Cows and Cowboys

Going West

Observation of the Day!

January 7, 2008

Interstate 35 goes directly south. Now we turn to the west and cowboy/cattle country.

We had dinner last night at Cracker Barrel. It has one of the highest customer counts in the foodservice industry. Frankly, I think the food is overrated, but it serves its customer base extremely well.

Quiet observation is my business. And yes, I do make gross generalizations and stereotype everything. Cracker Barrel customers are the poster children for obesity and AARP in America. However, this was not my prime observation that evening.

There was a young man, probably in his late twenties/early thirties, sitting with his wife, a stringy haired overly blonde woman. It is about eight o’clock on Sunday evening. He resembles sort of a young Garrison Keillor. In his ear was a BLUETOOTH? Phone. Why on earth does he need a Bluetooth? I doubt if he would be getting an important call at anytime, let alone on a Sunday in a Cracker Barrel. He is not as cool and important as he thinks. First of all if he were cool, he would not be in a Cracker Barrel.

But I digress!

In the lands of Oklahoma and West Texas, there are real cowboys: Ten gallon hats, Levies, big belt buckles, western shirts, boots, pickup trucks, country music, and BBQ. They could still drive the cattle north.

We headed west on Interstate 40. Oklahoma and West Texas are windy, brown and vast vistas of flatland prairies. We passed a sign that announced this is where the Chisholm Trail crossed. Old road meets new road. It was not hard to imagine the cattle drives of the late 1800s, heading north to the markets and railheads. One of the best books and movies about this land of the 1800s was Lonesome Dove. I tried to visualize the scenes of a hundred years ago, with cows and cowboys heading north.

We passed through Amarillo and jogged southwest to go to Roswell NM to see my niece and her one month old fourth boy. His name is Sammy, by the way.

The last of West Texas is real cattle country. Hwy 60 goes straight away next to a railroad track that goes straight away. The land is even flatter and the horizon is more endless. The only landmarks are the giant silos filled with grain and feed. We pass through towns named Hereford (Home of the mustangs and the fillies) and Bovina. On the other side of the rail tracks are huge feedlots. I wonder if I am passing by a future steak dinner?

We cross into New Mexico. The trip to Roswell is across some really vast desolate land with no cell phone signal. There are parts of New Mexico that are really beautiful with mountains and trees. Yet, there is still a certain beauty in this flat prairie land. It is always in the eyes of the beholder. We are often to quick to denigrate unfamiliar places.

We arrive in Roswell safe and sound. Yes, folks there is a UFO industry in Roswell.

Have a nice Day.

Sam

Beach Boys - I can hear music 1969

OBSERVATION OF THE DAY!

January 6, 2008

On January 6, 1960, I headed west, starting the rest of my life. I was a brand new twenty-two year old Navy Ensign with a suitcase of my belongings, and I was headed to California, Coronado to be specific.

On January 6, 2008, forty-seven years later, I backed out of my driveway and headed west. Such a long time ago: such a short time ago.

The temperature when we started was above freezing, and with all the snow on the ground there was a fog, As we headed south on Interstate 35, it seemed like it was not unlike Coronado on a gray foggy morning. As we got to the outer limits of the Twin Cities area, I followed a procedure that had become a tradition for me as we head to California. My IPOD was dialed into the Beach Boys. There is no other group that says California, surfing and the music of an age.

Brian Wilson was a musical genius. Now he is a poster boy for your brain on drugs. He virtually has to be guided on stage for his occasional concert. It is a sad testimony to genius, but it doesn’t take away what he accomplished in the writing, arranging and playing the music our time. Everybody was a Californian, even if you lived in Marion, Indiana.

We were still in foggy conditions when we passed by the Storm Lake exit. That was the place the Big Bopper, Ritchie and Buddy had been playing before they took that fateful flight to Fargo on the day the music died.

By the afternoon we were out of the foggy weather and into the bright clear sunshine. The gently rolling prairie of Missouri and Kansas almost reminds me of the ocean we are headed for. And the Beach Boys played on.

We stopped for the night in Oklahoma City. It was seventy degrees when we arrived. Are we there yet?

Have a nice day!

Sam

Beach Boys - California Dreaming

Hey gang guess where we are going? See you in the spring. In the meantime I'll keep looking for Nirvana. I think where we are going may be it.

Sam

Note From Jim

Dear Friends,

My brother Jim is Vice President and General Manager of KOLD TV in Tucson AZ. He does a weekly editorial on the air. I am sending along once of his previously aired Something To Think About.

I thought this was kind of interesting and timely given election season is upon us. The only thing the new computer election technology does is confuse the old folks in Florida and cost a lot of money. Could old technology actually be new technology?

A Waste Of Technology!

Jim Arnold

KOLD News 13 General Manager Jim Arnold

I understand county elections results will come to us slower this year because of computer hacker potential. The county is afraid that a hacker might invade the system and change results. So, the outlying areas will now drive the computer results to the election center instead of electronically sending them.

That causes me to wonder what would happen if someone picks the locks on the lock box during the drive in from Ajo?

Government at all levels is spending millions on technology to track voting, only to be paranoid about hackers and to fight over hanging chads.

Here's Something To Think About": Do we need election technology? Elections are one day a year at most. How about each precinct counting paper ballots, checked by party representatives, and then turned in to a central location? This system worked for decades. Even Centuries. And the costs are minimal. What a concept.

SONG OF THE WEEK!

This is something new I am trying for Looking For Nirvana. It incorporates the lyrics as well as the video. All tastes for music vary, so if this is not your cup of tea just don't listen, damnit!

This seems like an appropriate song for a new year. I love Fleetwood Mac. This was the finale in Los Angeles that featured the USC Marching Band brass section. It must have been a great concert. Follow along with the lyrics. It is better if you have earphones and/or speakers. The quality of sound is so much better.

Have a nice day and enjoy!

Sammy Carl

Don't Stop!

Fleetwood Mac

If you wake up and don't want to smile,
If it takes just a little while,
Open your eyes and look at the day,
You'll see things in a different way.

Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, itll soon be here,
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterdays gone, yesterdays gone.

Why not think about times to come,
And not about the things that youve done,
If your life was bad to you,
Just think what tomorrow will do.

Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, itll soon be here,
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterdays gone, yesterdays gone.

All I want is to see you smile,
If it takes just a little while,
I know you don't believe that it's true,
I never meant any harm to you.

Dont stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Dont stop, it'll soon be here,
Itll be, better than before,
Yesterdays gone, yesterdays gone.

Don't you look back,
Don't you look back.

Have a nice day!

Sam

Fleetwood Mac USC Trojan Marching - Don't Stop

THIS JUST IN!

Observation of the Day!

This just in!

January 2, 2008

1. Even though Australia is a parliamentary system, I like the way they do elections. In October of 2007 they decided to call an election. They voted on a Saturday in November, elected a political party and its president and then moved on. As citizen of the United States, I have never understood why it takes us basically two years of campaigning, and then vote on the first Tuesday in November, a day when most people are working. What is wrong with Saturday voting in the United States? Do politicians know something we don't?

Of course someone's ox will be gored if this common sense voting practice were ever enacted in the U.S. This offended person would be my brother the television station manager in Tucson. His revenues would be down substantially. He would then have to go to his out of touch, head in the sand management and explain why the didn't sell as many ads. It's always somethin'

By the way, does anybody really care what Iowans think?

2, In a Florida restaurant when a man bit down on something hard in his oyster dish, he found a rare iridescent purple pearl. A gemologist estimated that it could be worth several thousand dollars. My question is; "I wonder if he will also sue the restaurant for the damaging of a tooth and mental distress caused by the excitement of finding a pearl?"

3. In Fargo like conditions 689 people plunged into the very frigid Lake Minnetonka. The air temperature was less than ten degrees. This set a new record for the number of people jumping into a frozen lake. Wowee! and Whoopee! That’s something to be proud of. I put these Minnesotans right up there with people painting their bodies in team colors for a November football game. Was there alcohol involved or just plain stupidity? How do they think this stuff up? Can anyone say Major Shrinkage!

Have a nice day!

Sam