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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Some things in this world don’t require much explanation for them to make sense to just about anyone. On the other side of the coin, there are certain situations that are difficult to explain to another person. It’s hard because even the expert doesn’t seem to understand what he’s saying. Among the easy ones is the recommendation to not walk suddenly behind a horse. If you violate this law of nature, Plaster of Paris will become a very big thing in your life the next five to eight weeks....
Eighty-seven cents of taillight bulb, six dollars of waiting. Anyone who frequents auto parts counters knows that that is part of the price for a truly remarkable capitalist system in which one can find even the most esoteric part for whatever is in need of repair. The web provides the latest twist, transferring the hunting and parts research to our side of the counter, if not the ordering, shipping, waiting, installation and determination of the level of consumer satisfaction! Age and...
The time to begin preconditioning calves is here. The fall sale run will begin in a few short weeks. Still many producers do not prepare their cattle for sale time or at least do not prepare early enough. At our recent Pasture to Profit program in Burlington, Jim Santomaso, owner and auctioneer of Sterling Livestock Commission, spoke and testified on the value of properly preconditioned calves versus those that were not. In his observations at his sale facility, calves who were 45 to 50 days weaned and vaccinated received the best possible...
A seldom visited but sturdy hymn, “Jesus, the Light of the World,” has as part of its refrain a reference to dewdrops of mercy that ‘shine all around us by day and by night.’ The mercy within those drops is nothing to trifle with, for even the smallest of drops can result in something good beyond imagination if we choose to embrace it. It is inescapably tied to forgiveness, the very essence of Christian faith for many. Coupled with compassion, the power of that small life-giving jewel of mois...
One of life’s great mysteries is how a father and mother can produce two children and have them be so different. I also wonder how some couples had a particular child and even wanted to chance having another like the first one, but that is a whole different story. Each of you probably can think of examples of two siblings being as different as night and day. One is outgoing and funny, the other shy and serious. One is very athletic while their brother or sister is not. Same mother. Same father....
How often have you asked someone “How are you doing?” and received a reply of, “I’m doing OK but I wish someone would shut off this wind!” I find this notable because rarely does anyone want to “shut off this rain, snow, cold or heat.” Why does everyone pick on the wind? Wind does a lot of good if you think about it. For centuries it made travel across oceans possible powering sail boats. Sue has cousins who live on a sailboat, traveling to all sorts of exotic places, courtesy of the wind. Gas c...
It’s hard not to be defensive when someone challenges you by declaring, “Well, that’s not very Christian!” If fruits of the Spirit bolster one’s faith, then perhaps a more appropriate challenge should be, “Well, that’s not very Christlike!” Both point out the reality that living in Christ is a subjective standard at best. Authors of New Testament scripture take their best shots at defining righteousness and yet there exists no clear litmus test that conforms to all circumstances and settings. E...
The calendar may still say that it's summer (and the weather agrees), the fall sports season is in full swing. Several sports are closing in on an entire month of competitions, including boys golf. Fort Morgan had a rough outing in the LPL event hosted by Skyline last Monday, finishing ninth out of the ten squads in the tournament. However, Jeriah Blake just missed out on a top ten finish, shooting a 9-over-par 81, good for 14th place. That was only two shots out of 10th. He was three shots...
There are many variety options to choose from for fall 2022 wheat planting. The best variety to plant depends on your specific situation and planting more than one variety is highly recommended. The top picks discussed below were chosen based on their non-yield attributes and their performance in the Colorado State University wheat variety trials. Crop variety performance trials are conducted by the CSU Crops Testing Program to provide unbiased and reliable information to crop producers to help them make better variety decisions. All the CSU wh...
I have often said everything I know about people I learned from a cow. Today, however, I am writing about something I doubt even a cow could understand. We all have heard about “Test Tube Meat," the brain child of some who wanted a part of the “huge” profits all of us have been making calving cows and running feedlots the past hundred years or so. They, however did not like the idea of borrowing a few million dollars to buy land, machinery and cattle just to get started and then have the privi...
Many of us feel shackled when pondering what to do with hundreds, even thousands, of photos and slides accumulated over decades. It only takes a few minutes of perusing old images for nostalgia to set in, and more often than not, the pictures are unceremoniously returned to their filing place/drawer/shoebox knowing that today just isn’t the right day to sort memories and give them their due. Photos and slides represent a snapshot of our lives in the moment, and a cause for contemplation. The P...
This week sees everyone joining the party, as the final fall sports get their seasons underway. Football champions will be looking to get their title defenses off on the right foot, while volleyball really gets rolling. Golf, cross country, softball and soccer all continue to progress through their respective slates. The easy highlight of the week one schedule in 6-man football is a rematch of last season's title game, as Cheyenne Wells hosts Stratton on Friday night. The Tigers, who lost six se...
Not long ago, Colorado was one of the safest, most prosperous states in the nation. Today, Colorado is a mess. Crime is soaring. The economy is faltering. Energy prices are rising. Schools are struggling. Many of today’s problems are the predictable result of “progressive” policies adopted during the four-year reign of Governor Jared Polis and large Democrat majorities in the legislature. In the next few months, Colorado voters must decide if they’ve had enough. Democrats pursued legislation tha...
Letter to the Editor, Muriel Brown’s wishes will not be forgotten. The last few years of her life was a struggle but she endured to make sure her beloved town would be taken care of. It was an emotional roller coaster of love, mistrust, hurt feelings, sadness, confusion, frustration and anger that unfortunately we both lived through to get to the outcome she wanted. She is gone too soon, but she will be remembered in this community by her generous gift. She was born and raised in this small town and wanted to leave her personal investments t...
It’s our nature to pay attention to the latest interesting news or fad. If it is something out of the ordinary, something beyond our everyday activity, we are naturally drawn toward it. Such is the case with a small collection of sea shells in the flowerbeds. I don’t recall how it is we came to have so many shells, particularly in land-locked northeast Colorado, but they are a wonder and a mystery for those of us who seldom experience large bodies of water, let alone whole seas and oceans. It...
I can’t believe it’s time for school already. I love being home with my kids in the summer, but at this point I am tired of running my dishwasher twice a day, I’ve become a snack vendor and my house is like a small-scale version of fight club. We have had a great time together, but it’s definitely time for us to disband. Back-to-school was my favorite time as a kid. I loved picking out school supplies, getting new clothes and coordinating the first day of school bike ride with my friends...
Long time “Under the Wire” readers are by now aware of my propensity towards accidents and injuries. The truth of the matter is, new readers won’t have to read very many of these columns to figure out, several include details of my latest “oops!” The most recent published adventure involved having a cow use me for a door mat, resulting in close to two dozen fractures to various bones in my frame. I said “published” because that isn’t my most recent miscalculation. That one would be parking my p...
Some of the best pollinators in the world include hummingbirds and bees and insects of various kinds. Without pollinators, the earth would be hard set to produce the amount of food that is required for us to exist. Pollinators are the unsung heroes of survivability. When educational disciplines lag significantly behind the curve in the cross pollination of ideas, their survivability is also in question. The field of theology, it’s been said, is twenty to thirty years behind comparable a...
A recent, rare, Hodgson family vacation via automobile, drew me from the familiar flatlands of Eastern Colorado to an area so starkly different, it could have been the moon as far as I knew. In fact, it looked like an entirely different planet compared to what I have grown used to. Our trip took us across the seemingly endless rocky hills and canyons of extreme W. Colorado and Eastern Utah. An area which to this grassland orientated cattleman, had no economical value to a rancher. I did find...
Folks like us who make a big part of their living off the land develop an appreciation not only for how it serves us but also for those who took care of it before we came along. As a student, I will admit, history was not my favorite class. In fact it ranked pretty close to the bottom of the list. I only passed Colorado history at Cache LaPoudre high school in LaPorte because the teacher was the football coach and needed me to stay eligible. A side benefit of a small school that needed a 138...
Must of us at one time or another have found ourselves at the mercy of someone offering up a prayer, invocation or similar entreaty to The Divine. Prayer is an important part of living a spiritual life but sometimes we forget that God has already heard it all, our human vanity-strewn egos refusing to let go of the notion that longer prayers yield better results. Situationally speaking, worst fears are often realized while standing in circles for prayer. A minute or two of hands clasped with...
Dear members of the community, Little Sprouts Learning Center is working hard to reestablish a thriving childcare center that our community needs and deserves. The board, director and staff are diligently working hard to overcome the hardship we have endured over the past year. Because of these hardships, we are going full speed ahead with fundraising efforts. We want to make it clear that we have an urgent need for operating funds and we hope that our fundraisers during the month of August will help get us to next month and beyond. As a board...
In the church’s politically revitalized rush to impart Christian principle and accountability toward governance of the nation, a burden can be placed squarely at the feet of our country’s founding fathers. Spurious claims that we are first and foremost a Christian nation from its inception make for memorable sound bites but carry little weight with the founding fathers. Expectations by six of the most respected founders — Franklin, Adams, Madison, Jefferson, Washington and Hamilton — embrace...
In the past when a cowboy got ready to leave for a rodeo, he loaded old Dobbin in the trailer, crawled into his truck and pulled onto the super slab. Today, nothing really has changed, except for one thing. When he climbs into his truck, we’re talking truck. The last contestant parking lot I saw could have been easily mistaken for a truck stop. It was not filled with Dodges, GMCs or Fords. Instead there were rows and rows (at least as close as a bunch of cowboys can come to parking in an o...
Those of you who know who Cher is will be surprised to learn she and I share a unique similarity. Slightly younger readers probably wonder, “Who the heck is Cher?” Once you hear about her, chances are you will be more than a little confused. Cher began as Cher Bono, part of a 60’s rock duo Sonny and Cher. A good singer, she was equally well known for her outrageous appearance. Wild, sometimes daring clothing occasionally revealed jewelry in places other than her ears and around her neck. “What...
