We suffer, grass dies and my close relative thinks we should eat cool food. That does not include steaming hot steak with butter and baked potatoes.
She says hot food makes you much hotter although I don't think I can get hotter without burning! So we had a nice cold macaroni salad for Sunday supper. Thankful for the garden to be over, and don't mention that to her. I am sick of meatless meals!
We still have cattle to care for no matter how hot or cold the weather is. We have started feeding some hay in the small pasture because they are out of grass. They were hungry and I felt miserable thinking they had nothing to eat until we got there with hay!
We had a good first cutting due to all the rain we endured. Mud was deep and we fussed to everybody that would listen, mostly each other! Now it is dry as Death Valley and clouds may come by and bring scattered showers at the end of the week! The cities and towns get showers and their cement never grows, but it goes north or south of us!
We did the two-week vaccination for worms this year in all the cattle old enough. Then an agriculture medical salesman came by and told us about a new and wonderful "go get'em" liquid wormer. Well, I can recall the worming done with a liquid and he would have to give me lots of money to go through that cow slobbering again! I don't relish getting the cattle up again in two weeks but the slobbers make me nauseous. I doubt if a new formula has be invented that works better anyway. The youngest invited him in for coffee and all had pie. Finally, in the conservation following the refreshments, he sorta let it slip that he uses a pour-on wormer himself!
My new granddaughter is about the most fabulous wrinkled-up kid we have had in a long time! She will be old enough to inherit the paint pony as the owner goes off to college, and a new saddle. The mice have chewed the pretties off the original one, and besides, it is dusty! Her momma is fine and happy to have a baby in the house but the daddy said the baby is loud!
My five-year-old grandson loves to fish and wants to go every day. He has no idea that his poppa has a job and is required to stay hooked up! He also doesn't realize that it is hot, not because he isn't out in it but he seems not to feel it!
I know that everyone has an opinion, but not all are good! A feller has to weed them out and carefully get rid of the bad ones -- bad ones such as it is too hot for target practice with a pistol and I need to clean the rifle before I go out to practice. Bad Ones! Can you hit a buck at dusty dark? Better practice!
Bill is the pen name used by the Gravette-area author of this weekly column. The opinions expressed are those of the author.