Just stories ?

[Boaz]

I'd like to tell a few stories . Our life is a story . Seems to me most don't put into prospective what has lead us to where they are now usually . We look back and well heck ...it's just what was . People and events in our life shaped us and made us who we are ? Our faith/belief was part of that transformation regardless if it came early or later ...makes no difference , the change occurred .

There is a plan and purpose to your life . Our Lord guides if we allow . Our freewill can be a blessing or and failing . Not theological just common sense . If we allow him to guide us and try we will succeed . But what of Satan ? All I can say is beware of Satan , he coupled with our base nature will feed the lake of fire .

I grew up in town but dad's people all had farms . I chopped melons , cut broom corn , pulled bolls , worked stock , plowed , hauled hay , planted gardens . Well heck just anything you did to survive in the country . But enough said .

Growing up in Texas I wanted to be a cowboy as a child . When I was 15 I heard tell a rancher over in Archer county needed a hand . Asked dad and he said call the man . I talked to the rancher on the phone and he told me how to get to the ranch . I had a 180 Suzuki cycle dad cosigned a note on with the threat of death if I missed a payment .

I was suppose to meet up with him on Saturday at the place . I asked dad what I ought to do and say . He said keep your mouth shut and your ears open .

[rancher1913]

Keep going

[Pine Baron]

So far , so good.

[Thundarstick]

I'm all ears!

[Boaz]

Picture of my Granma , dad's mother . Her name was Mary Capitola Jones . As a child she went with her family by wagon to Fort Laramie Wyoming . Her father and brother buffalo hunted and sold meat to the army there .
They moved to South Texas and she married my dad's father .
In the late 1890's they moved to Indian territory . She followed by herself in a wagon . Gave birth to her first child in a dry camp alone on the way .
She helped build a dugout where my dad was born in 1901 .
She was a devout Pentecostal . I have her last bible , she wrote more in it than Paul did .
This is how I remember her and it's the only picture of her I have . It is her and my cousin Marcy (little girl with pigtails) listening to the radio by an open window .



She lived to be 94 years old , she bore 11 children , lived in a hard time , suffered the great depression and lived through 2 world wars .
When she was dying all us kids were taken into her room and told to tell her goodbye . I couldn't talk , I was 6 yers old and overcome with sadness that granma was dying .
Just a memory .

[Boaz]

I believe I have made a breakthrough in trying to figure out why I wanted to be a cowboy ! Yep ! It's me !



Picture of my grampa and uncle Pat on horseback (lol , behind the cow ) at the home place probably in the mid 1920's .



And it just got worse .

[Blackwater]

Gee, Charlie, you usta' be cute as a kid! What happened to ya'????

[Boaz]

LOL , just got older and uglier Dennis ! Everyone in Texas from that time has .......Pony pictures .

[Boaz]

I drove out to the ranch to talk to the rancher about the job . I was scared I wouldn't get hired , wanted it pretty bad .

I got there and a hand said he was down to the horse lot , pointed me in that direction . Met up with him as he was latching the gate to do whatever he was going to do next . I introduced myself and we shook hands . His name was Howard Lyles , the ranch was the slash L ranch . This man was about to influence my life and I had no idea of it .

Back then things were different , there weren't no minimum wage or mandatory whatever . You dickered to make a deal . We talked a few min , he told me it was 6 days a week and said we work till the works done . He asked me how much I wanted . I didn't know what to say so I asked what he would give .
He said quick ...$30.00 a week ! I stood there a second and just said ..ok . He looked at me , looked at the ground a bit and said . Son that was just an offer , we are spose to haggle . $30.00 is too little for what I'm gonna expect you to do . Lets start again .

He said boldly I"LL GIVE YA $30.00 A WEEK ! I hesitatingly after a min said I want $50.00 ! He smiled and said I'll give ya $45.00 . And I said ...I'll take it ! He said ...you done well and smiled . We shook hands .I didn't know it but GOD had just put this man in my life . Right now I got tears running out of my eyes .

[Boaz]

This is my dad in the 1930's . He taught me more than I can tell here . He was 51 years old when I was born , he was 79 years old when I graduated high school . Yea not the norm but is what was . I wouldn't be me without him . LOL , all my childhood people asked me ...your papa takin care of you today when we were out ! I got so tired of telling people ...no he's my dad . Couldn't understand why they couldn't 'see' he was my dad .

Stop and think about someone born in 1901 , born in a dugout raising you . lol I'm so proud of him . He taught me to hunt and trap . He taught me to rely on myself . He taught me to ride a horse , to work . To love family , to have honor , to do want I said I would do .

He believed in his GOD , he was a Mason .He sat and taught me to read the King James Bible . He preached hard work . He encourage me to do the best I could . I started off good in life because he loved me . And he let me fail but he always loved me .

He took me and we roamed the Red River bottom for 3-4 days at a time . Drank out of the seeps in the bluffs , fished and hunted . LOL , he showed me how to smoke grapevine and pampus grass , swing on grape vines . Set trotlines , filet a fish , .......
And when I did wrong he tore my butt plumb up !! I grew up knowing my dad loved me .

He came up with Alzheimer's in my junior year of high school . He was still functioning but his memory started to go . Dad and mom were on social security and money was tight . Mom was staying 15 miles north with my older sister to help with her kids so she could work . Dad and me were to ourself at the house . Lived cheap , lol ate a lot of beans and gravy sandwiches . I wouldn't take for that 2 years me and dad done for ourself . We talked a lot and drank a lot of coffee .
Dad got progressively worse , mom moved back . He had to wear diapers , he couldn't bath or take care of himself . Mom dang near killed herself taking good care of him .
She called me one day and asked if I could help her get him up . He had fallen in the living room . I went straight there and got him up . He had peed on himself so help mom get him in the tub . Stayed and got him out .
Told mom I'd dress him but she said ..NO ! She got him dressed and was trying to put his shoes on . He was sitting on the bed and she was on her knees trying to get him to raise a foot but he couldn't figure out what she wanted . He wanted to help her , she was wore out holding a shoe in her hands on her knees crying in despair . I saw my parents slipping away .
Dads on the left .

[Boaz]

My dad died in 1984 and I praise my Lord for talking him home .

[codgerville@zianet.com]

Boaz, I would like to thank you for posting these stories, as it reminds me of my Dad. He was born in 1901 near where Wright City Oklahoma is before there was a Wright City. His Grandfather was a Methodist minister who moved from South Carolina to Indian Territory in 1840 or so to build Academies ( boarding schools ) for the Chickasaw kids. My Granddad died when my Dad was 4 years old, leaving the family to get by as best they could. My Dad and his younger brother started cutting logs when Dad was 10 years old. They lived in tents, really had to scrape to get by. I learned from my Dad to work hard, be thankful for what I have, and lend a helping hand to others. He passed on in 1985, and I still wish I could sit and talk to him. Thank you again.

[Murphy]

Boaz, I would like to thank you for posting these stories, as it reminds me of my Dad. He was born in 1901 near where Wright City Oklahoma is before there was a Wright City. His Grandfather was a Methodist minister who moved from South Carolina to Indian Territory in 1840 or so to build Academies ( boarding schools ) for the Chickasaw kids. My Granddad died when my Dad was 4 years old, leaving the family to get by as best they could. My Dad and his younger brother started cutting logs when Dad was 10 years old. They lived in tents, really had to scrape to get by. I learned from my Dad to work hard, be thankful for what I have, and lend a helping hand to others. He passed on in 1985, and I still wish I could sit and talk to him. Thank you again.

codgerville,

I happen to know a bit about Wright City, Oklahoma as I live 25 miles from there. And, I worked in a sawmill there for a year back in 1973. In 1901, the town now known as Wright City, was named Bismark. This was pre statehood for Oklahoma, we didn't become a state until 1907. Timber has always driven the economy in this far S.E. corner of Oklahoma. There was once a small company owned town on rails that the Dierks company owned. The workers were paid with company tokens. People paid for their housing, food, everything with those tokens. My father was born here in the same county as yours in the 1930's. Life was hard to say the least. In regards to the Academies, Google Wheelock Academy, Oklahoma to find out more in regards to one your Great Grandfather more than likely helped build. The oldest standing church in Oklahoma happens to be located at Wheelock. Wheelock is located just 2 miles outside of the small town of Millerton, Oklahoma where my father moved back to in 50 years ago this year. Millerton and Wright City are but a few miles apart.

I would almost be willing to bet at some point in time, I've met or known some of your relatives. Heck, the way this place is I wouldn't be surprised if we turned up being kinfolk!

Murphy

[Blackwater]

Chalie, these are the type stories that used to be told around campfires way back in the woods. It's how folks got to know each other, and appreciate them for who and what they actually were, and what they'd gone through and how they made it, rather than for what kind of possessions they had. Folks don't tell their stories any more, and we're very much the poorer for that little detail. It's almost as though nobody really WANTS to get to know their friends any more. Saw the old movie "Stand By Me" the other day, and it sure brought back memories from days gone by, and how we kids used to be, at least generally. And how self-reliant and daring we were. Yeah, we could be discipline problems in a way, and a very, very few DID take things too far, and wound up dead or maimed. But we were an adventurous lot, and it takes adventurous people to hold a good spot in this mean ol' world.

Keep it going. I love this stuff!

[codgerville@zianet.com]

codgerville,

I happen to know a bit about Wright City, Oklahoma as I live 25 miles from there. And, I worked in a sawmill there for a year back in 1973. In 1901, the town now known as Wright City, was named Bismark. This was pre statehood for Oklahoma, we didn't become a state until 1907. Timber has always driven the economy in this far S.E. corner of Oklahoma. There was once a small company owned town on rails that the Dierks company owned. The workers were paid with company tokens. People paid for their housing, food, everything with those tokens. My father was born here in the same county as yours in the 1930's. Life was hard to say the least. In regards to the Academies, Google Wheelock Academy, Oklahoma to find out more in regards to one your Great Grandfather more than likely helped build. The oldest standing church in Oklahoma happens to be located at Wheelock. Wheelock is located just 2 miles outside of the small town of Millerton, Oklahoma where my father moved back to in 50 years ago this year. Millerton and Wright City are but a few miles apart.

I would almost be willing to bet at some point in time, I've met or known some of your relatives. Heck, the way this place is I wouldn't be surprised if we turned up being kinfolk!

Murphy

That may well be true. I was born in a log house where Pine Creek lake is now.

[Boaz]

codger I thank you . It's amazing to look back and add up the whole from time to time . People that wake up every morning like a chicken and can't even remember yesterday . Kind of hard to learn from your experience or mistakes when you live like that . Seems these folks are doomed to live a life of repetitious screwing up , kind of an endless loop thing . lol , I mess up enough when I'm actually trying .

[Boaz]

.................................................. .The realization .

When I took the job I figured I was indeed a cowboy but soon I learned that a 15 year old with 'farm experience' didn't qualify as a cowboy . I was a gopher , a grunt , a fence mender , poop shoveling flat fixer cow feeding hay bale wrangler .

[Thundarstick]

Holy smoke Boaz, I was a cow boy and didn't even know it!

[dverna]

Chalie, these are the type stories that used to be told around campfires way back in the woods. It's how folks got to know each other, and appreciate them for who and what they actually were, and what they'd gone through and how they made it, rather than for what kind of possessions they had. Folks don't tell their stories any more, and we're very much the poorer for that little detail. It's almost as though nobody really WANTS to get to know their friends any more. Saw the old movie "Stand By Me" the other day, and it sure brought back memories from days gone by, and how we kids used to be, at least generally. And how self-reliant and daring we were. Yeah, we could be discipline problems in a way, and a very, very few DID take things too far, and wound up dead or maimed. But we were an adventurous lot, and it takes adventurous people to hold a good spot in this mean ol' world.

Keep it going. I love this stuff!

So true Dennis. You can tell a lot about a person by the stories they tell of their family and friends. Their real friends...Not the fair weather kind.

[Boaz]

We were takin some weaning calves off the mama cows one day to separate pasture . Had a really big barn with a drive through the length of it and lots on either end . Calves were separated , drove through the barn to the lot at the other end . My job was to be in the middle of the barn and keep the calves from getting back to mom .

It was a stupid simple job . Had a 4' hickory cutting stick to shoo em back with . They cut a calf into the alleyway , I stood back to let him pass to drive him to the other end . Then all heck exploded ! I heard the hands cutting calves screaming and a lot of activity from the 'cow' end of the barn . Then a scrawny insane looking cow busted into the alley making sounds I didn't even know a cow could make looking for that last calf . I stepped out in the alley and waved my cutting stick to turn her . She lowered her head and was bellowing and as I said making crazy noises , as she ran straight for me . And old scrawny Hereford , one crazy horn up and one down , She knocked me down like a ragdoll and got her head in my chest still 'screaming ' . It was like a cow from hell ! I had holt of her horns to keep her off best I could and she was wiping up the barn floor with me , pushing me around . Howard and several others tailed her and whupped on her but she never give up trying to kill me . Till her calf ran back up the alley and she quit me , got her calf and ran back to the 'cow' end .

I was laying there trying to get some sense back and Howard was saying ; GOOD LORD ! What's wrong with you boy !! That's the purple people eater ! You don't never mess with the purple people eater !! Needless to say I was a little 'confused' . I didn't know anything about ..purple people eaters . But my knowledge was growing . As I got up and collected he said ; I ought to got rid of that old cow long ago ...but she shore throws a good calf .

I went back to work wondering how many ..purple people eaters we had to work that day .