And then there was you

You have to be a little long in the tooth to remember the famous musical “The Music Man.” This was a very popular production starring Shirley Jones, Robert Preston, and a tiny Ron Howard.

It was a story about a traveling shyster salesman who comes to the town of River City to pretty much con all the people out of their money and Shirley Jones out of her heart.

It is filled with great musical hits and is still popular even this many years down the long winding road. One such song is “Till There Was You.” And the lyrics start like this:

There were bells on a hill

But I never heard them ringing

No, I never heard them at all

'Till there was you

Now even Ol’ Dutch has to admit that that old gal could belt out the tunes and her looks were enough to make a strong man leave home several times. She was a real beauty, a great actress, and a good lady to boot.

I often wonder why there never was a sequel to that musical considering its popularity but just this past week I believe Ol’ Dutch was provided the answer to that by none other than Miss Trixie, herself.

As often occurs, we were just riding along in the car to see the Grands when the subject of Miss Trixie's life before Ol’ Dutch came up.

A litany of what all she had done and her big life of traveling overseas, mountaineering on Mt. Everest, sitting in box seats at the 49ers football games, having houses in Tahoe, snowboarding the mountains and rock climbing in Thailand and such, all came pouring out of her like a baby with a bad case of diarrhea.

All of which got Ol’ Dutch to thinking, which is a risky proposition according to Miss Trixie and one that may cause serious brain damage if left unchecked. And luckily I have her to do all my thinking for me thereby saving the old noggin power for important things like calculating the distance to an elk or landing a nice Rainbow trout.

But there it was. In all its glory, her past life hung out there like old lady Bradley’s massive brassiere on the neighboring lawn.

And even Ol’ Dutch in all of his handsome, smart, and witty self-awareness had to wonder just exactly why such a woman would hitch her wagon to a plodding old horse like me.

Quick as a cat on a hot tin roof, Miss Trixie compared me to the cartoon character Shrek which made me even more confused as he was less than what you would call a hot commodity as far as looks and desirability would go.

It seemed to only get worse as she tried to weasel her gorgeous self out of hot water especially since Ol’ Dutch only hears about 50 percent of what's said anyway.

For those unfamiliar with the Shrek story, he is an ogre which by definition is a “hideous giant of fairy tales and folklore that feeds on humans.” So now we all know exactly what Miss Trixie thinks of Ol’ Dutch but in her defense, I probably resemble that remark in part, at least.

And most women probably think their men are about the same kind of creature after living with them for a while so no offense is taken, at least by me.

And in all honesty, I often wonder just why Miss Trixie would hook her caboose to my locomotive in the first place as the glamor, if there ever was any, has long left the last station in Ol’ Dutch’s life.

But here she is and here she remains for now and as long as she is fooled enough to stay I guess we are doomed — or, is that destined — to cohabitate along life’s road.

Besides, I kinda like Miss Trixie's caboose anyway. 

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com.