A little bit of history

I am setting here listening to and watching a film of an interview with Mom and Dad in 1999 at Christmas in Perkins, Oklahoma.  It is amazing what you learn if you sit down and listen and ask questions.  In summary before I start, what I am saying is you need to take the time to film and interview your folks before it is too late.  And yes Mom and Dad moved to Perkins after living in Grainola for most of 65 years.

Mom and Dad met when Mom was babysitting for Vea and Gordon Harris.  Just for fun that would be Bobby (Bob), David, Janis and Eddy.  Dad was working for Tanny Olsen but spent about a third of his time working at the ranch where Vea and Gordon lived.  Dad and Gordon were very close friends and since Mom worked there it was logical they would meet.  I would have to say that we have never gotten any details about this but Mom was 16 and dad was 27 or 28 when they got married.  Today that might be illegal but it was not back then.  In fact back then it was relatively common for a big age difference.  I will make the point that they had their first child, Larry Wayne, when Mom was 20.  Now I am not saying Larry was their favorite but I am saying ...... anyway.

Mom and Dad's first house was on Beaver Creek 1 mile north and three West about 2 feet south of the house that sits there today which Dad built and I helped (I was about 5 years old).  They purchased the farm and original house from the Almon family who moved to Washington State to work in the defense business.  When they bought the house they purchased the house and lland plus for $100 extra they got the furniture, harness for the horses and all the machinery to run the farm.  Dad said the dining table was a library table about 1 foot wide and 5 foot long.  Don't get wired up about 5 foot and not 5 feet.  Dad said it and I quoted it.  For a kitchen cabinet they took a dresser and turned it upside down, flipped the drawers over and had a kitchen cabinet until later on when they could afford something different.  A little history on that house is it was picked up and moved to Grainola where Mrs. Heath (postmaster of Grainola) made it into her house and the front porch became the Grainola Post Office (74639 or 73649 or 76349 as I recall).  It was funny in that we use to not have zip codes and everyone thought it was a big deal when we got zip codes.  When I lived in Holland during 1970 I use to mail letters to Mom and Dad and would address it:
Mom and Dad
Grainola, OK 74639
and everyone one of those letters got home.

Another important piece of trivia I learned from listening to those tapes is that Gordon Harris could drink a case of bear and not have to go pee.  Now that seems like a bit of trivia that I and you don't need to know but it bares the question, what was Dad doing?  and why would he need to know that?  As I began thinking about all the stories about Tanny Olsen liking a drink now and then I began to wonder how much my dad drank when he was young before he got married.  The one thing I do know is that Mom never let alcohol in the house except for one bottle that was for treating a cold.  That bottle lasted for years and I never did try it except when I had a cold.  Mom would put about a tablespoon in a cup of hot water and give to me to drink.  Burn, burn, burn - a ring of fire.  No wonder I was never interested in drinking.  I suppose I just don't need to know everything.

Also from that video I learned that Mom and Dad liked to dance.  They would go to Big Beaver or to Arkansas City, Kansas and they particularly liked Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.  Mom and Dad's best friend during part of that time was the base fiddle player and his wife.  Now for some reason I never can quite picture Mom and Dad dancing but they were young once.

Some of my most favorite stories are about when Dad, Tanny and a bunch of cowboys would go to Louisiana and round up steers and fill up a trainload of steers and heifers to bring to the Osage to fatten up and then on to Kansas City to market.  I absolutely cannot imagine riding horses through the swamps with all those snakes and alligators to get steers and heifers.

Well, what do you learn in the Osage?

• The whole story is not always told
• Some stories should never be told
• Some stories are not worth telling
• The truth can be lost over time

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Three big oak trees on Beaver Creek

When I was living on Beaver Creek, one mile north and three west of Grainola and one mile west of Eddie's house there were three of the biggest oak trees with the giant acorns on them every year across the creek from our house.  That was a mouthful.  Anyway, they were so big you could not get your arms around any one of those trees especially when I was young and growing.  Even when I was full grown at the ripe old age of 12 when I was 6 ft. 2 inches and 205 lbs I still could not put my arms around those trees.  Now I will tell you I am still 6'2" but the 205 lbs. has rounded over to 262.  In fact you might say I have the chest-of-drawers disease.  That is where your chest drops into your drawers.  Back to those trees:  I cannot tell you how many times I snuck away to lay under those trees to enjoy the thick green cool grass and breeze drifting through the leaves blocking the warm sun.  I can feel it now.  I took a few naps there and dreamed that I would build a house by those trees some day.

We had those giant red squirrels living in those oaks and during the winter there would be huge nests of leaves and sticks built by the squirrels to live in.  Larry and I hunted all up and down Beaver Creek for squirrels during the winter and in those trees especially.  We had Dad's old bolt action 20 gauge shotgun and I generally used a 410 gauge or a 22 rifle.  Larry and I would leave out of the house at daylight and walk for hours up and down Beaver Creek all the way from Chuck Kelley's to the Shumate's which is now David and Jan Harris to the McConaghy's at the old Beaver Creek bridge.   It really did not matter what the weather or distance was but as long as we got the chores done which included feeding the cattle and in winter chopping ice we were free to hunt.  Many of those times we would wind up hunting quail which was loads of fun.

On occasion Larry or I would shoot a squirrel and it would run to its nest which meant we could not retrieve the squirrel.  But Dad always had the answer, cut firewood.  That meant if we killed a squirrel we were not allowed to let it die and not retrieve it somehow.  Dad would instruct us to get the old Homelite chain saw running and spend the day cutting firewood to heat the house.  Actually I kind of liked cutting firewood and watching the tree fall.  In particular I liked taking the steel wedge and splitting that fresh green oak using the wedges and a sledge hammer.   At our house a sledge hammer was 16 ounces and most of the time it was a railroad sledge of 20 ounces.  Let me tell you it was not an easy task swinging a sledge hammer like that hitting the wedge just right and splitting those logs.  As Dad would say, "it will make a man out of you".  Dad always seemed to have a good eye for falling a tree.  He could make it drop in the perfect spot almost every time.  I should also tell you about that chain saw.  It was not like these cheap chain saws today made with plastic.  Everything about it said it was heavy.  It would vibrate your teeth and you sure better watch out for a kickback because it would take a leg or arm off quickly.

Once we got back home we had to clean those squirrels which was not an easy task.  Skinning a squirrel was hard work but Dad made us a special tool to make it easier.  It was a board that we could tie the legs to and hang on a nail at the barn just west of the house.  Just for you who have read my stories that is where I saved Denise Logue's life when she and I were about 5 years old.  There was a dirt devil coming and I told her it was a tornado and I took her to that barn for safety where she held my hand until she was safe.  I guess I was her hero from that day forward.  Anyway, once we got the squirrels cleaned and washed Mom would fry them with a little bit of Crisco and flour then she would make gravy with the grease.  Boy that was some good eat'n!  Gravy over home made mashed potatoes from the cellar and fried squirrel.  It just don't get any better than that.

Well I had better go.  So what do you learn in the Osage?

• It is your choice on what you make of your time and opportunities just like when you kill a squirrel and it dies in a nest you get to cut wood.
• If you stack up all the bad on the left side of a paper and then on the right side write down all the things you were able to do because of that bad you will find the good is better to live with
• I always wanted to be a hero

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Now I don't know about you but there are a few people who make a big difference in our lives that just never got a lot of recognition and certainly not a lot of money for their efforts.  Gladys Snyder was certainly one of those but I would also say she loved what she did and she did not sit around and grip about her situation.  I would consider Mrs. Snyder one of the greatest all time teachers, encourager's, patriots, and Shidlerites ever to darken the door of a high school or any school.  She had a passion for learning and teaching.  Every year and I do mean every year she would chose one topic and study it for a year.  

One year she studied bugs while taking classes at OSU on the subject.  Do I need to get sophisticated and call it entomology?    Another year she studied fossils and another was Oklahoma History then there was archeology and the list went on and on for somewhere over 50 years.  She was not much for TV or even the Beatles (not the bug) which Susie was crazy about.  Now that I think about it Susie was the same as her mother, she studied bugs.  

Mrs. Snyder (Aunt Gladys to me) was absolutely amazing.  She had the most active of minds and could remember everything.  There was not a bug or leaf of a tree or plant that she could not identify.  She had every National Geographic since I don't know when and she read every one of them.  One year she came out to the farm many times to catch bugs during the day and at night.  She had all kinds of nets and then Dad even made her a net of screen wire on the end of a very long pole so she could catch bugs.  I bet you she had hundreds of bugs that she preserved and put in giant cases with glass fronts and special pins to hold the bugs in position and then she named each one.  The challenge about all this stuff she learned is that she would then take it to dear old Shidler High School and expect us children to learn all this stuff.  It was actually very fun and interesting.  She brought education to life.  

I don't know of any awards that Aunt Gladys received for her dedication to learning and teaching but she gets my award for the best and greatest.  She gave of herself and she gave it with a positive spirit and a dedication like no other.  She rooted for the underdog and I suppose that is because she was raised without a lot of money (we call that poor) but she was never poor in spirit or drive or ambition or love for her students.  Could she yell at her students?  You bet!  She expected great behavior and she expected you to learn.  There was something very special about her that was hard to describe or understand and that was a special caring about certain people.  For me it was David Howell who was in my class.  Aunt Gladys always took a special liking to David and I think it was because David's mother had passed away at an early age and she saw something special about David.  She had an eye for people with a special liking of science or a special curiosity and David was one of those.  

Not to get too far off the subject but David was a really cool friend.  In the 8th grade he built his own club house, made a still and even brewed up some beer.  He would read all of his books for all his subjects the first week or so of each semester but then he would put them down and move onto reading everything he could get his hands on.  David could fix about anything and would help about everyone who needed help.  You know I guess I just idolized David.

Anyway, back to Aunt Gladys.  After moving away from Oklahoma for many years when I moved back and after we had our children we called her up and asked her about helping with some fossil hunting and rock hunting.  She was excited to go and she knew of about every place in Oklahoma to go and look for fossils and rocks.  I am not sure how old Aunt Gladys was when she passed but well into her retirement she was still learning and going and going like the ever-ready bunny.  Aunt Gladys collected and documented large volumes of information on each branch of the family going back generations.  She and Beth Shumate (3rd, 4th and 5th grade teacher of mine plus Sally and Janie's mom) traveled all over the United States visiting court houses and cemeteries digging old (a little bit of humor) archives of information about the family.  She traced our family back to John Wesley in England and one of our great (super-great) aunts who ran with Bell Star the outlaw to one woman in the family that was in the early 1900's who was the leader of Women's Rights in America.  One of the items that really surprised me was when Beth Shumate and her visited a commune and sat and asked questions and interviewed them about what they were doing and why they were doing it.  Aunt Gladys just was not intimidated by anything.  In fact I would say she was pretty intimidating at times.

Oh well, it is time to go back to work.  So what do you learn in the Osage?

• The measure of a person and their success is not how much money they make but what they make of their life.
• Leaning is something that never stops but should be embraced as a pleasure of living
• If you keep moving death will be slow to catch you

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

A kid told me the other day they remembered when cassettes were used and of course I laughed since I go all the way back to the Vinyl days which we call record players / records.  Sure it is nostalgic but remember when telephones were party lines and you only had to dial 2 or 3 numbers to call someone.  Now for you young folks a party line is when multiple houses used one telephone line and only one person could talk at a time amongst several houses.  When I was a kid we had the Harris, Shumate, Murphy and our house on one phone line with separate phone numbers for each house.  In fact I remember Paul and Billie Jones (dad of Debbie, Paula and David) did not have a phone and you would have to call them on a two way radio.  I always thought that was amazing considering Paul was the only person in Grainola to have an airplane.  I guess it was because they lived so far out in the country they could not even get a telephone line and poles installed.  Anyway back to the party line, there was courtesy that was implied to be used at all times because you could pick up the telephone at any time and listen in on conversations.  Pretty crazy things have changed for the better.

As nostalgia takes me back it is fun to think of what is new since I was a kid and here is a list:

• color TV 
• cable TV
• Touch tone phones as they were rotary meaning you had to dial every number, very slow
• FM radio, much less electronic media to play something already recorded
• 8 track tape which was for your car which was before cassette tapes which is before CD players
• Cell phones
• social media
• Internet
• computers which is before laptops and remember the first portable computer which weighed about 30 pounds and was as big as  a medium size piece of luggage with a screen about 6 inches squared
• Electric windows in your car
• my first computer I worked on had 8k memory, yes and it was about 10 feet long and it would only read computer cards called decks.  actually before the cards was a paper tape machine which was a pain in the neck because it had to be perfect.
• We could take our guns to school and show them off to our friends and at lunch we could go out and shoot them
• During recess we could take our knives out of our pockets and create contests
• There were winners and losers in everything 
• There was no air conditioner in the schools and we went to school when it was hot or cold
• If you got in trouble in school it was assumed your were guilty and were punished again when you got home
• Parents were respected and always right or at least you never told them they were wrong
• I had one pair of good shoes for church and one for work which most of the time were used for school as well.  Good shoes were for church and funerals and never to be worn outside to work or play
• If there was a hole in your pants or the elbow of your shirt it was patched the same day and you wore it for what seemed forever.
• plastic bags

Well the list goes on and on but what is interesting is I asked my mom what was new before me that was the first for her and here is her list:

• milk bought at the store
• tennis shoes or basketball shoes with rubber soles rather than leathere
• TV
• Cars
• Telephones
• electricity in the house
• indoor toilets vs. an out house and the indoor toilet was a water closet where there was a bucket under a board with a hole in it where you sat to go to the bathroom.
• Indoor water
• HOT water at the sink that was not heated on a gas stove
• electric stoves
• electric dryers
• electric wash machines
• electric irons for ironing clothes
• indoor bathtubs
• Hot baths indoors from a faucet
• instant potatoes and pancakes mixes and cake mixes or just mixes bought in a store
• heat throughout the house vs. a single pot bellied stove to heat the house
• heated bedrooms

and the list goes on and on.

WOW!  So what made the difference?  Freedom and free enterprise, competition to make life better and a work ethic expecting to work hard then get paid, not getting paid then working harder.   Sure there were bad things that happened that had to be worked through and that is where unions and government intervention really did help to make things fair and safe but let us remember that a good thing can sometimes be too good of a thing.  Sure we would all like there to be no stress and an easy  life but I personally like a system that gives incentives to those who work harder and sometimes people just get lucky with being at the right place at the right time.  I just love America and I like the idea that those who take a risk get rewarded also knowing that risk means they lose everything and there is no bail out.  God bless America and thank you to everyone that came up with new ideas and who took a risk and those who went to war to fight for what is right.  I also have to thank God that he provided a sacrifice for my sin.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• If you allow man to exercise their minds they can solve almost any problem
• People work hard to make things easier so we should think of stress as a blessing
• The easy way out may not be the best way out 
• If you list the disasters of life (tragedies) on one side and list how each effected your life later I bet you there was a lot of good out of each tragedy.  I know that is true for me.

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

The preacher came by the other day

The preacher came to call the other day.  He said  at my age I should be thinking about the hereafter.  I told him "oh, I do all the time.  No matter where I am, in the barn, upstairs or in the garage -- I ask myself, "Now, what am I here after?".

Do you ever get down-in-the-mouth about yourself?  Thinking, "what is going on?",  "Am I getting Alzheimer's?",  "Why can't I remember?".

Well here is my answer.  My brain is a certain size, kind of like a table top.  Once it is full and you add something to it, something has to go.  There is only so much room.  I can get down-in-the-mouth if I choose but why waste time.  Like my dad use to say, "let's do something even if it is wrong". Let's get up and go somewhere and do something before we get caught in the squat.  I heard Zig Ziggler say  that and it stuck.  It is kind of like a biscuit that is getting ready to rise but gets caught in the squat.  I hope that makes sense to you.  What I am saying is if you don't keep moving you will get like a frozen motor and it won't turn over anymore.  Another way to say it is, like a house that sits empty.  Have you ever watched an old house rot away after it goes empty?  Why do you think that happens?  It happens because no one cares anymore.  It is not loved.

Not because I think you are stupid but because I think it is hard to put in practice that we all need to keep moving and keep caring for others so we don't focus on our own aches and pains.  If we do we will rot like the empty unloved house.  We will freeze up like the unused engine.  We will get caught in the squat always getting ready to do something but procrastinating why we cannot get going.

So with all that said, did you write down your goals for 2015?  Don't worry you are like 98% of the people.  The question is: Is that what your goal is?

In 2015 my goals are:

• Grow my investment advisory business ( I would tell you more but I don't want to cross the regulatory body rules)
• Share Christ with three people (it seems embarrassing that it is such a small number)
• Sell our house and buy land for Wings (www.wingsok.org) while starting to build a new house for us
• Be the best father and husband that God wants me to be
• Not hesitate to do the right thing

Well I did it.  I told you my goals.  Now I challenge you to write yours down and I would love you to share them with me.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• Inaction is an action
• disbelief is belief
• No goals are goals
• Do something even if it is wrong!

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

I asked mom a question

I asked mom, "How are you doing?" and here is what she said, keep in mind she is 86 years old.

I have become a little older since I saw you last, and a few changes have come into my life since then.  Frankly, I have become quite a frivolous ol gal.  I am seeing five gentlemen every day.  As soon as I wake up , Will Power helps me get out of bed.  Then I go to see John.  Then Charlie Horse comes along, and when he is here he takes a lot of my time and attention.  When he leaves Arthur Ritis shows up and stays the rest of the day.  He doesn't like to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to joint,.  After such a busy day  I'm really tired and glad to go to bed with Ben Gay.  What a life!

You must know that I found this in a pile of old papers and have no idea where it came from but it sure seems like the truth as I get older.

But now let me tell you about Dr. and Mrs. Williams and what they did after they retired at 84 years old.  They retired from over 40 years on the mission field working and living in huts with dirt floors not realizing the financial potential of those first two letters with a period following them, Dr.  They gave all they could give and gave some more until they were 84.  Not so fast!  At 84 they went on a mission trip to Mexico with us so they could serve the poor folks of Mexico.  I guess they could be accused of being greedy rich Americans who don't pay enough taxes to help the poor, tongue in cheek.  They served every day all day treating the sick for about a week.  We all came home blessed and ready to get back to work.  Dr. and Mrs. Williams took off for northern Iraq to help the Kurds.  YES, at 84 plus.  It has been several years now and I find myself thinking about what am I going to do with my life when I retire.  Shouna and I pray that we will be like Dr. and Mrs. Williams and continue to give of ourselves for the sake of Christ.  I look at these folks and am in amazement how they continued until the very end of their lives to give for the sake of Christ.  I never heard them speak of the five men mentioned in the story above.  I never saw them complain of their circumstances or what they could or could not have had.  Cool folks.

So what did I see in the Osage?  I also saw Larry and Dorothy Olsen (yes cousins who spelled it differently) that gave of themselves as well but also shared with me through their actions that by good works I could not earn a place in heaven but only by trusting in Christ personally.  Yes the Williams also had this gift and they shared it with the world.  I am so blessed and thankful for these good and faithful servants.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Givers gain
• Good works alone does not lead to Christ
• Giving is a great gift

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Old Folks are worth a fortune

I can't tell you where this came from but only that I like it.

Old Folks are worth a Fortune:

Old folks are worth a fortune, with silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet, and gas in their stomachs.

Now if you add all this up based on an average person's size each old person is worth several thousand dollars.  Now I know we all want to measure a man's worth by his net worth or in other words his or her assets, but that is just not the case.

About two weeks ago a friend (Kevin McAfee) had a stroke and until that day I bet he did just like I do and that is add up my assets and subtract my liabilities to find out a net worth.  But today I know for a fact he counts his assets like this:

1. Do I know for certain if I were to die today I would go to heaven? YES
2. I have a wife who is willing to take care of me when I cannot take care of myself. YES
3. How many friends have called or tried to call or texted or mailed me just to know how I was doing? LOTS
4. I can still communicate with my mouth, think with my brain, eat by myself but I cannot get up on my feet or much less walk and I cannot hardly get to the bathroom and on the toilet by myself.  I cannot get dressed by myself.  

The list of questions and answers go on and on.  How do you count your balance sheet?

The one thing I do know for certain is that God does not do this or any disaster of life or other disease to hurt us.  It just happens as a part of this world.  What I also know is He uses all the little things and big things that go good and bad in our lives to bring us to be more like Him.  In another way of saying it I learned from David Howell of Edmond, Look for the Fruit Hidden in Adversity.  All things work together for those who love the Lord.  I cannot explain it but as we say in the Osage, Shit Happens.  I guess I am not as eloquent as my friends.

I am as guilty as anyone in wanting to be financially successful with lots of friends and lots of assets and experiences.  But the one thing I have learned is that OLD FOLKS are worth a fortune.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Everyone has a chance to succeed at something but it depends on what each of us chooses to do with our chances
• Success is measured not by others but by the realization I did my best with what God gave me
• In the end I will not have to worry will Christ know who I am because when He sees me I know He will recognize me by my faith.

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

4-H

This week I have been scanning old articles and pictures that mom collected over the years.  A couple of things I have to point out are: 1) they are almost entirely of Larry because he is the first child and 2) scanning does not mean looking over like the old days but means taking a picture and storing on magnetic media which also is a new term since my childhood.  Anyway, what I found was that my brother was a lot more accomplished or recognized as a leader when he was in high school.  He was president of the 4-H club, the Junior Hereford Association and many other clubs and organizations as he moved on up to college at OSU.  It included recognition as a smart guy by being on different honor rolls in college, the college judging team, Block and Bridle Club and some fraternal organization for being smart.  Me?, I was just a kid trying to do my best and trying to do everything that was available.  I am not saying I never wanted to be class president or most popular or president of the different clubs because I did.

In fact when I went to Shidler the only thing I had going for myself was I was BIG for my age.  I suffered from not knowing where or how I fit in the crowd.  Living in Grainola and having only 5 in my class did not exactly make me a social animal.  I guess you could say I was the guy who watched everyone and just wanted to fit in.  But what helped me out were those teachers who saw a glimpse of ability and praised me for it.  Coach Gilbreth was the first coach to ever tell me he wanted me on his team.  Coach Brewer made me feel successful when I would run into those tackling dummies and drive them for several yards.  Pablo Alverado complimented me for being good at Algebra and of course Gladys Snyder (Aunt Gladys) encouraged me when she would say that she had seniors who could not do the problems I was solving.  Mrs. Himbury was friendly to a giant kid with a child's mind and gave me some value.  Helen Head told me I was very well dressed and handsome which brightened my day and encouraged me to always look my best.  Even the girls in my class surprised me by telling me another girl liked me when I could not even spell girl.  I was just naive and excited to be there with lots of kids and lots of teachers and coaches.  The guys like Steve Chrisco, AJ, PeeWee, Joe, Ricky, Jim Whitt and many more welcomed me to the school and to the sports teams. Believe it or not David Howell was one of my new favorites in that I loved his humor and Larry York who was always there to cover your backside.  Everywhere I turned I was encouraged to do my best and look my best.

Back to 4-H.  It seemed like we were out of school all the time for special events like judging contests and Spring Livestock Shows and then contests of all kinds.  I know my brother and sister were outstanding 4-Hers and everyone had an expectation for me to follow in their footsteps.  I wanted to but Larry and Debbie were hard acts to follow.  They were both in the 4-H Hall of Fame and 4-Her of the year and traveled on many trips they earned through giving speeches and showing livestock to keeping records.  Debbie could cook and sew like no other and Larry was the most well studied cattle person for his age.  I remember Dr. Totaschek (miss-spelled) at OSU saying Larry knew more than the professors about blood lines and genetics.  I guess that is why he became Dr. Olson from studying genetics in cattle.  Well this is note complaining but I did not win the awards my two siblings did but I enjoyed 4-H.  One of my proudest moments was when Larry and I won the Grand and Reserve Grand Champion at the livestock show in Pawhuska.  I suppose you know Larry was the Grand Champion and I was second.  The Pawhuska paper had a story about us saying "the Olson brothers are not a rock group but ....".

Another great time was going to contests to earn a trip to the 4-H roundup which was right after school was out at OSU and thousands of kids came to Stillwater to compete in all kinds of events for the state championship in each event.  It was there I was in the multiple contests:  tractor driving, speech contests, judging contest and my favorite was the contest to get a girl to hang out with you.  So here goes my favorite about that issue.  Being 6 feet 2 inches tall in the 8th grade was sometimes a really good thing especially if you looked older like I did.  This really good looking senior was introduced to me and we went bowling and out for a date during the 4-H Roundup.  My brother and his buddies were there and saw me with this girl.  They were not so lucky and this is probably the only time I out performed my brother.  Their mouths dropped as they knew she was 18 and I was 14 or 15 but she did not.  Later that evening I told her and she dropped me like a hot rock.  She was nice about it but embarrassed.  Me?, I had never been out with a girl and was pretty proud of myself.

4-H was also where I learned to play poker and where I got in serious trouble for cutting Cathy Eaton's hair with some sheep sheers.  Now I had an excuse!  She had pushed me.  I got roasted over that one.  It was during this time that I saw Harold Codding eat a piece of pie in one bite, yes one bite.  He had a bet with his mom that for each bite of desert they had to put a dollar in the jar.  I guess they were trying to control their weight.  Now I don't know about you but Harold Codding and his mom never had over 1 oz. of fat on their bodies in their lives.  In fact Harold (Chuckles was his nickname) had muscles in his ears, still does.  I think Harold even had muscles in his teeth.  He could run faster with two braces on his legs than I could with none.  4-H was also where I learned to stand up in front of folks and give a speech.  Strange enough, even today I still get extremely nervous when speaking to a crowd.  It just makes me sweat.  About that poker remark:  I think I played more poker while in 4-H than in my entire life as of today.  I was pretty good until I had some little kid from Fairfax who cleaned me out one day during the Spring Livestock show.

Well I better go but I have to say one thing.  Those Grainola Five and sometimes six if Joy came were and are great friends and memories forever.  Jim Heath taught me to laugh and love reading, Jon Tanny Olsen taught me how to compete, Hugh Allen Jones taught me how to be tough, and Denise Logue taught me to be humble and kind to everyone.  And lastly I only had a handful of teachers but they were great:  Aunt Geneva Snyder who died after just a couple of months in the first grade, Mrs. Casselman who just loved us and was patient, Mrs. Shumate who made great cherry pie and taught me for 3 years, Mr. Lewis Morris who taught me to love learning.  You got it: Mrs. Casselman taught 1st and 2nd, Mrs. Shumate taught 3rd, 4th and 5th, Mr. Morris taught 6th 7th and 8th although i went to Shidler for the 8th grade.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Literally everything
• A persons self esteem is a hidden and fragile and important element of life
• Big people are fragile so love'em 
• The little things in life mean the most

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

1. 
   

40 years ago today

Forty years ago today I started my new family although it was just two of us it was a pretty good idea.  Back then we were in college at Southwestern University in Weatherford where I was in my senior year and Shouna was in her sophomore year.  Shouna was from El Reno, Oklahoma and majoring in piano while I was majoring in math and of course from the Osage and as I have proudly said many times before from Shidler and Grainola.

I met my sweet wife and I should say good looking as well while I was with another girl at a Thanksgiving dinner put on by my roommate and me.  Lynn Snyder, now a preacher, from down by Houston now but Amarillo back then and I dreamed up having dinner with a few friends.  Lynn and I cooked the biggest Turkey and as I recall it was around 22 lbs. with dressing and lots of fixin's.  I also recall Brenda (his future wife but not engaged yet) and Shouna's roommate brought an apple pie which Lynn made fun of which was not abnormal for Lynn.  He was always doing about anything to aggravate Brenda.  The best part about this activity was that Brenda would squeal like a pig.  Now if you do not know what that is like it means she squealed extremely loud at an extremely high pitch.  I have to admit it was a lot of fun to hear Brenda squeal.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun and it seemed like time rolled by after that until after Christmas when school would start the spring semester.

  I was not dating anyone and Lynn smarted off saying Shouna would not date me because she was too busy and too many other guys were in line.  Of course that was what we called Bull Crap (sorry about that) as I was always up for a challenge.  Not so fast though.  The first time I asked her out she told me she could not because she had to play the piano at a revival.  Now for those who have never heard of it that is when a church has a church service for several nights in a row and invite a lot of visitors to introduce them to Christ.  The point is she refused me!  Then later that evening she showed up at the Baptist Student Union with another guy who is a well known  preacher.  I have had a great time telling this story for a long time and I have never told the precise truth.  I have always left out the part she was at a revival and that the famous guy was just dropping her off as she did not have a car.  I have said she stood me up to date a preacher.

Our next attempt at a date was to go out for a coke and Shouna ordered water, yes water.  I was embarrassed but realized this was going to be a cheap date as in a-low-maintenance-woman.  I was sold especially after we stopped at the Laundromat where she crawled into a dryer on a bet.  then she took my car and locked the doors on me upon which I unlocked the trunk and crawled in as she was driving off without the lights on the car.  It was after dark.  She drove around Weatherford with me in the trunk with no headlights.

Out next date was at the T-Bone in Weatherford with Lynn and Brenda (our roommates) where Lynn got Brenda to squealing again after he put her bracelet high upon her arm so far that it got stuck.  Then Lynn being the nice guy he was tried to help her get it unstuck.  He grabbed the butter and started buttering her arm.  She squealed louder.  It did not work so he started sloshing water out of the fish tank  to help loosen the bracelet.  She squealed louder and louder.  It was a ruckus.  I about cried from laughing so hard as well as did Shouna.

Not necessarily our next date but one shortly after.  Rocky Carter, boyfriend and now husband of Karen Carter who is Shouna's sister, and Karen came from El Reno to fix a meal and hang out with Shouna and I.  The girls fixed dinner while Rocky and I hung out and in fact went and got something to eat because Rocky was sure the girls would not cook enough.  They made friend chicken.  The challenge was they burned the dinner rolls so bad they looked like horse turds and threw them in the trash.  Next they refused to tell us for about 10 years that they found mouse poop in our tea and then made tea which they served anyway.  They did not drink the tea.  Out of guilt and a need for repentance they finally came clean after several years of marriage.  Hard to believe we stayed with both of them.

Now you can probably see why the last 39.5 years seem pretty easy after such a hard beginning.  And I should mention once we started dating right after Christmas break she NEVER dated another person in spite of Lynn Snyder's predictions.  His prognostication skills stink and Brenda still squeals today when he irritates her.  You probably wonder why I say 39.5 years.  Well those first 6 months took some get'in use to and we had to have a talk'n to each other.  It was really fun looking back and the difference we made was we decided to love each other in spite of our emotions which was also love.

Well we have had fun and are proud of our three children.  Wynter the oldest is married to William who is a good looking guy from Columbia and I don't mean South Carolina but Central America.  He is one heck of a soccer player and wonderful to our daughter.  Wynter is a school teacher where she loves kids and helping those who struggle most.  She has a wonderful heart and is the best I have ever seen at helping adults with special needs.  She is extraordinarily talented and we have always said she has more smarts in her little finger than either of her parents.  Chase is next in line and has over 11 years as a fireman and paramedic and married to Kathryn who is as kind and loving  daughter in law we could have ever asked for.  Chase is like his granddad Olson in that he can think about a problem and figure it out.  He fixes everything and knows more about motorcycles and hunting than anyone I ever knew.  Preston, number three, is the most loving and outgoing person ever.  We never and I really mean never meet a stranger.  He and I went shopping Friday and we met folks everywhere because he will stop them and tell them his name and ask for theirs.  Most folks around Edmond recognize him because he always wears a hat and will engage them in conversation if they will just glance his way.  He does have down syndrome but I would say he has UP-syndrome as it is one of the greatest blessings I have ever had outside my wife and family, all 7.

Now just so you know I do have lots of other family members on my wife's side (Sorters and Davis families from El Reno to Kiowa to Heartshorn to McAlister to Calvin to Denison to who knows where)  and on my side of the Olsons and the Lanes and I have no idea how many that is.   They are strung all over America with names like Schaefer and Crow to Snyder, Del Priorie, Lane, Heath to Oltmann and on and on from sea to shinning sea.  I just wish we could  get all them together at one time and see what a site that would be.  The fun thing is they cover every walk of life and social and economic situation and I don't know of one of them I don't care about, even the democrats.  That was a joke about the democrats so don't get your panties in a wad.

So what do you learn in the Osage:

• Family is more important than my wants and wishes
• Love overcomes my disappointments and distresses
• Christ has given me freedom from my errors and mistakes
• God forgives and people need to forgive as well

they say we forget 80% of the bad in our lives and remember 80% of the good.  I believe we need to forget and forgive all the bad and keep on keeping on.

Thanks for your time and MERRY CHRISTMAS,
gary@thepioneerman. 

It is in the air!

As a little boy growing up in the Osage I was terribly excited about this time of year.  It was filled with decorating the house and Christmas shopping and Mom's chocolate fudge packed with pecans.  And I do mean pecans with a short on the e and not a long vowel.  Pe-cans with a long sound is what you do when on a long trip and the driver does not want to stop, you Pee in the Can, not good.  OK, back to the season. 

If anyone wants to make me very happy you can make me some fudge with pecans and make it milk chocolate.  As Dad would say, "that is good eaten".  In addition to fudge Mom made a fabulous fruit cake which normally I never like but there was something about hers that overcame whatever was wrong with fruitcakes.  I would have to say that Cathy and Marie Heath (Aunt Peggy Heath's daughters) sold fruitcake to raise money for the Ponca High School Band to travel to the great parades we enjoyed on New Years Day each year.  Those were pretty good fruitcakes as well.  Also I would add that Aunt Peggy made some mean Christmas candy (that means pretty dad-gum good).

Starting a few days before Thanksgiving Mom started getting all the fixin's done.  She would make home made bread which filled the house with smells of Thanksgiving plus she made a fabulous dressing with bread rather than corn bread.  Her cranberry salad is still the best today.  In fact she makes it every year for Larry Wayne when he comes home from South Carolina for the holidays.  Now that I think about it, she does not make it for me for Thanksgiving.  HUMMMMMM?  He is special and ???  I am not going to go there.  Now at our house we did not do the turkey thing too much but we had these giant hams in our house as we raised and butchered hogs.  I may be wrong but the hams in our freezer were smoked and weighed about 40 lbs., they were huge.  We use to have to take a stiffed back saw to cut them to get them small enough to cook or serve.  They were always great.  In fact this reminds me of the bacon and hog jowl which were fantastic.  Do I like to eat?

Green beans and corn, all from our garden and put up for the winter, were served in big bowls.  The beans were cooked with chunks of ham which put a little fat in them but the flavor was filling to the nose.  Wow!

Now desert was heavenly.  Somehow this story has gotten tangled in food.  Well Mom's pecan pie and pumpkin pies were special.  Although I will have to say that my sister in law's (Elaine Davis) pecan pie is nothing to sneeze at, pretty special.  Now again the pumpkin pies were for Larry and Debbie and Dad as I was not a fan and still not particularly even if you put some whip cream on top.  But pecan pie is heavenly.  Mom used karo syrup and white syrup in hers and they were a little darker on the inside and very rich in flavor.  Dad-gum-it, I can smell it now.

Every year on Thanksgiving morning around daylight Larry and I would dress in our warmest clothes and boots and put on our hunting vests loaded with shot gun shells, add a shot gun and we were off to the woods up and down Beaver Creek.  We were hunting quail which were always plenty.  I loved looking up in the trees empty of leaves and showing the giant red squirrel nests.  The squirrels on Beaver Creek were about four times bigger than these rat looking squirrels in Edmond, OK.  Plus they were pretty.  We always saw lots of red birds, meadowlarks and sparrows as well as an occasional raccoon (coon as we called them).  The trees were very cool as we had walnut trees with those giant black soft outer shells and then the extremely hard inner shells protecting the fruit.  Plus the acorn trees had huge nuts on them compared to most varieties.  Then of course there were cotton woods along the banks of the creek and elms of different varieties.  Larry and I would walk up and down the creek scouting out covys of quail for hours.  Larry was a great shot and I was mediocre as I was too impatient and would shoot too fast.  It was great fun.

Well by the time we got back dinner (lunch for most of you all) was ready and we were starved.  I don't know why but Dad hardly ever hunted with us but I know on that day he would do all the chores for us so we could hunt.  Dad was a servant just like Mom.

Well I better go but get in the spirit and smell the love in the air.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• Family is more important than our expectations 
• Smell is not just with your nose but with your heart
• tradition is peaceful, go, enjoy, rejoice

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

It is an exciting life

I cannot tell you how many times I reflect on the Osage, Shidler and Grainola every week but the impact it had on my life is everlasting.  I know life on earth is limited and of course it is effected by the past but my eternal consequences are also directly impacted by those small but impactful parts of life growing up in the Osage.  As I reflect I think of my folks forcing me to go to church almost every Sunday and especially those years where they gave out the little bars for perfect attendance.  My mom would never let us miss even if we were at Grandma Annie's in Oologah.  We would get a written document showing we attended Sunday School and YES I absolutely still call it Sunday School, not flock and not community groups.  Last week Jesse Garrison lost his wife of 47 years and I had to think of just how many folks are able to make it that far.  This morning I was doing a little Bible study on perseverance and I have to believe that it takes some serious perseverance to make it 47 years.  I know because Shouna and I have been married 39 years 10 months and 7 days which tells you we are very close to 40 years December 21st, 2014.

Now if you know Shouna you know we have been married 25 happy years (that is a joke).  You also know that she is the funny one in the house (that is a joke).  And you know that I am the talented one (that is a joke).  Now for the facts.  She is God's expression of unfailing love to me.  She has loved me through the ups and downs of my life.  She has raised three of the greatest kids I could ask for and I would have to say the best parts of them came from her.

The other day I asked her if she thought we should slow down and cut some of the things we do out of our lives and her answer was very simple, "why?" and "no".  Let me tell you what we do and I sincerely hope you do not take this as bragging or being boastful but that it is a reflection of what we value and where we want to invest our lives.  I should also state that a primary value is we believe we should serve others not by enabling them for bad behavior but supporting them in good behavior and helping people reach their highest potential in everything they do.

Aw forget it.  I cannot do it.  If you want to know come see us and let's have a cup of coffee and share our life stories.  I bet you have some to tell as well.  But I will give you some highlights of our lives together.

We were married December 21st, 1974 while in my senior year of college which I will point out that I am a strategic thinking as December 21st is the longest night of the year, go figure.

We, or I, finished college at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, OK.  Shouna finished at the Conservatory of Music in Chicago (thus proof that she has the talent).

Straight out of college I went to work for Ross Perot and EDS in Dallas and moved around a few years but the coolest thing I like to talk about is how great Ross was to work for and how proud I was of the folks who worked there.  Over 80% were retired military.

We have always served in our church and are thankful for those who in our early years taught us by example to get over our fears and share Christ with those we got to know.  We taught Sunday School for 34 years and if you are wondering why I don't talk about the business successes and failures it is because the most important and lasting thing we have ever done is sharing our faith not by our words but by our actions.  We may not teach formally today but we still teach and are involved in other types of Christ centered activities like Wings (www.wingsok.org), Joyful Sound Choir, camps for children and adults with special needs, Mendachurch (which is a group of folks who go into churches that are struggling and help them to change), National Christian Foundation (NCF), and other organizations and charities.

We have a wonderful garden where we spend a lot of time and we love our children and their families.
You see we don't measure our success by the money we make or made but the friends we have and the lives we have invested in plus those who have invested in us.

Yes, we are busy, very busy, busier than most but who cares as long as we feel good about what we do.  I hope you can and will look back (just for a second) and be happy with how you invested your life.

So what did I learn in the Osage?

• Givers Gain
• Losers lose
• If you give even when it hurts YOU will be the winner
• Forgive, forget and go on and count your blessings one by one and see what God has done

Thanks for your time and with a little luck (I don't believe in luck) we will make it to 40 wonderful years!

gary@thepioneerman.com

What wakes you up everyday?

Years ago I heard a friend say that every morning he got up he would look outside his bedroom window and say, "Good Lord it is morning".  I have to believe that is a little disrespectful but after some traumatic events in his life he decided he needed to take another road in life.  He started each day when waking up to look outside and say, "Good morning Lord".  Another way to look at this is the old saying, "is your cup half full or is it half empty?". 

I may be a little strange and I know for a fact that I had a tendency when I was a kid to get up in the morning and be pretty happy and lively.  In fact after I got married my wife suggested many times that when I wake up in the morning it would be nice that I not be so loud, energetic, and plain old excited about my day.  She claimed it was biblical and that folks generally like to wake up slowly and then speed up.  Well in my book that dog does not hunt. 

I like to get up in the morning and in fact if I get in a solid 6 hours before noon doing what is on my mind and agenda then I feel pretty good about my day.  You see at that time it is lunch (I should remind you that when I grew up in the Osage Lunch was Dinner and Dinner was Supper) and the way I look at it is now we are at half time.  If you still are not getting it, my GLASS IS HALF FULL.  I remember the first time I heard the phrase half full vs. half empty and I frankly just did not get it.  I thought that if it were just half full it was still good news in that I had something to drink. 

Well here I am at age 61 and I am just as excited about today and tomorrow as I have always been.  In fact last week I was asking Shouna, my wife, if she thought we should slow down our schedule or start saying no to some of the requests that come our way requiring some of our time.  To my surprise and a pleasant one at that I have to say she looked at me and said, "No and why would we?".  The way we look at it is if we are having a good time and doing what we think God wants us to do we might as well keep rowing our boat in the same direction.  Man do I have a great wife or what!

Now don't get me wrong, not everything is perfect at home or elsewhere but  I like my odds and I thoroughly like where we are headed.  If you think I am prideful or naive you have not read my blog a few weeks ago about some of my failures.  OK, OK! 

What wakes me up in the morning?  Since I get up before daylight it is not the sun but it is the Son and the fact that I count my blessings not my failures.  My days are the same as when I was in dear old Shidler High School.  Back then the only time I had regret was when I missed getting in on every play in a game or missed getting an A on every paper.  I was never satisfied with sitting on the bench even when I was on the bench.  I was never happy when Old lady Head gave me a B or Happy Butt (Gladys Snyder, if you don't get it send me an email and I will explain the relationship of Glad-ys and happy butt) gave a test and I made a B.  I was never happy when Coach Cotham or Gilbreath sat me out for a single play even if it were special teams.  Coach Smith drove me crazy and not just in drivers education class when he would put in better players like Julian Codding or anyone else and make me sit down.  Once we were playing Ralston and I got fouled out and I was so mad sitting on the bench. In summary what wakes me up in the morning is I have things to do and being second or sitting on the bench are not in my list of to do's.  I want to get my projects done.  Yes I put too many things on my list but I want to be busy.  Life is good and I want every minute to count.  I don't want to look back and say, "I wish or I could of ... or I would of....". 

Just a side note.  Mrs. Head and Gladys Snyder were two of the best and greatest teachers I ever had.  So when I make those comments it is with great love and respect to two of the greatest ladies ever.

Well, thanks for listening.
What do you learn in the Osage?

1. God is awake in the morning before I am
2. If I talk to Him, He will talk to me
3. The best of days were back then, yesterday, today and tomorrow
4. GOOD MORNING LORD

Thanks again,
gary@thepioneerman.com


 

The unspoken words

I have the pleasure of working with a person doing personal coaching, mentoring and financial planning and whatever you want to call it.  He made a comment to me about his dad.  He said his dad was not verbal and did not teach him a lot of the things he wants to teach his children.  I thought that was great and many times what we do for our families is a direct response to how we were raised and what we thought was right or wrong with our raising.  Well that got me to thinking.

Dad, Clifford Olson, did not depart on me a lot of wisdom or values verbally.  But what he taught me was enormous.  He got up out of bed every morning and I don't think he had an alarm.  He got up before the cows and the birds awoke.  He went outside and started doing chores then came inside to get coffee (very important) and breakfast.  Now that I think about it Mom, Opal (Lane) Olson, did the same thing.  They did not yell at me to get up but they EXPECTED me to get up.  If I laid in bed Dad would get some ice and put under my t-shirt.  Just a side point:  Mom always bought me pajamas and I hated them.  So mostly I slept in my t-shirt and underwear.  I am sure you needed to know that.  Now Dad had a few other tricks.  He would get the baby kittens and put them in my bed or baby puppies.  What I learned was Expectations are big and it is a VALUE they taught me.  I wish I could say I never yelled at my kids but I cannot but I did have expectations of their good behavior.

They taught me to value work, not to hate or resent it.  They did it by doing not by demanding.  They expected things to be done right and if not they would simply allow (make) me to do it over and over until it was done right.  I don't believe they ever tried to make me do more than I could but they knew I could do more than I thought I could.  I learned it by their examples.

It was never an option to not go to church.  I don't remember them ever saying "I am too tired to go to church".  They taught me values not by what they said but by what they did.

I don't remember Mom every saying, "cleanliness was next to godliness" but her actions were very clear.  She expected it.  She practiced it.  So did Dad.  If there were weeds growing up around the barns or the equipment he was showing us how to fix it and sometimes letting us cut the weeds without his help but he NEVER sat and watched.  He worked along side us or worked on something else.  He was an example.  He expected us to see what was needed and expected us to take action.  If there was work to do he did not think he needed to point it out but he would if we missed it.

These stories are all about values they shared with us not by words but by doing, showing and expecting.

I am actually sitting here laughing about how I learned so much with so little ever said.  I am thankful for the education.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• it is more effective to be an example than it is to speak 
• if you want good behavior you have to be an example of good behavior
• spend some time thinking about what you learned and how you learned it.  I bet the big things were by example.

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com