McDonalds

Well, another venerable landmark with personal connections comes to a close today.  The local McDonald’s restaurant that has been the traditional host of the “Board Meetings” for the past twenty plus years will be demolished tomorrow to make room for its replacement, another updated and entirely new McDonald’s.  Many Board members have come and gone over the years, including my father-in-law, Poppa, and it will be sad to see it go.  I remember the days when we visited here from California and I would accompany him to an occasional meeting.  The sessions come to order at 5:00 a.m. and were usually over by 7:00 a.m. with all the local events discussed and the world’s problems solved.

Richard will attend the last meeting at the old venue, even though he is just recovering from knee surgery that has had him out of commission for over a week.  “I can’t miss the last meeting” he said, “its where Johnny (Poppa) and I spent many hours.”

Richard generally opens the meeting with a prayer, after which, the agenda could cover almost any subject.  We might talk about the new tin roof Jerry H. put on one of his many rental houses and how, yes, it’s discolored and mismatched but he saved a pile buying used material.  Jerry is accused of being so tight fisted that he once bound 400 bales of hay with one ball of twine!  Sometimes we even talk about the cattle, like the time Jack told us how, on the way to the sale barn, he looked in his rear view mirror only to see his cows looking back at him.  Apparently, the tailgate on the trailer had come loose and some of his cows fell out!  Luckily, he was traveling at a reduced speed and none of them were seriously hurt.  They have told stories of trailer floors giving way and the cows dropping through to the pavement.  It doesn’t take much imagination to envision the results of that calamity.

It might just be my opinion, but I think Frank (Poppa’s best friend) is the unofficial “Chairman of the Board.”  Frank is not the oldest member, but he is the most consistent attendee.  He is usually the first one there and nothing short of a tornado will keep him away.  His property was severely damaged in the tornado last year, dropping over 100 of his trees with one of them narrowly missing his home where he was sound asleep!  He was very lucky.  Frank has 11 siblings, and in 1948, when he was just a young boy, his family had the distinction of winning first prize in the “Largest Family in Atoka” contest; there were 14 of them!

Gary is one of the younger members and, when it comes to animals, plants, or machinery, he is the resident know-it-all, and he does!  I have never met anyone who has such a comprehensive knowledge of so many things.  He went riding on his Harley yesterday just in time to get caught in the 3 inches of rain that were dumped on us in the span of an hour!  Needless to say, he returned looking like a drowned rat.

Lynn is the local professional dog trainer (Google “Lynn Daniel’s Border Collies”).  His dogs are pretty miraculous and if you’ve never seen a dog work cattle, visit his website where he has some videos.  His dogs are in high demand, and folks come from all over the world to buy them.  Lynn is also an expert horseman.

Jerry S. comes in periodically, ostensibly, to aggravate Richard (all in good humor of course).  Jerry is busy rehabilitating an older home that he recently purchased.  He has taken on a gargantuan task but I would venture to say that, when he’s finished, it will be one of the finer homes in town.

Larry has a home and acreage east of town.  He allowed Richard and I to mow his meadow a couple of weeks ago that resulted in a few extra bales of hay for the barn.  Larry is a truck driver and any day might find him in Texas or Oklahoma City.  A day off from driving might find him repairing a transmission or engine on one of his many vehicles.

Smitty shows up on rare occasions but that is only because he lives so far away.  His home is in Clayton but he keeps cattle in the area and stops in on his way to check on his herd.  They say he has hit many deer driving so far that early in the morning, but it doesn’t stop him.  Smitty is the ex-superintendent of schools in the area and was a star basketball player in his youth.  As would be expected, he is very tall and his team won the state championship when he was playing.

There are many more board members, too numerous to mention if fact, and I only hope we can keep it together for the three months its supposed to take to finish the new boardroom.  Everyone has a different opinion about where our temporary facilities should be located and the final decision is still up in the air.  The truck stop, the casino, and the donut shop are likely candidates.  We will see.