Doodlebug! Doodlebug!....

When I was a little boy, I can remember in our barn at Junction Hill, there were these funnel shaped holes everywhere.  Being the curious lad that I was and not having internet access yet, I went to a better source...Dad-net and Mom-net!  Of course they knew what they were...they were Doodlebug holes!  Now if you look this up on the internet some smartypants will call them "Antlions" but I trust Parent-net.  Just the name was not the end to the vast amount of information available on Parent-net.  Mom-net told us how to get the Doodlebug out of his hole!  Her instructions:
1) Be vewwy vewwy quiet...(oops...slipped into Elmer Fudd mode there!!) Be very quiet and slip up to a Doodlebug hole
2) Get your mouth a few inches above the Doodlebug hole
3) Repeat this phrase: 
Doodlebug! Doodlebug! come outta yer hole!
Yer house is on far (fire) and yer children are gone!

In a few seconds you would see the sand in the bottom of the hole start moving.  Occasionally sand would flip up in the bottom...but I never saw the Doodlebug come out to put out the fire at his house.....There were a lot of burning Doodlebug houses when I was a young-un!

It's memories like this that make me wonder why kids now days get so bored.  To my recollection, I never uttered the words "I'm bored" or "There's NOTHING to do".  God's world was(is) such a fascinating place and we made the most of discovering it!

Here's a couple of rhymes from the internet that might work to get the Doodlebug out of his hole.

"Doodlebug, doodlebug, come out of your hole.
I'll give you ten dollars and a bag of gold" 

(A slightly different or the correct version of my Doodlebug calling)
"Doodle Bug, Doodle Bug, fly away home
Your house is on fire and your kids are all gone".

"Doodle bug, doodle bug, I've been told
It's mighty impossible to get you out of your hole."

Do you have a "Doodlebug Rhyme"?  Don't know one?  Make one up!....  I'd appreciate seeing them in the comments!

Read more about Doodlebugs here

A New Deck

We decided this spring that we were going to build a deck.  The "we were going to build" does not necessarily mean that we (Tami and I) were going to build said deck.  Think of this statement as being somewhat like a recent news article when someone said "If they use gas on them that's a red line for me"....Because we found out that what he REALLY meant is it was a red line for the world......
But I digress... 
We were going to begin on Memorial Day weekend, building it ourselves (with help from Bubba, Son-in-law and sundry other relatives) but I made the wise decision to hire it built.  Brother Frank Rogers was contacted and agreed to build it but he began having some physical problems and had to back out. I contacted a couple of builders but it didn't work out for them to do the building.

I really wanted Brother Frank to build it since it would, in his words, "help him get a little money" to go to his mission work at the "Border Church" in McAllen, TX.  Let me say this about Brother Frank Rogers...the man eats, sleeps, breathes and bleeds Mission Work!  He is a prince of a man and I am privileged to call him a friend.

Would you believe that on the very day that I received an estimate from another builder, I also received a phone call from Brother Frank!  He was feeling better and thought he could start as soon as he finished up a fencing job!

He started last Wednesday and by Tuesday he said he should be completed.  Keep in mind as you look at the following pictures, Brother Frank is working almost exclusively by himself.  Grandpa Bean helped on Friday and I really appreciate it!

I put this picture on Facebook as me "Relaxing on my new deck"

Completed!!

To Golf or not to Golf...

That is the question...

To continue our pursuit of culture on this mini-vaca, Tami and I were going to play a round of "real" golf on a "real" golf course.  I brought some clubs...(golf clubs...not cavemen clubs) and made plans to go to a course here in Branson.  I am a biennal(1) golfer so I have lots of experience.  Now, we tried this a year or so ago here in Branson and when we arrived at the "Don Gardner" golf course, it was closed.  So...yesterday when we loaded up to go to this same course, I made the comment that "it would be funny if it was closed this year."  Guess what?  It was!!  Too much rain...imagine that!!

So later in the day we went to "Greatest Adventures" mini-golf.  The golf gods were not smiling on me.  As you can see from the score card below, I was royally thumped by my beloved wife!  She insisted that I put this on the blog, so under duress, here it is...

Ralph Foster Museum

We decided to add a little culture to our vacation.  This morning we went to the "Ralph Foster Museum" on the campus of the College of the Ozarks at Point Lookout near Branson.  The "Ralph Foster Museum" is called the "Smithsonian of the Ozarks" and I was really impressed by the amount of displays and artifacts that were in the museum.  There are three floors of displays and collections so it would take a good week to really "look" at everything.  Because almost everything is under glass it was impossible to get good pictures so you will just have to go see it for yourself!

I knew I was adding culture and refinement to my life when the first display I took in was this.....

 Yepster...It was the original "Beverly Hillbillies" 1922/1923 Buick flat-bed truck.  Tami and I were so in awe, we had our picture made a-sittin' in the ole fliver! (stay tuned for pic)

There was also another neat car in the museum...

Our trip was also very educational.  You don't learn this kind of information in High school or College....

For all you gun buffs out there...one whole floor of GUNS!...every shape and description.  Even an original Gatling Gun!

Pedro the Polar Bear paused in his perusal for polar perch to pose with....me.

However...when we saw these bad boys we skedaddled outta there!!

If you ever get the chance, visit this museum.  It will be well worth the fee to go.

The Sons Of The Pioneers

Tami and I are on a much needed mini vacation in Branson, MO
Tonight, we attended "The Sons Of The Pioneers" Chuckwagon Dinner Show.  We had been to the Dixie Stampede a few times so we decided to do something different.  It started at 4:15 with the dinner triangle being rung and prayer over the food.  (About the prayer...I usually don't get too excited about public prayers in this kind of venue.  But they had a real prayer to Jesus our Saviour!  None of this watered down stuff so they won't offend anybody.  I was impressed!)
Then the meal started and boy-howdy was it good!  They came through with buckets of Roast Neers just passin'um out right and left so we grabbed a couple and started munchin'.

Then they dished out the chuckwagon meal.  We had smoked chicken and beef brisket, dutch oven taters, whistle berries (BBQ beans), dinner roll and apple cobbler.  Iced tea or lemonade was served with the meal.

 Then the show...It was just old-fashioned cowboy music with outstanding harmony.  My personal favorites were "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and "I'm My Own Grandpa".  I got to talk with a couple of the singers and they are real down to earth guys.  Mark, the bass player asked me where I was from.  I answered "West Plains, MO" and he said "Oh, Porter Wagoner's hometown"...Our town is so distinguished!!

After the show Tami and I decided to rob a bank.  It has been a very good day!

Roast Neers! - Continued

The bedtime story would not be complete without mentioning our adopted sister, Brenda Galiher, that helped us shuck the Roast Neers.  I got all caught up in telling the story and forgot.  She really enjoyed it and is making plans to move to Nebraska...and help the Cornhuskers...and I'm just kidding...

Little Brother Ray enjoyed shucking the Roast Neers so much, he decided to go out in Mr. McGregor's Corn Patch and get some more Roast Neers!

The End

Roast Neers! - The Bedtime Story Version

Once upon a time there was a family named Riggs.  There was Big Brother Ralph and his family and Little Brother Ray and his family.  They lived in a wonderful place called "The Plains West of Thomasville".  However, some of the Riggs family had forsaken this wonderful place called West Plains and had moved to the far-off land of "Texas".  The Riggs Family had many pets.  There were dogs; Sadie, Sherlock and Lilly. And there were kittens; Jake and Izzy.  However, none of these pets belonged Little Brother Ray.

One of the things that the Riggs family REALLY loved to eat was Roast Neers.  They would go far and near searching for Roast Neers to eat.  One day they heard that there was an abundance of Roast Neers in a far off land called "The Bootheel"!  So Little Brother Ray hooked up the wagon to his powerful beast called "Ford F-150" and took off on a journey to "The Bootheel" in search of the Roast Neers.  They traveled many miles and finally found an abundance of Roast Neers!  They were not in "The Bootheel" but close by in a little meadow called "Diebold Orchard."

Little Brother Ray's wife, Tami was SO happy that they had found Roast Neers!!

So happy in fact that she wanted 600 Roast Neers!!!
 
Little Brother Ray and his wife Tami were very hungry after they had loaded the 600 Roast Neers.  So they decided to eat in a little village nearby called "Sikeston".  There were many places to eat in "Sikeston".  Little Brother Ray and his wife Tami were going to eat at a place called "Lamberts".  However, many, many, many people were standing on the front porch of "Lamberts" and not going inside so they decided the food must not be very good.  Little Brother Ray and his wife Tami decided they would eat at a nice place called "Dexter BBQ".

Little Brother Ray had the Large Rib Plate.

Little Brother Ray's wife Tami had the Beef Brisket Plate.

Little Brother Ray and his wife Tami were so full after they had finished eating, they wished they had stopped at a nearby restaurant called "Subway".

Little Brother Ray and his wife Tami drove the "Ford F-150" with the wagon load of 600 Roast Neers back to Big Brother Ralph's house which was east of "The Plains West of Thomasville".

Everybody was so happy that now they had Roast Neers to eat!  Everybody in the Riggs family helped shuck the Roast Neers.  One of the little Riggs', Claire Marie, helped out by shucking and taking the "hair" off of the Roast Neers!  She also helped Little Brother Ray by handing him the Roast Neers out of the back of the "Ranger".

It took two days for the Riggs family to shuck the 400 Roast Neers.  They shucked it, took the "hair" off, cooked it, cut it off the cob and put it in bags to put in the freezer.

Now what happened to those other 200 Roast Neers?  Well, some of the relatives of Little Brother Ray and his wife Tami named "Joe and Juanita Bean" wanted 100 of the Roast Neers.  Some more of the Roast Neers were sold at a bake sale in a beautiful building called "The Junction Hill Pentecostal Church".  The rest of the Roast Neers  were either given away or cooked by Big Brother Ralph and eaten by the Riggs family while they were shucking the Roast Neers.  The Riggs family was now very happy because they had lots and lots of Roast Neers in their freezers!

The End