What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
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Anyone who has ever hauled a horse to a rodeo, team penning, barrel race, cutting or horse show, has had this happen. You’ve been tuning and grooming on old Bay for days, maybe weeks, even months. Today is the day it all comes together. Bay looks good and you feel great. The hours on the road fly by because today is your day. You have plans to take names and kick ... well, you get the idea. About five miles from the fairgrounds you begin to notice them. One over there in a field, two a...
It would be the world’s biggest understatement to say we are concerned about terrorism in our Country. Since 9/11, no corner of America has been immune to the fear terrorists have brought to our home soil. Our politicians have stood up and said, “Don’t worry we will protect you.” Personally, I find having that group protect me is a little scary all by itself. Normally I feel the need to be protected from them! Rural folks are generally unaccustomed to being taken care of by someone else. W...
Oh, for the good old days of the cowboy. Back when the horse was King, there was no internet (or electricity for that matter) and saddling your horse was so much easier. The saddling procedure itself hasn’t changed much over the past one hundred fifty years. What to put on old Dobbin’s back? That’s another story. Back in those good, old, golden years of the cowboy there wasn’t a lot of choice what he strapped onto his trusty steed. There were several saddle makers, but in a given region, their o...
These days, every new idea seems to involve the internet or a computer. That is, every new idea by everyone but me. While the rest of the world seems to think only in terms of e-mail, Web sites and Dot coms, I remain a hold out for hammer, nails, post holes and ideas that involve sweat. I’m never going to change the world with my ideas, therefore, to survive I had better join into this new way of thinking. I’ve decided to get modern, get hep, get digital or whatever you call today’s thinking All...
Sue and I bought a new “cowboy car” a while back. In case you’ve never heard of a “cowboy car” before, don’t worry about it. I just made up the term a few days before we bought it. Everybody knows a “cowboy cadillac” is a fully customized crew cab dually with every creature comfort a genuine cow-type person could ever want. My “cowboy car” is different. Some cowboys occasionally buy regular cars. These cowboys are usually referred to as “married.” I’m in that category and doing my darnest to s...
The end of each year brings attempts to name the “best” of the past year, decade or even longer. Best actor, best news story, best jar of jelly, etc, etc. When we finished a year, century and millennium, the “best” lists were grander than before. I’ve decided to get in on the action myself this year. While there are “best of” awards in the fields of sports, medicine, literature and more, I noticed one glaring omission. There is no best of award for stuff that affects you and me daily. In sho...
I suppose it is the old “left brain, right brain” thing. You know what I’m talking about ... The difference between a guy’s thinking and a gal’s thoughts. Left brain right brain, of course means in any discussion, both husband and wife think they have the “right” brain while the other “left” their brain somewhere else. At our house these discussions usually occur over money. OK, usually over money I spend on what my wife sees as rather foolish things. I can’t believe how narrow-minded she c...
Did you ever get the feeling you’ve wasted your life? Maybe you should have gone into another line of work? Everyone else seems to have done better with their life than you? No? Well, me neither. Most of the time. Normally I’m pretty content with my life. I get to talk to about three million people on the radio every week day morning and write these columns. My wife and I have put together a nice little ranch with a decent house, plenty of grass and some good cows and horses to look at. Truth is...
I can’t believe I did it but I forgot about winter. I’ll admit that seems pretty silly but it happened. It must have been all those pretty pictures I’ve been looking at. My eyes have gazed lovingly at scenes of snow covered mountains, trees blanketed with pure white snow and frost covered fences. I have lingered over a picture of a snowy meadow scene where a team of horses pulls a sled of hay, with cows strung out behind eating the fresh green hay being thrown on the marshmallow like snow....
This column is written for ladies, specifically wives and girlfriends. Men, however, should follow along. You’ll see why later. One thing most men have in common is a hobby that once in a while gets to be more important than duller things like work. For some its golf, boats, motor cycles or race cars. Other men find antique tractors, four wheel pulling pickups or fishing more enticing than work. Still others place a priority on riding a cutting horse, bronc or bull. In my case it’s roping. Most...
The old ranch house television set was abuzz awhile back over the tragic crash of two airplanes that may have had similar malfunctions leading to their crashes. While most “Under The Wire” columns rarely begin with such a somber beginning, stick with me, this will make sense very soon. These tragedies have left a black mark on air travel and a lot of red ink on some airplane manufacturer’s balance sheets. That said, I just came home after seeing a sight that renews my faith in the aviat...
Dear Federal Reserve Folks, I am writing on a suggestion I received from a guy I met at the sale barn yesterday. He was nice to visit with and seemed to know a lot about what I am going to ask you. The gentleman did ask me not to mention his name or exactly where I had seen him because of a little misunderstanding between the two of you. It sounded as if he had ran a big bank or something before moving to our little town. The subject of my letter is not that person, anyway. I’m actually w...
"In the Spring time a young man's thoughts turn to thoughts of ... " I know how this often quoted saying is supposed to end. I also know that Spring has different meaning for different people. I'll bet though, that everyone in cattle country has one thought come to mind as spring approaches. Fence fixing! Good old back breaking, glove tearing fence repair. Most of cattle country gets a fair share of snow in the winter. The mountains get more depth than the wind driven storms on the plains, but t...
I have operated a commercial cow/calf operation nearly all of my adult life. That follows having grown up, depending on who you talk to, on cow/calf ranches operated by my parents, all my aunts and uncles and grandparents on both sides of my family tree. The cow owner lineage goes back much farther than that. Since most of us Westerners got here because our ancestors lived east of here where there were just farms, I can’t say those generations were ranchers. Unlike all my predecessors, I a...
Big corporations always publish a year-end report containing both financial information and overall performance of the company. I think the purpose is to keep stockholders in the dark while shining a light on their profits to the banks they have borrowed from. The system appears to work quite well so beginning this year I decided to do the same for our ranch operation, with a few alterations. I want to shed a light on the three or four things we accidentally did right, while keeping the bank in...
To most of the world the cowboy symbolizes unspoiled freedom. Whether a ranch cowboy trotting across the hills on his horse or a rodeo cowboy “going down the road”, he represents to most what they’d love to be themselves ... wild, free, unchained, unconnected to the world’s restraints. Yea, right. Even the word “cowboy” has taken on a second meaning. It can also mean a renegade, loose canon, a non-conformist. Let me tell you, nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s take the rodeo cowboy f...
Sooner or later every fad gets me. I can't help it. I resist longer than most but eventually I succumb. Over the years I've been talked into purchasing polyester leisure suits, tennis shoes with built in air pumps and stone-washed jeans. Some fad items stuck with me like poly-grass ropes and nylon horse halters. Other items the world convinced me I couldn't live without now lay gathering dust somewhere. Remember CB radios (replaced by cell phones), fuzz busters (replaced by 75 mile per hour...
There is one thing almost every man will lie about. He will give you a straight answer to just about any question you ask except for the one “magical” question. What is it that will turn normally credible, straight forward male citizens into something less than truthful people? Gas mileage. That’s right, you’ll never get a straight answer about how many miles per gallon the ole pickup is getting. I guess it’s some kind of macho thing among guys that clouds our judgement when the “taboo” topic co...
For me, it all started when I was in the sixth grade. You would think I had finally outgrown it but that hasn’t happened. What hasn’t happened? My ability to wind up at the end of any and all lines. No matter why it is there, if there is a line with ten or one hundred people in it, I’m going to be the last one. Back in my school days I attended a small two room school with 10 to 12 students. At those numbers being at the end of the line was no big deal. Besides, I was big for my age so movin...
Well, I did it again! New Year’s Day, widely celebrated throughout the land by nearly everyone, came and went more or less unnoticed by yours truly. How does anyone manage to miss such an obvious holiday? For me, Holidays trigger columns or at least are supposed to. There are, again, supposed to be columns dedicated to Christmas, New Years, even Valentine’s Day. I try to treat all equally by missing about all of them. It seems that when I sit down to write a column, the near disastrous exp...
It goes without saying there is nothing funny about Covid-19. My sincere sympathies go out to those who have lost loved ones to the virus. That said, I have often heard the phrase, “Even in the darkest storm, there will be a flash of light.” Today’s column is about such a flash during the darkness of this pandemic. While she repeatedly denies it, I have a younger sister. I cannot divulge her name since previous such exposure has resulted in phone calls threatening disclosure of embarrassing mome...
As near as I can tell, my forefathers raised cattle in Hawaii, Florida or some other very warm climate. That is the only possible explanation I can come up with for a problem I now have. As many of you know, the cow business tends to become a family legacy. Grandpa did it then passed them on to father who, continued to raise them, son followed in their footsteps, etc., etc. In some cases, such as ours, the cowherd passed through many generations. Thus my problem. Sue and I “inherited” if you...
Today’s column deals with the fun-packed, exciting life of living on a ranch. Other ranchers reading this are at this moment thinking, “This is going to be a very short story.” Fact of the matter is, they are right. Busy? Yes. Free Time? None. Fun-packed and exciting? Not so much. Don’t get me wrong. We and most other of those folks who dedicate their lives to a cow’s welfare wouldn’t trade places with hardly anyone. Fun and exciting? Very little time for that. The lifestyle keeps us tired, o...
Over the years I have written about several jobs I once worked at, and usually got fired from, and businesses I once tried to operate. If the business involved livestock of any kind, is usually made money until I got bored. That left several dozen businesses I never tried to operate and wouldn’t have know how to, anyway. Just a few days ago I discovered a business that I would be good at it. The business that would not have ever interested me but I immediately knew I would be good at it. The b...
You can find one on just about any ranch, farm or horse place. They vary in color and age but otherwise there are striking similarities. Chances are you’ve got one, too. I’m talking about the ranch pickup. The old knock-around, drive anywhere, do anything all purpose vehicle. This is not the shiny, occasionally washed version that even gets put in the garage or the machinery shed. I’m taking about the one that usually sets outside near the shed or beside the hay stack. Actually, it’s probabl...
