Hot?

Why, yes, yes it is! Tho’ from what much of the rest of the country has been getting I suppose we shouldn’t complain! But it is in our nature.

Reminds me of the story about the one farmer that always complained. It was always too hot or too cold or too wet or too dry. He never was satisfied. One year, they had the perfect year. It rained right when it should, not too much and not too little but exactly what it should and when. That fall they had the best crops they ever had and a wonderful harvest season. One of his neighbors who saw him asked him, “Boy, it’s sure been a great year, hasn’t it. I don’t see how anyone could find anything to complain about.” The other guy, the complainer, said, “ Well, it sure was hard on the ground!”

We have been fighting some foot rot and bad eyes in the pasture cattle, but from what my local vet tells me, so has everyone else. It’s to be expected when you get a wetter year and much of the eye problem comes from the cattle bunching up and swishing their tails to fight flies and whacking each other in the eye when they are trying to shoo the flies off. And the grass is pretty tall, so when they stick their face down into the grass to graze, they can get the grass heads in their eyes.

years back, the cattle I ran for a family of farmers from back east river, always had me cut the bush off the end of the tail, because of that. And it helped, tho’ of course didn’t completely stop the problem.

One of my grandsons has been helping this summer and while chasing a yearling to rope it so we could doctor it, his horse slipped and went down at high speed. Shook him up and knocked the wind out of him and he has been stiff and sore, tho’ he didn’t seem to have broken anything. I can testify that the ground is hard and I am sure it is much harder to a 65 year old as it is to a 16 year old.

Anyway, I am not going to complain if I can help it. Sure seems like it has been a good year for us so far. But I suppose it has been hard on the ground!

Watch your ponies footing and don’t get in a wreck, or you will be moving like an old rancher or cowboy!