CNBNEWS.NET/Gloucester City

HOME COUNTRY: An Entertaining Visit to O'Dontal Dental

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

  Dropped in at O’Dontal Dental the other day. You know, regular tooth check, cleaning, whatever Perry says to do, I do. Quicker that way. But this particular dentist isn’t nearly as feared as others. He’s … entertaining.

  Dr. Perry O’Dontal worked his way through tooth school by acting, and you might be able to take the dentist off the stage, but you can’t take the spirit of the Bard of Avon out of the dentist.

Home Country: Do I look stoo-pid?

gloucestercitynews.net | March 13, 2019

Buy me a beer! / CNBNews graphics file

 

Slim Randles | CNBNews Contributor

 

   “Comin’ up on Saint Paddy’s Day, boys,” Windy said, coming in on final approach to an empty chair. Perfect two-point landing. Loretta filled his cup with fresh and he reared back and addressed the members of the Mule Barn truck stop’s world dilemma think tank. “Almost here, yessir. But this one ain’t gonna be like the last one … not by a strong shot. Lead us not into configuration, thass what I always say.”

  Well, yes he does, actually. In fact, expanding the world’s vocabulary seems to be the life mission of our old cowboy camp cook and philosopher, Alphonse “Windy” Wilson. And dang, he’s good at it.

 

HOME COUNTRY: Signs That Spring is Near!

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

  “I know it’s fixin’ to be spring,” said Dud.

  “Things budding out on your trees and stuff, Dud?” added Steve.

  “Nope. Potato chip bags. Found two of them the other day.”

  We looked … inquisitive? And it was enough to get Dud back into action.

  “Two of them. One was stuck on that big ol’ rosebush we have, and the other one was up in the elm tree, just out of reach. That’s usually the first sign, you know.”

Home Country: My Memories of The Iditarod Dogsled Race

The 2016 Iditarod Dogsled Race (photo courtesy of CNN)

Slim Randles | CNBNews Contributor

 

    This coming Saturday, I’ll probably be right here in New Mexico. Well, most of me will. But my heart and my wishes and part of my soul will be many miles from here, up in Anchorage, Alaska.

  Anchorage. First Saturday in March. Dog trucks with freight sleds lashed to the top of the dog boxes.

Home Country:Sometimes Love is Just A Little Thing

 

Slim Randles | CNBNews Contributor

 

   Steve was walking down the sidewalk the other day to get from the barber shop to where he’d parked his pickup. It was a nice kind of day. Chilly, of course, but not bolt-freezing cold.

  His mind was on what he had to do that day. In addition to the usual ranch chores, he had to catch up the horses and give their hooves a mid-winter trim. There are only a couple of horses shod at the moment, in case one is needed, and the others will get iron on them before the spring gather.

HOME COUNTRY: Windy Wilson and the Boys at the Mule Barn Truck Stop

 

Slim Randles | CNBNews Contributor

 

    “Well,” said Steve, polishing off the last of his coffee, “what should we discuss this fine morning?”

  “I’m awful glad you asked, ol’ pard,” came the cheerful voice of Windy Wilson, emerging through the swinging doors that came from the kitchen of the Mule Barn truck stop. “Yessir. Awful glad.”

  Steve and the other members of the world dilemma think tank looked in amazement as this old camp cook and cowboy came over with the coffee pot and topped off their coffee mugs. Windy had found a dish towel and wrapped it around his waist, too.

HOME COUNTRY: Hating Winter!

Image courtesy of Pinterest

 

Slim Randles | CNBNews Contributor

 

      “I can’t stand winter,” said Herb Collins, who had dropped in at the Mule Barn’s philosophy counter for a quick cup. “There’s nothing to do.”

   “Get out and enjoy it,” suggested Doc. “Go skiing. Go ice fishing. Build a snowman. Do something. Then you’ll feel better.”

  “I don’t think your advice will take,” said Dud. “Herb seems to be intransigent on this one.”

  We all looked at Dud.

 

HOME COUNTRY: The Academy Awards at The Mule Barn Truck Stop?

 

Slim Randles | CNBNews Contributor

 

       Doc hadn’t even finished loading his coffee with fake sugar before Steve piped up.

  “I think it’s disgusting and weird and unnatural and it should be outlawed!” the tall cowboy said, coming to rest at the philosophy counter of the Mule Barn truck stop.

  “Aw Steve,” said Doc, “the coffee isn’t that bad.”

Home Country: Clarice Devon and the Curl Up 'N Dye Beauty Salon

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

     It’s Tuesday afternoon at two, which means Clarice Devon is on her way to the Curl Up ‘N Dye beauty salon. It’s like the sun coming up or the price of bread increasing. Tuesday. Two. Clarice.

   “Clarice!” yells Fran. “Ready to be beautiful?”

   “Sure,” she said. “I like attempting the impossible.”

   Clarice Devon is one of our angels. She’s one of the few people in town who will tolerate old people and shut ins, and she not only takes care of them, but seems to relish it as well.

Home Country: After All These Years It Still Hurts

 

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

      It was strange, Doc thought. All these years. All these people. It still hurts.

  Old Tom had died around midnight, and Doc didn’t get more than an hour’s sleep since then. Just before he went, Tom reached out and gripped Doc’s hand and thanked him for everything. He was smiling when he went.

  Somehow that made it worse for Doc than just having death bring a pleasant new start for someone in pain and agony.  Doc hadn’t been able to patch him up this time. When someone Tom’s age has his organs shut down, there just isn’t much a doctor can do but make him comfortable and say goodbye.

Home Country: Watching the Geese Fly South

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

The last of the geese went by the other day. The late ones. The big dark geese. Headed south noisily.

  I used to envy them, somehow. They go down there to the warm coastal areas where the jacks swim and the nights are chilly but livable this time of year. If they’re especially sensitive geese, they’ll keep going until there are mangoes and palm trees and the language of the people is Spanish.

Home Country: Time For New Year's Resolutions

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

    It was Herb who kicked things off at the world dilemma think tank at the philosophy counter in the Mule Barn truck stop. Herb is like Nature itself. He abhors a vacuum, too.

  “Well,” Herb said, “it’s about that time again.”

  Three heads swiveled to look at him.

  “New Year’s resolutions … you know.”

  Three nods.

  “So Herb, what are your new resolves for the next year?”

Home Country:A Child's Smile and A Small Touch of Love

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   Mabel Adams was sitting in the day room at the Rest of Your Life retirement home when the children came in. She smiled and so did all the others in the room except for two who didn’t know what was going on.

  The old-timers in the home knew the kids were coming and had put up Christmas decorations around in the day room and on the doors of their own small apartments and on themselves. Mabel had been reminded several times by the staff that morning that the kids were coming over, this being necessary as Mabel’s memory isn’t what it used to be. And she put a sprig of imitation holly in her hair and tied a red ribbon on the other side.

  The little girl smiled and walked over to Mabel.

  “Are you a grandma?” she asked.

  “Why, yes dear, I am.”

  “I brought you a present, Grandma,” she said, handing a box to Mabel. Mabel opened it and was delighted at the sandalwood-scented hankies inside.

Home Country:Snowboarding, All You Need is an Idiot & a Six-Pack, says Marvin Pincus

 

video courtesy of Funner Snowboarding

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   Marvin Pincus understands that times change. He sure has. He’s a lot older now, of course, and it gives him more time to consider things, like snowboarding. There he was, the other day up on Parker’s Ridge, our local ski slope, resting his arms on the antique wooden ski poles he’s used since the Hoover Administration.

HOME COUNTRY: Windy’s Words of Wisdom

 

Slim Randles | CNBNEWSNET

 

   Ever since ol’ Windy began a career in radio, which is unusual for an old hunting guide, cowboy, and camp cook, he’s been spending more time thinking about things to say. His radio segment, called Windy’s Words of Wisdom, has given him new purpose.

   Down at the sale barn the other day, he meandered around until he had several of the guys semi-cornered. You see, the only thing in life Windy Wilson can’t live without is an audience.

Home Country: Windy Wilson at the Mule Barn Truck Stop

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

    “I’m jest ‘bout new-aged up,” said Windy Wilson, sitting down and flipping his coffee cup to the upright and fillable position. Mavis filled it.

  The other members sipping caffeine at the philosophy counter at the Mule Barn truck stop looked over at Windy. No one wanted to ask, so by the process of mind reading and silent linguistics, they managed to hold their tongues. They all knew Windy would never be content to leave it like that, and they were anxious to see how the feedstore philosopher would introduce the subject.

Home Country: Be Thankful Turkeys Are Not Too Bright

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

Thankful that turkeys are not the brightest bird !

 

   “You see that sunset last night?” Steve said. “Now that was a honey.”

  “I’ll say,” said Doc. “You know, with Thanksgiving on us, I have to tell you I’m very thankful for sunsets like that one.”

Home Country: Getting Lost in the Woods

  image courtesy of IMGFlip

Where are you? I near that big tree with the leaves!

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

  

  I was recently invited to join Bob Milford, manager of the prestigious Diamond W Ranch, on a drive-around tour of the place. It’s a huge, private ranch, with tiny ex- logging roads winding around through 13,000 acres of pine trees and rocks. A real paradise.

  But I was horrified to see wooden street signs nailed to trees wherever two of these old logging trails came together.

  “Oh no,” I said, out loud.

  “What’s the matter?” Bob asked.

  “I see you’re planning a subdivision here.”

Home Country: Dud and the Raccoon Fable

image courtesy of Adobe 
 

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   The latest topic du jour at the world dilemma think tank is Dud Campbell’s trapline. It should be noted that no animals were harmed in the production. In fact, the “victims” of Dud’s trapline probably gained a pound or two during the ordeal.

  It all began not long ago now when Mrs. Miller complained about having a raccoon come around at night and eating the cat food she’d left on the back porch for Sissy. After about five cups of coffee down at the Mule Barn, the elders there, aka the Supreme Court of Dang Near Everything, decided the ‘coon had to go, but nobody wanted to kill the thing just for wanting to eat cat food. So Dud said he’d take care of it.

Home Country:Halloween and Fall Perfect Together

image courtesy of Pinterest

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   I think there must be autumnal reasons for Halloween being hued in orange and black. It’s a fun time, a magic evening if you’re a kid, and if you’re a grandpa-type guy, like me, who gets to hand out the goodies.

  But the colors of this sweet evening celebration are orange and black, and so is October. In another week or so, our deciduous trees will stand like skeletons against the gray skies of winter, but now we have the orange and black of fall.

HOME COUNTRY: Chipper would approve, I’m sure

CNBNews graphics file

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

       It’s fall, and time once again for the Chipper Invitational Golf Tournament here in the valley. You remember Chipper, Doc’s imaginary squirrel? The one who was squirrel-napped?

  Doc named the annual golf tournament to raise money for coats for kids who need them after good ‘ol Chipper, since the golf tournament itself was just about as genuine as the squirrel.

Home Country: 'Seniors' Dancing The Night Away

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

     CNBNews graphics file

 

Mrs. Doc watched the dancers swirl around the cleared hardwood floor of the Legion hall, and smiled to see her husband, Doc, waltzing with Ardis Fisher. But Mrs. Doc was never one to sit out a waltz, so she looked around at the menu.

  Over in the corner, smiling and tapping his foot, was Pop Walker. Pop and several other residents of the Rest of Your Life retirement home were there to enjoy the dance and celebrate the end of summer.  Pop has a hard time with his memory, these days, but always forgets things with a smile.

  “Pop,” said Mrs. Doc, “how about a dance?”

HOME COUNTRY: Cowpuncher Three-Chord Cortez, that Bunkhouse Balladeer, Plans to Study Opera

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

  Our resident cowboy, Steve, brought us the shocking news: cowpuncher Three-Chord Cortez, that bunkhouse balladeer, plans to study opera, in hopes an aria or three will make him even more attractive to girls during a serenade. Apparently, singing La Donna Mobile might be more effective than “You don’t know what lonesome is ‘til you start herding co-o-o-ows” … especially if she doesn’t speak European.

HOME COUNTRY: Old Jasper Blankenship Annual Deer Hunting Dilemma

CNBNews graphics file

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

  

    Old Jasper Blankenship bought a deer license again this year, just as he’s done every year since Eisenhower was President. He sticks nickels and dimes in a jar all year long and smiles each time he contributes. By Fall, he’s saved up enough for a deer tag.

   Jasper lives full-time out at the diggin’s with his dog, Arthur, of course, so he has only to walk about 100 feet from the cabin to do his hunting. That’s one of the marvels of it.

HOME COUNTRY: Fall What A Great Season!

Fall scene courtesy of Pinterest

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

“Don’t you just love this time of year?” said Doc. “Football season. Rodeo finals coming up soon. Time to go hunting. All that stuff.”

  Windy Wilson sipped at his coffee. Oh good. Doc gave us another topic.

  “Sports,” Windy said. “thems my putner fav-o-rite things … well, ‘long with dogs … and country musicals and that kinder thing.”

  The guys at the philosophy counter of the Mule Barn truck stop grinned at Windy, who has yet to encounter a sentence or thought he couldn’t improve.

HOME COUNTRY: Hanging Out at the Stockyard Auction

Erica and friend hanging around the livestock auction (CNBNews file photo)

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

  One of the great pleasures of hanging around down at the livestock auction barn each Saturday morning is being able to take your dog along.

Why do we go to the sales barn? We love agriculture, and it's part of living here to see who buys what and rejoice in their good fortune, even if our own grass is stressed to the limit by whatever varmint we're currently feeding. Or, it could be that we figure we've already lived too long, and if the right horse or cow comes through there, and we buy it, our wives will see to it that we don't suffer in agony for untold years.

This weekly auction is a treasure house for our dogs. It's a dog's day out, a chance to scrounge under the bleachers for dropped hot dog portions and the occasional sweet bun crust. It's

Home Country: Jasper Spends the Day Splitting Wood

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

You have to look for the schism, Jasper said to himself out at the woodpile. He put another chunk of firewood up on the splitting block and took a look at the checking cracks that ran part way through the circles of age rings.

Home Country: How Hot Was It?

image source courtesy of  http://www.clipartpanda.com

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet  

The other night it was hot. Hot during the day, hot at night. Heat seems to define summer for us, in many ways.

  But in spite of that, after a day in the outdoors, we built a fire. A small fire. A "hat" fire, which mountain people define as one you can put in your hat. Why so small? Because it was hot and we didn't need the heat. Why the fire? Because we need the fire.

  It is the hearth. It is the touchstone to our past. It is a link with countless generations of ancestors who have sat here looking at the flames licking up on the chunks of firewood and taking us back endless years, countless years, to what was then. Through the flames and later the glow of the coals, we can see things that we can't see at any other time. We can hear music in the crackling. We can be comforted by the fire, which is our best friend as well as a potential destroyer, at the same time.

Home Country: Doc and The Big Lunker

image courtesy of Pinterest

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

    Doc didn’t expect any patients before 10 o’clock this morning, so he was up and coffee’d and gone by 6:30. Lewis Creek. The Lunker’s hole on Lewis Creek.

   The Lunker is a huge rainbow trout that everyone knows about and no one has caught. So far he has resisted flies, worms, salmon eggs, spinners, and even an imitation mouse that Dud tossed in there one time just to see if the Lunker had a bass’s appetite.

HOME COUNTRY: Watching Jim Kennedy Use His Big Backhoe

image courtesy of https://www.123rf.com

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

  When Jim Kennedy uses his big backhoe, a crowd usually gathers. He's an artist, you see.

Slim Randles

  At Bud McFarland's place the other day, he was there to install Bud's new septic tank. This was to be a massive septic tank.  Now and then Jim would just do something to show off his skill. At one point, when Jim's backhoe cut through a buried tree root, there was about a foot-long section of root lying alone at the bottom of the hole.

HOME COUNTRY: THINK IT WILL RAIN?

Slim Randles | CNBNEWSNET

 

   It began as a whispered threat, this latest storm of ours. There was something in the air, a cleansing tonic, a murmur of sharpness.

Home Country: Did Someone Steal the Preacher's Bike?

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   Dud was out rambling around the other day, and was surprised to find the new preacher sitting beside an irrigation ditch. Dud plopped down and asked him what was wrong.

  “I’ve only been here two weeks,” he said, “and someone’s stolen my bicycle. I really liked that bike.”

HOME COUNTRY: The Preacher and the 10 Commandments

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   Dud was out rambling around the other day, and was surprised to find the new preacher sitting beside an irrigation ditch. Dud plopped down and asked him what was wrong.

  “I’ve only been here two weeks,” he said, “and someone’s stolen my bicycle. I really liked that bike.”

HOME COUNTRY: Ol' Bert, Maizie and Yard Sales

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

    The hassled, red-faced man cruising the neighborhood Saturday morning in the pickup truck is good ol’ Bert, of course. It’s a warm Saturday, which means only one thing in our part of the country – yard sales. That’s why the charming lady riding next to him, his wife, Maizie, was wearing a big grin.

Home Country: Windy's Visit to Death Valley

Death Valley...image courtesy of MapQuest

 Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   “Hot? Did you say hot?”

  “Sure did, Windy, have a seat and join us,” said Doc. We were huddled up in the coolth of the air conditioner blast in that certain part of the dining room at the Mule Barn truck stop. Yes. It was hot.

  “Ain’t like Death Valley, howsomever,” Windy said. “Now boys, that there’s HOT!”

HOME COUNTRY: Our Town's 4th of July Parade

CNBNews graphics file

 

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

  We all watched as the flag came by. It was the first thing in the parade, of course. Great big one, carried by two of the kids from the ROTC at the high school. The bands followed, along with the mounted patrol, the ski patrol in their summer-weight jackets, the float with the princesses on it, and the local kids leading dogs and cats – some rather reluctantly – on leashes.

HOME COUNTRY: “Here’s to coffee! The choice of sheepherders everywhere!”

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

  

  “Ahhh! Coffee!” said our resident cowboy, Steve, raising his cup at the philosophy counter. “Let’s raise our cups to whichever Brazilian came up with this stuff.”

HOME COUNTRY: Watching the Sunset and Hugging a Cactus

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

Our day is filled with heat at this time of year. It commands our attention and makes our work harder. As we toil, we daydream not about love or success, but things as mundane as shade and a cool drink.

HOME COUNTRY: Billy, The Perennial Crossing Guard

(CNBNewsnet)(June 13, 2018)--  The first few days of summer vacation were hard on Billy. He was there, at his appointed post – that being the school crossing – at the right time of morning, but look as he may, he couldn’t find any kids.

  He couldn’t find Martin, either. The perennial crossing guard, with his vest, sign and whistle, was home for the summer. So were the kids. School was out.

HOME COUNTRY: Mrs. Forrest, A Longtime Compulsive Feeder

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

Mrs. Forrest has always been a compulsive feeder. Before she retired, she was cooking for the Mule Barn truck stop’s customers, and is singularly responsible for about three flabby tons of avoirdupois on this nation’s truck drivers, and may have been marginally responsible, third-hand, for a cardiac event or two.

Home Country: The Mule Barn Gang Comes To The Rescue

Slim Randles 

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

    It was like buzzards circling the body.

  The Jones kid, Randy, was out in the Mule Barn parking lot with the hood up on his car. He was staring down into it the way a first-time parachutist would look out the airplane door. You never quite knew for sure what lay ahead.

  “Looks like Randy’s got problems,” said Steve.

  “Let’s have a look,” said Dud.

  So coffee was left to get cold and the entire Supreme Court of All Things Mechanical – Steve, Dud, Doc, Herb and Dewey – trooped out to see what was going on.

HOME COUNTRY: Marvin Pincus and The Fenwick Glass Fly Rod

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was just one of those things. It didn’t really mean Marvin Pincus had lost his mind. Consider this yourself for a minute. Marvin had opened the mail that morning and in it was the Fenwick glass fly rod he’d ordered. Oh, it was used, of course. But there’s a feel to a Fenwick that only a man dedicated to a life of using dry flies can appreciate.

Home Country: Dewey and Emily Are In Love

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   When Dewey and Emily walked into the Mule Barn the other day, they were greeted with applause and whistles. Emily blushed and Dewey took a bow, almost hitting the coffee pot Loretta was carrying.

  “I hear you too really fell for each other,” Doc said. “And the way I hear it, many times.”

  “That’s right, Doc, I finally cornered him and we’re planning a wedding,” Emily said.

  Emily is a brave soul, taking for a husband the most accident prone human being since Wrong Way Corrigan.

HOME COUNTRY: DOC IS A GENIUS

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   Our pal Doc is a genius.

   Just take the other day, and all of us were gathered up and coffee’d at the Mule Barn truck stop coffee shop and world dilemma think tank, and ol’ Doc just proved it again.

HOME COUNTRY: “Lived on through another May Day!”

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   “Lived on through another May Day!”

  The guys at the philosophy counter turned to see who it was. Windy Wilson, of course. He meandered into their midst and sat and flipped over a cup to the upright and fillable position.

  “We sure did, Windy,” said Doc, smiling, “but I hadn’t thought we were in much danger.”

Home Country: The Mourning Dove with the Speech Impediment

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

    Doc smiled and felt really good inside when he heard the familiar birdsong.

  “Hey there, Wheezer,” he said, “happy spring!”

  For some reason, this mourning dove with the speech impediment comes around to Doc’s backyard every spring, and Doc thinks that’s just all right. If ol’ Wheez didn’t have that distinctive voice, Doc would never know if this bird favored his yard or was just another bird looking for a home. Let’s face it, Wheezer looks just like every other dove in town.

Home Country: Billy, The Official Town Dog

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

Billy’s been a busy guy ever since he became the official town dog here. Sally had been the town dog until she passed away on Doc’s porch, and then Billy’s owner died just two weeks after that, so it was something of a natural progression. Sometimes offices are filled without an election.

The high school wood shop boys built Billy a dog house next to the school crossing, but Billy preferred Aunt Ada’s couch in the cold months and a nice dog depression under an oak tree when it’s warm.

Home Country: Celebrating Spring

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

  Down at the sale barn Saturday, the think tank had coagulated there with coffees to go to celebrate spring. Doc and Dud had their dogs with them, while Bert and Dewey and Steve went stag.

HOME COUNTRY: WHEN THE WORLD IS STILL DARK

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

There’s something so satisfying about getting out of bed when the world is still dark and quiet and resting. Making the coffee gives us time to scratch and think. Well, scratch, anyway. Most of that thinking will start after about the third cup of coffee.

 

Slim Randles Home Country: Delbert McLain, our very own Chamber of Commerce

 

Slim Randles | CNBNewsnet

 

   Hear ye! Hear ye! Cometh to the think tank this morning Delbert McLain, our very own Chamber of Commerce. A broad smile beameth.

  You know, we’re really proud of Del. Of course, what he’d like to do is make this valley so rich and crowded that none of us would want to live here anymore, but at least he works really hard at it. We admire hard work.