Two Mules for Sister Sara is another Clint Eastwood classic. This is a fun movie of unexpected twists. The plot is very simple and both Clint and Shirley MacLaine played magnificent roles as very believable characters.
In his role as Hogan, Clint Eastwood, is his typical cowboy wandering the wild west when he stumbles upon Sister Sara riding a mule in the rough and tough desert land. The movie has many subtle funny scenes where Hogan and Sara are the dastardly (Clint) and the righteous (Shirley).
What’s all the more funny is that after I watched this movie a few times, I learned that Clint and Shirley were actually a couple! Upon reflection, I could sense that their relationship in the movie was quite genuine and it warms my heart to know how much fun making this movie must have been for them.
As far as the movie goes, basically it’s Hogan and Sara traveling together until they reach the main purpose of their adventure which is to save Sara from a ruthless bunch of Mexican bandits.
I highly recommend Two Mules for Sister Sara as a fun watch. It’s an adventure of this two fun people which is quite entertaining. I would give Two Mules for Sister Sara 9 out of 10 Steelers Stars.
High Plains Drifter (1973 – Clint Eastwood) is one of my all time favorite movies. Not because it’s action-filled or the typically Hollywood fancy stunt scenes. Rather, this movie had Clint Eastwood’s rather tough guy attitude and a very simple example of decency all rolled-up into one cigar-smoke.
The storyline of the movie is very simple, yet very deep also. I’ve seen this movie probably over 50 times now and I continue to be amazed at the powerful message of redemption that I had at the end of each viewing.
The plot of the movie was based in the town of Lago, and this town of Lago had a dirty little secret that they had hung a sheriff. The residents of Lago knew what they had done was wrong but there is no way to undue something such as a lynching.
So, Clint Eastwood (as the High Plains Drifter), comes into Lago as sort-of a ghost to teach the residents of Lago a lesson. Ironically enough, the High Plains Drifter, carefully plots his revenge to coincide with the return of three criminals that also want revenge on Lago.
This movie is fairly dark in it’s delivery so don’t watch High Plains Drifter if you are looking for a feel good story. HPD is about taking responsibility and not going along with the crowd for convenience. This movie is about the opportunity to make amends and not waiting too long to do this.
This is a wonderful photo of my Mom and my youngest brother, Robert Matthew (a.k.a. “Matt”). These two had a really special relationship and while I miss them tremendously, it warms my heart to know that they are in Heaven together for eternity.
Brandee and I continue to be amazed daily, how lucky we are to have been able to re-home my mom’s cat, J.C. J.C. (“Just Cat”) truly is a remarkable gift from God that came to us in uncertain times, but has worked out the best.
For those who might not have been following the story, Brandee and I already had four adopted animals with our two dogs of Gracie and Finn, but also our two cats of Bleu and Ella. While our dogs didn’t give us too much concern about integrating J.C. into our home, the unknown of having our two female cats was something we had to take very seriously. We just couldn’t predict exactly how everyone would interact with each other.
Fast-forward one year later and I’m happy to report that J.C. has assimilated into our family so nicely and I think he’s found his happy place in life. J.C. is the type of guy that you can sense his feelings, and it’s pretty apparent that he misses my mom and dad (who raised him for his first 10 years), but he also enjoys that zany-nest of his new family with Gracie, Finn and especially Bleu and Ella.
Brandee has given J.C. a new nick-name of “Bubba” which I think fits his funny personality very well. Bubba likes to spend most of his days lounging-around his bed, which Brandee constructed of many fluffy pillows, and leisurely exploring our living room area with the rest of us. Bubba never makes a fuss about himself and he just generally goes with the flow watching the action such as Daddy throwing the ball for Finn to fetch like 200-times nightly!
In summary, I’m so glad that J.C. is part of the Neal Barnhouse Family. He is such an interesting character that makes Brandee and me so happy plus he’s a good example of an older brother for his four other siblings. It’s also amazing that J.C. is an angel in our house that has experiences with my mom and dad that is only known to him.
I don’t know why but I’m feeling a strong desire to write this simple message of appreciation for someone that will read this message.
Recently I went on a routine business trip for only two days. While I sincerely enjoyed my trip, meeting new people and getting business done; I missed my wife and our five furry children more than ever. And, frankly, the biggest highlight of my travel was coming home instead of going to the event itself.
The instant I came in the front door upon getting home, Gracie and Finn “embraced” me with their waggy-tails, big barking mouths and jumpy enthusiasm. I was so happy to see them, and I think they were happy to see Daddy again.
After Grace and Finn finally got settled a little bit, it was time to see how my youngest daughter, Ella Bean September Neal, was doing because she’s a very independent spirit and doesn’t pretend to make a fuss about anything.
So, I headed out to her lazy daytime sleeping bed in our office where she likes to nap in the sunshine and I said ‘hello Ella-bean’. She responded ‘meow…’, and rolled on her back as a direct invitation for me to rub her tummy like she enjoys so much.
I reached out my hand to scratch her tummy, back of her neck and chin, but I stopped because she was in such a frenzy for me to rub her with my hand that I didn’t know which rub-part was her priority.
So, I just held out my hand and appreciated the gift the God gave me.
A Hand, with five-fingers, that can move in various horizontal/vertical directions, have nerves to feel sensation such as heat and cold plus effortlessly interoperate with the rest of my body.
Basically, I had taken touch, with my Hand to scratch Ella’s furry-chin, as sort of an entitlement instead of the gift that this is.
As I held my Hand still for 30 minutes, Ella made the decision whether her chin, belly, neck, ears, back, or wherever she wanted rubbed. It was her choice, not mine, which was really cool. I spread my fingers out so that she was able scratch several areas in the same pass (she’s so small that she can get a neck, chin and back scratch in one fell-swoop). It was 30-minutes of great reflection that a simple gift, that I don’t appreciate enough such as a Hand with five fingers, can provide such happiness to others.
This 30-minutes also allowed me to consider how Ella’s paws (a.k.a. her Hands), with five nails, are specially created for her purpose in life. She has claws to be able to scale high-fences, climb on roofs as well as defend herself from attacks.
So, while we both Ella and I have similar features with Five digits, we are gifted with specialized purposes with our Hands. The commonality is that Ella and I can touch our Paws/Hands and be bonded forever in our love and happiness for this wonderful gift.
