We have been fighting the weeds around the barns as long as I can remember. The pigweeds grew tall and healthy around the barn and the lots in dry country when I was a kid. The grass would maybe flourish after a rain, grow about a quarter of an inch a year, and the pigweeds were so tall my sister and I could hide in them. So did old Sneaky Snake!
Then I left home and moved to a more moist area and the weeds here are able to grow out of the rocks and produce seeds. Yep, I been fighting them a good many years and this year I have won a battle. I have eradicated thistle from the horse trap. I know, it is a small victory, only one acre in size, but for 40 years I have been beat. And not one hemlock grew up in the pen. I am proud! But I have again lost the fight with the purple mint. It grew in corners I missed, and I mowed it down but maybe too late. I think some had already gone to seed. The odor of it made me nauseous and gave me a headache.
I have heard around town that some cattle can graze on the mint and not develop a strong taste for it. I don't doubt that some may try it but, if they graze on it, I believe it will eventually kill them just like drugs do humans. The beef producers of the world have many snares to escape and that is only a little one. We won't give up and, eventually, we will win.
The weather is changing again. I am aware of the days getting shorter and the darkness creeping in while I am still busy. No, I can't say I like it, but I will like it better when the north wind is about 20 miles per hour and the wind chill is 22! I hate to see summer go away. My close relative and I sit out on the porch and have coffee in the mornings and iced tea in the evening. The birds sing and old Dog lies at my feet. What a life!
I am sending a couple of rejects to the local sale barn this week. We sort steer calves pretty hard but never know how they will continue to grow. Both of these steers are sorta thin in the front with too much waste and their legs are sure not straight. I realize they won't reproduce the traits but I would rather not have to look at their scrawny old hides. They will go tomorrow and I will have some pocket money. Or the offspring or my close relative might get it before I do. Such is life on the rockpile!
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, the battles we fight around here are almost not worth talking about. I see the devastation of hurricanes, floods, tornados and war on the world news and pray for the folks who endure the tragic life that is theirs. I feel pain for them, but how they make it is never anything I can experience. My neighbors who live next to the bone, so to speak, are so much better off than the victims of such misery. God bless them all!
Wash your face, comb your hair and face the world with a smile. I am pretty sure we are doing fine!
Bill is the pen name used by the Gravette-area author of this weekly column. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 09/18/2019