Jody: Every time I hear the song How Great Thou Art,
I think of Marie Phillips. She willed her farm to Pete. That really saved us. I
told you that story.
Gina: Yes. I believe it’s in the book.
Jody: I always patrolled the property. We had issues with hunters.
One time, one of our neighbors told some people that I had taken a shot at him
with my pistol when he was hunting on our property. He said that I made him
dance – you know, like in the old Western’s, shooting at each foot.
Gina: Are you that good of a shot?
Jody: I’m pretty damn good, but that didn’t happen! I never
touched the gun; I never hurt him. After that, he peed in big letters in the snow by the side of the road "F*** Jody Smith." Everyone driving by saw it; the kids saw it from the school bus. I didn’t do any of that stuff. That was a long time ago. Even now if he sees me he avoids me. One time I was riding,
patrolling the property, and it wasn’t even deer season. There were two guys
standing on our property. I could hear their beagle running around up there, so
I went to check it out. When I got there, one guy said, “Lady don’t you
shoot our dog!” I said, “I’ve never shot a dog in my life! If one of you
want to get the dog and the other drop the gun on the other side of the fence,
that would be okay.” The other guy said, “Lady don’t shoot. Drop your
pistol.” I had to laugh. I didn’t even have a gun! I don’t know why they
thought I had a pistol.
Gina: Your reputation...
Jody: Well, that other guy who said I made him dance was
telling stories that weren’t true. Everyone believed him. One time, I was riding
Junie, checking the property: horse, red blanket, all of that. I rode down to
the lower field, the one by 550. I rode by a bunch of county highway workers. They
were busy, I turned so that I could watch them work. A highway department
car pulled up and a worker who had his back to me, greeted the supervisor and
said, “You should have been here earlier, some crazy women with a horse all
in red came riding by. You should have seen her.” The supervisor looked at
me and said to his coworker very quietly, “She’s still here.” The guy
turned around and saw me. He was very embarrassed. I would like to have a
picture of his face.
 |
| Junie in his patrol outfit |
Gina: I would like to see that picture, too. I ran across the photo of Junie in his red robes. Very interesting.
Jody: I wanted the hunters and trespassers to see me as I
approached. It was for our safety. It was enough for trespassers to look twice.
Gina: Have you been reading anything interesting?
Jody: You know, one of my main addictions is the printed
word. I was reading about PETA. Do you know who PETA is? People for the ethical
treatment of animals. The article said PETA is very upset with Christians
because Jesus sent demons into pigs. PETA doesn’t tell you that their goal is to stop people from keeping domestic animals. All these college girls
who work for PETA. I told them that the whole premise of PETA is to stop the
ownership of a dog, cat, horse, etc. They always say, “Oh, that can’t be
true!” Yes, it is. I’ve been to PETA meetings. They euthanize animals. The
Humane Society is a little better. The Humane Society in Denver – the one in
Pete’s obituary – is a good organization. However, when we were in Colorado,
the Humane Society was trying to stop the Rodeo. There are terrible things that
happen to some of the wild horses, but the rodeo horses, the broncs, are really
taken care of.
Gina: I don’t know much about PETA.
[A car pulls into the barnyard and is waiting for their 2 o’clock
meeting. Jody and I had been talking for three hours and I could tell she was
getting tired. She looked at her notecards…]
Jody: Did I tell you about this scar on my head?
Gina: That’s a big scar! It looks like it’s really deep.
Jody: Yes, it is! It’s been there a long, long time. I was about two years old, hanging onto my mother’s hand when it happened. Our house was in a new subdivision, and beyond that was undeveloped property. We were out for a walk along with my brother, Gary, and his friend, David. David threw a rock – not at anyone, just threw a random rock. It came right at me and hit me on the head. There was blood everywhere. My mother picked me up and started running, screaming, and yelling. Our neighbor came running out of his house. He had a lovely Golden Retriever. In the excitement, the dog came along bouncing and jumping. My dad ran out of the house and he thought the dog had bitten me. The neighbor kicked the dog out of the way after seeing my wound. One of our neighbors was a doctor and they called him to come over. They put me on the kitchen table and the doctor sewed the wound. They finally got the story that the dog was not at fault. My dad felt so bad that he gave the dog one of our war rations – a steak. I don’t know if I had a concussion or not. I know of two concussions for sure, two while riding horses. I blame all of my forgetfulness on concussions, not being 80.
Have a great week ahead.
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