LITTLE ROCK — I am not sick, physically sick; I just can’t eat. I don’t want anything that isn’t cold and juicy to pass between my lips.
Watermelon and cantaloupe are the things that are keeping me alive and then just barely! I don’t want coffee after daylight because the sun makes me desire cool liquids, tea mostly. I carry a peach can with a baling wire handle around with me filled with ice water. I wonder if our innards really could rust.
My cattle are making a deep worn path from one water tank to the next one. I sure am thankful I have wells all over the place and at least the cattle have fresh water. Not every pasture is well watered, a few have pond water and you gotta figure it is almost hot enough to scald a hog by dark.
This is just another hard time. We have them right regular and, because we are cattlemen,we figured that last one was the last one! Not by a long shot, we are living in the world of droughts and pestilence. But as long as we are on top of the dirt instead of under it, we are ahead!
Normally folks would enjoy the long evening hours to sit around the yard and have a visit with neighbors, watch the Grands scamper around and just rest. The hours of daylight granted by Daylight Saving Time would be a nice little gift. Not this year! We don’t want to sit outside for any longer than necessary. The mosquitoes aren’t even bad; they all moved to Arizona because we are too dry!
I fussed about the sorefooted cows a couple of years ago. Fescue foot hit us pretty hard and I had to sell a couple. I doctored about half the old cow herd, and the vet sent another boat load of cash to Switzerland. That old fescue won’t dry upand keeps the hooves wet when we get good rains. I may have to tell tales about fescue foot to my great-grandchildren and they will be fascinated to hear about damp grass, rain and cool weather - a thing of the past, at least for this summer.
I reckon the second cutting of hay will be next spring, and some cattle will be lucky to get wheat straw to live on this winter. Grasshoppers have invaded the yard and my close relative has been fighting the little black sugar ants with a vengeance. Yep, this is a hard time.
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, things could be worse. We could be living forty miles from town, no electricity for air conditioning or lights, no ice for the tea and maybe not even tea. The smallpox or whooping cough could be on a rampage, and we might have no medicine or medicine man.
Well, sure enough, I am tickled I am just suffering the hot, dry summer! The good Lord has blessed us even if we don’t know it!
Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 08/08/2012