Why do we keep on keeping on around here? I am just getting older by the day and my close relative is getting pickier. I can’t seem to please the offspring with all their perfections in the hay field and all I am supposed to do is haul in. They, especially the youngest, don’t like the way I drive across the field! Dang it, it happens. I was driving across the fields before he was even thought of!

Yes, my Levis were damp and had hay stuck in the creases when I went in for dinner and some of it dribbled out on the floor.Big deal, that is what helps my close relative buy those brooms she wears out! She cocked her eyebrows at me like I had committed a crime and pointed that finger like a drill sergeant. I grabbed the broom and swept it all up in a little pile, left it right there for her to finish.

I let myself buy that bucket of junk the other day at a farm sale. Probably wouldn’thave if another feller would have just stopped bidding. I figured there was something really good in that bucket if he wanted it so bad. He went over the $10 limit I had mentally set and that sure made me want that bucket! I gave $22 for it, had the same exact stuff in a bucket of my own in the shop and now I feel bad taking that stuff from a feller that probably needed it! Can’t win for losing.

Cattle auctions and farm sales are addictive. I bought a little heifer; she looked good and was the kind I like except her mammy died and she needed another one. I had a cow that would take her and so I gave about $40 more than market price for her.She did good until she began to scour after she weighed about 450. I took her into the barn one day last winter and she is gonna live, I guess, but I am beginning to see a big deficit hanging over her head. Probiotics, antibiotics, special feed and vet servicesare deep and cutting into my net profit. So, this is one more reason I am so down in the mouth today.

I decided to change the oil in my hay truck because the breeze was nice with the north and south doors open in the shop and I didn’t have to do what the offspring wanted me to do! I had the last of the oil dripping into the pan when I heard the giggles from down the driveway. Three Grands walking toward the house, kicking rocks with their bare toes and laughing at each other is a beautiful picture!

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, some days are bound to be worse than others, but a gaggle of Grands can rescue almost anything! The trio missed the house and headed for the shop when they noticed the doors open and someone there! What a great day for a dip in the creek or a trip to the ice cream parlor, or whatever they wanted to do. I am ready for their presence and they lift my spirits every time!

It did turn out to be a good day!

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

Opinion, Pages 6 on 06/22/2011