I sat there listening and drinking bad coffee.  It was hot, but it could have been much stronger for my taste, needed to boil longer.”
              –D.C. Adkisson  (Trouble at Gregory Gulch)

Come in, Pard, and sit yurself down.  Say, I had one of those ol’ codgers I used to hang with in San Antonio come by to share some coffee.  Ol’ Mac warned me that he just might show up some day for a cup of coffee an’ shore enough, he did.  It was a grand time, we chewed us up plenty of fat, an’ guzzled a pot of coffee.
    I wrote in my last book about Elias havin’ to suffer through drinkin’ some bad coffee.  Well, methinks that this hooey or hype, whichever yuh prefer, ’bout the virus that is a pandemic is like bad coffee.  If he wasn’t in polite company he might have spewn it out of his mouth.  Yes, there is a little coffee flavor, and it’s hot, but that’s all.  Calling this a pandemic–hmmm, the flu of 1919 was a pandemic killing around 70 million.  Now if you want to fret and panic go right ahead, if’n yuh run out of toilet paper corn is on the market and the trees are startin’ to get their leaves (but watch out–leave those poison ivy leaves alone).
    Say, yuh remember Y2K?  How ‘ bout the H1N1 virus under Obama in which 12,469 died in the U.S.?  Oh, yuh do recall Y2K, but not the other virus.  Hmmm, funny how the media controls information.  We live in unsettlin’ times, but the Lord will take care of us.
    Pard, yuh better be ready for church on Sunday, that is if yur state is allowin’ yuh to have services.  Fact of the matter is that our church will not be openin’ its doors.  Another sneaky way of shuttin’ down the church, but besides that there is some of that weak coffee goin’ on.  I saw somethin on facebook about the correct and incorrect way of greetin’ people at church.  Some are callin’ it “No-Touchin’ Sunday.”  My mercy, what next?
What about the layin’ on of hands that Paul admonishes?  Oh well…hysteria reigns.
    Pard, yuh just be careful where yuh go, what yuh handle, and who yuh touch.  ‘Course we should be doin’ that anyway.  Mind you, it’s sorta like checkin’ yur cinch.  Most of all…be trustin’ in the Lord!  He’s got everything under control.

I quickly ate the few bites of ham directly from the skillet then drank the last of the coffee from the pot, no need dirtying dishes.”
              –D.C. Adkisson  (Trouble at Gregory Gulch)

A wonderful Saturday greetin’ to yuh, Pard.  My mercy, if a person watched the happenin’s on the new news it would be a wearisome week.  With all the fear that is bein’ produced and all the manipulatin’ by the bureaucrats, well, it’s just plan fretful.  That is, if a person pays much mind to what the media says.  
    Drink yur coffee, I even cleaned the cup out for yuh this mornin’.  It is purdeelightful, if’n I do say so myself–which I do.  Now, I for shore am not a fatalist, but I do believe in trustin’ the good Lord to take care of me.  This world is in His hands, and even more so, my life is in His hands.  How He brings me across the bar to glory is His business, whether it’s by a Chinese microscopic bug, or bein’ hit by a Mack truck along the highway.
    I do get upset with all of the media’s whinin’, moanin’, and groanin’.  One used to could trust the news, but we see that they are adept at throwin’ out lies, and some of them are whoppers.  Just by that yuh know who their “father” is–the father of lies.
    One thing I did perchance happen to hear was that cohort of the Mouth say that the judges on the Supreme Court just better watch out.  My, my, dare to threaten the Court, and yuh know the worst part, nothin’ will be done about it.  Threaten justice and what does justice do?
    Most nights, the wife and I sit on the couch and watch some of the old westerns.  At least most of them have some sort of morals and values in them.  The other night I was watchin’ and shore enough, ol’ Cisco would check his cinch before mountin’.  Now if they do that on the movie screen, how much more should you do that in real life?
                               Ira

P.S.  Finish that coffee, then go online to Amazon and purchase my latest book.  Yu’ll enjoy it, I guarantee.

He stalked over to the fire, squatted down and poured himself a cup of hot coffee…  He blew on his coffee and took a sip.  It was hot and very strong.  He grimaced, ‘Man that coffee’s bad.’”  
              –B.S. Dunn  (Last Stand in Sanctuary)

Don’t yuh be a-frettin’, Pard.  My coffee is strong, but it’s not bad.  Yuh’ve been drinkin’ it for long enough, yuh should know.  It shore is nice to start a Saturday mornin’ talkin’ with yuh.  Good thing yur married, ah, but from the looks of yur face, which ain’t so purty, yuh wouldn’t have nothin’ to be worried about.
    Yuh do realize what day this is?  Why back in them hills–the Ozarks this is huntin’ day for all the single gals and widows.  Back in the day it used to be called Sadie Hawkins Day.  Why I can remember “Lil Abner” in those races runnin’ until “Daisy Mae” caught him.  In fact, I had my own experiences down yonder way, onct upon a time.  Thar was this brown-haired gal with green eyes that I caught starin’ at me once.  Well, that particular Sadie Hawkins Day she caught up with me–took me to the Bonanza and bought me a steak.  What she wasn’t countin’ on at the time she etched herself in my tiny little heart.  Yep, shore enough fact.
    Trouble is now, a it might be hard for a gal to find what she’s lookin’ fer.  I’ll tell yuh for a fact, some of them fellers out there shore are swell, and sometimes yuh can’t tell one for the other.  Days are shore a-changin’ my friend.  Don’t want to think on it much fer it riles the gizzard.
    Yep, thing are changin’.  Good thing we have the Bible and can lean on it durin’ rough times and know that the good Lord ain’t changin’ one extra little bit.  Nope, we can trust Him to ride the river with, for He is unchangin’–He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever!
    My, my I jist can’t believe we done drunk a whole pot of coffee.  See, I done told yuh that it wouldn’t be bad.  Well, if’n folks could drink enough of my coffee they wouldn’t be a-fearin’ no coronavirus.
    Yuh, be havin’ yurself a good week.  This is March, startin’ tomorrow, so cinch up tight that yuh don’t get blown out of yur saddle.

When I first knew him he carried a Bible and a six-shooter, He was gentle with horses, with children; his courage was never questioned…  When he got up in the morning he’d be sitting there by the fire, as alone as the morning star, drinking coffee.”  
              –J. Frank Dobie

Get yur ol’ tired self in out of the cold!  Have yurself a seat; the coffee’s comin’ right up.  It’s a bit chilly out there is mornin’ but this will warm yur innards, I guarantee.  Ahhh, nothin’ like a good cup of hot, strong, black coffee to get yur juices all flowin’ properly for the day.
    Pard, yur teachin’ yur young’uns the right way, I’m a-hopin’.  This world is a mess and yuh have to be etching the Word of the Lord into their heart.  Why that feller runnin’ for the President of these United States is tryin’ to twist everythin’ in the Word.  My mercy, he’s tryin’ to take away how we defend our soul, an’ on top of that how we can defend our family.  Let me tell yuh, Pard, they’re out there an’ they’re tryin’ to get us.
    Mmmm, that coffee sure does hit the spot this mornin’.  Back to my ponderin’–the way I get it reckoned is that God means what He says and He says what He means!  No doubtin’ about it.  People are tryin’ to add that culture changes the Word; well, I’ve got me just one word to say about that–BAH!  Listen, we don’t read things out of the Word, and we sure don’t add things to distort it.
    Why ol’ Peter himself told us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the holy Scriptures are not subject to our own private interpretation.  No, we have to read it for itself; the Bible is its own interpreter.
    Goodness gracious, if we could be deciphering the Word any which way we wanted, well, that would be like me tellin’ yuh to go ahead an’ mount yur hoss without checkin’ yur cinch!