Thanksgiving

OK I know I always say this but thanksgiving is without a doubt my favorite holiday.
This past Thanksgiving lived up to all the expectations I had of it, it was fantastic. Thanksgiving just has a more relaxed feel to it, not so commercialized as Christmas has become. I believe this quote pretty much sums it up.
 "Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year - and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God". ~Ray Stannard Baker
The thanksgivings of my youth were always spent with a huge family celebration. Many on the farm in western Kansas with my Moms family, her sisters and brothers and all their kids. Probably about 30 people or more, I really don't know how we all fit into that small farmhouse but we always made it work.
B.R. was always the hunter, he LOVED to hunt, and Kansas was prime pheasant hunting area, so I guess as my mom wanted to see her family he would use it as an excuse to go hunting. All the children and men would go pheasant hunting. We would walk miles through the fields while the women would fix Thanksgiving dinner. I don't remember a big amount of pheasants shot, but I guess it was enough to keep B.R.'s attention so we continued going out there for quite a few Thanksgivings. Before we ate dinner we always had Prayer and a round of thankful thoughts. We always had a good time out there.

When we stayed home for Thanksgiving day B.R. and I would also hunt , Pheasant or duck. It was a smaller celebration, but some of his family would find their way to our house, usally one of his wayward brothers. I don't ever remember having a football game on or anything like that, it was a family day.
After I married my lovely wife we wanted our own traditions so we had our Thanksgiving at our house,many times I would have to work. I woud take my young son with me as I checked my wells, we would pheasant hunt a little bit too. My wife (Sherri) would be home fixing dinner so we would get home as soon as we could to spend the day all together. She would make a wonderful meal every time!
I miss the days where it was a true holiday, stores were closed because people valued their employees back then. I hate that stores are open now, have we really become so greedy that we can not honor a family holiday anymore? Do we as a society think that we need stuff so bad that we don't value family time?
This past Thanksgiving was just awesome. My son and his family were here to celebrate with us. My daughter and I did most of the cooking, just because we like to so much. We all spent the day together, had the parade on t.v. - no football. We had Sherri's family over, we spent the day all together and I believe had a wonderful time. That is what Thanksgiving should be about, being thankful for your blessings and the people in your life that are a true blessing. I couldn't ask for a better day!

Beautiful Day!

I have got to say that fall in the Midwest has got to be the most pleasant weather of the year. You have cool nights and gorgeous days with warm sunshine. Yesterday was one of those days. My wife, daughter and Mother-in-law were planning a shopping trip in a small town north of where we live. So I went along , well far enough to get dropped off on a bike trail. After they got rid of me they proceeded on to their day of shopping, and I got started on my days ride. I would meet them later for lunch. Riding my bicycle is a wonderful way to unwind for me, I spend my days bouncing around the countryside in my "chariot of solitude" so I love to get out and ride.


My ride up the river trail was pretty much uneventful. Met quite a few others doing the same thing as I was. Came across a couple of guys kayaking up the river, another quality endeavor for such a beautiful fall day.

I continued north and arrived in a town that suffers from regulation overkill, imagine a bike trail where you are supposed to walk your bike on, or a riverfront recreation area where you cannot fish or picnic. I got away from there ASAP. I got a flat tire and walked my bike a couple of miles to a local bike shop and got it fixed. Rode back south finished my ride at Caribou Coffee shop, then lunch with my family.
You couldn't ask for a better day!

Ramblin Man

That Allman Brothers ( I heard as I was driving) song always brings back memories of a summer I spent "ramblin" around with an original ramblin man. My father ( B.R.) came from a large family, he had several older brothers & sisters. I met most of them, a couple died before I was born. Mostly they were all responsible family oriented people, but he had a couple brothers that were true "free spirits", sometimes they would show up being the truck drivers they were, or sometimes they were in between jobs when they would stop by. When they were without a job B.R. would put them to work for while, until they decided they had enough ( money or work), then they  would be gone. Some times it would be for months, sometimes years.

One summer morning of my youth, the telephone rang very early, before the sun was up. B.R. got up answered the phone, told my mom to fix breakfast, he would be right back. I guess the call was from my uncle, as B.R. returned home he had his brother with him. My uncle Troy, as they were finishing breakfast Troy asked if I wanted to go along with him. B.R. said I could, so I packed my duffel bag and we were gone.

Troy was hauling frozen chickens for Tysons, from Arkansas to N.Y.  We made deliveries to Newark, N.J., Brooklyn, The Bronx, made it up and down the east coast for various other loads before heading back to Springdale, Ark. I got to see allot of the east coast, and places in between. Back in Springdale we got to tour the slaughter house and packaging plant as they were loading the truck. Another load going to N.Y. needs to be there asap.

As we were leaving  Springdale we crossed a bridge over the White River, " By God will you look at that" Troy says. By time I respond to his comment he has the truck pulled to the side of the road, has the truck in reverse and is backing his 53' trailer down an access road next to the bridge we just crossed. As the truck comes to a stop Troy says " we are going fishing". We walked a mile to a bait /grocery store, got hot dogs, ice soda and bait. Once back to the truck Troy digs out a cooler, fishing poles, tackle box, and lawn chairs. He must have had everything he owned stashed away in that cab over Freightliner. We built a bonfire and spent the weekend fishing, "guess N.Y. will just have to wait for their chickens".

Choices

In what seems like a lifetime ago when I was a younger man making a living as a roughneck. I remember a very cold night in northwest Kansas, I worked mourning tour ( 11 p.m. -7 a.m.) as I recall the wind chill was about -25 below zero. We were drilling around 3000 feet deep and needed to change the drill bit, aka bit trip, the driller pulled the bit about 2 feet off bottom and began to circulate the hole clean.  Driller says " OK boys we have an hour before the trip starts" meaning prepare as you will, eat lunch, catch a few minutes of sleep, bundle up because we all knew that we would be out in the cold until the relief crew showed up @ 7 a.m., if they show up. Sometimes the relief crew failed to show up and you are stuck for the next shift. As we are getting ready to trip the pipe one of the floor hands, J.D. was what he was called, older gentleman, lost his job as a salesman, and working on a rig til something better came along. J. D. went to his locker, we thought he was getting his carhartts on but instead he starts changing clothes. We all had lockers in our "dog house"to keep our clothes and work clothes in. Driller says "J.D. what are you doing?", J.D. " well I forgot my hard hat and need to get it before we trip this pipe" and gets his clean clothes on. He also proceeds to put his "greasers" ( oilfield work clothes) in his hull sack--( hull  sack- when mixing drilling mud cotton seed hulls are mixed into the mud to help cake the walls of the hole, roughnecks would take the sack a gunny sack and carry their clothes in them). J.D. has all his things together, pauses at the doghouse door, looks at the Driller and answers the question" Oklahoma City" , opens the door and is gone. So that left 3 men to do a 4 man job, we got the pipe tripped OK , I got the most of the extra work. I had to work both sides of the floor. I learned allot that night, I learned how to "throw a chain" ( spinning chain to screw the pipe together), when you are overwhelmed by something just take it a little at a time, in my imagination the work was going to be tougher than it really was. Sometimes when we stress over things our mind makes us think it is worse than it really is. Learned a bit about choices also, when we make a choice it affects everyone involved. I realize in our present society most people have "inverted" eyes, they consider only themselves and no body elsebut the choices they make affect more than only thierselves. A chioce can be a difficult thing to make but usally the hardest decision is the correct one.---"It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are."
— Roy Disney

Bicycle

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. ~Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green
After just getting back from a short ride I begin to wonder "why do I like to ride so much",I believe there are many reasons. First of all I love hard work,I know I'm a sick man, but I do like to work hard. On my bike I can work as hard or as little as I want. Before I drove a "Pizza Wagon" for a living I worked as a carpenter, before that a roughneck, both very physically demanding jobs.
 Secondly I think I really enjoy the freedom I get on my bike, kinda like the "cowboy" part of me. I could never afford a horse so the bicycle is the next best thing, and I don't have to feed it or clean up after it. I can ride any trail  or street I want, and it is a fantastic way to enjoy the outdoors. I don't always want to "fire up" the pick up truck to go to town, so I ride there, to run my errands.

All in all I just enjoy my bicycle, the exercise, the freedom, the convenience, as the quote above says, it is pure in heart.

Be a Barnabas

In  the Bible, in Acts chapter 4 there is made mention of a man who is such an upbeat happy guy ( at least in my small imagination this how I picture him.)  that the Apostles called him Barnabas, (Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), I dwell on this often. I mean wouldn't it be cool to be known as an Encourager, instead of always being discouraging, short, grouchy, or what ever. A lot of times I find myself being less than encouraging and I think to myself "I need to do better", from now on I am going to try harder to "be a Barnabas", I want to be an encouragement to others. Just a thought for the day, and a goal for living life more enjoyable.

Directions

As I make my daily deliveries in my "Chariot of Solitude" I was going to a place I had never been before. Not a problem I thought since I have an internal GPS in my brain. Well  as I approach this town I think surely there will be signs directing the road to the town I am looking for--Wrong.So after a couple attempts to find my way, my internal GPS seemed to be failing me at this time, I ask for directions. The man I asked was very helpful, although since I had never been to this town I had no idea where "Brants Bait Shop" used to be, this seemed to frustrate him a little. After about 15 minutes of instruction he finally got me a landmark I could see to make the correct turn, "all the junk" on the corner, take that road. I did and finally arrived at my destination. The "junk" ( pictured above) all metal art decor for the yard. Amazing the things you come across off the beaten path.

Just Starting

Since I always have thoughts I would like to share, or maybe just things I want to vent about I thought I would try this. I don't know where this will go, or what subjects we will visit. But as I sit here on this cool August afternoon I realize I should be outside instead of in front of my computer. So this is just a start more to follow later...