When I was growing up there was no Redbox, Netflix, HBO or anything like it. The three networks played movies or we didn't see them. It was always something special when they played a John Wayne movie. It still is. We would discuss it at school the next day. Recount our favorite lines..." Liberty Vallance? Why he is the toughest man south of the Pickett Wire...Except for me!" Growing up in Central Texas being tough meant a good bit. Football was king. A great hit on defense was as much admired as a touchdown.
"Allright!" the Duke bellowed. " We see how tough you are with a kid. How are you when they come a little bigger?" That still gives me chills...Beating up some one smaller or weaker was nothing. Less than nothing. But at my house getting beat up wasn't a good thing either. When I was in 5th grade at Meadows grade school on Ft.Hood we had a test. We then passed our papers to the kid to our right. We graded each others paper.I got the paper of a kid name Stacey. He thought he was tough but he made an F on the test, that I had the pleasure of grading. I was a smarty pants even back then. So I raised his paper with my very big hand written F on it and showed the class..Well the guy guy with the F that thought he was tough was waiting on me when I made an exit from school. With out alot of fan fare he kicked my butt right outside of the exit door. In front of everyone. Then I ran like hell and he chased me down then choked me! This was not a good day, but it wasn't over:/ At home when my dad...More to come on him later..heard my story he was mad at me! Not the evil Stacey, but at me! I was told to beat him up the next day and report back to him...A lie never crossed my mind...That didn't work at our house. The next day I waited for the evil Stacey and ambushed him like he did me. He ran like I did, but I didn't chase him down and choke him. I counted my blessing and went home and reported to my dad..... My dad. well. If Albert Einstein was your dad and you said how smart he he was would you be bragging?
In a world of very tough men my dad stood out.One day when I have time for the story I will tell about the KKK calling ....After high school I joined the Army. A few times after a day of training instructors pulled me aside to see...if he was my dad. They day I graduated Airborne school I was told to report to the senior NCO. He invited me to his house where we drank beer and he told me stories. The one he took the most pleasure telling was this in a nutshell. When my dad was sent to Korea they were on a bus and all the Koreans got mad and a fight was unavoidable. My dad got up and ran to the front...This guy thinks, Oh the new guy is a coward! But at the front of the bus my dad throws the bus driver out of the bus an locks the door so the others cant get out! Must I tell you how the fight ends??
Once my sister came home and something wasn't right. She had broken up with her boyfriend and he broke a pool stick across her back..In the middle of supper he just looked at me and shrugged..My cue to drive into town and take care of things. I did.It was my first time to set in the back of a police car. For fighting. I was let go. But I was learning our way of life.
Years later I was in town with my brother. I think him and his friends were drinking(wink wink not me mom). This guy way lays into Jason as he is trying to pull himself free from a sweatshirt. Guys on ourside try to jump in and give Jason a chance but the big ole guy not our friend announces" No one is breaking this up!" I said nothing. I know my brother..In a matter of seconds the tables are turned and my little brother has the tables turned on the older guy, beating him to pieces. Old what's his name tries to step in but I stop him with his own words..No one is breaking this up!
This is all background. In THE SHOOTIST a great movie. John Wayne, the Duke's last movie: ' But Doc you said I was as strong as an ox." Doc.. "But even an ox dies"......John Wayne died not long after the movie.
When I heard my dad had cancer it really did't bother me much. It didn't. I thought he would beat it.
Today I talked to an old friend that I have known for 40 years. We were just shooting the bull as it is called. Her son was there and she mentioned something like.." I told you he could kick ass" or something like that. I was flattered because I really never was around her in my wild days. Then I started thinking.. Her Dad was a CSM in the army, so was mine. Those guys were tough when and where it counted.
I drove Carl home today and on the way back, just scratching an itch...I notice my arms are nothing like they were 10 years ago. Last night at 3 am I woke up coughing so bad I didn't go to sleep for hours. I have never been the weak link. I have never had to question can i do it..I guess I don.t fell like Superman tonight. I dont like.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
You can't make old friends
" When somebody knocks at the door, someone new walks in, I will smile and shake their hand, but you can't make old friends"
After a Saturday of me working when I really didn't want to, and I never do, then moving furniture, because the couch really does need to be closer to the tv, we sat down for some Netflix. No,not me and my high school sweetheart, she is on her 4th marriage somewhere in Texas. Not me and Carl, he was 20 feet away online playing a video game in his room. Not me and Sandra Bullock, she is still playing hard to get. It was me and Larry.We met in 1976 at Sunday school.Yea i know ,but it Was Sunday school. I met Larry, Jim Caldwell, Sheri Gordon and Sheri Wright. Lou Langston and Dyanna Adair. If I wasn't afraid of going to hell I would have went anyway's because of the great looking girls! But through the years it was me and Larry that stuck.
Larry set me up with my first job. He was going off to church camp. Don't laugh, he did go to church camp! So I learned to thread the projectors at the Gatesville drive in. He went to camp and I kept that job for over 4 years, right up until the day I joined the Army. Larry joined with me. We were top bunk, lower bunk in basic training. We were roommates in airborne school, where we by chance had our only fist fight because he didn't think I made my bunk up to par...Then after the Army we went off to Jr. College. Larry finished on time but I stayed around while he moved on to Baylor. Finally the MCC people told me to move on so I went to Baylor also. Larry hooked me up with a great roommate Bill Jess. But we were not done. We had the same boss for awhile working at a Waco movie theater. She became my first wife, so I guess we know who her favorite was!
For many years the married life kept us busy. He lived around Waco I moved to Oklahoma. He got a "few" divorces's then went Iraq as a truck driver where he fell off of Sadaam's palace wall and broke his damn neck.
He stayed with one of his sisters in Las Vegas until he got semi-better then he moved to Oklahoma City.Then he moved in here.
All of this is back ground for us setting on the dang couch pulling up Netflix Saturday and watching the first three episodes of Cheers and laughing our asses off! In between episodes he said ' Who would have thought 20 years ago we would be setting her watching tv together?"
Old Friends, Lord when my work is done bless my life and grant me one, old friend...
After a Saturday of me working when I really didn't want to, and I never do, then moving furniture, because the couch really does need to be closer to the tv, we sat down for some Netflix. No,not me and my high school sweetheart, she is on her 4th marriage somewhere in Texas. Not me and Carl, he was 20 feet away online playing a video game in his room. Not me and Sandra Bullock, she is still playing hard to get. It was me and Larry.We met in 1976 at Sunday school.Yea i know ,but it Was Sunday school. I met Larry, Jim Caldwell, Sheri Gordon and Sheri Wright. Lou Langston and Dyanna Adair. If I wasn't afraid of going to hell I would have went anyway's because of the great looking girls! But through the years it was me and Larry that stuck.
Larry set me up with my first job. He was going off to church camp. Don't laugh, he did go to church camp! So I learned to thread the projectors at the Gatesville drive in. He went to camp and I kept that job for over 4 years, right up until the day I joined the Army. Larry joined with me. We were top bunk, lower bunk in basic training. We were roommates in airborne school, where we by chance had our only fist fight because he didn't think I made my bunk up to par...Then after the Army we went off to Jr. College. Larry finished on time but I stayed around while he moved on to Baylor. Finally the MCC people told me to move on so I went to Baylor also. Larry hooked me up with a great roommate Bill Jess. But we were not done. We had the same boss for awhile working at a Waco movie theater. She became my first wife, so I guess we know who her favorite was!
For many years the married life kept us busy. He lived around Waco I moved to Oklahoma. He got a "few" divorces's then went Iraq as a truck driver where he fell off of Sadaam's palace wall and broke his damn neck.
He stayed with one of his sisters in Las Vegas until he got semi-better then he moved to Oklahoma City.Then he moved in here.
All of this is back ground for us setting on the dang couch pulling up Netflix Saturday and watching the first three episodes of Cheers and laughing our asses off! In between episodes he said ' Who would have thought 20 years ago we would be setting her watching tv together?"
Old Friends, Lord when my work is done bless my life and grant me one, old friend...
Sunday, April 28, 2013
bad days?
On Saturday I threw a hissy fit. It started as a dang bad day and I really have not had a kick the dog, flip the bird, cuss in public fit in a while. But like they say about riding a bike.....
Early I went to the bank to deposit my check. Easy enough. As usual I left my keys in my truck, hey this is Oklahoma City and I still trust the folks..But when I came out my doors were locked. I peeked in the windows and my keys were in the ignition. All Chevy's have a safety built in ...keys in: doors wont lock. Except Saturday.So with my trusty Iphone I look up lock smith. "As low as 19 dollars" So I called and what the ad meant was $35. I said ok they said 30 minutes. Waiting and hungry I walked across the street to Carl's Jr to get a hamburger. No one in the parking lot but a car pulled up. I am not in a hurry so I stay a second and hold the door let the couple in before me. Every one there knows these folks, take their order and shoot the bull. I wait. I look at the menu then the girl behind the register. A manager ask her" are you on break" she says yes. They all go back to talking and wont wait on me.I get mad and try to leave but try a locked door..No one will wait on me but all say "Wrong Door" so I leave without anyone trying to take my order...Then the locksmith comes up and charges me 50 for the once 19 dollar then 35.....Next I stop to buy a few things and my debit card is declined. Impossible I think I just deposited 700 dollars. The bank does not reflect this and is closed until Monday.....I wear my emotions on my sleeve. When I get mad...Well its easy to see. I am in my front yard cussing- i am very good at this, sorry mom-when a dang truck shows up with a roofing company's logo on the side...This poor dude is picking a poor time. Well I figure I might have slipped a few F Bombs to the computer I was talking to on the phone when I see the guy out of the roofing truck...Jody Madden. Friend is not enough of a word...more about that some other time.
I haven't seen Jody in a year and a half and Carl was inside but some way they got me calmed down. I think food had alot to do with it.I really hated Jody, and Carl running into me while I was that mad. Me mad is not like Bill Cosby mad. I am not good to be around. So we went to Bruams for a burger and fries, and Carl gave me his ice cream.I was no longer the Hulk.
Jody left, going back to Colorado, Carl ended up staying with my brother and his kids, so I chilled out.
The Oklahoma City Marathon started at 630 am and I met my sister in law and Carl to cheer my brother on. I had another friend running the race, a pretty little girl that I worked with for about 8 years, so I wanted to support her too.Oh..I am friends with her husband Kevin just so people who know me dont get the wrong idea....
I guess my point is: what I thought was such a bad weekend at the start was really great. I got to watch my little skinny brother finish 3rd out of over 10,000 in the half marathon. His friend won the marathon. My buddy Sarah finished over 12 miles without training for it. These people inspire me.Then I got to spend all day long with Carl. We are addicted to NCIS so we watched alot of that on dvd. I went to visit my uncle Billy in the hospital but I am not gonna mention what most think until we get word.
I started the weekend cussing at the phone , ended up hugging my boy in the front yard. All is well that ends well.
ps Carl going to his moms is the worst part of my week every week. Not because he doesn't deserve to be with her and need to be with her, it is because he has only been gone a few hours and I miss him. It is not real hard for me to get a little rowdy, or mad, or to find a little trouble on my own. It is hard when me and the boy are watching Gibbs and the crew solving crimes.
Early I went to the bank to deposit my check. Easy enough. As usual I left my keys in my truck, hey this is Oklahoma City and I still trust the folks..But when I came out my doors were locked. I peeked in the windows and my keys were in the ignition. All Chevy's have a safety built in ...keys in: doors wont lock. Except Saturday.So with my trusty Iphone I look up lock smith. "As low as 19 dollars" So I called and what the ad meant was $35. I said ok they said 30 minutes. Waiting and hungry I walked across the street to Carl's Jr to get a hamburger. No one in the parking lot but a car pulled up. I am not in a hurry so I stay a second and hold the door let the couple in before me. Every one there knows these folks, take their order and shoot the bull. I wait. I look at the menu then the girl behind the register. A manager ask her" are you on break" she says yes. They all go back to talking and wont wait on me.I get mad and try to leave but try a locked door..No one will wait on me but all say "Wrong Door" so I leave without anyone trying to take my order...Then the locksmith comes up and charges me 50 for the once 19 dollar then 35.....Next I stop to buy a few things and my debit card is declined. Impossible I think I just deposited 700 dollars. The bank does not reflect this and is closed until Monday.....I wear my emotions on my sleeve. When I get mad...Well its easy to see. I am in my front yard cussing- i am very good at this, sorry mom-when a dang truck shows up with a roofing company's logo on the side...This poor dude is picking a poor time. Well I figure I might have slipped a few F Bombs to the computer I was talking to on the phone when I see the guy out of the roofing truck...Jody Madden. Friend is not enough of a word...more about that some other time.
I haven't seen Jody in a year and a half and Carl was inside but some way they got me calmed down. I think food had alot to do with it.I really hated Jody, and Carl running into me while I was that mad. Me mad is not like Bill Cosby mad. I am not good to be around. So we went to Bruams for a burger and fries, and Carl gave me his ice cream.I was no longer the Hulk.
Jody left, going back to Colorado, Carl ended up staying with my brother and his kids, so I chilled out.
The Oklahoma City Marathon started at 630 am and I met my sister in law and Carl to cheer my brother on. I had another friend running the race, a pretty little girl that I worked with for about 8 years, so I wanted to support her too.Oh..I am friends with her husband Kevin just so people who know me dont get the wrong idea....
I guess my point is: what I thought was such a bad weekend at the start was really great. I got to watch my little skinny brother finish 3rd out of over 10,000 in the half marathon. His friend won the marathon. My buddy Sarah finished over 12 miles without training for it. These people inspire me.Then I got to spend all day long with Carl. We are addicted to NCIS so we watched alot of that on dvd. I went to visit my uncle Billy in the hospital but I am not gonna mention what most think until we get word.
I started the weekend cussing at the phone , ended up hugging my boy in the front yard. All is well that ends well.
ps Carl going to his moms is the worst part of my week every week. Not because he doesn't deserve to be with her and need to be with her, it is because he has only been gone a few hours and I miss him. It is not real hard for me to get a little rowdy, or mad, or to find a little trouble on my own. It is hard when me and the boy are watching Gibbs and the crew solving crimes.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Boston
Well the Boston trip had unexpected, unwanted tragedy and drama added by some sick individual or group. Terror will never break the American people so I want to take a moment and do what terrorist don't want us to do. I want to talk about the great city of Boston and the great people of Boston.
Boston the week of the marathon is like an Olympic village. I must have talked to people from over 40 countries, all of them so excited just to be in the city of Boston for the the marathon. For many they have worked years just to qualify. Many worked years to save the money to come in from various countries on the African continent. I spoke to others from Japan, the Netherlands, Australia... But to tell you the truth the people from right there in Boston were just about as foreign to us..Well that is stretching it a little but not much!
On this trip was me and Carl, my nephew Teel, and cousin Sandy out of Mississippi , my mom who planned the whole deal , and the reason we all went my brother Jason who ran the race.
Sandy is not really a hick like the rest of us but she was born and raised in Oklahoma so you get the idea of our make up. Me and Jason grew up in a part of Texas that still had party lines when were were young. My graduating class was eight his around 20. My mom grew up in Thackerville Oklahoma, a town of a few hundred people until the Indians built the worlds 4th largest casino in a pasture by I 35. I am not kidding about that. Carl my boy lives in Jones Oklahoma when he is not staying with me, and Jones has two gas stations and one red light.Sandy grew up in Ponca City and I do not know much about it except it is in Oklahoma and is not Oklahoma City or Tulsa so most like she would be considered a small town girl by most. Why all this background? Well our version of the Beverly Hillbillies just hit Boston!
We found the people of Boston to be great! It started with the cab driver who answered around 4,000 questions from us in the 10 minute cab drive from the airport to our hotel. His accent was worse than mine so when I asked he said he was from Boston. Then I asked no before that? Oh Jamaica! But he considers himself from Boston know. I like that. The line in the hotel was very long. When it was our turn,before the girl could get us checked in and tell us all her spill I asked a question a long time coming : How far are we from Cheers? I know this girl must have had a long day and she probably had that question thrown to her a million times but she acted as excited as I was...." Oh we are close " she said and not only gave us directions but pulled out a map and showed us how she would go. I was expecting " the cab driver will know". But this girl loved her town. We were starting to also.
After putting our things away we all decided to walk to Cheers. As we were walking around like typical tourist looking at tall buildings and pointing at sights strange to us, a young police woman on a very large horse shines a big ole smile at me-in my boots, wranglers, and black Stetson- and says "You are not from Boston!" ..It was pretty funny. I kind of wanted to get frisked but was with the whole family...
We did eat at Cheers. We bought stuff, and we took pictures, but I did not drink a beer but I am taking Cheers off of my Bucket list. I was there and I was not disappointed. Good enough. On the way back a construction worker gave me a " Hi Tex!" All the kids laughed. Back at the Hotel some kid about 3 years old shrieked so loud I jumped then asked very loud "Are you a real cowboy?" I started to put on my best John Travolta impression on and reply " That depends on what you think a real cowboy is" but I figured an Urban Cowboy reference would go over a three year old head....
We split up the big ole group sometimes. Once me and my brother went walking down the streets of Boston. I thought to my self This is a long way from Plumb Creek. We took cheesy pictures of each other in front of Fenway Park.
I had a roomate in the army that grew up around 50 miles from Boston. He has worked their most of his adult life. Vincent Pedone spent all day Sunday giving us a great tour of Boston with insights of a local. I got to meet his two boys he he met my family. We did all the history stuff that I love then he took us to a 250 year old tavern for lunch, and it was out of the world great! Hope I can repay him some day down here.
So Sunday morning we all go to church. Jason googles a church and we take a cab. Remember where we are from. Like a scene out of a movie we walk into a full to the back, all black church...Just saying it was different. Man the singing was out of this world. Same songs not same delivery. Think of a song sang by Pat Boone. A good singer. Now listen to that same song by Ray Charles.. You get the point..If not listen to America the Beautiful by Ray Charles...Man that was great.
I was wearing normal stuff for me. Wranglers, boots, and a pearl snap shirt. These people were dressed up! I sneezed once and three different people gave Kleenex. I asked my mom for a pen but a woman behind us shot one out first. Some man rushed over to loan my mom his bible.We were very welcomed. They gave us a ride back to the hotel in a van. I met a young girl: Senior at Harvard. Two young but very shy guys...Students at MIT that the van picked up every Sunday. Less than an hour after the bombs went off Monday the church texted my brother to see if we were all right and if we needed anything...
I have been to NFL, NBA. and MLB games. I have been to hockey games and pro rodeo as well as Nascar. Marathons stand up to any sport on earth as far as energy and excitement, and make no mistake...there is no place like Boston..Complete stranger scream encouragement to complete strangers for hours.. I mean real screams real energy!!! I can not express what it was like to watch my brother compete in a world class event against the best runners on earth.. Well over 20,000 people ran and he came in 322. And he is 40 years old. Check one off of his bucket list..a big one
Last thing. Six people , six schedules, airlines hotels ...My mom made it happen without a flaw. She has never been afraid to take charge. Why should she, she is good at it.
I know its a sad time. I hurt for the 8 year old and the other victims. To dwell on that is to let the terrorist win
Boston the week of the marathon is like an Olympic village. I must have talked to people from over 40 countries, all of them so excited just to be in the city of Boston for the the marathon. For many they have worked years just to qualify. Many worked years to save the money to come in from various countries on the African continent. I spoke to others from Japan, the Netherlands, Australia... But to tell you the truth the people from right there in Boston were just about as foreign to us..Well that is stretching it a little but not much!
On this trip was me and Carl, my nephew Teel, and cousin Sandy out of Mississippi , my mom who planned the whole deal , and the reason we all went my brother Jason who ran the race.
Sandy is not really a hick like the rest of us but she was born and raised in Oklahoma so you get the idea of our make up. Me and Jason grew up in a part of Texas that still had party lines when were were young. My graduating class was eight his around 20. My mom grew up in Thackerville Oklahoma, a town of a few hundred people until the Indians built the worlds 4th largest casino in a pasture by I 35. I am not kidding about that. Carl my boy lives in Jones Oklahoma when he is not staying with me, and Jones has two gas stations and one red light.Sandy grew up in Ponca City and I do not know much about it except it is in Oklahoma and is not Oklahoma City or Tulsa so most like she would be considered a small town girl by most. Why all this background? Well our version of the Beverly Hillbillies just hit Boston!
We found the people of Boston to be great! It started with the cab driver who answered around 4,000 questions from us in the 10 minute cab drive from the airport to our hotel. His accent was worse than mine so when I asked he said he was from Boston. Then I asked no before that? Oh Jamaica! But he considers himself from Boston know. I like that. The line in the hotel was very long. When it was our turn,before the girl could get us checked in and tell us all her spill I asked a question a long time coming : How far are we from Cheers? I know this girl must have had a long day and she probably had that question thrown to her a million times but she acted as excited as I was...." Oh we are close " she said and not only gave us directions but pulled out a map and showed us how she would go. I was expecting " the cab driver will know". But this girl loved her town. We were starting to also.
After putting our things away we all decided to walk to Cheers. As we were walking around like typical tourist looking at tall buildings and pointing at sights strange to us, a young police woman on a very large horse shines a big ole smile at me-in my boots, wranglers, and black Stetson- and says "You are not from Boston!" ..It was pretty funny. I kind of wanted to get frisked but was with the whole family...
We did eat at Cheers. We bought stuff, and we took pictures, but I did not drink a beer but I am taking Cheers off of my Bucket list. I was there and I was not disappointed. Good enough. On the way back a construction worker gave me a " Hi Tex!" All the kids laughed. Back at the Hotel some kid about 3 years old shrieked so loud I jumped then asked very loud "Are you a real cowboy?" I started to put on my best John Travolta impression on and reply " That depends on what you think a real cowboy is" but I figured an Urban Cowboy reference would go over a three year old head....
We split up the big ole group sometimes. Once me and my brother went walking down the streets of Boston. I thought to my self This is a long way from Plumb Creek. We took cheesy pictures of each other in front of Fenway Park.
I had a roomate in the army that grew up around 50 miles from Boston. He has worked their most of his adult life. Vincent Pedone spent all day Sunday giving us a great tour of Boston with insights of a local. I got to meet his two boys he he met my family. We did all the history stuff that I love then he took us to a 250 year old tavern for lunch, and it was out of the world great! Hope I can repay him some day down here.
So Sunday morning we all go to church. Jason googles a church and we take a cab. Remember where we are from. Like a scene out of a movie we walk into a full to the back, all black church...Just saying it was different. Man the singing was out of this world. Same songs not same delivery. Think of a song sang by Pat Boone. A good singer. Now listen to that same song by Ray Charles.. You get the point..If not listen to America the Beautiful by Ray Charles...Man that was great.
I was wearing normal stuff for me. Wranglers, boots, and a pearl snap shirt. These people were dressed up! I sneezed once and three different people gave Kleenex. I asked my mom for a pen but a woman behind us shot one out first. Some man rushed over to loan my mom his bible.We were very welcomed. They gave us a ride back to the hotel in a van. I met a young girl: Senior at Harvard. Two young but very shy guys...Students at MIT that the van picked up every Sunday. Less than an hour after the bombs went off Monday the church texted my brother to see if we were all right and if we needed anything...
I have been to NFL, NBA. and MLB games. I have been to hockey games and pro rodeo as well as Nascar. Marathons stand up to any sport on earth as far as energy and excitement, and make no mistake...there is no place like Boston..Complete stranger scream encouragement to complete strangers for hours.. I mean real screams real energy!!! I can not express what it was like to watch my brother compete in a world class event against the best runners on earth.. Well over 20,000 people ran and he came in 322. And he is 40 years old. Check one off of his bucket list..a big one
Last thing. Six people , six schedules, airlines hotels ...My mom made it happen without a flaw. She has never been afraid to take charge. Why should she, she is good at it.
I know its a sad time. I hurt for the 8 year old and the other victims. To dwell on that is to let the terrorist win
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Reading
I like alot of things. Football, pizza and beer come to mind. I like the smell of leather, and opening doors for people who do not expect it. I like boxing and black and white movies. I like pretty girls, and girls that don't know they are. I like hound dogs and Chevy trucks and Elvis. Some times I like looking at an American flag and fireworks so much it makes me want to cry. I like beef jerky and Bugs Bunny. I like oil paintings and movie posters, and I like reading..Yea I said it, i'm out of the closet I like reading. Books. With no pictures.
My moms sisters were teachers so I got books for Christmas. I got books for my birthday, but heck I didn't know everyone else were getting Tonka Trucks and playdough , I thought everyone got books so I loved them. And I read them. I read about dinosaurs and hero's. I read about monsters and villains and trains then cowboys...
I went to a very small school and to those that went to a big school ...I had a very big advantage....very individualized help and VERY above average teachers. By far the meanest teacher was Ms. Lightsey and no person smart or challenged, rich or poor risked her wrath...but she taught literature and I was hooked on westerns. Louis La'amour..best writer ever...sorry Moses, not counting you. She used to bust me reading my westerns all the time but never busted my b... well never gave me grief over it.Once I was in the principals office and another teacher asked her why she didn't punish me for it... she said at least I was reading..God bless you Miss Lightsey...
Back before most people had cable and no one had internet I had a good racket going. I showed movies at the theater so I read books while I worked.I got INFO Please Almanacs for Christmas every year so I came across semi smart ..I was..still am ..pretty good at trivia.
Some way I did get into a good University...Baylor. I made friend with some very smart , high achieving people there. I made just some good friends there. But from Jonesboro Texas to Baylor one thing stands out... Reading.. If you can read you can learn to do anything..Well maybe not read a woman....But if you can read the sky is the limit.. Read comics. Read Sports Illustrated , read the Bible, read your newspaper. Read the note that girl just sent you! read read read..
I drive a truck now...yea yea reading did me well :) But now I listen to books on cd because I work 10-12 hours a day. Books on cd are not quite the same, but hey it is still information.
There is really nothing like the written word when it comes from a master....Pick up something paper and read it...Thomas
My moms sisters were teachers so I got books for Christmas. I got books for my birthday, but heck I didn't know everyone else were getting Tonka Trucks and playdough , I thought everyone got books so I loved them. And I read them. I read about dinosaurs and hero's. I read about monsters and villains and trains then cowboys...
I went to a very small school and to those that went to a big school ...I had a very big advantage....very individualized help and VERY above average teachers. By far the meanest teacher was Ms. Lightsey and no person smart or challenged, rich or poor risked her wrath...but she taught literature and I was hooked on westerns. Louis La'amour..best writer ever...sorry Moses, not counting you. She used to bust me reading my westerns all the time but never busted my b... well never gave me grief over it.Once I was in the principals office and another teacher asked her why she didn't punish me for it... she said at least I was reading..God bless you Miss Lightsey...
Back before most people had cable and no one had internet I had a good racket going. I showed movies at the theater so I read books while I worked.I got INFO Please Almanacs for Christmas every year so I came across semi smart ..I was..still am ..pretty good at trivia.
Some way I did get into a good University...Baylor. I made friend with some very smart , high achieving people there. I made just some good friends there. But from Jonesboro Texas to Baylor one thing stands out... Reading.. If you can read you can learn to do anything..Well maybe not read a woman....But if you can read the sky is the limit.. Read comics. Read Sports Illustrated , read the Bible, read your newspaper. Read the note that girl just sent you! read read read..
I drive a truck now...yea yea reading did me well :) But now I listen to books on cd because I work 10-12 hours a day. Books on cd are not quite the same, but hey it is still information.
There is really nothing like the written word when it comes from a master....Pick up something paper and read it...Thomas
Friday, March 22, 2013
Smells
When I was getting off work today it was on my mind to get a haircut, a task I ended up not doing. But before I ended up not getting my haircut I had a flashback of getting my haircut when I was young. Back then guys went to a barbershop, and barbershops had a very distinct smell. I think it was the stuff the barbers smacked on the back of our necks when they were done, but I don't know that for sure. One thing I do know is barbershops smelled the same in Gatesville Texas, Ft Benning Georgia, Ft Bragg NC and Ft Campbell KY. I guess when I got out of the army I found out pretty girls gave haircuts too so I didn't hit as many true barber shops as salons..I guess that is 25 years of wasted great smells because I never dated any girl that cut my hair.
So I ended up thinking about smells. Kids are missing out nowdays with the whiteboards because I love the way blackboards and chalk smell. Erasers too I guess, but I wasn't talking about the big rubber erasers we had on the first day of school. I do not like the way hospitals smell but that never would stop me from holding hands with a nurse if the time was right. I do not mind the smell of gasoline if I am mowing the grass or filling up but really don't want that around if I am eating pie with my hands. Oh the smell of pie is good, even if I am filling up or mowing grass. To me the smell of cut grass is the smell of playing highschool football, the second favorite smell of my life. Speaking of that, a football has a very distinct smell, and i love it. The smell of a football puts me in a "guy" mode instantly. I do not miss the smell of the 70's and 80's hair spray but I do kinda miss the look. If a person reads alot books do have a smell.. Yea, I am a fan. Not so much of a wet dog. I do not like the smell of tires, or oil. I do like the smell of wood burning and sawdust. People that have never been to a western wear store are really missing out on a great aroma not to mention the sight of cowgirls walking away! Locker rooms stink but what I wouldn't give to be apart of one again. I hate the taste of coffee but love the way it tastes. I hate the smell of beer but....I like to smell a horse but not so much a stupid cow. I do like the smell of gunpowder and to a lesser extent bleach. the best smells....
Well the best smells I know, not being food just because, are...When I am two stepping and a girls hair is right there and clean smelling...oh my
To me the best smell in the world is walking in to a small movie theater and that fresh popcorn smell hitting me! It is me at 16, it is theGatesville drive-in, the best time of my life...
So I ended up thinking about smells. Kids are missing out nowdays with the whiteboards because I love the way blackboards and chalk smell. Erasers too I guess, but I wasn't talking about the big rubber erasers we had on the first day of school. I do not like the way hospitals smell but that never would stop me from holding hands with a nurse if the time was right. I do not mind the smell of gasoline if I am mowing the grass or filling up but really don't want that around if I am eating pie with my hands. Oh the smell of pie is good, even if I am filling up or mowing grass. To me the smell of cut grass is the smell of playing highschool football, the second favorite smell of my life. Speaking of that, a football has a very distinct smell, and i love it. The smell of a football puts me in a "guy" mode instantly. I do not miss the smell of the 70's and 80's hair spray but I do kinda miss the look. If a person reads alot books do have a smell.. Yea, I am a fan. Not so much of a wet dog. I do not like the smell of tires, or oil. I do like the smell of wood burning and sawdust. People that have never been to a western wear store are really missing out on a great aroma not to mention the sight of cowgirls walking away! Locker rooms stink but what I wouldn't give to be apart of one again. I hate the taste of coffee but love the way it tastes. I hate the smell of beer but....I like to smell a horse but not so much a stupid cow. I do like the smell of gunpowder and to a lesser extent bleach. the best smells....
Well the best smells I know, not being food just because, are...When I am two stepping and a girls hair is right there and clean smelling...oh my
To me the best smell in the world is walking in to a small movie theater and that fresh popcorn smell hitting me! It is me at 16, it is theGatesville drive-in, the best time of my life...
Thursday, March 14, 2013
things that change your life
The early part of my life I grew up on military post in the '70s. On base there were many things to do. Swimming pools, places to learn arts and crafts, day centers where kids could shoot pool or play basket ball or foosball. To acess all these things a kid had to have a military dependent ID card, the only catch was a little dude had to be 10 years old to get one. When I was eight and nine years old I figured once I received my ID card I would be a man of the world. I did reach 10, much to the surprise of some, and the ID card did set me free! It changed my small world.
In 1976 my dad informed me that we were moving off base, to the country. I had never lived anywhere except on an Army base except summers I spent on my grandpa's farm. To help me adapt he bought me cassette tapes of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Tom T Hall. He told my mom to buy me some boots, but that is another story-think dingo boots not cowboy boots. So we drove on, and on. I remember rounding a corner and my parents informing us...that is it on the hill. So we went from a duplex on a crowed street on Ft Hood Texas to 7 acres in the middle of central Texas, 50 miles from the nearest Mcdonalds . That kind of change does alter your world. So did going from a class size of 20 people to my graduating class of 8.
Has your mom ever warned you about running with the wrong crowd? Well that year 1976 she drug my butt to church in Gatesville. Our Sunday school class was Me and Larry, Jim Caldwell, Sheri Wright and Sheri Gordon, and Lou Langston, and if you don't know these people let me say this: among these I was the wrong crowd. Oh and every time I though I was done with church or Sunday school Sheri Gordon would bring Dyanna Adair and I was a regular again! That was church, three time a week. I went to Jonesboro highschool five times a week and you really cannot lose yourself in a class of eight or nine people. Through the years we had a person or two come or go but me,along with Heather and Lisa ( these girls deserve the medal of honor for putting up with us) Wayne Wallace and Thomas Everett Hill who we called Tom Tom because face it a class this small can have only one Thomas. Mark Breeden who despite trying hard to be a screw up ended up graduating from Annapolis. Ricky Helms fought me very hard to graduate 8th in our class but I am pretty sure my 2 in geometry put me at the bottom of our class. I hope he dosent read this since he has had a long career in law enforcement and might slap me in the slammer! A guy that was there most of the time but moved on named Robert Henson showed me that you could be a highschool tough guy without being a highschool bully. And Carl Beechly I still cant talk about much but I always said if I had a boy he would be named Carl. I met all these great people the year I moved to the country and being around really good people rubs off on a guy.
Most kids cant wait to get off work so they can go play. Me and Larry worked at the Town and Country Drive( still open called Last Drive in Picture show), so we never wanted off. And we never took off very often. The drive in was owned by Gene Palmer and run by his brother Don. If I was going to be caught in the Ground Hog Day dream I would just pick any day at the theatre and relive it day after day. Gene and Don and Cheryl treated all of idiots so good it really did change my life. Good times or bad they treated us good because that is their character. The Palmers did't have to try, or remember to treat people good they just did it. I think with out working for them I would be like that goober from Hell's Kitchen..I worked at the show until the day I joined the Army.
Many other things have changed my life but I have to wake up at 4am so I guess those are tales for another time. Why am I writing this tonight. In about an hour and 15 minutes my little boy turns 13. At times in my life I have been mean. I have been bad. Been broke. I have had good times and pretty low times, but since March 15 2000 I have been a dad. It truly is the only thing I have every taken seriously. I have had two marriages and divorces and both times I can take the blame. But I do have a love story that will last forever.
Happy birthday to my boy Carl Jordan Butler...eat cake!
In 1976 my dad informed me that we were moving off base, to the country. I had never lived anywhere except on an Army base except summers I spent on my grandpa's farm. To help me adapt he bought me cassette tapes of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Tom T Hall. He told my mom to buy me some boots, but that is another story-think dingo boots not cowboy boots. So we drove on, and on. I remember rounding a corner and my parents informing us...that is it on the hill. So we went from a duplex on a crowed street on Ft Hood Texas to 7 acres in the middle of central Texas, 50 miles from the nearest Mcdonalds . That kind of change does alter your world. So did going from a class size of 20 people to my graduating class of 8.
Has your mom ever warned you about running with the wrong crowd? Well that year 1976 she drug my butt to church in Gatesville. Our Sunday school class was Me and Larry, Jim Caldwell, Sheri Wright and Sheri Gordon, and Lou Langston, and if you don't know these people let me say this: among these I was the wrong crowd. Oh and every time I though I was done with church or Sunday school Sheri Gordon would bring Dyanna Adair and I was a regular again! That was church, three time a week. I went to Jonesboro highschool five times a week and you really cannot lose yourself in a class of eight or nine people. Through the years we had a person or two come or go but me,along with Heather and Lisa ( these girls deserve the medal of honor for putting up with us) Wayne Wallace and Thomas Everett Hill who we called Tom Tom because face it a class this small can have only one Thomas. Mark Breeden who despite trying hard to be a screw up ended up graduating from Annapolis. Ricky Helms fought me very hard to graduate 8th in our class but I am pretty sure my 2 in geometry put me at the bottom of our class. I hope he dosent read this since he has had a long career in law enforcement and might slap me in the slammer! A guy that was there most of the time but moved on named Robert Henson showed me that you could be a highschool tough guy without being a highschool bully. And Carl Beechly I still cant talk about much but I always said if I had a boy he would be named Carl. I met all these great people the year I moved to the country and being around really good people rubs off on a guy.
Most kids cant wait to get off work so they can go play. Me and Larry worked at the Town and Country Drive( still open called Last Drive in Picture show), so we never wanted off. And we never took off very often. The drive in was owned by Gene Palmer and run by his brother Don. If I was going to be caught in the Ground Hog Day dream I would just pick any day at the theatre and relive it day after day. Gene and Don and Cheryl treated all of idiots so good it really did change my life. Good times or bad they treated us good because that is their character. The Palmers did't have to try, or remember to treat people good they just did it. I think with out working for them I would be like that goober from Hell's Kitchen..I worked at the show until the day I joined the Army.
Many other things have changed my life but I have to wake up at 4am so I guess those are tales for another time. Why am I writing this tonight. In about an hour and 15 minutes my little boy turns 13. At times in my life I have been mean. I have been bad. Been broke. I have had good times and pretty low times, but since March 15 2000 I have been a dad. It truly is the only thing I have every taken seriously. I have had two marriages and divorces and both times I can take the blame. But I do have a love story that will last forever.
Happy birthday to my boy Carl Jordan Butler...eat cake!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
what is important?
I just got off the phone with a friend arguing about what is important in a quarterback. Well this is my blog so I am saying I won. To me it is not about touchdowns, or stats or ratings but about leadership and winning. Winning when it counts. That s football one of my favorite things. I also love God, America, Texas, bar b q and beer. They all seem to be the top. The best. That's why I watch so many shows about high achievers and how they got there. But that is not what is on my mind.
I remember a year or so when Apple's Steve Jobs, one of the most successful people on earth died, people close to him said he wished he had spent more time with his kids. Earlier today I watched a bio on Jimmy Johnson from the Dallas Cowboys fame and he regretted not spending time with his boys so when his mom died he discovered what was really important to him was his boys so he retired from a multi million dollar a year job to go fishing with his kids.And just now now I watched the bio on Tom Coughlin the NY Giants head coach and he was starting to fail until he reconnected to his family.
I am a truck driver. I don't run Apple or the NY Giants or my beloved Dallas Cowboys. I do have a pretty dang good relationship with my boy. When I check my phone it is for his calls or messages not some cute thing I met . A great Saturday night is not something I will tell my buddies about Monday, but us watching a guy movie eating pizza and setting on the love seat in our living room. Sunday we go to church then usually to my moms to eat or sometimes the three of us out. Most Sundays we play catch with the football.Sometimes we go to a movie or Old Chicago where they know him as well as me. He asks me for a fish or a dog or a game almost every week end and usually does not get them but he dose not gripe. We talk about Corvette's and other things I cannot buy at this time.When it gets time to go we both get feeling funny. Sometimes Teri comes to get him and we stack all of his stuff by the door. Sometimes I drive him 25 miles back to his moms house in Jones. In that case we stop by 7-11 and grab a couple of diet Mt Dews. I dont drive fast and usually we dont listen to the radio. I love that drive and hate it . Every week.
After I drop off Carl I stop by Old Chicago on my way home. Almost every Sunday for 5 years. That hour or so is my worst hour of the week and the girls there know it and are good to me.
I think I may be living a success story in reverse. I have the family thing down but the professional thing....To talk the truth I dont care. I am not worried about next weeks check even though I should. I am not worried about the girl I would really really like to see during the week. I just hope I get Carl Friday instead of Saturday.
I remember a year or so when Apple's Steve Jobs, one of the most successful people on earth died, people close to him said he wished he had spent more time with his kids. Earlier today I watched a bio on Jimmy Johnson from the Dallas Cowboys fame and he regretted not spending time with his boys so when his mom died he discovered what was really important to him was his boys so he retired from a multi million dollar a year job to go fishing with his kids.And just now now I watched the bio on Tom Coughlin the NY Giants head coach and he was starting to fail until he reconnected to his family.
I am a truck driver. I don't run Apple or the NY Giants or my beloved Dallas Cowboys. I do have a pretty dang good relationship with my boy. When I check my phone it is for his calls or messages not some cute thing I met . A great Saturday night is not something I will tell my buddies about Monday, but us watching a guy movie eating pizza and setting on the love seat in our living room. Sunday we go to church then usually to my moms to eat or sometimes the three of us out. Most Sundays we play catch with the football.Sometimes we go to a movie or Old Chicago where they know him as well as me. He asks me for a fish or a dog or a game almost every week end and usually does not get them but he dose not gripe. We talk about Corvette's and other things I cannot buy at this time.When it gets time to go we both get feeling funny. Sometimes Teri comes to get him and we stack all of his stuff by the door. Sometimes I drive him 25 miles back to his moms house in Jones. In that case we stop by 7-11 and grab a couple of diet Mt Dews. I dont drive fast and usually we dont listen to the radio. I love that drive and hate it . Every week.
After I drop off Carl I stop by Old Chicago on my way home. Almost every Sunday for 5 years. That hour or so is my worst hour of the week and the girls there know it and are good to me.
I think I may be living a success story in reverse. I have the family thing down but the professional thing....To talk the truth I dont care. I am not worried about next weeks check even though I should. I am not worried about the girl I would really really like to see during the week. I just hope I get Carl Friday instead of Saturday.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
a different view
I have aunt's and uncles, and my grand parents who are liberals so we just don't talk politics. This post is not about politics it is just about how we can see things a little different.
I love football. I have always thought it has defined me even though I haven't played an organised game since 1983. I love pro, college and high school.. I am 47 years old and still have a football or two in my truck. Always. But my boy Carl who I love more than my life it's self choose's not to play. I don't care. It does not bother me one bit.I will never push him to to anything...
On a different path here. I have a friend who is a bartender..Oh I know that is a shock! She is pretty and young and just graduated college.This very pretty girl got a job right off the bat in the business world but did not like so she quit the job.. I think well now better than spending 10 years living a life that sucks. A night or two ago we are talking about life and such and she asked why I chose the life I chose in the Army back then.I could have went to college like I did later attending Baylor University, or I could have went to the AirForce Marines or Navy but I joined the Army and she asked why. She asked and I answered without thinking " I wanted to be Rambo". It was honest, and I would not change the answer here a week later, but it was strait from the hip.Why bring this up?
Today when I picked up my boy Carl we swung by my moms house to visit. Some way some how she mentioned to him he should join the AirForce. He very forcefully said if joined anything it would be the Army! I shut up but was so proud! My mom went over all the advantages the Air Force has but Carl was steadfast it is the Army or nothing..She is my mom.. She is right in all the advantages.. but. At one time in my life I was considered smart, I could have done any thing I wanted in the military..anything. But I wanted to be infantry. I wanted to fight if that is what my country needed. I wanted to be the one face to face with the Soviet me..That is my nature. Not what my mom wanted but who I am.
I have never pressed Carl to play football. I have never pressed him to think one one or another, but today I he showed me that deep down we are the same. I am not pretty, i am not wealthy, or the chosen few, but I am an American and when there is a threat I want to fight! Thats my nature.. I dont want to fight for benefits or what ever I want to fight because I love what we have and some one has to. I will never be a poet, or an artist. I will always be an American. It looks like I passed that on..
I love football. I have always thought it has defined me even though I haven't played an organised game since 1983. I love pro, college and high school.. I am 47 years old and still have a football or two in my truck. Always. But my boy Carl who I love more than my life it's self choose's not to play. I don't care. It does not bother me one bit.I will never push him to to anything...
On a different path here. I have a friend who is a bartender..Oh I know that is a shock! She is pretty and young and just graduated college.This very pretty girl got a job right off the bat in the business world but did not like so she quit the job.. I think well now better than spending 10 years living a life that sucks. A night or two ago we are talking about life and such and she asked why I chose the life I chose in the Army back then.I could have went to college like I did later attending Baylor University, or I could have went to the AirForce Marines or Navy but I joined the Army and she asked why. She asked and I answered without thinking " I wanted to be Rambo". It was honest, and I would not change the answer here a week later, but it was strait from the hip.Why bring this up?
Today when I picked up my boy Carl we swung by my moms house to visit. Some way some how she mentioned to him he should join the AirForce. He very forcefully said if joined anything it would be the Army! I shut up but was so proud! My mom went over all the advantages the Air Force has but Carl was steadfast it is the Army or nothing..She is my mom.. She is right in all the advantages.. but. At one time in my life I was considered smart, I could have done any thing I wanted in the military..anything. But I wanted to be infantry. I wanted to fight if that is what my country needed. I wanted to be the one face to face with the Soviet me..That is my nature. Not what my mom wanted but who I am.
I have never pressed Carl to play football. I have never pressed him to think one one or another, but today I he showed me that deep down we are the same. I am not pretty, i am not wealthy, or the chosen few, but I am an American and when there is a threat I want to fight! Thats my nature.. I dont want to fight for benefits or what ever I want to fight because I love what we have and some one has to. I will never be a poet, or an artist. I will always be an American. It looks like I passed that on..
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
in a wife
I have been up since early yesterday, and when I got home in stead of going straight to bed I decided to watch Blake Sheltons Christmas special that I recorded. Just threw that in to let you know I am not thinking straight. Yes, even less than normal. As I was taking a quick shower a thought bounced through my head.I might get married again someday...Heck the Saints won a Superbowl, stuff can happen! So aside from loving God, country, and my boy ( I guess me too) I think I need this from a wife:
She must not only need to know which football teams to love, but which ones to hate. I know hate is a strong word but we are talking football not the other less important sports.
She really needs to know how to cook a mean chicken fried steak, and make a real banana pudding. If she can run to Del Rancho and buy a chicken fried steak and put it on my plate with out me knowing, that can slide but no business makes good banana pudding.
She needs to remember to put the lid up. Ha ha. thought I would throw that in.
Listen to George Strait with me..No give on that. If she will listen to the Statler Brothers and Elvis with me I promise not to forget anniversary or birthday presents.
Must like real Christmas trees and, butter.She must never buy me flip flops or expect me to wear them. Ever! She will need to watch Its A Wonderful Life with me once a year. Not to have cats, at least inside. This is important...Never plan anything, Anything, on Superbowl Sunday! Must put up with my friends and understand Larry is loud and me and Lorne do tend to fight.
I need her to buy toilet paper, I will pump the gas. She must not get mad when I stay up all night watching John Wayne movies or Tombstone, I cant help it. She needs to get on me when I say the really bad cuss words.
I guess anything else is trivial. I did cover the no rap, and Superbowl is my day right? Well as I swallow my Ambien and go to bed I wonder if their is some cowboy chick out that writing a list just like this. Maybe she subs Reba for George Strait, but if we pass in Walmart I hope I am sucking my gut in.
She must not only need to know which football teams to love, but which ones to hate. I know hate is a strong word but we are talking football not the other less important sports.
She really needs to know how to cook a mean chicken fried steak, and make a real banana pudding. If she can run to Del Rancho and buy a chicken fried steak and put it on my plate with out me knowing, that can slide but no business makes good banana pudding.
She needs to remember to put the lid up. Ha ha. thought I would throw that in.
Listen to George Strait with me..No give on that. If she will listen to the Statler Brothers and Elvis with me I promise not to forget anniversary or birthday presents.
Must like real Christmas trees and, butter.She must never buy me flip flops or expect me to wear them. Ever! She will need to watch Its A Wonderful Life with me once a year. Not to have cats, at least inside. This is important...Never plan anything, Anything, on Superbowl Sunday! Must put up with my friends and understand Larry is loud and me and Lorne do tend to fight.
I need her to buy toilet paper, I will pump the gas. She must not get mad when I stay up all night watching John Wayne movies or Tombstone, I cant help it. She needs to get on me when I say the really bad cuss words.
I guess anything else is trivial. I did cover the no rap, and Superbowl is my day right? Well as I swallow my Ambien and go to bed I wonder if their is some cowboy chick out that writing a list just like this. Maybe she subs Reba for George Strait, but if we pass in Walmart I hope I am sucking my gut in.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Thats my Job
That's my job
That's what I do
Everything I do is because of you
To keep you safe with me
That's my job you see
It has been said, find something you love to do, and you will never work a day in your life. Well maybe so but Old Chicago is not going to pay me to eat pizza and drink beer. Fox Sports has not offered me a contract to watch the Dallas Cowboys play. Believe it or not I have never been paid to argue with a fence post..Yea that one is a shocker to me too!
When we were little kids me and my sister used to dig up little cacti (more than one cactus Lorne) plant them in little plastic pots and peddle them door to door. It was fun for us and my first shot at making my own money. I landed my next job when I was about 14 after getting in a fight with a friend of mine at the Gatesville rodeo, and my shirt was covered in blood. A Neighbor who lived a couple of miles down the road ..yes he was a neighbor we lived way out in the sticks..asked if I was tough. Well heck yea I thought at the time and said so. He offered me a job breaking horses. Well mainly I broke my back cleaning stalls, hauling hay, mowing..Not much bronc stompin involved, but it was a job. My next job was great! Me and Larry running projectors at the drive-in for Don and Cheryl and Gene Palmer. That was something I loved and they would probably agree I didn't work a day! But I did eat popcorn and drink coke and managed to throw the picture on the screen, but I had to graduate high school and find higher paying work. So I went to work at a factory building boats. I screwed up enough stuff that finally I was reduced to taking out trash and generally cleaning up. It had to be done and I had to keep a job. After a summer of that I joined the U S Army for four years. I went in knowing it was not for a career but I needed to do it. When I got out of the Army my career in low paying jobs went something like this: feed mill( one day) concrete work, movie theatre, V A regional office filing stuff, Sonic, machine shop, meter reader, furniture salesman, car salesman, ice cream merchandiser and TA DA truck driver! I know I left things out. I actually wrote the news for a tv station in Waco for a short while, did telemarketing for a week or so. I really like driving a truck but if I won the lotto that would be my last day , so I guess I don't love it.
Well somewhere after work I found time to get married and have a kid. The marriage didn't last ( we are still friends) but I think this dad thing will stick. I never liked kids before and really did not think I was going to like mine much more than I liked other kids.
Some one mentioned to me I was doing a good job with Carl. Some one else reminded me it was the most important job I will ever have. A dads job is never done...
Funny thing is being Carl's dad is not work. Its not something I have to do, it is something I get to do. It is not my job, but it is what I do.
That's what I do
Everything I do is because of you
To keep you safe with me
That's my job you see
It has been said, find something you love to do, and you will never work a day in your life. Well maybe so but Old Chicago is not going to pay me to eat pizza and drink beer. Fox Sports has not offered me a contract to watch the Dallas Cowboys play. Believe it or not I have never been paid to argue with a fence post..Yea that one is a shocker to me too!
When we were little kids me and my sister used to dig up little cacti (more than one cactus Lorne) plant them in little plastic pots and peddle them door to door. It was fun for us and my first shot at making my own money. I landed my next job when I was about 14 after getting in a fight with a friend of mine at the Gatesville rodeo, and my shirt was covered in blood. A Neighbor who lived a couple of miles down the road ..yes he was a neighbor we lived way out in the sticks..asked if I was tough. Well heck yea I thought at the time and said so. He offered me a job breaking horses. Well mainly I broke my back cleaning stalls, hauling hay, mowing..Not much bronc stompin involved, but it was a job. My next job was great! Me and Larry running projectors at the drive-in for Don and Cheryl and Gene Palmer. That was something I loved and they would probably agree I didn't work a day! But I did eat popcorn and drink coke and managed to throw the picture on the screen, but I had to graduate high school and find higher paying work. So I went to work at a factory building boats. I screwed up enough stuff that finally I was reduced to taking out trash and generally cleaning up. It had to be done and I had to keep a job. After a summer of that I joined the U S Army for four years. I went in knowing it was not for a career but I needed to do it. When I got out of the Army my career in low paying jobs went something like this: feed mill( one day) concrete work, movie theatre, V A regional office filing stuff, Sonic, machine shop, meter reader, furniture salesman, car salesman, ice cream merchandiser and TA DA truck driver! I know I left things out. I actually wrote the news for a tv station in Waco for a short while, did telemarketing for a week or so. I really like driving a truck but if I won the lotto that would be my last day , so I guess I don't love it.
Well somewhere after work I found time to get married and have a kid. The marriage didn't last ( we are still friends) but I think this dad thing will stick. I never liked kids before and really did not think I was going to like mine much more than I liked other kids.
Some one mentioned to me I was doing a good job with Carl. Some one else reminded me it was the most important job I will ever have. A dads job is never done...
Funny thing is being Carl's dad is not work. Its not something I have to do, it is something I get to do. It is not my job, but it is what I do.
Monday, November 12, 2012
A Sunday Mostly Alone
Today did not start promising, then got worse for a time. But only a short time. Thunder barked me wide awake at 4:30 am. As in the morning. Well I couldn't go back to sleep so I stayed in bed and listened to the rain,wondering if I had my windows rolled up or had boots in the bed of my pick up like I usually do. I watched 5:30 roll around until I finally bored myself back to sleep. But only for a short time. Somewhere around 8:30 I woke up dreaming something incoherent about the cops...oh, sorry police. Eventually I realized that I was fully awake but could still hear sirens so I looked out my living room window to see a full blown firetruck in front of my house. I didn't smell smoke. Then an ambulance pulled up.Then two cop cars. Sorry police cruisers. About that time my beer drinking neighbor walked out holding the side of his head. I still don't know what that was about but sleep was no longer in my future. What I needed was a 44 ounce diet Mt Dew. I grabbed my keys and actually started to open my door before I realized or remembered...my truck, windows up or down was not in my driveway but behind the Blue Bayou. Heck I hope my mom doesn't hear about this. I met my uncle and cousin there to watch the second half of the OU game, and since I drank 3 or 4 beers I decided not to drive. So I was dropped of at ...you guessed Old Chicago. Back to this morning. When I turned away from my window after the ambulance left I spotted the pizza box on my couch. Yea remembered that.
After a few phone calls my cousin came to take me to get my truck. Oh yea my windows were rolled up after all. Well all except the one busted out by the thief that emptied my glove box and center console. In the words of a thousand defeated boxers "I was robbed." I had nothing of value in my wallet in my truck. I had my drivers license and bank card in my pocket, but they did break out my window and my pick up was rained into while I was not sleeping through it. So whats a guy to do? This is the only Sunday I am going to get this week. My boy Carl had spent the night at a friends. So I decide to go to my version of Cheers. Old Chicago, where everyone knows my name. Things would certainly go better there. A side bar about Old Chicago-the manager is Very good looking, but of course that's not why I go. So I go there knowing my day will be better. So the before mentioned manager walks up to me..big smile my day is looking up.. and with an expression usually reserved for wives she deadpans " You are in trouble". Dang. I left last night without paying. I skipped my tab. No wonder I thought I didn't spend much last night, ha ha I didn't!
Now to the good part, and no not more screw ups, the good part. Football. I love football and I guess my favorite thing on earth is to watch the Cowboys play eat a pizza ( I happened to find a free one on my couch) and drink a few beers. Normally this gaiety is shared with Carl and Larry or Lorne or other friends but today I was alone. I had a blast! I didn't have to suck my gut in because of some pretty girl in the room. I didn't have to wait on the bathroom. I ate pizza , drank a few beers flipped from game to game and of course the Dallas Cowboys beat the highly hated Philly Eagles, and like free ice cream, the Giants lost too!This is the only Sunday I am getting this week, glad it was a good one.
After a few phone calls my cousin came to take me to get my truck. Oh yea my windows were rolled up after all. Well all except the one busted out by the thief that emptied my glove box and center console. In the words of a thousand defeated boxers "I was robbed." I had nothing of value in my wallet in my truck. I had my drivers license and bank card in my pocket, but they did break out my window and my pick up was rained into while I was not sleeping through it. So whats a guy to do? This is the only Sunday I am going to get this week. My boy Carl had spent the night at a friends. So I decide to go to my version of Cheers. Old Chicago, where everyone knows my name. Things would certainly go better there. A side bar about Old Chicago-the manager is Very good looking, but of course that's not why I go. So I go there knowing my day will be better. So the before mentioned manager walks up to me..big smile my day is looking up.. and with an expression usually reserved for wives she deadpans " You are in trouble". Dang. I left last night without paying. I skipped my tab. No wonder I thought I didn't spend much last night, ha ha I didn't!
Now to the good part, and no not more screw ups, the good part. Football. I love football and I guess my favorite thing on earth is to watch the Cowboys play eat a pizza ( I happened to find a free one on my couch) and drink a few beers. Normally this gaiety is shared with Carl and Larry or Lorne or other friends but today I was alone. I had a blast! I didn't have to suck my gut in because of some pretty girl in the room. I didn't have to wait on the bathroom. I ate pizza , drank a few beers flipped from game to game and of course the Dallas Cowboys beat the highly hated Philly Eagles, and like free ice cream, the Giants lost too!This is the only Sunday I am getting this week, glad it was a good one.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Girls women and ladies
'There's girls and there's women and there's ladies
there's yes'es and no's and maybe's
there's tease'n and please'n they start learning when they're babies
there's girls there's women and there's ladies
It may come as a shock to some but I like women. I really don't have a type but Sandra Bullock will do. So will that girl at 7-11 who lights up when I come in.My first two wives were very different but we found a way to be married. On second thought maybe that's not a good example. But on both accounts we found some common ground for awhile.I like a girl that can really cook but neither wife was Paula Dean in the kitchen. One wife was blond and blue eyed, one had beautiful brown hair and eyes. One was bossy ( and bitchy) one was the most even natured person I have ever known.But this isn't about ex wives.
I guess this about chasing women at my age.I never chased much when I was younger because I was pretty dang shy. And in shape.And really didn't have too much. I guess things change. I am not all that shy or in shape. But I still like girls a great deal. Is alot a real word? That works too.Hank Jr sang a song" I really like girls". He didnt pay me royalties but he is Hank Jr so I will let him slide.
Kansas: Well I went to Kansas to work with Larry and the first night I was there the company took us out to eat and the dang place dimmed the lights at 9 and played music. Me Larry and my bosses( and wives) two stepped all over. That's a good first day at work! Then they sent me to Tulsa.
My boss woke me up the day after saying some one called her saying there was a drunk cowboy sleeping in her office.Don't know about the drunk part but I did sleep in her office. A great place called The Hunt Club was across the street and I had a few beers and met a girl who I have no business being friends with. She is early twenties...I am not.She has tattoo's and piercings again I do not but we just get along. What does this mean to me today?
I guess this is what I am getting too. I like girls. I make friends pretty easy. I am pretty old but I am pretty good with my life. I am not going to date some one who really doesn't like me just so I can say I am dating. I don't care who she is or how pretty she is. I cant be a constellation prize and teach Carl self worth and not to settle if I do. I am fighting this right now. A girl who drives me crazy but just keeps me hanging on...I guess writing this will keep me being true.
Ever walk in a place and see someone light up when they see you? That's what I am gonna have or I am gonna get a hungry dog...
So let's drink another round to to you and me ....and them
there's yes'es and no's and maybe's
there's tease'n and please'n they start learning when they're babies
there's girls there's women and there's ladies
It may come as a shock to some but I like women. I really don't have a type but Sandra Bullock will do. So will that girl at 7-11 who lights up when I come in.My first two wives were very different but we found a way to be married. On second thought maybe that's not a good example. But on both accounts we found some common ground for awhile.I like a girl that can really cook but neither wife was Paula Dean in the kitchen. One wife was blond and blue eyed, one had beautiful brown hair and eyes. One was bossy ( and bitchy) one was the most even natured person I have ever known.But this isn't about ex wives.
I guess this about chasing women at my age.I never chased much when I was younger because I was pretty dang shy. And in shape.And really didn't have too much. I guess things change. I am not all that shy or in shape. But I still like girls a great deal. Is alot a real word? That works too.Hank Jr sang a song" I really like girls". He didnt pay me royalties but he is Hank Jr so I will let him slide.
Kansas: Well I went to Kansas to work with Larry and the first night I was there the company took us out to eat and the dang place dimmed the lights at 9 and played music. Me Larry and my bosses( and wives) two stepped all over. That's a good first day at work! Then they sent me to Tulsa.
My boss woke me up the day after saying some one called her saying there was a drunk cowboy sleeping in her office.Don't know about the drunk part but I did sleep in her office. A great place called The Hunt Club was across the street and I had a few beers and met a girl who I have no business being friends with. She is early twenties...I am not.She has tattoo's and piercings again I do not but we just get along. What does this mean to me today?
I guess this is what I am getting too. I like girls. I make friends pretty easy. I am pretty old but I am pretty good with my life. I am not going to date some one who really doesn't like me just so I can say I am dating. I don't care who she is or how pretty she is. I cant be a constellation prize and teach Carl self worth and not to settle if I do. I am fighting this right now. A girl who drives me crazy but just keeps me hanging on...I guess writing this will keep me being true.
Ever walk in a place and see someone light up when they see you? That's what I am gonna have or I am gonna get a hungry dog...
So let's drink another round to to you and me ....and them
Monday, October 22, 2012
when Harry Met Sally
We all tell the stories, you know the gorgeous girls we went out with before we got married. The beautiful women before we got old. Well the other night when I couldn't get sleepy -yea that night- I tried to look up this girl I went out with once. Once! I worked with her mom and since her mother didn't go out drinking with me or see me out of the office,mom thought that I was a good guy, and called Kim Mackie and me and Kim went to see a Matinee. It was When Harry Met Sally.
Kim and I had a few classes along side each other at MCC in Waco but I was much to shy to talk to her much. But I did work with mom. So we go see When Harry Met Sally one of the greatest romantic comedies of all times but I never talked to her much again. A great one time date in my little life, and certainly she must wonder from time to time about me, right?
So with the magic of face book I see her profile and ask her how her mom is-fine-and how she is:wonderful but she does not remember me. Me who brushed my teeth in the car, and sprayed that stuff under my arms before meeting her out side of Waco Square six. Me who paid for popcorn and Coke at full price even though I could have got it for free but didn't want her to think I was a cheapskate. She didn't remember me at all. Her response was nice and she did remember watching the movie there, but I slipped her mind.
What does this have to do with me today in Oklahoma City? The part of the movie...the main theme ...that men and women cannot be friends because of the sex part.It is our fault , the guys fault. I guess it is true and I guess I might have proved it. Guys always want more. We cant help it.
I have a bartender friend that has been my friend for 5 years and I guess our messages got crossed and that's not hard to do when she is beautiful and I like beauty. Any way I have just gone about 5 weeks or so with out seeing my friend, until the last day or so, but tonight things were close to old times and getting better.
Kim and I had a few classes along side each other at MCC in Waco but I was much to shy to talk to her much. But I did work with mom. So we go see When Harry Met Sally one of the greatest romantic comedies of all times but I never talked to her much again. A great one time date in my little life, and certainly she must wonder from time to time about me, right?
So with the magic of face book I see her profile and ask her how her mom is-fine-and how she is:wonderful but she does not remember me. Me who brushed my teeth in the car, and sprayed that stuff under my arms before meeting her out side of Waco Square six. Me who paid for popcorn and Coke at full price even though I could have got it for free but didn't want her to think I was a cheapskate. She didn't remember me at all. Her response was nice and she did remember watching the movie there, but I slipped her mind.
What does this have to do with me today in Oklahoma City? The part of the movie...the main theme ...that men and women cannot be friends because of the sex part.It is our fault , the guys fault. I guess it is true and I guess I might have proved it. Guys always want more. We cant help it.
I have a bartender friend that has been my friend for 5 years and I guess our messages got crossed and that's not hard to do when she is beautiful and I like beauty. Any way I have just gone about 5 weeks or so with out seeing my friend, until the last day or so, but tonight things were close to old times and getting better.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
State of the Union
Its a little after 11 pm (2300 hours to my military friends) and I have made the command decision to start another blog. It just seems like the right time. Some friends do know I used to write one on AOL a number of years ago and I really enjoyed it. This wont be about politics or dating or selling you junk. Nope, this will be about a normal guy ( quit laughing I can come off as normal if I have too!) trucking through the backside of his forties trying to make a living and raise a boy and make a friend or two along the way.
I am calling this one State of the Union because once a year the President gives a State of the Union address to let us regular folks what kind of shape our Republic is in. Since this is my first blog its a get to know me posting.
I live on the South Side of Oklahoma City, which is the good side because it's where the cowboys( and Cowgirls!) live. Its too snobby on the Northside for me. I live about 4 or five miles from my skinny brother and his family, and a few miles from my mom. Just by chance I live 1.5 miles from the greatest place on the Southside : Old Chicago! I spend a great deal of time there eating pizza and hanging out with my friends. More on Old Chicago and why pizza is just my 3rd favorite thing there at a later time. I am trying to hurry this first posting a bit because I did take an Ambien a bit ago....More on that at some other time:/
I drive an 18 wheeler, just like in the great Alabama song 'Roll On'. Right now I am working in Tulsa and since that is over an hour away, I stay there for days at a time then come home on my days off. And as most can guess I am working with Larry. He is my best friend and we have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 jobs together.My first job was working at the Town and Country Drive-In in Gatesville Texas. You guessed it, Larry worked there also. He was supposed to be training me so I could run the projectors while he went of to chase girls at church camp. Well due to a circumstance beyond our control-Urbane Cowboy was showing-I didnt learn a thing and he went off to camp anyways. The manager Don Palmer should have fired me right then but he had the patience of Job and trained me himself. He was one of the greatest guys to ever live and he started the 30 year tradition of hiring me and Larry to work together.
I do live by myself but my 12 year old boy Carl, or CJ as some call him stays with me when ever I am not working. He is all boy..climbs up everything, leaves his socks on the couch, wants toys he...ah I cant afford. He owns about 20 footballs and has no problem wearin my arm out playing catch. Every day. Even when it rains.He is funny and smart, and I try to take him every where I go.
What else do I write in an intro...I LOVE football!!! The Oklahoma Sooners and the Dallas Cowboys!!! I have a pretty large fondness of women also....more on that later, but I am single, and a dad. I am a truck driver and a pretty good guy on a trivia team.. I do have to cut this short because my ole friend Ambien is working early ...yea for sleep.
I am pretty sure this will be boring to read but I liked writing it..better stuff to come I promise.. Now how do I save this stuff?
I am calling this one State of the Union because once a year the President gives a State of the Union address to let us regular folks what kind of shape our Republic is in. Since this is my first blog its a get to know me posting.
I live on the South Side of Oklahoma City, which is the good side because it's where the cowboys( and Cowgirls!) live. Its too snobby on the Northside for me. I live about 4 or five miles from my skinny brother and his family, and a few miles from my mom. Just by chance I live 1.5 miles from the greatest place on the Southside : Old Chicago! I spend a great deal of time there eating pizza and hanging out with my friends. More on Old Chicago and why pizza is just my 3rd favorite thing there at a later time. I am trying to hurry this first posting a bit because I did take an Ambien a bit ago....More on that at some other time:/
I drive an 18 wheeler, just like in the great Alabama song 'Roll On'. Right now I am working in Tulsa and since that is over an hour away, I stay there for days at a time then come home on my days off. And as most can guess I am working with Larry. He is my best friend and we have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 jobs together.My first job was working at the Town and Country Drive-In in Gatesville Texas. You guessed it, Larry worked there also. He was supposed to be training me so I could run the projectors while he went of to chase girls at church camp. Well due to a circumstance beyond our control-Urbane Cowboy was showing-I didnt learn a thing and he went off to camp anyways. The manager Don Palmer should have fired me right then but he had the patience of Job and trained me himself. He was one of the greatest guys to ever live and he started the 30 year tradition of hiring me and Larry to work together.
I do live by myself but my 12 year old boy Carl, or CJ as some call him stays with me when ever I am not working. He is all boy..climbs up everything, leaves his socks on the couch, wants toys he...ah I cant afford. He owns about 20 footballs and has no problem wearin my arm out playing catch. Every day. Even when it rains.He is funny and smart, and I try to take him every where I go.
What else do I write in an intro...I LOVE football!!! The Oklahoma Sooners and the Dallas Cowboys!!! I have a pretty large fondness of women also....more on that later, but I am single, and a dad. I am a truck driver and a pretty good guy on a trivia team.. I do have to cut this short because my ole friend Ambien is working early ...yea for sleep.
I am pretty sure this will be boring to read but I liked writing it..better stuff to come I promise.. Now how do I save this stuff?
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