Editorial / Opinions

Rain woke me up the other morning.  Thunder rolled me out of bed. I was thinking about an Ace Reed Feed Store calendar cartoon of two cowboys in slickers and in a downpour sitting on their wet horses hock deep in rushing water.  One said to the other “I seen a bad drought start just like this.”

Billy is a good, hard-working, country kid who loves to show cattle.  He’s smart as a whip, too, which made me just want to sit back and enjoy the debate five years ago when he was stalled across the aisle from us at the local fair.

The summer has not been what any of us would have expected with rain, rain and more rain to quench our thirsty soil. We’ve probably forgotten what a drought even is at this point. But I haven’t forgotten. I’ll take my friends and family dodging rain days to get hay put up over brown, brittle pastures and the pain of feeding hay in August any day.

If you like old cowboy stories, here’s one you’re bound to love.

Billy is a good, hard-working, country kid who loves to show cattle.  He’s smart as a whip, too, which made me just want to sit back and enjoy the debate five years ago when he was stalled across the aisle from us at the local fair.

Usually I try to study the weather and cut hay when there is a 3-day window of calm conditions.  In this unusually wet spring and summer when there are no 3-day windows, I’ve changed my habits and have tried to cut the day before a rain, hoping that it will dry enough in the 2-day window that follows in order to bale before the next rain.

Mules are a great subject to tackle especially with all the crazy dealings I’ve had with them.  I once foolishly made a bet with a radio DJ that I could go up and down a water park slide more times than he could to raise money for some charity.  That was back when I was the morning Ag director at KFAY radio.  If I lost I had to ride a mule with the other directors in the Rodeo of the Ozark Parades.  I announced a rodeo in Ozark on Friday night, drove home late, and went up and down that water slide all the next day, and went back that evening and announced again. My youngest daughter had her driver license or permit and drove me back home from down there as I slept.

I’d be amiss not to spend at least one column discussing the “Go Green” influences we’ve all been inundated with the past year or so. I know a lot of people who just don’t buy into the whole green, “eco-friendly” bit. But, I can’t help but see how many of the green alternatives to old methods can’t not be beneficial, not only on the large scale, but on a personal level too.

I’d be amiss not to spend at least one column discussing the “Go Green” influences we’ve all been inundated with the past year or so. I know a lot of people who just don’t buy into the whole green, “eco-friendly” bit. But, I can’t help but see how many of the green alternatives to old methods can’t be beneficial, not only on the large scale, but on a personal level too.

Stunned! That is what I am - and have been the last few weeks as one of the most incredible human events in recent decades in the United States has occurred.