Ole Pappy

Who says being an athlete is only for the young? How about the young at heart?!

For several years, I’ve been covering the Belgian sport of Rolle Bolle. Of-course, I only see it a couple of times a year. But most of the time, when I see people throwing that little wheel, I almost always see Mary Ann Duthoy of Ghent. Mary Ann is not young anymore — but none of us are.

And yet, there she is, out there with the youngsters and others, rolling the Bolle with the best of them.

Recently, I spied Mary Ann at the International Rolle Bolle in Marshall. A group of “senior citizen-looking” people were having a good go at it. I didn’t have to look hard to find Mary Ann. There she was in the center of all the action.

Well, as I’ve done before, I got a good photo of her. I threw it in the paper and made her, “Athlete of the Week.”

Mary Ann sent me a note saying, “Thanks for putting my picture in the paper. I’m sure you could have found someone who’s a better athlete than me.” Along with the photo of Mary Ann, I mentioned that some other “senior citizen types” were also bowling.

In her note, she seemed to be chuckling when she wrote, “What’s this ‘old business’ — I’m just slowly maturing.” It’s lovely to have people around who stay involved as long as they can, in any way they enjoy life. Keep up the good work Mary Ann — and keep these Bolles rollin’.

LAUGH A LITTLE: What goat?

Two North Dakota good ol’ boys are out hunting, and as they are walking along they came upon a huge hole in the ground. They approach it and are amazed at the size of it.

The first hunter says, "Wow, that's some hole, I can't even see the bottom. I wonder how deep it is?" The second hunter says," I don't know. Let's throw somethin' down there, listen and see how long it takes to hit bottom."

The first hunter says, "Hey, there's an old automobile transmission over there. Give me a hand, we'll throw it in and see."

So they pick it up and carry it over and count one, two, three and heave it in the hole.

They are standing there listening, looking over the edge, when they hear a rustling behind them. As they turn around, they see a goat come crashing through the underbrush, run up to the hole and, without hesitation, jump in headfirst.

While they are standing there staring at each other in amazement, peering into the hole, trying to figure out what that was all about, an old farmer saunters up.

"Say there," says the farmer, "You fellers didn't happen to see my goat around here anywhere, did you ?"

The first hunter says, "Funny you should ask, but we were just standing here a minute ago and a goat came running out of the bushes doin' bout a hunnert miles an hour and jumped . . . headfirst into this here hole!!!!"

The old farmer said, "Naw, that's impossible ..... I had him chained to a transmission."

—Joke submitted by a friend.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: As my Ole Pappy used to say, “You have been given a special gift. It’s the gift of being who you are.”

Ole Pappy had a way of turning a bad day into a special moment, just by making sure you understood that YOU ARE SPECIAL!

Thanks Ole Pappy!