When you do what's right, take a deep breath and move on

The old home places around here are awash with the daffodils thick and yellow. The years of not being mowed have allowed them to grow into big beds and make a dazzling display. We have one on our place; a home was there where a big family was raised. There was a huge old oak tree still standing near where the house was when we bought the place. There was chain still swinging from a limb, the last of a swing that made for many happy hours for little boys and girls. I sure like the flowers, maybe the only physical legacy of that family.

My offspring are making tracks around here. They make me proud most of the time, and sometimes I am almost ashamed of myself when I compare me to them. The result of years adding up and knowing I don't have to do it all by myself have allowed me to slow down some. Might be a tad more than some on occasions, like on last Friday.

I have the pleasure of checking cattle, looking at all of them, taking my time and making sure I see every bovine. I count and, if there is one hide missing, I take it as essential to find that one. That is all I have to do. I mean that is all I am definitely required to accomplish in my workday. I can drink coffee, putter around the tool shed, clean out stalls or even go to town if I am sure all the cattle are where they are supposed to be and are healthy.

So today, beings as I am still the boss, I decided to clean up some messes in the machine shop. I didn't need any instructions as to what needed to be kept and what to haul out in the trash. I kept all the metal in a pile and neatly arranged it in a big wooden flat that I carried out with the hay forks and loaded onto the hay truck. I gathered all the dirt I swept up into a feed sack, papers and cups and snack cake wrappers into another feed sack. I hauled all the dirt and trash out, put the trash into the dumpster and the dirt back on the farm!

My close relative showed up a couple hours after lunch with a cold drink and we took a break together. She liked the looks of the neat shop and I was just finishing up when the offspring came along about quitting time. They parked their four-wheelers in the shop and just sat and stared around. I was about to bust my buttons, just smiling and waiting for them to be happy, overjoyed maybe, at the shining result of a day devoted to work.

They finally spoke, "why" was the first word, and "where" was the second word. It seems they sorta had things like they wanted them, all but the cups and wrappers. I had arranged the entire collection of tools on the cabinets and into the drawers. The ones that were supposed to hang on the pegboards were now hanging and I was in deep trouble. They were not one bit happy, said they had worked for months to arrange things in their systems, not mine.

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, when you do what you know is right, the exact way you know it should be done, just take a deep breath and move on. You surely studied on the deal before you began and took extra careful pains to make it all go just like it should! That is what us boss people do. We use our expertise and experience to make sure we do what we do just as perfect as we can. Some just don't appreciate it.

Beings as I am who I am, I could do some more cleaning up if things get rough around here!

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

Editorial on 03/21/2018