I made it to our city council meeting Tuesday evening and there weren’t very many Ryan residents that showed up besides myself. Tina and Larry Morrison had been placed on the agenda to ask the council if there might be any incentives offered on behalf of a new business. Larry asked the council why the business were charged $30.00 per month for the garbage service. Clifford replied that he thought the business canisters were larger than the residential canisters. This was discussed a little further to conclude that the canisters of the businesses are the same size as the residents, but, our businesses pay $30.00 per month and residents pay $19.50. In years past, our garbage collection was every week day for the businesses. You could justify the difference in the price of the business service in comparison to the residences. But, at least since we have had our garbage collection contracted out, the trash collection is one day each week regardless of whether business or residential. This item is to be discussed at the next council meeting. The first item on the agenda was to be some discussion from an individual from the Terral casino, but, due to the weather, they didn’t make it to the meeting.

I haven’t made it out west of town to see the progress of our Comanche Entertainment Casino and smoke shop. I have heard through the grapevine that they are planning on opening up February 28.  The River Star Casino in Terral is expecting to open on March 1. These casinos hopefully may add some revenue to our communities of Ryan and Terral. The only hope for that happening will be from tourists patronizing the local businesses.

We are still seeing more cases of folks with the flu. It is affecting children as well as adults.

We did get a rain Tuesday evening shortly after the council meeting was dismissed. The rain lasted about 5 minutes, which is better than none at all. Enjoy the day Thursday, because Friday it is supposed to be cold again.  The high for Friday is expected to be around 40 degrees. The high Saturday is expected to hit 50 and 60 on Sunday. This will give us something to look forward to. It was really cold this past weekend. I made it over to Amarillo Saturday morning, to see snowflakes falling in Amarillo. When I left Ryan at 4:30, it was misting and the temperature was 28 degrees and falling. I made it there and back safely. Randy and I had a good day together.

I don’t have any news from Kim this week. She has been sick this past week. I pray that she is feeling better.

Everyone have a blessed week. Pray for rain and each other.

 I have written several times about going to the local hangout and drinking coffee.  Some of the more narrow minded people call this gossiping but I see it as being almost tribal, a throw back to the days of being around a camp fire or the hearth in a cave.  In the old days when communications were word of mouth, we sat around the fire and told stories.  Stories about the best place to find game for hunting.  Stories that told of lessons learned the hard way, how we know not  to do something because it will in fact leave a scar.  Stories that passed the wisdom from generation to generation.  Just this morning we had a discussion about Gregor Mendels law of dominance, of how parent organisms passed dominant traits on to their offspring.  All things considered Marsha is lucky that we don’t sing and dance around something that we have set on fire.  I’m sure her insurance premiums would go up.

 It would be hard to find anything wrong with the weather that we have been having lately.  We have had the rain that we need and also a lot of sunshine.  The other night it was cold enough to make you use your electric blankets and like an idiot I was standing out in the yard listening to owls hooting.  It seemed like they were all over town, talking about whatever it is that owls talk about.  In Greek mythology the owl sat on the shoulder of Athena giving her the ability to see on her blind side, enabling her to see the whole truth.  In the Bible the owl was seen as being a sign of wisdom.  It was viewed in many cultures as being good luck but in others it was bad, even to the point of being a harbinger of death.  All  I know was that standing there on that cold clear night hearing all those birds hooting back and forth, it was a beautiful sound.

 My eldest brother, Scott who could accurately be described as being old school, was telling me Sunday that in his toolbox at the shop, there is a laptop computer.  This machine is not even part of the diagnostic equipment that is part of being a modern auto mechanic.  This particular computer is for ordering parts that he needs.  The companies don’t send out the old fashioned books made of paper the way they used to do.

 In the last twenty years, every job that I have had, involved using a computer.  From the warehouse to selling hunting and fishing permits.  Even paying my sales tax on  the plant business includes those infernal machines, as my good friend Jon Harris calls them.

 I remember when I was in high school, my counselor suggested that I go to college and get into computers, that was the coming thing.  I told him that  was the silliest thing that I had ever heard.  According to the seventeen year old Dennis, no one is going to want to sit at a computer all day. 

Sitting here looking out the window on a cool, overcast and dreary Sunday after- noon. Johnny Cash singing about the ring fire and I’m thinking that I need to stop looking out the win- dow and get down to business. The poor woman is telling the world that she is falling to pieces and now she is crazy. Take a drink of scalding hot coffee and yelp like the proverbial scalded dog and now I start writing.

This morning at JW’s Travel Stop and Christian Science reading room here in Ryan, we were sitting around drinking coffee and talking about this and that when cheese became the center of conversation. Someone mentioned commod- ity cheese and then we talked about all the other stuff that they gave out each month. If you ever got commodities, then you know what I am talk- ing about, there was peanut butter, a canned meat product that to me was unidentifiable, powdered eggs and powdered milk, various beans and peas. the cheese, peanut butter, beans and peas were all good but I never developed a love for the milk and eggs of the powdered variety. The former County Com- missioner in the group told of having a refrig- erated trailer to send to pickup a load of gro- ceries and one time the cheese was so rank that they called in the health official and it was promptly condemned and was taken out to the old Ryan dump to be buried because it was so high smelling that no one could stand to be around the stuff.

Here is a good one, Jim Reeves singing “He’ll have to go”, had to stop and listen. That son of a gun could re- ally sing.

Congratulations go out to the Ryan High School Cowgirls bas- ketball team for their runner up finish in the Wilson Eagle Classic tournament and also to Samantha Good for being named to the all- tournament team. Well done ladies.

The Ryan Ag Boosters had their first annual jack pot show this last weekend. By all accounts it was a huge success. Young people from all over Oklahoma and north Texas came to Jefferson County with their pigs, lambs, goats and cattle. David Sorrell judged the goats and sheep Friday night and Blaine Red took over with the pigs and cattle on Saturday. The Ryan Ag Booster Jack Pot Show may well be- come a new tradition.

Ran into an old friend at lunch Sunday. He informed me that he reads the paper every week and he enjoys seeing me in the paper because #1, it’s not in the sheriffs report and #2, he said that he likes a little BS as much as the next man. Shout out to Kenneth Blevins. On the subject of people reading my column, last Saturday

I had to answer ques- tions about something that I had written with regards to her grand- daughter. I explained to her that what was said was a joke, turns out she doesn’t think that I am funny.

There doesn’t seem to be a great deal going on this week in Ryan, so this is going to be one of those times that I ramble until I get to where I am going.  Robert Frost wrote about the two paths that diverged and he took the one less traveled and it made all the difference.  I do that and sometimes I find that there is a good reason that the road isn’t used much, but sometimes it really is more about the journey than about the destination.  I need to keep reminding myself not to get into a rut.  Don’t be complacent and go with the comfortable.

     I am writing this on Monday evening so that it will be ready early Tuesday when they do the lay out and send it to press.  Before going home I had supper with a childhood friend. It has been years since we had a chance to talk and get caught up on the goings on of our lives.  The subject matter was much what you would expect, work was put behind us and then on to who we had lost in recent years.  Family and shared history were the subjects that we spent the most time discussing.  Having known each other so long, we knew the same stories, but we managed to share a few laughs.  He was on his way to a drag race, so of course we spent a good deal of time talking about old cars.  Besides the 1955 Chevy that he drag races, he still owns the 1968 Chevy step side pick up that his grandfather bought brand new.  It was passed down to his father and then to him, he drove the pick up when we were in high school.  I’m not as much of a car nut as he but I can appreciate the continuity of passing things down through the generations.  I still have tools that belonged to my Grandfathers.  The difference is that he still drives that old Chevy pick up, I don’t intend to use Grandpas cross cut saw any time soon.  I have done that once and let me tell you that the romance wore off of that real fast.  If any of you are on the Facebook, check out a group called “Forgotten Oklahoma”.  There is a lot of neat stuff on there.  I shared some photos of Grandpa Bell on his old tractor.  An older gentleman of my acquaintance looked at the photos and told me that there were at least three different makes of tractor put together.  Grandpa made it work but this just proves that not everything is genetic.  My Grandfather, my Father and two of my brothers were or are mechanics and for the life of me the modern internal combustion engine remains a mystery. 

     I rambled so much that I almost forgot to mention how the High School Girls Cross Country team placed at State.  The team finished sixth overall and Miss Lilybet Harmon finished in twentieth place individually.  These young ladies have done themselves, their school and their town proud.