LOST HISTORY

"ON THE DAY WHEN MAN TOLD THE

STORY OF HIS LIFE TO MAN,

HISTORY WAS BORN."

                                                     Alfred de Vigny

     I am on the board of directors and publish the newsletter for a group called THE COWBOY STORYTELLERS OF THE WESTERN PLAINS.  It is an interesting group of people that are trying to gather the stories of our past that don't get recorded in the traditional history books.  The point being to eventually produce a history book with these stories.

     The group goes to communities for the local residents to tell the stories of the early days in the area.  We go to Oklahoma in the spring and Kansas in the fall.  It all started in a café in Seiling Oklahoma when a group of ranchers were telling tales and realized that when they are gone the stories die with them.  And so it started, in 1993.

      In the beginning the meetings were done four times a year.  At each meeting there were locals that told the stories as close to first hand as possible.  The stories of the settlers, cowboys, families, and the way of life.  Each of these meetings were filmed for eventual transcribing for a book.

      During the course of time a newsletter was sent out before each meeting with stories, poems, pictures, and information of where to meet and eat when going to each area.  The areas included places like Enid, Medicine Lodge, Alva, Woodward, and places you would recognize.  But more often it was in places like Durham, Slap Out, Seiling, Wilmore, and Canton.

     Well the problem with history is that those generally interested are those of the age that their lives have become history.  Younger people who have an interest in history are rare.  I have even sent copies of the newsletter to History teachers and schools in the regions where we went for years.  We never had one teacher or student ever show up even though the meetings cost was purely voluntary.

      Now we are facing the point of whether we can continue to hold the meetings, especially in Kansas.  It takes someone to step up and host the meeting.  That entails getting the meeting site, (senior center, activity center, community center).  Line up locals to tell their stories, and provide information on where to eat, and contact local musical talent.  We have run out of anyone to step up in Kansas.  We skipped the fall meeting last year and are in danger of having to do it again this year.  And this also makes us face the possibility that there is no longer the ability to keep the organization alive much longer.

      Even the Board of Directors is getting long in the tooth and need younger blood to come on board to keep us alive.

      I hope that my readers will step up and offer to host the October meeting in their community.  I have so many great memories and friends that I have met while going to the Storytellers meetings.  It seems a shame to let such a great effort die.

      If you can take the time to host our Kansas event please contact me at 620-213-2403 or wildfire620@gmail.com.  You may be responsible for your communities stories to be told and recorded and meet a group of people who love history as much as you do.

IF I WERE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT.

"WE WOULD ALL LIKE TO VOTE

FOR THE BEST MAN BUT HE

IS NEVER A CANDIDATE".

                                                     Kin Hubbard

     I GOOGLED my name not long ago just to see what is out there.  You should do the same it might surprise you.  I found another Roger Ringer in Kansas and another in the east, one who raises chickens in Arkansas, and one in Arizona, plus a few others.

      What surprised me about the Roger back east was that he announced that he was not going to make a run for the office of President of the United States.  Darn!  I could have had a lot of fun with that.

      So what if I were foolish enough to really run for President.  Given my distaste for most politicians, I would want to do something that would be different than all the boring things that are going on.  Of course I could not begin to make the splash that Mr. Trump is doing.  I do admire his confounding the sanctimonious press and firing back at all who would make him take water for what he says.  Even if he should.

     I heard a commentator a few months back commenting on how the race should be run for president and I thought that his ideas were great.  So I will not take all the credit for these thoughts being totally original.

      LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA-ROGER RINGER: 

      As a candidate for the highest office in the land I would like to lay out how and who I would have to help me run this country and bring back the pride and prosperity.  This so everyone else who makes vague promises that they never intend to keep will have to pony up with some real ideas.

1. I WILL ANNOUNCE MY RUNNING MATE RIGHT NOW.
2. I WILL ANNOUNCE MY NOMINEE FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL NOW.
3. I WILL ANNOUNCE MY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE NOW.
4. I WILL NAME MY MAJOR CABINET MEMBERS NOW.
5. I WILL APPOINT MY DELEGATE TO THE UNITED NATIONS NOW.
6. I WILL PUT ON NOTICE NOW THAT THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS WILL BE WITHDRAWN OTHER THAN HUMANITARIAN SUPPORT, NOW.
7. I WILL VETO ANY BILL FUNDING FOREIGN AID FOR COUNTRIES WHO ARE AT WAR WITH US OR NOT A FULL ALLY.
8. I WILL DISSOLVE THE EPA AND DISTRIBUTE ITS ORIGINAL MANDATES TO THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR. PLUS CUT OSHA AND PLACE IT UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
9. I WILL ORDER THE SHUT DOWN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TURN THE FUNDING TO THE STATES.
10. I WILL BUILD THE FENCE ON THE MEXICAN BORDER AND UPDATE ALL MANPOWER, AIR, AND ELECTRONIC SECURITY.  ANY ARMED OBSERVATION POST OF ANOTHER NATION WILL BE TREATED AS INSURGENTS AND REMOVED.
11. ILLEGAL ALIENS WITH FELONY CONVICTIONS OR GANG/CARTEL MEMBERSHIP WILL BE THROWN INTO PRISON UPON ANY RETURN TO THE COUNTRY AFTER DEPORTATION.  SANCTUARY CITIES WILL HAVE ALL FEDERAL FUNDS CUT OFF AND THE DOJ WILL REVIEW VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL LAW.
12. THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE WILL INCREASE THE BENEFITS FOR ALL ACTIVE AND RETIRED PERSONNEL.
13. THE VA WILL BE RESTRUCTURED AND POOR PERFORMING PERSONNEL WILL BE FIRED.
14. I WILL ORDER ALL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO START A 10% ANNUAL REFUNDING OF SOCIAL SECURITY FUNDS BORROWED SINCE THE 1960'S.
15. CHILDREN OF ILLEGAL ALIENS WHO GIVE BIRTH ON US SOIL WILL NOT BE AWARDED CITIZENSHIP FOR THE OFFSPRING.
16. THE POLICY OF MULTIPLE USE ON PUBLIC LANDS WILL BE RESTORED AND A BAN ON MOTORIZED FIREFIGHTING AND RESCUE UNITS IN WILDERNESS AREAS WILL BE OVERTURNED.
17. ORGANIZATIONS THAT FILE LAWSUITS AGAINST PRIVATE CITIZENS ENGAGED IN LAWFUL ENTERPRISE ON FEDERAL LANDS WILL BE REQUIRED TO PAY ALL THEIR OWN LEGAL FEES AND SHOW JUST CAUSE FOR A COURT TO HEAR THE CASE.
18. I WILL ADVOCATE FOR TERM LIMITS FOR OFFICE OF ALL CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS AND JUDICIAL JUDGES AT ALL LEVELS PLUS ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SHALL NOT EXEMPT THEMSELVES FROM A LAW THEY PASS.
19. ALL AGENCIES WILL DECREASE THE STAFF BY 10% IN THE FIRST YEAR AND MANDATE SIMPLER MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES.
20. ANY MEMBER OF THE GOVERNMENT THAT IGNORES A SUBPOENA FROM CONGRESS SHALL BE CHARGED WITH CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS AND HELD UNTIL THE ORDER IS SATISFIED.

      This would set the tone for a real Presidential bid and of course, I would not be elected.  Even if I won the popular vote, the cemetery votes against me would defeat me.  As well as the parties would sell the office to the highest bidder.  Oh, I guess they already do that.

LEGACY

"THERE ARE THREE CONSTANTS

IN LIFE...CHANGE, CHOICE,

AND PRINCIPLES".

                                                       Stephen Covey

     Seems the older I get, the more sentimental I get.  Sometimes you wonder how when you are gone, you will be remembered.  After someone met an old flame of mine I was asked if I ever wondered how life would be if I had gone down a different path.  My answer had to be yes.  But when the truth is known, there are regrets in every decision you make.  And there are also reasons not to dwell on them.

      Some believe in fate or that there is a path you are destined to take.  Yet if you believe that then you do not accept that the creator gives us all free choice.  It is by our own choosing how we deal with the good, the bad, the tragic, and the joyful.

     Just as we are all unique in our DNA, fingerprints, and countless other ways, we are unique in what we choose to do at any given moment.  And we must live with the results. 
     So many are so tied up in their beliefs, prejudices, judgments, and self intellect that the simplest kindness or indulgence seems to be beyond them.  There are times in movies that some author manages to put into a story and the director of a film managed to keep the essence, that it should have an impact on how things should be in real life.
     Now I am not one that spend his life in a movie theater or buys the story lines that most movies send out.  Imagination and originality are dead in Hollywood.  But once in a while there are rare moments that something actually comes through that is truthful and provocative.
     I ran across some clips from a film I saw a long time ago called GOOD OLD BOYS.  It was Tommy Lee Jones first directing job.  As an actor I am a big fan.  As a director I don't understand most of what he puts on the screen.  Good Old Boys was I think his best.
      One scene that catches my attention is a funeral where the preacher does not know much, or think much of the man, he is burying.  And the Character played by Tommy Lee speaks up and in a cowhands way speaks of the things that should be remembered about the man.  Not the perceived opinions of those who only knew him towards the end.
     It shows that what the person did before there were the conditions and lifestyles that these people live really mattered.  That without a man like him they would not be there and living in the manner that they do.  Any person must be judged against the time frame that they lived.  Trying to be judgmental of a life framed in the present loses the contribution that that life was responsible for.
     Understanding another is not a criteria for looking down on that life contrasted by the times.  To be condescending and judgmental is not what we are to reflect in our lives.  It is each person to live according to what is right and good and let the judgment lay in the realm of the final judge.
     This does not mean that our life must be a free for all as by what we want to do.  There is an eternal set of rules that we must strive to live by. Each of us is given freedom of choice.  If we regret the choices we made in life we must do what it takes to steer a course toward the ultimate end.
      However if we allow choices in the past to cause us to long for a different path it is a futile wish.  I look at what I would not have now.  Things can always be worse and would I give up where I am and who I know today for a do over?  I don't think so.  It is too easy to wallow in self regret.
     The character Hewey Caloway hit close to home.  It is a rare thing for a movie to entertain and make a person think as well.  If you ever get the chance to see THE GOOD OLD BOYS I would recommend it.

PRESIDENT TRUMP?

"LOYALTY TO THE COUNTRY ALWAYS.

LOYALTY TO THE GOVERNMENT

WHEN IT DESERVES IT."

                                                       Mark Twain

     Just when the field of presidential contenders got to the point where you need a program guide to keep everyone straight, along comes the DONALD.  He would want me to put that in caps.

      Politics is one of the most dangerous subjects to talk about.  Yet has become one of the major spectator sports in the country today.  I can take a position and can count on a flurry of comments both for and against.  I can even expect personal attacks.  That is what some people do when they lack facts or an understanding of your comment.

     I have never been shy to voice my opinion.  If I was too shy no one would be reading this today.  This is the beauty of the freedom that we have had up until now.  Today you cannot use phrases like 'illegal aliens' not because it is not accurate but because someone has tried to change the sound of what it is.

     The majority of Americans traditionally go about their lives being productive and working to support their families and communities without any fan fair.  In the past it has been known as the 'silent majority'.  Most have no time to rally or demonstrate for what they believe in.  Not because they don't care but because they are busy contributing to the benefit of this country and others.

     It takes a lot to gather the force of the everyday American into action in a manner that was like defeating the world conquest of the Nazi's and Japanese in World War Two.  As Admiral Yamamato stated  after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, "I fear we have done nothing more than awakened a sleeping giant".

      The country was united after the World Trade Center attack and somehow the special interests, politicians, and our enemies have managed to divide us worse than anytime since the Civil War.

     So where does the Donald figure into this?  Would he be a good president.  I doubt it.  His track record is not all the conservativeness that he pretends.  So what is my thoughts?  I am tickled.

     No one has dared to voice the thoughts and opinions of the people who are so sickened with the people in Washington, confronted and insulted by the news media, and not back down from his outrageous statements.  Confounding all the 'know it all's' who tell us what to think, how to act, how to speak, and what to be outraged at and not.

      We are to be quiet and willing to accept rulings and judgments on things that are obviously wrong and go against the beliefs of the majority of citizens.  If you speak your mind or the truth you are risking personal attack, loss of your job, and threatened with a myriad of offenses against a government that has gone rogue.  Agencies that create rules that Congress has not enacted.  Congress who passes bills without reading or understanding.  A president who governs with a phone and pen.  And special interest groups that demand acceptance at any cost.

     I doubt that Donald will be president, but, I am delighted that he is tweaking the nose of the self appointed masters of our lives who believe that we will set quietly and accept the garbage that they are so in love with.

WHATEVER HAPPENED?

"LOGIC WILL GET YOU FROM A TO B.

IMAGINATION WILL TAKE YOU

EVERYWHERE."

                                                  Albert Einstein

      A friend of mine that is an avid follower of my writing sent me a letter a long time ago.  I have not addressed his question until now because the research on it was not real easy.

       Lester sent me a copy of a story that ran in the Farm Bureau magazine back in 1969.  It concerned a plan by a Dr. Roy Tinney to bring water from Canada to the United States into the areas that would be looking at water shortages in the future.

      Many are only now realizing that water is the number one issue that we are facing in North America.  Recent droughts are bringing this more to the consciousness of the public.  But those who are charged with feeding the world as well as the need for safe abundant fresh water for everyone have been addressing this problem since back in the 1950's.  This was back from a time when there was nothing that we could not figure out and do without mass media pushing an agenda for some other group.

      This came from a time when you looked at a problem and devised a solution.  In Lester's letter he expressed the fact that "this idea makes entirely to much sense too ever be considered by a government as screwed up as what we have now."

      A line drawing map from Farm Journal was in the article and let me describe the plan quickly.  A canal, or aqueduct, would start at Great Bear Lake in Canada.  It would flow to Great Slave Lake, on to Lake Athabasca into the Churchill River, then channeled to Lake Winnipeg.  At this point the channel would split and run east to Lake Nipigon, then into Lake Superior.  The West branch would go to Lake Manitoba coming down to the Missouri River.  Then the Channel would run Southwest in South Dakota, south through Nebraska crossing the Platt down the Kansas/Colorado border to the Texas Panhandle then southwest to the Rio Grande with a trunk running across to the Gila River.

      The plan would have taken water from a perceived surplus area near the Artic through the major crop states into the thirsty Southwest.  Areas that irrigation and drinking water supplies are under severe stress.

      As quickly as I can to finish.  This Central North American Water Plan (CeNAWP) was one of many proposals addressing future needs for a hungry and thirsty planet.  It was not without controversy in Canada.  A book called WATER AND FREE TRADE by Wendy Holme was published addressing the then Canadian Government of PM Mulroney criticizing the plan.

      This idea has been addressed since the 1950's into 2009.  And to quickly answer Les, yes the climate of the environmental activists, the EPA, and those who cannot conceive of a grand plan being undertaken in this world today, the plan seems to me, dead.

WHAT IS TRUTH?

"THE FIRST REACTION TO TRUTH

IS HATRED."

                                                           Tertullian

     The age old question, asked by Pilate of Jesus, has been a difficult proposition for all time.  We have to ask what is truth because those who are assumed to speak truth, report truth, and teach truth fail miserably.  It is so difficult for the average citizen to accept what is given to us by the media, government, and educators.  We have difficulty verifying what the truth is because the sound bites and indifference of many to really care about it.

      Compound this with the deliberate misinformation and seizing on singular sentences taken out of context, those who try to speak truth are ridiculed.  Hatred seems to have more traction in today's popular society than cold hard truth.  To just say something is true does not make it so.

       It is very hard to grasp the reality of Christians being murdered in the Mideast and other Islamic dominated country's.  When I can set on the porch watching the cattle graze, quail calling, sounds of the highway from three miles away, it is hard to grasp the sheer evil in the world.  But what is even worse is the reality that until it happens here on home soil the American people, or those who pretend to be, just don't care.  And our administration cannot even utter the words 'Islamic terrorists'.

      Even when something terrible happens it is only the chance for politics to make some mileage with the agenda on the table at the time.  People are attacked and killed in a church and the reaction is to take down a flag.  Cancel the Dukes of Hazard,  paint over the Battle flag on the General Lee.  Will this really stop a madman in the future?
      Negotiating for 'Legacy' rather than to stop an insane government from becoming a player in the nuclear stage is tragic as well as evil.
      Calls for symbols of history to be taken down and destroyed is not doing any more than polarizing the country.  Digging up a body of a Civil War General and his wife is not only macabre, but down right insane.  It won't change history but will desecrate a grave.  Is this the politically correct thing to do, dig up bodies?
      A US Representative now wants to do away with the words 'husband & wife' in order to be more compliant with the mood of a minority group that is now demanding more than equality?
      In honor of the US Representative that survived another madman's attack is having a US Naval warship named for her.  And all the arms on this ship have been removed in tribute.  If I was a parent of a US Navy sailor I would not want my kids to serve on a warship that cannot defend it's self when attacked.
     Six counties in Kansas are 'refuge' counties.  This means that the same thing that happened in San Francisco with the murder of an innocent woman by an illegal alien, can and probably has happened here in Kansas.
      The United States continues to give money to countries around the world that are our enemies, when we are Trillions in debt.  And we have the gall to tell Greece how they should conduct themselves.
      China buys our meat processors then gets approval to ship live chickens to China and import the product back home.  This because their workers make one to two dollars an hour.  And once again dog treats from China are killing pets here.
     OK I can rant on and on.  But what is truth?  Seems to be what no one can say without being attacked personally and politically.  Some are even losing their jobs for speaking truth.
      Truth is going back to what has always been the truth.  It is a simple as Ten Commandments and as complex as Scripture.  Including an actual reading of the words of the Constitution before revised by a committee of nine people in black robes.
      

HOORAY FOR BLUE HIGHWAYS

"HAPPINESS OFTEN SNEAKS IN THROUGH

A DOOR YOU DIDN'T KNOW

YOU LEFT OPEN."

                                John Barrymore

     Chalk one up for the good guys.  If you are tired of the wasteland that is television there is a network that has been struggling along under the radar for several years now.  BLUE HIGHWAYS TV. 

      It is not enough in today's world of multi channel micro interest television stations to have quality.  In fact many simply have none.  It is a reflection on how those in some corporate tower assume to know what you like and find interest in.  It is so rare that there is a channel that elicits a loyalty.  RFD TV is one that rose through the world of TV muck and with a loyal following have made it into most major and minor markets.

     Wholesome programing is considered a fluke by those who know more than you.  The attitude seems to spill over from government.  It takes a few devoted to quality and repeatedly asking for access that wins the day.

      Here at our house we have DISH TV.  It is known for giving little known networks a chance to have access to a large number of households and given a chance to work it's way up into main line channel position.  From what I have seen of most cable operations it is even worse because of the artificial limits of position.

      Even with five hundred channel choices it is hard at times to find anything to watch.  So here is why I am so happy for BLUE HIGHWAYS TV.  When there is nothing of interest or I just get tired of news and silly reality.  When I can't find a decent movie or a show that does not involve UFO's, Monsters, smut, filth, and values that are not my family's, I can go to Channel 73 Dish for a wide variety of Roots music.  Bluegrass, traditional country, simple living, and just plain wholesome entertainment.

      I cannot take responsibility for the addition of BLUE HIGHWAYS TV to the DISH network but I steadily filed e-mails requesting it for the last 3 years.  It had to be one of many who wanted the choice.  They say that one vote cannot make a difference but one vote with many others votes seems to have gotten attention.

      With RFD, Rural, Public, and now BLUE HIGHWAYS, I now have a better chance of seeing something that interests me and I hope you.  If your TV service does not offer theses maybe you should start voicing your opinion.

SOD BUSTER!

"IN THE END, IT'S NOT THE YEARS

IN YOUR LIFE THAT COUNT. 

IT'S THE LIFE IN

YOUR YEARS."

                                                                  Abraham Lincoln

     As time goes on, and you young ones will know what I mean sooner than you think, we start losing friends.  Some are close, some are neighbors, some make an impact on your life that you don't realize until time flows by.

      Last week I found out that Chris had died.  Chris Henry was a farmer.  A farmer from the old school.  As a youngster I remember his dad farming with draft horses and an old crawler tractor.  Chrissy farmed with the horses and every year cars would stop and watch him cultivate feed and corn.  There were news reporters that would shoot pictures because anyone still working the land, even part time, with horses was an event.

     In the mornings he would hitch up the old hay rack to the team and go across the river to hook up what ever he was going to be doing that day.  It was forever interesting.  There was no farmer that knew his land foot by foot like he did.  He would give way to the tractor for plowing and harvesting and the boys would have a tractor in the field.  But there was never any farmer that was more in tune with his life than Chris.

      We used to buy cracked wheat for hot cereal that he ground with an old mill.  The folks would trade whole Guernsey cream for cracked corn that made the most wonderful corn bread that was every baked.  I was not real fond of it but it was cheap and being so young did not realize how little the folks actually had.  It helped the budget a lot.

      Chris and his family also had a huge garden and put up a majority of what they ate for the year in jars stored in a cellar.  In so many ways he was old fashioned but he did do one thing that was very progressive at the time.  He built a huge barn that  he fed cattle in, out of the weather.  His wife called it Chrisse's Cow Palace.

      Always seen in his farmer overalls he had a jovial nature and when he talked where most would punctuate with a cuss word he would say "sod buster!"

     Well Sod Buster died last week in his 90's.  He saw, and held onto, the horse drawn era into todays electronic mega farming world.  I wish I could have asked him what he thought of how we are today?

      I am sure that he would start out, "Well sod buster!"