Some Have All The Luck---Hard Luck Chark

I THINK THIS WAS A COMPLIMENT. DO YOU?

I recently conducted a funeral of  a 
wealthy rancher in our community. The man had many friends from near and far.

Following the service, a lady visitor said to me,  "Your sermon was so earthy."

I think this was a compliment. Do you?

THE REAL COWBOY (Hint---Willie Nelson was wrong)

I recently met three generations of real cowboys. They reaffirmed my growing respect and admiration for the real cowboys in Oklahoma. In all fairness to Willie --there are probably a few cowboys he warned Mamas about.

The real cowboys I know:

• Wear ball caps when working. Stetsons for dress up.  
• Ride horses AND four 4-wheelers 
• Are soft spoken---lot like Gary Cooper
• Seldom smoke---some dip
• Are family oriented, many are church goers
• Few drink 
• Treat their employees as family
• Are politically conservative, but open minded
• Are not afraid of technology 
• Are happy and doing what they always wanted
• Work unbelievable long hours
• Keep cattle well fed regardless of the weather
• Treat their horses as best friends
• Are Very, Very Patriotic

Yes, these are the cowboys I know. Wish all of the readers of this Post could know them too.

"The Wild Side of Life" and "It Wasn't God Who made Honky Tonk Angels"

Back in the 50's there was a trend in Country Music to record a song and if was a big hit, another artist would record what was called in the trade as an "Answer Song"

Here is the best example I know of

Hank Thompson "The Wild Side of Life"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5y5jWv2xQw&list=RD6l7rLA9Jm1I


Later, Kitty Wells recorded the answer song ---It wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYij4OpOY6E

By the way, Hank Thompson was an Oklahoman!

IS THIS TRUE ABOUT YOU ????? V. 2

Added: I had hoped the word "minister" would imply the discussion of spiritual issues. For the record: Spiritual concerns are at the heart of what I am most often asked about and what I ask about. ETERNITY IS FOREVER !!!! 


The distinguished professor of history at Norte Dame, Thomas F. X. Noble, says that all of recorded history seeks to answer two questions:

• WHAT HAPPENED ?
•  WHAT WILL FUTURE GENERATIONS THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED? 

Now let's look at the question raised in the title of this Post?

Being doubly blessed to have a father alive as he nears 99 years of age, and to be in a capacity to be involved with many senior adults as they come face to face with their own mortality has given me a special opportunity to know and understand the personal histories of many, many people.

1. ORAL HISTORIES (What Happened)---All of us have an oral history. Most do not have a written history of our lives. Consequently, as people age they want  to be remembered.  Their "Story" is oft repeated to family, friends, and as Forrest Gump taught us, even to total strangers. 

An oral history is usually meant, without this being verbalized, to be transmitted to and through many generations. Most people want to try and connect the dots from their earliest memories to the present and beyond. Subjects covered include significant people who were involved in our lives, love and  marriages,jobs, places lived, education, hobbies, vacations, and the complete script of life itself.

As people age, long term memory outpaces short term memory and old stories are retold and new facts and events never revealed before, come to the forefront. 

2. CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT TOMORROW (What Will They Think)

Whether we like to admit it or not, all of us, from a very early age, are "Spin Doctors." That is, we try to influence how our listeners will respond to our "Story" Most of the time we seek to present our history in a positive light. 

Sometimes humor and the "Poor Boy" approach is employed. "When I was your age I had to walk ten miles, barefoot, to school!" No one believes that;but it says, "I had it rougher than you."

We tell of our mistakes in an effort to influence our listeners not to repeat them. 

Here's something I find most interesting: Oral histories of the elderly are often told in a Tell All fashion. Maybe this is confession that is long overdue or it is to set the record straight on what others may have told the listener. They reveal things in confidence.

Over the years I have heard many, many accounts of youthful indiscretions--- including minor crimes, drinking, detailed romantic encounters, lies, both big and small, anger, fights, and assorted other teen and young adult adventures.

Often, stories of affairs, serious addiction,  stealing, and a host of major wrongs come forth from the period of their early twenties to the present so as to clear a troubled conscience. 

It has been said that when a minister dies a thousand secrets go to the grave with him. I wonder if a thousand is a large enough number.

I would be remiss if I did not tell of a woman I once knew who had written multiple volumes of her family's lives. Truly, this is the exception rather than the norm. 

BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN AT A DOCTOR'S OFFICE

THE PERSON WHO TOLD THIS STORY MAY WATCH TOO MUCH TELEVISION!

• Sometimes people are afraid to see a doctor because they fear bad news.
• Others are afraid because the doctor might make their pain worse during the exam.
• Many are afraid to see a doctor because of a possible big bill.

What follows has just about made me afraid to see a doctor. Here's why:

This particular doctor had a number of exam rooms that were all in a row and separated only by a thin layer of sheet rock.

While awaiting the doctor to come in, all of a sudden a sledge hammer comes through the left wall and a person sticks his head through the hole and shouts, " !Viva de Mexico"

His heart nearly stops when another sledge hammer comes through the right wall and a person pokes his head through and yells, "Brazil!"

The nurse comes in and tells the patient that because of the chaotic disturbance there will be no bill.

The patient is somewhat relieved and replies, "That's generous." 

The elderly nurse says in her loudest outdoor voice, Crazy Generous!

I 'LL NOT BE GOING TO SEE THAT DOCTOR!

POPS, I'M SORRY I FAILED TO PICK YOU UP !

THINGS DON'T GET MUCH WILDER THAN THIS. THIS A TRUE STORY--NAMES CHANGED TO PROTECT THE GUILTY !

SAM SELDOM VISITED HIS CHILDREN IN COLUMBUS, INDIANA. ON A RARE VISIT HE ASKED HIS SON WOODY TO PICK HIM UP IN INDIANAPOLIS AT THE TRAIN STATION (THIS TOOK PLACE A LONG TIME AGO)

WOODY WAS INVOLVED IN A BIG BUSINESS DEAL AND FAILED TO GO GET HIS DAD.SOMEHOW BEN GOT TO HIS DAUGHTER'S HOUSE IN COLUMBUS.

WOODY CAME TO SEE HIS DAD AND AN INSTANT ALTERCATION STARTEDsAM CHATCH

IT WAS SO WINDY........

OKLAHOMA HAS LOTS AND LOTS OF WIND. RECENTLY WE HAD 40-50 MPH WINDS ON A CLOUDLESS DAY.

Today I was checking out of the Dollar General store and the elderly lady ahead of me was complaining to the clerk about the wind.

I couldn't resist making this comment to both of the ladies, "Yes, it sure was windy. In fact, it was so windy that even Superman was walking!" 

Without a moments delay, the elderly lady said to me and the clerk, "That ain't nothin'. A lady I know who lives on a farm told me it was so windy that one of her layin' hens laid the same egg twice!" 

I remarked, " That sure beats the one I told." The clerk agreed and said, "It sure does!"

Oklahomans are great story tellers. Especially when it involves the weather.

SHE DID IT ALL WITH HIGH HEELS ON !

YOU TUBE HAS MANY, MANY CLIPS OF FRED AND GINGER DANCING !!!! PREPARE TO BE AMAZED !!

Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire made 10 movies together. They thrilled and bedazzled audiences for decades. 

The plots were all about the same and they were tissue thin. The supporting casts were usually drawn from the low B lists. Much of the orchestration was right out the 1930's---what would you expect from their movies made in the 1930's?

Some of the tunes were straight from the major composers of the day. Ginger and Fred were average singers and a bit above average actors. However, their dancing was without equal and not likely to be duplicated ever again.

Fred Astaire is generally recognized as the greatest "hoofer" ever. Yes, Gene Kelly was good, but Fred was in a class alone. He was a perfectionist and it showed.

While Fred had many dance partners over the years, it was Ginger Rodgers who turned dancing with Fred into an art form. She seemed to effortlessly dance from stage right to stage left with Fred. The tap numbers always amaze me.

Fortunately, TCM shows their movies from time to time. I try to never miss them. I wish the younger generations would watch and appreciate the Fred and Ginger classics. 

Ginger and Fred could do any dance to any number. But always remember, Ginger did it all with heels on!

TWICE IS ENOUGH---THREE TIMES IS TOO MANY ! v 2.0

MY YOUTHFUL ROMANCES SOMETIMES ENDED WITH SOME HEARTACHES.

LATER, I WENT THROUGH THE PAIN AND HEARTACHE OF MY CHILDREN'S BREAKUPS.

AS COMMENTED EARLIER, MY WIFE AND I ARE RAISING THREE OF OUR GRANDCHILDREN. OUR OLDEST GRANDSON HAS JUST EXPERIENCED THE PAINFUL BREAKUP OF A LONG TERM ROMANCE.  (GRANDSON  WILL MAKE IT OK.)

I WISH I COULD TELL HIM TO FORGET IT AND GET ON WITH HIS LIFE. LIFE AND HEART MATTERS ARE NOT THAT EASY. TIME DOES NOT HEAL EVERYTHING. TIME DOES HELP US PRIORITIZE THE MANY THINGS WE LEARN---OFTEN THE HARD WAY! 

HEY, THIS IS OKLAHOMA !!!!

THINGS CAN GET STRANGE ON THE PRAIRIE (From KFOR-TV Website)

Residents in south Oklahoma City say they were forced to call 911 after an intruder showed up on their porch. However, the suspect was a goat.

“I heard some rumbling, and I thought that somebody was trying to break into the house, and then I come out here and check it,” Edgar Cardoza said. “Then I see it coming towards me, and so I run back inside. Heck no.”

Cardoza thought it was a burglar.

“It was a goat. I don’t know what it was.,” he said. “It was like a ram I think. Can’t really tell.”

It is big. Has horns, and it was using those horns to try to get inside Cardoza’s house. That is when he did the only thing he knew to do. He called 911.

“First somebody called and said that there was a goat running around the neighborhood, and as we were driving to it the homeowner where the goat actually was called in too to say that a ram was trying to beat down his front door,” OKC Police Lt. Jeff Spruill said.

Police arrived on scene.

“We got there,” Spruill said. “It wasn’t a ram. It was a goat, but it was trying to beat down his front door.”

Cardoza refused to come out of his house again.

“It’s pretty scary when it charges at you,” he said.

That’s when the goat turned his attention to police and went after them and their police cars.

“The front door was like this, and they had a window right here and the goat is right here hitting the front door, and so you can see the signs of someone peaking out the blinds, but they never came to the door,” Lt. Jeff Spruill said.  ”We had to communicate with them through dispatch.”

Cardoza displays a gun sign in his front window that reads “We don’t dial 911.” However, the goat was an exception.

“I don’t want to hurt an animal,” he said.

The goat was an exception police as well.

“If it were a burglar, a human burglar on their front porch we know how to deal with that,” Lt. Spruill said. “We’re trained and equipped, but we don’t know how to deal with a goat. We go deal with the things that nobody else wants to.”

Police dealt with the goat, but if he had been an actual person, things would have ended much differently.

“It would be attempted burglary,” Spruill said.

Cardoza says he now knows his neighbor uses that goat as a guard dog. The owner eventually captured his lost pet and took him back home.