WESTSIDE — In like a lamb, out like a lion, and we hope to goodness that is not true this year!
Grass is greening up in the pastures and my old body is liking the warmer weather a bunch! Doesn’t matter much what kind of temps or clouds or not, the life of a cattleman continues on.Guess I ought to be grateful for that!
I sure am thankful I don’t have any good old Jersey cream to put on my pie right now; the green onions are up and thick. Don’t you know the old milk cows are enjoying the delightful tastes! And that said, I wonder how the dairy companies get that taste out of the cream and milk we buy at town. Just one more of the wonders of the world!
My close relative went with me this morning to check the heifers and on to the steers. She sure likes to watch the steers run and buck but always wants to keep them just a little longer. I am guilty of keeping them just a week or two longer than I should because they are fat and pretty. We grow them to the point of looking like our goal and then someone else gets to finish them.
We sat and talked on the little knoll in the steer pasture for awhile, watching the steers graze. The pickings are so slim but the air is warm and they get a bite and then act like a bunch of teenage boys, kicking and running into one another. They don’t want the hay but they will settle down tonight and eat it anyway.
The male offspring pulled the door open to the machine shop and started the yearly job of getting things ready for haying. I closed my eyes and drove right on by. My close relative gets excited because her offspring will be in for lunch and some days they will come for breakfast. I could do without the expense, but they sure do a good job in the hay!
The Grands are gonna have to attend the jail, oh, excuse me, school on Saturdays and into the summer I suppose. I hate that for them and for me. I will miss the early fishing and fresh excitement they possess when school dismisses and the weather is still cool and comfortable. Snow days are fun, one or two, and then the boredom sets in. I wish they could start in September and finish in May.
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, I would run the world if I could but I just can’t get hold of the reins. My close relative would budget us right out of financial troubles and we would make all the fellers, who were able, work. Welfare would be a distant memory in the minds of those who lived long enough to tell the tale. Since I can’t and you don’t want me to, I guess I will go along with the decisions made by others.
Pray for rain. My ponds are pretty low and God knows we gotta have the moisture.
Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 03/09/2011