It is all my doings, pressed for time and not paying attention to details. Can’t really blame myself, this dry weather has me so poor I can pay attention for only short spells! I knew we were gonna run low on hay and then I sorta let the offspring handle the bale counting and the figuring.

This heat has been a killer for the cattlemen of the country. Grass that was so very plentiful in the spring has disappeared, and even the stems have dried and fallen into the dust. Some of the hardy grasses that live through months of little moisture have burned into the ground. Nature’s plants do not do well in temps of triple digits.

I have been checking cattle, not driving through but really checking cattle these past few weeks. I am on a first name basis with almost all the steers and all - every one - of the cows.The heifers and I are buddies. I hand them goodies and can hand feed all of them. I am doctoring calves and drawn-up bovine of any size or sex with all the ammunition the vet will give me.

All my duties pushed the hay situation to the back burner of my daily list. Now, today, the early part of August, I am having trouble finding hay to buy. Floods and famine, what’s a feller to do? My close relative says we are not moving, so I guess I gotta suck it up and see what I can accomplish.

I am sure the fellers that had some cash and decided to go into the stock market, the kind on Wall Street, are about as sick as us that went with the other stock market. I wonder if any of us know what we are doing, and I am ready to blame the oilcompanies for it.

I had a great aunt that lived through the dust bowl in dust bowl country, raised an even dozenkids, and as she watched the NASA rockets travel into space, told us that it was gonna ruin our tilt and orbit. You know she might have been right. Something has certainly messed up the seasons and I am ready to blame the oil companies and NASA. We got a few tenths of welcomed rain last night and I dreamed it was gonna cost me $3.45.9 per gallon!

Well, if the calves don’t all die of dust pneumonia, and if the offspring can find a couple loads of hay, and if my kind of stock market doesn’t crash, we might be able to make it around this pile of rocks. I have heard that the weatherman predicts temps to stay in the 90s for a while.

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger! Yes, I had to borrow that thought, but isn’t it true? We are down to hide stretched over parched bones but we still have a heart beat! God is good and we will make it. And if we don’t, it won’t make any difference!

Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 08/17/2011