C.: I’ll let my mind wander while I wait for d.c. to answer his phone. Let’s see…. “If two men from the same family are named the same thing, the older one is referred to ‘Senior’ and the younger one is ‘Junior.’ So, if the older man dies, the younger one is within his rights to dop the ‘Junior’ from his name. So, if three men from the same family have the same name, the youngest one is referred to as the third (or Trey, in Texas). If the oldest of the three men dies, is the youngest one then known as ‘Junior,’ if the two younger men are still alive? (ring)
And, if a young man or woman from Utah decides to delay his or her college education for several years because s/he wants to first try to pursue a career, and then decides to go to the University of Utah, is s/he, according to Joe Pesci, still referred to as a ‘Ute’?” (ring) Oh, hi d.c., what’s going on?
d.: I’m watching all the college bowl games…
C.: I thought you were only going to watch the one game, with my dad. Why are you watching even more games?
d.: Well, after my alma mater beat your dad’s alma mater, I started watching the Cotton Bowl, because that’s what came on immediately after our game was over. It was so exciting, I decided to watch the Rose Bowl. Then I saw that the Tidy Bowl came on next, and then the Salad Bowl, then the Toilet Bowl…
C.: Let’s talk about something else. I don’t really like “American football.”
d.: ( That's a typical female reaction). Okay, Cal.E., what did you want to talk about?
C.: Food, what else? Did you have your traditional black-eyed pea lunch yesterday, to begin the new year?
d.: I didn’t. I thought about it, and thought it was a bad idea.
C.: Why is that?
d.: Well, the first year I ate that lunch, I had three surgeries that year. The next time, I had four surgeries within the next twelve months. I only ate that lunch because my grandfather started the tradition in our family.
C.: Did it bring him good luck?
d.: I don’t think so. My grandfather lost his vision in one eye as a young man when a mule knocked him down and drug a harrow (a piece of farm equipment with sharp teeth) over his face. He lost most of the vision in his other eye later in life. That’s probably why he lost his farm.
C.: What did he farm?
d.: He was a dirt farmer…
C.: Yuck! I ate some dirt once. It did not taste good! Besides, there’s dirt everywhere. Why would he want to grow and sell dirt?
d.: No, Cal.E. My grandfather didn’t farm dirt, he farmed crops. He was just trying to feed his family, though.
C.: What did he do for money?
d.: He broke horses for other people…
C.: Like they do in the rodeo?
d.: Not exactly. My grandfather had a different technique. He would tie them to something resembling a merry-go-round and let them go around in circles until they got tired. Then, he would put a saddle on them and ride them.
That’s hard work, and so is farming. It’s kind of sad that a veteran who used the G.I. Bill for his education would go through that. He came from a large, poor family. He used the G.I.Bill to help better himself, and try to build a better life than his parents had. My grandfather suffered seven heart attacks in his life, though, so farming probably wasn’t a good occupation for him, when all his children left home and couldn’t help him with the farm.
C.: What about his wife?
d.: She died of cancer in her fifties. My grandfather then lived with his children or in a nursing home for the rest of his life. He suffered dementia when he was older. His doctors attributed it to hardening of the arteries, but I think it may have been from seeing action in “The Great War.”
C.: I’m never eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day as long as I live!
d.: That may be a wise decision, Cal.E.
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