He poured himself another cup of coffee and leaned back.  His face was real thoughtful looking.”
              –Tell Cotton (Confessions of a Gunfighter)

Come in here, Pard.  Say, what’s that lump alongside yur head?  Yuh didn’t forget yur sweet-thing on Valentines?  Forget to check yur cinch?  Well, be tellin’ me while I pour the coffee.  What?  She thumped yuh with a skillet for spoutin’ poetry right from the Good Book.
    Let me get this right.  Yuh were readin’ from that wise ol’ sage Solomon and she didn’t like what yuh were sayin’?  Do tell.  “To me, my darling, you are like my mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.”  Ha, ha, yuh dummy.  In this modern an’ enlightened society yuh can’t be comparin’ a woman to yur favorite horse.  Now, I’ll agree that some of them high falutin’ folk bray more like a donkey and…  Well, leave it at that.  Take a drink of ol’ Ira’s coffee, it might not help the knot on yur head, but will sooth the gizzard.
    Look around yuh, Pard.  Society is not like it used to be, when man attempted to be guided by the Word of God.  It sure looks to be that we are now livin’ in that time that Paul wrote about, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.”  People used to shun them, not givin’ much ado about them, but now society seems to approve of their despicable actions.
    Sorry, didn’t mean to put a damper on yur Saturday.  Yuh better go apologize to yur wife, but yuh best be chosin’ yur words carefully.  Yuh can take a thermos of my coffee to appease her.  No, yuh think best not as she might hit yuh over the noggin’ with it.  Ha, ain’t yuh the funny one.  At least, check yur cinch when yuh mount; yuh can’t afford to have a knot on the other side of yur hat-holder.

We sat down at a rough, oblong table and he poured us up a steaming tin of the strongest coffee I’d ever put in my mouth.”
              –J. Lee Butts (Lawdog)

Set yurself down Pard.  Yuh look weary.  Say, watch those spurs under the table. Yuh scratch the floor an’ we’ll both be in a heap of trouble.  Why little things can get a person in an uproar.  I recall the time that one of the wives threw away the pie box at the camp.  It was a box that I took back and forth from home.  I’d take it to camp filled with a pie, they all liked butterscotch, and take it back home empty for a refill.  No box, no way to transport a pie.  See, a little thing an’ it caused consternation.
    You jist sit there, sip yur coffee, take a deep breath and enjoy a few minutes of life.  Sure was a lot of goin’s on this week.  The ol’ rodent was checkin’ for his shadow, the State of the Union address, the acquittal of the President in his trial and all of the angst that caused, plus I heard that one of the old-timers went on to be with the Lord.
    How’s the coffee?  Good, ain’t it; I made it ‘specially strong this mornin’ for the doin’s of the day.  Back to my thinkin’, the bureaucrats were up to their shenanigans and if a body listened to all of it the gizzard would plumb drown inside a person.  That bile would overflow the liver and that poor gizzard wouldn’t stand a chance.
    No, in times like these we jist have to take our lot in life, trust in the Lord, for that’s what we’re supposed to be doin’ anyway, not trustin’ to the likes of those politicians.  But through this mess, I smiled more’n once.  Now take a swaller, you ponder this–there is a Mr. Pelosi.
    Yeehaw!  Dwell on that if’n yur havin’ a hard time.  Don’t let all those squabbles make yuh forget to check yur cinch.  Aren’t yuh glad God is in charge?

We were sitting there enjoying the pie and another cup of coffee, just relaxing until…”
              –D.C. Adkisson  (The Journals of Elias Butler)

Mornin’ to yuh, Pard.  I’ve been reflectin’ some, not ponderin’, just some reflectin’ on that term I use for you–Pard.  The old Greek word for pardner was “koinonos”.  It meant partner, sharer, companion.  Today, some have expanded the meaning to fellowship, but pardner is better for it carries a deeper meaning.  I can have fellowship with some wranglers, but they might not be my pards; if yuh get the drift.
    Don’t be lookin’ at me with that puzzled face, just drink yur coffee while I continue.  I was gettin’ to this, one of my good Pards crossed over the Great Divide this week and is now walkin’ in that heavenly land.  Another good one has ended his journey–Andy Starks.  He was one to ride the river with that’s for sure.  He and I worked together to develop Christian Cadet Corps for the Jimmy Swaggart Ministers many years ago.  Spent some time around many a campfire together, shared some sweat and tears along the way.  Oh, Andy didn’t drink coffee though, hard to figure.
    I don’t be pretendin’ to know the ways of the heavenly Father.  Four and a half years ago I had a heart attack with a 100% blockage and I’m still on the journey.  Andy had a heart attack and the Lord took him on to heaven.  Must be a reason.  Maybe that’s what happens.  We get to travelin’ toward the summit of that Great Divide and when we get to the pinnacle the Lord reaches down and pulls us on up to glory.
    That’s the way of life, I reckon.  We sit by, enjoy the coffee until…somethin’ comes our way and we have to put down our cup and respond.  Until the Lord calls us up to gloryland we keep doin’ the best we can for Him down here.
    Have yurself a good week.  By the way, one thing yuh can do to keep from an untimely fall is to check yur cinch.

Cup of black, tonsil-searing, up-and-at-‘em juice in hand…lurched, as though still not quite awake.”
              –J. Lee Butts (And Kill Them All)

Yippi-ki-ti-yo, another day the Lord has given us.  Don’t forget to be thankin’ Him for it, Pard.  The day the Lord has made and given us along with some of my “go-get-’em” juice of hot, black, and strong coffee–what else could a person need?
    I hope you ain’t all in a dither over the commotion those bureaucrats are causin’ up in Washington.  Talk about confusion!  Read just a little about the goin’s on and you can understand my feelin’s toward most bureaucrats.  I know, yuh can’t lump them all in the same barrel, but my shucks, it’d come close.  
    Sip yur coffee and I’ll tell yuh somethin’.  Confusion comes right from the “father of lies; yep, the devil himself!  There’s no need to be confused, just go to the Book.  The Lord has spelled out how to live in the Bible.  If’n anyone tells you different it’s because they have an agenda and are fulfilling it for the father of lies, or they are just plain old confused.
    Don’t be a-listenin’ to the lies.  Why, I saw where someone from CNN completely made up a conversation between two senators.  Now is that isn’t in the footsteps of the devil, I don’t know what is.  A journalist makin’ up lies, how ’bout that!  Will he get fired?  Well, Pard, don’t hold yur breath over it.
    Like I was sayin’, enjoy yur coffee, follow the words of the Lord in the Bible, and you’ll make it all right.  That is if yuh don’t fall out of the saddle because yuh didn’t check yur cinch.