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Mr. Allen has been ranching near Clarendon, TX for over 60 years. He could tell you hundreds of stories, and I'd like to hear each and every one of them. I will soon have more time to be entertained by his yarns, in January of 2000 I will become one of his closest neighbors.
I guess one of his favorites would be about the time he and his wife Vivian had a dinner guest and he was telling him about this fellow who got hurt while horseback riding. He told his guest that the fellow was riding in a "storm" and how he had got hurt. He told another story about how a friend of his while riding in a "storm" was hurt. His guest wondered aloud with visions of the dark clouds of a thunderstom in his mind, "Why were they riding in a storm?" Mr. Allen's guest thought to himself "I don't know much about horses and I know not to ride in a storm." Well, I was that guest. He kind of chuckled and explained to me that a "storm" was the same as a horsewreck, such as a horse getting spooked, or tangled in a rope, etc. I felt sooo stupid, but I will learn.
At over eighty years old, Mr. Allen still raises cattle but doesn't attend the many brandings of the neighboring ranches as he did when he was younger (while in his 70's). I will be happy to call Mr. Allen a neighbor and friend, I also will be attending church with him at the Church of Christ. He and his wife have attended there for many, many years.