Father's Day

Or is it Fathers' Day? Either one, I'm taking the day off. We set out for a new breakfast place since it was a special day and ended up in a classy place that we wouldn't ordinarily visit. Going in, the maitre'd or the worker who met us said that the buffet is over here where you can get potatoes, fruit, bacon, rolls, sweet rolls, scrambled eggs, etc., and over there is where you can get omelettes, bagels, toast, hot rolls, etc., help yourself.

We dug right in. I chose an omelette with ham, cheese, green peppers, jalapenos, onions and what not and the omelette maker whipped it right up. My wife had a bagel with cream cheese, fruit, bacon, and so on. We enjoyed it immensely with hot coffee and water and a nice atmosphere. There was a ball team of some sort and other people stuffing the food and enjoying themselves. After we had had our fill, we asked the waitress where we paid the bill and she said.....she said...."You're not guests?" We shook our heads in the negative and she said, "It's free, then. We don't have a cashier for breakfast."

"Ahh, Father's Day! What a great day!" I whispered as we left the hotel by a different entrance than we came in.

We hope yours was good, too!

Seth Godin, Author, Marketer, Blogger

I ran across Seth Godin by going back through my old notebook that I keep handy for such occasions. I once looked at a website www.squidoo.com with the idea that I would put my book info on this site for people to run across. I haven't yet added anything to the site, but Seth Godin is the original founder of it and her also writes a blog at sethgodin.typepad.com that contains tips on marketing, writing, and other comments on life in general.

I just read one of his blog posts entitled Ode: How to Tell a Great Story where he tells readers not only how to tell a great story but who to tell it to. I can see where items like this could be of good use to writers for use in their marketing and spreading the word about the products they produce.

So, I thought that I would post a blog about Mr. Godin for others too take a look at if they haven't before been aware of his site and also Squidoo. He has several other sites and blogs which are listed on his blog page

Oh, boy! A Gary Cooper Movie

I caught the nether end of a movie on TCM yesterday with Gary Cooper and I couldn't figure out what the name of it was. It's been a long time since I saw a Cooper movie. He was thrown in jail for murder and being a spy for the South by U. S. Army Colonel Hudson (I don't know the actor playing Hudson). But as the movie unfolded, Cooper, playing Major Kearney, was actually a spy for the North trying to find a Southern spy, who turned out to be Colonel Hudson. And Hudson and his rebel troops, one of whom was Fess Parker playing Sergeant Jim Randolph, were stealing a herd of horses to give to the Rebels,. A group of loyal Northern enlisted men got Cooper out of jail and they broke into a warehouse and took a cache of Springfield Rifles before Hudson could get his hands on them.

The name of the movie should have dawned on me right then, but it's been a long time. Anyway, Cooper and his troops were joined by the Lieutenant sent by Hudson to capture him and return him to jail, but finding out he was Major Lex Kearney the troops joined Kearney to prevent the horses from being driven to the South. After a skirmish in a valley, the Rebels were smoked out with fire and Cooper/Kearney caught the escaping Colonel Hudson alive after a horse and foot chase.

Of course Springfield Rifle was the name of the movie and in this skirmish the rifle proved itself and was to be adopted for service as the U. S. Army rifle of choice. It provided more fire-power with its quick ejection of the empty shell and easy reload.

Lon Chaney, Phyllis Thaxter (who didn't appear in what I saw, except for a short sequence at the end), and Philip Carey were also in the movie which was released in 1952..

My Next Novel

I've been working hard, but not long, on my next endeavor. My hard work has been shortened from four to six hours per day to one to two hours and its taken me longer than I had anticipated. I've changed the title two or three times, settling on O'Shaughnessy's New Deputy for now.

 After returning to the fictional town of Hillside from a two-year Mormon mission, Tom Anderson finds himself alone as his parents are killed by the Indians. He gets caught up in a bank robbery, budding love, the posse, a struggle for his new-found love, stolen horses, etc., and his new job as a Sheriff's Deputy by default. All he wanted to do is rebuild his parents' farm, which was burned to the ground by the attacking Paiutes, get some animals, find a wife, and settle down and raise kids and crops.

This book was drafted several years ago and I've learned quite a bit since. So, I am practically rewriting it, rearranging the sequence of events, adding more to it, and trying to finish it by the Fall. I'm partly satisfied with the way its coming along but won't be happy about it until I type "The End."

This 'n That

I put up a new header picture for June. This one shows some of my niece's Black Angus trying to find some shade on a hot day in August. However, the old bull doesn't seem to realize it's the sun shining and not the moon. Some good steaks on the hoof there.

Speaking of the weather, Oklahoma has sure had its tornadoes and rain the last couple of weeks along with Parts of Arkansas and Missouri. I don't know what I'd do if I woke up to see my house scattered over the territory for a couple of miles. I think I'd say "Enough of this, I'm heading somewhere else," as that one lady said on the TV as she looked over the mess.

I began pinning some items on the boards at www.pinterest.com and I'm not sure if I'm going to like it or not. Looking at my board, all I see is bunch of pictures and stuff that came up when the site said "pick at least five boards." My photos were buried among all the rest. Maybe I'll learn how the page works as I go along and I can clean it up to resemble something that relates to my books and writing, etc.........maybe.

"Dingbat" has been called to serve the Lord. I hope she doesn't break his eardrums when she starts singing the halleluja songs. We were sorry to learn of her passing. She was "an actress not a celebrity" she said and was never in the public eye after the TV show All in the Family. Jean Stapleton was 90 years old and died of natural causes the paper said.

"Wrangle." v.i. quarrel, bicker, squabble, dispute, altercate, argue, brawl. From Roget's Thesaurus. It leaves out the one about rounding up cattle, but we can't all be perfect. Maybe that's a v.t. or a plain ole adj. like intractable, which some of them dern animals are.

More Reading

All right, I'll 'fess up. I jist cain't pass up a book store and yesterday I picked up three more books to add to my readin' pile.

1. A new author to make my readin' acquaintance is Rod Miller and his Gallows for a Gunman. If that ain't a great title, I don't know what is and it promises to hang 'em high and use a strong rope. He's done roped me in for this un. "Harlow had been sentenced to die at dawn. For the town of Los Santos, dawn couldn't come soon enough," it says on the back kivver. I cain't wait to dig into it, but all things considered, it'll have to go on the file pile to be read as I git time.

2. And, by golly, I just finished two books on Butch Cassidy when I ran across Will Henry's Alias Butch Cassidy and jist gotta have a go at this for comparison's sake. Where do I put it on the file pile, near the top ahead of some of the other greats or on the bottom and hope I git to it before the unwanted guest comes knockin'?  Or, sneak it into the middle of the pile, where it'll have a better chance of bein' read? I'm not goin' to draw straws or play high card, I'll just toss it into the box, knowing the odds are even. I'm needin' a li'l more Wild Bunch, Hole in the Wall, and Robber's Roost to put me to sleep.

3.Whoopee! Another one of Louis L'Amour's shoot-'em ups, Rivers West. "A dream and a deadly conspiracy" it yells from the Back kivver. Tryin' to take over Louisiana is whut they're tryin' to do. Hmm-mph! I doubt they can wrench it away from them swamp dogs that got it already.  Ya nivver know aboot thet "brazen Baron Torville" though. Hate to throw that on the pile, but jist got to. I cain't git at thet one before Cassidy and Gallows er can I?.

(He leans back in his chair with thet satisfied grin on his face and sighs with contentment.)     

Cowboy Joke

I thought this one was funny when I posted it in June 2009, so here it is again:

You have lived to be 71 and know who you are, then along comes someone and blows it all to Hell.

An old cowboy sat down at the local lunch counter and ordered a cup of coffee. As he was sipping his coffee, a young woman sat down next to him. She turned to the cowboy and asked, "Are you a real cowboy?"

He replied, "Well, I've spent my whole life breaking colts, working cows, going to rodeos, fixing fences, pulling calves, bailing hay, doctoring calves, cleaning my barn, fixing flats, working on tractors, and feeding my dogs, so I guess I am a cowboy."


She said, "I'm a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about women. When I shower, I think about women. When I watch TV, I think about women and even when I eat. It seems that everything makes me think of women."

The two sat sipping in silence.

A man came in and sat down by the cowboy. He, too, asked, "Are you a real cowboy?"

To which the cowboy replied, "Well, I always thought I was, but I just found out that I'm a lesbian."

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL!!

A Pome

In 1999 I conceived the following "pome" (not poem, since I'm not a poet) that sizes up things in early Utah from my perspective. Here goes:

IN EARLY UTAH

Horses, cattle, chickens, sheep, and hogs,
Along with the crops, the land and the dogs,
Made up the farms in early Utah.
'Twas what God looked down and saw.

The brave men and women who worked the farms,
And watched over their crops during bad storms,
Rode their horses all the day and night,
And prayed to God that they did right.

The Indians revered the rocks, plants, and sand,
Through the centuries as if it were planned,
And through the Rockies their history plods,
As they paid homage to their almighty gods.

So here's to the Cowboys, Indians, and Sheepherders,
And to their women who loined-up their girders,
I mean girded up their loins and opened their arms,
And to God for providing them all with beauty and charms.

Amen.

(NOTE: Copyright 1999, Oscar Case)

I was writing a book on my family's genealogy and history and started each chapter with a "pome" as an introduction to what was coming up and to lighten it up. Some of it has been written about in my blog from time to time you may have noticed.

The Hardin Movie

True West says there will be a movie on John Wesley Hardin before too long. Mr. Hardin didn't get the publicity that Billy the Kid did, but he was just as much a killer if not more. In an article by C. Courtney Joyner, he sez the movie's producer "wanted an entirely real approach to the outlaw's life with no compromises." If it turns out to be anything like the book by Lewis Nordyke, it'll be a barn-burner of a movie. "Beside him, Billy the Kid was a rank amateur," said the Kansas City Star about John Wesley Hardin, Texas Gunman, the book. Who will play Hardin in the movie hasn't yet been determined, but "will be a major name."

I can hardly wait to see this one. I just hope it doesn't take years to complete. 

Some Upcoming Events in Arizona

Here are some more events taking place in the wonderful State of Arizona the next month or so:

May 18 - Jerome Historic Home and Building Tour, in the old mining town that sits on the side of a mountain. Always a good time in Jerome.

May 19 - Skirting Traditions Lecture Series, Prescott, with Brenda Kimsey Warneka, writer and editor, in the Sharlot Hall Museum.

May 25, June 8, and June 22 - The Grape Train Escape in Clarkdale. Wine-tasting and finger foods while riding the Verde Canyon Railroad. A chance to get high on the locally grown grapes in the high country.

May 25-26 - Zuni Festival of Arts and Culture, Flagstaff. The Zuni people share language, lifeways, music and dances at the Museum of Northern Arizona.

May 25-27 - Wyatt Earp Days in Tombstone. Celebrate the Old West's most famous lawman whee he gained fame at the OK Corral, etc. Yee-haw!

May 27 - Memorial Day Parade in downtown Concho in the White Mountains.

June 1-2 - 2 Deuces Wild Triathlon at Foot Hollow Lake, Show Low.

June 7-9 - Show Low Days in Show Low.  Western-themed festival, parade, rodeo, and beer garden among other festivities. Y'all come.

(Courtesy of the High Roads Magazine of AAA with comments by bloggincurly.)