Priorities

Last weekend 45 million traveled in celebration of the holiday. What if, instead, 45 million Americans had taken to the streets to protest the destruction of America, our democracy, and our way of life?

Dave Thomas

5/29/2025

Keeping Up with the Crows

Lame Foot was one of the original five crows that began to visit us some time ago. It’s unfortunate, but the deformed foot was the only way to tell him from any other crow. Initially, Lame Foot just stood with the group and observed. As Boss Crow reduced his leadership presence, Lame Foot became more aggressive and vocal and took over the group. Over the weeks and months, Lame Foot showed up for breakfast every morning. At odd times, he would come by the house and fly low past the windows or walk around on the driveway until Pat noticed him and came outside. Then, they would have a nice visit. Pat would recount the stories of her day while Lame Foot patiently listened and then Lame Foot would talk about his day. After each of them had passed on the news of the day, Lame Foot would take off and fly away.

This last two or three months, Lame Foot has been absent quite a lot. Once, it was almost two weeks between visits. Pat says that recently Lame Foot has looked thinner, not as large as the other crows. The feathers don’t seem as black and don’t glisten like they used to. We are wondering now if we had the gender thing all wrong. Maybe Lame Foot is a she and has been nesting and trying to forage enough to satisfy the hunger of a bunch of baby crows. Coming to breakfast in the future and in the company of some smaller birds would certainly prove us wrong. We’ll try to learn more, and we will keep you posted.

Nuts to You

Pat took the peanuts and scattered them on the driveway. She called the crows in with the four-caw summon: “Caw. Caw. Caw. Caw.” The crows flew in, landed, and started eating. Pat said, “Good morning,” gave them a few words of welcome, and went back in the house. A while later, she looked out the window to see how the crows were doing. The crows were gone, but she saw what appeared to be a row of peanuts lined up on the driveway. Her curiosity was aroused. Pat went out to verify what she had seen. Sure enough, there was a row of 10 nuts, evenly spaced and lined up in a straight line. What was this? Was it a gift or message? The gifts she had received before were a stick and a pebble. She couldn’t imagine the crows were re-gifting the peanuts she had given them. If it’s a message, what could it mean? Maybe it’s about the nuts. She had been giving them peanut snacks for months. Sure, she sometimes gave them table scraps or a can of cat food or dog food or even an avocado. Maybe they were just sick of the peanuts and the message is “Nuts to you?” Who knows? Maybe I’m just overestimating their intelligence, and the peanuts were lined up accidentally. These inter-species communications can drive you nuts!

Dave Thomas

5/22/2025

Roy Rogers and Trigger were big in western movies during the 1940’s and 1950’s.  They went on and became just as big and well known in television. I became a fan in grade school and never got over it. Roy was one of the good guys, and Trigger was the most talented and beautiful horse I ever saw.

It was July 6, 1944, and I was in my seat at the Los Angeles Coliseum. We were near the entrance and about a dozen rows up. The announcer was doing a big introduction and as he finished, the clapping and cheering started and Trigger with Roy Rogers aboard came galloping into the stadium.  This made it the biggest day of my life. I was seven years old, a couple of months short of being eight.  After seeing so many Saturday afternoon movies, I knew that Roy Rogers was indeed the King of the Cowboys and Trigger was the Wonder Horse as touted.

Our family was on vacation. My grandpa, George F. Sicks, who lived in Los Angeles had driven back to Iola, Kansas to visit his dad and siblings and had then gone on to Augusta, Kansas to pick up my family and take us to California. Dad only had 2 weeks, but Mom and Grandpa took us to every major attraction in the city. He knew the city well and was a fantastic tour guide. We saw everything from Olvera Street and the Brown Derby to Hollywood and the Griffith Park Observatory.

Getting back to Roy and Trigger, the Roy Rogers Rodeo was the highlight of that trip for me. Back in those days, a new edition of the Roy Rogers comic book arrived at Fowler’s News Stand each month.  I knew approximately when they would arrive and always got there at the right time with my 10 cents in hand. The stories were okay, but what made them special was that the cover was always a full color photograph of Roy and Trigger. I took good care of each issue and kept them all in my closet. I don’t know how old I was when I quit buying the comic books, but I ended up with a stack of them that must have been 15 or 18 inches high. When I was 20, I joined the Navy, and Mom cleaned out my room and threw away the comic books and the ticket stub for that 1944 rodeo.

Almost 50 years later, I saw Trigger, but not Roy. I hadn’t known about the Roy Rogers Museum in Victorville, California until I saw it mentioned in a Western Horseman Magazine. Sometime later, maybe 1990, I was drinking coffee on a Saturday morning. Pat had to work that day and had already left the house. My chores were caught up, and I got to thinking about the Roy Rogers Museum. What the heck? Victorville was only a couple of hours straight up Interstate 15. I could go up there and be back in time to greet Pat when she got home. I left a note on the table just in case and took off. Getting to Victorville, I spotted the museum from the freeway and got right to it. The lady collecting admissions at the door said that Roy sometimes came in on Saturday but wasn’t there that day. I got to the main exhibition room, and to my shock, saw Trigger rearing up right in the middle of everything. After a few minutes of disbelief, I remembered seeing a report years ago that Trigger had been stuffed and could still be admired. He died in 1965 at the age of 30, and Roy had kept him close. Besides being a smart and beautiful Palomino, he had earned the right to be called a movie and TV star. He appeared with Roy in 87 movies and 101 TV shows.

I really enjoyed the museum. Roy never threw anything away. Everything from his old cowboy boots to his bowling trophies were on display. There was an annex where hundreds of letters from mayors and hospital administrators thanked him for visiting their towns and factories. I visited the museum a second time when Pat and I were on the way to Las Vegas and stopped.

The second time I saw Roy in person was in 1994, 50 years after the first time. This again was thanks to the Western Horseman Magazine. I saw a mention of a “Golden Boot Awards” banquet to be held in Santa Monica. The banquet was an annual affair to honor those involved in the making of western movies. I made some phone calls and got the info we needed to attend. The dinner was $125 a plate, and that was no big deal as we never spent much on entertainment. The money raised was to go to the Old Actors’ Home. Our son, Doug, was living at home and accompanied Pat and I to Santa Monica. We all had a great time seeing the old western stars and some of the later folks. I remember Clayton Moore, the Lone Ranger, Mrs. Jay Silverheels, widow of Jay Silverheels who played Tonto, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Burt Reynolds, Doug McClure, Pat Buttram, and many more. We got to meet and visit with a lot of them.

The third time I saw Roy in person was at the next Golden Boot Award banquet in 1995. Pat and I attended the banquet along with our son, Doug, and his future wife, Penny. We enjoyed the meet and greet before the dinner and after. Some of the people we saw this time were Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry, George Kennedy, Angie Dickinson, Sam Elliott, Denver Pyle, Clayton Moore, Iron-Eyes Cody, Charlton Heston, and many more.

Roy Rogers was born on November 5, 1911, and died July 6, 1998. His museum moved to Branson in 2003, and closed in 2009. The items in the museum were put up for public auction. The stuffed Trigger sold for $266,500 to a television channel that planned to start a western museum.

Dave Thomas

5/15/2025