Happy Birthday Sis

Debbie - 1965 Grand Champion Lamb

One of the great things about growing up in the Osage is 4-H and having a sister like mine and she was a great cook.  Today is Debbie's birthday and she is older than me but she is a great sister.  Here you see her in 1965 with her Grand Champion Lamb.  Every year Debbie and I showed sheep and this year in particular I was sure I had the better lamb for the show in Pawhuska held each year in March.  Well I was wrong and Debbie won the show and I have no idea how I did with my lamb. Growing up with a sister like Deb was great as she always bragged on me and made me feel like I was important.  She would make cookies all the time and I have always had a sweet tooth.  In 4-H and the county fair and if anyone remembers the Grainola fair she would win lots of ribbons and prizes for her cooking and sewing.

Now I will tell you something exciting happened this year at the 4-H livestock show or maybe it was a year or two earlier but it was Kathy Eaton who got me in trouble.  She normally was a good sport but I was chasing her with some sheers (scissors ) and I cut her hair.  It just seemed like the fun thing to do and Kathy was older so she should have known better, just kidding.  I know whose fault it was.  Well, that got me in big trouble and it was not pretty what my Mom said to me.  I learned there were consequences for bad behavior.  Now days they just slap your and and say, "will it was the first time"  and let you go.  I do not understand that or how it benefits anyone.

Another great thing about having a big sister is that she introduced me to her friends, girls.  That was real important when I was becoming a teenager.  I doubt if I mentioned it but when I was in the 6th grade I was already 6 foot 2 inches tall and about 200 lbs. so people thought I was older than I was.  I remember one time I met this girl who was a senior in high school and I was 13.  We were hanging around at the fair together and she was pretty good looking.  Larry, my older brother, and a couple of his friends saw us and they gave me a hard time over it.  I gave them a hard time because they did not have a girl interested in them and I was hanging around a girl their age.  It was fun. Oh ya, when she found out I was 13 she dropped me like a hot rock, it was not pretty.  I was scared for life, just kidding.

Anyway, living in the country allowed us to get involved in 4-H, not to be confused with the 4-H kid from the class of '71.  4-H is a club focused on teaching a balanced life based on the Head, Hands, Health, and Heart, www.4-h.org built in those days primarily for small towns and folks growing up in the country. Every year our entire family was involved and we showed sheep, hogs, and cattle.  Debbie focused on sheep but she also was a great seamstress meaning she could make clothes.  She won all kinds of awards for that.  Larry was particularly good at raising cattle and showing them.  I was really good at something.


Well what did I learn from all this:
    Don't pretend your something you are not, like 18 when you are 13.
    Think about the consequences before you act, don't cut hair without permission.
   

Thanks for spending some time with me and drop me a line.
Gary Olson
glolson21@gmail.com
http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com

Growing up on the farm and what defines a Person

What defines us is:

   1. Where we were raised
   2.  The family values
   3. The friends we have
   4. The decisions we make
   5. The life we lead

I think many times we hear our circumstance make us but I believe it is more about the decisions we make weather they are good or bad.  I can not be more proud of the family I have and the WIFE I chose.  At least I think I chose her but girls can sometimes make men think they are smarter than they are.  I should also state they can make you feel dumber than you are.

It is obvious that growing up in the Tall Grass Country of Osage County impacted me greatly.  I have always been amazed when people suggest that there is nothing to do in small towns especially when you live four miles out of town, one north and three west and the town has 36 folks.  I think I could still name everyone of them.  If I thought I did not have anything to do Mom and Dad had a list a mile long.  Mom use to say she had 40-11 things to do.  I don't know how many that is but it sounded like a lot.

Well let me tell you what kept me busy after feeding or checking the cattle, chickens and hogs and praise to God that we got rid of that dairy.  We did have to milk the cow for most of the years to supply milk to the house, dogs, cats and even the hogs.  In the winter feeding the cattle was critical and if there was much cold weather you had to take an ax and chop ice on the ponds and creeks in every pasture.  Feeding was taking hay and cattle cake (it is not like birthday cake) to every pasture and honking the horn to get the cattle coming to where you wanted to feed them.  Now when I was too young to drive according to the law it was a lot of fun because I got to drive the pickup everyday to feed the cattle.  During the summer, spring and fall you spent your time putting up hay and checking the fences and farming crops to get ready for the winter.

About as soon as you got done feeding everything it was time for a little breakfast and getting ready for school.  My favorite was Post Toasties but most of the time Mom made eggs, bacon or sausage and toast and sometimes pancakes.  Everyday we had breakfast and we were not overweight.  In fact we ate meat at every meal and lots of green beans and corn.  And since all science says those things will kill you I guess that means Dad would have lived longer, he died at 87.  Oh ya, and Mom is 83 and very healthy but a little sassy.

Mom always took care of us, me-MOM-Debbie

Sometime I am going to tell you about school but today is the routine at the farm.  I never disliked school and in fact loved it.

Anyway, after school we rode the bus home and we had chores to do or most of the time I went to where Dad was working and helped him.  Dad was an unusually hard worker and he not only farmed and ranched but we leased several hundred acres of land from Aunt Helen (another wonderful person and not my real aunt but another story) and he carried the mail for Grainola all up and down the creek.  He traveled those back roads everyday from John and Linda Murphy's house north to Dutch Cooper's house south.  Everyone knew dad and Christmas was always fun because folks would leave things in their mail box for Dad.  One thing I know is that Dad would check on older folks and hand deliver the mail if they needed it.  Dad carried the mail six days a week from about 8:00 to 10:45 then he would hurry home to go to his second job, building houses, barns and remodels.  I spent virtually everyday after school, until sports in Shidler, building barns, houses or doing remodels.  It is really cool today to go back and see what we built.

A couple of weeks ago I went by Soup and Letha Wade's old house in Shidler where dad and I built a large addition to their house and then Don Cassleman's house where we built a huge room.  Don's wife Mrs. Cassleman was my 1st and 2nd grade teacher, again that is part of another story.  Almost every pole barn around Dad and I built including the Perry Stephen's barn, Jim Olsen's barn, Bud Frank's barn, Vea Harris Barn and more.  I cannot tell you how many times I hit my finger with that hammer but it got blooded a lot.  I think the moral to this story is always do something you can be proud of by doing it right and treating folks the way you want to be treated.  I think that was Dad and Mom's motto not by words but by the way they lived.

DAD - Cliff Olson

Thanks for spending time,
Gary
glolson21@gmail.com
http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com

Cliff and Opal Olson 2 of ? who knows ?

I don't know about you but growing up in the Olson house was a delight.  Mom was a great cook and mentor.  Just FYI, the picture is Dad and Mom and Preston our youngest son and me.

Not only did she make a great roast for Sunday after church but she could cook about anything.  But let's diverge for just a moment, that is like a bend in the creek if you know what I mean.  I have to tell you about that roast.  When Mom would prepare her roast to be cooked she would always cut off both ends of the roast before putting it in the pot.  One time Debbie, my sister, asked her why she cut off the ends of the roast.  Mom said she did not know but she would ask Grandma Annie who taught her how to cook the roast.

Well Grandma Annie by this time lived down by Oolagah near Tulsa on a farm which included a dairy run by her brother Uncle Bill. Since it was about 90 miles we did not get down there very often and to call long distance was expensive in those days so Mom waited to find out the answer until we took one of those early Sunday morning trips (skipped church) to Grandma and Grandpa Lane's house.  I assume you are not so slow that I have to explain that Mom was a Lane before she married Dad.  "Anyway" when we got down there Debbie pushed her to ask Grandma Annie why she cut off the ends of the roast before she cooked it.  Well here came the wisdom, Grandma Annie said, "because the roast did not fit in the pot".  Can you believe that?  Well I hate to tell a lie but it made such a good story.

Now back to the truth in growing up in the Olson house.  Mom really did iron the sheets for our beds and she really did iron our t-shirts and I think she may have ironed the under-ware as well.  She was very neat which actually worked out in my favor since she had rather me work outside with Dad than be in the house making a mess.  She use to say that even when I cleaned things up in the house it was still a mess.

Mom was tenacious about going to school, getting good grades, doing the best in everything we did, working hard, and even playing hard.  She loved to have friends over in the evenings to play cards.  It seemed like every week we had Don and Dorothy Kelsey over to play cards.  I thought Dorothy was the prettiest girl in the world.  When I was about 7 or 8 I told Dorothy she was my girl friend. 

Susie Snyder and her daughter Lauren

Aunt Gladys/ Mrs. Snyder the math and science teacher

Now if it were not the Kelseys it was the Shumates (Beth, Sally and Janie) or the Snyders (Gladys, Bill and Susie) and when I was real young it was the Joe Ferguson crew.  Does anyone remember them?  He was the base fiddle player for Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys who performed often at the old Big Beaver.  Now the truth is it was a bar that was north of Web City but the stories I heard was that there was a lot of drinking and fights.

Anyway I loved playing cards when the big folks were not playing.  My favorite was 10 point pitch.  What I did not like was that Larry (my brother) seemed to win more than his fair share.  For those of you who do not remember the game the trump 3 was worth 3 points.  Mom was the funniest one of the bunch when she played and she would spice it up by switching a card with one that had already been played or just about anything to get a laugh.

Mom was the ramrod for Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts and she thought Joe Conner was about the best as he went on to get his Eagle Scout.  Joe lives in Fairfax and I was blessed to get to see him at Don Kelsey's funeral after about 40 years.  Isn't it a shame we see each other only at funerals?  Now Larry and my cousin Bill Snyder were pretty good at scouting.  I was deprived in that I never got to be one  (that is a joke as I always tell Mom how deprived I was).

Dad and Larry my brother


Dad built a club house just for scouts and I loved it when we would have a scouting party.  Dad would cut down a tree for a bond fire and we would wrap potatoes in aluminum foil and bury them in the hot coals. Sometimes we would mix up potatoes, carrots, onions and some hamburger then bury it under the coals.  It was called HOBO stew.  Man it was great.  Most of the time we would roast marshmallows and hot dogs.  It was during this time that I got to meet Cindy Hustead who I thought I would marry someday.  I never did date her and I guess I thought she was just too pretty or maybe I was just scared to ask when I got old enough to date.  Cindy's older brother, Richard, was a scout and they would come to the parties.

By now you get the idea that Mom was a motivator and organizer who understood discipline.  She taught us responsibility and that if you don't do anything your rewards will be nothing but if you try you may not win the prize but you will be a winner in life.  She made sure we were in church almost every Sunday and I will have to tell you that I did not become a Christian until I was in college but I did know what was right and wrong and I did learn that I needed to know who God was.  I was a slow learner I guess but the most important thing is she challenged me to figure things out.  So when I was in college I started studying what being a Christian was really about and what it was not.

In summary I learned being a good person was not enough because no matter how hard I worked I fell short of perfection like Christ.

I remember Vea Harris telling us many times how Jesus lived a perfect life.  I also found out it was not about dancing and drinking or not doing those things but I found out it was totally about God's Grace and how he gave it just for asking.  Some day I will tell you that story as it was a great one, at least to me it still is.

Thanks for listening,

Gary
glolson21@gmail.com
http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com
please do send me your thoughts as many of you have encouraged me just like MOM.

Cliff and Opal Olson – 1 of ? Who knows?

You probably have been wondering when I would write something about my folks and it is just so difficult to figure how to start so here is the first of who knows how many. This first one focuses mostly on my grandparents, Olaf and Mary Olson.

Dad passed away December 8, 2002 the day before my 50^th birthday and Mom recently moved to Cashion which is south of Crescent and east of Okarche and West of Edmond. That was really fun. She lives north of Oklahoma City in Cashion where her Great Grandchildren live and her Grandson and daughter, Clifford and Suzanne Crow and their children, Jaden, Ryan Samantha, and Zacary. I am not sure but I think where her children and grandchildren live don't matter as much as where the GREAT Grandchildren live, if you know what I mean. Debbie (MOM's favorite daughter) can brag in that she has two of the nicest boys and fathers, Richard (builds and sells tornado shelters out of Perry, Oklahoma)  and Cliff (builds pumper trucks for fire stations and is a fireman in Kingfisher). She had another boy who passed away a couple of years ago named Billy (the greatest fan ever for the Chiefs and the Royals).

"Anyway", Dad was a farmer and rancher who grew up in Anoka Minnesota on a dairy and sweet potato farm before they moved to Wamego, Kansas when he was about 17. Dad played football in Wamego his senior year and lettered which is pretty amazing since he was about 135 pounds all the time I knew him. I assume he was smaller in high school so he must have been pretty small. But from what I know you would not want to fight him as he was very tough and strong. Oh well, back to Minnesota.


I loved growing up listening to his stories about Minnesota and I loved the stories about his folks and the farm there. Olaf and Mary Olson met somewhere in Kansas where they both settled after coming to America from Sweden. I really don't know anything about Grandma when she came except that is was in the late 1800's whereas Grandpa came in about 1889 by himself at the ripe old age of 16. He had no family here at that time and left his parents and siblings in Sweden. As far as I know all of his brothers and sisters ultimately came to America and settled in Washington State and Kansas. The most memorable story I remember is that he came through Ellis Island in New York and was robbed the first day in New York. So if you think about it he had a rough beginning. Could you have traveled at the age of 16 or one of your children to another country, not knowing anyone or speaking the language and getting robbed of all your money the first day? I absolutely cannot image how depressed he could have been. He was always positive about life and laughed at about all bad circumstances. No wonder he got a job and earned enough money to go to Kansas as soon as possible. He was a Lutheran and of strong faith. I still have his Swedish Bible.

After Grandpa moved to Kansas he worked to purchase two draft horses which became a prized possession in those days. Those horses provided lots of work on farms and one thing in particular which I find amazing. He ran the turntable with those horses. You must be wondering what that is but think about this. How do you turn a train engine around? On a turntable, see the picture.

What they did was pull the engine onto a platform and Grandpa Olaf hitched his horses to the turntable and turned the engine around. This was a prized job as it paid $13.50 a day. The normal wage back then was about $20 per month.

Grandpa took great care of his horses and was able purchase a farm where he raised six boys Stack, Mack, Phil, Rollin (Ollie), Cliff (my dad), and Arvin who died in his early 20's while swimming in the creek. Dad never liked the water much after that and Grandpa did not let them swim. I don't remember Dad ever swimming.

I don't remember when but Grandma and Grandpa Olson moved to Grainola to be close to Dad and Mom. They purchased about 7 acres just south of Ruby's gas station. They raised a little wheat and a couple of cows and a small garden until they were not able. That house was so cool. It had all of those kitchen appliances made of white porcelain, even the cabinets. There was a big potbellied stove to heat the house and it burned coal.

Grandma died at our house when I was about 9 and all I remember is that my Mom took great care of her. Mom was always helping someone. I think she taught most of the girls in Grainola how to sew and particularly Janie, Sally, Susie (a little more reluctant than the others) and Debbie my sister. Debbie was great at it and earned a lot of ribbons at 4-H.

Back to Grandma and Grandpa Olson. I would go to Grandpa's house every time I could so I could sit by that pot-bellied stove and eat cinnamon rolls and play checkers. Grandpa let me make a lot of rules when I was young. As I got older I had to play more according to the real rules. He would laugh at my creative ways and when he would laugh his mustache would bounce up and down. He never had a beard as far as I knew. We always went to Ruby's to get pop and cinnamon rolls. Life was great.

Another cool thing was he had an indoor potty vs. an old outhouse. Let me explain. An outhouse is where you have a hole in the ground with a seat inside where you sit or stand depending on your style. It was generally about 4 foot by 4 foot. Anyway Granddad had indoor plumbing but don't jump too quickly to think you knew what that was. He had a toilet closet. You are wondering what a toilet closet is aren't you. Well it is a closet with a seat on it and under the seat you set a bucket to catch the relief (if you don't understand ask someone over 80 – you need to talk to those folks anyway). Everyday someone got the opportunity to take that slop-bucket and empty and wash it out. There was no flush but at least you did not have to go outside in the cold during the winter or when it was raining, etc.

Now one last item, maybe two, I loved to watch Grandpa make coffee and drink it. He boiled his coffee with the grounds in the water, no filter. After it got good and black he would let the grounds settle then he would pour a cup but that was not all. Once you poured a cup which always set in a saucer he would pour some of the hot coffee out of the cup into the saucer then sip the coffee from the saucer. I learned to drink it to and it was better the way he made it. And yes there were grounds which you could swallow or chew and I thought it tasted pretty good that way.

And now the last item. Dad would not let Grandpa pay us for mowing his yard but I was always glad to do it so I could play checkers, eat cinnamon rolls and drink Nehi or Crush pop. But the other cool thing was even though we could not be paid we seem to find money laying in the yard from time to time and Grandpa told us it was not his and "finders keepers". He was a great role model.

In summary what I received was:

    Take advantage and ask older people to tell you about their lives, invest in them and you will receive great rewards

    Simple things often mean the most and time is much more valuable than money

    Laughter is the greatest remedy for any ailment

    Celebrate life and give credit to others

Thanks for your time.

Gary

Glolson21@gmail.com

http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com










 

My Second Most Favorite Jewish Boy 2 of 2

Let me tell you, when you take a great friend from New York to Osage, Shidler and Grainola everyone learns a lot.

David taught me what I loved about home by learning to love and appreciate what we have. I took him up to Beaver Creek behind our old house and we shot guns and turtles. I know some folks will not appreciate that but until you live and work in the Osage you will never understand what freedom is or why we do what we do. Just another side note, Eddy Harris and I went duck hunting with a 306 rifle once and that still does not make since to me either but we had a lot of fun.

I had the great pleasure of taking David to areas where you could see for miles and not see a fence or house or telephone line and miles of great tall grass prairies. We looked over the bluffs at the Codding Cattle Ranch in Foraker and the Adams ranch where you could see all the way to Kansas and of course to the Olsen Ranch (Tanny and Nanny and yes that is another story). He loved our country.

What we assume is common knowledge, like David assuming I knew a Jewish name, is also true the other direction. I informed David that pickles don't grow on trees. Mom let David have some of the best homemade pickles you will ever eat, Mom's sweet pickles. We fed him okra and Head's Bar B Q Sauce (not from Ponca but from Grainola and produced by Danny Head the son of our beloved English teacher, Mrs. Head). As long as we brought this up I have to set the record straight. Danny is the mastermind of making the Bar B Q sauce famous but his two uncles, Tom and Bud Head (welders and farmers) were the first to make Head Country and they were from Grainola and Danny was from Shidler. We use to go over to our neighbor's house (Tom and Bud's) with an empty Karo syrup bottle and get some sauce, not the drinking kind. It is still our favorite and every year my brother, Larry, takes at least a case to South Carolina where he lives. If you look at the bottles you will see the Tom Head cattle brand on the bottle.

Back to David. After a few days in the Osage and meeting my family, David in his green VW Beatle and Shouna and I in our blue Cutlas S left for Chicago. I am still praising God that David had some understanding about large cities. When we got to Chicago (none of us had been there before) we drove in on the south side. Now if you don't know anything about Chicago you should know that is a VERY bad idea. It was cold, February, cloudy and drizzly and it looked very bad and the south side is dangerous. We did not have cell phones and David was following us. I looked over at Shouna and I have to admit I was about to cry. I said, "I don't know why I agreed to this", and I was scared to death. The traffic was off the charts and we drove for hours in bumper to bumper traffic. Luckily David knew this might happen and he gave me confidence it was not as bad as I thought. We finally found ourselves tired and disgusted looking for a hotel around midnight. We were told how much to spend on a hotel and it was not even close so we wasted about two more hours looking for a hotel until we just got mad enough we did not care how much it cost. The next day we started looking for apartments to rent and another eye opener occurred. But thanks to David having lived in New York he understood the cost differential and he cooled my nerves. I remember getting two raises before leaving Dallas plus what is called a COLA (cost of living allowance) of $125 per month to cover the difference in cost of living in Dallas vs. Chicago. Let me tell you after taxes the COLA would barely cover the cost of the train to downtown each day to work much less the cost to park and the higher cost for the apartment. My faith was in God but God sent me a second Jewish Boy, David. Get it?

By the way, in the picture to the left of the young David is his beautiful wife Catherine. They have three children and still live in the Chicago area. They say that we all have friends but each of us has a handful that we can call at any time for any reason and they are there. This story is a tribute to the faith and love I have for my family's friends David and Catherine Goldenberg.

Thank for listening,

Gary



Thanks for listening.

Gary

Glolson21@gmail.com

http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com








 

My second Most Favorite Jewish Boy 1 or 2

One of the things I learned I loved about the Osage was not apparent to me until after I met David Goldenberg and moved to Dallas the first time. Let me explain.

When I graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford, Oklahoma I took a job with EDS, Electronic Data Systems. EDS provided a training class where systems programmers were taught how to build systems and that is where I met David Goldenberg whom today I consider one of the greatest examples of what a person should be.  Now I will have to tell you that David is quit humble and does not appreciate the level of admiration I give him.  But he is not only a great person but every time we get together we laugh almost continually.

While working in Dallas David and I were literally working 14 to 20 hours a day for about 14 weeks straight.  One of those times David and I were eating what I recall being an early morning breakfast at a Deli.  Now where I grew up we never had a deli and I never had heard of one much less bagels and lox (lox is smoked salmon).  David and I were trading stories and he was telling me how his brother in law took him out to Long Island (I had never heard of it at the time) and was showing him how to purchase a used car.  His brother in law was crawling under the car and making comments about how it might be leaking a little oil and how the drive train might be a little loose.  His objective was to make the sellers worried about being able to sell the car and to ultimately lower the price.  I laughed and said, “You were jewing him down”.  David informed me you don’t say that to a Jew.  I informed him that I did not know he was Jewish.  He proceeded to tell me that he was from Queens which I already knew.  I responded eloquently, “So?”  David laughed in his hilarious laugh and asked how I could not know he was Jewish. 

Well that gets back to the Osage.  I told him where I grew up there were three kinds of folks: red, white and black and almost all the white folks were part red.  He could not believe it and I told him I was part Cherokee which brought up another discussion about Indians and prejudice.  I told him I just had not experienced any prejudice against any the groups.  He was shocked in that folks from New York believed that the south was very prejudiced.  I am sure there was plenty in the south but in Osage County I just did not see it or feel it. He presented me with a word that was unfamiliar to me and that was anti-Semitism, prejudice against Jewish folks.  Not only do I believe that all folks are equal under the law but I believe that America is the greatest place in the world for a person who wants to succeed can.

“Anyway”, that’s my word, I became extremely close to David and we were transferred to Chicago together plus my wife Shouna (another story and yes I did get married).  I am sure at times Shouna thought I spent more time with David than her because we worked hard and long.  David and I worked on developing banking systems for banks.  But I have to tell you another story about David before I go.

David and I were always laughing and having a great time during the training sessions and it created a negative feeling from the teacher, Terry ( I can’t remember his total name, go figure).  Well Terry was after us for some of the orneriness.  Terry was very critical of our documentation (write ups about what our programs were supposed to do) so David increased his volume of documentation but buried in the documentation David provided some very descriptive references to a girl’s body.  Terry put red ink all over the documentation and gave David a failing grade but Terry had NOT read the documentation.  At EDS Ross Perot (yes, the one who ran for president) set the standards very high and there was never a situation which a wrong could not be righted.  You always had the confidence that you could challenge a wrong and politics were not going to protect the teacher in this situation.  Well I watched as David walked into Terry’s office with the document open and the particular area of interest highlighted so that Terry would immediately see it.  David slammed it down on his desk and said, “You don’t read it, I don’t write it”.  That was the last time we were criticized for our orneriness and Terry being a professional apologized and we all became good friends.

Kernel of wisdom learned:  What makes a man is what is on the inside and what comes out of it.
                                         

Part one of two about David.  Part two of two will be about our visit to the Osage and our life in Chicago.

Thanks for listening.

Gary

Glolson21@gmail.com

http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com

Suzie Q

The Orneriest Person from Shidler - Susie

Uncle Mike and Aunt Lois and then Suzie and Bill Taylor are all living in the Kansas City area but those two girls have their roots in the Osage and Grainola and Shidler. Just a little about Uncle Mike and Bill before we talk about the girls. 

Uncle Mike, Aunt Lois, Susie (Snider) and Bill Taylor

Uncle Mike is originally from New York and I have no idea how he got hooked up with a girl from Grainola, Lois Lane (sounds like someone from Super Man and from what I know I think she was the reporter for Super Man). Now that I think about it I bet Uncle Mike was the real Super Man and just hid out when he retired from saving New York. "Anyway", he decided there was a better way to dress than in those stretchy stretch clothing and cape so he became a men's clothing expert at the Jones Stores in Kansas City until he retired from THE SUPERMAN GIG.  
Now Bill had some things to overcome and to deal with. Number one he was from Missouri so you had to show him everything and second he fell madly in love with Suzie Snyder, Aunt Gladys's daughter (he had a weak moment, just kidding). Bill is very talented and is creative and designs advertisement and marketing material for different companies around the country. He obviously has a great sense of humor and can handle stress, Susie and Lauren their daughter.

Lauren and Susie

Well, while we are at it we might as well talk about Suzie Q. Now that is my name for her but she calls me something which she knows is a problem and she and my sister, Debbie, refuse to stop. We will not mention that name. If you recall in one of my earlier blogs I mentioned Suzie owned every Beatles album and poster ever made. She was crazy about the Beatles which first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show back in about 1960.  I think Suzie even cut her hair like them.I should tell you I might be the only person from Grainola to meet and talk to Ed Sullivan and I do mean the real one. Have you ever met someone in real life and were shocked to see how different they looked? Ed Sullivan had the darkest tan I had ever seen and he was dramatically smaller than I would ever have imagined. I met him in New York City at the airport on my way to Holland to live for three months (another story). He was very kind and seemed to enjoy chatting with the 17 year old country boy.Back to Susie. Susie is one of the smartest girls you would ever meet and she definitely had the fastest tongue meaning she had a lot of wit.  I think that is what got her into trouble and I think it was why she did not blow the records off on good grades.  Actually I am assuming she did not have great grades just because I know her concentration in laughing and having fun should have prevented it. I think Suzie liked to joke around and just have fun more than study. She did like to read all the time just like her mother, Gladys Snyder. But her two greatest loves were The Beatles and her dogs. I don't remember her ever without a dog. My favorite two were the weenie dog (that is a real bread and you can look it up) and her beagle. If Suzie took care of Lauren, her daughter, like she took care of those dogs Lauren would be spoiled really bad. Now that I think about it she is spoiled.  Lauren is a spoiled doll and the spitting image of her mom, except for the white hair.  I am not saying Lauren has white hair.
 My fondest memories of Suzie was that she always laughed and everything could be funny. She could laugh at herself as easy as a good story. If we all learned to laugh at ourselves and not take things so serious this would be even a better place to live.  Take it from Suzie who is now a teacher.  What would she be teaching them based on her childhood?Now let me tell you about Aunt Lois. She was always tall and pretty and how she turned into a city girl is beyond me. She grew up in Grainola and I was told that she was about the greatest basketball player who ever came from that part of the country. She and Uncle Mike were always very faithful to their church and gave their hearts and life to helping my nephew who was confined to a wheel chair. I cannot say that I fully understood why they were so willing to give everything they had to help Billy Jim but they did. Because of their giving Billy became a super fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals. They went to many games and Billy had more autographed baseballs and footballs and other memorabilia than anyone I know. Billy passed away early in life just a few short years ago but he touched my life because he Loved Life.  And Uncle Mike and Aunt Lois are the real Super Man and Lois Lane.Maybe the thing we can learn is that giving is the blessing. I heard a man say one time, "If you will give and give until you can give no more and then give some more you will receive more than you could ever image". I think that is true. The second thing I learned from watching Billy Jim was that my circumstances are not the issue but what I do with them is MOST important. The highlight of these two couples and Billy Jim is: They had great attitudes and could laugh and they give and gave all they had and have a great life. Thank you for being a part of my life.Over the years I have been blessed to go on mission trips with my church and I have found that I receive far more than I give. I dare you to try it, Pay it Forward.
Thanks for your time.
gary@thepioneerman.com

Mrs. Shumate

This old house stands today in Grainola but is full of memories even when the last board rots away and the rafters collapse. It is mostly hidden by grown up trees and brush but the light that came from it will never die because of Mrs. Shumate.

I really don't remember when her husband died but I am sure Sally and Janie have the memories locked away. I can only tell you about how this very short lady changed or made my life what it is today.

Well here goes:

Mrs. Shumate lived around the corner from Mrs. Castleman (another story but my first and second grade teacher) and she taught me in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. Now she did not move with me but you see there were 5 in my class, except when Joy showed up, and there were 3 classes in the same room. In fact two of those years my sister, Debbie, was in the room with me as she was and still is 1 year older.

We better take a detour for a second here to explain something. Debbie was actually just over 10 months older than me and if you see her and me together it is obvious we are brother and sister as we look alike. I can't explain what was going through my mom and dad's mind after Debbie was born but you can guess I was a surprise. Enough explanation at this time. 

Mrs. Shumate had the privilege of having five wonderful children in her class and of course sometimes six (this is the last time I am going to bring up Joy to you but I will be telling stories about Joy later, I promise).

Jon Tanny Olsen

Hugh Allen Jones,

Jimmy Heath

Denise Logue - the only girl and I am not sure if i spelled her last name correctly.  I would love to find out where Denise lives so if anyone knows send me an email.

and Me, Gary Olson

Mrs. Shumate was a delightful lady who grew up during WWII and worked at Tinker Air Force Base doing something I cannot recall but she would sometimes tell us about the war. What I remember about those stories was the short supply of rubber and iron and things that had to be gathered to help make the things soldiers needed over seas. She one time told us that someone accused her of being a Communist but I will assure you she loved America and she loved us.

When Sally and Janie (Shumate girls) and Debbie and Larry (my bro and sis) went to the orthodontist to get braises I always got to stay with Mrs. Shumate as Mom would take them to Ponca City (Ponca for the locals)  to see the orthodontist. Now that may sound like a bummer but it was great.  Mrs. Shumate made the very best cherry pie and she liked making it for me. The bad side of this is when something needed fixed Dad would tell me what to do and I got to do the fixing (fixin is the correct word). The worst one I got was when their sewer backed up and I had to dig up the sewer line and replace it plus clean out the septic tank. I also got to do this for Aunt Gladys and therefore I became the official "Honey Dipper". A Honey Dipper was the person who got to clean out sewer tanks and dig up sewer lines which is where all the POOP etc. goes. Do I have to explain this?

One last thing I have to tell you is this story about Mrs. Shumate's teeth. When it was our class's turn to be taught we moved from our desks to the table at the front of the room while the other two classes sat in their desks and did homework. It was during this time one day when Mrs. Shumate (Auntie Beth - not a relative but that was her name after we got out of school) was taking some of that white material that was used to stick papers on the wall without tape and getting it ready to be used. What she had to do was stretch it and massage it until it was malleable enough to break into small pieces for attaching the papers to the walls.

She took all of our papers and stuck them on the wall so everyone could see them. We did NOT hide the good or the bad homework but it was posted so you could see how you were doing compared to the other students. My perception is that this was a good thing in that I always knew how I was doing and was challenged to do better. We call it competitiveness.  And I should note that Joy always got A+ on her papers so I was glad when she went back to Shidler, just kidding.

Back to the story and I am sure you are wondering what this has to do with her teeth. Well Jim Heath was sitting at the other end of the table and he was the smartest and funniest guy in the class. When he saw Mrs. Shumate stretching that stuff he made the comment, "that looks like you are stretching a girdle". Wow, I was getting ready to learn a lot of things about character. Mrs. Shumate got tickled and started laughing so hard she got choked and coughed and then her teeth popped out into her hand which created pandemonium in the classroom. My jaw hit the floor because this was all new to me. She had tears of laughter in her face and she did not yell or get mad but she saw the humor in the entire event.

That was a lesson in character and how to deal with adversity.

Laugh at yourself and not at others

Don't over react

Because you have power does not mean you have to use it.

Mrs. Shumate was a lady of character and a great teacher,

Thanks for your time,

gary

Rock Fence Post

There is probably nothing more Osage than the limestone fence post. These fence posts served several purposes. First it obviously anchored a fence so that you could tighten the wires that ran for miles to keep the cattle in. Second, it was a place to pile the rocks strewn over the prairie. I am one person who loved those corner post and what they represent. It just feels good when driving into the Osage and seeing those rock piles along the roads.

 I know as you look at these old rock post pictures you and myself included cannot help but see that old house. What is your emotion? Mine is to look forward toward the future because the past was so good. My mom, Opal, was and is a great guiding post about the past. She always said, "I am glad the good ole days are gone". She really did walk to school every day in all kinds of weather up hill both ways (the up hills both ways might be a stretch).

Anyway, She grew up in Grainola during the depression. She lived in the house on the hill where Bob Jackson (Osage County Commissioner) lives today. That house (not the one in the picture) was about 1.5 miles from the Grainola School. There were two boys and six girls plus Grandma Annie and Poppie Jess Lane. They were farmers and Poppie Jess was a good coon hunter. Grandma Annie had the largest garden you ever saw and it included flowers (go look at my garden web site and you will see we like gardens as well, top left corner of web page). She could put up more vegetables and meat for winter than any person you ever met. Of course she had to in order to feed a large family. Everyone in the house learned to garden, milk cows by hand, feed hogs and calves and then butcher the animals for meat. Life was spent going to school and getting ready for winter by putting up food. Putting up food meant canning (refer to the first story) and storing them in the cellar. They did not go to Walmart every time they needed something (just in case you have no idea there were no Walmarts and by the way Sam Walton grew up in Oklahoma close to Kingfisher). I read once that back in those days they typically had enough food stored for about a year and that today we keep about 2 to 3 days of groceries in the house.

Think about it. How many times a week do you go to the grocery store or Braum's (dairy store) to get something to eat? How many times a week do you eat out? They NEVER ate out unless it was just outside in the yard. Get it?

Anyway (I love that word so get over it), Mom was a real motivator in that she always asked me questions which forced me to think about the consequences of not thinking ahead. I remember one time when I was utilizing a pick ax (a heavy tool you swung over your head to break up rock and hard dirt) and shovel to dig a ditch. The ditch was from the water well to the barn which was about 120 feet(there was no city water). It took about a week and it was July so the weather was over 90 degrees every day. Mom would bring me iced tea and she would always ask, "are you going to dig ditches or go to college". Her timing was great and the answer was easy.

I should tell you about the well which was hand dug by my dad and some other men to about 40 feet deep. Then they brick and mortared the walls to the top of the ground. At the bottom of the well they drilled a hole about another 40 feet so there would be plenty of water. We had the best water and even in dry years we never ran out. In fact I remember Jim Olsen (Jon Tanny, Jamie, and Jay's dad) coming to get water when their well would get low in dry years.

I think I will wrap this up. What did I learn from those rock fences, canning, digging ditches in hot weather, Mom's questions and that water well?

1. Rock fences - life is full of boulders that get in your way but if YOU choose correctly it will become a corner post that gives strength to the fences in your life.

2. Canning - Prepare for the future today not tomorrow. God is the only one who knows the future. Read the story of Joseph in the Bible and you will see that even before Christ it was a smart thing to do.

3. Digging Ditches - Hard work gives you a feeling of accomplishment and prepares you for hard times if and when they come.

4. Mom knew the answers but she wanted me to discover them.  Of course she gave me advice directly but she knew that sometimes the best lessons are learned by seeing and doing.

5.  The water of life comes from deep within the earth but the water of everlasting life comes from Christ.

Thanks for your time,

Gary

Roots - Country Home and Country Church

My biggest temptation on this blog thing is to put every story on here day one. My blood runs fast when I start thinking about the Tall Grass Prairie, Shidler and Grainola. And right now I am going to tell you I am going to say it over and over again how excited I am to write about HOME.

This is the old Methodist Church in Grainola which was about 150 feet from Aunt Gladys's house, Miss Snyder is what most folks called her but to me she was Aunt Gladys. I am going to clear my conscience a little here. One time I heard someone call her by a name a little off color and I thought it was the funniest thing I ever heard. Now this is not a good quality of mine and my daughter, Wynter, gets onto me all the time because I enjoy off color jokes and ethnic jokes and just about any kind of joke. Well just get over it and I am going to say it one time, I am sorry for laughing at bad jokes.

Anyway, (you have probably noticed I use that word in every story and for good reason - I need a segway). Well while I am at it I might as well tell you I never got one of those CITY vocabularies like Rick Hill. He was one of those very smart guys.

OK, OK, I will get back to the story about the slanderous name given to my wonderful Aunt and school teacher, Aunt Gladys. One of my dear friends changed it from Gladys to Glad-Ass and to clean it up it was translated to Happy But. If you don't get it, don't call me. Now I will tell you her daughter, Suzie Q, called her Happy But behind her back.

Back again to the Methodist Church. This is the church I grew up going to and we always shared our preacher with Foraker and Shidler Methodist Churches. We never called him a circuit rider preacher but I guess that is kind of what he was. It seemed like Vea Harris was always my Sunday School teacher and she was pretty dog-gone good. And right now I want to tell you it is ok to call it Sunday School, not flock, not home study or anything else. We did not get into being politically correct then. Everyone got along and I never noticed one ounce of prejudice in that town. Most all of us were part Indian of some sort and no one ever seemed to talk about it.

Now in Grainola we had about 36 people including children who lived in town and the rest lived in the country on farms and ranches. We had two choices on churches, Methodist and Lutheran. All the Dutch and Swedes went to the Lutheran and most everyone else went to the Methodist. Outside of Christmas and Easter we had about 23 folks in Sunday School and about 35 or so in big church.

We went to the Lutheran Church until I was about 8 then we switched to the Methodist because most of my friends went there. Did I mention that there were 5, yes 5, in my grade unless Joy Frank switched from Shidler back to Grainola which as I remember she did twice in the 8 years before high school when we all went to Shidler. That is another story.

Now I will have to confess again about a little trouble I got into during choir. And don't laugh, I was in choir for a few years until the director, Margaret Olsen (yes she was a relative and yes they spelled their last name different and yes that is another story), kicked me out of choir for being disruptive. I really was innocent! At least as innocent as Jon Tanny, her son, or Eddy which was Jon Tanny's first cousin and of course they were both my cousins (another story). Get over it!

Anyway, that church is where I learned about Jesus and all that stuff (another story) and every Christmas we had a big gathering at church on Christmas Eve and Santa Claus would come and hand out brown paper bags filled with old fashioned candy that stuck together with either an apple or orange and I was delighted every year with the occasion. Today I still love Christmas and Christmas Carols and Christmas Stories and being with family.

This little church made a big difference in my life. I learned about discipline, respect, love, family, community and the joy of giving and receiving.

Thanks for your time once again,

Gary

Great Friends filled with Eggs and Paint and Creativity

Eddy Harris was a great friend and relative and representative of what was and is the Osage.Eddy and I grew up one mile apart and he was my closest neighbor and if you remember from the previous stories his family was on our "party line" meaning we shared the same telephone line.  There were three hills between our houses and we would bicycle to each others house often where we put our creative minds to work.  This is where the chemestry of two cousins really works.Story one     Eggs -- I should tell you this only occured up until we were about 7 or 8 or 9 then we matured into wonderful young men.  Eddy and I liked to go to the chicken house and gather eggs.  The problem was we did not ever get back to the house with all the eggs.  Eddy and I had throwing contests to see what we could hit. That seems pretty innocent except that eggs were what we took to the store, Dale's Feed Seed and Fertilizer Store, and traded for groceries.  So you can see we were taking a calculated risk on our ability to eat.  Anyway one day Eddy and I were throwing eggs at the door when Dad, Cliff, opened the door a little too fast.  I honestly do not remember who threw the egg but we were caught and that egg landed on Dad's hat with a smack.  Dad proceeded to yell at us and scared us to death.  Now if you don't know, Dad was a small person, about 135 lbs. but I believe he was made of steel.  He was scarey and he could cuss.  Now for those of you who do not know what that means or have heard it cussing is where you take a perfectly good sentence and add wods like shit and damn and GD and it goes from there.  Well anyway, Eddy and I got an attitude adjustment and were reminded about the value of eggs and respect for property and how to use our minds to think rather than relying on our emotions to make decisions.  We were also told about consequences for bad behavior and I never needed an authority outside of my paretns and God.Well I have abused your time but thanks for listening.In summary here is what I learned:   Sometimes you have to take chances but calculate the risk and reward   There are consequences but don't blame anyone else for your bad decisions and give credit to those who taught you when you do something right.  Gary    take a look at www.wingsok.org and get involved.  I do not understand why this blog does not keep my paragraphs and spacing so please forgive the formattinng.  Hopefully I will learn how this works. Gary

Blessings of Chopping Ice

Growing up in the Osage reminds me of putting a stake in the ground which everything pivots from.  There are lots of changes and additions in our lives but we are all rooted by our history.  For instance my wonderful and gorgeous daughter, Wynter- see picture, comes with roots of the Osage.  She may not realize it but her work ethic and values are direct decendents of the tall grass prairie right down to the blue stem itself.

If you remember my parents, Cliff and Opal Olson, you know they knew how to work.  Every day Dad would get up before daylight, drink his coffee with Mom, then off to get the chores done before going to work.  Now that always seemed confusing to me because they would work to get ready to go to work. 
Anyway, Dad would head out to the barn to milk our family milk cow, Jerz.  Jerz was around 22 years before she could just do no more.  She was a gentle cow that liked to be scratched like a dog.  She had a baby calf every year and had twins once or twice.  She always had so much milk that she would feed at least one other calf plus our household plus the cats and dogs.  Her milk was full of butter fat and we made butter from it many times.  Someday I will tell you how we made butter.  Jerz worked just as hard as Mom and Dad to provide for us.After milking Dad would expect Larry and I to be out helping get the feed and hay loaded on the pickup or trailer to take to the cows.  Mom and Debbie would be cooking breakfast and doing other chores at the house.  Now Mom and Debbie actually did outside chores as well including feeding the chickens and gathering eggs and feeding the 4-H animals (will explain that one later as well).  When I got old enough to reach the peddle on the pickup Dad would let me drive while he spread the hay and cattle cake out of the back of the pickup.  I know I was only about 6 or 7 but it was fun and I loved being with Dad.  The only bad thing about feeding in winter, not to be confused with Wynter my daughter (notice the picture), was taking an ax and chopping ice.  Growing up I always said I never wanted to chop ice in winter when I grew up.  Today I miss chopping ice.  I guess I should explain that the reason you chop ice in winter is so the cows could get to water in the ponds (most folks these days call ponds lakes and some folks call ponds - tanks, but it depends on where you were raised).Back to the story, after the chores we ate breakfast as a family (can you believe that?).   My favorite breakfast food was POST Toasties. Then everyone scattered, Dad went to carry the mail (he was a rural mail carrier for the post office) and Mom kept the house and farm running and we kids went off to school.  I just cannot resist adding this comment.  Dad and Mom ate and fed us meat at 3 meals a day and it was primarily beef, not chicken.  And when it was chicken it was FRIED.And that brings me to this value statement:      IT AIN'T THE FRIED CHICKEN, GREASE, OR RED MEAT  OR BUTTER THAT KILLS PEOPLE.  IT IS THE LACK OF HARD WORK AND EXERCISE AND POSITIVE THINKING.  And yes I am overwieght and don't eat right but I do know what can fix that AND IT IS NOT ANOTHER LAW PROTECTING ME FROM ME OR ME FROM YOU.Well that is about all you can take for today so I will talk at you tomorrow.Thanks for your time,Garyp.s. check out my favorite charity at www.wingsok.org and if you feel led get involved and donate if you can.

A trip to Colorado with my oldest son, Chase

We spent five days in the mountains backpacking over 12,000 feet.  The quietness reminded me of the Osage.  I remember sitting on the front porch and if the wind was real calm you could hear the pump jacks in the distance.I don't know about you but the sounds of the Osage were incredible.  I could sit with my family on the porch and hear and watch the coyotes running across the hill sides calling back and forth.  Then there were the crickets along the creek banks with the frogs belching out thier calls.And no one can brag more about the stars than the stars you could see in the Osage.  The Milky Way Galaxy was like star dust in the sky and every bit as incedible as seeing it at 12,000 feet in Colorado.
I don't know about you but when you look at this world from 12,000 feet or from the Osage it does not appear to me this was created by accident.Thanks again for your time,Come to the Osage,Gary

TRIVIA QUESTION:  I will mail $10 to who can name all the members of the 1952 Grainola High School State Champion Basketball team.  Limited to one winner.  Sign up to follow my blog and comment your answers.  You will need to email me you address if you are the winner.
send me your trivia questions and we will have a contest now and then.

Don and Dorothy

This is Don and Dorothy Kelsey, two lives that made a big impact on me.  Don was a fun boss who worked hard and made Kenny (their son) and I work hard. 
We hauled hay for three summers with our primary customers being Paul Jones of Grainola who had a contract with Boots Adams (K.S. Adams), Chairman of the Board of Phillips Petroleum who had purchased the old Lohman Ranch.  Interestingly enough Ben Johnson worked cattle for Bill Lohman before becoming famous.  And another trivia piece of information is that Bill Lohman was the last person my Dad (Cliff) every remembering who carried pistols like the old cowboy movies.  Our other primary customers were E. C. Mullendore of the Mullendore Ranch and many other local ranchers. 
Of course all the locals remember the Mullendore murder case but if you are not familiar you should read the book, "The Mullendore Murder Case".  Of course I enjoyed it as I knew personally most of the characters.  Anyway after all of that let me tell you our hay crew averaged over 1100 bails of hay per day as we worked from daylight to after dark every day the weather permitted during the summer and after school during the spring and fall.
One of the toughest gigs was moving all of the hay from one gambrel barn at Codding Cattle Ranch to the other loft in another barn.  It was July and August and the temperatures were about 100 degrees every day and you could fry an egg on the roof.  I bet the temperature was well above 120 degrees in those barns and I drank water continuously but still lost weight.  In fact that summer I was in the best shape of my life.  Some day I will tell you more about flying in an airplane the first time and going back to school. 
Don kept us working and we ate and drank while driving from the barns to the fields to get another load of hay to save time.  Very seldom did we stop to rest and lay under a tree or the truck to get relief from the hot sun.
But here is the last story about hauling hay before I end the day.  Kenny and I were waiting on a bail of hay to come up on the truck to be stacked when a bail came up and Kenny grabbed one string and I grabbed another.  The problem occured when a RATTLE SNAKE that was half bailed into the hay came over the edge and struck at Kenny getting one of its fangs stuck in Kenny's leather glove.  Kenny was very fast and we were both shocked and scared.  Kenny grabbed a boom (a big piece of metal used to tie down the load before heading to the barn) and he beat that snake to a pulp.  I think it took about 10 minutes for him (Kenny, not the snake) to start breathing again and for the excitement to settle down.Great memories of a great family from Grainola and yes I will tell you about the hellicopter someday.
Thanks for listening,Gary

Home on the Range 2011 01 take 2

Tonight I sit at Barnes and Noble in Oklahoma City near Quail Springs Mall waiting on my youngest son Preston (that will be another story) to finish basketball practice.  But this gives me time to write a few more notes about the Osage and living on the creek near Grainola.

One of my earliest memories is all the mothers getting together for Home Demonstration Club. Now for the younger set that is a club for women where they talk about things you have no clue about (few exceptions for those who are getting defensive) like sewing, canning, and baking. Now I suppose I have to explain that.

Sewing is where a person cuts out material and makes a dress.  Whoops, when was the last time I
saw a young person in a dress, surely I don’t have to define that as I know there are formal parties where a dress is required.  Anyway they make clothes, like shirts and pants. 

Now canning might be more difficult to understand.  First it does not have anything to do with a can or a cancan.  Do you have any idea what a cancan is?  Well look it up on wikopedia.  Canning is a process where folks took things from a garden (will explain what that is next) and put it in a jar, heat it up and then put a lid on it which seals so that the bacteria are dead and the goods inside are preserved for later use during the winter.  The canned goods are stored  in a celler (dadgumit – now I have to define what a celler is).  Anyway the types of things most likely canned are green beans, corn, okra, cabbage, and whatever is grown in the elusive garden.  There are a few exceptions like when we dug potatoes we did not can them but let them dry and stored them in the celler.

For goodness sake lets define celler.  A celler is not a seller which sells things at a store etc.  A celler is a hole in the ground then bricked up the sides and over the top then covered in cement on
top. Now there is a door and steps to get into the cellar.   So now you are probably asking WHY?  Well I will tell you.  A cellar is in the ground because it stays cool during the summer and warm (above freezing) during the winter.  The potatoes are laid on the floor but not too deep as that will cause rot and not covering the entire floor as this is also where we stored the canned goods on shelves placed in the celler.  Now if that did not cause you enough frustration let me tell you the primary but confusing thing about a cellar.  It is what farmers call a storm shelter or tornado shelter.  Now that makes since because Gary England has told all you youngsters to get in a safe place during the tornado warnings.  Here is where it gets confusing.  We DID NOT get tornado warnings as we/dad looked up at the sky and spotted the commotion.  Anyway here is the strange part.  If you went to any farm house there was a cellar in the yard but during a storm everyone pulled out their fancy folding lawn chairs and watched!  I never knew of anyone getting killed but we saw plenty of tornados over the years.

Before we leave the topic here is one last tornado story.  It was after school and Bob Scott
was driving the buss delivering the kids to their homes when we lost a tire on the bus.  By the way Bob was Lizzie’s husband, the cook at Grainola Grade School, he did everything Lizzie did not do
at the school including driving the bus.  We were out in the pasture about a half mile from the Custer’s house, where Leb lived.  Now I have to add there were other Custers but Leb was a little older than me and Leon was a lot older than leb.  Anyway while most of us stayed with the bus others took off to the Custers to get help.  Soon after the tire came off we were looking toward the north toward Aunt Hellen’s house (explained later) and there was the longest tornado I have ever seen.  It looked like it was about 2 to 4 miles north of us.  That evening when I got home I was telling
Dad (Cliff Olson) about it and he told me they were outside (farmers) looking at the sky and they saw a tornado about 2 to 4 miles south of them.  He was at Aunt Helen’s and that was about 1.5 miles north of where we were.  For the younger folks get out your HP calculators or Ipad and figure it out.  For those older folks you can see immediately there is a problem.

Well thanks for the time.

So long, farewell,  alfrederzane (I never was good at German even though I did take the
class).  Someone remind me the German teacher's name,  he was great.

Gary Olson

Glolson21@gmail.com

http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com/

 

go to my blog --- and lets here from you.  Be sure and sign up to follow.

January 2011 - The Beginning

January 2011 - The beginning   reprint from 2011

Last week I found myself in Shidler, Oklahoma  wondering around and discovered a passion for
my roots in Osage County, Shidler and of course Grainola.  I stopped by the Review Office and discovered it now belonged to Shelly’s daughter. Now I know everyone has a name but what was important was that Shelly (Rowe) Wilhelm had a daughter who was very pleasant and she now owned the Review.  Shelly was one of the most pleasant classmates and I still think of her as a high school girl with pretty hair and a pretty smile.  It warmed my heart just to think about our friendship back then and how time has crept away.  But the most alarming thing to me is how much I wanted to just remember all the good times and good friends and to just start writing them down.

Before I do that I should also tell you the reason I was in Shidler, Kaw City and Grainola was to celebrate the life of Don Kelsey.  Don was my first boss outside of mom and dad.  Don and his son, Kenny, and I hauled hay for all of three summers.  Don was a WW II veteran of the European
front.  Anyway there are a lot of stories to tell about Don,  Dorthy, and Kenny but
I will save that for another day.  Right now I just want to say that Don was a great man and we will all miss him.  Keep an eye out in my writings because someday I will tell you about Don’s helicopter – home made.

That brings me to this. The first installment of Home on the Range, memories of growing up in the Osage and the people who made it special.  So if I can keep it up I am going to share with you my life stories and how it was in the early days and how it effects my life today.  Oh ya, Mrs. Head is not allowed to read this
because she might flunk me.  And Miss Shumate has long passed but she always said my writing and my penmanship was terrible so she will not be allowed to read in Heavan.

My earliest recollection was growing up in Grainola, one mile north and three west on Beaver Creek. This is now the house of Dee Johnson and Jim Heath once lived there as I remember.  Probably no one will remember this but our first house became the Grainola Post Office and Mrs. Heath’s house
when it was moved in about 1959 to its current location.  They moved the whole dang house on a truck! By the way if you try to find the house it is down on its luck as it set next to
the tennis courts on highway 18 and before Dale’s grocery store which is gone now as well.  For those of you who are local, REMEMBER THE OUTHOUSE behind the grocery store.  Ask David Harris if he ever did anything he was not supposed to relative to that outhouse.  I bet he threw a rope around it a few times and tipped it over and if he did not Bob Harris did and there were a lot of other folks who were guilty as well.  Thank goodness you could not go to jail for those things.

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This is where there should be a picture of the old house

 


Anyway back to the farm on Beaver Creek.  Dad and I built the new house (Dee or Jim’s house later) about three feet from the old house.  I never did give Larry or Debbie (bro and sis) credit for helping as they were always in school and I was too young to go to school.  It was a brown house and I remember Mom (Opal) looking so young (she still says she is 29).  It was a great house because it now had that new tile on the floor.  Remember those 12 in by 12 in tile?  We had a huge fireplace which we used to heat the house even though we had one of those brown furnaces in the hallway to heat up the back of the house.  The other interesting thing about that house is that you could crawl under it (crawl space).  That is where all the new puppies were delivered.  In the kitchen we had copper colored
appliances which were pretty snazzy in those days.  Dad came up with this idea to have a drawer that would open to the kitchen or to the dining area to make it easy to get silverware both ways,  TECHNOLOGY. 

Thinking about technology I remember getting a record player  at that house.  Today most people don’t know what that is or what it looked like but EVERY Beatle recording was on a plastic disc called a vinyl and Suzie Snyder owned everyone of them (Gladys Snyder’s daughter).

We did have telephones then and each was black and as I recall that was the only option on color and everyone was a rotary phone.  Now for the young folks reading this that means when you dialed a 9 you stuck your finger in a hole and drug it in a circular motion back to the little stopper then let it go.  You repeated this step 5 times, yes 5 times,  because that is all the numbers I had to dial to call Eddy Harris, my cousin, up the road.  Today our phones have family shared minutes but in those days we shared the entire line with our neighbors.  As I recall we had the Weavers or was it the Shumates (Mrs. Shumate and her daughters Sally and Janie), Vea Harris (Norma, Bob, David, Janis, and Eddy), John and Linda Murphy plus kids and us (the Olson’s) on one line.  When you wanted to call someone you had to make sure no one else was on the line but if someone was already on the line you could listen in until they caught you and told you to get off. 

I don’t know how much of this you can take at one setting but I will start working on the next segment.

Happy Trails,

Gary Olson

Glolson21@gmail.com