Howdy friends and neighbors. I would like to take this chance to write about my little opening statement, “friends and neighbors.” I like the fact that I’m watching less television nowadays but the Hollywood message still seems to creep in through the many media outlets that I’m subject to just in passing. One message that I get so tired of hearing on television and radio is how we, that live in the “fly over” country are so backwards and unsophisticated. I guess the left and right coast have to put down the central plains so they can have something to stand on. Here is my take.
I live exactly where I choose to live. The reason I choose to live “in the middle of nowhere” is as simple as the life here: good friends and neighbors. And no, the “and” doesn’t mean two different people. It means that my neighbors are also good friends. A neighbor here in western Oklahoma could live 200 miles away. Out here in the middle of nowhere we actually still care about other people in our community. We help each other without question. Actually, if we’re not contacted when a friend and neighbor needs help we get plumb mad and are sure to tell them that by gum, next time they better call us! If that makes us backwards and up side down, then just go ahead and label us down side up.
The reason this came to mind was this past week I was blessed to have great friends and neighbors step in and help me. We’re calving heifers and for the ones that might not understand the above lingo, we are watching some soon to be mama cows have their first calf and we are on call ready to provide assistance if required. Ideally, the newly expecting mama cows will let nature and instinct take over and have the little guys on their own. But, problems can occur and we humans need to be ready to step in and help out.
Well, our parturition program has gone very well and problem free but as Murphy would have it the other night, I had a meeting, my Dad was out of town and my wife and four-year-old son were left in charge. As I left, sure enough, number 169 began labor and about the time I was over one hundred miles away, my wife decided she and the heifer were going to need some help. Again, we are so blessed to have good friends and neighbors. The first neighbor we called was happy to help and did. But as I drove on toward my meeting place, I started counting all the neighbors and friends that I could have called and when I ran out of fingers and toes, I quit counting. Number 169 was going to be a challenge, so another neighbor was called to take my son to their house down the road a bit to get him out of the way. My neighbor, Mike, worked at pulling twins as if it were his own heifer, all without reservation and I so appreciate it. When they were finished, my wife went to pick up our son at Wes and Terry’s house and before she could leave was blessed with a wonderful meal and great fellowship.
I’ll argue that Sunny Point, Oklahoma is as good a place to live as anywhere on this earth. It’s not just the view of star-lit heavens on a clear, cold night, a multi-colored sunset, or a thunderstorm brewing in the west as lighting lights up the dark sky. It’s not just abundant natural resources that allow us to provide for a sophisticated life style for those who live elsewhere or wildlife that just belong here. It’s not the fact that I can leave the keys in my pickup (well, my dominant, aggressive, and just flat mean Australian Shepherd cow dog would shred any potential thief.) It is the fact that people around here and countless other rural communities are just good people that love thy neighbor and prove it every chance they get. Thus, thanks friends and neighbors for your help and for the simple fact that we know you are just a phone call away. Also, thank you to the friends and neighbors who read this article and for your kind words each week.
I’m Monte Tucker and that is what’s under my “holler if ya need anything,” hat!!!
