Country Livin' Remembering Dad

I am thinking of my Dad today.  He was an Engineer by profession  but his younger days were spent on his family ranch and he was a cowboy at heart.  He was also a "Cowboy Poet".  Looking through his writings, I found one that I did't remember having.  It was written the year before he passed away.  I loved reading it and it is written just how he talked and wrote it.

Country Livin'         By R.C. "Pat" Richard    March 4, 1997

It's quiet an' it's peaceful at out home

here in the country

and when the evenin' sunset's slowly

fadin' from the sky.

We can hear wild turkeys gobble from

their roost down in the Oak trees-

and watch the timid white tails

come to graze upon the Rye.

In the meadow Bobwhites callin' as

they covey up for nighttime

then the Lonesome Hooty owls begin to

sing their mournful tune-

and from out beyond the Ridge there comes

some mighty purty music-

From the "Local Coyote Trio" sayin'

howdy to the moon.

There's always somethin' doin' but there

ain't no need to hurry-

cause there ain't nobody worrin' 'bout

when it'e gettin done.

There's nothin' that I'm doin' that 

can't wait until tomorrow

so I work some, an' I loaf some, an'

 I take time out for fun.

Now town life is excitin' with its

hustle an' its bustle-

and the heaps of noisy people an'

a myriad of lights.

But there just ain't no comparin' it

to Livin' in the county

Where wild birds sing the live long day

an' coyotes sing all night.

So let me play my hand out in this

Quiet peaceful setting-

among the Lord's creations , Let me

Live and Let me die.

And when I ride that Last Long trail

just plant me 'neath the Oak trees

an' let me Rest forever underneath

God's clear blue sky.

I can just hear him saying all of this.  He loved living on "Retirement Ranch" and loved his cattle, horses and the wild life around him.  Mom probably would have enjoyed more time at the "town house" but she was happy wherever Dad was.  I miss them but they left so many happy memories.

TORNADO ALLEY

 TORNADO ALLEY....  it is where I live.  It is in the heartland of the country and also includes a good part of the South.  I grew up having a great respect for storms and spent many nights in the storm shelter.  In my early years, there was a killer tornado that struck in our area at Woodward.  The storm happened on April 9,1947.  Ironically there was another storm 65 years later on April 15 that hit the same city.  This is the town that I visit, if I want to do shopping at WalMart, Dollar Tree, Braums, or Mcdonalds and other places not located in the smaller towns. It is the town where my daughter and her family live.  We have a host of friends there and extended family members that live there, it is our neighboring community. 

Tornado's are not particular where they touch down or what damage they do.  They come out of the clouds in the daytime and night.  Unfortunately this one came at night. The storms were set off in the afternoon of the day and I watched the storm chasers and trackers on TV from early afternoon until 3 A,M,  It was a long day.

I have a son-in-law that is a storm tracker.  He and grandson Elvis were a part of this chase.  They drove hundreds miles on their adventure.  They saw a lot of activity.  This is one of the storms that they watched form and dance across Oklahoma.  I would not want to be in the path of this.  This particular one was in open country and did not do much damage.  Well, I didn't intend for these pictures to be stacked on top of each other but being the technical brain  dummy  that I am, it just happened. Yea,  I got it changed.  

The storms of the day came into our state from the Texas Panhandle and worked across into Kansas.  I have heard it said that there were over 100 tornado's that day in Oklahoma and Kansas.   There were 6 lives lost and many injuries that are critical.  Our hearts and prayers go out to the families who have experienced this tragedy. May God give them comfort and healing.  

Fred and Cecil

Do you ever read or do something that triggers a memory?  Well, I had that experience while listening to a conversation concerning ladders.  Remember, I came from a tiny village where everyone knew everyone else's business.  I am sure that it wasn't always appreciated, but being the nosy caring people that we were, it just happened that way.  Some of our information came from the postmistress who saw everyone in town at least once a day and some of it came from the family who operated the central phone office.  Yes, we still had a switch board phone system in the town where I grew up and everyone had a phone with a crank on it to ring the operator.  

You could always call the phone office if you wanted to know the correct time, where the fire was or what was happening at the school.  I really don't know how they knew the correct time as that was the days before cell phones or computers and that is how I find out the correct time today.  I guess they just looked at their clock which was probably fairly accurate and gave that as the correct time.  As for the other things that went on, I am guessing that they just learned a lot with their job.  You know how Sarah was on the Andy Griffith Show, well I imagine most phone operators who lived in small towns were pretty much  the same.  

I have gotten off the subject a little bit haven't I?  Oh well, you needed to know all of this too, I am sure. I will tell you about Fred and Cecil.  Fred was a carpenter in the community.  I am not sure if he was a full timer or just knew more than the other guys, who were mostly farmers or worked at the institution in the neighboring town.  (The institution was for mental patients, and that is another story)  Anyhow, Cecil and his wife decided to build a new house in town.  Their larger two story farm house was all the way out in the country, across the highway. ( I never did know why they wanted a different house, unless it was to downsize.) 

Cecil, couldn't build this house alone as he was also a busy farmer and besides, he just needed help.  Cecil hired Fred to help him.  They were progressing quite well on the house when they got into an argument.  They were putting on the roof and Fred wasn't doing things the way Cecil thought things should be done.  

Fred says, "Cecil, this has to be done this way to give things better support." To this Cecil replied, "This is my house, and I am paying you to do things the way I want them done."  This discussion went on for sometime and could be heard around the neighborhood.    After a time, Cecil told Fred to just take his tools and go home.  Fred obliged and left.  

Later in the day, people noticed that Cecil was still up on the roof, and all alone.  It seems that when Fred left, he also took HIS ladder.  Cecil was too embarrassed to ask for help.  I guess he got some things done and I am sure when he didn't come home, his wife would have went looking for him.  

Fred did go back and help Cecil finish building his new home and I am sure that Cecil even listened to him for advise.