View Full Version : Just stories ?
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
08-02-2017, 09:58 PM
Keep going
Pine Baron
08-02-2017, 10:13 PM
So far , so good.
Thundarstick
08-02-2017, 10:19 PM
I'm all ears!
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 .
http://i.imgur.com/CjnaTep.jpg
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 .
I believe I have made a breakthrough in trying to figure out why I wanted to be a cowboy ! Yep ! It's me !
http://i.imgur.com/6JQtk35.jpg
Picture of my grampa and uncle Pat on horseback (lol , behind the cow ) at the home place probably in the mid 1920's .
http://i.imgur.com/MPwBqIN.jpg
And it just got worse .
http://i.imgur.com/T56yuu5.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0liyAjS.jpg
Blackwater
08-03-2017, 06:23 PM
Gee, Charlie, you usta' be cute as a kid! What happened to ya'???? :mrgreen:
LOL , just got older and uglier Dennis ! Everyone in Texas from that time has .......Pony pictures .
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 .
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 .
http://i.imgur.com/ZCUB9Sy.jpg
My dad died in 1984 and I praise my Lord for talking him home .
codgerville@zianet.com
08-03-2017, 10:23 PM
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
08-03-2017, 11:14 PM
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
08-03-2017, 11:19 PM
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
08-03-2017, 11:40 PM
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.
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 .
.................................................. .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
08-04-2017, 10:24 AM
Holy smoke Boaz, I was a cow boy and didn't even know it!
dverna
08-04-2017, 10:53 AM
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.
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 .
rancher1913
08-04-2017, 08:08 PM
BTDT :drinks:
To give credit where credit is due I have seen few men work as hard as Howard Lyles . He would send us back to the house and always stayed to finish the job . First thing that came up when you mentioned his name to anyone they would remark on how hard he worked . He had a working knowledge of anything you could bring up . He would take off with a horse and trailer and not be back till way after dark . He was generous , he was a good man and did what he said . He would help anyone , he was a Christian and attended church regular . He loved his family to a fault . I never saw anyone that didn't like or trust him . When he died the church was over filled , they came from far and wide to send him home . He was a good man .
Thundarstick
08-04-2017, 10:55 PM
Boy I could tell you some cow stories that would stand your hair on end, fortunately I was raised with cattle and know THE look when there eyes glaze over! Your story is stirring the memories for me!
Boy I could tell you some cow stories that would stand your hair on end, fortunately I was raised with cattle and know THE look when there eyes glaze over! Your story is stirring the memories for me!
I understand . In the end I rode rodeo , buck outs ,worked the yards and helped auction at the horse sales , started a riding stable , worked cattle at packing house.......... . At the Burkburnett TX horse sale they always played a Marty Robbins record on the loud speakers before the auction to entertain folks . I always liked this song ;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mrI2xtkEMA
..........................Memories just memories .
Hickok
08-05-2017, 08:01 AM
Charlie, I am thoroughly enjoying this. Please continue dear friend!
jmort
08-05-2017, 09:54 AM
I love reading these chapter posts
Thank you for sharing
castalott
08-05-2017, 11:56 AM
I love these stories!!!
Blackwater
08-05-2017, 03:33 PM
Whenever old friends gather for a drink or something to eat, or especially around a camp fire, it's stories of our past that we tell most often. Reminiscing is a VERY functional thing. Realizing how dumb we once were (and maybe still are?) helps keep us humble, and when humbled, we tend to err less, for we THINK more readily before we act when humbled. And it's surely functional to realize how blessed and lucky we've been in this life, too. There's nothing like someone else's life's story to make us so very thankful for our own! Keep 'em coming, Charlie! And whoever else wants their turn, too!
Whenever old friends gather for a drink or something to eat, or especially around a camp fire, it's stories of our past that we tell most often. Reminiscing is a VERY functional thing. Realizing how dumb we once were (and maybe still are?) helps keep us humble, and when humbled, we tend to err less, for we THINK more readily before we act when humbled. And it's surely functional to realize how blessed and lucky we've been in this life, too. There's nothing like someone else's life's story to make us so very thankful for our own! Keep 'em coming, Charlie! And whoever else wants their turn, too!
Dennis you dang near drove the nail with one blow in your comment .
Not many will actually be personal , give real information and certainly would not post their failings . I try to be real . I have failed many times . I post my failings here and own up to the simply fact ..I ain't too smart . I'm past putting on , past trying to make someone think I'm something I'm not . I have no hesitation posting my failings , I learned from them so maybe someone else can to . I'm past being prideful ...I'm nothing but a broken down old man . It's a relief to be rid of the compulsion to feed my ego . Being able to let go your failure is a blessing , a release . No longer bound to live a lie .
I'll try to explain something . I find it strange or odd that people don't seem to see whats happening around them . They seem unable to 'see' the storys unfolding constantly with others in their life . Most are concentrating on an immediate situation , goal or circumstance but don't 'see' the interlocking components of a bigger picture . They not understanding that all these interactions and situational circumstances are part of the whole they are involved or engaged in . Few of my storys include only me except my personal failings , I believe there is a correlation there that bears thinking about .
Howard Lyles drove a 3/4 ton truck like a race car ! He was always in a hurry ! He would start in up , grit his teeth , shove the floor shift , get holt of the wheel with a death grip , lean forward , and you better be leaned back in the seat or he would put you there when he let out the clutch . YES ! Howard was always in a hurry !
He took me to Falls County in southern Archer County to check some pens and make sure they were good to round up a lot of cows . Falls county is as rough a country with cliffs , draws , saddles , breaks , ect as I have ever seen . We got south of Lake Kickipoo in the middle of no where and come on a place of Johnson grass higher than the hood on the truck as far as you could see . He pushed the pedal to the floor to bust through the grass as he humped over the wheel !! Could see nothing ! Grass flying up over the windshield ! I got holt of the armrest , knew we were going to run off in a draw , hit the big rock/stump or something !
Howard glanced over at me and seen I was drawed up and said ; Dang ! Man might not know there is a road here ..huh ?
buckwheatpaul
08-05-2017, 10:14 PM
Charlie, great testimony and it makes me plum proud to call you a friend, brother! Paul
P.S. I had my purple people eater this last year....you know that story though!
Charlie, great testimony and it makes me plum proud to call you a friend, brother! Paul
P.S. I had my purple people eater this last year....you know that story though!
Yea Paul if you have been around cattle much your going to find a purple people eater sooner or later .
I was working on the kill floor for Ebner Brothers packing house in the early 70's . Got hired because I had experience working cows . Got some big brahma mix steers in , range stock ..wild . Went down in the pens (on foot) and was driving a big black brindled one in to the kill cell . Long narrow pipe fence alleyway . He turned on me , I threw down the hotshot and tried to climb the fence , no where to run . I just started up the fence and he hung a horn in my back trying to pull me off , I finally got over the fence . He could have ripped out a lung but I wasn't letting go that fence . Wasn't anyone around and if he got me on the ground they would have just found my mangled corpse . LOL , still got the scar to prove that one .
First gun I owned . Was an Iver Johnson Champion 410 shotgun . Belonged to my grampa , was his rabbit/squirrel getter . My dad gave it to me when I was 8 years old with instructions not to shoot myself because mom would kill him if I did . I remember thinkin I had the world by the tail when he gave it to me .
He helped me reblue and finish the stock when I was 10 or 11 years old . I carried this old shotgun thousands of miles walkin the creeks and pastures . I still have it .
http://i.imgur.com/03kRu5i.jpg
Goatwhiskers
08-06-2017, 09:35 AM
Yeah, I know whereof you speak when it comes to head huntin' cows and steers, tho I think you have a bit more experience than I do. Wanted to say you have started a train of thought this day about folks who have influenced my life and thinking in small and great ways, starting with Dad, a quiet man who served his time in the ATC (flew the Hump) and came home to raise a family, cows, and deliver the mail. I also think of old Sheriff Hamilton in Brazos County, who, my first day, told me "I have two rules in my department: Treat a man like a man, and if the sxxx starts, you win." Followed rule 1 to this day, never needed #2. There are many others, gonna spend some time remembering. GW
Thank you Goatwhiskers . I never intended this thread to be about me . My hope is that it could provide the encouragement or possibly be a catalyst for others to understand or start a journey of discovery of themselves . This is not a self glorification of myself . I only use my experience to provoke thought . To see and understand connections , interactions , to accept your past to increase your future . To understand that our GOD has always been with us even when we fail . Your failures could be the beginnings of your greatest accomplishments . We believe in a truly loving merciful GOD .
This was my mother . I'm sitting here trying to think . Where do you start trying to describe your mother ? The one who carried you , went through the pain of giving birth you and the one you depended on the most for your needs and love as a child .
My mom was born in San Angelo Texas in 1912 . Her family moved to Wichita Falls Texas shortly thereafter . Her father started a paint/wallpaper store and did well . He also contracted big commercial painting and paper jobs . During the Burkburnett oil boom in the late teens people were flooding into Wichita Falls by train to get to the boom 15 miles north . Train ended in Wichita Falls . They would walk or however to get to 'boom town' . Her mother started taking in boarders because there was no place for the travelers to stay . Mom said the family slept in the kitchen so they could rent sleeping space in the rest of the house . People even paid to sleep on the front porch . Her mother paid off their house in less than a year .
The depression hit later . Her father sold the store at a loss and bought 10 aches east of town . He built a small 3 room shotgun house and a mule . He started truck farming and did what contract jobs he could get . Mom and her mother mainly did the plowing , planting and picking . She said she remembered selling green beans for 10 cents a bushel . She raised chickens , sold eggs and put herself through beauty school so she could get a job making more money .
They were hard times . Her father got a big painting job when they built a huge elevator , manufacturing facility in town . People begged him for a job , mom said it broke his heart he couldn't help all these men trying to feed their families . He would park his 1928 Dodge Touring car down the road at a neighbors place and slip out of the house before sunrise and walk to the car . Point was to avoid the group of men that would gather on the road in front of their house wanting work . She said it hurt him that he couldn't help them all .
My mom married an oilfield toolpusher in 1932 . He moved to East Texas . He was always gone , working in the field . She had a baby , the baby was not healthy . The small town doctor didn't know what was wrong with him . It was cold weather , mom tried to feed him and kept him by the wood stove to keep him warm . She slept in a chair beside him , constantly checking him , trying to get him to nurse . He died , she was alone . She divorced the toolpusher . She said she couldn't bear it . She would never talk of it , it made her too sad . What little I have said here is a collection of 'mentions' over the years .
She married My sister's father in 1942 . He joined the navy and was killed in the war . She said he was a good man .
She married my father in 1949 , she was 40 when I was born .
Life ain't always easy .
As a child seems I took it on myself to torment my sister as much as I possibly could . I was so mean to her it's a wonder she still loves me , LOL . Mom was getting supper ready , had a chicken cut up and ready to fry and my sister was helping her (sister is 6 years older than me ) . I just walked up and hit her in the stomach . She immediately started beating me on the head , her being taller . I ducked my head and lit into her waiting for mom to tell us to stop it . Mom didn't say anything , she just stood there backed up against the counter with flour on her hands watching .
I stopped beating on her thinking something was wrong here , Mom just stood there and said ...HIT HER ! GO ON HIT HER...KILL HER !! Susan ! Beat his head in ...make him suffer ! I'm sick of the two of you !! If you hate each other ..KILL THE OTHER ! Do it ..go on do it ! I want you to get it out ! I have taught you to love one another but you don't . Just kill the other but be done with it .
Me and Susan never fought again but I did torment the livin snot out of her .
Mom died in 1992 . She told us she was ready to see her Lord . I praise him for taking her home .
http://i.imgur.com/Wp1VZtW.jpg
My brother in law was a good man . Closest thing to a brother I ever had I thank GOD for putting him in my life . He died about 8 years ago after a long fight to live . I could always depend on him .
He wasn't really an outdoor type but he hunted , fished , trotlines and such with me because he loved me .
I had some trotlines out at Lake Arrowhead and asked him if he wanted to go with me to check em ...He said SURE ! I had the boat hitched up so we took off . We were running the lines and ran out of shad for bait so motored out to deep water and was pitching a cast net to get some . I pitched it a few times and he said ; Hey ,, let me try that . I just said sure , sat down and told him what to do .
He made a few failed throws with me trying to instruct him . Brother in law had a pretty good gut on him , pretty good taper so ta speak . He reared back and pitched the net and I guess he sucked up some , his levi's fell down around his ankles , he tripped on em and pitched off the front of the boat . Hangin on by his knees in his fruit of the looms , all I could see was his butt and sure nuff never heard him cuss like what he was , I'd call it a steady stream of profanity . I knew he couldn't swim worth a dang so jumped up and straddled him trying to get a holt of his shoulders to drag him back in ( I hope your getting a visual out of that) . I'm pretty sure everyone on the lake heard him . I finally got him back in the boat and collapsed in a seat laughing , couldn't even talk...he's still trying to get his pants up cussin incohently .
He is sorely missed but he is home and no longer suffering . I thank my Lord for bringing him home .
Clean your inbox Charlie lol
Dang wish I was smarter an less feeble minded ! ....Done .
Back at the ranch .
Howard told me to ride a horse down to the Brown field and start running a one way disc to terrace some low spots and then try on the tandem disc and start discing the wheat stubble . It was about a 90 acre field . It was alongside the Little Wichita River kind of down in the bottom . Reason it was called the Brown field was that a family names Brown had lived there back in the 1800's . The old stone foundation of the house was still there and 3 weathered sandstone headstones out behind it . The chiseled names long gone eroded by time . I often wondered who they were and why they had come to live and die there .
The field was about 4 miles through pasture , there was an old trace going there but it was good enough to get a pickup through . You might think it was cool to get to ride horseback down there but the truth was I was just a grunt and not given a truck . I went to the horse lot and saddled one of the better working horses . Was about to leave and Howard drove up got out of his truck and told me to get one of the sorry back up horses , no need to take a good horse , they might need him . Then he left .
I was mad , couldn't get a truck to drive and now told to pick a sorry horse instead of a better one . Dang ! I wasn't getting cut any slack at all in my adolescent way of thinking . I picked up my water jug and just started walkin to the field ...MAD ! Real MAD !
To be continued.....
Finally got to the field . I had driven the 930 Case Western Special (nicest tractor I had used up till then) down there a few days before and a hand pulled the diesel tank trailer. We got it all set up , all I had to do was plow . Busted the Case off and didn't get off all day but 3 or 4 times to get a drink out of my jug in the shade , didn't take a lunch .
Plowed till near dark ..I was still mad ..thinkin about quittin . But then they might think I couldn't handle the work . Pride !! Didn't know what to do . It was gonna be way dark time I walked to the house , was boarding with some folks down from the ranch . Long walk in the dark .
Hadn't got but about a mile down the trace , sun going down and saw Howard's grey Ford truck commin up the trace towards me . He passed me and turned around , pulled up beside me walkin and said ; Get in I'll take you home . I just kept walking and said ; I'll walk . I wouldn't look at him. He drove long side me a min and said ; I think your right....it's a nice evening for a walk .
He pushed the pedal and left me with a long walk I asked for . I got to the house late , they had already ate , went to bed thinkin and hungry .Got up early , walked to the ranch . Didn't know if I still had a job , I was ashamed of acting like a child . Started haying and feeding before anyone showed up . Howard showed up and I figured he would pay me off . Wasn't looking forward to getting let go .
He pulled up and asked out the side window ; How much you like discin ? I said maybe 4 hours . He said ; Saddle a horse and go on and finish .
Howard was a better man than me .
Last Saturday an old friend came in the shop . His name Is Jonny , I have known him for bout 42 years . We rough necked together in the 70's . We talked for about an hour an a half , telling old stories and talking of all the crazy people we worked with . We both knew a hand named Harold Dean . Harold wasn't plumb right .
Harold was out of work so he gathered up all the old lumber and plywood he could find and built a giant ramp over his dad's house just out of town . It was bout 30 feet high at the end . This thing was wobbling around in a light breeze . He put out the word he was going to jump his 250 Bull Taco motorcycle off it and give a time . I heard about it but was working .
He did indeed do as he said at the appointed time . Got a good run at it hard as he could go and jumped it over the house ........into thin air .
Harold was in the hospital bout 3 months but he had his dad spread the word when he got out he was going to jump his horse off the ramp . A light wind blew the ramp down before he got it done .
LOL , we worked with quite a few folks like Harold back then .
I all fairness to these folks Jonny did bring up the tendency I had to catch and torment folks with rattlesnakes . Like the time we were working for Petoskey Drilling and I threw a 6 foot coon tail rattler in the dog house while everyone was drinking coffee . Just good clean fun !
Broke coon hunting mules for several coon hunters in my senior high school year . They were the going thing back then . Mules can go where a horse can't . Had to teach em to jump barbed wire fences to follow the dogs . You carried a towel with you , lay it over the top wire and tell em ...UP ! UP! and they jumped . You have to start em out with a blinder bridle like this one has on . I'm on him bareback , just started breaking him . Hunters paid about $150.00 to get one broke back then...big bucks .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7DYsjW1OXQ
http://i.imgur.com/1IHkrao.jpg
My dad and all his brothers and sisters . All gone home . I was at every funeral .
Dad
Uncle Howard
Uncle Bentley
Uncle Carl
Uncle Elmer
Uncle Lem
Uncle Till
Aunt Pet
Aunt Willie
Aunt Babe
Aunt Beulah
http://i.imgur.com/QrckArB.jpg
All gone now but I still have all the good memories of them no one can take away . GOD is merciful . I do miss them but will see them again . ( LOL , I don't think they knew my name , I was just Claud's boy)
.................................................. .................Just memories .
rancher1913
08-08-2017, 10:18 PM
Was that you in the video
No that's not me Rancher ! I just put it up to show someone teaching a mule to jump . Picture was me .
.................................................. ......................Bud .
Howard had done the rodeo circuit long before he got a family and stopped rodeoing . He was a roper . Still had his old roping horse..Bud . Bud was retired and stayed in the lot we kept cattle in to start feeding them to go to a feed lot . Bud was old and cantankerous , Howard warned me to wrap a haywire around the gate to the feedlot after I got done feeding the cattle there . He said Bud could open any gate .
I hayed and grained the ones in the lot (Bud always stood a ways off and watched me with his ears back) , I was in a hurry . We all went to work some cows and got back in the afternoon . I was riding in the truck with Howard and when we got the the place there was cows and horses all over the place , just runnin loose . Howard had a fit , we unloaded the horses out of our trailers (already saddled) and started gathering up the stock .
I forgot to try the gate with haywire , Bud got out , opened every gate on the place , turned all the water hydrants on and created a mess . They all knew it was bud because he had done it before . He was standing in the shade in the shop , had backed up and took a big dump on the welding machine looking happy .
Thundarstick
08-09-2017, 03:30 PM
I can sure relate to most of the things your telling, till it comes to the equine. My Grandpa HATED horses and mules and wouldn't allow one on the farm. He said all they where good for was to kick you in head or bite a chunk of of your back. He did say they made good dog food as well! Any thing I learned of horses, I learned after leaving home, and must say I'm on Grandpas side! We had a fella North of town that raised horses for years, one evening he didn't come in for super and his wife found him in the barn with half his brains kicked out!
Tundarstick your Grandpa was pretty spot on , if you are working with horses you going to get kicked , bit and stepped on sooner or later . I got all three many times . It's just part of it . You have to watch what your doing all the time . Big livestock can do some real damage . Seen some people get hurt real bad .
Were working some pairs in a pen in Southern Archer County in the middle of no where . A dang good hand was cutting calves and his horse slipped . The hand tried to kick out and bail off on the way down but didn't make it . Horse fell on him and rolled over him kicking . When the horse rolled the saddle horn crushed his face in plus he had multiple broken bones . We loaded and took him to Archer City bout 10 miles . Ambulance had to come 30 miles from Wichita Falls . We were all scared to death he was going to die .
He lived but was crippled the rest of his life . It was a dang shame , experience hand ...couldn't find better . A good man , a lay preacher , good family . Yea although it was an accident but it happened .
I'm bout through ...bear with me .
MT Gianni
08-10-2017, 06:40 PM
I can sure relate to most of the things your telling, till it comes to the equine. My Grandpa HATED horses and mules and wouldn't allow one on the farm. He said all they where good for was to kick you in head or bite a chunk of of your back. He did say they made good dog food as well! Any thing I learned of horses, I learned after leaving home, and must say I'm on Grandpas side! We had a fella North of town that raised horses for years, one evening he didn't come in for super and his wife found him in the barn with half his brains kicked out!
My uncles were of the same opinion on horses, "They got there head down all the time" [ always feeding]. My Grandfather died when I was 5. He was born in 1866 and never drove a car. He farmed and worked horses all his life, ran kids to school on a sled in the winter with blankets and warm bricks and a wagon in the fall and spring.
He had a dent in his forehead from being kicked by a horse when he was 14. He asked the Doc why the hadn't put a plate in it and was told "kid we didn't expect you to live through the night". He had a daughter that drove him later in life but she bought a car in 1925 and he always thought he was too old to learn.
When I married my wife was curious as to why my family did things so odd to what hers did. I pointed out that my parents were within 3 years of the age of her grandparents, but it took her a bit to catch on to what that really meant.
Bout Eight of us had been working , gathering , splitting , dehorning and loading ones to give 'medical' treatment at the place . Lot of squeeze chute stuff . Drove to Archer City (Little town , remember ..The last picture show ? Larry Mc Muretry ?) We went in the Wildcatter Café , Howard was buying lunch and was to meet with two other ranchers . They were going to figure a plan to put some cows on wheat pasture in the near future .
We unloaded the saddled horses and watered em behind the café and put em back in the trailer , loosening their girts . Loaded em back up and went in to eat . Most ordered a hamburger and fries , you didn't take advantage of someone buying you a meal back then . You appreciated it . Plus the Wildcatter made a dang good big burger .
I was sittin at the table , the three ranchers met , they did a lot of talkin . One was Howard , one was Pete Parish ( I hunted lots of quail and dove on Pete's place ) and one I will not name . They were all old friends , they trusted one another ...this was a handshake deal .
Howard and Pete were figuring calves , weight , pasture , times , prices ...... The old rancher unnamed was known to be illiterate and could not read or write . Howard and Pete were scribbling figures on paper napkins with a pencil and pushing them over to the old rancher , trying to explain and be honest and open . The old rancher would stare at the napkins and slowly push em back . He never said a word , just listening .
Howard and Pete kept this up a good while , not knowing how much he understood , trying to be up front and honest . Wanting no problems if it didn't come up to their expectations in the end . The old man just kept pushing those napkins back saying nothing . Being of short temper he looked more mad all this time
Finally he said as he pushed a napkin back ....I GOT THE MONEY ...YOU FIGURE THE DEAL ! And they did .
..........................................Differen t times , different kind of folks .
.................................................. ............Just memories .
I was blessed Boat Brooks knowing so many old hands . Howard , Dick Brumly , Joe Bachman , Jeff Mc Murtey , Pete Parish . Floyd Rucker , Freckles Brown , Jim Huston , Jim shoulders ............The list goes on . I was a nobody but they left a mark on me .
Freckes , great guy , helped young guys . Near 50 years old made history back then riding the best bull there was .Good enough to have a song made to order for him , at 46 years old he rode the meanest bull of his time . Great guy ! He pulled my rope several times .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBtxc_aPzaQ
Der Gebirgsjager
08-10-2017, 07:30 PM
I wonder if you'll believe his tale. It is true, about a horse I had when I was a kid, and his name was Charlie. He was 21 years old, blind in his left eye, and as ornery as they come. His favorite trick, and he was very good at it, was to let you get him all saddled up and then, when you had your left foot in the stirrup the very instant that your right foot cleared the ground by about 6 inches he'd take off like a shot and leave you sitting in the dirt. Then, on foot, it would take several hours to catch him. He'd wait until you were maybe 3 ft. away from grabbing his reigns and off he'd go again. It was a game with him, but there was something basically evil about that horse.
LOL ! Yea ...I was a RCA cowboy (Rodeo Cowboy Association) . I lied about my age , all you had to do was send your app and $25.00 to the RCA to be accepted . But it was a heck of a lot of fun though I didn't amount to squat to riding bare backs and bulls , never had a chance but it was a heck of a lot of fun.
.................................................. .Memories just memories .
This thread draws to a close . I have too many memories to post as all do if they recollect . My GOD has been merciful to me , I ought be dead by common sense reasoning . I'll not bore you much longer .
rancher1913
08-10-2017, 09:30 PM
no bore too it. would love to her some more oil patch stories.
I wonder if you'll believe his tale. It is true, about a horse I had when I was a kid, and his name was Charlie. He was 21 years old, blind in his left eye, and as ornery as they come. His favorite trick, and he was very good at it, was to let you get him all saddled up and then, when you had your left foot in the stirrup the very instant that your right foot cleared the ground by about 6 inches he'd take off like a shot and leave you sitting in the dirt. Then, on foot, it would take several hours to catch him. He'd wait until you were maybe 3 ft. away from grabbing his reigns and off he'd go again. It was a game with him, but there was something basically evil about that horse.
Horses are perceptible , they repeat what works . I believe .
Blackwater
08-11-2017, 02:50 PM
Der G, horses are like people, and I've known people who were like that. Just wanted to be the center of attention, always. Leave off his feed a day, and he'd prolly learn, though. Training horses is a very complex and often subtle thing. And it's the same with people, too. Most folks expect to just tell their kids what to do, and that's the end of it. But kids watch parents closely, and almost always do what they see their parents doing, rather than what they're told to do. And they come to EXPECT things to always work the same way, all the time. Change your response, and deal with things differently, and they don't know what to do, and often, will go with whatever their inner natural and innate instincts tell them to do. The soft hand can often "cure" some behaviors that a heavier hand would NEVER cure! FWIW????
Der Gebirgsjager
08-11-2017, 03:32 PM
Yes, horses are peculiar animals. Handsome, useful, but can be very pig headed. In this horse's case it didn't strike me until years later that maybe he was named "Charlie" for a reason. Charlie horse. A real pain. My dad served in the Field Artillery when the guns were still pulled by horses, and learned the "old army's" method of horsemanship including "monkey drills". He advised me to pull the horses head toward the left while mounting, far enough around so that he could see me with his left eye. But he might have forgotten that he was blind in that eye. Anyway, pulling his head toward me got him going around in a counter-clockwise circle. I had the left foot in the stirrup on this attempt, and had to rapidly hop on the right foot following him around, but finally got mounted. Thereafter I got the idea to do it kind of rodeo style. I'd get him into a stall in the barn, climb on from the side railings, and then pull the latch open with an attached rope. I did get some good rides out of him that way. He tried to buck me off a couple of times, but my dad had taught me enough about riding that I was able to stay on this 21 year old nag. I'm glad I didn't know him when he was younger.....!
So which horse did you take the next day?
I saddled a 3 year old sorrel that was broke but needed riding , worked out fine . He got an 8 mile easy workout and stayed tied while I finished . I expected to have some trouble with him but didn't push and he did good . Watered him at the river and made it back . Learning experience for both of us . He made a good working horse in a couple of years .
Bought a black gelding , probably 10 years old at the sale barn . was branded (ranch horse) , figured he might make a decent riding horse for someone . I was doing a little horse trading then . He was pretty under fed and kind of sorry looking , he had high withers that were scarred up like most high withered using horses .
Fed him sweet feed and oats and had all the Johnson grass hay he wanted . In 2 months he was a different horse , I kept him ..best using horse I ever owned . He could get plumb out from under you cutting cattle . Always had to use an extra blanket because of those high withers .
Yes, horses are peculiar animals. Handsome, useful, but can be very pig headed. In this horse's case it didn't strike me until years later that maybe he was named "Charlie" for a reason. Charlie horse. A real pain. My dad served in the Field Artillery when the guns were still pulled by horses, and learned the "old army's" method of horsemanship including "monkey drills". He advised me to pull the horses head toward the left while mounting, far enough around so that he could see me with his left eye. But he might have forgotten that he was blind in that eye. Anyway, pulling his head toward me got him going around in a counter-clockwise circle. I had the left foot in the stirrup on this attempt, and had to rapidly hop on the right foot following him around, but finally got mounted. Thereafter I got the idea to do it kind of rodeo style. I'd get him into a stall in the barn, climb on from the side railings, and then pull the latch open with an attached rope. I did get some good rides out of him that way. He tried to buck me off a couple of times, but my dad had taught me enough about riding that I was able to stay on this 21 year old nag. I'm glad I didn't know him when he was younger.....!
I'm glad for you ! They can teach you quite a bit even if they are ornery .
Prettiest horse I ever owned I bought off Howard . Registered Appaloosa , gelding about 4 years old , perfect confirmation , beautiful horse bout 17 hands . He was a perfect strawberry roan , always had a weakness for roans and paints . Only problem was he was crazy , tried to make a rope horse out of him but failed . Wouldn't stay in a pasture , would jump a fence in a heartbeat . Spent a lot of time just trying to find him many times . He would just go haywire for no reason when you rode him , he unloaded me several times .I sold him and even made a little ...perfect roan but nuts .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMB8SwwKZsw
Time to wind this down . I did day work working cattle , kept horses , opened a riding stable , worked the horse sales auctioneering but the money wasn't there when I married and had to get serious . I loved the life but it wouldn't feed the monkey . Started rough necking on drilling rigs steady , drilling and started a rig mechanic service till the boom bottomed out in 79' . Many more stories to tell about my cowboy period but will save em for another day . I'll tell one more story .....
I kept in contact with Howard , would stop and see him occasionally , if I could catch him . Last time I went to see him I stopped by the house , asked his wife if he was home . She said he was down to the feed lot .
Went down there . Howard was in his 70's , he was haying with a makeshift forklift looking homemade apparatus that worked off the tractor hydraulics . I know he welded it up . He was too old to be moving bales . I got out the truck and went over and just leaned on the pipe fence watching him . He was still in a hurry , still working . He saw me and waved , lol ..kept loading bales . I crawled the fence and walked out , shut him down and hollered up to him ....give me the cutters . He handed me his fence plyers and I went to cutting the binder wires and scattering blocks of hay . He shut er down , took a few min's climbing down and walked across the lot with his right hand out . He exclaimed ; I haven't
seen you in a while son !
He had hearing aids , he was stove up and moved slow , he was limping...he was old . We talked a lot , we laughed and told stories . He had been put on a short leash and hated it . They made him carry a bag phone and couldn't go anywhere without someone with him . But he confided in me he was able to sneak off with a trailer and horse at times but his wife threw a fit . LOL , I asked him how he was doing ...he looked at the ground and slowly said ...you would have to ask my wife ! I laughed for a while and he laughed too .
It was the last time I saw or talked to Howard and it was a good visit .
If I make it to heaven Howard will be tord the front of the line to welcome me with his hand out .
I didn't tell these stories for self glorification , in almost all of them was failure on my part . If you look back behind you at the road you have been on you will see GOD's hand in your life . People he placed in your path that helped get you to and shape who you are now . You were tested and many times failed , you strayed but in your heart still knew him . But our Lord is still with us ...he never gave up on us because he loves us .
Not all your stories have a happy ending but they are what was . We have all run into a few purple people eaters along the way . In the process of our own failure we learned to forgive and accept the failure of others . No one here could cast the first stone . Our Lord forgives our faults if only we ask him and try to do better . His love for us is beyond our comprehension . He came to teach by word and living example . He said to enter heaven we must be as children . He gave his life to pay the debit we could not to be with us for eternity .
I am sure I will fail some more but I hope I don't let him down anymore than I have already . I look at every day to be a brand new story in my life .
Thank you for putting up with me .
Charlie
Pine Baron
08-13-2017, 10:09 AM
Thank you, Charlie. These story's have brought back a lot of similar memories to me. What is amazing is, upon looking back, I can see God's plan all along, even though, at the time it wasn't evident at all. Thank God for his Grace and Mercy, through Jesus Christ. Certainly not through my feeble, inept understanding.
Go in Peace.
Blackwater
08-13-2017, 07:59 PM
Amen to what PB said! Horses and cattle are two of the most beautiful creatures on God's earth. But most don't know that cattle (your basic, farmed to butcher cattle) kill more folks every year than snakes and stinging insects combined! They don't seem to be capable of harboring intent to kill, but they're excitable and VERY impulsive, and if you're in the way when they get an implulse .... oh well! Same with horses. I've always loved them, and admired them, but have preferred to do it from afar. My eldest uncle was an old FL cowboy, as were his sons. 2 of his 3 sons were rodeo cowboys, and I saw them ride broncs and one of them ride a bull once. Couldn't believe my cousins could/would do that! But I was very young then, and once I saw them do it, I "ALMOST" wanted to follow suit .... but not quite. Even as a kid, I had a healthy desire to survive, and I knew all too well that I didn't know enough to ride anything like they did. And the old Bramahn bull my uncle had as a sire .... well, THAT animal was a law unto its own self! It was actually homicidal, I was told, but he was a really great brood bull. I left glad that bull wasn't coming back with me!!! I'll always "respect" (read "fear" if you want!) big, huge animals with lots of muscle and no brains! And both horses and cows qualify under those rules, in spades, at the very least at some times! I guess the Good Lord made them that way to keep us humble, and so that we'd always feel our steaks and burgers were EARNED, at least by someone if not our own selves?
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