Bull by Bull

• “There was a time” is my new mantra. It sounds kind of sad, but it’s not at all sad. It means I’m looking back and I’m truly glad that I can say, “There was a time.” There was a time when I could do most anything I set my mind to, including roping, packing, driving, and penning on my horse, Irish. We even drove Santa Claus in a couple of the Sisters Christmas parades. Those were the days.

• I looked into lawn mowers a little while back. I even looked into a new push mower, now called a reel mower. I thought a push mower would be good exercise, good for the environment, etc., etc. Silly me. Next, I tried on a friend’s top-of-the-line electric mower, though I ended up with a brand-new red Craftsman from Ace Hardware. I cannot tell a lie: I’m going on 80 and I like the smell of gasoline.

• It was great to once again hear the roar of the crowd and the announcer’s voice waft over Cloverdale from the rodeo grounds this summer. What with Hazel’s help, I didn’t even complain about the extra flotsam and jetsam on Cloverdale Road that needed picking up. A fond memory of mine was watching Vernon hand-paint the huge Sisters 50th Rodeo anniversary sign that sat atop the announcer’s stand, way back when.

• Cataract surgery is a common and very successful procedure in folks my age, and I just sailed through it myself. In preparation for the surgery, the first day I put drops in my eye, I put the drops in the wrong eye. TBC.

• Turns out the only people who think old ladies on TV are funny are mostly old ladies. I see myself in so many of their antics and often laugh at both them and myself. “One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things,” said the Mole to the Boy. (Charlie Mackesy, “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse”).

• It’s no wonder why I loved all my years in the library world: I could count on all those well-worn, heavy, dusty tomes of knowledge to be mostly always dependably in their place. Somehow, they felt like the welcomed greeting of a trusted friend. A tip of the hat to all the wonderful library people in my life, still.

There was a time.