My cousin Jim

Clearly one of my favorite relatives is Jim Keith. (He was TD’s son so he’s my mom’s cousin, not an uncle) He is one of the nicest, easy going-est, smartest, but humblest men I’ve ever met. In his horse-shoeing neck of the woods he is a big name. He contracts out and people hire him to go all over the world and show them the reins. He’s been all over the country, Japan, and most recently he spent a week in Alaska. Apparently he’s a beer drinker, because he’s made several references to the subject. He wants us to believe that drinking beer is a lot like the buffalo theory: when the wolves chase the buffalo they get the weakest of the herd, so by killing them off they make the herd stronger; when you drink beer it kills off several of your weakest brain cells, thus making you smarter. I’d believe it to be true for him, but I’ve known too many stupid beer drinkers to say that it works across the board. I imagine that he and his wife Carol live a pretty simple life on their 5 acres in Tucumcari, but I’m glad to hear that they are living it up a little when they vacation. She is really nice and they have a daughter a year older than I am (Kathy) who has a girl Tasha’s age (Ann, who Tasha insists on calling Annie) and a one year old. The thing that really impresses me about this family is that they are thinkers. I can’t really explain it, but I could sit and pick their brains for days and days.