HAT TIPS
Hello,
I was just thinking the other morning. Shirley has warned me about thinking, but sometimes I can’t help it. I was thinking that I am pretty dang lucky.
Other than diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, eyesight, and hearing, I am in pretty good shape. I’m lucky. There are people with a heck of a lot more problems than I’ve got. And they don’t have near as much fun!
What got me to thinking about this was a calf.
I was down in the barn a couple days ago feeding a bottle calf. It was a twin calf that the mama cow forgot when he was a day or so old. But this is a darn nice calf and took right to the bottle.
Before I started feeding him I had called the saddle horses in and grained them. It was just starting to get a little light and that calf was sucking that bottle and those saddle horses were munching on oats. I swear there isn’t a sweeter sound than that. Then you add a little rain falling on the barn roof and that must be what heaven sounds like. But I imagine my chances of checking that out are a little slim.
Anyway, that’s what got me to thinking. I was thinking that Dad always said I was lucky. And I guess he was right.
So I started thinking about the things I enjoy. I enjoy having a beer on the deck with good friends on a warm summer evening. And Shirley would say I enjoy having a drink with friends on a cold winter evening just as well. I enjoy friends.
I enjoy a good dog that chases cows when I tell him to and sometimes stops when I tell him. And he is good to my grandkids.
I enjoy trotting a horse down a long ridge headed for Hans Creek when the grass is green and the creeks are running.
I enjoy cutting alfalfa hay just before it blossoms and smelling that sweet smell. Heck, I even enjoy unrolling that bale on fresh snow and seeing the cows line up to eat that hay months later.
I enjoy watching a great bucking horse and I enjoy watching a good cowboy make a great ride on a good bucking horse.
I enjoy watching Shirley get a calf started nursing a bottle if the calf is too dumb for me to get it started. She can do it.
I enjoy coming in to the smell of a good pot roast in the oven, or maybe the smell of pork ribs and sauerkraut in the crock-pot.
I enjoy the smell of the air after a shower. Especially when that shower follows a long dry spell. Grandpa always said it “always rains right after a dry spell.” He was a wise man.
Another thing he told me was, “Don’t ever buy a horse from a guy that sits in the front pew in church!” I enjoyed that.
I enjoy watching a little kid smile when they see a baby calf or new flower blooming. Or when they learn to feed a calf or a lamb.
I enjoy dirty, noisy kids in our house. I enjoy kids that pet their horse even after it tipped a barrel or knocked down a couple poles.
Heck, I could go on and on. Dad is right. I’ve always been lucky.
Later,
Dean