Shadows filled the backsides of the rolling hills as the fire died and the coffee cooled by the fire.  He tossed a handful of small twigs in the ashes and watched as one curled and snapped and sent a trickle of smoke drifting up over the wagons.”
              –Rod Collins  (Bitter’s Run)

Welcome, welcome pard.  I guarantee the coffee’s hot and strong.  Sure was a good week–this Christmas was a real blessing, at least for me exceptin’ the eldest daughter and her family wasn’t here.  Santa good to yuh?  What?  I told yuh to behave yurself.  I reminded yuh all year to stay away from nonsense.  So, all yuh got was some long-handles and socks.  Well, I won’t mention the long-handles, don’t need them much down here in South Texas, but yuh needed some socks.  I’ve seen yuh without yur boots on and the pair, oh yuh got two pairs now, the pair yuh have is full of holes.  Reckon they are a blessin’ after all.  Yuh only plan on washin’ one pair a week is that it?
    Ahhh, drink that java down, and sigh.  I’m ponderin’ if this is a good day or a blah one.  It’s either a day that means the last Saturday of the year and that could be good or bad, dependin’ on yur year.  Or it could mean that next Saturday is a new year, but we have no real clue what the year holds.  However, pard, go ahead drink up, there’s plenty in the pot, the Lord will give us each day, we take it as it comes and know that He is there with us–good or bad.
    Just like the ol’ boy in the above quotation.  When that smoke drifted up it disappeared.  It was overcome by the atmosphere.  Was it the old year passin’ off into history with all its lessons, challenges, some of them continuin’ to be faced, or was it the thought of the new year?  Smoke in the air, dissipatin’ so quickly that we cannot see it just as we can’t see the year ahead of us.
    What’s that pard?  Yuh got ‘nother present?  Sure, I’ll go out and see it with yuh.  Coffee all gone?  Then let’s go.  Ha, ha, yur shore did need that.  The wife was feared yuh’d fall off ’cause yur not always so careful and she went an’ bought yuh a new cinch.  Still don’t do yuh no good if yuh don’t check it.

That evening I had put the coffeepot on to boil.  I sat down and was honing my knife when they approached our camp.”
              –D.C. Adkisson  (Redemption)

What’s that I heerd you a-singin’?  “Bring me some figgy puddin’.”  Pard, have yuh ever tasted that stuff?  I did one time, and that was enough to last the rest of my Christmases.  No, sing something like “Bring me a plate of gravy, piled high over biscuits.”  Now that doesn’t rhyme, but it’ll sure taste better than figgy puddin’.
    That evening I had put the coffeepot on to boil.  I sat down and was honing my knife when they approached our camp.”
              –D.C. Adkisson  (Redemption)

What’s that I heerd you a-singin’?  “Bring me some figgy puddin’.”  Pard, have yuh ever tasted that stuff?  I did one time, and that was enough to last the rest of my Christmases.  No, sing something like “Bring me a plate of gravy, piled high over biscuits.”  Now that doesn’t rhyme, but it’ll sure taste better than figgy puddin’.
    Glad yuh made it over, wasn’t sure this close to Christmas.  Ahhh, let that coffee slide on down to yur gizzard.  Pard, try one of these cookies.  Annie and the girls were bakin’ all day long yesterday.  I snuck one from my private stash.  Figgy puddin’ phooey, give me another one of those raisin cookies, or one of those Christmas cookies with red sprinkly things on top.
    Say, I heard the government was shuttin’ down.  Ha, I reckon the bureaucrats will continue gettin’ paid.  Most of them should be workin’ for free like the President, they have so much money stowed away.  Nah, they’ll turn the whole thing into a blame game, play politics.  And us poor peons will sit out here and blame one side or the other.  Bureaucrats!
    Let me take another sip, somethin’ just moved up in my gray-matter.  Come to think of it, it was the bureaucrats and their antics that forced Joseph to pack up and move to Bethlehem.  Ol’ Caesar didn’t realize he was helpin’ make prophecy come true.  I think today’s bureaucrats will be shocked at how they are helpin’ end-time prophecy come true.  Ol’ Joe must have been one to ride the river with.  Just imagine, he was takin’ care of God’s Son.  Whooeee, what a job; mercy the responsibility.  Chew on that some.
    What?  Yuh haven’t finished yur shoppin’. ?  Still have to get somethin’ for yur sweetie?  Pard, it’ll be worse than turnin’ a stampede out there today.  Yuh best be careful.  Say, yuh and all yur loved ones, have a very Merry Christmas.  In case yuh drink some bad coffee, I’ll be sure and have a pot boilin’ next week.  
               Vaya con Dios,
                    Ira
and don’t forget to check yur cinch our there with all the heathen. 

A few more minutes they sat there, drinking the last of the coffee and staring up and down the canyon.  Then, he grunted to his feet and tossed the dregs of his coffee onto the coals.”
              –C. Wayne Winkle  (Yancey’s Ride)

Hurry up there, Pard, if yuh want any of this coffee.  The wife and I have got to be headin’ on down the road.  No dark canyons to travel through, but have some woods and swamp land to cross over.  One of those quick, but necessary trips over to Cajun land.  The ol’ steel mount is standin’ there ready, so we’ll leave to catch the stage over at the daughter’s house.
    Ahhh, taste that coffee.  The eldest granddaughter ground some up for me yesterday.  Say, I’ve got to relay a story I heard.  Seems there was a mother talkin’ while standin’ in line at the WalMart.  She had bakin’ supplies:  cake mix, brownie mix, etc.  She was tellin’ the person that she was goin’ to make sure her daughters could cook things from scratch.  Now, that made me chuckle a bit.  Guess “scratch” means different things to different people.  Let me tell yuh, pard, that made me scratch my head some.
    Here, I want to share a little ditty with yuh before I leave.  It’s one of those songs I couldn’t get out of my head.  Not sure who the composers are, I think those ol’ country boys, Homer and Jethro.

              “On Monday we have bread and gravy,
              On Tuesday it’s gravy and bread.
              On Wednesday it’s gravy on toast,
              On Thursday it’s muffins instead.
              On Friday it’s rye bread and gravy,
              On Saturday it’s gravy on cake…
              But Sunday’s a treat, ’cause we never get meat
              We have gravy without any bread.”

Sing that when yuh get home and it yuh don’t get clobbered with the rollin’ pin, maybe the missus’ll make yuh some biscuits and gravy.
    Got to be headin’ on out.  Don’t fret, I’ve checked the cinch on my ol’ silver steed.

The coffee smelled good, and the sound of the rain was friendly now.”

Yur gettin’ soaked, Pard.  Get in here out of the rain; yuh don’t have the sense God gave a goose to get in out of the rain.  Didn’t yur Ma teach yuh any better?
    Ooops, sorry, I just found out that terms like “goose” cayn’t be used no more.  Beats me how all of this came upon us all of a sudden like.  Well, if yuh know, don’t spill the beans.  Better be careful, there might be a bean-lovin’ group out there.  
    Say, but did yuh smell that coffee when yuh came in?  Ahhh, for a few seconds, makes a person put the cares of the world aside.  Now I don’t want to get politikin’, but seems like most folk are this days, but I’m scratchin’ my head tryin’ to figure out how these mini-minorities get so much publicity.  I know we’re a republic, but that is a form of democracy, and I don’t care what type of democracy you have, the people are governed by the consent of the people.  They’re not govern by the mini-minorities.
    Told yuh the coffee was good this mornin’, don’t worry the pot’s right here.  Listen those folk aren’t goin’ to steal my bacon from me, I’m goin’ whole hog.  Sip yur coffee, while I simmer down but this ol’ world is in a tail-spin.  Reckon it cayn’t be too much longer for the good Lord to be a-comin’ back to get us.  The demons are gettin’ louder and bolder.  Are yuh ready for what I read yesterday?  Some college professor, remember that’s one of those folk that teach our kids, said that God raped Mary who was just a teenager.  Lord, have mercy…  But, pard, let me tell yuh what, those things aren’t goin’ to spoil my Christmas.
    Sorry, didn’t mean for it to cause yuh to snort yur coffee.  Let me fill yur cup again, then yuh can drink it down and be about the business of the day. Coldspring is supposed to be havin’ some doin’s today, if the rain didn’t cause a change in plans.  I’ll be sure before mountin’ up that I check my cinch.