Old Rivers....

Before I get to my post for the day, I want to thank all who paid me a visit yesterday [my Rant] and left your comments. I was elated and overwhelmed by the outcome as I was reading each and all points of view. For you taking the time to listen to my rant and in turn point out your thoughts pleased me very much and I want to thank you each. Thank you.

Then, yesterday afternoon at 4 P M, our county judge in our county issued a law "Stay At Home". This is not quite the same as Shelter in Place which would  have many more restrictions. We citizens can get outdoors, walk [keeping the protocol of social distance], doctor appointments, groceries, gas. Also essential workers are exempt of this stay at home ordinance. It is in effect until April 8th unless new updates make it plausible for re-evaluation. As of today, we have 11 cases of the virus...9 of those are travel related.

One more thing. The judge, she's a great speaker! [In my opinion...oval office potential. LOL] Anyway, I want to quote her.  Her spoken words are a simile of the coronavirus....This is probably not verbatim, but close:

A pessimist thinks the wind is horrific and devastating.
The optimist thinks the wind will shift and subside.
A Leader will adjust the sails and make the trip smoother!!


Now, on with my post for the day....
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This is gonna age me, but so be it.  I used to cry when I heard this song...even as a teenager [c. 1962-'63]! It just touched my heart in a way I can't explain. The song was by a TV favorite from the Real McCoys....Walter Brennan. Erik [our son] was only 2 when Walter Brennan passed away...we were driving home, and on the radio the song played. I bawled out loud this time; for an unknown reason, I still can't explain!! At the end of it; seeing the Old Mule, Rivers, and me in my thoughts as the music played...the radio announcer said "Walter Brennan passed away today, of emphysema". I cried even more.

The song still tugs at my emotional state when I think of it; more so now that I am living in an area where cotton is a crop surrounding us each season. I keep looking for the mule Midnight, Old Rivers, and "me".

How old was I when I first seen old Rivers?
I can't remember when he weren't around
Well, that old fellow did a heap of work
Spent his whole life walkin’ plowed ground

He had a one-room shack not fer from us
And well, we was about as poor as him
He had one old mule he called Midnight
And I'd trailed along after them

He used to plow them rows straight and deep
And I'd come along near behind
A-bustin' up clods with my own bare feet
Old Rivers was a friend of mine

The sun'd get high and that mule would work
And old Rivers finally say, ''Whoa! ''
He'd wipe his brow, lean back on the reins
And talk about a place he was gonna go

He'd say, “One of these days
I'm gonna climb that mountain
Walk up there among them clouds
Where the cotton's high
And the corn's a-growin'
And there ain't no fields to plow”


I got a letter today from the folks back home
And they're all fine, crops is dry
Down near the end my mama said
“Son, you know’d old Rivers died''

Just sittin' here now on this new-plowed earth
Trying to find me a little shade
With the sun beatin’ down across the fields I see
That mule, old Rivers and me

Now, one of these days
I'm gonna climb that mountain
Walk up there among them clouds
Where the cotton's high
And the corn's a-growin'
And there ain't no fields to plow

With the sun beating down across the field I see
That mule, old Rivers and me

listen to song HERE

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Last Saturday, for most of the day, it rained. Staying indoors and not wanting to do any housework, I sketched him. But, as I worked on it off and on for the better part of the day, I came to the conclusion it looks more like an elderly Woody Harrelson than what he's supposed to look like...Walter Brennan.