I don’t like to carry on about the things I might brag about if I were a bragging sort of feller, which I am not. But sometimes it is pretty rich, like good old thick Jersey cream! I can’t live long enough to tell you about all the times I’ve been wrong, so I need to take advantage of the rights.

I told the oldest male offspring he might as well go to the advertised sale and make a day of it. I suggested he take the trailer so he could bring home a bull if it wasn’t priced out of this world. Then, being the kind of parent I am, I suggested he do this trip sorta quietly.

Taking along close relatives to cattle sales can be real expensive. I explained different times I had been left underwater to die by my close relative’s desire to own certain cow/calf pairs or the “prettiest dang bull I have ever seen!”

I offered to hook up the trailer and fill his pickup with fuel for him while he went home to clean up, but he declined the offer and did it himself, taking the rig home with him. I knew it was a mistake, a disaster in the making, but he has to learn the hard way, I suppose.

I proceeded to go on with my business, a corner of my mind still on the bull buying trip. It is a sure thing that I trust that young one’s judgment and know he is extremely competent with money, so I should have been relaxed about the deal. The younger of the offspring came along to inform me he was putting out the fertilizer on the pastures as discussed and would be in for lunch with me.

I found a hole in the fence of the steer pasture, looked like they were reaching through for some of the bar ditch grass and knocked out some steeples. It took me longer to find the fencing pliers and the steeples than it did to fix the fence. I may have to trade in my truck for a new one soon. I can’t find anything when I need it in this junky one! A friend of ours drove up in a shiny new one and sorta started the yeast rising in my want place. “A new truck might make my days so much easier,” I mumbled to myself.

Got home for lunch and we sat down to a great meal. Then, the dessert was strawberry shortcake and cow cream! I was as mellow as a man can get after that. I know my eyes must have glazed over with satisfaction as I rested in my chair. The younger helped his mother with the cleanup in the kitchen and I was in my happy place.

I heard the trailer coming in, ejected myself from the chair and grabbed my hat on the way out the door. I did not know the truck driving in or the driver but, as the distance was devoured, I recognized the older offspring’s close relative on the passenger side.

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, taking the advice freely given from a veteran is priceless! I had tried to tell him the dangers of taking along passengers, but he did not listen. He was waylaid and led by the nose into a dealership due to the few inches of dirt and mess in his truck. He had an empty trailer - I didn’t ask why - and was sporting that silly look on his face as he described the wonders of the new vehicle.

The moral to the story is this: Listen and heed your parent’s advice. Lovely women can make you lose your sense of sobriety when you already have the thought sitting there just waiting to germinate!

I am on the way to the shop to park my old rig close to a trash bin and clean it out - a much cheaper deal!

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

Opinion, Pages 6 on 04/17/2013