How many guns are enough?  Last week this question kinda came to mind when Dorothy asked, in a discussion about guns, just how many did I have.  I immediately told her I had about 15.  Then I thought about 5 more, and now I think I might have a total of 21. Or 22.  The next question was along the lines of why did I need that many.  A flip answer would have been, “because I can” but to tell you the truth, I have no idea why I would need that many.

I have 3 or 4 that would be used for hunting rabbits, if she would let me kill a rabbit and cook it.  4 or 5 or maybe 6 are for self protection.  We never have been assaulted but just in case.  5 or 6 are for hunting deer and much larger game.  If I ever run across a crazed rhino, well it is in for some trouble, if it attacks me first. I have one that I purchased because that particular caliber rifle was made famous by President Teddy Roosevelt.  This particular gun is about 75 years old and shoots like a charm.  I have one that was a favorite sniper rifle among the Russian solders in both WW I and WW 11.  I probably have a couple that I bought just in case there is a zombie thing.  I don’t think there will be but I believe in being prepared.  That is probably the inventory and I don’t think I will buy any more.

Would I like to give up any of these guns?  NO.  I lost a couple in the fire at the ranch and I couldn’t wait to replace them.  Do I want anyone telling me how many more I can buy? NO.  Will I ever take all my guns up to the top floor of a hotel and shoot down at folks for some unknown reason?  NO.  Do I know why anyone would do that? NO.  Would I mind if a government official came by the house and asked a few question about the guns I own and why I own them.  Not really.  I couldn’t tell him anymore than I just said above.  I guess I could tell him that he is just going to have to trust that I am not the type of person who would do harm to others.  Historically, accountants have not been the type who would do those kind of things, but, this joker has shot that all to hell.

I think each of us are responsible for our own actions.  I am not sure I need, of you need, very much intervention by the government to ensure that we act responsibly.  We need some basic rules to keep society intact, but laws are written to hopefully prevent bad behavior.  However, the law creating prohibition pretty much let us know that some things just can’t be outlawed, and it be effective.  A lot of sinful things are against the law but sinning is as rampant as ever.  As evidenced by the mega churches you see on TV.

We are gonna hear a lot about gun control, etc over the next few months and we should hope that some of this could solve our problems in this regards.  I don’t think it will but we can hope.

Maybe we should just look down deep in ourselves and see what is there.  Maybe that would help.

GC

I was reminded that I have not had a bloggish type thought in a while and after thinking about it for a short period I realized they were right.  It’s not that nothing has happened to ruffle my feathers, it’s just that I have been trying to smooth out my Karma and take life a bit easier.  It aint working.

Yesterday I saw some news that a lady was upset with Hobby Lobby because they had set up a display using some cotton plants with cotton balls attached.  She claimed that the display caused her to have bad feelings about herself because of the connection with cotton picking and her ancestors. Sweet Mother of Jesus in the garden, does this poor soul have so little to think about in their life that she has to think those deep thoughts?  Does she even know a relative that actually ever picked a boll of cotton?  I doubt it.  There are also some folks up in St Louis that are marching and generally being aholes because a police officer was found not guilty in a trial that accused him of killing a black criminal.  In American jurisprudence, when you are found not guilty that is the end of the ball game.  Double jeopardy and all that.  They seem to have nothing to do at night except to march around stating that they are upset because a certain group of people are killed in a larger percentage than other groups.  Problem solved.  Keep your self home and quit looting liquor stores.  Being at home at night will make you markedly safer in all aspects of daily life.  Except for the drive by s over in the barrio.

I am having a few neighbor problems at the ranch but I have allowed myself to remain more calm about them than I would have in days of yore.  I have yet to fire any shots across the fence line.  We had been having a dust-up about a new house at the ranch which we declined to accept due to shoddy workmanship but thanks to the fact that my wife purchased the house using a credit card, we were able to get the credit card company to intercede for us and obtain a full refund of our money.  The builders had informed us that no refund would be given.  I am very interested in what they said when they found that the credit card company had debited their company bank account for the amount I had paid.  Teach those sumbitches to call me picky.

My children are all working at jobs they enjoy.  Our newest granddog is growing.  71.8 pounds and hasnt filled out yet.  Hmmm. Dorothy and I received an insurance refund on our secondary insurance because the insurance company said they had made such good investments this last year that they were refunding all but $ 200.00 of our joint premiums.  I damned near soiled myself when I read the letter from them.  That is unheard of and for a few minutes I was apprehensive that it might be an omen of the second coming but. We got a new African grocery store in town and I have been by there to see their products.  I will be buying a few things from there.  I found a new asian market that has things that google can’t even explain to me what they are.  They have dried fish in about 30 sizes and shapes and I assume flavors.  Pork belly, which I love.  Many dumplings and sauces that would make a cat taste good, and I assume has.

As you can see, we are doing all right.  We dodged the hurricane, but we need a bit of rain.

I hope each of you are having a great year and hope that we all make as many more years as we can afford to have. LOL

GC

What am I missing?  I am 74 years old, almost retired and I havent figured out the key to life yet.  I have never had nor do I have now,  the time to go down to the park, participate in any kind of demonstration about anything.  I did do that when I first started at UT, but that was because I was not studying.  Since that time I have spent most of my time trying to take care of myself and my family.  Oh, I thought about the higher, more moral issues, its just that I didnt have the time to do anything about those questions that have plagued mens souls.  I can see where hanging out with a bunch of folks that have no jobs and have possibly given up on having one of those things might be fun for a while and I can see where throwing rocks at another bunch of folks would be somewhat fun, but, the time comes where you have to stop looting liquor stores and become a functioning human being,  You have to get a job.  You have to pay taxes. You have to be fruitful and multiply.  I can work most of the crossword puzzles up until about midweek and consider myself fairly intelligent so I am not quite sure why I cant get a handle on this non-active life style that some folks seem to have.

Hell, maybe I can start over when I reach a certain age.

Chuy

One of the things we like to do when going to different areas is to try out new food.  On our trip this last weekend to Dallas we decided to try African cuisine.  Kyle found a restaurant that specialized in African fusion.

At the door was a gentleman who I asked if the food was good.  He took a long look at Dorothy and said ” if the Lady is looking for a pasta salad, this aint the spot”.  We knew we were on to something.

We entered and the entire room went as silent as a tomb.  We looked around and we were the absolute whitest people in a restaurant that appeared to be straight out of the wilds of Africa.  Every person in the building was looking at us as if we were the first white people that they had ever seen.  It was a bit spooky.  However, we looked for a table and sat down.  Our waitress came ambling over and I want you to know that the lady weighed at least 350 lbs with an afro hairdo that would have filled a washtub.  She was wearing a tank top that was, I estimate a petite.  Her pants were of a stretchy material that had stretched to the absolute maximum allowed by the laws of physics.  She asked if we wanted a menu.  Had we eaten African food before?  NO.  They did not serve tea of any kind so I ordered an Orange Crush.  After looking at the menu I decided to have goat stew, coconut rice, plantains, and pounded yams.  Dorothy ended up eating steak chunks with rice and plantains and Kyle had goat with rice and greens and plantains.

Let me tell you about the pounded yams. (fufu).  It arrived at the table with a bowl of soup/gravy/dipping liquid.  The fufu was shaped like a large loaf of uncooked bread dough.  You were to gouge out a big wad of the dough and dip it and eat it.  The dipping liquid was to give it taste, otherwise you would have not tasted a thing.  I only ate a bit of it because I started visualizing what was going to happen in my colon when this stuff decided that my stomach was going to be unable to process it and it wanted out.

The rest of the meal was good.

The man from outside came in and stopped at our table and began to expound on why he considered the USA the greatest country in the universe, except for Idaho.  Kyle, naturally had to know what he had against the state of Idaho.  Well, he advised that he married a woman from Idaho and people from Idaho did not cater to black men marrying white women from Idaho.  He stated that he left Idaho shortly after the wedding and planned never to return.  Then, get this, he looked at Kyle, pointed to me and said, ” Your Dad?, Kyle answered in the affirmative and the man said ” Looks like an Idaho situation to me.” At that we paid, took our package of African donuts and left the building.  Possibly never to return.

Marco Chuy Cowan

For those of you who may have missed the recent reunion for one reason or another, here is my report.

Pecos is not the place to have a mega-reunion due to the lack of facilities.  The only meeting place that would hold more than a few people was the Country Club and it was limited to about 130 people.  Michael and Carole did a superb job of filling the limited number of seats they had to offer.  It was reported that as many as 400 hundred additional people had to be turned down because of space limitations.  There was also limitations for dining and motels.

The Swiss Clock Inn advised us on the day that we left to go to Pecos that our reservations had been cancelled.  Not so, says my travel capitan.  So, when we got there they had found our reservation but at a new price which went into effect that morning.  $ 109.00 per night to $ 189.00 per night.  Retort when questioned about the new rates.  You could look for another room down the street.  Alas, but there are no other rooms down the street.  We know.  Now which credit card would you like to use to cover the rate change.  After a consultation with representatives of the Best Western organization my Travel General (notice the promotion) advised me that we have received a credit for the price increase and have also received a gift card.  Nothing like having one’s ass chewed on by a person who is a bona-fide member in good standing of every travel club on the planet.  And thank God she is.

Sign in local bar and grill.  If you are in a hurry, go some place else.  Our kitchen is small and this isn’t a fast food joint.  We had one round and fled.

The class of 1961 was represented by 5 lonely souls, 2 of which lived in Pecos.  Fred, Mickey, Skipper, Bill Cooper because he was visiting his brother in Wink and myself.  Although powerful in mind and spirit, we were few in numbers.  The class of 62 had the best representation.  There were a number of upper class women there and I visited with the Bingham sisters and Belva.  We had a lively discussion on the fact that a certain lady had the best looking butt in PHS for 3 straight years.  She had been unaware until I mentioned  her that she was even in the pageant.  She was, however, pleased to find out that she had won.  Said her husband would be thrilled.   Oh, I am not going to give her name.

Other than the city having transformed into a nightmarish version of an oil field boom town I think everyone who attended was pleased.  Tim McClain was there and you know he had fun.  However, I am at a point that I will have to think hard before attending another.  We have gotten to the point that travel for many of us has begun to be a hassle so we dont make much of an effort to make these trips a priority.  I understand this so dont take this in the wrong light.  I know where most of our class lives and I have no qualms about calling any of you if I am in your area and asking you if you would like to visit.  I will even buy your dinner.  I sincerely advance that same invitation to you should you have the desire to visit me in Corpus Christi.

Class of 61

GC

Just returned home from attending a multi-year Pecos High Reunion and missed seeing most of you.  I think there were 5 of us representing the class of 1961.  Even with such a small number we were adequately represented.  There were approximately 130 people there from the 1980’s down thru the 1947 year.  It was well planned and was an overall enjoyable time.  YOU GUYS MISSED IT.

My shock was in seeing the activity in the city of Pecos.  I have been to Pecos several times in the last few years while the oil boom has been on but did not realize to what degree the boom had changed Pecos.  There are no motel rooms, no rental houses, very few yards that don’t have a trailer parked in them.  There are few seats at the cafe, which are few in number, and frantic activity at all the gas pumps in town.  There was simply an underflow of activity all over town.  Like what I would imagine a bee hive would be like.  There are many new houses being built, new apartment houses going up and other additions to the city.  These are needed because the town had become a bit seedy over the years.  I hope Pecos can profit in the long-term with this new wealth.  Most cities aren’t able to take advantage of these boom years caused by petroleum activity but maybe Pecos will be the exception.

There were no Pecos cantaloupes that I could find so missed bringing any home and having my car smell like cantaloupes for the next few months.  Oh, if you should happen to visit our old stomping grounds, be prepared, Mexican food in predominate.+

Gary

Went to the ranch today to check on things and as I rounded the corner I could not see my bunk house building.  My first thought was that someone had stolen my building.  My next thought was that a tornado had carried it off.  However, as I pulled in the yard it was there but it had burned to the ground.  I was totally at a loss for words and thoughts actually.  It took me a few minutes to remember that we had a violent thunderstorm night before last and much lightning.  I am sure that a bolt hit the house and the house just burned until the rain put the fire out.  Total loss of building and contents.  Had several things that were and are going to be hard to replace.  A teak table and chair set was our main dining table out of the porch.  A big rocking chair that the kids gave me.  An old oak chair that was like the kind that were in school houses years ago.  We have been working on that building for a couple of years and had it just about perfect for our needs.  With Kyle’s excellent help we were able to get it finished out without too much difficulty and expense.  That wont be so easy this time.

We are back to one building, the kitchen, living room and dining room and have fallen back in the evolutionary chain to the point of using the outhouse. Glad I didn’t tear the thing down as some folks had suggested.  A sack of lime and refill the Tupperware toilet paper tub and that baby is good to go.  Oh, may have to do something about the large lizard that seems to like the area right above the door.  It is disconcerting, to say the least, when you are sitting there contemplating the meaning of life and look up into the eyes of a very large lizard.  Oh, we are back to bathing under the water tank.  I can turn the water well on, turn a faucet and it fills the water tank to overflow and the water cascades down just like a very nice waterfall.  It is kind of open-air but will put up some type of tarp arrangement so that folks will not have to see nakedness.  It aint pretty.  Surely before winter I can have things back to normal.

Thats all of my report for this evening.  Sometimes I sit back and think about how dull life has become.  You know, at the edge of idleness, and then some caca like this happens.  I am just not sure but what I should make some minor changes in how I look at things.  Maybe dull as a cub scouts pocket knife is how I ought to let my life become.

Naw, it aint worth it.

GC

There is not much going on today.  Waiting until time to go to Physical therapy session.  I have been having problems with my hamstring and Dr. finally decided that 6 weeks of PT ought to do the trick.  Went Tuesday for first session and never saw so many therapy techs.  They were all about 20 years old, thin as a rail and could all do yoga exercises.  Hope they understand that old men can’t bend over and kiss the floor.  A couple of the routines hurt like a sumbitch.  I don’t think they understood that i was in there to stop the pain, not increase it.  Oh well.

Went to Vegas last week for a quickie.  Saw Celine and she was a good show.  Gambling, not so much.  I love watching people and Vegas would be a people watching nirvana if the casinos would put some benches in critical places so old men could sit and watch the parade of people.  The current fashion in young ladies dresses is hard to understand.  I saw them, and a number of them, wearing dresses that were so short( and tight) that you could see about 2 inches of their lower butt cheek.  Had they lifted their arms above their head, maybe in an attempt to keep from being hit by falling object, they would expose a lot of things that I am sure their mother warned them to keep covered.  I don’t know but I would be so nervous trying to keep my Hooch from showing I would be unable to have a good time.  I could tell that few of them were worried at all.  Went to dinner at “the” japanese restaurant in Vegas and the hostesses were all dressed in the same attire.  For sure the mini skirt and hot pants have been replaced by the really mini dress and no pants.

Gary-the guy from west Texas

Late in June we will return to Pecos for a multiclass reunion and are planning on attending one nights performance of the “RODEO”.  Havent been to one in years. That time of year used to bring a lot of excitement for Pecos.  We had a parade, which we usually watched from the side yard of my grandparents house on Hwy 80.  Ideal location.  It always meant that it was birthday time for me. (July 1st) .  That is not very exciting anymore as the Rodeo is now in June and I am not all that enthused that I am having another birthday.  This will mark a year that many of us can attend the “old Timers gathering” and actually be old timers.  That is depressing as hell actually.  After a certain age I quit going to the Rodeo and diverted my attention to the post performance dance held at the Posse barn.  That was great excitement because I dont remember ever going to a dance that a fight did not erupt.  Bull riders were notoriously dangerous.  The current leader in bull riding points looks like he is about 12 years old. A fight with him would be considered child endangerment.  My son, Eric , worked for the rodeo production company one year.  He was able to stay up really late at night, hang around people who dipped snuff and was exposed to unnamed vices I am sure.  As I remember, he spent all the money he was paid that week for a black satin jacket that had the company’s logo on the back.  Not many folks wear jackets in Pecos during the month of July.  I am not sure if he still has the jacket.  My in-laws loved the rodeo, especially my mother-in-law.  She loved to enter the Calcutta in roping.  For those not in the know, that is a form of betting on sports events that doesn’t sound like betting but allows you all the thrills of winning at betting.  You purchase a certain team or individual that is participating and should he win you receive a portion of all the money in the Calcutta pool.

I don’t think many from my particular graduating class will be there but, of course, will know almost everyone who will be, so  it will be a lot of fun.  We are planning on going to Ft. Davis and the swimming pool at Balmorhea.  We are going to show off those areas to a friend that is a visitor to where we grew up.  We will regale him with tales of daring do and maybe even a few lies thrown in just to embellish the story.  I used to love going to the mountains.  It was always cooler up there and sometimes there was water running in the creeks.  Very good places for a Sunday afternoon picnic.  Best fried chicken I ever ate was on a picnic like that.  Mrs. Jim Bennett cooked the chicken, and she was the best there ever was at that particular culinary skill, and we had buttered bread that had warmed above the back seat of the car.  Lord it was good eating.  And at that time the company was pretty good also.

I think all of us will miss Bens Spanish Inn.  That would be a real attraction if it suddenly reopened for the week.  Probably couldnt get in the door.  I could use a chile relleno about now.  Saw a variation of one last week that consisted of stuffed jalapenos.  I am thinking of trying the recipe.

Just rambling a bit, thinking of exciting times in the near future.  I wish more of you were coming to the reunion but some of you are not as spry as we used to be.  I understand.  I have been having problems with my hamstring.  Can you imagine, me, with a hammie.  I found out that you can develop a hamstring problem from sitting at a desk.  Hell, I always thought the only thing dangerous about being an accountant was if you spilled coffee in your calculator and got electrocuted.  I think I will tell everyone I got a hammie from walking the mall.

GC

I have just finished another tax season.  I have been doing tax returns for 45 years.  I have seen a number of changes in the way our Treasury department collects the money that is used to run our country.  I have seen almost every method used by taxpayers to lower their annual tax bill.  I have seen the occasional taxpayer who includes the medical bills of his mistress in his medical deductions.  I remember a number of years ago that a man submitted a great number of medical bills from the Vet he used for his dog.  He was kinda in a state of disbelief that such expense could not be taken as a deduction.  He loved the dog more than a couple of his children or so I was told.  I have always been a bit perplexed with people who you would never expect to live on the edge who will tell you that they want you to use as many deductions as possible even if they are in a gray area.  “I don’t want to pay them a dime”.  They don’t seem to remember that many of our services are paid for thru these collected taxes.  I once had a very wealthy client who told me one day that he didn’t care how much tax he had to pay because it always meant that he had made enough to owe such an amount.  If he didn’t have enough left then that was his fault.  I think along those same lines.  The government doesn’t make up information with which to tax you but simply taxes you based on how much you actually made and reported.

For people in my line of work one of the most frequent statements that a taxpayer uses is ” a friend of mine told me I could take a deduction for___________.”  I always give such a question the same answer.  Were you drinking when your financial adviser told you of this deduction?  Does your financial adviser prepare tax returns or does that person just dispense advise.?  That usually takes care of the problem.

A couple of weeks ago a young man asked me what the best thing was about being a CPA.  I told him the long hours you have to work over the entire period of your career.  He looked like I had slapped him with a wet sock.  I don’t think that was the answer he was looking for.  I followed up with the fact that it was a clean profession: you could wear a vest if you looked good in one and your hands were normally clean unless you had to change your calculator ribbon that day. Damn I hate that little chore.  I also told him it was fairly safe unless you spilled coffee into your calculator and was electrocuted. As I left he mentioned something about maybe being an insurance salesman.

I would have made a very good mountain man.  I think I would have been just a cracker jack of a forest ranger.  However, i stumbled into the accounting profession, found out it was something I was good at and I have made a career out of looking at other people’s money.  People who know me well, know that I have seen more than one humorous situation.  Accountants are not all that dull when you get them away from their desk.  Your clients can provide you with info that will allow you to write several books.  I am going to do just that one of these days.

Chuy the Calculator