I sent the last of my down payment on the national debt off for 2010 and this year’s first quarter state and federal taxes. If working people had to pay quarterly payments to Uncle Sam, they’d take taxes more seriously I think. They really don’t know what they put in.
But while taxes are high as of mid-April there has been less moisture fall in Oklahoma and Texas than in the 1930s big droughts of the dust bowl days. Many ranchers I talked to had had less that a quarter inch of precipitation since late last October. That means wheat will be in short supply. Of course we have not had the dust, because those farmers know how to farm dry land and keep the dirt at home.
But it is very serious and they are running out of time for the grass to grow. A fraternity brother of mine who lives outside of Amarillo, Texas, told me about two grass fires that took out 60 homes on the west side of town and another neighborhood about that size on the north side of town.
I also talked to ranchers at the Oklahoma statewide Electric Co-op meeting who told me they were looking hard at liquidating their cattle herds. That’s a tough decision, but forage is expensive and if you have to buy it all, there is usually no way to make a penny.
A writer friend of mine has an RV in the woods north of Denver, Colo., and I saw where the front range had a large fire going. I emailed him to be sure he wasn’t in the path, but it was only one mountain range from getting to him.
A few years ago some grass fires out near Amarillo, Texas, burned up several thousand acres and destroyed many herds of livestock. While I was in Oklahoma City, Okla., we received about two inches of rain up and down the Arkansas/Oklahoma border. But this week in April even the Arkies are being cautious about top dressing their land. Usually there is a steady flow of buggies and spreader trucks when the dogwoods bloom on the road going to treat land. I know fertilizer is high priced, but even over here folks are skeptical about the lack of rainfall and whether they should or shouldn’t invest in fertilizer on their meadows.
Last week, I also had the chance to meet Oklahoma’s new and first female governor, a very enthusiastic lady, Mary Fallen. She spoke at a banquet and told about her campaigning days last summer. She said somewhere in a town hall meeting in rural Oklahoma, a gray headed gentlemen in bib overalls stood up and told her quite flatly that it would be a cold day in hell before she became elected governor. A ripple of amusement went through the crowd there that night. Next she said, “Do you recall how cold it was last November second on election day? He was a pretty good prophet, wasn’t he.”
Everyone laughed. God Bless you and your family, I hope it rains on your place.
Western novelist Dusty Richards and his wife Pat live on Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas. For more information about his books you can email Dusty by visiting ozarksfn.com and clicking on ‘Contact Us’ or call 1-866-532-1960.
