare.  Medicare works but it is broken and getting worse.  Did you see the new law that is going to make it more difficult to get medicare to pay for hospital visits of one day?  Basically they shifted more expense to the consumer which means that those who can pay will have to and those who cannot pay will be subsidized by the government.  Lets make no mistake about this point.  The government is not paying this but the 50% who pay the taxes are paying it.

Well, where did all of this get us?  What did we learn in the Osage?

• We are a whole lot better off governing on a local level
• Schools and education on a local level make more sense and the dollars can be spent better when locally controlled by local values and local decisions
• People who work hard and do right should make decisions for those who cannot and it should be done on a local level, not a state or national level
• Local values are better and stronger than those put together by outsiders meaning those who are not farmers should not dictate to farmers and teachers know their students and need the power to teach and discipline on a local level dictated by a majority of folks on the local level
• We don't need more laws, we need more honest and local choices.  Perhaps we need to teach morals, ethics and values again and teach folks how to work hard and stay focused.

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepoineerman.com

Was there ever a chance that I would not leave the nest

I was talking to a friend who has a son that is about 32 years old and does not have a job and lives at home.  Wow!  That would never have happened in the Osage.  I think I would be buried in the black soil of Beaver Creek if I had tried that one especially if I sat around the house and played video games and looked at the Internet.  In fact I would say there was zero chance I would have a seat at the dinner table if I did not work and work hard every day while living at home.  I cannot imagine my folks even offering for me to live at home after high school or college.  Anyway as I listened to my friends story I was in utter shock.  They have a nice kid who has a good heart but is just lazy.  I suppose this is a good case of enabling a person and I do mean in a negative way.

After working for many years for Ross Perot of EDS and then coming back to Oklahoma to be close to family we found ourselves with 3 children living in a nice house on a golf course in Yukon.  But watching our children grow and mature I became very concerned that the only responsibility they would have was to make their beds and help with the dishes.  I wondered how they would learn to do anything.  That actually reminds me that I believe these technical schools are very underutilized and in fact we need the old "shop classes" in schools and mechanic classes.  I am not and educator but I do believe if you look around you will find that kids that grew up in small towns with LESS sophisticated classes proportionally are much more likely to be financially and business successful than kids in big schools with lots of AP classes.  Prove me wrong if you want but I look at my old Shidler and Grainola buddies and girls and I find much more healthy marriages and families and successful business people. I just find that folks from smaller towns and communities have higher values and stronger work ethic and are much more likely to be grateful for God's blessings.  No apologies for giving credit to our creator.  Besides if you were in a war on terror or a street fight who do you want on your side?  I find this a pretty easy answer, someone from the Osage!  

Back to my challenge and my solution.  I should probably add that when I grew up in Grainola I use to tell my folks I was NEVER going to come visit unless they got blacktop on those gravel roads.  I lied.  Also I said I would never live on a farm or have to feed animals in the winter or any of that hard stuff like hauling hay.  I lied.  There is getting to be a trend.  So I bought a farm in west Edmond to have a place with responsibility and opportunities for my children.  At first they were not very excited about this move but over time it was a winner.  My kids did turn out perfect.  I lied again.  We started right away with planting pumpkins and buying a few animals and ultimately building a house on the farm.  I would have to say it was most difficult for our oldest, Wynter.  She did adjust and it was much easier on the two boys as they were young and driving a tractor when you are 9 years old and driving a pickup on the farm at 9 was pretty cool.  I had purchased an old pickup with duals and a 457 engine (at least it was a powerful engine) that was in pretty rough shape for $400 to help around the farm.  Wynter hated it and of course I told her that when she turned 16 it was going to be her first vehicle.  She did not think that was funny.  Luckily Chase as tall for his age and could drive it easily.  We tried to let Preston drive but he did not like it.  I should remind you that Preston has down syndrome and is 26 now but he does not like to drive even today.  That pickup worked pretty good but it was sure loud.  Well I would have to tell you buying a farm and yes we had a gravel road was the best thing I did for my family and my children especially.  They know how to work and they made good decisions about their future.  They have common sense and level heads, meaning they don't get their underwear in a wad over stupid things and they are focused young adults.

OK, lets sum this up.  I cannot figure out one reason I would want to live at home and not work much less sit all day doing Internet and video games or TV.  If I could tell that parent one thing it would be let your child (even if they are over 30) know that if they want to live at home, rent and room and board are not optional and they will absolutely have to help with cleaning and cooking and maintenance and they have to get a job even at minimum wage because they will have to pay to live at home.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Never say never because as soon as you do one of those children are going to want to come home and live for some period of time.  Both of our kids did and both did not like our rules and wanted out as soon as possible.
• Living at home after 18 might have been an option but work was not an option
• Working and having a family is a privilege and we should all be grateful for "The home of the brave and the land of the free"

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

HOme Owners Associations

Praise God we did not have HOA, Home Owners Associations, in the Osage or at least in Shidler and Grainola.   I guess it is a sign of the times or just a city thing but from what I see we had it right in the Osage.  We respected each others rights to do what they wanted with their home and their land.  We may have not liked someones house or the way they kept their yard or barns or even their equipment  but we respected their rights to do what they saw fit for what was theirs.  Now I understand things have changed and there is too much trash and not enough pride and probably more than anything not enough self discipline and genuine caring.   HOA's are just messy.

What I remember was how my sister would go help folks who needed help and she did it without being paid and without being asked and without an HOA.  Debbie always had the biggest heart and I saw her go clean houses and cook for old folks week after week.  I saw people go mow the church yard without being asked and even weed-eat around things without being asked.  When something needed fixed people figured out how to fix it and got after it (that means they did not put it off).  I remember my folks would sometimes see that someone needed help and they would volunteer us/me to go help.  I wish I could say I was always a willing participant but in the end as I look back it was best for me too.   I think there was a sense of pride folks had in keeping things looking good.  I don't know why but Bud Head comes to mind as I recall he always kept things real orderly and then there was Perry Stephens whose house always looked clean and neat.  Vea Harris planted more flowers than about anyone and she even had them in her garden next to the potato plants and tomato plants.  By the way did you know that marigolds will keep squash bugs away?   And while I am at it, if you have problems with mites add a little soap to some water and spray the leaves.   Along the highway farmers would mow the grass and bail it for hay.  We never bailed it but Dad insisted that the one mile long drive to our house on Beaver Creek did not have excessive weeds or tall grass along the road.  He wanted it neat and clean looking.  Heaven forbid if there was a wire loose and sagging as that was a sin.  Right away we had to get out there and get it fixed.

OK, back to HOAs.  What I have found is that HOAs are an opportunity for everyone that wants to complain about something they don't like about someone else and not feel guilty.  What I would say is that most of the time folks need to filter what they say and for the most part keep their mouth shut unless they have something nice to say about someone.  Sure there are things we need to fix or take action on that affect others but we can say it with respect and kindness.  Everything someone has to say is NOT personal but if it is said in a respectful fashion then you have a responsibility to 'get over it'.    HOA's make me love the Osage just a little more.  If you still live there please count your blessings and do something for someone else and clean up your place so folks won't think you don't care.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• if you see someone needs a little help view it as a mission project and do it without needing praise or money and you will feel some real blessings in your life.
• if you learn to give it away you will receive far more than you ever give.  It is called a blessing and it might be in just feeling better about yourself.
• I love chickens, yes chickens.  I wish we did not have an HOA so I could have chickens just like in the Osage.

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

People don't change much but they can if they decide

Easter is coming and that brings a lot of changes.  Of course it brings the daffodils and tulips but it also brings most families to one of two annual trips to church.  I remember Kerney Graham, pastor of the United Methodist Churches at Grainola, Webb City and Foraker sharing an observation that on Christmas and Easter a lot of families think about the spiritual side of life.  I was a kid back then but never forgot his thoughts about if I were to stand before God and He was looking at my church attendance would He be thinking I am on his team?  The better question I thought was, "would He let me in?" or "would there be evidence that I was guilty of being one of His".   Or "why should He let me in?" might be a great question.  Luckily I found the answer.

Have you ever noticed in life those small events or people who really made a difference in your life?  Maybe I am different but I have considered a lot of those things from growing up in the Osage.  Here is a short list:

5 years old:  I was told I was a hero for protecting Denise Logue from a big dust devil.  I thought it was a tornado.  I felt mature and good about my actions.

7 years old: Geneva Snyder (first grade teacher before she had a brain tumor) telling me I was too big.  I wished for years I was small like Jon Tanny, Jimmy H. and Hugh Allen Jones.

9 year old: Aunt Gladys (Shidler High School Teacher) telling me I was really good at puzzles and understood new math better than some of her high school students.  I studied math and science in college and her encouragement drove my entire career.

10 Years old:  Mr. Lewis Morris encouraging me in math and science and sports.

Always: Mom and Dad telling me I could do anything if I chose to and worked hard enough.  They never said I had to be the smartest but just focus and stick to it.

12 Years old:  Coach Gillstrap told me I should play football and he wanted me on his team.  I could not wait.  I was so excited that I talked my folks into to letting me go to Shidler one year early.

16 years old:  Dr. Maoza (not sure how to spell it) told me I could not play football.   I became more determined than ever to play in spite of an injury as a freshman.

16 years Old:  Mrs. Helen Head telling me how well I dressed.  It made me try harder as I wanted to meet her expectations.  She was a tough one but she made me better at English and I wanted to please her.

17 years old: Mr. Treadway telling me I was one of his best acting students and I needed to keep my sideburns cut.  

Well you get the idea.  I know some folks are not as competitive and some folks just have more talent and potential but I never thought my glass was half full.  I did not try to find the bad in folks or figure out why I should be unhappy or why I was not as smart as the next person.  In fact over the years I have made the comment that a lot of folks are smarter but I can out work anyone and with enough time I will win.  Losing and being depressed or getting down on myself was not an option.  I do have to confess that over the years I have had plenty of ups and downs and I do get down on myself sometimes but overall I just want to be the best I can be with what I got and a little bit more.  

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Going to church is not a one or two time event but a life style especially if you really do want Him to decide in your favor.  Luckily none of it depends on me other than making a choice.  If you don't get the idea call me and I will explain.
• Getting down has no bearing on the outcome.  Only getting up and doing it quickly matters.
• Encourage someone.  Make a difference, a positive difference, in someones life even if you don't have the fortitude to make your own life better.  
• It is ALL your choice!  
• Don't count on God if He cannot count on you.

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Root celler

One of the great things about living on the farm is just about everyone had a root cellar which doubled as a tornado shelter.  Basically it was made out of brick and cement with a dirt floor and it was covered with grass on top with a door much like the cellar in Wizard of Oz.  Any time we had a big storm Dad and Mom would sit out on the porch watching the clouds to see if there was a tornado forming.  Of course the challenge was that after dark you could not see a tornado.  After dark Mom and Dad would listen for signs of a tornado.  Basically what they were watching for was the wind would become more circular and changing plus before a tornado would come down the rains would change from falling to going somewhat sideways and it might even stop raining.  The other thing that indicated one was close is the sound of the storm would be more like a train coming.  There would be a roar rather than lightening and thunder.  Now that I think about it when we thought a tornado was close the lightening and thunder was dissipate.

As a kid I was never particularly worried and what I really wanted to do was stand outside looking up into the storm like Dad and Mom.  I always thought the clouds were really cool to watch but one time I got in big trouble with Dad.  I said I wished I could see a tornado.  I got a butt chewing for that one.  Where we lived was on Beaver Creek which was down in the valley between some rolling hills and therefore we never did have a tornado set down close to our house although we saw some over head circling in the clouds.   Back then we did not have all the technology to detect tornadoes or the threat of tornadoes so you had to rely on farmers and ranchers who could identify fingers or funnels forming in the clouds.  I would have to say that I particularly enjoyed being on the plains and watching tornadoes in the distance dragging their tails across the wheat fields and tall grass prairies.

It was sad when you knew someone who lost their house or barns but I never did know anyone who lost a loved one from a tornado.

Back to the cellar.  Besides being a tornado shelter this is where we stored all the food for the winter before freezers came into the picture.  Just guessing from memory I would say the cellar was about seven foot wide and 12 to 14 foot long with two foot wide shelves all around.  During a storm we would sit in folding chairs down the middle of the cellar.  On the shelves we had about anything you could think of to eat.  There was jelly made from sand plums we gathered across the creek from the house to blackberry jelly made from blackberries gathered down by Oolagah, OK where Grandma Annie and Popi Jess lived.  We had pickled water melon rind, yes you can eat the green part, corn, green beans, yellow wax beans, peaches, apricots (Mom made the best apricot cobblers ever), canned okra, tomatoes and tomato juice, pickles (mom made the best sweet pickles and Sally Shumate knows how to make them), sweet and dill pickles, and lots more.  The floor was was covered in hundreds of pounds of potatoes.  During those storms we would just pile them out of the way and then spread them out after we left.

I did forget to mention the reason for the cellar is that being mostly below ground the temperature was always cool and constant, regardless of what the weather was outside.  It was a great place to go sit during those really hot summer days as long as there were no visitors like bull snakes.  But no worry as they did not bother you.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Think ahead and get prepared as days will come when you will be glad you did
• Quality of life is a decision, you can stick your neck out of the cellar or you can keep it underground and not experience the good and bad of life.
• A teachable spirit can protect you from an emotional roller coaster or you can just let the tornado take control of your attitude
• Your choice and your fault

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

A little history of Grainola

What started as a report on the history of Grainola that I had to write, against my will, turned out to be my favorite assignment all through 12 grades including Grainola Grade School and my class of 5 and sometimes 6 if Joy Franks would stay put plus my years at good old Shidler High School.  Just FYI Joy had a tendency to move from Grainola to Shidler and back a few times over 12 years.  It was kind of nice when she came to Grainola as she increased our girl population in my class by 100%.  The only problem was that she was so dog-gone smart that she made us look bad, or at least me.

Anyway, the project was kind of difficult to figure out how to get started and how far to go back.  Well let me give you a few tidbits about Grainola that you may or may not know.  First, it got its name from a girl named Inola and the fact that there were huge piles of grain (corn, wheat, oats, milo) on giant tarps piled by the Midland Valley Railroad waiting to be hauled off.  Thus the name Grainola, the city of grain and a young girl named Inola.

Grainola had two hotels and a pool hall, Frankford State Bank merged to become Grainola State Bank, a post office in 1906,2 grain elevators, lumber yard, Methodist and Lutheran Churches, a silent theatre,a community water well as there was no city or running water and more.   My dad told the story of a friend who they wagered could not put a cue ball in his mouth.  Well he did succeed but there was a problem.  He could not get it out so they had to run the guy across town to the doctor.  Yes, Grainola even had a doctor.  They did get the ball out but it created some excitement.

Now just as a side note I bet you never had a person who often would fly their plane to town and land on the town streets.  Well we did.  It was Paul Jones who is also  the person to give me my very first flight from a hay field around Copan, OK at the Mullendor Ranch where we worked to Shidler where I had to go for football practice.  Well Paul was always a lot of fun and could fix about anything.  If you would like a good read try the Mullendor Murder Case.  You will read about Paul Kelly and Paul Jones and a lot of other Osage folks.  I should mention that Paul tried his best to make me sick on that plane.  I think he was getting even with me for giving him a hard time about his hairdo.

Grainola was a bustling little town with about 600 folks and a couple of grocery stores, feed stores and other services.  It was really cool that we could collect the eggs and trade for groceries rather than use money.  Another of my favorite things was almost every store had a pot bellied stove that burned coal.  Generally these were the social gathering places during the winter when things slowed down around the farms.  Local farmers and ranchers would sit and drink coffee and catch up on the gossip.  I don't think the women had any more gossip than the men.  It seemed that every morning after the cattle, sheep and hogs and don't forget the chickens were fed that the men would head for the coffee shop.  I should also mention that grocery stores generally carried things like v-belts and bolts and other hardware type things just in case.  Another cool thing I learned from my mom is that when they milked the cows, by hand meaning no machines, they would use a manual separator to divide the milk from the cream.  Once that was done they would take the cream to Bargis family who collected it and sold to the dairy processors for making cottage cheese and other products.  Mom's family then took the milk needed for the house (7 kids) and they made their own butter and what was left was used to feed the hogs and baby calves.

There are a lot of great folks from Grainola but a few stand out like Mildred Kelly who could dribble and shoot a basketball like crazy, Lois (Lane, my mom's sister) Del Priorie who I was told by Mr. Casselman was the best basketball player out of Grainola and then there were the Fulsom girls who played on the 1950 State Championship Basketball team.  That team is listed as number 39 of the top 100 sports stories in the state of Oklahoma.  The reason is there were only 14 kids in the Shidler High School and all 9 girls were on the team.  High School was four grades, not three.  The odds were against them but they pulled it out.

Did I  mention the first name given to Grainola was Salt Creek?  When the post office was established in 1906 the name was changed.  Also Frankfort was a small cattle town where John and Linda Murphy lived that had a bank which was merged into the Grainola Bank.

Well I had better go.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• life is what you decide not what others decide for you
• respect for others and respect for the law are assumed by small town folks and yes there will always be problems but character makes folks great, NOT more laws
• the land of the Osage is full of famous and wonderful people, go look for the good in everyone

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Ruby's Store

Ruby Jackson's gas station and grocery store

I don't know about you but who could ever forget the memories of Ruby Jackson's Store. Now of course she had to compete with Dale's Feed, Seed and Fertilizer (another story). But Bob Scott the bus driver and head honcho after Lizzie (the school cook)at the Grainola School would stop the school bus at Ruby's once a week and let us get off the bus and get a Pepsi (that is generic for a pop).

There really were 5 cent bottles of pop and it was terribly exciting when Ruby started carrying 12 and 16 oz. bottles instead of just 8 oz. bottles of pop. By the way a bottle was glass not plastic and when you brought the bottle back you could get a nickle for each empty bottle. Now if you were local to Grainola you would call that "stopping for a Pepsi" no matter what you would purchase. Anyway (I promise to use that word once every story) those larger bottles were originally 10 cents then later 15 cents and a giant Babyruth bar was 5 cents until it went to 10 cents. If you are under 40 there is no way you will understand the size of that Babyruth candy bar but it was about 9 to 10 inches long and looked like a ______. You tell me.

Now this might seem trivial but I remember struggling with some folks who could afford a Pepsi and a candy bar on the same trip. You might think in today's terms that was bad but as I look back I think it built character because it made me a better person in the long run. Let me explain.

First, I learned that some folks could not afford what others did and I remember wanting to share with those who could not afford as much. I learned to share in someone else's humanity and humility. I was humbled.

Second, I learned that if I worked hard I could afford more and therefore it made me competitive.

Third, I learned that if I saved my money I could buy something that lasts longer than an immediate satisfaction. I learned to save.

Fourth, I learned my self image was not about how much I could afford and that I should make quality choices in life.

Fifth, I learned circumstances do not make the person but the decisions I make effect others as well as myself.

Mrs. Head, please forgive me for using "I learned" too often. She really was a great teacher but don't tell her that.

Back to Ruby. The anticipation of that stop every week was huge and it made me angry when someone acted up on the bus and Bob canceled the event of stopping at Ruby's. I would like to see some confessions on who was guilty on these occasions. In those days there were consequences for bad behavior. I am not going to mention that Billy Snyder, my cousin, and I ever caused any problems at Ruby's except the one time he tried to hit me with the Pepsi bottle. I am confident that it was not my fault.

Now Saturday's were also big for me with a trip to Ruby's. You see my Grandpa Olson lived right down the street. Every Saturday that Mom and Dad would let me I would go to Grandpa's and play checkers (another story). Anyway, Grandpa and I would always walk down to Ruby's and get Nehi strawberry or cherry pop plus a package of those cinnamon rolls with the white icing. Do you remember how the paper was wrapped up on the sides and if you were lucky the icing dripped down the side and you could get a little extra icing? Man I loved those cinnamon rolls. Guess that is why my favorite food today is cinnamon rolls. I never told Aunt Peggy (Jimmy Heath's aunt as well) or Mom (Opal) that I lied to them about their cinnamon rolls. You see I told both of them that theirs were my favorite so that they would both make me cinnamon rolls. Today they don't make me cinnamon rolls but they are still my most favorite food. It is their fault I need to lose weight or is it because I make bad decisions about eating too much? I had rather blame them.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Wanting something bad enough is a good thing
• Wanting something someone else has can make you try harder if you make good decisions
• Learning happens everyday even on the school bus home

Thanks for listening,

Gary@thepioneerman.com