I’m going to the miss the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion this year. Like the Iowa State Fair, the annual reunion is one of many victims of COVID-19.
   Debbie, myself and our family have camped at the reunion since 2007. We enjoy everything from the free concerts and entertainment to antiquing, watching the steam engines and tractors and visiting the working exhibits.
     There is also the Log Village, the barn dance, the shootouts on the steam train, riding the electric trolley, exploring the variety of vendors, riding the steam-powered carousal and taking in the evening spark show. The spark show is where two or three steam engines line up in a row and fill their fire boxes with saw dust and fire them in unison. The smoke stacks blow sparks 30 feet in the air. It’s better than most firework shows.
    I always enjoy attending the Midwest Old Threshers Button Collectors Forum on Sunday morning during the reunion. Carolyn Sidebottom, an expert in button collecting, gives a nice presentation and collectors trade and sell buttons. Some go for $1 and others from the 1950s sell in the $300 range. And I can’t forget about the Methodist Church tent.    
       The fried chicken and meat loaf are the best!
     All of this inspired the book that Debbie and I self-published on the Old Threshers Reunion in 2008.
     There is so much to do and it is all family-friendly. I always tell people, don’t wear white.
       I’m going to miss seeing my friend, Mr. Anderson. He always has a half a dozen boxes of postcards for me to dig through. I enjoy trading postcards with him. He’s always fair with me.
       I first learned about the reunion while attending the University of Missouri-Columbia.    I worked as a custodian on the campus and was cleaning an office when I found a brochure about the reunion on someone’s desk.
        I made copies of the brochure and took it home. I was hooked from the beginning.
I attended my first reunion in 1999 after moving to Iowa in December 1997. I returned in 2001 and again in 2003 when my dad and his friend and former co-worker, Roger, made the 500 plus mile trek from Tulsa to Mount Pleasant to attend the reunion. 
       Finding a motel within 30 miles was tough, so Roger and my dad stayed in a motel in Keokuk. I went to the reunion with them on Saturday and stayed the evening with them. I had been gone from Tulsa for more than 10 years, so the trip was a bonding time for us.
       A few years later, Debbie and I bought a video of the 2003 reunion and gave it to my dad for a Christmas gift. He was watching it and toward the end, saw himself in the Log Village. He always enjoyed that video.
      My dad loved old steam engines and tractors. He owned a 1947 John Deere B and Farmall 130 with several implements. He purchased both tractors second hand. He tinkered with the John Deere and putted around the farm on it. He used the Farmall to brush hog at the farm. I inherited the Farmall and later sold it to collector in Oskaloosa who refurbished it. I hope to have a chance to get it back down the road.
       COVID-19 has done a good job bringing cancelations, fear, uncertainty and craziness in our world. But there is one thing it can’t do – take away the memories and future dreams.
         Stay positive folks, live life to the fullest, dream and keep on walking.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

  We don’t talk enough!
  That might be a strange comment to make in these days and times of social media and folks buried in their cell phones sharing every tidbit of their life with the world.
  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my cell phone and spend a good deal of time on Facebook as well as texting, just ask Debbie.
  Back in the day, folks had neighborhood clubs, social events and could often be found on the front porch visiting with a neighbor who stopped by to chat. I am sure there was also a fresh pitcher of iced tea and some tasty cookies on the porch.
   We need more of that in today’s society.
   Anyone who knows me, knows I enjoy visiting. My dad used to visit and had no problem striking up a conversation with a complete stranger. He loved taking a Sunday afternoon trip to the Verdigris River bottoms east of Tulsa to visit with the old-timers he grew up around. He loved family and school reunions he had connections with and he and Mom attended several each year.
   It could be a 100 outside and it didn’t bother my dad a bit. Give him a cup a coffee and let’s sit a spell and catch up. When I tagged along, I always seemed to find a comfy couch or chair to take a nap.
    I remember a fishing trip Dad and I took some years ago at a northeastern Oklahoma lake. Dad struck up a conversation with another fisherman and soon discovered they grew up near each other. 
    It used to bother me that my dad talked to every stranger he met. Now, I do the same thing. I love visiting and I think we need to do more of it. My dad was a smart man.
   I was at the Iowa State Fairgrounds the weekend before last to watch our nephews show goats. I met one fellow who serves on the Polk County Fair Board and we visited about animal care. I found out he was connected to someone from Montezuma. We talked about that, too.
    I spoke with a photographer from west Texas who travels the world taking and selling photos at livestock shows. I visited with the mother of two youngsters showing goats from Corning. I told her about Debbie’s books, even showing her the Amazon link. Her family has about 40 goats and they are all involved in the craft. It wasn’t long and her son started talking with me about his goats. He had a beautiful black and white doe and said the buck was from Oklahoma.
    After stopping at one of the fair eateries, I was making my way across the fairgrounds to the livestock barn. I saw four young boys perched on a bench outside the sheep barn. I stopped and asked, “You boys don’t have one of those spiders, do you?,” referring to the kids who drop those plastic spiders from the rafters in the animal barns during the fair.
     “No,” one of the boys said.
     “I was just checking,” I replied.
     “We will look out for you next year,” one of the lads said as I took one last look into the tree above me before moving on.
     I bet those boys won’t forget about me. I’m sure they will be at next year’s fair in one of the livestock barns trying to scare people with a plastic spider.
   Later in the day, I was over where the competitors stood before walking into the showring.
     I said hello to one young competitor, who was nervously awaiting her turn.
     “Do you enjoy showing goats?” I asked. 
     “Yes,” she said. “This is my first year.”
     “What do you like about showing goats?” I asked.
     “It’s easier than showing cattle,” she answered as I smiled.
    There is so much life and so many stories to be shared in the livestock barn and many other places along life’s way.
    With COVID-19 and social distancing, I think it is causing people to be more segregated. A lot people say we are getting through this together, just as long as we are 6-foot apart.
    I’m all about being safe and not taking unnecessary risks, but I’m also about living and enjoying life and following after your dreams.
    Turn off your cell phone and say hello to someone. You can do that and be 6 foot apart.    
    Tell someone to have a great day or do a good deed for someone. Don’t let COVID-19 keep you from living. Be a difference maker in the lives of those around you.
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

   Growing up in Tulsa, I didn’t attend many high school football games as a student. I only recall attending three games during my prep days.
   My high school, Will Rogers, didn’t have a football field, so games were played at Skelly Stadium on the campus of Tulsa University, home of the Golden Hurricane. The university and stadium were about a mile from my high school and four blocks north of my boyhood home.
   Some years after high school, I got to see an OU vs. TU football game at Skelly Stadium and I attended several USFL games with the Oklahoma Outlaws in the early 1980s there. Doug Williams was the quarterback for the Outlaws. He went on to play and win a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins. NFL legends, Steve Largent, Howard Twilley Jr. (who was the runner up for the Heisman Trophy in 1965), Drew Pearson, David Rader and Lovie Smith, the former Chicago Bears and current University of Illinois Fighting Illlini  football coach, where among TU players and graduates.
   Back to prep sports. In Oklahoma, at the time, high schools had spring drills. A good friend of mine, David, and I decided to go out for football our sophomore year to play in the fall of our junior year. That would have been the Spring of 1976. David had played junior high football a couple years. Outside of trying out and not making the basketball team, I ran the mile in junior high, finishing third in a race once.
   Anyway, we showed up at the team meeting and some of the upper classman chuckled when we entered the room. It wasn’t long and we were on the practice field running basic drills. Needless to say, neither of us made the team. I was ill prepared to play football. I was big, but wasn’t the most athletic individual back in the day.
   One of the coaches, Billy Joe Cagle, was my history teacher in high school. He was an interesting man and probably the only coach who also wrote gospel hymns. That sounds like something a southern high school football coach might enjoy.
   Anyway, soon Friday Night Lights will be underway in Iowa. Football is one of my favorite sports and I’m looking forward to being on the sidelines.
    As a journalist, I’ve covered lots high school football games. I’ve had the privilege of covering three high schools - Montezuma, BGM and Grinnell - in the state playoffs at the UNI-Dome. Both the Braves and Bears have state runner-up trophies and I was there.
   I’ve covered at least two Shrine Bowl games, the last being in 2014 when all three Poweshiek County schools were represented.
    I’ve always enjoyed being around the players through the years. I remember one year that I rode the school bus with the English Valley Bears to a game at Russell High School. Russell had an old camper trailer that served as a snack stand and the football field tilted. It looked like the players running toward the south end zone were going to run off the end of the earth.
   Russell, which has since closed, had a girl who played on their team that year. I interviewed her for a newspaper column. She played both offense and defense until she got hurt, then only played offense. She was tough and so where her parents. Her mom drove a semi and her dad laid carpet.
   Another time, I had my brains knocked out, not once, but twice in the same game. It was the fall of 2000 and I rode the bus with the Montezuma Braves to play Wapello. I was standing on the sidelines and before I knew it, the quarterback for the Indians was carrying the football and tiptoeing up the sidelines. I wasn’t quick enough to get out of his way and he plowed into me. He hit me hard and stuck the ball right in my gut. The impact caused me to fall backwards and land on the track. And if that wasn’t bad enough, later in the first half, I got hit by an offensive lineman and the collision caused me to break my camera lens in half and busted my flash. I ended up with a bruise the size of a watermelon on my belly. Needless to say, I found solitude on the bus.
   Thankfully, I have not experienced that in the years since. I’ve had some close calls and several time have had players roll up on me, but I didn’t take a tumble and that is all good.
   I know this year is going to be different with the shortened season and COVID-19 playing a role in prep sports. These kids are tough and they will make the best of it. Me, I’m not so tough. When I see a player a few feet from running out of bounds, I’m headed for the hills. There isn’t any football photo worth getting my teeth knocked out. And fixing a broken camera is expensive.
   I hope to see you at a game. If you have concerns, bring your mask and come on out and enjoy a game or two.
   Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

   The Iowa State Fair holds a special place in my heart.
   It’s where I first met Debbie in 2003. I was at the fair campground doing a story for the Montezuma Republican on families from the area who camp at the fair. There’s a lot of them and camping there is a big deal!
    A year later, we were planning a wedding to be held in September 2004.
And in the years since Debbie and I, along with our Iowa family, have enjoyed camping and attending the state fair.
   This last week, we would have been cleaning the camper and making a trip to the grocery store for food and supplies. One of us would have possibly went with my brother-in-law to set up the camper at the state fair campgrounds. You have to go early or it becomes difficult to slide a 28-foot camper in a spot the size of our living room.
     I remember one year, the entire family went to set up the camper. It’s a special time of the year.
   Well, this year, as we all know, the Iowa State Fair has been canceled. As with fairs across the country and many other events, COVID-19 is being blamed.
    According to an article in USA Today, the Iowa State Fair has been canceled only five times in its 165-year history, and never for a pandemic or large-scale medical crisis. There was no fair in 1898 because of the year’s competing World’s Fair in Omaha, and World War II dimmed the Grandstand’s lights from 1942-45. It’s been 75 years since the fair was last canceled. How times have changed!
     In 2006, Debbie and I released our first book, “Iowa’s Tradition: An ABC Photo Album of the Iowa State Fair.” The book was born out of my love for photography and Debbie growing up attending the fair.
     The self-published book, which was printed at Sutherland Printing in Montezuma, was picked up by Barnes and Noble. In recent years, we have been able to donate copies of the book to various children’s cancer hospitals around the state. And we still sell copies on occasion.
     The stories and good times Debbie has told me of being at the fair with her friends growing up always bring a smile to my heart. And I also enjoy the stories I’ve heard about camper neighbors who become extended family and attend weddings and other family events. Our former neighbors to the south, John and Dorie, welcomed me into the family when I first started coming to the fair. And they even made the trip from Creston to Montezuma to attend our wedding.
     I have also heard about the old Tindle freezer that sat in front of the camper. Many camping neighbors used it to store food during the 11-day fair. The campground is like a small town with a big heart. Folks often stop to visit or if the need arises, pitch in a helping hand. I enjoy visiting with the other campers.
     As for the fair, we will miss the miniature horse shows and walking through the barns and seeing all the animals. The Pioneer Hall is one of my favorite buildings on the fairgrounds. I will miss entering my antiques this year and watching the various old-time competitions such as the cow chip throwing contest. And we enjoy antiquing at the various booths in the building.
    And I can’t forget about the polish sausage stand behind the Varied Industries Building. My mother-in-law told me about the eatery. They offer the best polish sausages I have ever eaten. Debbie loves the corndogs and cheese curds.
    And we both enjoy Beatty’s Watermelon Stand, which is located next to where the Giant Slide was until it was moved earlier this year. They are known for their huge tenderloins, an Iowa staple. I’m not a huge tenderloin fan, so a tasty ham or roast beef sandwich and an order of French fries is the next best thing. We will also miss visiting with the Beatty family.
    We will miss going through the food building and for the first time since 2007, we will not be sponsoring food contests. We normally sponsor two contests through our company, Our Front Porch Books. One contest is for kids and one is for adults. The kid contest challenges youngsters to create a dessert based on their favorite book. The other one is based on favorite foods enjoyed at the Iowa State Fair.
    And lastly, Debbie and I will miss walking around the fairgrounds and people watching. I always enjoy a quick nap on the benches located on the fairgrounds. I may be the state fair record holder in that department.
    There are many other activities we enjoy from the photography in the Culture Center to the exhibits in the 4-H Building, the horseshoe competitions, walking the Grand Concourse, the various music acts and the Cowboy Auction Shooting, but the best part is spending time together and being with family.
    Here’s to 2021!
    Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

   I got lost!
   Not in New York City or Hollywood, but Cedar Rapids.
   I had the day off my regular job last Friday and wanted to take my camera to Photo Pro Camera Store on Collins Road to have the digital sensor cleaned.
   I heard about the camera store on Facebook. I had called a couple camera stores in Des Moines. One wasn’t cleaning cameras due to being closed for COVID-19 and the other store was out of my price range for the service.
   It has been a few years since I last had my camera cleaned and it is something that I prefer to let the professionals do. So, I decided to make the trek to Cedar Rapids.
   Before heading off on my journey, Debbie printed out Mapquest route directions for me. I should have looked over the directions better instead of thinking I had this under my belt. I’ve been to Cedar Rapids before. I knew my way around that town, I thought!
   I was doing well until I ran into a road closed sign on Highway 151 just outside of Waldorf, home of Wild Hogs Saloon & Eatery. Only in Iowa would they name a restaurant after hogs. It does sound like a good place to eat! 
   Anyway, I took a detour past the Eastern Iowa Airport and headed north on Interstate 380. After taking a right on Collins Road, I headed east. The directions said go 1.61 miles and the camera store would be on the right.
    After driving past hotels, restaurants, a school, a church and several businesses, I found a shopping mall and pulled in the parking lot. I thought I had gone too far. It seemed a lot further than 1.61 miles. Seemed more like three or four miles.
   In my infinite wisdom and thinking I missed my destination, I turned around and traveled west on Collins Road, only to end up in ten buck two. After making a roundabout journey, I got back to 380, got off at Collins Road and tried it a second time. I ended up back at the same mall.
    To add to my misery, I ran out of data on my cell phone. I never run out of data. And what timing! There I was in Cedar Rapids, no internet service, no phone number to the camera store and lost four blocks from my destination.
     It had to be a miracle from the Heavens as I got internet service again and was able to call the camera store for directions.
    So, off I went east on Collins Road, only to get lost again trying to find the place. I finally found it after driving around Lindale Mall and making my way along Collins Road for the 20th time.
      There went an extra 1.5 hours of my life that I will never get back.
The nice folks at Photo Pro cleaned my camera and off I went. Next stop was Culver’s in Hiawatha. I knew where that was at as Debbie and I stopped there a couple years ago. Anytime I get to eat a Culver’s is a good thing.
    I then made my way to Sam’s Club on Blairs Ferry Road to purchase supplies and household goodies.
      A stop at Sam’s gas station to fill up the tank was in order before leaving. I filled up for $1.72 a gallon. 
      While there, I struck up a conversation with a lady filling up on the other side of me. She was having a tough day as well as her gas pump froze up. She said it was third pump that day.
      The attendant asked me if my pump was working and I said it was.
     Before she left, I had to ask if she had ever met the police women from Cedar Rapids who was on Survivor a couple times and won it once.
    “No, I haven’t met either lady,” she said of the police woman and also a sex therapist who hails from CR that won the survival game another year.
     I hope to meet one or both of the ladies someday and have my photo taken with them.
    After filling my tank, I made my way south on Interstate 380. I turned right on 30 and right on 6th Street SW, traveling south a couple miles for the final stop of the day at Tractor Supply.
    It is crazy driving around Cedar Rapids. All the roads are SE, NE, NW and SW. It’s almost makes one car sick driving around that town with the rivers and roads winding every which way but loose.     
     I’ll stick with north, south, east and west. It is simpler and less confusing.
Thankful, I made it home safely.
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

   I attended the parent-directed Montezuma High School Prom Saturday night. While taking a break from picture taking, I was seated on a chair in the Memorial Hall kitchen sipping on a bottle of water and talking to one of the parents.
  “If you didn’t watch the news, you’d never know anything was going on,” he said, referring to COVID-19 Pandemic, as the kids were having a good time.
   You know, he’s right.
   I’m not making light of COVID-19 or telling folks to throw caution to the wind. What I am saying is we need to live our lives.
  When I turn on the news, its story after story of destruction, marches, riots, political gridlock and upheaval. And fear, lots of fear of things we don’t know or can’t control. And of course there are daily recommendations from the CDC on how to stay safe in the fight against COVID-19. Do this, do that, they say. It’s making people crazy.
   My recommendation - turn the news off and spend your day being thankful for your life, your family, your friends and your many blessings. Pray for safety, pray for our country and get up each day and do something good for someone else.
    One simple act of kindness might be what a neighbor, friend or stranger needs. 
  We all have dreams, go chase yours. Maybe you want to start a business, go on a mission trip, start a scholarship, get a new job, serve on board, take a trip or raise money for a community cause. It doesn’t cost anything to make a call, ask a question or even take a step. You can do it! I believe in you!
Moving on
   It was 20 years ago on July 20 that I rolled into Montezuma after being hired as editor of the Montezuma Republican.
  I had just spent 2.7 years in North English at the Record newspaper when I learned of the opening in Montezuma.
  I enjoyed my time in North English and developed many good friendships. What a great experience.
  When I arrived in North English, I didn’t let any grass grow under my feet. I was fresh out of college and ready to go. I got out of the office, rode in farmer’s pickup trucks and once drove a combine. I climbed on silos to take photos and once drove on icy roads to take photos of an overturned semi filled with hogs roaming about the highway.
  I covered town celebrations and many school events. I even once covered a murder. That was quite an experience for a young journalist.
  I learned so much about life and people. I also ate lots of good meals at town folks homes when I stopped to visit. There used to be a joke at the home office in Marengo about me setting up interviews at supper time so I could eat while I was there. There’s more truth to that than not.
  I’ll never forget my time or the fine folks of North English. I always look forward to returning and enjoying a meal at the EV Malt Shop.
  When I arrived in Montezuma, I was looking for a new adventure in the world of community journalism. I ended up getting a lot more than that – a wife!
  I’ve covered lots of Poweshiek County Fairs and photographed hundreds of young people and their prize-winning cows and pigs in the years since. I’ve attended proms, graduations, community celebrations and ballgames on the local and state level. I’ve interviewed farmers and politicians, wrote stories about Montezuma sports history, former coaches and I have done day in the life projects.
     I’ve earned several local and state honors along the way. But the best honor I have had is opportunity!
     Less than a year before moving to Iowa, I once drove through Montezuma on Highway 63. I stopped on the south edge of town to get a Pepsi out of my cooler before continuing south. At the time, I had no idea that I would call Montezuma home in a few years or met my wife, buy a house, publish books, co-direct a writing conference and enjoy time with family and the many friends I have made along the way. I’m so thankful to God for His many blessings!
     I’m excited for the future and what life has to offer. Don’t let COVID-19 stop you from living and dreaming folks!
      Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

   I love 4-H!
   I’ve been involved in 4-H in some aspect or another since 1998.
   I was not a 4-H’er growing up in Tulsa. I was in Boy Scouts and have fond memories of working my way from Cub Scouts to Webelos and then Boy Scouts.
   I attended Boy Scout camp at Camp Garland near Locust Grove, Okla., about 50 miles east of Tulsa, the second week of June from 1972 – 1976.
   It was a great experience as I was able to participate in many activities from archery to the shooting range, canoeing and swimming. We all ate in a mess hall and every morning, we could attend church service and we also participated in a daily flag raising ceremony.
    My first year at camp, my parents gave me $3 spending money for the camp outpost. I only spent $2 during the week and they were so proud of me, I got to keep the extra $1.
   One year, a group of us earned a merit badge by going on a five-mile hike and camping overnight in a makeshift tent. It was a disaster. Not only did I wear blisters on my feet from the hike, I got soaked in my sleeping bag during a thunderstorm that night when our makeshift tent didn’t survive the storm.
   Back to 4-H.
   4-H is a great organization and I’ve been so privileged in my life to be a part of it. I’ve taken pictures of 4-H’ers and FFA members with their prize-winning pigs and big beef at the county fair more times than I can count on my fingers and toes. I’ve photographed chickens, geese, rabbits, goats, sheep and horses, too!
   I bet a lot of my photos still grace many refrigerators in homes across Iowa and Poweshiek counties.
    The other day at work, a co-worker mentioned that I took his photo more than once at the Poweshiek County Fair.
    “It was 2007, 2008 and 2009,” he said. “I still got the newspapers.”
    I don’t remember taking his photo, but he does and that it is a blessing to me.
  I’ve been covering the Poweshiek County Fair long enough that the kids of kids I photographed when I first started covering the fair in 2000 are now in the winner’s circle. 
   My very first  experience at a county fair was in Iowa County in 1998. I was a new journalist and the paper sent me to cover the pig show. I’m a city boy and about the only thing I knew about pigs was where bacon, sausage and pork chops came from.
     It was quite experience. The pig show leaders decided to wait and take all the photos of the winning pigs at the end of the show. Unfortunately, it was almost dark when the show got over. So, here all the pigs came, oinking as they slowly shuffled from the barn.
     One fellow had a board that looked like a table top and another fellow carried a pan of slop. These pigs were tired and cantankerous. Nothing was working until we finally got one pig to stand still, so it was decided to run all the kids though with their banners for pictures with the same pig.
     I’ve photographed a lot of pigs at the many fairs I’ve covered in the years since. And I’ve wrote a lot of feature stories about youngsters and their prize-winning animals and projects. 
     My oldest nephew, Gavin, used some of my county fair photos from the last few years and put together an iMovie for one of his 4-H Conference judging projects this year. It earned a purple ribbon and a ticket to the state fair. It also gave his uncle a little pride.
     In addition to covering the county fair, I also serve as 4-H photography judge and have been judging at various county fairs since 2012.
  I’ve seen a lot of great photos and I believe I’ve helped a lot of young people to be better photographers and in the long run, better people.
    I’m so very blessed to be able to share my talents and gifts from God through my work. I hope to continue in some fashion in the years ahead, either for a newspaper, a website or some other form of communication.
     My camera finger is still in business and I’m ready to take some photos.
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

   “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” is as iconic of a song as the man behind the fiddle who wrote and played it, Charlie Daniels.
    I loved Daniels’ music and once got to see him in concert at the Tulsa Assembly Center on July 15, 1980, some 40 years ago.
    I had wanted to see him in concert again, but it never panned out.
Daniels passed away on Monday, July 6 at the age of 83 of a hemorrhagic stroke at Summit Medical Center in Nashville.
    Daniels is a legend in the country music industry. He loved his country, supported the military, loved people, was endeared by his fans and was a man of faith and principle. 
    That is a combination that is hard to find in the entertainment industry. Even though I never met the man, I’m honored to have been blessed by his life and music.
    Daniels was born on Oct. 28, 1936 in Wilmington, N.C. According to Wikipedia, Daniels was raised on a musical diet that included Pentecostal gospel, local bluegrass bands and the rhythm and blues and country music from Nashville’s 50,000-watt AM radio stations, WLAC and WSM. As a teenager, Daniels moved to the small town of Gulf, N.C. where he graduated from high school in 1955. Skilled on guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin, Daniels formed a rock ‘n’ roll band and hit the road.
    Daniels first met his wife, Hazel, of 56 years, in my hometown of Tulsa at the once popular Fondalite Club, where he was performing. Hazel, who said she wasn’t much of a clubgoer, came with a girlfriend that evening and caught the singer’s eye.
      “Hey, I like that curvy little blonde over there,” Charlie said of meeting Hazel in a Taste of Country interview. “Hey, how are you doin’?” 
    The couple was married on Sept. 20, 1964 at the Justice of Peace’s office in Tulsa. Hazel’s parents, Daniels’ three band members and a couple of friends were on hand to witness the marriage. After eating lunch at a local cafeteria, the couple stopped and visited Hazel’s parents before settling into a hotel in what Daniels coined as a rough part of Tulsa. They lived there for the next few months while Daniels hit the road and performed his music. 
    Daniels credited Hazel with his legendary career, saying in an interview, “It simply would not have happened without her.”
       The couple had one son, Charlie Daniels, Jr.
      Daniels, who wore a big belt buckle and cowboy hat, recorded more than 30 albums throughout his legendary 50 plus year career. He wrote and performed such iconic songs as, “Long Haired Country Boy,” “The Legend of Wooley Swamp,” “Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues,” “American Farmer,” “In America,” “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye, “Simple Man,” “The South’s Gonna Do It Again,” “This Ain’t No Rag, It’s a Flag,” “Trudy” “Uneasy Rider,” “Carolina (I Remember You),” and so many more.
     He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry.
   On Friday, July 10, a public memorial service for Daniels was held at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Many country artists including Trace Adkins, Travis Tritt, Vince Gill and Gretchen Wilson all preformed songs in honor of Daniels. There were many speakers including his roadie, Roger Campbell, who took the stage to thank Daniels for his work and friendship.
    “He was the only person in the business that would ever trust a tone-deaf man to be his guitar tuner,” Campbell said.
    Storme Warren, a former CNN reporter and American television and radio broadcaster, also touched on Daniels’ life.
   Warren, who had been a fan of Daniels since he was age 9, admitted that the iconic singer was his first celebrity interview. Four years later, when he had the chance to interview him again, Daniels joked that Warren, who was living in Southern California at the time, was getting better at doing interviews and told him he needed to move to Nashville.
   “When Charlie Daniels tells you to move to Nashville, you move to Nashville,” Warren shared with the audience. 
   He went on to say that Daniels loved people and he always had time for them. Warren shared a story about the time he planned to start a television show.
   Warren, who had Daniels’ cell phone number for quite some time, but had never used it, called him for advice. In true Daniels’ fashion, he simply told him to, “Do it Better.”
In this so called unsettled and troubling times, we all need to, “Do it Better.”
   We need to live our lives to the fullest, chase our dreams and not let the fear that is running ramped across American these days take over our lives. Get up every day with an attitude of making life better for others, which in turn will make life better for yourself. Like Daniels said, we need to do it better.
    I think that is a good thing and I’m sure Daniels would agree, too!
   Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

  Vehicles these days don’t seem to have much personality. They all look the same with different names.
   There are SUVs, pickup trucks and mini cars that aren’t much bigger than my Radio Flyer wagon from when I was a kid.
  I remember greasing the wheel shafts on my wagon and a neighborhood boy would push me down the street. We’d go pretty fast and thankfully I never wrecked. Sometimes I would put one leg in the wagon and use my other to propel me down the street. That was fun!
    I don’t know if I would fit in one of those mini cars without getting claustrophobia.
Debbie and I made a stop at the Sam’s Club in Ankeny the other day. We parked next to a new black Chevrolet Blazer. It was a beautiful SUV that seems to be middle of the road between a Equinox and a Traverse.
   My uncle on my mom’s side of the family had an old Blazer in the 1970s. That was a rugged vehicle and nothing like what they make today. If my uncle wanted to put the Blazer in four wheel drive, he had to get out and turn the hubs on the wheels. He used it as a farm vehicle to haul feed and hay.
    It seems back in the day that cars had more personality. Take for example the muscle cars of the 1960 and 1970s - Chevrolet’s Camaro, Chevelle SS 454 and Corvette; Ford’s Mustang, Gran Torino and Thunderbird; Pontiac‘s Firebird and GTO; Dodge’s Charger and Super Bee and Plymouth’s Road Runner, Barracuda and GTX 440. Olds 442 and Buick Regal are a couple others that come to mind. And I can’t forget about the AMX, Javelin and Rebel by American Motors. Those cars and others like them not only had class, they had personality with big power plants under the hood. I would love to own a 1969 or 1970 Chevelle or 1966 Impala.
    Another car that comes to mind is the Studebaker Lark. I don’t consider it a muscle car, but it was built as tough as a tractor. Back in the early 1980s, a cousin who hailed from a Chicago suburb lived with me in Tulsa while attending welding school for a few months. He had an old Studebaker Lark. It wasn’t much to look at, but it had a piece of beef under the hood. I loved cruising in that car with the windows down.
  Back in the day, if you had car troubles, it was either electrical or fuel related. You replaced the spark plugs and wires, distributor cap, points, condenser or a fuel pump, all of which could be changed easily with no problems. Nowadays, if you have car trouble, you likely will have to replace a computer sensor or emission component to fix the problem, and you go see a technician at the garage who knows how to use a computer as well as turn a wrench.
   My first car was a 1959 Chevrolet two-door hardtop. My dad bought the car off his brother in the early 1960s and drove it to work for many years. The engine turned bad and the car smoked like a hog cooking on the grill on a hot summer day.
    One day, an Oklahoma Highway Patrolman pulled my dad over and told him to fix the engine or put the car out of its misery. The old car still had some life in it, so my dad took to a mechanic friend who put new rings in the engine and got it back on the road again. I drove that car in high school and several years afterwords. 
    It was not fancy. There was no AC, power windows, seatbelts or computer navigation. It was a ton of steel with personality. 
    I was telling one of my nephews the other day about the car and that it featured a 455 BTU air conditioner – four windows down at 55 miles per hours. If you’ve been around for any time, you might remember when the top speed on the highway was 55 miles per hour. And gas was less than a quarter per gallon!
   Now that I am a bit older, I’m looking forward to buying a newer car or 4x4 pickup. They may be a computer on wheels and have no personality, but at least the air conditioner works and it is a lot safer than my Radio Flyer. And I’m sure the ride is smoother, too!
Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

   OK Fireworks in west Tulsa along Skelly Drive (I-44) was the place to buy fireworks when I was kid. My dad worked at a factory in west Tulsa and every year a few days before the Fourth of July, he would stop at OK Fireworks and purchase one of the box deals. I remember the company running big ads in the Tulsa World newspaper with all the specials.
   I think my dad paid around $11-12 for the box. Inside were Black Cat firecrackers, sparklers, Roman candles, fountains, bottle rockets and an assortment of other goodies. When he pulled up in the driveway, out the door I went to meet him and get my box of fireworks.
   Some years, I shot off my fireworks at my grandparents on my mom’s side of the family. It could be 100 degrees outside and I was out having fun shooting off fireworks.
Other years, we would drive over to Bentonville, Ark., home of Wal-Mart, where a friend of my mom and her son, Audrey and Vic, lived. I think maybe Audrey worked with my mom at some time. We always had a great time shooting fireworks on the Fourth.
   In the late 1960s, my folks and a couple from the First Baptist Church in Tulsa grew a big garden on a spot of land in East Tulsa. This couple had two boys, Mark and Gary, who were a little older than me.
    I remember spending many summer afternoons at the garden while my folks tended to the vegetables and my dad used his roto tiller to turn the earth. My family grew tomatoes, green beans, peas, onions, potatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe  and even okra, a southern favorite. I ate a lot of okra back in the day. My mom would slice it and dip it in milk and egg and then coat it in cornmeal and flour. She’d fry it in the iron skillet and I didn’t let any go waste.
   One year my dad bought some gypsum from the Arkansas River. They would mix the gypsum in the soil as a fertilizer. They had two big truck loads piled on the edge of the garden. Mark and Gary spent one afternoon there making sculptures with the gypsum. It seems they made robot-type creatures in a box. It was so cool.
    I remember shooting off fireworks with Mark and Gary. We shot so many bottle rockets that the Pepsi bottle turned black from the fireworks powder.
   Another fun summer activity was fishing. A life-long friend, Rob, and I loved to fish. Rob’s uncle had 400 acres of hunting land with a big pond right off the county line in Wagoner County, just southeast of Tulsa. I caught the biggest bass ever, a 3.5 pounder, and took it home and cleaned it and my mom cooked it for me.
     Rob had a cousin who lived on the property in a mobile home. He owned an old Army Jeep. One time, Rob, myself and a few friends took the Jeep for a spin, chasing cows and running over small trees. I got a chance to get behind the wheel and off we went up the side of a big hill. I thought I was going turn it over, but we made safely to the top. That was fun!
     There was a mom and pop grocery store near the farm pond called the County Line Store. They had a meat counter and we’d always stopped to pick up a fresh deli sandwich and couple dozen worms for the fish. 
     We also enjoyed fishing on Grand Lake northeast of Tulsa about 50 miles. Rob’s uncle had a lake home there and we’d spend all day fishing off the boat dock. I would take an ice chest full of cold Pepsi and we’d stop at this bait store that also served fresh deli sandwiches. We enjoyed many good conversations and caught lot of fish through the years.
    With all the cancelations and changes going on in the world, it’s good to keep those memories close to your heart. They will get you through the tough days. Another bit of wisdom is to turn off the bad news. You don’t have to listen to everything. You will survive without knowing what is going on in the world. Same goes for social media, something I need to work on.
     Read a book, go for a walk, mow the neighbor’s yard, see or call a friend and catch up on the good ole times. It’s also a great time to do something good for someone else.
      Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.