Life of a Senior Country Hick

In my younger years, I usually thought of a hick as a person who is unsophisticated, simple, and a back-woodsy type.  Now days, I am much more at ease with such a definition.  I’m very content to be considered a hick.

Dianne and I live on 40 acres in NE Oklahoma, about 6 miles from the Arkansas state line.  The nearest town to us, Colcord, Oklahoma, boasts a population of 238 souls–if you count everyone’s pet cat and dog.

We also have a Dollar General and our very own Post Office. We don’t yet have a stoplight, but we remain hopeful.

To reach our abode, you must leave the paved road and slowly travel a rocky dirt road for about a mile to reach the lane leading to our house.  Then you drive about a quarter-mile down the lane  to our house, which is set back a bit to avoid dust that rises from the dirt road in the summertime.

In the summertime, the problem is dust.  In the wintertime, the problem is mud.  Choose your variety.  We offer a diversity of options.

While driving down the lane to our house, you’ll pass a pasture containing from 2 to 6 horses.  They are usually peacefully grazing and showing little interest in interacting with me.  I have noticed, however, they can be very friendly when I have sweet treats to share with them.  I say share, but I don’t actually eat the treats myself.  They are specifically made for horses, and they have no chocolate covering

If you stay on the lane and pass our house, you will go down the hill to the home of our kids.  They also have a pasture down there, and sometimes the horses alternate between the upper pasture and the lower pasture.

Also, at the bottom of the hill there is a spring-fed, year-around creek and several fruit trees.  This past summer, the apple tree did especially well, yielding some 100 quarts of applesauce.  Other years, the peach or pear tree usually does very well.

This last summer, Dianne and I raised three sheep.  Initially, they had to be fed four times a day, and that got to be a bit tedious.  Later, we fed them a grain-like lamb food twice a day until they finally fully transitioned to grass.

We didn’t have the heart to tell them of what awaited for them in their future, but we are grateful to be a little bit higher in the food chain.

As more candles get added to my birthday cake every year, I find it is more and more important to enjoy the good things around me and spend less time worrying or stressing about things beyond my control.  

Living the life of a “hick” (and I use that term endearingly for I’m in this group), I find watching the birds at our bird feeder fascinating.  They are persistent little creatures, and I can certainly learn from them.

Simple pleasures of listening to thunder storms and watching lightning from our front porch become soothing and awe-inspiring making me realize anew how great our God is!  Quiet nights when the stars make their fashion statement in the skies become a reassuring time when memories of friends and loved ones pop easily into my head.  Oh, this is the life!

Yes, even hicks have an important place to fill in our modern day society.  This is one senior who is totally content to be considered a true country hick.

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