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

Too Bee

So many people are suffering because of the floods. We’ve seen these catastrophes on the east coast, west coast, and gulf coast. Millions of people are trying to put their lives back together. I wanted to come up with a story or two that weren’t all gloom and doom and remembered two that are on the lighter side.

My hometown, Augusta, Kansas, was located between two rivers. We had the Walnut River on the east side, and the Whitewater on the west.

My folks had some snapshots that must have been taken between 1900 and 1920. They showed Walnut Street with floodwater partway up the wheels of the Model T’s and other cars parked at the curb. Sorry, but I have forgotten the date. This flood caused the city to want to build dikes at strategic places around town. As the planning for the construction took place, my grandpa, A.A. Thomas, attended every meeting. At every meeting, Grandpa was touting the planting of clover on the dikes for erosion control. Erosion control sounded pretty high-minded, but, in truth, Grandpa, in one of his sideline businesses, was a beekeeper. Planting the dikes with clover would have made life simple for the bees and more profitable for him. When I grew up many years later, I don’t remember seeing anything but grass on the dikes, so I guess Grandpa wasn’t successful.

More party than Work

It must have been between 1952 and 1954. Jack Watson and I had spent the first part of the evening dragging State Street and just hanging around. We stopped at the bakery for a coke and were reminded that the rains to the north were causing the rivers to rise and that they would be cresting within the next few hours. Townspeople were already sandbagging the access points of the dikes. We had good, solid dikes, but, of course, there were places for the highway, county roads, and the Frisco Railroad tracks to cut through. These entrances and egress points looked like V-shaped bites had been chomped out of the dikes. The dikes sloped upward at 45 degrees on either side of the opening.

Jack and I decided to join the sandbaggers. We were in Jack’s car which he parked on State Street, and we started hiking west on the railroad tracks to the dike that was a mile away. We got there and found 20-30 people busy working, so we pitched in immediately. Dump trucks had already left piles of sand, and there were big stacks of bags. We didn’t have plastic bags back then so these were burlap bags, more commonly known as gunnysacks. Some people were using scoop shovels to fill the bags. Others dragged them to the proper locations. Still others stacked them in the proper places. I think there were three ladies serving coffee.

There was a lot of laughing and joking and carrying on. It felt more like a party than the aversion of a disaster. I don’t remember how long it took, but the job got done, and we all left. Apparently, the other openings were well done also as the town wasn’t flooded. I guess the best word to describe the evening would be “inspiring.” A bunch of people worked together for the common good and had a great time doing so.

Dave Thomas

April 24, 2025

Hard to Believe

I’m having trouble swallowing this idea of tax cuts for billionaires. If they already have got 1 billion dollars, would 2 billion make their lives better?

I’m also having trouble with the trickle-down fairy tale.

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Go Figure

The most powerful nation the world has ever known, and it’s being destroyed by an old man who the demeanor of a child.

Dave Thomas

April 17, 2025

Gene was driving through the suburbs. He was in the right-hand lane and was going the posted speed limit. Impatient speedsters were lining up behind him. Some were making a risky attempt to get into the faster moving left-hand lane. A traffic light turned red, and Gene stopped along with a truck in the left lane. The passenger in the truck leaned out his window and says to Gene, “How come you were going so slow?” Gene replies, “I didn’t know that speed limit sign was just a suggestion, or I might have gone a little faster!”

Help Wanted

I may have shown you this story before. It’s one of my favorites, so I’m running it again. I think it’s funny, and I hope you do, too.

We lived in Keller, Texas, a small town on the north side of Fort Worth. My friend, Gene Maness, also retired, was going to have to work that day. He owned a rental unit in the center of Fort Worth, and he was going to re-tile the bathroom floor there. He dreaded the job because he knew his bad knee would really be hurting by the end of the day.

Gene loaded the materials in the back of his small pick-up, and headed for I-35. Not being one to enjoy freeway driving alongside all the morning commuters, he soon cut over to Main Street. Going through Old Fort Worth, he passed Billy Bob’s and the Stockyards and soon crossed the Trinity River and headed up the hill to the business district. It was a nice, warm day, and he had his windows down as he drove through town. Coming to a red light, he was the first one at the intersection, and he noticed a young woman standing on the curb as he drove up and stopped. The young woman bent down and peered in his window and smiled. “Is there anything  I can do for you?” she asked. Gene stared at here for a moment and then asked, “Can you lay tile?”

Dave Thomas

April 10, 2025

Last summer, the visits from the crows were pretty regular. They showed up within a few minutes of 6:15 A.M. and had their morning snack. That was usually the only visit of the day. Their habits have changed considerably in the last couple of months. We’ve had rain and fog, cooler temperatures, Daylight Savings, and the beginning of spring. The regular group of five usually shows up on schedule. That would be Boss Crow, Lame Foot, Bouncer, Clucker, and one other that we guess is a mate. Sometimes, nine crows show up. We figure that those birds are members of the extended family and are there because something has happened to their regular food source. Once in a while, 21 birds show up, and, on rare occasions, there can be as many as 40 to 50 birds.

Sometimes Lame Foot will drop by several times during the day. These visits are social rather than for food. He really enjoys talking to Pat, so these extra visits are for conversations. He will arrive flying at window height so she will know he is there. Pat will go outside, and they will exchange stories and catch up on the gossip for the day. Lame Foot is very well-mannered.  He stands quietly and listens while Pat speaks her piece and then he gives his report.

Pat still gets escorted. The other morning, she went to the grocery store and had an escort both ways. The crows fly ahead of her and fly low enough that she can see them easily.

Another day, as Pat went out to feed the crows, a neighbor lady was coming up the sidewalk on her morning walk. Pat went on down to the sidewalk and started chatting. The crows were used to being fed as soon as Pat appeared, so they began flying in circles and squawking. The neighbor says, “I know you’ve been feeding the birds for a while, but do you recognize any of them.?”  Pat says, “This is my original group, and the have traits that tell me who they are. Boss Crow likes to sit on the garage rest and never stops jabbering. You can see Lame Foot’s problem. Bouncer bounces rather than walking. Clucker clucks like a chicken when he talks. The fifth bird is a little smaller than the others, so we figure she is a mate.” The neighbor says, “Well, I sure recognize Boss Crow. He never shuts up!”  After a few more exchanges, the neighbor continued on her walk while Pat fed the crows and got them quieted down.

Last year, while listening to a book about crows, I heard a paragraph about crows enjoying their version of windsurfing. On a windy day, they get on the roof of a building and jump off into the wind and perform acrobatics. They do circles and hover and float up and down and do fancy little tricks. After a crow has had his turn, the next guy jumps off. They do tricks that seem highly unlikely for a bird.

One day Pat was going to the hospital for a blood draw. It was a nice day, but windier than usual. As Pat parked the car, she glanced at the building across the street and saw five crows standing on the edge of the roof. Suddenly, a crow leaped off the roof and into the air. There must have been a strong updraft at the spot they had chosen.  They would hover in place and then start doing circles and turns as they rode the updraft and then dive lower and spread their wings to be carried aloft again. As the crow finished, he returned to the roof and the next guy would jump off. Pat said they were like a bunch of kids taking turns to slide down a hill.

Dave Thomas

3/27/2025

The 80/20 rule is what I use to ball-park most things I am trying to figure out. 80% being the good or positive side. 20% being the bad, negative, or clueless side. What I am thinking of today, though, will require changing the formula. There are 535 people in the Congress who have sworn an oath to protect the constitution and conduct the business of our government. A few of the people are real heroes in that they are doing their jobs. The rest of them just seem to be standing around with their thumbs up their butts.  I’m going to be generous and change our numbers to 5/95 Rule. That’s 5% good guys and 95% shirkers. That gives us 27 good folks and 508 who aren’t sure what time it is.

What are we going to do with the 508 goobers? We could send them to a course called
“What it Means to Be a Patriot.” Or we could just send them all home. They would lose their status as a big shot in their communities, the biggest regular paycheck they’ve had in their lives, the fantastic medical benefits, and the rest of the perks they enjoy.

The 508 took an oath to protect the Constitution and to protect the American people. They have failed to do either. I think that meets the definition of fraud. Maybe that’s the answer. Sue them for fraud?

This is no time to be reticent. The 508 folks and the rest of the American people should be shouting out against what is happening to our country. Get loud!  Get heard!

Dave Thomas

3/20/2025

I read, many years ago, that a democracy won’t last 250 years. I don’t remember the exact quote or who said it. It was probably Socrates or Plato or another of those old guys. We Americans were getting ready to celebrate 250 years, but it doesn’t look like we will make it.

The Republicans have given our democracy to an immoral man who is trying to destroy it. Besides tearing apart the government, he is making enemies of our friends and allies. A few weeks ago, we were the greatest nation the world had ever known. Now, we are just a zero.  We are vulnerable.

Our country might soon be known as Western Russia and Washington DC could be known as Putinville.

God help us!

Dave Thomas

3/13/2025

Back to Basics

It’s amazing and wonderful to live in this age of such great technical achievement. I can sit down at my computer and send messages to any place on Earth. If I so desire, I can board an airplane and actually go to those places. We cruise along, fat, dumb, and happy, until something jerks us back to basics and real life. Many Americans cannot put an egg on their breakfast plate this morning. Sunnyside up or scrambled, it ain’t gonna happen until this bird flu mess is cleaned up.

Dave Thomas

2/27/2025