I rode old Fuzzy, or Snip, around the steers this morning and he sweated like a hard working highway mule. I don't think he was as hot as he was soft, because I recognize that being soft business. I would like to think I am still the solid man of steel I was at 30 but I ain't! I still tell our Grands I am and let on to my close relative that I am, but Snip and I know different. While he was sweating, I was getting cold.
The wind whipped up a blow from the south and the leaves are falling like President Ford did, several times! I didn't wear a jacket because it is not time to wear coats. I guess age thins a feller's blood and also his hide so the wind cools the body off fast. Well, anyway, I made it and I won't mention the cold part to anyone around here.
The steers look good to me. We did save some of the smaller ones this fall and I may live to regret not selling them with the other culls, but the price of cattle makes a man greedy. I want to sell some of those 900 to 950 weights and struggle to carry all that cash to the bank! We sent the yearling steers to the feed lot and I don't know if that was the right move or not. If I didn't like to watch them gain so much, I'd have sold them here at the farm. It is a vice of mine, wanting to watch home grown steers get fat and even prettier in the feed lot. You can see your brand expand on that left hip as the pounds accumulate!
The kitchen has been smelling extra good for a couple of days. I believe my close relative has baked up pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread, cookies cut into leaves and ghosts by the hundreds. We are prepared for the drop in visitors for the next week or so. We sure enjoy visiting when folks drop by and we like to feed them good stuff washed down by hot coffee! Come on by and try some!
I am once again very thankful for the good life we have here on the rock pile. I am reminded of the health we enjoy when I see others who are so sick and miserable. Children who are afflicted with cancer and folks who have lost a limb and others who are struggling to keep body and soul together with maybe two jobs make me feel humble and the need to help all I can. We know we can always do something, even if it is a small something, to help make life easier for those who are less fortunate, so let's do it.
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, this time of the year brings out the best in most folks, but we should be on our toes all year long. I am not going to buy toys for the needy but I will give them things for their education, books and brain teasers to make them think. We want to see that all have a larder full of food, but let us try to see that all have a job so they can fill their own larder!
Off my soap box and on to the coffee emporium, doing my thing is what I do best. Come see us!
Bill is the pen name of the Gravette area author of this weekly column. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 11/05/2014