1950 State Champion Basketball Team

I guess there are times in your life, especially mine, when you find that something you thought you knew was not precisely correct.  Well here is the real story about the 1950 not 1952 State Champion Girls Basketball team from Grainola.

First they are listed in the top 100 sporting highlights in the state of Oklahoma.
Second I had two aunts on the team, Lois Lane (super woman) and Erlene although I understand that Lois was the super star of the team.  In fact I heard that she was one if not the best basketball player in the state at that time.  Uncle Mike (her husband) likes to brag on her a little and so does my mom.

Attached is a picture of the students at Grainola High School and I do not know which person is which but I am open to getting some help.  Here are the names I got from Aunt Lois a couple of weeks ago when I was at her house in Prairie Village, Kansas.  Her and Uncle Mike are in their 90's.

Elsie Johnston
Buela May Barton
Lovella Cartwright (I think she and Aunt Lois are the only two living out of this class.
Lois Lane (Del Priorie)
Erlene Lane (Patterson)
_______ Bargis
Dorothy Robinson
Marguarette Carol
__________ Johnson
Dorothy Weaver
I would welcome input on which person is which and what order plus stories about each person.  I remember the moms in Grainola put together a team and played the Grainola kids in high school at Shidler and the women kicked their rears.  Mildred Kelly could dribble and shoot a ball better than any of the boys.  She could even dribble behind her back.

Now for a little love story.  Uncle Mike who is from NEW YORK CITY was in the military during WWII and stationed in Ft. Riley, Kansas and later in Oklahoma where he met Aunt Lois.  They began to write each other and the love bug bit.  It was fun hearing about how they fell in love and it was fun knowing they still felt that way somewhere around 60 years later.   A Yankee city boy marries a country farm girl.  They lived in Kansas City or really Prairie Village and Uncle Mike managed the men's department at the Jone's Store downtown for many years.  I always thought it was kind of cool having an uncle who knew how to dress so sharp and business like and Aunt Lois always seemed like an elegant city girl even though I knew she could slop the hogs, raise a garden, cook and do anything a man could do.  She was and is one tough lady, kind of like the rest of the Lane girls. If you don't know Gladys Snyder, Opal Olson, Peggy Heath, Erlene Patterson you have no idea what tough is.  These girls could kick about any man's butt in a fight.  The funny thing is they were always a pretty good looking group of girls.  Good looking and tough acting and tough talking, all are true.

Well what do you learn in the Osage?

• Yankees have heart too
• Watch out for country girls they are tricky 
• Watch out for good looking ladies they might kick your butt.

Thanks for listening,
gary@thepioneerman.com

The old Clothes Line

I sure wish I had a picture of the old close line and I am sure very few folks even know what that is but let me tell you a few memories about clothes lines.  But first let me tell you where the term in football "clotheslined" someone comes from.  You see a clothesline is a wire between two posts and typically it comes in threes but if someone is running and for some reason they don't see the clothesline they will almost get their head taken off.  The correlation to football is when someone is running along and you stick out your arm and catch them right under the chin or on the neck their feet will come out from under them and they will land flat on their back, thus clotheslined.  It is an awful thing to happen to a person but as a past football player I thought it was cool seeing it done or doing it to someone.  I never wanted to hurt them but it was fun seeing them land flat on their back.  Boys are different than girls, at least it seems that way to me.

Back to the story.

washing machine with wringer, electric even

First you have to know that a clothes line is where in your back yard there are two steel posts, T shaped,   painted silver about 40 feet or more apart with three smooth steel wires between them all spaced evenly apart.  That is where we hung our clothes once they were washed and put through the wringer.  If you don't know what a ringer is take a look at the attached picture.  We use to call them Maytag's and they originally were not electric like this one.  If you look at the top left of the picture you will see two rollers which you place shirts and pants and everything else through to squeeze out the water, thus a wringer because it wrings out the water.  Get it?  Now when you hear someone say that they got their butt in a wringer you know that they are in serious trouble because the wringer can break an arm or hurt like crazy at the least if you get caught in it.  The next step once you have a basket full of clothes you take them outside in hot or freezing cold weather and hang them on the wires between the two posts to dry out.  If it is raining outside don't be stupid and ask what do you do then.  OK, YOU WAIT.  Anyway the clothes pen at the left was for attaching the clothes to the wire so they would not fall.

The second picture is the modern day clothespin which was a wonderful improvement over the old one.  

I don't know about you but I thought clothes smelled better when dried outside prior to the clothes dryer.  I remember how excited Dad was when he purchased a clothes dryer for Mom so she would not have to go outside in all kinds of weather to either gather the clothes or put them out, especially in freezing weather or even just cold weather during the winter.  Dad just loved Mom and I think his greatest joy was when he thought he could do something for her.  It was a good lesson on how to treat a lady.  I think they call that mentoring or teaching a son how to treat a lady.  Kind of cool if you ask me.

Well I have one last story about clotheslines and if you like cats or don't like cruelty to animals you might want to stop reading. 

I am not going to mention names so there will be no ramifications on "who dun it".  Anyway one time there was a couple of young boys who tied two cats together and threw them over the clothesline.  Fur was flying and it was an awful sight to behold.  All I can say about this is that we are lucky God is a loving and forgiving God because those boys lost every chance of making it into heaven based on works because there is no way to make up for such a horrible deed.  Before you argue with me you should read the Bible and then ask questions.  I am always amazed at how folks are experts on something they do not read.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Respect and love for a lady
• Change can be good but memories of the good old days are what gives spice to this life
• I really love cats 

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Entrapreneur vs. Fullamanure

For some folks things just seem to always come easy and then there is the real story behind what makes a person.  Folks have made many a remark about what an entrepreneur I have been but what they don't know is how I got there.

First off I was not an entrepreneur in that I was just motivated to go out and start new business ventures or try something new but it was that things happened along the way to make me choose which opportunities to take.  In fact one of my favorite things to tell folks is, " I am not an entrepreneur but I am Fullamanure".  If you have never seen that word let me break it down for you, Full-a-manure.  Does that clear it up for you?  OK, back to the story.  At an early age my folks EXPECTED me to invest money in sheep and practice DISCIPLINE in keeping or taking care of them while keeping DETAILED RECORDS of what it cost to raise those sheep.  Dad (see previous story) took me to the bank at about 9 years old to ask the president of the bank, Windal Andrews, to loan me $60. For more details read the other story.  You see it was not a choice to be a business person and take responsibility but it was an EXPECTATION.  In fact there were consequences for not taking responsibility.  If I did not water and feed the sheep obviously the animals would not do very well and it would cost me money.  However there were much greater consequences from Mom and Dad.  I would be grounded or if I forgot to feed the animals I would miss a meal so that I would understand how the animals felt.  CONSEQUENCES for my action or lack of action.

As I grew older the money invested got larger and the cost and profits were bigger but so were the losses.  My folks NEVER told me to depend on someone else or the government if I failed.  They taught me consequences and responsibility.

Now you may ask, "why did I think of this story?" and I am telling you it was a phone bill I received last week.  I had added a new telephone line for my business and I was absolutely floored at what I found out.  If you want a business line it costs extra because it is assumed that you would use it more.  Use your logic here and think.  If the phone company knows how much you use the line then why wouldn't it be the same price per minute of use for a person or business?  The primary reason is that businesses cannot complain and vote but people do so the politicians suck up to the voters and stick it to the business person.  Now if you think it is ok then ask yourself this, "do you use your cell phone for business or just personal?"  Of course you use it both so you pay the same regardless and you pay for the usage amount even if it is one of those convoluted package deals.  BUT this is still not the point.
 
My new phone line was $25.20 per month and all the fees and taxes on it were $17.65 which is 70% !!!!!  Who is kidding who?  This is highway robbery and they don't call hardly any of it taxes and it is all on top of the other taxes you pay:

Property Tax,                                      Sales Tax
Income Tax                                         SSN Tax
Medicare Tax                                     Obama care tax
Excise Tax                                          Property Tax
Capital Gains Tax                                and many more  but what about the FEES you pay every time you turn around?

License Tag fees                                  Builders license fees
Filing fees                                            and a lot more
Oklahoma is one of only two states that still have ABSTRACT Companies which are political monopolies to maintain the title to your house and then they sell INSURANCE on the same title everytime it changes hands.

Now we have required health care insurance which I will have to tell you is not all bad because we have had it for many years but now it is in the form of 26 new taxes and penalties and the GOVERNMENT is going to HELP.

The government has made it so burdensome that doctors are getting out of the business faster than we can get new ones and the ones still working are becoming part of the hospital organizations to lower the burden of government documentation requirements.  DOES ANYONE OUT THERE GET IT?  The government is preventing the small business owner from being able to compete so they are going out of business and/or never starting because the cost to enter is so high and difficult due to government regulations?  Banks don't make small loans because the burden is so HIGH and this prevents people from borrowing and starting new businesses.  HAS ANYONE NOTICED THAT SMALL BANKS ARE DISAPPEARING AND SMALL LOANS ARE GONE?  Do you wonder why?

People gripe about unions but licensing of so many professions is the same as unionizing because it prevents competition.  Yes it does protect the consumer from someone who does not know what they are doing but it also makes the cost of everything very high.  Sure protecting eagles is a high priority but feeding your children and creating jobs is important.  Up until the government got involved we had a FREE society and we had the competition where the winner wins but now we cannot speak freely because we can get fined by the government.  If you don't believe me ask any person involved in Medicare supplemental insurance or the securities business.  You cannot hardly go take a leak without the government involved.  Come to think of it just about everything in the restroom is controlled by the government as well.  What happened to buyer be ware?

This whole thing started with one topic and ended with another.  God bless America! I love this country but I want some help getting it fixed and now is the time to get involved in fixing it.  If you are like me and believe that Christians are being prejudiced against please call your political officers and tell them you are tired of government regulations and government protecting you against every little thing.  Every time a law is passed someone loses and someone wins.  It seems to me that we make laws too often and without a cost / reward benefit analysis.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• Entrepreneurs are not born they are EXPECTED
• RESPONSIBILITY is for everyone 
• Discipline must be restored

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

What do you do when you are tired tells a lot about how you are raised.

The last few days I have been doing something I have wanted to do for some time, build a paver based patio at our cottage where my new office will be.  Well it is now 99% complete but I wondered where I got this desire to do these projects and to do what it takes to get them done.  You must know it came from the Osage and most importantly from my Dad and Mom, Cliff and Opal Olson.

I recall when we would prepared the fields for planting once it started there was no stopping until the fields were planted.  We awoke before daylight and made sure the tractor was fueled and the implement was greased.  We drank while we drove the tractor and generally we would stop for lunch and supper was brought to the field so we could keep going until it was dark.  You may think riding/driving a tractor is easy work but I bet you never road on an older tractor that had very little spring in the seat and there was no cab to protect you from the heat and the wind and dust and in fact we did not have a radio on ours.  By the end of the day your body was worn slick from bouncing and constantly turning your head to check on things.  I mean to tell you once you put in those many hours (bad English but that is the way it was) on a tractor your body was so spent you did not care to eat, only a bed would suffice and it would only last for a few hours before you were back on the tractor.

Hay season occurred often during the summer starting with straw hay from the wheat fields then we would have a cutting of alfalfa, generally there were 5 cuttings a summer, then hay grazer which was the worst and once a year we would cut and bail prairie hay.  So you can see why about every kid, even if you lived in Shidler like Steve Chrisco and many more, hauled hay to make money.  There was always work to do and the help was always needed.  Back to the hay grazer, it looked a lot lot johnson grass or corn stalks but better for cattle and worse for workers like me.  It was always heavier and it took longer to dry and longer and more difficult to bail and was more difficult to stack in the barn.  In the winter it was the most difficult to get out of the barn because it would kind of melt down to almost stick together and when you removed it from the barn it was more difficult to handle and it was hot from all the moisture in it.  The cattle loved it as I think it was sweeter and  had more energy in it, thus the heat.  Well haying season almost never ended and it was another start before daylight and end after dark kind of job.  The rule was get it done especially before it rained.

One last example of why laying pavers is a job and a joy.

My folks were one of the first I can remember to insist on landscaping around the house with shrubs along the foundation and sidewalks to give shape to the gardens and a nice path to the parked cars on the East and South side of the house.  I remember Steve Dowell, the county agent who lived in Fairfax, coming by to visit with Dad and Mom about what to plant and how to plant those shrubs around our new house.  If you look close in the picture you will see that old house we built and I believe it was about 40 feet long and 30 feet wide for about 1200 square feet and it was a perfect rectangle, not like all the houses today.  It did not have a garage as that was always detached in those days.  Anyway my folks seemed to have a passion for making things look nice.  Before gas weed eaters we had idiot sticks (at least that is what we called them) which had a blade on the end of stick but both sides of the blade was sharp so that when you swung it both ways it would cut weeds or grass.  Anyway, Dad and Mom did not like weeds around anything and Mom really liked flowers so we had marigolds and zinnias every year plus a few tulips and daffodils.  I assume their motivation was looks but sometimes I think it was to make sure we had something to do.  We even cut the weeds in the coral area just so it would look nice.  We even cut the weeds in the junk pile and yes every farmer had a junk pile where they could get parts from old equipment to repair the newer stuff.

Well what these three stores have to do with pavers explains why my hands hurt and ache and my muscles are tight.  In fact I got tickled at an Edmond person telling me how tired they were after working from 8 to 12 outside in the 105 degree heat last weekend.  I worked Friday after work at my office until after dark plus Saturday from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. barely stopping for lunch and a limited supper then going to church on Sunday and finishing up my project Sunday afternoon till dark plus Monday 7 to 9 and I don't mean two hours.  The idea is to get it done and don't count the pain.  Oh ya!  It was 105% outside where I was working and the bricks were hotter than H___.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• When you have a job to do you do it until it is done/complete.  As my Dad would say, "Getter done"
• No pain No gain, people don't pay you for the easy stuff
• I like to make things look nice.
• What kind of person do you want working for you?  

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Coach Gilbreth - small things make a big difference

Growing up in Grainola it is clear from my other stories that I was always a rather large person for my age but luckily  a lot of folks caught up with me in high school like Frank Ball, AJ Jacques, Dave Jacques, Jody Price, Julian Codding, and I am sure several more but one time when Coach Gilbreth was at Grainola with one of the Shidler teams he made one of those comments to me that made a big difference.

We were probably in the 6th or 7th grade and he had a Shidler team playing Grainola and I would have to admit we were outmatched.  In fact I remember PeeWee Robinson, Steve Chrisco, AJ Jacques, Jim Whitt, Ricky Cottle and more who just ran circles around us to the point it was embarrassing.  The only good thing going was that I was about 18 inches taller than all of them and I could bully myself on them and block shots and physically knock them down.  Yes they beat us and they always beat us as far as I can remember.  Their team was made up of kids in one grade where our team was made up of kids from the 6th, 7th and 8th grade and maybe even the 5th and 4th grade, it was not fair and LIFE IS ALWAYS FAIR, just kidding.  Anyway after the game Coach Gilbreth came up to me and told me I should play football for him.  I did not know much about football but I knew I liked to compete and I liked to hit folks in sports as it was my best weapon.  You see I was never fast enough to out run anyone but I was taller and bigger so I could push folks around like Hugh Allen Jones.  The good thin about Hugh is he liked to fight and not in a mean way but he loved the conflict.  I guess that is why he became a great United States Marine.

Well that conversation stuck with me.  I started thinking I could be good at something and I started watching football on TV and occasionally going to Shidler for a high school football game.  One of my fondest early memories was Ronnie West who was like greased lightning as a running back and what seemed like a really nice guy.  That is something to think about.  Here he did not even know my name but I was four years or five younger than he and I was watching how he acted on the field and off the field.  He was my mentor and did not even know it.  Somehow we need to let young people know they are mentoring someone even when they do not know it.

Also consider that Coach Gilbreth was a mentor and he made a big difference in my life with just a little bit of encouragement.  Also when I went to Shidler and played for him I thoroughly enjoyed how he would always put me up against different people in one-on-one drills and let us go after it.  He would just laugh and as I remember there was a coach Bouer (not sure how to spell it) who particularly enjoyed watching us young rascals fight it out in those uniforms.  They probably should not have been paid to have so much fun, just kidding.  I loved the pep talks where he would challenge us to do our best and push us to run faster and longer than I thought was humanly possible.  To be truthful going to football practice was actually a relief from work and I would gain weight each year when football practice started because I was already in shape from the farm work.  I would also say that the running all the time is what was hard for me.  I could haul hay all day or run a tractor but running was a different sort of pain and suffering.  In the end I learned a lot about myself and working as a team.

Well I just have to say thanks to all the coaches and especially Coach Gilbreth for taking a little extra note of a big insecure boy and encouraging him he could be good at something.

So what do you learn in the Osage?  This is really a long list but I will keep it short.

• Persevere, you can always do more than you think you can

•  Mentoring someone is not a big deal to do but it is a big deal to do for someone 

• YOu are always mentoring someone, even if you do not know it, even if you are a bad mentor.  If you want your kids and kids friends to grow up to be good citizens take a look in the mirror first.

•  Small talk is big talk when a child is listening

Thanks for your time and thanks for all those who quietly and not so quietly mentored me in the Osage,
gary@thepioneerman.com

The lost check

Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful!!!!!

This is one of those things Dad would say when something funny but shameful would happen and this is one of those times, the time we lost a check.

I use to have a Shetland pony and a surrey which I could ride up and down the gravel roads at high speed.  It was a lot of fun and I was probably in the 11 or 12 year old timeframe when I got her.  She had an attitude but when you hooked her up to the cart she could get up and go. 

Speaking of "get up and go", I will never forget the time Janie Shumate did a 4-H skit at the Osage County talent show over in Pawhuska and the name of her skit was "When my get up and go had got up and went".  I thought it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen.  She had a real talent for the acting and she was one of the sweetest people out of Grainola and the oldest daughter of Beth Shumate (the cherry pie lady and my 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teacher).  As I recall she did another single person skit a year or so later and it was called "George and Martha ".  The only words in the skit were George and Martha but she said those words with many different voice inflections and you could see how George and Martha first met, got to know each other and finally fell in love.  You could hear it in their voices as their love grew deeper and deeper and as I recall it right threw the aging process to the end of a long life together.  I suppose it was one of the most moving skits I had ever seen to this day.  In my mind she should have won the contest.

OK, back to the lost check.  I bet you cannot wait for this? 

Well racing up and down that gravel road was a lot of fun but one day I had taken my favorite sister, Debbie, for a ride and disaster struck.  The Shetland Pony got its front left leg on the outside of the guide rails on the surrey and as it poked into her flank she got wild and wilder.  Finally she took off to the left toward the bar ditch and gravel was flyer because we were going so fast.  I could see we were running straight into the barbed wire fence and if you don't know what that is let me tell you.  It is wired twisted together with barbs every four or so inches to help keep animals from going through the fence as the barbs would dig into their hide.  Well let me tell you I could see what was coming and I yelled "Geronimo, get off of this cart".  Being the brave man I am, I jumped and Debbie did not!  It was a grave mistake.  Debbie must have gotten a hundred stitches in the back of her leg and I would say she was blessed it was not any worse.  She was cut up bad.  It was such a traumatic mess that I have no idea what happened to the horse other than Dad got her untangled and back safe to the barn yard.  The cart was not even damaged at all.

Yes, there is a check in here somewhere. 

After that I decided to sell the cart and yes I got a check for $40 from some folks over in Bartlesville.  Mom put the check in a safe place until we could go to the bank and I could deposit it.  Of course it would be deposited at the Shidler State Bank where Mr. Wendal Andrews was president (remember he was my first banker) except for one problem.  Mom put the check up so we would not lose it and we could not find it.  In fact it was at least one year and maybe two or three before we found it.  The sad thing is when we found it.

Have you ever dusted your house and furniture and not picked something up but just scooted it around until you got the surface dusted?  Well Mom put that check under the BIBLE and sadly it was not picked up for a long long time.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• you ought to read your Bible once in a while
• Have a Bible in your house protects NO ONE from the tragedy of HELL
• Don't be critical of folks who have a Bible because they may not know what is in it, it might have a check in it
• What if it had a check which said, "this is your ticket to heaven so bring it when you come, John 3:16"?  Would you be ready to meet your maker?

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com


lsot $40 dollar check for a couple years.

Broom corn and cotton picking

I ran in to Stan kelly of Edmond who is just a little older than me and he was telling me he grew up on the farm and use to pick cotton and cut broom corn.  Now I know in the Osage we did not do those crops back then although I hear Lebby Williams (LEB) is now raising cotton in the Osage.  Anyway I am really glad we did not have these two crops as I have heard too many stories about having to hand pick cotton and how it would cut  your fingers.  And broom corn is just about the nastiest thing to cut because you have to do it with a strangely made knife that was curved and was tied to your index finger and then you would use your thumb and index finger to cut the broom corn with the knife.  The trick is to not stick yourself with the knife which was always easy to do.  You see I did raise broom corn and it really is nasty.

The problem is broom corn is grown for the sticks or stubble on the top of the stalk which can be higher than your head.  What this means is you are always cutting over your head or at head level and the dust is getting all over your face and neck and down your shirt.  It itches terribly.  In my opinion the only way to cut it is with a bare back, no shirt.  Most folks prefer long sleeve shirts and pants to protect them as much as possible.

Now just what do you do with this stuff? I am sure everyone knows what you do with cotton but just in case you or the manufacturers make thread which is made into cloth which makes into sheets, pillow cases, shirts, pants, underwear, etc.  But broom corn is not so well known for what it is made to do.  Well here it is, you make brooms just like the ones at your house used to sweep the floors.  Therefore broom corn.  The reason the name includes corn is that it looks like a corn stalk when it grows.

So what does this all have to do with the Osage?  NOT MUCH.  But I am glad we did not have to mess with these two crops when I was a kid.  One thing worth knowing is that Oklahoma use to be the center for broom corn for the US and it was grown down in the SW part of the state around Alex, Chickasha, Altus, Binger, and into the panhandle of Texas.  In fact if you know the Hough family (Hough Ear Institute) in Oklahoma City Mrs. Hough's family were some of the largest broom corn farmers in the country.  How about that for a little piece of information.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Not much about broom corn and cotton
• How to be a good worker and to give a good effort with hope of a good return, kind of like planting and reaping
• Where a broom comes from

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Skipping rocks

Where there is water and a few rocks and preferably flat rocks a boy has to do what he has to do, skip rocks.  I bet you I have skipped rocks thousands of times and in fact have shared the art with my children, even Preston can skip a rock.

So what is so exciting about skipping a rock?  Well, for one, if you cannot do it you have not tried and you have certainly not failed.  Skipping rocks is a lesson in success and overcoming disappointment.  It is also a lesson in geometry, physics and common sense.  Let me explain.

First to skip rocks you have to know that a flatter rock is easier to skip with than a round rock.  Also you learn that a heavy rock is not necessarily the best rock.  You see a round rock is more likely to not skip on water because it has less surface area when it hits the water which means the surface tension of the water is lower in a small spot and therefore more likely to sink.  Also if the rock is heavy it is more likely to break the surface tension of the water and sink.  That is PHYSICS and common sense.  Now for the geometry part of the equation.  It is very important that you throw the rock as close as possible to parallel with the surface of the water.  If you do this correctly you maximize the surface tension of the water, minimize the effect of a heavy rock and you maximize the number of skips on the water.  Once the rock hits the water the first time it will bounce off the water and arch into the air until its weight and momentum combined cause the rock to fall to the surface of the water again where the surface tension of the water and the weight of the stone plus its speed of descent to the water allow it to once again sink or skip.  Now with all that said surely it is plain to see the lower the angle or parallelity (my word) the more skips you get when combined with high throwing speed and a modest size rock.  I should also tell you that if you spin the rock when thrown it will also cause the surface tension of the water to have less impact on the speed of the rock and cause more skipping.

Well in the end our success is measured by how many skips you get and how far it goes.  A little understanding of physics and geometry are by products but the fact is, you learn by doing.  Now that brings up another thing and that is, Do you fail if you never try?  I contend that if you don't try you automatically fail and that if you try and fail you really WIN.  If for no other reason you win because you are a better person because you know that you tried.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• if you don't try you cannot succeed
• skipping rocks teaches folks to compete
• failure is never failure unless you chose it, it is a decision not an emotion

Thanks for reading and spending time with me,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Grasshoppers

I know that grasshoppers are not good for the crops but they are great fish bait.  We would catch a couple dozen and head for the creek, Beaver Creek.

I don't remember how often we got to go fishing but it seemed like we got to go plenty of times and it was especially convenient as the creek was just a few hundred yards behind the house.  Fishing is like anything you need to prepare to be successful.  We had two primary baits, worms and grasshoppers but on occasion we would take a seine and catch some minnows, shiners is what we called them.  Grasshoppers were pretty good for catching bass so we concentrated on grasshoppers most of the time.  Dad made it easier by making a special tool for catching grasshoppers.  Basically it was a pole about 10 feet long with a small net made of metal screen like you would get out of a screen porch door.  Come to think of it most of you have never seen a screen porch door.

Just about everyone had two doors at every entrance one of which would be a screen door with a regular door in front of it if you are standing on the inside of the house.  If that makes no sense to you then you had better call for some country logic.  It allowed the air to flow through the house and not let in the bugs.  You see we left all the windows and doors open and covered them with screens so the air could flow through the house and keep it cool or at least cooler than being outside in the sun.  Screen doors were automatically closed by a spring attached to the frame and the door.  When you would go through it in a hurry it would POP really loud and hopefully you would not experience the scorn of Mom for slamming the door so loudly.  For whatever reason I remember the back screen door was painted green.  It was really a shame but after a number of years we replaced all the screens with what we called storm doors and windows which were partially glass and screen but the screen could be closed to help stop air flow and make the house more comfortable in the winter.  The new screen doors stopped the slamming as they had an air filled cylinder to stop the slamming effect and allow the door to close slower.  Some day I will tell you the story about sticking my hand through the door and just about cutting my finger off.

Back to grasshoppers.  Some folks don't like how grasshoppers jump around and kind of stick to you and I will admit they are a little scary sometimes but the cool thing is they have their skeleton on the outside of their bodies unlike humans who have their skeletons on the inside.  Just take a look and you will see what I mean.  Anyway when you bait a hook with a grasshopper bass go crazy and it makes for good fishing and my favorite part CATCHING.  The truth is I don't really like to fish as much as I like to catch.

Now one more thing about grasshoppers that you may not know.  Some folks like to eat them but I am not one of them.  Uncle Snyd as you may recall was a WWII veteran and was a prisoner of war and in fact in the Death March in the Philippines.  One of the stories he told me was how they would catch grasshoppers to get protein and nourishment as the Japanese tried to starve them to death.  The worst part of being a prisoner was not the death march but the slave labor camp they took him to in northern China where the nights were freezing cold and many of his friends died from starvation and cruelty from the Japanese.  I just found it amazing to hear Uncle Snyd tell about catching grasshoppers and bugs to get protein to avoid getting beriberi.

I don't know why my sister, Debbie, didn't like to fish as much as I did but Larry, my brother, has never stopped fishing.  In fact he has been teaching and mentoring my family on the art of fishing even today.  He even emails the grand niece of Debbie as they are fishing buddies.  My oldest son and Larry are now engaged in the art of fishing as well.  It is really cool to see Larry mentoring these young fishermen and fisherwomen (somehow that does not sound right).  Can't fishermen mean boys and girls?

Oh well, what do you learn in the Osage?

• Grasshoppers are not just pests
• Don't feel sorry for yourself, some folks have to eat grasshoppers to stay alive
• The definition of HOPE is fishing with grasshoppers
• planning is good for fishing and everything in life

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

1950 Grainola State Basketball Team

Now who knew about this one?  Grainola had what is considered the 39th best sports teams in Oklahoma!

this is not the 1950 team but it is a Grainola team

I have been trying to figure out who was on that team and would love to have a picture so help me if you can.  Here is my best guess at the players.

Deanie Fulsom (Jim and Clarissa's mom) (Heath)
Mildred Kelly - actually I don't know her maiden name
Wessene  Fulsom (Heath)
Joan Woods (Mildred's sister)
Clara Fay Fulsom (Deanie's sister)
???? Bartgis (June Johnston's sister or cousin, Dee Johnson's aunt (also Marvin and the twin's))
Lois Lane (my aunt and not sure if she was on this team)
The coach was ?  Hartman who later was head coach at Kansas State

From the top 100 sports teams in Oklahoma:

39. 1950 Grainola girls basketball: 34-2
Step aside, Hoosiers. No story beats this defunct Osage County school, which sported only 14 students; all nine girls played hoops and won Class B state title. Three months later, school closed for good.

Read more: http://centennial.newsok.com/topteams#ixzz1FOUfBpZM

send your answers and responses to:
The Pioneer Man
12501 Dutch Forest Place
Edmond, OK 73013
or gary@thepioneerman.com

It was not fair!

Growing up on the farm and ranch in the Osage was great but looking back there were a few things that were not fair.  In particular we never had a color TV or air conditioner or riding lawn mower and we had a huge lawn.  In fact you would have thought a weed eater (gasoline powered) would have been a great thing and in some ways it was and in some ways it was not.

You see until the gas powered weed eater we had the Gary powered Idiot Stick which is a tool that had a blade on both sides so it would cut both ways.  You would swing it as hard as you could at weeds and grass and it would cut them down fairly easily.  The problem was that you got tired, hot and sweaty doing this around all the barns (see list of barns from a few weeks back) and after a while you could not pick up your arms because they were so tired.  But being a farm boy you never stopped and you endured the pain.  I suppose today we could say our parents abused us and get some government relief which basically meant the weeds would not get cut on a timely basis and it would take four more people to do the job.  Yes, I am saying the government is not only not a help but inhibits productivity and resourcefulness and the entrepreneurship that comes from a person doing a job and finding a faster and better way of doing things.  More government NEVER helps productivity or creativeness.  Anyway with the advent of a weed eater not only could we do the same job faster but Dad figured we could do more since we had time to spare so now we not only did the barns but the driveway.  For you city folks that may sound like a small add but at our house that was ONE MILE from our house to Eddy's house (home of Vea Harris, Janis, David and Bob and Gordon).  YES, we weed-eated a mile of driveway but luckily Dad and Mom did not insist we do it weekly but once or twice a summer and maybe three times max.  I am not sure if they liked the neatness of the work or if they were creating work to keep us busy and out of trouble or out of their hair.

One side story about weed eating.  When Dad was 87 and two days before he went into the hospital for gall bladder surgery he was at my house at daylight for a cup of coffee.  That may not sound like a big deal except that he and Mom lived at Perkins and it was an hour to our house in western Edmond (The Pumpkin Patch or Clifford Farms as it was later known) and Dad would drive to Edmond and have breakfast at Around the Corner in downtown Edmond and then be at our house close to daylight ready to do something.  Dad use to say, "let's do something even if it is wrong".  Anyway this day he said he was going to weed eat the driveway which was about 1/2 mile long and I told him I would get put in jail if they saw an 87 year old man weed eating my driveway.  He just stuck his tongue out at me and went to work after drinking his coffee.

Well here is the strange thing relative to the title of this story, Dad and Mom moved to Perkins, Oklahoma when Dad was about 61 years old so he could be a rural mail carrier full time and gain a retirement package.  They moved from Grainola and started a new life when Dad was 61 but the funny thing was Mom and Dad decided to purchase a TV and appliance store in Perkins and start selling color TVs and air conditioners and they even purchased a riding lawn mower.  We NEVER had any of these things when I was growing up in the Osage.  NOT FAIR.  Actually I am very proud that at that age they were very willing to start something new and go on a new adventure in life.

My folks made me proud.  Oh sure they made mistakes and everything was not easy but that sense of adventure and courage resonates with me.  Life is not about how much money we made or how popular we are with friends but it is what you leave behind that lasts for a long time which makes a positive difference.  They were pioneers in every aspect and they were free to take chances and free to fail.  They did not depend on the government to pay for their mistakes (Detroit bankruptcy, General Motors or AIG) but they depended on their own actions and best efforts to make it work.  I am so very thankful for a great example from my parents.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• the government does not give you opportunity but you create your own
• you will always feel better about yourself and your country when you work like everything depends on you and you take care of your country, not your country take care of you
• creative entrepreneurship comes from FREEDOM not dependency on government programs or regulations, LET FREEDOM RING

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com

My brother ran over me with the pickup, true story, but all my stories are true.

Not too many people can say their brother ran over them with a pickup and are still friends but my brother sure did and I can prove it.  Of course this story is like most things, you should ask a few questions before jumping to conclusions and the facts might change your thinking just a little.

I was probably about 10 or 12 years old and Larry and I were hauling corn from one of the barns to feed the hogs.  Like most farmers we had several barns around for different things.

Quanset on the left and the old house on the right

• There was the hay barn for storing hay from the weather and it is the barn where I shot wasp nests and it is where the feeders were for the cattle to come in out of the weather and eat hay and feed.  
• Then there was the milk barn where we milked the cows and stored the milk in the large coolers.
• There was the corn bin / barn where we stored corn for the hogs.
• There was the cake barn where we stored the cattle cake in gunny sacks to feed the cattle in the winter. 
• Everyone had a chicken barn and we had two for many years until we tore one down that was just north of the house.  I bet Dee Johnson did not know that.
• There was a garage and work barn south and west of the house not too far from where the fuel tanks were.
• The Quonset was a metal barn that was the shape of a half moon with one side cut off and doors all along the front.  It is the one where Debbie drove the tractor through the barn.
• We had a barn where we stored the tractor and it was right next to the garden and on the east side of it is where we grew the rhubarb.
• A couple hundred yards east of that barn was the show barn.  That is where we raised the show calves.  Show calves means for show at livestock shows.
• The sheep barn is where we kept the sheep for show and those had their own pin where we also kept the ewes and raised the babies.
• Most folks had a hog barn and we of course had one and it was short in height but long so that there were several pins for the sows (mother hog) to have their litter (baby pigs).

I think that pretty well covers the barns but I might have missed one.  Well there was one but it was before me and it was an outhouse which went away when indoor plumbing came in.  I never got that privilege.   One I forgot, the club house which was kind of a barn but it was built just for cub scouts and it was north of the house where the old garden was and across the big ditch north of the house.

Now back to getting run over.  Larry was backing up the flat bed pickup and I thought he was done so I started to jump into the barn to save time and get to work.  MISTAKE!  I got crushed between the barn and the pickup just above the knee about 5 inches.  Larry hurriedly moved the pickup away and I of course fell to the ground.  I don't remember going to the hospital but I can tell you today I have about an 8 inch dent in my right leg that reminds me of that day.  Larry was worried sick and ran to get Mom as Dad was working somewhere else.  The good thing is I got to take the day off from work and the bad thing is I hurt for a while.  It is strange how something like that leaves this giant mark on my leg which cannot be easily seen but if you put your hand on my leg you can feel this big indention on my leg.  The only thing I can remember about that event is how much my brother cared for me and just laying on the ground hurting.  I don't remember crying but just hurting really bad.  It really makes a good story when I just tell folks that my brother ran over me and I lived.  

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• there is truth in about everything a person says but most of the time it is not the whole truth, so check the facts
• it is easier to go to work than to sit around and feel sorry for yourself and it is not worth getting run over

• if you are not sure your brother really likes you let him run over you and see how he reacts

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Gardening 101

I know that I started to write about this but got side tracked so forgive me or get over it.  It all depends if you are the sensitive type.

Anyway, Shouna's mom went to the store often but my Mom hardly ever went and there were many reasons:

• the store was at a minimum 14 miles away in Shidler and even when there was one in Grainola it was 4 miles away and gas was 11 cents a gallon, pretty expensive gasoline.
• we grew a huge garden -  we raised green beans, corn, radishes (I dislike those red radishes almost as much as I dislike celery), white radishes (also a bad choice), tomatoes to die for, potatoes, rhubarb, carrots, cucumbers (we did not raise pickles even though David from New York thought we would), cantaloupe, watermelon (not too many), squash (yellow mostly)
• we would go to Ark City (Arkansas City, KS for you non-locals) each year and purchase peaches, strawberries, apricots (Mom made the best apricot cobbler ever)  and apples to put up for the winter plus some extra Mom made pies during the canning experience.  
• we raised our own meat - pork from hogs, chickens, beef, an occasional mutton (lamb) and sometimes we would have meat from hunting quail, squirrel and rabbits with a good supply of fish which came from the creek and ponds.
• milk and butter from the barn, not the store and it was whole milk less the cream we used for butter or other things Mom dished up like HOME MADE ICE CREAM
• Chickens provided meat but we also got our eggs from the chicken house and we could trade eggs at the grocery store for other staples (staples are NOT those little wire things you put  in paper to later on jam up your scanner but it is the basics of cooking for a household like flower, salt, pepper, etc..)
• There was too much to do to spend your time going to the store.
• It was a waste of time and money and NOT good for the environment to go to the store everyday when you lived out like we did.  I threw out the liberal environmental thought just to make you choke.  We really did not think about those things much back then but there is a balance of taking care of God's creation and doing the right thing like not throwing trash out for someone else to have to pick up or look at.

What do you learn in the Osage?

• Commitment vs. involved - a chicken is involved when it provides its eggs for the house but is committed when it provides meat
• We can save a lot of money if we plan our meals and raise our vegetables and our fruit and we can save a little on the environment by not needing another plastic bag or trip to the store.

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com