WESTSIDE — I drove to town yesterday, just before the sun started down in the west, and once again found myself in awe of Mother Nature.
The earth is covered in green. Trees, weeds and grass are just wonderful after a long and cold winter. I appreciate the ground cover and admire the pastures, even if most of them are swathed in weeds. Can’t tell that from the road and I do not like to mess up my good mood by looking too close!
I know my own pastures are in need of some fertilizer and maybe even lime, but someone said it is all pretty high on the hog. I know I could buy some litter for a reasonable cost, but the government won’t let me use it on my place. What is a cattleman, keeper of the land, supposed to do? Grit your teeth, set your jaw and get ready, because I think it is gonna get worse around this area.
If you read the newspapers, you know by now that some of the folks donot want any stinky chicken houses, hog houses, feed lots or barns anywhere close to their place. They fuss over breakfast as they chow down on bacon and ham with biscuits and gravy, drink milk and then drive to town to work.
The lunch bunch gives the dickens to agriculture over their meal of burgers and fries, chicken nuggets and so on and then drive the several miles home for supper. Supper of steak and chicken grilled tastes great and they once again listen to their close relative rant and rave about the dust the feed trucks raise as they pass the property.
The offspring of this area are fit and fine. The rosy cheeks and strong bodies are just fantastic and a pleasure for this old man to see. High school boys and girls are very athletic and winning teams prevail. The kids who drink milk, eat healthy and exercise are robust and full of vigor. Most of them live on farms around here andwork with the stinking animals.
I guess you have caught my drift by now and, dang me, I just can’t help myself when it comes to wanting to keep the country just that, country! I want to do this business, listen to the squawking birds at daylight, feed steers in dusty lots and swat the flies they draw into my life. It isn’t all pleasure, but what is? And I did not move into a city and bring my livestock with me. I would then have grumbled about the exhaust of autos, noise of voices, clicking of high heels in the hall of my apartment building and so on. Just didn’t do it.
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, keeping yourself happy is a big thing in life, because we only go around once. That is another great play by our Big Boss, that we only have to do this once. The deal is, stay where you like it but be careful about trying to change the place to which you move. You liked it when you came, and so did the folks around you.
There are still plenty of populated areas where the only animals are walking on two legs and mostly travel in gangs.
Bill is the pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 04/27/2011