"Bringing Our Pioneer Spirit of Yesterday Forward Into Tomorrow"
"Bringing Our Pioneer Spirit of Yesterday Forward Into Tomorrow"
Now that I am older, I recognize Aunt Peggy as kind, gentle, woman. However, when I was little she put the fear of Peggy into me. You might even say she “terrorized” me.
I remember staying with her one summer in Ohio. Since she was one (more…)
Another story for the grandkids…about grandkids. 
When my son (David Bryan Rush) was around 3 or so we were all at my mother’s house for dinner. My mother is very strict about manners and all the grandkids knew that unquestionably. They all tried their darnedest (at least at that point in their young lives) to avoid a run in with Grandma about manners. My son burps, and we all look at him expecting an “excuse me”. He looks back at us and says, “It was the burp bird in my pocket.” What you do after that?
I’m told Mama Carr had a bit of a temper, but I only recall really seeing it a couple times. The primary time being when Rudy Woodard decided he was going to be a “bull rider”.
The old house that Mama Carr lived in off of 69 Highway had a pasture attached to it. There was a pear tree in the middle of the pasture that I remember being exceptional good for climbing, and (more…)
It was summer, and we were in Oklahoma again. Back from the east coast, and our urban life style.
It was early in the morning, and I was at Aunt Katy’s house. I was not very old, I’m thinking 3rd or 4th grade. She asked me if I wanted to go out to the ranch that day; they were going to make steers. That caught my interest as I thought steers came into the world the usual way; I did not know they were manufactured. Being an inquisitive child I asked her, “How do you make steers?”
She replied, “Well you know, they cut off their #%$”. I looked at her perplexed not understanding what #%$ meant. She proceeded to go through a list of slang terms for that portion of the male anatomy, with me looking puzzled the whole time. 
Finally, in desperation, she said, “They cut off their testicles.”
“Oh”, I said. There was a word I finally understood and being not only an inquisitive child but precocious I quickly cross referenced all the previous attempts back to this word. I learned several words that day for which my mother would have grabbed the soap bar had she heard me saying them.
I did not go watch steers being manufactured that day. I don’t remember if that was my decision or Aunt Katy’s decision, I suspect the later.
My grandmother had an old milk cow she called Ole Heart. Ole Heart helped my grandmother make ends meet. She would sell excess milk and butter to various folks around town that preferred their milk straight from the cow rather than the supermarket. She would get a calf from Ole Heart once a year that she raised for beef and put in her freezer. She and the cow had been together many years.
During the day Ole Heart roamed in the pasture doing her cow thing. My grandmother milked her twice a day best as I can remember. She had Ole Heart trained to come to call, (more…)
A cat was napping on the railroad tracks. A train came along and chopped off his tail. He turned around to see what had happened to his tail. While he was inspecting the damage another train came along from the other direction. It chopped off his head.
Know what the moral of this story is?
Don’t lose your head over a piece of tail.
I have no idea why he told that story to the 17 year old me!
As told to the 22 year old me…
An old farmer had a mule. The mule worked hard 3 seasons of the year, but in the winter time the mule just lazed around the barn. Kicker was the mule still had to be cared for and fed.
The farmer devised a plan whereby he would train the mule not eat.
Just about the time he got the mule trained it died.
Don told me that story, and I just looked at him waiting for the punch line. He was laughing like it was too funny for words.
I have thought of that story over the years. There is a lot of wisdom in it.
One of my favorite stories about my mother involves Agatha Christie. When I was in high school she really enjoyed reading these mystery novels by the famed English author. Apparently, a popular dish in England and Agatha Christie’s novels is steak and kidney pie. My mother decided it sounded delicious, and one evening when my father was not going to be home for dinner she decided to make the dish. The fact that she waited until her husband was not going to be there will give the reader a clue as to what is coming next.
She found a recipe, and bought all the ingredients. I’m sure the steak and kidney were not cheap. She prepared the dish and put it before us unsuspecting guinea pigs, oops I mean boys. After a bite or two, none of us would eat anymore, and remember we were teenage boys aka bottomless pits. My mother became very upset, and began to cry. The funny part is after a
bite or two of Agatha’s dish, she decide she did not want anymore either.
We never saw steak and kidney pie again.
I had read on a genealogy site a comment about Mama Carr pedding apples from a buggy. I asked my mother(Juanita Rush) about that, and this is her response:
This is quite true. She drove two horses (a team) and a wagon, not a buggy. We never owned a buggy. Buggies cost more than we had. A wagon was used on the farm for all sorts of work and also for transportation if you could not afford a car. (more…)
Need an attorney???
I’m going to be a daddy and brag on my daughter Keely. She has finished 3 years of law school at OU and graduated May 10th. She still has to take the bar in July, but for a bright lady like her that should be not obstacle