| When I was about seven years old my cousin | | | | some gypsum weeds, and we can have the |
| Allen was ten.Being much older than myself he of | | | | battle of the grain drill while my Uncle is pulling it |
| course was allowed to do a lot more than me; | | | | across the field. Gypsum weeds are these weeds |
| and one of the things he got to do, was go to | | | | that grow in the Mississippi river bottom with big |
| the movies with his friends. This worked out | | | | ole thorny balls on them the size of golf balls. |
| pretty well, as the next week at some point ,I | | | | Needless to say it didn't take one trip across the |
| would get a complete rundown and vivid | | | | field to produce a bloody mess in the loser of the |
| description of what went on in which ever movie | | | | battle, and when I went home my mom was |
| he happened to go to that week. Well actually I | | | | ticked I wasn't allowed to play with my cousin for |
| guess he kind of acted out certain scenes for | | | | two weeks. |
| realism sake Not saying he got to go to a movie | | | | Then Allen and his friends went to see Tarzan I |
| every week;, no we were just farm kids ,maybe | | | | should have stayed away. Over at Allen's house |
| once a month if he was lucky. I think the first | | | | he had a barn with two hay mows; one on each |
| movie I remember hearing about was Robin Hood | | | | side ,with an area in the middle large enough to |
| .Allen was really impressed by the scene where | | | | park tractors and equipment .There were two |
| Robin Hood fought Friar Tuck on the log with | | | | ropes hanging from the center beam So Allen has |
| poles Kind of like pugal sticks. Well Allen had to | | | | this great Idea , we could each grab a rope, One |
| show me so we found a couple of good sized | | | | get in one hay mow the other in the other hay |
| pugal sticks in the woods and started battling. It | | | | mow swing over to the other side with one little |
| didn't take long for me to be losing big time and | | | | addition. We would try to knock the other one off |
| when I went home with mashed fingers and a | | | | on our way across. As my older cousin out |
| knot on the back of my head ;My mom wouldn't | | | | weighed me by probably 80 lbs You can only |
| let me play with him for a week. | | | | guess the outcome .But I survived that and High |
| The next movie as I recall was Ben Hur ;Of | | | | School football, College football, and Viet Nam I |
| course everyone knows about the chariot race | | | | guess all the preparation for life's hard knocks paid |
| well seems we had a John Deere grain drill with a | | | | off. Today my cousin Allen is the pastor of a |
| wood platform on the back intended for use to | | | | church in Missoula Montana Still helping people |
| stand on while filling the drill from sacks of grain. | | | | make preparations for life however I don't think |
| But also it was a cool place to ride for a couple of | | | | he goes to many movies anymore Thank God. |
| farm kids. Well Allen has a great idea ;lets get | | | | |