Milestones

This has been quite a summer; there have been a lot of big happenings, things I would consider as milestones and major events. This is the summer the space shuttle ceased operation, Lucille Ball would’ve turned 100 this year, and even kids who were born after she passed know of her because of TV land. I guess the big one for me was hitting, as my auctioneer buddies say, "half a hundred", the big one you know, with the black balloons. One of my best friends, Terry Davis turned 50 about the same time I did. When Terry and I turned 40, we had a party at my place and we cooked way too much brisket and had a big time. There were about 150 people sprawled out all over our place. It was an eclectic mix to say the least. A lot of you who are reading this were there. We had everything from bikers to cowboys and I really don't know how to describe the rest who were sitting on tailgates celebrating two old guys turning middle aged. In addition to the cowboys and bikers, due to the fact that I was the Ag news guy on channel 7, we even had a couple of TV personalities. My old buddy Tom Charles, who is a legend in Southwest Oklahoma, was there. We called it our 80th birthday. It was a great time. When we both turned 45, (our 90th) I think we had 20 people there. I think the 100th birthday, when we turned 50 was worlds apart because we just let it slip into the night, we really didn’t do anything, I think everyone expected a huge blowout but we just let it go pretty much unannounced because I’m not sure we could’ve rented enough recliners to make that deal work. So, I guess that 50 marks a milestone for most and I'm no different. I hope the cliché is true, 60 is the new 40. Lots of things have changed, I've kicked it up a notch with the reading glasses, its harder to lose weight, I have less energy but I am fortunate enough to enjoy pretty good health and the ability to do just about whatever I want to and I know not everyone can say that. I'm a pretty blessed man. As an interesting side bar, the President also turned 50 this year. I don't ever remember being older than a sitting President and in my opinion, I'm not old enough to be President and he’s not either. Another major milestone as we’ve mentioned in several previous articles will be this major drought of the summer of 2011. It may be the first time in over twenty years that I haven’t owned cattle and I know I’m not alone in that because cattle are still moving through the sale barns in record numbers and many producers are in the same boat. This is one we will tell the grandkids about, it’s been rough. It’s also pretty evident that this drought is widespread. We took a little quick trip down through the Texas hill country last weekend and its amazing how far this drought reaches; all the way to New Braunfels, Texas we saw dry grass, baked earth and very little hay.

One bright spot that remains consistent no matter the weather is the Lawton Rangers Rodeo which runs all through this weekend. I’ve never seen the Lawton Rangers cancel a rodeo due to heat. It is a major event in Southwest Oklahoma and I would encourage everyone to come out and enjoy professional rodeo at its finest. Usually by that time in the evening it’s starting to cool off and by the time the lights come on and the sun sets, the action heats up. I can promise you this year we’ll have no mosquitoes’.

If you would like to contact me while I am at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call
1-800-522-8502 or send an e-mail to donarmes@okhouse.gov.


And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:


The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. ~Lucille Ball