May letter - Feb 22, 1920

Baroda Feb. 22,1920
The boat is going late this week on account of some kind of (administrative?) delay in Bombay.  There have certainly been plenty of them, others of damage caused through a collision with a Japanese steamer.  Whichever it is, it enables me to write on Sunday instead of on Thursday.  My little dog arrives today it is about a month old and at present answers to the name of "Bill Bailey".  Its mother and father are both pedigree dogs so it ought to be good.  It is a broken-haired terrier and will be an excellent watch dog.  Mrs. Strong is giving him to me.  I am dining there tonight and shall bring him home.  This is all about my doggie instead of about you!  How is your poor leg.  You did not write last week to tell me how it was.  So can only hope its is not worrying you more.  Have you realized darling that you are writing only once a fortnight instead of once a week now.  You must ask Dot to remind you every Thursday it is Thursday isn't it?, that it's mail day.  The hot weather is coming on apace.  I am beginning to be glad to have my punkah* going and before long we shall have early morning school  I have been so busy lately that I've not had time to ride or even to take enough exercise but yesterday I managed a round of golf and a good walk.  The golf links belong to the club and I have had some sticks sent me, so just get a ball and go round.  It is very enjoyable.  I shall look forward to taking Dot round the links at Cambridge when I come back.  Well, good bye darling.  Write me a nice letter every week.  Very much love family, your ever loving daughter May.

 New word for me:
*punkah a fan used especially in India that consists of a canvas-covered frame suspended from the ceiling and that is operated by a cord.  Visions of old movies in Turkey.
broken haired terrier.  Wonder what that is?

Thoughts:
I believe May's mother had died prior to 1920.  Hence, her letters addressed only to her father.
Apparently,  there was about a two week lag time between posting a letter and delivery of a letter.  So you ask a question and get an answer one month later. A little different than today's "twitter" where random and useless thoughts are communicated instantly.  I worry that today's generation has lost the value of "ponder" let alone know what it is.  Some things are better left unsaid.  ;-)

Dad/Gordon et. al. 

May letter February 1920

As I type this letter of Aunt May's, I try to envision her sitting at a desk at a friend's home, a "bungalow",  in India. I wonder about things such as smells, temperature, sounds from the home, was she at a window? a desk?  was it dark yet? what were the Strongs doing as she wrote her letter home?  what was their relationship?, etc.

At least when I try to envision my great grandparents environment, I can visualize their home and the boarding school.  I was there.

Baroda Feb 6th 1920
Another week has gone by on wings, and I am sitting down again for weekly chat, this time in Mrs. Strong's bungalow as I'm here for dinner.  My sports are day after tomorrow and I'm up to my ears in work.  I will send you a programme.  I am sending you by next week's mail darling the where-withal to settle for the rubber bandage and ointments you had to get for your poor leg.  I was so sorry to hear you were laid up with it.  It must be very tiring to have to stay in all the time instead of being able to have your customary trots around.  Get well soon.  Spring will soon be upon you now and I suppose the snowdrops will be out in the gardens and the almond blossoms on the commons.  With us the "Spring" (Vasanti) is already here and the hot weather will be beginning in about a month, but the nights are still cold and today I wore my warm coat in the house till nearly eleven.  I'm so sorry, please tell Storton (?) that I missed his birthday, so will send through you, belated though very warm wishes for many happy returns.  Good bye dearest Dad.  Very much love to all from, May

Snowdrops must be an indication of spring everywhere ~ and crocus.  But almond blossoms in Spokane, I'm afraid not!


I am sure the above word Vasanti is how it was spelled in May's letter.  I wonder if it is Hindi or Muslin. I'm not sure on the Storton spelling.  I looked at a family tree thingie and didn't see any family to whom it might apply.  So..a mystery.  I can't envision my great grandfather in a "customary" trot.

While in England, I do believe my father and I did see the "commons" to which she referred. Their boarding school set off to a side of it.  The school still stands.  I have no idea of its use today.  I had no idea the trees were almonds.  I thought almonds grew in a warmer climate.  Guess not.

Dad, et. al..

May's letters

I'm having more difficulty than I anticipated in  transcribing Aunt May's letters.  Her penmanship is excellent, but the quality of the photo copy is terrible.  I am forced to present only the ones that I can make out.  With my luck the one's I can't transcribe are probably the more interesting ones. ~  A Capricorn's take on life! :-)

Baroda Jan 30th 1920.  Here is the promised letter.  We had a very pleasant time last night at the Colonel's "at home" and got back about twelve.  There's another "at home" at the chancellor's, but that is an afternoon one.  Soon the hot weather will be on us, and then we shall not have so much energy for entertaining.  I am very busy myself just at present as my sports day and prize giving are on the 7th.  I'm having a purdah affair this time, only ladies and the Divan's wife is giving away the prizes.  I hope we shall have a good assembly.  The next excitement (in the school) will be the terminal examinations and then the scholastic at  ---.  I hope our girls will do well.  I got your letter early last week and the paper comes regularly.  I much enjoy the Literary Supplement.  I am very sorry your leg has been troubling you so much and do hope the new bandage will be a comfort.  I am going to make you a present of it darling so will send a Post Office M.O. next month.  Please thank Dot for her delightful letter and the beautifully worked handkerchief.  I am hoping to write to her next week.  I was so glad to hear from her again.  I wrote to Willie yesterday for his birthday.  I hope the letter will reach him in time.  If Ethel judged it wise to buy those things I mentioned to her a month or so ago  and has not yet sent them ask her to register them as parcels are so much safer that way.  If not registered they are likely to be lost.   ....  Well darling I must say good night and get me to my little bed as we have ... (completely faded out on paper.)

New words I learned:
purdah ~ seclusion of women from public observation among Muslims and some Hindus especially in India.
Divan  ~  the privy council of the Ottoman Empire, council

I have no idea who "Willie" was.  I wonder what was wrong with Great Grandpa's leg!

Dad, et. al.

Letters from the Past

Grand Aunt May Neeham ~ far left.

Grand Aunt Ethel Steen (Neeham) ~ far right

Grandmother Georgina Chapman (Neeham) ~ bottom.

Aunt May never married.

Aunt Ethel married William Steen and had two children

Grandmother Georgina married Fredrick Chapman and had seven children

Great Grandmother

 Charlotte Augusta Needham

Great Grandfather
Stourton Samuel Lionel Needham

Great Grandparents
Aunt Ethel
Students at boarding school

Parents left their children at boarding schools in England during this period of time as they worked in far away places such as India, Kenya, and South Africa.  I suspect this was a great influence on Aunt May's decision to travel to India for her life's work. 

Whilst in the United Kingdom in the early nineteen nineties my distant cousins Micheal and Bill Steen gave to my father and me letters that had been written by Dad's mother Georgina Chapman to her sister Ethel Steen.  These letters, for the most part, dated from the late forties to the late fifties.  These letters were mostly updates on Georgina's children and their life's affairs.  In additional to these letters, the Steens gave us photo copies of letters from Georgina's Sister May to her parents, Stourton Samuel Lionel Needham and Charlotte Augusta Needham.  The letters, which were written in the nineteen teens and  early nineteen twenties, were from Baroda, India (http://www.baroda.com/city.html) where Aunt May was the head mistress of an all girls school.  Grandma Georgina had two sisters, May and Ethel.  Georgina's  parents  owned and operated a boarding school in Tunbridge Wells, England.  The Aunt May letters are extremely interesting from both a family point of view and from a historical point of view.  As an illustration, an early letter from Aunt May, which I can't seem to find at the present, describes her initial trip to India aboard a freighter.  They sailed the Mediterranean Sea at night in hopes that the Kaiser's gun boats would not intercept them.  It was during the height of the first world war.  I had visions of an Ernest Hemingway novel as I read descriptive passages of the letter.  I will post the letter to the blog if and when I find it.  She obviously had a great spirit of adventure and independent free spirit in her own right ~ a women ahead of her time.

In the weeks ahead I will attempt to transcribe a few of her letters and post them to the blog.  The letters are photo copies and are very hard to read/decipher so please bear with me.  Please feel free to correct and interpret along with me.  I will attempt literal transcriptions, i.e. abbreviations and all.

The first letter is as follows,

Baroda Jan. 2rd 1920.  I am hoping you have had a very happy Xmas week and New Year's Day and that 1920 will be a time of much happiness to you and all.  We have had a very nice time with dinners and teas and picnics.  I have had a lot of presents for Xmas, cakes and fruit this year, and today a haunch of venison turned up so must invite some one to help eat it.  Will you come in dearest and do your share!  The mail brought me your and Ethel's letters yesterday Ethel's for my birthday.  But the strange thing is that I've not had a single Xmas letter from the family except one from Willie from Farnham.  I had one from you on Xmas Day itself, but it didn't mention Xmas so some must have gone astray.  Probably they'll turn up a few days late.  The mails have been much more regular lately.  I was much interested in your news of Gina.  I must write to her though she owes me a letter naughty girl.  I am still very busy and shall be up to March when we have a week's holiday.  Good bye dearest  Baroda Jan. 9th 1920.  Just a note only today as I'm out to dinner.  But I can't let the mail go without a line.  Will send a decent letter next week.  Much love, May.

Comments:  Interesting the first part was dated 1/2/20 and last dated 1/9/20.  Obviously the postal service was not an everyday thing as it is now.  Receiving a haunch of venison in India is an interesting thought.

Grandmother Georgina (Gina) was as I found in reading these letters considered "naughty" at several levels.  Much to the embarrassment of her Church of England  parents, she married a divorced man in England with two children, immediately started having children of her own, set sail for the United States where she ultimately had seven children total and eventually divorced her husband who tried to kill her.  If nothing her parents raised free spirited daughters!!  Gave them lots to talk and worry about!

More later,

Dad/Gordon/et.al.

p.s.  Are sisters to your grandmother grand aunts or great aunts?

Dentist

I went to the dentist yesterday.  Am I the only one?  I sometimes get the feeling my teeth are only on "loan" to me.  The only reason I go in for a "check-up" is for the dental tech to determine if I have treated her teeth properly.  Have you been flossing?  How many times a week on average do you floss?  Do you brush morning and evening?  Have you been using your sonic tooth brush? (at least she acknowledges that the brush is "mine".)  Remember to use "up" strokes.  Have you been paying attention to the "pockets"?  Have you ever tried a "water pick"? 

Then there is the depth charting done in conjunction with another tech type. 1..1..1..3..1..3..2..98 woops that was your throat.  hee hee.  Little dental humor.  Another favorite  is when they hit a 6 and follow it with a question mark.  Then the question follows, "have you been paying attention to that pocket?"  During one depth charting I interjected, "mark twain" to no reaction on their part what so ever.  Damn I hate it when people don't understand my jokes!  In trying to explain the failed joke I had to give them a lesson in literature.  Wasn't worth the effort!

The final irony was when Kate, my cleaner type person, as she was attempting suck spit, slime and water from the bottom of my by then choking mouth says simply, "my form of water boarding".  Guess in the future I better watch what I say!

I did make it through the examination.  And, she did say my teeth looked "pretty" good.  At least she didn't say "for an old man", in which case I would have taken the damn things out and given em back to her!!

another day in paradise,

Gordon, et. al.

Eye Exam

I called the eye clinic today for an appointment.
A young lady answered, "Hello, Spokane Eye Clinic, how may I help you?"
I said, "Hi, I'd like to make an appointment for an eye exam."
She said, "I'm sorry we ran out.  We don't have any more!"
I said, "WHAT".
She started laughing and said, "I've always wanted to say that."
I said laughing, "how did you know I'd have a sense of humor?"
"I don't know", she said, "but you have a nice voice."
Got a new friend.  You find them in the dangest places.
I can't wait to meet her.  She got me an appointment on December 9
about six weeks ahead of the normal wait!  Boy am I going to get
back at her somehow.  I'm thinking of wearing my Willy Nelson outfit
complete will coke bottle thick glasses.

Gordon, et. al.

So True

Spokesman Review
November 17, 2009
Paul Turner Column
I quote:


Saying the right thing
An extended family group was at a South Hill veterrinary clinic.  A beloved short-haired retriever was going to be put down, and everyone felt the way you would expect in that moment.

"I wonder if dogs go to heaven," said Jean Hamacher, softly thinking out loud.

The vet had an answer.  She said, "It wouldn't be heaven if they weren't there."

So true.  So aptly put.  Moose and I turned 70 this year.  We're still living the moment.  He's taught me a lot about the really important things in life, i.e. being petted and having our ears scratched!  And ~ being appreciative!

Hugs,

Gordon/et.al.

Montana turkey hunt

Taken on a recent trip to Mike's place in Absarokee.  A Montana turkey hunt.

For my non-Montana native friends, this is all in jest.  Mike wouldn't let me shoot em ~ something about family.  :-)

Gordon et. al.

Cost of College Education

Quote from "The New York Times, Sunday, November 8, 2009 edition",

Prime Number
58
THE NUMBER OF PRIVATE COLLEGES THAT NOW CHARGE AT LEAST $50,000 a year for tuition, fees, room and board, according to the The Chronicle of Higher Education.  Last year, only five colleges charged that much.  Generous aid packages mean many students pay far less, the Chronicle noted.  Even so, the cost of a college education has grown much faster than the costs of other goods and services--up 4.3 percent this year at private colleges and 5.9 percent for instate students at public schools.

$200,000 for a four year degree!  The private colleges have the ability to quickly raise tuition to keep pace with the rising costs.  The public institutions do not have this ability.  Tuition increases have to be passed by state legislators who in turn are justifiably pressured by their constituents to keep the costs of a university education down.  Revenue measures aside, the cost of a university education is simply becoming too high for the middle class.  I suspect this is just another reflection of the widening gap between our middle class and the upper class (as measured by income levels).   Where will this all end?

I was recently asked to attend a meeting of Eastern Washington University officials and representatives for the Spokane area accounting profession to discuss the funding of an endowed chair of accounting that I occupied the last six years of my academic career.  Simply put, the endowment for the chair is not generating enough funds in the present economic environment.  As I sat at the conference table I learned that the full  time accounting faculty at EWU now total five.  Our department totaled 12 during it's prime approximately fifteen years ago.  I learned that they are currently recruiting two additional full time qualified faculty members.  How much does a new Ph.D. in accounting with no teaching experience get I innocently asked.  $150,000 per year plus benefits, if you can find one,  I was told.  Accreditation standards require that approximately 60% of the faculty have a PhD.  The numbers dictate that the recruits have PhD's.  Yet given that they were able to find two additional faculty who were PhD qualified, the department would still be seriously understaffed. Student enrollments in accounting have not declined significantly in the last 15 years.  Salaries have approximately trebled during this same period of time.  Now couple this with the fact that salaries make up approximately 90% of an academic department budget,  a history of budget contractions, recent budget cuts approaching 18%, and upcoming budgets cuts and you have a formula for disaster.  Actually, the disaster has arrived for the accounting major at Eastern Washington University.  By the way the "non-academic" side of the typical university has encountered even larger budget cuts than the academic side.

So what's my point?  Well I need to explain further.  When I occupied the E. Claire Daniels chair of accounting the funded chair allowed the accounting department to do some special incremental things; mainly, provide a dedicated faculty member (me) to provide a needed interaction/interface with the professional accounting community, both public accountants and private accountants.  It was "in addition" to what the University (State) provided (funded).  The endowed chair allowed us to provide a unique experience for the students and faculty alike ~ a "high profile" for the department in  the professional accounting community.

My "take" on the meeting I mentioned above indicated to me that now  the endowment is viewed by the university administration as a supplement to state funding, not incremental funding to enable the accounting department to get that little extra boast toward excellence.  The University appears not willing or unable to fund the department at its most basic level.  If the University is going to develop a model that relies on private endowments to fund the basic funding model, it isn't going to be without  "strings".   It is a slippery slope the university is approaching.   We are rapidly approaching the model that I discussed in a previous blog where the private sector will provide the technical training and the state will provide the liberal arts education ~  not a good model in my view.  And, I feel uncomfortable representing my university in an interaction with the accounting community as a result.

I am conflicted.  As a liberal, I appreciate and expect change ~ make it better and more reflective of our society.  As a "blue-dog" democrat with a conservative leaning, however, I realize that change does not automatically equate to "good" or even needed.  I am reminded of the recent financial mess in which we found (and find) ourselves.  There were good reasons why certain laws were passed in the 1930's.  Changing those laws in the name of "increased competition and efficiency" really turned out to be corporate greed and the restriction of competition though "largeness".  In my view, most of the changes were short sighted and stupid ~ period!  Maybe we should enact a law that makes greed and stupidity illegal !  :-)

We don't need to change the basic structure of higher education.  We need to support it and reinforce it.  And, most importantly, we need to keep it affordable to the populace.  How we do this is what troubles me this morning as I drink my coffee.  Society does not seem willing, let alone able,  to support higher education.

My contribution to "soup stirring" for the week!.  Other than that things are fine here on the shores of Lake Wo-be-Gone.

Gordon, et. al.

Oh Oh

I screwed up.  For the past two posts I've referred to the Brannen Ranch and the B4 as being the same ranch.  They are not the same ranch.  The B4 ranch is in Wyoming at the head of the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone river near Cooke City, Montana.  It was/is strictly a dude ranch, one that our family visited a couple of times during the fifties.  My Dad was a friend of the then manager of the ranch.  I seem to recall that the couple that ran the ranch were friends of my parents while they were all members of the Dude Ranchers' Association.

I honestly do not recall the brand of the Brannen ranch.  I think my confusion came from the four Brannen brothers hence the B4.  But it wasn't so nor is it now!  There were four Brannen brothers, however.  I do remember that we just called it the Brannen ranch or place.

Rack it up to an old man's memory! :-)  But at least I eventually remembered.  Just a little late!!

• 11/9/09 edit.  Now, Candy tells me that I have been misspelling Kinsfather.  It doesn't have a d like I have been using!  Also I now think Brannen may have been spelled Brennan. ;-)  I am getting into an area where my poor spelling is interacting with my poor memory ~ a deadly combination!  Faint heart never won fair lady.  I am charging forward anyway.  :-)
• On another note, it is the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River that runs from Cooke City through a corner of Wyoming and finally into the Yellowstone River at Laurel, Montana.  The Clark Fork river that runs through western Montana has no apostrophe s ~ that I know.  For years my Spokane fishing buddies would correct me when I said the Clark's Fork when I would refer to the Clark fork River that runs through St. Reggis.  The Clark Fork River of my youth had an apostrophe S.
• I just googled the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River.  The results showed no apostrophe just Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone.  Wouldn't you think it should have an apostrophe?  There was only one Clark of Lewis and Clark fame.  It's not like there was more than one Clark.  And, if it is his fork it needs an apostrophe S!  Crap.  Now I'm thinking who gives a rat's ass?!  Haaaaaaaaa
  
• Gawd, life gets complicated!  But--fun.
  
• It ain't easy being compulsive!
  

Gordon et.al.

Preceptions of Time - Connections

The West Rosebud River Valley

The Fishtail Creek Drainage comes in at Fishtail, Montana

This is the area I call Home - Absarokee Country - Stillwater County
Crow country

We celebrated Jennie's birthday yesterday by watching Kimmy play basketball and then having  a Grandma Rose dinner here at the house.  I was showing them the post on the Brennan Ranch and talking about how it was then. A thought occurred to me after they had left last night for home.  I was discussing with them events that occurred 55 years ago .  My grandson Brandon is 10 years old.  As a way of comparison to my perception of time, I made the following calculations: a) when I was 10 years old the year was 1948. b) if my grandfathers (both of whom I never knew) had discussed with me at age 10 events occurring 55 years previous c) we would have been discussing events occurring in approximately 1893!  I know nothing of my grandfather Fredrick Chapman.  My grandfather John Kinsfather would have been approximately 68 years old.  55  years previous to 1948, he would have been 13 so he could well have remembered events occurring in 1893.  I wish I would have had this connection with my grandfathers and their life stories.  I wonder if my grandchildren will grow to appreciate this connection with the past. On the other hand, is it no wonder that we often times  mis-communicate with our children and grandchildren? 

When Mike and I visited the Brennan Ranch we stopped at the ranch just down the Sweet Grass  valley from the Brannen place to obtain the key to the next gate so we could continue on up the valley to the ranch.  I happened to be a classmate of the granddaughter of the owner of the ranch so I was able to strike up a "meaningful" conversation with the woman who was the "guardian of the gate".  At one point in the conversation I asked "how long has your family been on this ranch?"  She replied, "since 1883 ."   ~ that's 6 years before Montana statehood. She also noted to me that the four Brennan boys had trailed their stock including the angora goats up from New Mexico running from a range war.  She noted that this had occurred  after her husband's family had settled on their ranch.  She was proud to note that their ranch had never changed family ownership since it's inception and that the Brannen place had changed ownership only once - and that her son was married to the daughter who had inherited the place from Spike VanCleve.

I love stories.  They help to explain who we are and how we got here ~ as a person, as a society, as a Montana, as a nation, etc.  As a Montanan my "story" has always been influenced by the "land".  I was reminded of this once again on my trip back home.  The mountains of Montana are my cathedral. Western authors write about this sense of place Montanans, in particular, seem to have.  I understand.

Gordon, et.al.

Memories ~ Brannen Ranch

The Crazy Mountains as viewed from afar.
Where the plains roll into the Rocky Mountain Front
Northwest of Absarokee, Montana

One of my most bitter sweet memories is of my Dad's failed attempt to purchase the B4 ranch in Melville, Montana in about 1954. We were about four years out from the Pitchfork Dude Ranch and the financial disaster of that adventure. I was about fourteen years of age. Dad was slowly recovering from near bankruptcy by working three jobs at once. in Billings, Montana. He worked as a sales person for Bob's Sporting Goods, a sales person for the Cherrio Liquor Store and in some capacity for the Northern Pacific Railroad. During this time, he had been in constant contact with a guest from the Pitchfork ranch. This guest who owned a tool and die company in the Rockford, Illinois area was going to back Dad in purchasing a ranch once Dad was back on his feet. Dad researched ranches during this time and decided on the B4 ranch ~ a ranch that was located in the upper Sweet Grass valley of the Crazy Mountains.

Dad had learned the principle of diversification through the hard knocks of experience. The Pitchfork Ranch had one source of income, i.e. the dude business (including guiding). The B4 had several; a cattle operation, a dude operation, angora goats, a mink farm, and raising trout for the Montana fish and game department. The ranch was being operated by the four Brannen Brothers and each apparently had some responsibility for raising money for the ranch. While operating all aspects of the ranch Dad was going to concentrate on the cattle and dude aspects. Unfortunately for Dad, his Illinois contact backed out at the last minute and Dad could not come up with the needed capital on his own. The total sales price of the ranch excluding the cattle was $64,000. You could not purchase a home in Big Timber, Montana for that amount now. Dad and I were devastated; not my mother, however, as the location of the ranch was very remote. She viewed herself as a city girl at that point in her life and wanted nothing to do with ranch life. Ironically, Dad's next business venture was the operating manager of the 4K dude ranch coupled with owning a dairy farm ~ a sink-hole of work combination!

As I was driving over to visit with Mike last week I passed through Big Timber and marveled at the Crazy Mountains off to the North of the Yellowstone river. The upper elevatons had had snow and were absolutely stunning. I vowed to return to the Brennan Ranch on this trip home. Mike and I made the trip the following Thursday. Following are some pictures that I took on the visit to the upper sweet grass creek and the Brannen Ranch. I was awestruck and my heart was filled with a longing for "what could have been" had the "deal gone through". This country makes the Grand Tetons of Wyoming look like just "some more mountains" in comparison.

So I sit here drinking my morning coffee wondering how would my life have been different if the gentleman from Illinois could have "come through" with the financing for Dad. You can not spend a great deal of time looking back at "what ifs", it's not very productive ~ but none the less................................

Gordon, et. al.

p.s. For very interesting reasons the ranch has not changed very much in the last 55 years. The only thing I could not find was the mink farm. The woods within which the buildings and cages set had been clear cut; the buildings, cages, and timber were all gone!  ;-(   Oh, yes, the goats weren't there either! Follows is a slide show of more pictures of the ranch.

Mike visit

Mike's abode.  The log home he always wanted.  The ultimate bachelor's pad!

  This is the spot upon which Mike wants his ashes buried.  Up here you have to bury em.  Other wise the wind will blow them all the way to the Pryors!! He said there was room for some of mine if I wanted a good view of "home".  Several Indians were buried on this site accompanied with their horses ~ sure a waste of good horses.

  Best little gate opener in Sweet Grass County.  We had three gates to open on the way to the Brannen Ranch.  At one point I said, "it looks like we have another gate to open, Mike".  To which he replied, "where do you get this we stuff?  I've been the one opening all the gates!"  He finally caught on!

  Mike in his younger days aboard "Charlie Pride".  He said, "Skipper, I was pretty nervous!"  His buddy McCarn rode the next bull out and broke his wrist in several places.  Mike says he still has trouble with it to this day.  He said he also had to teach McCarn how to street fight.  He said, "Carn, you can't just stand there and duck and jive like a boxer.  You just have to 'wade in' and get it on".  Pretty much sums up Mike's "take on life"!

 

Mike is now the "Head Wrangler" on a wild turkey ranch.  His gobble-gobble is known for miles around ~ the turkeys just come a running when they hear that familiar sound!  A few human females have been known to come in as well!

We laughed for five days straight.  We've been good friends over the years.  I don't think either one of us can remember a day in our lives when we didn't know each other.  Life long friends.  The best ~ once my cousin Roy and I broke him of throwing rocks.

Skip, et. al.