I'm sorry. I haven't posted anything in a while, but in the interest of quality control, I just haven't had anything good to post. Occasionally I will have an idea, but just can't seem to get it strung out long enough to get it to story form. I will try to do better. I need to find some inspiration....usually it finds me. I would like to take a little vacation, but that's not gonna happen, so in the meantime I'll just keep working and looking for something to write about.
I heard the great college football coach Lou Holtz on a radio show I listen to this morning. He was discussing several different opinions he had and I found them to be very interesting. His four keys to life are this:
1. Have something to do.
2. Have someone to love.
3. Have something to hope for.
4. Have someone to believe in.
The more I thought about these things, the more I realized...I have them all. How lucky I am. Perhaps how lucky we all are. Some of these things are not hard to find in everyday life. We all have lots to do. It seems the list gets longer everyday. Most of us love someone and we are lucky if that person loves us right back. We also all hope for one thing or another because that is part of our human nature.
The last one though, is a tougher one. I can say from experience that it's not all that easy to have faith in others. We have all at one time or another uttered the words, "If you want something done right, you just have to do it yourself." Well that may be true when ordering fast food, or getting your dry cleaning done right. But in order to have genuine, real hope in someone....it's difficult.
Find someone to believe in and more importantly....tell them you do. It could make the difference to them. Who knows, it might even affect you too. None of us would be where we are now if at least one person didn't believe in us somehow or another.
I'll try to do better about my writing in the future.
Believing in others,
Walker
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Bright Side
Cap and Ely had seen it all. They had even seen snow in South Texas a few years back. Not just a little ice here and there, but real, full fledged snow. It was unheard of until then. They had seen flooding, although that seemed like ages ago, but it had happened. Now they were seeing something else they thought they never would. Wild cows.
The old ranch truck and cube trailer squeaked to a stop right next to the windmill by the Salt Well pens. Cap had been blowing the horn some, but it didn't matter. The cattle weren't far away from water, and since he had been feeding them everyday they just stood around that set of pens waiting on him to show up. They had grown accustomed to not looking for anything to eat since there was nothing.
Cap blew the horn and the cows abandoned their shade tree positions, striking a pretty good trot across the opening in front of the pens. They were sure hungry. Cap and Ely started their feeding process and while doing so had been surveying the herd to see if any of them needed attention in some way or another.
"Might bring that spray trailer back in a few days and try to get them flies off'em," offered Cap. "That's all we need next is the flies tryin' to carry'em off."
"Some of them older cows are so thin the flies might could," said Ely.
They sat a few more minutes and watched them eat the cubes that they had dumped from their trailer. Cap had said more than once that was the best thing ever bought on the whole ranch. Ely tended to agree since in the past he had done most of the feeding while Cap drove the truck.
About that time, in the distant brush line something moved. It caught Ely and Cap's eye at the same time and they looked in the same direction. A big bald faced brindle cow, with a VERY large bull calf came walking very slowly across the opening toward them. Actually, toward the cubes they had fed.
"Well....I'll be." whispered Cap. "We ain't seen her in a pretty good while. I was almost sure she was on the neighbors and she's definitely been too wild for us to catch."
"She looks pretty good considerin'. That old big calf....bad drought, guess she's too crazy to notice either one," offered Ely in the same hushed tone.
They both sat in the pickup still as could be. You'd have thought they were watching a TV show quality buck. They just sat in awe as she sashayed across the opening with her head up looking like she might want to run off at any second. She didn't though, as the smell of those cubes was more than she could stand. She walked up and started eating.
Cap started the truck, and eased out the gate of the pens and drove on down the road toward the headquarters. They both let what they had just seen soak in for a few minutes on the drive.
"You know it's dry when cows you haven't seen in over 2 years are comin' to feed." said Cap as they eased home to fill the trailer up with more cubes and make another feeding round.
"I guess if you want to find the bright side of a bad drought, gettin' your cattle gentler would be one," admitted Cap as he looked out the window at nothing.
Pray for rain boys,
Walker
The old ranch truck and cube trailer squeaked to a stop right next to the windmill by the Salt Well pens. Cap had been blowing the horn some, but it didn't matter. The cattle weren't far away from water, and since he had been feeding them everyday they just stood around that set of pens waiting on him to show up. They had grown accustomed to not looking for anything to eat since there was nothing.
Cap blew the horn and the cows abandoned their shade tree positions, striking a pretty good trot across the opening in front of the pens. They were sure hungry. Cap and Ely started their feeding process and while doing so had been surveying the herd to see if any of them needed attention in some way or another.
"Might bring that spray trailer back in a few days and try to get them flies off'em," offered Cap. "That's all we need next is the flies tryin' to carry'em off."
"Some of them older cows are so thin the flies might could," said Ely.
They sat a few more minutes and watched them eat the cubes that they had dumped from their trailer. Cap had said more than once that was the best thing ever bought on the whole ranch. Ely tended to agree since in the past he had done most of the feeding while Cap drove the truck.
About that time, in the distant brush line something moved. It caught Ely and Cap's eye at the same time and they looked in the same direction. A big bald faced brindle cow, with a VERY large bull calf came walking very slowly across the opening toward them. Actually, toward the cubes they had fed.
"Well....I'll be." whispered Cap. "We ain't seen her in a pretty good while. I was almost sure she was on the neighbors and she's definitely been too wild for us to catch."
"She looks pretty good considerin'. That old big calf....bad drought, guess she's too crazy to notice either one," offered Ely in the same hushed tone.
They both sat in the pickup still as could be. You'd have thought they were watching a TV show quality buck. They just sat in awe as she sashayed across the opening with her head up looking like she might want to run off at any second. She didn't though, as the smell of those cubes was more than she could stand. She walked up and started eating.
Cap started the truck, and eased out the gate of the pens and drove on down the road toward the headquarters. They both let what they had just seen soak in for a few minutes on the drive.
"You know it's dry when cows you haven't seen in over 2 years are comin' to feed." said Cap as they eased home to fill the trailer up with more cubes and make another feeding round.
"I guess if you want to find the bright side of a bad drought, gettin' your cattle gentler would be one," admitted Cap as he looked out the window at nothing.
Pray for rain boys,
Walker
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Rain Dances
I went home for the first time in about a month last weekend. When you go there after being in East Texas for as long as I have, it's a welcome sight....but it's dry. When I say dry, that is an understatement. The oldtimers are saying it's just as bad as in the '50's. I only know a few people who were around then to remember, and I take their word for it. I helped Arlen feed cows for 2 days and I got a first hand look at it.
This is basically what the cows have to eat. Nothing. Not even dry grass, just dirt.
You don't have to call'em for very long because they are standing around waiting on you to get there with something to eat.
They vacuum up every morsel.
Most of the time, it would be a stretch to feed cows Alfalfa hay in South Texas. In this case, it's good feed, and it has alot less waste than round bales of Coastal.
This picture says it all. What can you do you ask? Pray for rain. If you find a feather on the ground, tie it in your hair, don't be afraid to look silly and do your best rain dance. Who knows...between the prayers and dances, maybe we'll get some soon. This did make me think of a story and I'm going to put it up tomorrow.
Walker
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