Who I was smelling, me or old Dog?

I am not sure who I was smelling, me or old Dog. We were both wet, both shivering and both smelled like a wet dog -- he, just naturally, and I did because my clothes were dirty and I had wooled around so many dirty items since daylight that I knew we were just the same. My day started with being thankful for the rain, but when there is enough, how do you say stop? I am grateful, never want to fuss about the moisture, and yet I am not a duck!

I figured to just work in the shop this morning. The hay was doubled yesterday and I had checked and counted cattle, so that is all done. I was gonna clean up the mess that we make while working on equipment. So I started putting things away, moving air tanks, oil cans and winding up air hoses. That always is a dirty business. I got most of it put away and the offspring came along and informed me that the water gap on our neighbor's place had washed out and his cows were in with ours -- yes, after I had found all where they were supposed to be and grazing.

I wiped my face and hands with a shop towel and we took off to help. Joe Spinks is our neighbor and a good feller. He had the cattle penned in a portable corral and they were milling around pretty bad, not one of them being still. Joe raises Herefords, so we could tell quickly for which to open the gate to get them separated. We turned ours out and, believe me, the whole bunch was crazy. I guess the cool rain and the mixing of strangers were all they needed to act silly.

It took the four of us at least two hours to get ours out of the mix. They ran past the gate many times before finding it, and I was there to get a face full of mud every time. My helpers are so much more agile than me, so I figured the gateman was about the best place for me and my ribs!

Joe has a 34-foot trailer, so he could haul his home in a couple of loads, and I sure was glad I didn't have a water gap today. We helped him load his last load, broke down the corral and my offspring hauled it home for him. I got a sack of cake, yes, cubes, and enticed the silly old cows to settle in and have a snack. They settled down, and I am sure looking forward to the crop of calves they are about to deliver.

I know this rain could have been several inches or even a foot of snow or ice, and I held my breath for a while as the weatherman kept warning us about the temperatures. I wonder how many of you fellers have believed Al Gore and bred your cows to calve in early February. I will not be changed in my belief that it is way too early to take a chance and that a couple of weeks or so does not make that much difference when all is said and done. I am not a learned man, just an old one that has lived through lots of Februaries.

The oldest of the offspring found a new motor and a feller to put it in the old hay truck. He is to bring the motor here and do the job in our shop in one day. I am not going to enjoy putting out bales with the tractor, and I do not think I believe any man can put in a motor by himself and finish the job, correctly, in one day!

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, I am going to enjoy some beef now that the ham and turkey have finally been consumed. I am a great lover of holidays, but I sure am glad when the meal at hand is not something from yesterday. My close relative made ham salad and I took it to a widower friend of ours. And, he thought I was doing it out of the goodness of my heart!

Stay dry and keep your rubber boots handy!

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