Physicians say that coffee without cream is more wholesome, particularly for persons of weak digestion.  There seems to be some element in the coffee which combined with milk, forms a leathery coating on the stomach, and impairs digestion.”
       –The Buckeye Cookbook (1883)

Mornin’ Pard, it was shore hard to put that big toe on the floor this mornin’.  Whew, but once I done it, I was able to move on to the kitchen and make the coffee.  Yuh know, Pard, there are times I shore miss bein’ out on the trail, or campin’ up in the high lonesome.  Good thing this ol’ fence post made memories to store him up for this time of life.
    I’ve been tryin’ to get folks from puttin’ that stuff in their coffee–dilutin’ it they are.  Well, there’s documentation that it shouldn’t be done right at the top of the page, and it’s from a doctor who put it in a cookbook back more than a century.  I know Pard, there’s some who just have to be flavorin’ the pure thing.  Ahhh, but it’s good.
    Believe it or not, this is my eldest granddaughter’s birthday.  Yep, she is goin’ on seventeen, my mercy, where does the time go?  She’s shore grown up.  Thankful that she is bent on servin’ the Lord; after all, there’s nothin’ more important than that.  Pot’s still half full, what’s the matter Pard, usually yuh’ve swallered a couple cups by now.
    Let me tell yuh somethin’ else.  There’s a great day comin’ and I think it’s been written on the calendar.  No, yuh fool, I’m not talkin’ ’bout next year’s election.  I’m talkin’ ’bout the Day of the Lord.  It surely must be arrivin’ soon with all of the bizarre wickedness that is out there.  Yuh mark my words–if the Lord don’t make it back soon, there’ll be more evil.  Pity the person is around after the rapture when wickedness will abound and rule.  We had all best be ready for that Day.
    Swaller than last cup and let’s get ready for the day.  I’ll be headin’ for a birthday party, don’t know what you’ve got planned.  Whatever it is Pard, yuh be shore and check that cinch.

He…accepted a fresh cup of coffee and leaned back in his chair.  He was a man of simple tastes and many appreciations.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (“The Marshal of Sentinel”)

Well, it’s been shore busy since the last time yuh showed up.  What’s that, yuh showed up last week, but the door was locked.  Sorry, but the missus and I had to take the steel horse on a trip over to San Antonio.  No, I wasn’t lookin’ for the Rose, I already have mine, but was visitin’ a friend who turned up kinda puny.  Need to check on him, yuh know how some of those ol’ cantankerous people can be.  Had nice time visitin’ with the ol’ gang.  Kinda miss them.
    Then both the missus and I had a week of gettin’ ready to see the doctor about checkin’ our insides out.  Both of us did right well in the exam, but sure glad that’s over, but the Lord sure is good and is faithful.  He’s been takin’ right good care of us.  
    Say, don’t know if it happened at yur place, but we finally received about twenty minutes of nice rain yesterday.  Shore did need it as we haven’t had any in a month of Sundays.  I had some coffee and we went out to sit on the front porch.  It was refreshin’ to say the least.  Sometimes we just need to take a few moments…  What? Refill?  Shore pard, just wasn’t payin’ any attention to yur cup, so busy with my own.  Back to what I was sayin’, sometimes we need to take a few moments to enjoy the refreshing rain.  Watch it come down and rejuvenate the land.  Hmmm, yuh know, the same is true about the refreshin’ rain of the Holy Spirit when He falls down.  We need to take a few moments and let Him rejuvenate our poor, ol’ depleted souls.
    We just keep gettin’ busier and busier, and with what?  Just plain ol’ busyness.  Well, Pard, don’t get yourself in a tither this week with all the ramblin’s out there.  Stay cool and calm, but stay ready.  Sit tall in the saddle, but before mountin’ up, check that cinch.

Outside he had coffee and bacon ready, so we took the time to contemplate what had all happened.”
              –Lou Bradshaw (Cain)

Glad yuh stopped by Pardner, sorry I slept in a bit.  Bein’ fightin’ the gout and finally got some medicine and a good night’s sleep.  I won’t say the bed hasn’t felt better, but it sure was a comfort last night.  Drink up, the coffee’s fine, I guarantee, unless you go to addin’ water to it.  I checked it out and the spoon stood straight up in it.
    Been ponderin’ somethin’, but before I get to that one of my ol’ pards, Parson Tom, almost went to see his Maker this past week.  No, of course not, he had checked his cinch, he was sick but kept puttin’ it off and finally they admitted him to one of them there hospitals.  I remember, hearin’ the ol’ Parson preach, why he could get out a rip-roain’ sermon if anybody could.  He’s feelin’ a mite better now.
    Now that got me to ponderin’; we only get through this life once.  No I don’t think I’ll be reincarnated as a goat.  There’s just this here life the Lord gave us and we should be makin’ the best of it for Him.  From time-to-time the good Lord allows people to come into our lives when we need them.  Most likely yuh don’t have the same friends now, yuh did when yuh graduated from high school.  It’s good to have memories of old friends, but what I’m gettin’ at is to make sure yuh appreciate the ones yuh have now.  There’s no tellin’ when yuh might be called to the Father’s house, but then agin, if the trumpet were to sound, my pards and I would all go up together.  Now, that’s somethin’ else to be ponderin’, especially in this day in which we live.
    Well, yuh must have liked the coffee this mornin’, yuh done drank the whole pot.  Well, I see yuh have to be rushin’ off.  Thanks, Pard, for comin’ by and sharin’ yur time and gracin’ my table.  Glad the coffee was to yur likin’ this mornin’ and be sayin’ a little prayer for ol’ Parson Tom.
    Don’t go lettin’ yur mind go to wonderin’ that yuh don’t forget to check yur cinch.  I know I need to be buildin’ up my prayer life, but fallin’ off yur horse, that just ain’t the way to do it.

There was a pile of firewood beside the fireplace, a string of red chilis hung from a beam, and on the white ashes stood a black coffeepot and a slowly simmering iron kettle.”
              –Hal Borland  (When the Legends Die)

Come on in, Pard, an’ throw yur spurs under the table.  Easy now, don’t you be a-scratchin’ the dinin’ room floor.  I’ll be bringin’ the coffee right up.  My, oh my, the Lord shore has been givin’ us some grand mornin’s and beautiful days.  Hope’s it’s been that way over in yur neck of the woods.  Need some rain though, pretty dry.
    Ahhh, now that’s soothes all the way down to the gizzard!  Sure does help a troubled soul, or any soul that just wants some soothin’.  Pard, let me tell yuh this.  More and more, especially now that I’m gettin’ upwards in age, I see the truth of Jesus’ words that His pard Matthew writ down:  “For yuh have the poor with you always…”  I’m surely convinced that He wasn’t just a-talkin’ about those without money; I think He must have been talkin’ about those without sense as well.  Ha, pard, did yuh get the pun?
    Now, I’ve been told, and I’ve read, that it’s possible to be fixin’ ignorance, but stupidity is fatal.  Just read some of them Proverbs in the Bible.  The fool is done for–there ain’t no chance for him unless he forsakes his foolishness which most of the time ain’t likely.  That simple person, now he still has a chance for he can see the error of his ways if it’s pointed out to him.
    More coffee?  See, yur gizzard is soothin’ out already.  Back to my point:  the stupid person can’t or won’t see the error of his, excuse me, their ways.  This impeachment talk for one thing; my mercy, they don’t have a clue, and why do you think they are waitin’ until now?  Election time, keep things a-stirrin’.  
    But you and me know a secret that a stupid person, one of them fools, don’t understand.  Besides knowin’ what a good cup of coffee is, we have the Lord on our side, no matter what foolishness transpires up there with them bureaucrats.  Now that is a thought that’s soothin’ to the soul.
    You don’t get yurself all in a tither.  The Lord is on our side, or I mean to say we are on His side.  Now, that don’t mean we don’t take precautions.  Yuh don’t drink weak coffee, and yuh always check yur cinch.