I’ll bet you didn’t know this but we have a red upright piano at the Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse, and we have a pianist who can really tickle the ivories. Her name is Lydia, but we call her . . . because of her spirit . . . . Sparky. And this is her picture – maybe – if we can get it to post.

Well, Sparky looks a little dreamy here; she’s resting from a honky-tonk afternoon. You should see her with her head bent over the keys, her fingers (yes, she has them) bouncing along and her hair getting kind of spiked up like her Cousin Spikey.

Now, you realize, the way we see Sparky is a beyond the regular dimensional parameters. We really don’t have a ragdoll* sitting here drinking soda and providing music; her spirit just comes across that way. And Cousin Spikey? Oh, she comes across in such fantastic dimensional presence that she has to wear a sign to prove she’s the real thing . . . so many have tried to imitate her.

Oh, did I mention Spikey is an angel? But she’s lively!

Oh, nuts, now Newfie is going to want her picture put up.

* Some say we ARE ragdolls and uninspired thinkers just see a dull old regular human.

Some of the folks here at the Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse have been following the adventures of the pioneer woman because we have, you know, a leaning cow.

One traveler who stopped in for a crunchy foldover and a soda announced this.

Oklahoma Farm Report gets the scoop.

Drummond Ranch the Champs- Again!

The 24th annual edition of the “real Deal”- otherwise known as the OCA Range Roundup wrapped up this past Saturday night at the State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City.

This year’s champions have now “threepeated!” For the third year in a row- the Champions of this working cowboy rodeo is the Drummond Ranch of Pawhuska. Second Place was claimed by the Broken Os Ranch of Ft. Supply and capturing third place was the Hall Ranch/Daube Cattle Company of Loco/Ardmore.

Congrats to the Cowboys of Drummond Ranch and the others who helped make the 24th annual edition of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association Range Roundup a big success

Yes, Dr. Phil went on over; Alma and I and a few others gave him a good push and plop, over he went. We set him (the effigy, dontcha know, up on the crest of a hill . . . and darned if he didn’t roll all the way down.

Then we filed back down the road and into the PBC&R, grabbed ourselves some sodas out of the deep ice cooler and Lydia sat down at the piano, played a few notes and then we all joined in for one of our comforting songs of evening. You can find it HERE and it will start playing right off the bat – just so you know.

And if you’re curious and don’t want to risk disturbing someone, it’s Count Your Blessings.

Experiment: Seeing if song post from my itunes . . . 29-count-your-blessings

I’m sitting out here in the little nook off of one of the main rooms at the Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse and Alma’s in at the counter listening to the little TV . . . and she’s got Dr. Phil on. I have heard snatches. I admit it – just snatches. But Dr. Phil is telling a lady that you can’t expect a kid to follow a rule unless he feels there is a reward in following it. How about this reason as an alternative: When a parent stresses it is important to do something in a certain way – or not to do something – and explains why, than shouldn’t a kid obey that rule because . . . it is the right thing to do? Even if you have to say, “I don’t have time to explain, but trust me when I say you must not eat that cookie,” shouldn’t that be enough. Maybe, for instance, you can’t tell a kid, “That man over there has put arsenic in that cookie but if I tell you there is poison in it, he is going to shoot you,” because you are fairly certain the man is a nut and will pull the trigger, having heard you on his bionic ear.

I think some time in life people just have to recognize the right thing to do for what it is – the right thing to do. And if they don’t want to do it and don’t, then they need to be willing to say they made a conscious choice to do otherwise – to take responsibility for that decision.

And I am going to march right in there and pour myself a stiff Diet Coke and tell Alma and Dr. Phil’s little televised face what I think. And if this town right here where the PBC & R is located is missing its idiot, it is not me. I’m the curmudgeon.

ONE MORE THING: Did I forget to mention that we tip cows in effigy here. We have this fake cow we found when the dairy sign fell down and we like to hang a name around its neck and tip it right over. It’s kind of banged up now; we’ll probably have to solder it soon and add some more paint. But I think it’s got one more  tipping in it before repair is mandatory. I’ll just use my paint to make the sign for its neck.

Dr. Phil