6:53. This is a song I wrote about the Linwood tornado and how it impacted my family.  

                                                           6:53

Milk cows in the barn, chores left to do

Tornado sirens blaring, F5 passing through

We race for the house, it's not very far

Yell for the dogs, hiding under the car.

Down to the basement, huddling together

under  a mattress, holding onto each other.

Cry out to Jesus, Oh Jesus, hear me.

A miracle happened at 6:53.

The milk barn is gone, show cows are dead

two silos are missing, swing set and a shed

a path of destruction, plowed through our land

God kept us safe in his loving hands.

I saw the time on our kitchen clock

It read 6:53 when that clock stopped

Thank you Jesus for hearing me

my life was saved  at 6:53.

My life didn't stop like that clock did that day

I'm so  glad my life's still ticking away.

Thank  you Jesus for hearing me

My life changed at 6:53.

  I was flipping through movie channels and I saw a guy wearing Pin striped Key bib overalls. This is the brand and the color of overalls that my Dad used to wear. This was his everyday work attire and after work attire. I don't remember ever seeing my Dad wearing a pair of shorts or blue jeans. I did, however see him wear dress pants, a suit coat, and a tie to church. I think he believed in wearing nothing but your best to church, especially on Sunday morning. On Sunday nights he was not opposed to wearing one his of newer pair of overalls.

    He would always wear a button up shirt with his overalls. Dad kept his billfold and checkbook in one of the front pockets. For those of you that are not Key apparel experts. Here are some facts that will help you paint the picture. Key overalls have two pockets in the front on your chest. One on the right and the other on the left. One pocket had a flap and a snap and the other side just had a snap. 

     In between the two pockets was a small slit to keep a pen or a pencil. Dad always had a pen and a checkbook. He needed these to write and sign checks when he would buy cattle. He could buy cattle by the pound (live weight). This would be how much you and I would weigh on our bathroom scale. Then he would sell them for how much they weighted after they were killed and processed. He was very good and knowing how much he could buy cows  for and sell them for and still make money. 

     Key overalls also had a hammer loop. This was great when Dad worked construction. Who wants to carry around a hammer all day? All he had to do was store it in his trusty hammer loop. Also, Key overalls had a place for a pair of  pliers. My dad always had his pliers. You never know when you might need them to tight a loose battery connection on your truck. Or you might need them to snap a piece of wire into to tie two hog panels together to keep the hogs from getting out of the pen. How often would I ever use a pair of pliers? Once a year, maybe.

     Isn't that amazing how a pair of Key overalls can bring up all of these memories. Good memories of a hard working father. A man who loved Jesus,  his wife and his kids. Who went to work and worked hard to meet the needs of his family. and never complained. Oh, sure, He might say his feet hurt after a hard day pouring concrete as he soaked his feet in hot Epson water. The only reason he said something then was because I was a youngster asking him why he was doing that. I love my Dad and I miss him and his Key pin striped bib overalls. 

     Have you ever watched the show Peppa Pig?  It is a cartoon on the Nick Jr. cartoon channel. It is a British cartoon and the character all have British accents. It is a show about a little girl pig named Peppa, her little brother George, and her Mama and Papa. I like to tell Ella that it is my favorite show on TV. 

      It is a great show. They know who their audience is. Their audience is kids. To be more specific it is kids between the ages of two and five. I love the simplicity of this show. Simple is never easy. What do pigs like to do? They like to play in mud puddles. So almost every episode you can find the whole family wearing rubber rain boots jumping up and down in a muddy puddles.

     Another thing they do on every episode is fall down on the backs and laugh. How great is that? It is showing a family having fun together playing in puddles and the joy that they feel. A joy that can't be contained so they have to laugh out loud with each other. This happens in every show. Think about how many families don't play and laugh together. 

      Yesterday was the McCarter family reunion in Wamego, Ks. We get together each year to have a pot luck dinner and hang out. Do you know my favorite part of family reunion? Or any other family gathering? Everyone laughing and having a good time. Telling old jokes or funny stories about our latest misadventures. I don't know if everyone's family reunions are like mine but I hope that they are. It reminds me of Peppa Pig when the whole family lays on their backs and laughs. We don't do the lay on our back part.. Some of us might have trouble getting back up. 

      So today if you get a chance, play in muddy puddles and laugh with joy. 

     It is getting close to the deadline for the Walnut Valley New Song contest. The deadline is August 1st, 2019. The songs need to be there before August 1st. They use the actual date that the songs are received and not the date that it is post marked, so  you better hurry if you are interested in entering.

     I am entering four songs this year. You can enter as many songs as you want. It just depends on how many songs you have and how much you want to spend. The contest has ten different categories. The categories are Songs about Winfield, Sweet Memories, Suitable for Children, Love songs, Songs for a Better World, Feeling blue, Humorous songs, Religion or Spirit, Instrumentals, and None of the Above. Which category do you think has the most entries?  Normally the category with the most entries is None of the Above.

      Probably because songwriters like to think that are songs don't fit in categories or boxes. They are our little creations and how dare we try to limit our songs. It would be similar to saying your child has ADD. (Attention Deficit Disorder) We would prefer to say our child is hyper active and not label them. I like the old days when we were more concerned about people than the labels that others placed on them. I am okay with labeling my songs now. When I first started writing it was harder because my songs were more wild and didn't conform well to playing with others. 

      I am entering Better than New in the sweet memories category. Jesus in Me in the religion category, Something you can see in the love category, and Rose in the Humorous category. The prize for winning is you get to play your songs on stage at the festival. I will have four chances. This is kinda like playing the lottery but the tickets cost more. It is fifteen dollars a song to play the game. I am betting sixty bucks in hopes of getting one winning song. 

     Let me know if you're interested in hearing any of these songs. 

     It was my turn to teach the lesson this last Tuesday at our monthly NSAI meeting at the Bluestem Bistro in Manhattan. The little apple. The big apple is New York City and the little apple is Manhattan, Ks. 

     I believe when you are teaching that you need to share a story that relates to the subject you are talking about. This concept is nothing new. Jesus used it when he talked about spiritual things. He talked about the missing coin, the prodigal son, lost sheep and planting crops. My story is about golf balls. Golf  balls and songwriting. What in the world do those two things have to do with each other?

     For those of you that don't know me very well, I am cheap. I am cheap and golf balls are expensive. I remember the first time I went and played golf at a real golf course with my buddy Rick. I was going to find lost golf balls so in the future I would not need to buy them. I was not having any luck finding any golf balls. I was looking in easy to  get to area. The middle of the fairway or  next to the cart path. I wanted it to be easy and I looked in places that were convenient and easy. I had no luck.

     I know where and how to find a golf ball now. I look for golf balls where I lost my golf ball. If I hit my golf ball there and lost it, you can bet other golfer are doing it too. Usually, golf balls are in tall grass, weeds, poison ivy, buried in leaves or at the bottom of the lake. Sometimes I may not find my ball but I will find somebody else's ball. I will stop looking and consider this par for the hole. A good game of golf is when you have more golf balls at the end of the game than you had at the start of the game. 

     How do you find good ideas to write about as a songwriter?  It is the same as looking for golf balls. A lot of great songs are written about the messy parts of our lives. One of my favorite songs is by T. Graham Brown. It is called Wine into water. It is about his struggle with the bottle. One line is  Can you help me turn the wine back into water? I could try to write this song but I could never do it as well as T. Graham Brown. The reason is because I don't struggle with alcoholism. It would not feel real or authentic.

      I could also write about happy times in my life. We all have happy times, Times when we are in love, getting married, the birth of children or grandchildren. These are happy things that everybody experiences, If you tell your story, other people have had the same type of stories. Their story might be a little different but very similar. People want to hear a song that is about them not you, but when you write a story about you it resonates with them. (If it is a great story.)

     Songs are like golf balls. They are hidden and you have to look hard to find them. They are not out in the open. You will find them as you are living your life. The more weeds and tall grass and the deeper the water is the best place to find those great ideas. Remember that the next time you are going through a difficult struggle in your life. Maybe God is giving you an opportunity to share your story to help other people get through their difficult times. Good luck finding those golf balls.