It's the season for weeping or praising

I am a man of little money and a big heart, but the two cause me some problems. I would love to gift my close relative with fancy things, but my funds just won't allow too much extravagance. I was broke when she met me and I have not changed much in the last 50 years!

I can afford a bigger box of chocolate covered cherries but she doesn't like that kind, so I just quit trying to please her taste in candy. I will say she is welcome to drive the new pickup truck anytime it is not busy, which should show her how much I appreciate her.

The early calves are doing fine, except for the dead ones! I am still keeping the cow up that lost the calf and it doesn't look good for her future. The sentimental worth of her is high but that doesn't keep groceries on the table. I will have her checked again before I turn her back out. I don't want to make any decisions yet as to her future. The calves are happening like popcorn. The weather is not wonderful but not bad either, so I guess we will not have a family fracas over it.

Handing the reins over to the next generation is a very difficult challenge. We raise them, teach them, send them to college, hire them on and watch them become abler than we even thought of being when we started running this outfit. New ways, ideas and reasonable reasons are slowly making sense to us old fellers, but we are still the boss. Stepping down is the most difficult step we will ever take. I am not ready, but I am asking the Lord to help me prepare. I see that time coming but not for several years yet.

We need to replace an old rake and get a really good tedder. We have one good one and it makes a world of difference when using it, so I think we will just bite the bullet and get a new one. I should have done that on Dec. 31, as I think too much cash ran through here and not nearly enough of it stayed last year.

Speaking of taxes, my close relative was adamant about getting all the papers out of the old pickup as it was traded in. She sat a boot box in front of my chair that was filled with the crumpled and wadded up receipts and informed me that I was to straighten and categorize them as I watched the news. One thing was just as depressing as the other!

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, this is the season for weeping or praising. Pay your taxes and realize that, if you were on welfare, you wouldn't have to pay any, badmouth the government or be thankful we have an air force, army, navy and men who know how to protect us! Weep over the dry grass and half-filled ponds, but remember that there are places south of us where there is no grass and darn little mud left in the ponds.

I vote for praising and thanking Him for what we have and what we don't have. We don't have alligators, camels or sharks to contend with. So praise the Lord and make that CPA appointment!

I didn't get any chocolate candy last week either!

Bill is the pen name used by the Gravette-area author of this weekly column. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 02/21/2018