A Shout Out to the Old-Timers

Last Monday, we had a themed FHE: Party like you're 99. While some of the people there were a little too good at being "in character," we all enjoyed the "sit and be fit" exercize routine, and the elementary school style bingo.
That experience didn't prompt this blog, but it was the first thought to old-timers that I had this week.
What did prompt this blog was the essay I read for my english class about the author's grandpa. I like the type of old-timer he described: a hard-working, no-nonsense, work-until-you-die-cause-the-work's-never-done-on-a-ranch type of old-timer. In fact, I think I have a little of that in me.

My great grandpa, Nephi Moon, was a farmer in Duschene county, and reportedly was the type of man I'm talking about. Characteristic of his breed of human, he could let a word or two slip, but was more honorable than most men you'd meet today. Perhaps that's one reason I like those guys so much. They could look anybody or anything in the eye because there was nothing to be scared of. Their "don't squat with your spurs on" type of common sense is a treasure lost to most intellectuals and urbanites. Their perserverance mixed perfectly with their practicality to make a man--someone to be looked up to.
But, I never knew my great grandpa, I know Bob Mendenhall. Bob was the one that taught me such truisms as "there's no fertilizer like the footprints of the owner." That's how he lived too. Artists have paintings, composers have music, and sometimes one of them will create a masterpiece. Bob has his ranch; that's his masterpiece. He has walked everyfoot of that ground hundreds of times over, and he's changed people's lives in the process. The effect of these men on young people is, to me, the greatest effect of their work. Between his kids and his employees, Bob has turned out a pretty good crop of people who know what it's like to work. And, if it didn't kill them, maybe they'll be tough enough to pass on some sense to future generations.