What makes your hair stick up?

I love the picture of Preston with the wig as it relates to this story.  In fact I was talking to Jason Taylor of OC Basketball fame and he said, "he learned a lot from Preston".  Well, me too.

This is kind of a backwards story and a little pitchy but it does make the hair stand up on my head.  By the way, that is not Preston's real hair.  Anyway, the other day I was talking to a young man who is about 28 years old, married with two children living in a rented house ($600 Per month plus utilities) and his wife does not work.  He drives a four wheel pickup that if not modified would be worth about $4000 but he spent about $10,000 fixing it up.  Do you know what I mean?  It was jacked up with expensive tires, new special bumpers and lots more options.  Now it is not even sellable to most.  He makes good money at about $70,000 per year including overtime, before he quit.  Did I mention he gets about 4 miles per gallon on gasoline and drives about 100 miles per day round trip to work meaning it costs about $37.50 per day in gas much less if it were a few months ago and gas was close to $4 per gallon.  Not including wear and tare he spends $9375 per year on gasoline alone.  I should also tell you he spent four years in the military and was deployed for 2 years and is in excellent physical shape.  Now for what drives me crazy.

I asked him what would happen to his wife and kids if he had a wreck in the truck and got killed.  I also asked how would she buy groceries the next day much less pay the rent.  His response was, "they have about $200 in their checking and no reserve account".  My hair stood up as he also said she would just have to move back home with her parents.  Where is the logic in this?!!!@#$!!!???$#@%

I bet you cannot guess why my hair was standing straight up like Preston's.  Cathy at my office can get him a $250,000 policy for about $12 per month.  He said he could not afford it.  If you have not figured your options call Cathy at 405-463-7952.

Now for a little lighter information:  Does anyone remember when Debbie Ware of Shidler put her hands on the electrostatic generator during assembly and her hair stood straight up?  It might have been Virginia Chrisco but I cannot remember any more.  That was funny.  I bet I made my parents hair stand up many a time.  Like when I cut Cathy Eaton's hair with sheep sheers.  Boy was I in trouble.

Now let me give you one on Preston.  One time we were short on spoons in the house and we knew we had a double set meaning we had about 24 spoons, Oneida as I recall, expensive.  In fact we were totally out.  Why?  Well, Preston likes things clean and tidy.  We trained him to put things where they belong.  Chase and Wynter, our regular children, could not learn this while they lived at home.  Preston who has special needs learned it well.  So well, that after he ate his yogurt each day he put the empty container in the trash with Mom's spoons until they were all gone.  Shouna's hair stood up on her head that time.

So what do you learn in the Osage or from your children?

• be careful what you teach your children, they may follow your instructions
• a mess is not necessarily the worst thing to happen, remember those Oneida spoons
• sometimes hair standing on ones head is better than no hair at all

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

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Home on the Range: THe Sky is FAlling

Home on the Range: THe Sky is FAlling

THe Sky is FAlling

I feel like Chicken Little.  The stock market is down, a friend lost a child from a long battle with failing liver and kidney transplant, my father-n-law is in the hospital and my daughter has some health issues and then there is some additional junk going on.  Now honestly, "stuff happens", I almost said something more descriptive but held back.  Sure I am concerned and tired from a little sleep deprivation and sure I have prayed a lot and continue to rely on my Lord Jesus Christ to bring a little calm to this storm. 

Through all of this I find calm but not because that is my style but because I am better off depending on Him than my personality quirks, some would say quacks or cracks.  Here is what I learned in the Osage.

• after the storm the air smells better
• the air is cleaner
• the sky is bluer

So you may ask, "how do I do it?".  Well when I was growing up I watched my Mom and Dad and how they reacted to storms.  Storms of low commodity prices were killers when you raise cattle, corn, wheat and maize.  But you know what they did?  They kept putting one foot in front of the other and planted another crop held a few more heifers back for breeding stock and kept the faith that things will always be better even during the storm if you just look for the opportunity.  They planted a bigger garden and raised more chickens.

Now for you idiots (that is country talk for folks who don't know country speek and I apologize for it kind of?) a heifer is a young female which becomes a cow when she has been bred to have a calf.  I suppose I should explain BRED.  That is sex for cattle.  It really is fun making fun of folks that don't get my humor but guess what, folks have been making fun of me for years because of what I don't know about city life and city talk.  Plus my humor is not as good as I enjoy it and it is usually at someone else's expense.  We should all laugh about our differences and embrace them, not howl about them and divide us.  Got a little political there, sorry.

Well in summary, I am just grateful for the storms I get and what God is teaching me.

So what do you learn in the Osage:

• obviously, it feels really good when the storm has passed
• there is beauty found in the storm if you look for it
• trust in Him not in myself

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

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What I have learned from a child with special needs

I have been challenged by a friend to share some of the life lessons I have experienced with a special focus on children and adults with special needs.  In case you do not know it our third child, Preston, was born with down syndrome.  So at least for a few stories I am going to walk you though what I have learned.

September 3rd, 1987 Preston was born around 6 P.M. and in a hospital in the Dallas area.  The doctor told us we had a healthy baby boy.  The doctor was older and had a rough bedside manner but still seemed to be a good doctor.  Of course we shared the good news with lots of folks on our call list.  There was no texting and cell phones weighed about 5 pounds and were pretty expensive so no one had a cell phone.  We did it the old fashioned way, we called on a land line.  Think about it, pause, a huge number of young people born after 1980 have no idea what "dial a phone number" really means.  And how about "answer the phone, it is ringing off the wall".  They don't even know what an 8 track is.  OK, back to the story. 

The excitement was slowing down and we were settling in for the night when around 10:30 I walked by the nursery to see my new boy and I saw the nurse crying.  I just assumed one of the new babies was having trouble and I never considered it was Preston.  At about 11 the nurse retrieved me from being with Shouna and took me to a small room where the doctor was waiting.  He began to tell me about down syndrome and why he suspected Preston had the extra chromosome.  He suggested we should consider putting Preston in an institution.  He asked me if I wanted him to talk to my wife.  There was absolutely no way I was going to have him deliver such a message after he had done such a horrible job with me.

As I shared the news with Shouna around 11:30 or 12 we both cried a little and neither of us would consider giving our son to be taken care of by the state.  I am blessed that my wife has a positive attitude and relies on her assurance that God is in charge.  We prayed together and talked for a long time.  I have no idea when we rested but the next morning we started the task of calling our family and friends and telling them the news.  This is probably one of the situations I learned the most from.

As we called most were politely apologetic if for no other reason than they just did not know what to say.  One person expressed that "if we prayed hard enough Preston would not have DS".  I wish I could say I had a great Biblical or Christian response but I just said to Shouna, "that is the stupidest remark I have heard".  One of the common remarks was "God gives special children to special parents".  Again I declared "BS".  Don't get the wrong idea here, we felt confident we were blessed.  We just did not know the answers to a lot of questions.   What did we / I learn?

• saying something, even if it was stupid or clumsy, was better than nothing from our friends
• a baby is a blessing even if "normal", whatever that is, is not to be found
• start by looking for what good is to come rather than dwelling on the negative

One last thing to end this story.  One of the biggest blessings I have ever received and one of the biggest learning opportunities happened that day by around noon.  During my calls I called Larry Lippel in Oklahoma City who was a dear friend and co-worker and asked him to share the news with friends at the office, FDMC/First Data Management which also was known as SCS which was the ATM network in Oklahoma.  He did not say much but as I was walking down the hall in the hospital about 2.5 hours after talking to Larry he stepped off the elevator and walked toward me.  I think he was speeding, of course.  Even today I choke up thinking about that act of kindness.  Larry was about 6 ft. 6 in. tall and he walked up to me and put his arms around me and squeezed like crazy.  I felt like a pimple ready to pop.  It was a long hug and we both cried.  His first words were he wanted to see our baby and see Shouna.  We went straight to see the babies and I proudly pointed out my new son.  We walked down to see Shouna and he hugged her.  Larry was a strong believer in Jesus but had dropped out of church and that day he promised he was going to get back to his relationship with Christ.  Honestly I don't remember another thing he said or did.  He did not stay long and then drove back to OKC. 

• I learned that being there is more important than anything
• sacrificial giving of time and a big hug says more than 10,000 words
• that day was the beginning of a testimony from Preston about a life with Christ, Preston had already made a positive impact in Larry's life and ours

I am shutting down for the night but hopefully as I write these stories they can be of benefit to others and record my life for you and my family.

So, what do you learn in the Osage?

• everyone can make a positive impact on someone's life, be an ADDER not a SUBTRACTOR
• life is full of surprises, make the best of them
• when life throws you a curve, adjust and get a hit and most of all keep your eye on the ball

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Mike Moser

I know many of you remember the Moser family of which Nancy plus an older sister and then Mike were their 3 children.  I am asking for your help in a few things for some very good reasons.

I want to collect some stories of Mike for his son Nathan.  Mike went to college at Weatherford for one or two years before going to ophthalmology school in Houston at the same time I was there.  I should make a correction just in case you made a mistake.  I went to Weatherford not Houston as I was not so smart like Mike.  After school he married and located to Louisiana where he had a family and I believe it was one or two children.  Mike was later killed in an auto accident when his son was 9 years old.  Nathan is now interested in finding more about his dad so I am going to share a few stories and I want you to fill in some holes.

At Southwestern State College (later to become Southwestern Oklahoma State University SWOSU)Mike set the curve in every class I was in and I think he always thought it was easy.  He always had a dry sense of humor and few words to say but he would laugh a lot when he got tickled.  I had the pleasure of getting to know Mike while there and visited his home.  His dad and mom moved to Weatherford when he was starting his junior year in high school.  Mike's dad made or ground glass lens for eye doctors in those days after work as a second income.  I think it was Phillips Petroleum during the day.  It was really cool to watch.  He had a special room that was very small where he made the lenses. 

The other thing I remember about Mike was he was very close to Harold Codding and I think Mike Benton.  Mike grew up in the Webb City Methodist Church and was an avid baseball player.  As I recall he was a side arm pitcher that no one could hit off very easily.  He was also a talented basketball player with great shooting and dribbling ability. 

Most of all I remember Mike as a quiet leader who was humble but incredibly smart.  Julian Codding shared a story with me:

Mike was such a smart guy.  He & Harold were always best pals.  I sat next to mike in several classes.  He laughed a lot.  He was funny & he liked fun.  Great guy!  Great guy!!!  He was there when our math teacher, your Aunt Gladys walked up to me reading a library book in class (as I did everywhere ) stuck her hand out like a salute (with that ram rod posture she had form being a WAC drill Sargent and took the book, staring into my eyes and said "Mr. Codding! That will never happen again!"  She was right, it never happened again. Mike was almost bent over in his chair biting his tongue to keep from laughing.  He was brilliant at every subject!

If you can help me it would be a tribute to Mike and most of all helpful to Nathan a United States Marine whom we should be thankful for because he is serving you and me and our families.

Thanks for listening.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• to be a leader does not mean you have to yell or demand
• a quite and humble spirit have long lasting meaning
• be thankful for those who served else we might be speaking German or Japanese today.

Thanks again,

gary@thepioneerman.com

It has been too long

I apologize that it has been so long since I wrote to my friends and family.  I truly enjoy knowing that so many of you read this stuff, even Mrs. Helen Head who I deeply admire.  I hope this finds her well.  Recently Alidane McConaghy passed and I found myself considering that life is just a fleeting moment.  Mom and Dad so loved Carl and Alidane.  We will miss them.

So here we go:

I sit here listening to those old time hymns we use to sing in the Grainola Methodist Church and they remind me of a solid family life in the Osage.  Just think back to when you use to sit in church even when you did not want to sit there.  STOP and THINK.  Why was it such a great feeling thinking back about those days?  I believe it is because I heard something then that never left me, "Oh what a friend we have in Jesus".  I admit I went a lot of directions but there was always that PIVOT POINT in my life that I never got so far away from that I could not see it.  That PIVOT POINT was the old cross or was it the old bell that hung outside or was it just the idea that Jesus loved me even when I was out there taring things up with Eddie Harris and Jon Tanny Olsen and Hugh Allen Jones and Jimmy Heath or was it later when I became friends with AJ and Dave Jacques or was it Johnny Payne, David Howell and the list goes on and on.  If you would like your names added to this send me an email with a short story of what we did.  Anyway, life was really good in the Osage and Grainola and especially good old Shidler. 

Of course we all get nostalgic, but what really mattered is the question.  I think it was the values that our parents had about God and country and the time we gave to each other in our families and friends.  If I was ever prejudice against anyone I don't know who it was or is today.  It might be against someone who offended me intentionally or it might be a democrat (just kidding) but it was not a person of color or even sexual orientation (hope it was ok to say that).  I don't agree with everyone or probably anyone 100% but I am not the judge.  I learned that in the Osage from people like my Mom, Vea Harris, Gladys Snyder and Mrs. Shumate and others.  One of the things I find today which actually is a reflection of myself up until I was about 30 years old is that I could quote the Bible and what it said without even reading it.  Even after I accepted Christ's free gift I could quote the Bible without reading it.  I guess that is like writing a book report for Mrs. Head without actually reading the entire book.  I would never have done that!  Somewhere about 22 years old I did start reading and studying the Bible just to find out it said very little of the things I thought I knew.  Do you know anyone like me?  or that was like me back then?

Well I have to tell you that today I find great joy in knowing more of what it says and I absolutely do not recall everything I have read accurately but the one thing I do know is, "God loves everyone" and it is up to me to decide to accept what He says in His book as truth.  By the way we can argue about Romans and what it says about ELECTION but there is no doubt in my mind God loves everyone and gave us a choice.  I chose to accept His gift.

Well that was fun and I am glad I am back.

So what did I learn in the Osage?

• Don't quote something you never read
• Don't judge a book by its cover, people too
• If you reject something or someone, get to know them first

I just love all of you for reading my STUFF,

gary@thepioneerman.com

p.s. and thanks to Sue as she always lets me know when I mess up in my spelling and grammaticism and occasionally my facts.

Catfish

I suppose not too many folks ever saw the many ponds scattered all over the Osage but one of the most interesting things I loved to see was each year when all the millions of baby catfish would be on top of the water making it look black.  Now I know for the most part those were what we called mud-cats which meant that about half of their body was the giant head and there was very little meat unless you got lucky and caught a good sized one.  Just for clarity, what a person in town and especially a land development expert call a lake is really a pond.

In particular we had a pond straight east of the  house half way up the hill.  That pond never went dry and kept the cattle watered year round but it was also useful for a lot more fun.  Of course we fished there a lot, Larry and me.  I don't know why but Debbie never seemed to like to fish as much.  There was not a single tree around that pond for shade but we would sit there for hours fishing and for the most part CATCHING which is what I liked most.  Luckily Dad and Mom did not mind that Larry and I would take a package of liver out of the freezer and use it for bait.  They just did not like liver so if you were in a hurry to go fishing it was an easy choice.  The bad thing about that liver was it got messy on your hands and was very sticky but the good thing was it was frozen when we started and thawed out nicely as the day wore on.  I suppose we fished there hundreds of times.

The most important thing about that pond is that it watered the cattle but fishing was number two.  Believe it or not we also used it for swimming.  That pond was always muddy looking and when you swam in it your suit was going to get stained brown.  The best part was about one foot below the surface the water was cold compared to the hot air and the top one foot of water was warm and I am going to guess close to body temperature.  During those hot summers in the Osage it was refreshing.  Another thing you might not know and you had to have a little courage or just not know the risk but the bottom of that pond was at least a foot think of silt and mud.  Your feet would feel refreshed in that the mud was very cool but it created a suction when you tried to lift your feet.  We would get in mud fights by grabbing mud from the bottom of the pond and chucking it at each other.  I remember one time the Shumates came out and went  swimming in the pond with us.  Of course we had mud fights until someone got hurt or just screamed so much that Mom shut us down.  Great times.

Now the other incredible thing I liked but also complained about the most was the pond during winter.  You see during the winter we would have to chop ice every day for the cows to drink.  As winter wore on the ice got thicker and the ice that was piled on top of the ice made it worse so you better pay attention to where you put the large chunks of ice when you opened up the water for the cattle.  It was always interesting to watch the cows wade thought the frozen mud and get to the fresh water during the winter.  I never saw a cow get stuck or even seem to be cold from the frozen mud and ice.  In fact you could see ice hanging on their hair all over their backs and it did not seem to bother them.

The part I did like about the frozen pond was playing hockey on the ice.  Larry and I would make hockey sticks shaped like a T upside down.  We would take a chunk of ice for a puck and go after it.  Generally it went pretty well as Larry most often beat me and of course he was four years older so he had an advantage.  But one time we got a little too close to each other and I swung at the puck and hit Larry in the mouth.  He was bleeding like a stuck hog.  Not Good!  But those were great times in the Osage.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• One little muddy pond can offer a plethora of enjoyment
• Sometimes when things seem rough in life you have to look for the cool water below to feel refreshed
• Take your time and enjoy life as you go, make memories with those you love.
• Don't regret what you should have done.

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

The most pleasant of times

As a young boy growing up in the Osage I had few cares but a wonderful place to roam and explore.  Larry, my older brother, and I would go fishing behind the house on the creek where there was a big bend in the creek creating a deeper water where we could always catch fish.  There was always a dead tree in the creek which captured many a hook from my fishing pole.  For the most part I always used an old Zebco real and rod but prior to that it was a cane pole purchased at the Otasco Store in Shidler from Mr. Curnutt.  I don't know why but it seemed that I could catch more catfish and Larry could catch more bass in that fishing hole.

The bate was really the difference and we had lots of resources for getting bate.  Here were our choices:  grasshoppers, worms, minnows or liver from the freezer.  We never had a shortage of bate but it was a matter of how much time we wanted to spend on finding and catching the bate.  I particularly liked getting the seine and gathering minnows.  There were all kinds in the net but my favorite was a shiner with red slightly red fins but baby perch were really good as well.

Back to exploring.  If it were not for the need to eat now and then I could spend all day roaming up and down the creek looking for Indian arrowheads or just specialty rocks from the gravel bars along the creek.  In fact sometimes it was just nice laying on the gravel and enjoying the summer breeze and the cool shade from an abundance of giant cotton wood trees along the creek, Beaver Creek of course.  And skipping rocks was a great sport if you have never tried it you must.  The first thing you do is look for the flattest rocks and then you take one in your hand bending down to one side and flicking the wrist and letting the rock go so it would Skip across the water.  The idea is to see how many times it would skip on the water before falling into the creek.   About 9 skips was the most I can remember and that was very unusual.  Larry Wayne and Billy Snyder were pretty good at it and actually I think they cheated me because I was younger.

If you got bored with fishing and I should let you know you never skip rocks while or before fishing as you might scare the fish then it was time to take the 22 rifle out and look for turtles.  Of course you had to be careful but the creek banks were tall so if a bullet skipped off the water it would just to into the dirt across the way.  I was never bored with the creek as it was always full of things that kept my brain busy.  I collected rocks and leaves from the vast variety of trees and shrubs plus looking for all kinds of birds and animals was great fun.  It was easy to find squirrels and I mean the big red ones which are at least two to three times bigger than the city squirrels we see today.  Birds of every kind worked back and forth along the creek including chicken hawks (as we called them), eagles, red birds, blue birds, crows, blackbirds by the millions lingered in giant clouds for literally miles, prairie chickens, sparrows and bazillions of other varieties.  There were also occasional coons or raccoons as city folks call them, coyotes, possums (especially around the barns), skunks and very few deer in those days but lots of quail and a rare pheasant.  We had bobcats and an occasional badger which was scary and mean.  Of course we had cattle which were fun to watch especially the young calves which would romp around their parents and drive them nuts, kind of like I use to drive my mom nuts when I was so active.

As I look back I can see that as I got older and responsibilities started creeping into life God had a really good plan that in my mind city life has messed up for kids.  As a kid my world seemed huge and unending with all kinds of possibilities for my imagination to expand.  No limits, so what happened?   def

I was lucky because I had the best teachers in the world, Mom and Dad plus Debbie and Larry, friends and family plus Mrs. Geneva Snyder, Mrs. Cassleman, Mrs. Shumate, Lewis Morris, Coach Gilbreth, Pablo Alverado, Miss Dozer, Jan Harris (PET - Pregnant English Techer), Aunt Gladys Snyder, Helen Head and the list goes on and on.  What I don't want to do is leave out those that we don't think as much about like Ernie Eaton who owned the dairy but had a great sense of humor and you could watch him work and know life was good, Jim Olsen who was always friendly and good natured or Vea Harris who always fixed you something to eat and had time to visit with you but made sure you towed the line on some mischievous behavior that Eddy and I had on occasion.  Then there was Paul Jones who worked hard and played hard, Bob Scott who was diligent about taking care of the Grainola School or Lizie who cooked for us and loved us at school.  How about Uncle Snyd Snyder and Arnold Jones and the many other men who fought in WWII because it was the right thing to do.  How about the encouragement from people like Aunt Helen Conner or Helen Head (another English teacher) or Wendall Andrews who was the president of the Shidler State Bank who would take the time to talk to you about business even when you are only 9 years old and taking out a loan to buy some sheep.  Many times it was a high school buddy or one of their parents who just encouraged me a little or that bystander that I never knew at a ballgame that said a few words about how hard we worked as a team that made a difference.  Lets don't forget the Kerney Grahams of the world who gave special attention to the development of our spiritual beliefs and values.  You know there were a lot of folks who made a difference.

OK, gentle breezes and waiving wheat, fat cattle in the pasture, hogs snorting around the farm pens and chickens looking for bugs plus the old farm dog laying under the tree waiting for my next move are all part of the farm life that I hold so dear.  It is hard to believe I ever yearned to leave.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• The best of times are the good memories of life
• People everywhere make a difference, just make sure you do your part to make this a better place
• Pay attention to the details, small things count a lot more than the big things

Thanks for your time,

gary@

The Bloated Cow

Now with that title you are probably thinking I am going to write about either a new hamburger joint or some fat person joke but that is not the case.  In fact have you ever had a bad reaction to these new sugar substitutes like Splenda?  Will I have and it feels like being a bloated cow.  The pain is incredible but again that is not what this story is about.  Rather, this story is about literally cows and other animals when they get bloated meaning they are full of gas.  As you may recall from my blog a couple years ago I wrote about my high school buddy Steve Chrisco who taught me when a person has gas you can light it and it will create a torch. Yes, Steve taught a few of us to light farts.  Anyway a lot of farm animals get gas as well and it does not set too well if they don't get rid of it.

So here is the story about The Bloated Cow.  Dad and I had discovered one of our steers (that is a bull with no balls) which was my show calf had become bloated, filled with gas.  Now I should make another correction here and that is a steer is not a cow.  OK, back to the bloated steer.  You see the problem is a cow or steer or cattle in general have a problem when they get gas and that is it will kill them in a hurry.  Generally they get it from bad feed or too much green grass or alfalfa without enough roughage which is fiber.  So Dad had a few solutions to this disastrous problem.

The first solution was to take a pocket knife with a long blade and literally stab the cow such that it would puncture one of its stomachs and allow the gas to escape.  So here arises another clarification.  Cattle do not have four stomachs as generally thought however they have four compartments and technically only one stomach but if you are a farmer and have a history with cattle you think of it as four stomachs.  Of course this has consequences in that you need to sterilize the knife and the cow need sewn back closed but in an emergency this is one solution.

The second option which we used almost all the time is the water hose solution not to be confused with water boarding which is torture.  Basically we took a water hose and cut off the end and tried to smooth the edges before trying to force it down the steer or cow's throat until reaching the stomach which would allow the gas to escape thus saving the animal's life.

Well the day came when we discovered my steer or show steer as we called it had bloat.   Dad and I tied the animal up and started the hose routine.  But if you knew my Dad you knew he had a sense of humor.  Dad let me hold the steers head and forced the mouth of the steer open while he worked the hose down the throat of the steer.  What he did on top of that was take the other end not inside the steer and place it underneath my arm pit so that as the gas escaped it would come out right under my arm and into my face.  It was atrocious!  Dad just laughed as I did not realize he had put the hose under my arm so I could experience the gas.  I kept complaining about the smell and Dad kept laughing.  Finally I did discover the problem and got that stopped.  Dad then took his cigarette lighter, a Zippo of course, and he lit the gas coming from the hose.  It was a torch just like the one Steve Chrisco showed me and a few of our friends while we passed gas.  

You probably think I am crazy for telling such an embarrassing story but sometimes you just have to get past STUFF.  Now just for a bit more trivia you should know that if you have sheep they are very prone to the same problem as I use to raise sheep starting when I was about 9 until 13 and I lost a few to bloat.  So the whole moral to this story is just be grateful that you can pass gas and not have a garden hose stuck down your throat.

One last peace of information that will probably not be good for a lot of you but if you ever have a need to pass gas and you are in bed at night with your wife or husband just before you pass that little bit of gas pull the sheet over the head of the other person so they can enjoy being gassed.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• A few bad tricks
• Methane gas comes in all forms
• It is not good for your marriage to pull the sheets over someones eyes

Thanks, for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

How did you get to school?

I was talking to my 86 year old mom today and I asked her how she got to school when she was young.  Of course I have always said she walked to school up hill both ways and barefoot.  She was born in 1928 so I assumed they might have a car, they did not.  She said they either walked to school or road a horse.  Now think about that for a second.  If she walked it was about 2 miles to school approaching 3 as I recall.  Can you imagine walking that far as a child to school on a gravel road?  The good thing is she was the youngest girl and therefore there were 5 walking together, Gladys, Peggy, Magnolia (Maggie), Erlene, and of course Opal (Mom).

Now let's take this another direction which I had never considered before.  When they road a horse obviously they typically had 2 or 3 on one horse and when they got to school what happened to the horse the rest of the day?  Believe it or not there was a horse barn at school for the kids to put their horse in while they were being taught.  Also that means they had to feed and water the horses plus take off the saddle and harness before school and then put it back on before the ride home.  The school had to have a horse barn just like today they have a bus barn.

Then let's talk about what they did during the day.  First of all they did not have kindergarten.  They started with the first grade and you could flunk a grade or be held back and in very few cases you could actually skip a grade.  For lunch they brought their lunch.  The school had no air conditioner and the heat was from a coal burning stove.  If you were disruptive in class or did not respect authority you were in BIG trouble and a paddling on the bottom was on the agenda at school and especially when you got home.  I think they call that consequences for bad behavior.  They were expected to perform to their individual best at all times.  High expectations by teacher and parent.  What a novel idea.

And teachers in those days had to love teaching because there was no money to pay that well.  Now today we still have a similar problem.  I think it is about time we paid teachers a lot more but we do need some adjustments in the system.  Teaching is a high stress job when children don't behave and especially when adults/parents don't behave and adults do not respect the needed discipline of the child in the system.  Top that off with a shortage of teachers and too many children in a class room and how have we tried to fix things over the last 50 years?  We have added overhead, more counselors, more administrators and more overseers (is that a word) to solve a problem that could have been fixed in my opinion by adding more teachers and paying teachers better to keep the best teachers.  Also we need to stop the lawyer required for every situation to slice and dice every situation when what is needed is common sense and level headed leadership plus some faith in people doing the right thing.  That is probably hoping for too much.  Now I know this gets everyone charged up but I am for the teacher and for efficiency and not more testing which is another solution and/or symptom of the problem.  I am probably too old and too prejudiced by the great teachers and administrators we had when I grew up like Mr. Treadway and Mr. Morris and Miss Shumate and Aunt Gladys Snyder and Coach Cotham and Brewer plus Pablo Alverado and Mrs Head and Mrs. Himbury and Coach Smith and the list goes on and on.  I really don't care what political party or what union anyone belongs to but I do care about our kids and our teachers.  The teachers need paid so they can make a living and they need benefits that match private enterprise not exceed and there needs to be a bit of protection so they cannot get fired by some political leader of the school but get fired if it is warranted without a bunch of legal garbage going on.  I got carried away, sorry.  In summary let's pay the teachers a lot more in dollars every month and lighten up on the benefits and make them similar to private enterprise benefits.

Back to the topic.  I was a lot more lucky in that I road the bus everyday and it was driven by Bob Scott or Don Conner.  Bob always had a chew in his jaw and Don always chewed on a cigar but they were good to us and made us stay seated and in control.  The only bad thing I remember about riding the bus was I was first one on and the last one off making my ride very long.  Everyone road the bus and it was every grade mixed together which sometimes was a bit of a challenge when some of the older guys picked on us younger kids.  I am sure glad I did not have to walk or ride a horse to school and at Grainola Lizzy fixed a great lunch everyday and we did not have to take our lunch to school.  Once I went to Shidler I was amazed in that there was a whole bunch of ladies who prepared lunch everyday and for a lot more kids.  Just to give you an example:  Grainola had about 40 to 45 students and 3 teachers including the principal while Shidler had about 400 to 500 students with at least one teacher for each grade.  WOW!  It was crowded when we had 56 in my class graduating in 1971.  I figured it was a big city school.

So with all that what do you learn in the Osage?

• things change
• teachers need paid better and more and now
• common sense and strong leadership should make the decisions in schools

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

The good old days, how did we survive?

Just thinking back on the things we did and survived makes me wonder.  I was probably around 9 or 10 when I started hunting with a gun.  When I was about that same age I started driving the pickup to feed the cattle.  I drove a tractor and helped in farming although I did not drive as straight as my dad wished.  I went to the creek to fish by myself or with Larry and we seined for minnows so we could have bait to fish.  As I got older it got more dangerous or at least I got in more trouble.

In the first grade I grabbed Jim Heath and Jon Tanny Olsen by the back of their heads and rammed their heads together because they were talking and I was standing between them.  Sometime during the 3rd, 4th or 5th grade we shot pencils with rubber bands like arrows.  The main thing we were doing (we meaning Jim Heath, Jon Tanny Olsen and Hugh Allen Jones) was attempting to stick our pencils and pens in the tile ceilings.  The ceilings were probably 14 or 16 feet tall and made for greater targets.  We would chew up paper and make spit balls and try to stick them to the ceilings as well.  If that were not enough we would throw the spit balls at other folks in the room with the hope of not getting caught.  We took soda and vinegar and mixed together to create a mess and to accelerate a cork into the air.  I will not explain that any further.

Then there was the time Eddy and I dipped every tool in the barn into orange Alice Chalmers paint and boy did we get in trouble for that.  Then there was the time we took (don't get mad we were just children and I did feel bad later) a cat of Eddy's and tied it to a rock and threw it in the pond.  Luckily there was no evidence so we never got in trouble.  And then of course there was the time Eddy and I procured a small stick of dynamite from the old freezer and went fishing.  We caught them all.  Then there was the time ( I think we were about 6 years old) Eddy and I buried some of our toy trucks in Vea's garden as we wanted to grow more trucks.  It did not work.  Then there was the time Eddy and I stole all the little mint candy from the Home Demonstration Club meeting at Vea's house and buried it in the garden so we could grow more candy.  It did not work.  Then there was the time we chased all the white geese so we could steel their eggs.  Boy! that was scary as those geese came after us.  We fried up a few of those and some had double yolks.  It was worth the adventure.  Then there were the many times Eddy and I would gather the eggs in the chicken house and throw them at the walls to see them brake only to accidentally hit Dad in the head, actually hit his hat.  It was not a pretty sight as we paid a price, for that one.  

Then there was building extensive tunnels in the hay barns where we could hide.  Then there was the time we went hunting with a 30 30 rifle and shot a few ducks.  Or there was the time we went prairie chicken hunting trying to shoot from the back of a moving pickup going about 50 miles an hour over the prairie grass fields covered with rocks.  We were lucky no one got hurt.  By the way we did not hit any birds.  Then there was the time we (most likely this included Jon Tanny, Hugh Allen, Eddy and probably Glen McConaghy, Dee Johnson, and any number of potential Grainola Grubbers as we called them) turned over Dale and Goldie's out house (toilet) by the store or the time we moved it to the middle of the street or the time we took their sign and moved it to block the street.   Some people might have said we were Turds, Terrorists, Thugs, juvenile delinquents, gang members and we probably deserved about any of those but the fact is we really were not mean we were just trying to make a little fun and sometimes it did cost some folks some aggravation.  Can't forget the time Jon Tanny and I tried to see how fast we could get a pickup to run on ice without moving.  The list does go on.  

Now as we got older we learned from a lot of our predecessors and I am not sure who to attribute these ideas to but here is a list of fun loving times.  Some of the local boys put dynamite in (not sure but I think  it was Ernie Eaton's) a mail box and blew it up.  There were several young men about 3 to 4 years older who shot all the glass insulators off the telephone poles north of Grainola so that the telephones stopped working until repaired.  I will admit I did a few of those as well with Billy Snyder using his new 22 rifle.  There were some boys 3 years older that took all the posts with reflectors on them along highway 18 south of Grainola and tossed them in a pond.  I am not sure but I believe it was Glen Jones who shot a skunk right outside the boys bathroom at the Grainola School.  It stunk so bad it was almost impossible to go.  Then there was the sneaking in the school house to play basketball at all hours of the day and night.  

Halloween was always a lot of fun and I think it started long before Bob and David Harris but as I recall they use to cut down trees and block the roads getting to the school and in particular blocking the school bus from getting out so we could not have school or at least start on time.  Poor Bob Scott had to deal with that almost every year.  In fact we tried to carry on the traditions of Halloween and blocking the roads.  One time we took all of Mr and Mrs. Casselman's firewood and carried it out to the streets and blocked the roads.  

I sure would like to hear some details about these events and stories as they have become somewhat fuzzy but hopefully the stories are getting better over time.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• fun is what you make of the situation
• fun can hurt others so be very careful
• The "good old days" really were pretty dog-gone fun

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Class of 46 from Grainola

front row

Clarence Kennedy
Roy Richardson
Carl McConaghy
Pete Kitterman
Opal Lane Olson
"Corky" Gene Mains

back row
Warren Custer
Charles Austin



Now I would have to say this group (many of who are already gone) could really tell some stories.  I really don't know how many but I believe all of these were in the same or very close to the same class as they all grew up together in Grainola.  Of course Warren Custer and Carl McConaghy never got too far away from home.  Warney as we always called him stopped by now and then to say hi and Carl lived right down the creek from us on Beaver.

The persons I knew the best was Carl and Aladayne (bet I spelled that wrong) and what I always remember best was what a hard working bunch they were and that Carl played the fiddle.  Alidane was a darn good cook and I liked going over there to hang/play with Glen and Marvin.  Neal was about 3 years older and of course he was not too interested in playing with us kids.  Now the youngest was Carla, the only girl, and she wanted to play with us but that was not in the cards too often.  She was a lot cuter (is that a word?  - definition: cute and if you are better looking you would be cuter) than the boys.  I am not sure but I think all the boys had hair like Carl, real thick and dark.  Just kidding as you can see.

Now Glen was one year older and he was in the same class as Dee Johnson, Debbie Jones, my sister Debbie, and Eddie Harris.  But Glen and I hung around now and then but most of all we worked on our respective farms.  I would have to admit that Glen was not a trouble maker or mischievous like Eddie and I but he was a easy going guy.

Of course basketball was king in Grainola and all 8 grades played.  The 7th and 8th had a team and the 4th, 5th and 6th grade had a team.  So you can see I was on the team with Glen about 3 out of 5 years.  I hate to say it but we were never a great team as we lost a lot of games over the years.  In fact I would bet we never had a winning season while I was at Grainola.  We basically had one strategy and that was to shoot it or get it to the tallest guy on the court which was me.  The problem is I could neither make successful shots or jump.  I will have to say that I was so tall during those years I never really had to jump but the fact is I never could jump, even in high school.  In fact I was never a good shot.  The only thing I was good at in basketball was rebounding and defense.  Defense was really good for me because I could push anyone around and I liked it.  Honestly we probably would have had a better team if the coach, Mr. Lewis Morris, would have let someone faster and a better shot than me to play.  That was sure off the subject, Huh?

Since we did not win much you might ask why I liked the sport.  Well I liked the intensity of the game running up and down the court and I liked being part of a team with guys I liked.  I also believe it kept me out of a lot of trouble and probably most of my friends would say the same thing.  I really don't think Glen had ADD (attention deficit) but I am sure Eddie, Jon Tanny, Hugh Allen and I all had ADD and it might have been times two.  So the moral of the situation is that we ran off so much of that loose energy that we stayed out of trouble, most of the time.  Off the subject again.

Well, back to the class of 1945.  Have you ever wondered about what they were like when they were kids?  Have you ever asked what they did for fun?  Did they ever get in trouble?  What was it like when they were young?  Did they just work like we were led to believe?  NOT!  The real story is not really known.  I have heard a few stories.  My guess is they got in plenty of mischief as well.

I asked my Mom these questions and it was quit fun.  She told me about going to ball games and piling all the team into one vehicle or two and traveling to games.  She said that all of them worked hard at home so going to school was a relief in many ways.  They did not bring homework home because there was work to do at home.  When they did get together they played games and they were not electronic games.  They played checkers, cards and outdoor games.  They fished and hunted together and the girls many times would sew clothes or cook.  But when the boys and girls were together there was music but not on the radio but mostly what they made themselves or it was card games.  There always seemed to be a real closeness amongst this group when they got together.

So what do we learn in the Osage?

• Parents were kids once and they have stories to tell if you will sit down and listen
• ADD (attention deficit) is not such a bad thing and in fact I contend it is a good thing in the long run.  Please forgive me if you  are a teacher and have to manage some kids like me.
• The great thing about Shidler and Grainola and probably any small school is that you are friends with everyone and everyone gets a better shot at participating in sports.

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Snow Tracking

I know that many folks just don't want to venture out in the snow but I have to tell you I thoroughly love it now and way back then in the Osage.  Larry and I as I have told you in the past loved to hunt up and down Beaver Creek.  Just for clarity that means back and forth or up and down whichever suits you.  But during times of a snow covering the hunting was a lot of fun.  Why?  The tracks in the snow told you where to find a rabbit hidden under a clump of grass or a covey of quail hiding or where a coon had been or a coyote or an occasional deer.  Some animals seemed just like humans and did not want to venture out but most had to just to get food and water.

Quail would hold tight to the ground until you were right on top of them and then they would burst into flight and spread all over the place and most of the time it would startle you at first.  But with those tracks showing in the snow it was much easier to be prepared for that burst of flight.  I don't think I can explain it but when you saw a covey of quail take off there was a particular sound of their wings hitting their side in thumping kind of noise and then they would get to a high speed and stop flapping their wings and glide dogging left and right for long distances until they found where they wanted to land.  Once they land they typically would take off running to another clump of grass to hide out.  At that point we would stop looking for coveys of quail and would seek out finding those singles hidden all around us.

Knowing about where they landed was no guarantee you would ever find them even when there was snow.  Quail know how to hide and they are masters of deception plus they can run extremely fast.  Since we never had a bird dog and basically I was the bird dog for Larry we could hunt for hours and not get our limit on birds.  Larry was a great shot even with Dad's old bolt action 20 gauge shot gun.

I loved the fresh air and the crisp coldness of it.  It was a joy to walk along listening for the snapping of a dry twig by a squirrel or rabbit and then tracking them for long distances to most of the time being what we called skunked.  Skunked meaning we lost their tracks and could not find them.  but sometimes we got lucky and found our kill and what would be our lunch or dinner and many times we would clean our game and put them in the freezer for a meal on a later day.

During the snowy weather hunting was just a lot more fun.  My senses were more alert to the slightest movement of just a bit of snow falling from a tree because a squirrel moved and knocked it off or a movement of a tuft of grass moving as a rabbit situated itself for a rest and some warmth.  Of course we were competing with the occasional coyote looking for the same rabbit but luckily coyotes are pretty easily spooked by a human being.  I never saw a coyote go after a person.  However one time I did have a raccoon come after me.  It scared the dickens out of me.  I have no idea where that statement comes from but I have heard it all my life.  I suppose it comes from one of the Charles Dickens stories.  Did I ever tell you about the time I got to hold and read a little out of a Charles Dickens first addition book signed by Charles Dickens and with a letter from Charles Dickens to the original owner of the book?  I guess you are jealous.  Anyway, back to the story.  On that raccoon coming after me I emptied my gun on it to only slow it enough to where I reloaded and emptied it again.  That had to be one of the toughest raccoons ever.  I should clear up another point.  We never called them raccoons.  We called them coons and when you went coon hunting you typically had coon dogs which are beagles.  My grandpa Jess Lane was a big time coon hunter although I never got to go hunting with him as he lived down by Oologah close to Claremore, home of Will Rogers.  For some reason I never asked the Lane family left Grainola and moved to Oolagah when I was about knee high to a plow.  That does not make sense either but that is just one of those sayings I use but never understood.

Diversion.  Just the other day I heard a new saying from a new friend.  He was describing someone by saying they were like a monkey on a football.  It seemed pretty funny to me.

Well I sit here today looking at the snow out my window watching a squirrel eating at my bird feeder which is next to my trailer, next to my old manure spreader, next to the cottage in my backyard where I spend a lot of time.  I really do not appreciate that squirrel but am amazed at how smart and capable they are.  I have that bird feeder hanging about 5 feet in the air from a steel rod that is slick and about 1/4 inch in diameter.  A squirrel should not be able to climb it but they do.

Oh well, it is time to go.
What do you learn in the Osage:

• Snow is what you make of it
• don't eat yellow snow (call if you don't get it)
• God made it all for us to enjoy and take care of, so do your best

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com