W.B. Borders dubborders@sbcglobal.net In Elementary school sometime about the third grade we really begin to learn how to work with numbers. Addition, takeaway, as it was many times called, multiplication, and division. I remember our third-grade teacher having individual students go to the front of the room and saying their multiplication facts. This could be an embarrassing situation.

One friend was so impressed with another friend and his great ability to state his facts. That was, until he found out the friend had been kept back to the third grade for a second time. I always laugh a little when I recall Paula (West) Erickson telling about giving a talk at our Sixth Grade Graduation, during her talk she made the statement that she had been in Mrs. Walker ‘s class for three years. She could not understand why everyone was laughing. Paula was not held back in any class; in fact, she was the baby of our class. When Mrs. West started teaching at Allen, she just brought Paula to school and put her in our class. A few of us had birthdays just a few days before November 1st, the cutoff date to be six and enter grade one. Paula didn’t turn six until the next summer.

Yes, we could start first grade being five years old. Telling on myself here, but me and a couple of my friends legally could not drink 3.2 at the Army PX at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina until late October in 1962, only forty days until we headed home.

Paula was added early to our class, but she will say that it was takeaway for her. Being so much younger, she states it was many times a hardship. Three years in a row in Mrs. Walker’s class was because of the school explosion, rooms being rearranged and our class being large enough to have two classes each year. Seems like all the boys in the sixth grade had to take the disciplinarian male teacher. We were not that bad of a group of boys, especially that year!

It was very common to hold children back in the first grade, especially farm kids and others that had just come from California and maybe had missed many days due to the fall harvesting season.

Once, a few years ago, I was taking my brother Charles to a doctor in OKC. I made the statement to him that maybe he, Marion and I were the only ones in our family that started school at Allen not having to take the first grade twice. He looked at me in a funny way and said, “They waited until I was a Senior to get me.” To Charles, this was a takeaway instead of addition. He later completed the GED to get a high school diploma.

One great example of pride was from a classmate, teammate, army buddy, and friend of mine. After we had completed our six months of active duty with the Oklahoma National Guard, we all came to Ada seeking employment. This friend, during his interview, the company man said, “I see where you have thirteen years of education, you must have a year of college”, my friend looked him straight in the face and said, “No, I flunked the first grade, but I want credit for that year.” It was a year of his life, and every year is important!

Growing up and really having an interest in sports, my hero was Mickey Mantle, even though I loved the Sooners more than the Yankees. Throughout the years, Mickey had many baseball records. He played for 18 years, averaging 450 at bats a year. You can google his accomplishments, they are numerous. They all add up. However, if you take the number of strikeouts he had in his career and divide them by the number of at bats per year, he did not get a hit for 3.8 years, that is if you place them back-to-back. In life the numbers can add up or if you want them to, there are also many takeaways.

When I was very young at Christmas time, my older sister, Mary Pearl, Johnny and I would go look for and cut down a native cedar tree for our Christmas Tree to decorate. Believe it or not, they were hard to find on our farmland, The Eastern Cedar tree was not all that common. They could be found, places like Cedar Holler south on the Margerum property south of town but you had to spend some time finding them. I do remember two places that were common, around oil pumps and on the highway just before getting to Perkins, Oklahoma.

Many think the trees were brought in for soil conservation, that is not true. The only trees I know that were planted for conservation purposes around Allen were the very tall cedar trees off County Line Road between the Harrington and Borders property. Most of those trees are gone now. Basically, people, animals, and weather are to blame for the way the trees have invaded our countryside, less farming, not many safe burns of meadows and grassland, and simply not doing anything to control them.

This is a very simple example of it all adding up, but there are several takeaways from this overtaking of land by the trees. Loss of moisture in the soil, less use of the land. Fires that are almost too dangerous to fight when these trees catch fire. Anyone remember the cedar tree fire out by the late Buck Gilmore house?

Funny thought, when the late Harve Butler built the dog kennels south on County Line Road, he planted several small native red cedar trees on the edge of the road. I always thought he did it to keep the noise of the dogs down for the neighbors. His son, my friend Charles, a few years ago told me that no, they were planted to keep the quail from flying too far away.

The way cedars and other trees are overtaking Oklahoma, I suppose we don’t have to worry much about the depletion of the rain forest.

Another thought, several weeks ago while I was driving down County Line Road across from Donny Johnson’s house, a quail ran across the road. First one I have seen in years. Donny, are you raising quail? Anyone remember when quail season was as big as deer season?

I am not one to be in a negative thinking pattern but, have you ever thought while heating a beverage in the microwave, the timer is counting down while the seconds are adding up. Addition is taking place while takeaway is happening at the same time. I just watched 60 seconds of my life pass away. What a waste!

In the summer of 2008 when gasoline prices topped four dollars a gallon, I got to thinking about drivethrough locations. Just in Ada alone, if you estimate at least 500 cars a day waiting an average of one minute per car, that adds up to a large amount of wasted gasoline. Almost 21 hours of zero miles per gallon. Just outlaw the drive-throughs and save gasoline. That will never happen.

I like to go inside so I can get to know more people. Again, all of this adds up while there is also a big takeaway. Note, my wife, Loretta, always gets so mad at me when we do go through a drive-though and I ask the window attendant to give me directions to Vamoosa. I have only had two occasions when the helper knew where it was.

I would like to write about our time while watching OKC Thunder games. Maybe another occasion.

Follow-up: I wrote about my problem with Cash App holding my $200 when I wrote about initials for a name. I finally linked the account to a saving account where we had $8, if anything went bad, that’s all they could get. The Credit Union assured me I could close it out if necessary. After waiting four days, I got our $200 back after six months of problems. In that name and initial article I should have also written about Loretta’s father. His name was Alonzo Lafayette. The day she enrolled in first grade her two older sisters made sure she would just tell the teacher; her dad’s name was A. L. Adams. So much simpler, there are occasions when initials are for the best.

Take care and watch your math work. I Timothy 6:7 has it correct with the statement that we bring nothing into this world and we will take nothing out when it’s our time to leave.