It’s ______Weather

Everyone has a phrase that they seem to use when fall rolls around. Probably the most common one is when that first good chill hits the air and people say its football weather. I believe the funniest one that I remember from my days as a young Ag teacher in Jackson County was what the cowboys across the river called Eldorado weather. It took me a minute to grasp what that meant when I first heard it back in 1984. What it meant was, the county across the river in Texas was dry, right across the river on the Oklahoma side was a little joint called Dub’s and there was also a little road side liquor store and when the weather got cool they would get in the pickup and ease up into Oklahoma and get a little nip to break the chill. Thinking back to some of my horse back adventures on both sides of that river I’m not sure they really needed crisp fall weather but it made a catchy little phrase that welcomed the exodus of summer’s heat and the arrival of a new season.

It’s hard to believe, given where we’ve been last summer that it would ever cool off but seasons always change and the natural rhythm of the Earth seems to kick in right about the time it’s supposed to. I guess fall has always been one of my favorite times. It’s that time of year when you can start out in a light jacket or a vest and a long sleeved shirt feels about right even late in the day. Some people like to take a swing down through Eastern Oklahoma to take in the fall colors. Some folks go Northwest to look at the aspens in Colorado. Whatever your thing, it’s always nice to usher in a new season. It seems like we always welcome the change and I guess that’s one of my favorite things about our state. About the time you think you can’t take another day of heat or another day of cold it’s about time for that change to occur. With this years drought I don’t anticipate any beautiful fall but at least it feels better and this ol’50 year old fat boy is sure ready. I guess in my world the last couple of years fall has kind of become chuck wagon weather and we sure seem to have done a lot of cooking this fall which my partners and I enjoy and we’ve done some pretty cool events this fall. About a month ago we cooked for about 70 folks from all over the state with Leadership Oklahoma’s visit to Ft. Sill. We cooked right in the quadrangle in Ft. Sill among the historic buildings under the oak trees and you can’t find a better or more scenic place for an outdoor event. We cooked for the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association fall cattle drive at Ken Holloway’s Coyote Hills ranch and we turned out some of the best stew I’ve ever tasted. I think we even filled up Colby Collins who I believe came back to the stew pot four times but that’s just a guess, I think I lost count. Last Saturday we cooked at the L.O. Ranch and fed about 60 for the Comanche County Cattlemen’s annual fall gathering.

Its our little side business or I guess I should say side hobby that makes a little bit of pocket money and allows us to dazzle folks with meat and bread cooked over a fire in a Dutch oven as well as what’s fast becoming our famous cobblers. It sure is a nice diversion from the hustle and bustle and the stress of politics which will really start gearing up in the next couple of months as we head toward February when the starter pistol fires signaling the start of the 2012 legislative session and when there will be little time for almost anything else. It seems that my career path has always included a lot of shifting of gears and a lot of changing of hats and I guess I must like it because for well over 20 years that just seems to be how I roll. Between my State Representative job, my auction business, our chuck wagon, and chasing a few cows I don’t have much time to get into any trouble. I certainly don’t suffer from boredom. We’ll keep you advised as things develop as we head toward the legislative session. As always there will be some interesting topics that will arise and I’ll try to give you my take and my read on how those things really look. Until next week.

If you would like to contact me at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call 1-800-522-8502 or email me at donarmes@okhouse.gov.

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

The seasons are what a symphony ought to be: four perfect movements in harmony with each other. ~Arthur Rubenstein