Ramblings from down the road

This has been a long day

2011-07-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

Today a great woman was laid to rest in Moore, Texas. It was one of the largest and most beautiful funerals I have ever attended. Unfortunately, I have seen quite a few. This one was different. It was simple, genuine and uplifting, just like the person it was honoring.

Sandy Whitaker and her family were the first people I met in Devine when we moved here in 1990. She was a lover of animals, big and small. The day we met she was carrying around a bulldog puppy in her truck. He looked like a tiny little brindle football. She was bottle raising him, so he went everywhere with her.

I was just about to enter high school and she told me I would be a year behind her son and to watch out for him. I found that a funny thing to say until I met Donny. I still carry the scar I got from a fall I took chasing him after school one day. Not sure I remember what he did to start it, but I do remember the look on his face when I came up from the spill bleeding. It was pure shock and he said something about not letting his mom find out. It was priceless then as it is now. I couldn't say I hadn't been warned. As far as I know Sandy never found out and I doubt Donny would remember it. A lot of good HS memories have Whitaker connections.

I got to know her family pretty well over the next few years. The one thing I know about Sandy, beyond a shadow of doubt, was the love she had for her family. That was a big family too. She may have been sister, wife, cousin, niece, mother or daughter to them, but there is no doubt she was a leader of the pack. In fact, her brother said something at the church today that was part joke and mostly truth. He didn't know how they had gotten that far today without Sandy telling them how. Many have been critical of how she handled situations as they arose, but no one can doubt where her heart lay. Family was first and all others would wait their turn.

That doesn't mean she wasn't a good friend, quite the opposite. She was a genuine person and if you were lucky enough to get to know her, you always knew where you stood. If you stood too close to her, you would probably end up with an animal in your hands. There weren't many kinds of animals that didn't pass through her hands and I don't think there was a friend that didn't end up with one of her special babies. I know because I ended up with that bottle fed bulldog when he was 4mos old. Ten years later my husband and I ended up with another bottle baby, a Boston this time, that we gave to my in laws for Christmas. Through the years a lot of animals passed back and forth between Sandy and her friends and her love of animals made Sandy a lot of friends.

The church was standing room only 30 minutes before the service was to start. I went alone and sat with people I barely knew. I saw hundreds of familiar faces and few of them had dry eyes. Randy, her brother, shared the microphone with her pastor to deliver a fitting eulogy. He read a letter that their mother had recently found and hadn't given Sandy yet. It was from their father and was written from a hospital bed in Tokyo to Sandy shortly after she was born.  They lost him when she was only 4.

Her life wasn't an easy one, but she wasn't a person to complain. She had numerous health problems that she didn't bring up and if she did it was matter of fact and without self pity. That was the Sandy I knew. She had better things to worry about and places to get to before time ran out. She was always the first to volunteer and one of the last to leave.

When I saw her last October for the first time in several years, at county goat validation, we were working to get a stubborn goat walking and her first question to me was "How long have you been back?" The next was "How are your mom and dad?" Always to the point and able to multi-task like no other. When she found out my husband was the newest ag. teacher here in Devine she grinned and said "Well I guess we will be seeing each other a lot in the next few years, these are all my girls."

I wish that had been the case. I know her girls are in good hands, but they aren't Sandy's hands and that makes me sort of sad.  Several of her grandchildren are still pretty young and it will be up to the older ones to tell the younger ones about Sandy. It will be left to the rest of the family to tell stories about this incredible woman. It will be left to friends to pass on what they learned. None of this will compare to having Sandy here, but it just wasn't meant to be.

God had decided that Sandy wasn't going to battle her health anymore. He wasn't going to let this proud woman fade away slowly as she fought for more time to do this or that, but knew he had to take her swiftly or she would have talked him out of it one more time.

The funeral was moving and I decided I wanted to go get my dad and make him go with me to the graveside service. After hugging my old friend Donny, and his father Gene, I knew I had to coerce Dad into going with me. He had balked at going to the church because of the crowd he knew would be there, but I knew he wanted to pay his respects. He had a fondness for Sandy and her family. He got to know them in many ways better than I did. He had worked along side her late uncle Bob and her brother Randy. He had tried his best to help Sandy and Gene out whenever he could through the years.

So, I hurried him to get ready and we arrived as the graveside service was ending. It was perfect timing for us. It was extremely hot and this way Dad got to visit with a lot of the old timers as they scattered but didn't have to go very far. He barely made it in the gate before he was talking to someone and making the rounds. Randy was gracious enough to make his way over and express his appreciation to Dad. Dad began to get choked up and just wanted to find Gene before he was lost in the crowd. We made our way over and Dad was finally able to say what he needed to say to Gene and managed to make a small joke about how we all met.

Standing there it all hit me, the finality of it. I would never be able to pick up the phone and call Sandy about another puppy for my in laws. I would never see Sandy dragging the trailer down the road hauling one of her girl's animals. My dad wouldn't be able to run into Gene and ask how Sandy was feeling or if she had any mules ready to pull him around in a cart. I would never be able to see Donny in town without thinking about him asking ME today if i was going to be ok. I would never be able to see her mom at the cafe without wondering how she was doing without Sandy. My heart goes out to the family and those few hours made for a long day.

Why must people steal?

2011-07-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am about to get on a soapbox about something. Mostly because I am not a thief but was falsely accused of it on a couple of occasions. Once was laughable and the other still affects me to this day.

What brought this rant on? I just found out that show supplies and equipment were stolen out of a friend's truck at their county fair while he was locating the stalls for his kid's animals. That is low and dirty in my opinion. Stealing in itself is low, but to steal at an event geared toward youth and teaching them character and honor is just beyond comprehension to me.

What are we showing the next generation if we look the other way when people do this? If this was an older kid they should be booted from the show and banned of any further eligibility. Pretty sure mom and dad will get all kinds of sideways when their precious thieving child is banned after they spent all that money on a livestock project for them to show. Yes, even a few misguided parents might want to sue or heaven forbid, call it a prank. Thieving isn't the same as pranking. Parents need to stop enabling destructive behavior and let their kids take responsibility.

If this was an adult, they need to be banned from the grounds and charges pressed. I don't care if it was a can of adhesive or the blower, you don't steal from kids. PERIOD!! I do not care if they always beat your kids, or have the money to replace what you stole. I would call it blatant sabotage and they should be called out in front of everyone else.
Now someone help me down from here...

random ramblings from the pastures

2011-07-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

We had a brief rain the other day. It was enough to perk up the pastures and cool off the livestock. Oh and it was enough to make it down right sultry when I went to feed the next day. That acreage has a high water table to begin with, but in this drought I was starting to get concerned. After seeing the gauge had 2 inches, I decided to not drive in and take a chance with the truck. Dad learned that lesson the hard way a few years ago and I tried to learn from his experience. As soon as I stepped through the gate I was glad I didn't chance it.

The water district had decided to come out that morning and retrench the irrigation ditches. Long over due for all of us in that area, but the heavy equipment had left deep tracks that had tiny pools in the cleat marks. I could feel that the top layer was spongy and could only guess that a couple inches down it was downright wet.  It made me glad that I was lazy and still wearing my crocs instead of the snake boots I usually wear. The clean up would be much easier, but more about that in a minute.

Either it was so hot and humid that the cows didn't want to come in or they just weren't that hungry. They have protein tubs and hay everyday, but I still like to take cubes out to keep them coming in the pens. All I got was heads up, ears perked and a long disgusted moo from the red cow I call Annie.  The cows just laid there under the trees and I had to walk 5 acres in to do my head count. I still have to remind myself that we sold Muffin, the horned Hereford, and not to panic when I don't see her. It is ok if you chuckle at me about that one, I still do and someday soon I will tell you the story of her trip to Hondo.

No one but Cowboy and Bonner came in and they didn't really eat with enthusiasm. For those of you that don't know me outside of the internet, Cowboy is my extremely fascinating BLM adopted donkey. He has been the subject of hundreds of my photographs in the last 10yrs.  To be realistic, other than me, who likes to look at pictures of my donkey? He would even be a mundane subject to me if he wasn't so photogenic. Yes, I rarely take a bad picture of him unless it is with my phone. HE is another one that I have stories about and will make appearances in my blog from time to time.  Cowboy has also been the focus of some still idle project ideas. I have also given consideration to writing a book or 3 about him as a matter of fact. Not sure if it would be humor or childrens, but either way he would be fun subject.

Bonner is my dad's spotted dog, well that is what we call him. He is really a horse and was mine once upon a time. I have a soft spot for him and I really should take Dad to see him more often. If I didn't worry about him (Dad) getting hurt, I probably would. Bonner serves no purpose and I wish I could ride him and give him one. I quit talking about it to my husband or parents, they think I am nuts and there the horse stands just being lord of the pasture. He doesn't realize that he is different from the cows and donkey, or he just isn't picky about his friends. Well, he was picky once but that is also another story for another post.

So, as I wander out to count cattle, I walk the fenceline that the ditch runs along. In the past I have had issues with the water district cleaning ditches and snagging the trees growing through the fence. You can imagine what happened to the spliced and patched fence then. For the record, this is the same section of fence I just patched for the (insert random number here) time a couple weeks ago. Good fences make good neighbors and that is what I am trying to be.

For first time in a very long time there was no breaks. It is amazing how happy that can make a person. I added a picture that shows the shallow front section of the ditch shortly after the canal gate was opened. Don't pay the huisache regrowth any attention, you will just encourage it. I really need to get out there and treat it again when it dries back up, but then I will need to irrigate again and don't want run off to kill my grass. It really is an endless cycle and somehow I always end up with my ox in the ditch. Well, if not my ox then my crocs. It appears that I can't stand on the edge of a freshly cleaned ditch and stare at the trickle of water without sliding in. Maybe it is my inner love of water, or maybe it is my lack of balance. I just can't seem to stay out of the ditches either way. On the bright side, it wasn't my snakeboots and neither the shoes or my foot were ruined.

Until the next time, M.

Time flies

2011-07-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

I just had a lovely phone call from what I would consider a long-lost, now found, friend. Facebook has kept me up to date on the lives, loves and losses of so many friends. But this wasn't someone found on FB and it actually made it feel all the sweeter to me. No offense to my friends there of course.

In the course of the conversation, he asked me if my memory was as good as it used to be since I am now so old. How the heck was I supposed to answer that? I told him it was for certain things, but things better left forgotten or not really important to me had been discarded to make room for new memories.

All I got back was "uh huh, so where were you 15yrs ago tonight? I bet you can't tell me." Crazy thing is I could and did tell him.

It was the night we met and I was working at the front desk of the Howard Johnson (now Super 8) in Kingsville. Mrs. Malik had been talking about him for a month and I was told I could be "friendly" with him because he was an important extended stay client. When I came in that day she told me that he had checked in and would be back to have dinner with her and meet me. It wasn't a set up, but I knew she liked me and she liked him. It was her way of giving approval of my socializing with him if I chose to. The 3 of us talked for awhile before she found an excuse to go back to her apartment and left us. He was easy to talk to and I liked him instantly.

I am still not sure how he knew I went to the Luau after work, maybe she told him, but when I walked in that night he was there chatting with Stacy. I clearly remember him telling me he heard that he missed my birthday and asked how he could possibly make it up to me. That was the start of a great friendship and some wonderful memories over the next couple of years. We stayed up all that night listening to my infamous friend Big Frank Edwards at his new job on the radio. We talked and talked and ended up talking about...of all things relationships.

He married the woman he was dating then. I disregarded his advice and continued on to relationships that were hurtful, but I thought I was in control of. What can I say? I used to be stubborn, but he was a good friend to me then and now after so many years it feels like nothing has changed. I have reflected on his wisdom recently because I am now the age he was then. It is funny how time slips away. Needless to say, it was nice to realize that I wasn't the only one that remembered the night we met.

My train of thought has been derailed

2011-07-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

After the glorious rain of yesterday evening I had good intentions of writing an article about it. Something upbeat and uplifting. I may still do it, who knows? Best of intentions, really, I had them.

However, when I opened up my computer I saw something I had passed along in email on Monday. PETA and how to save Feral Hogs...yup you read that right. PETA has a solution for feral hogs and it hit me again just how uninformed the public is about this subject. So, I had to write about it and once again I broke my promise to not write about animal rights in my articles. Oh well! I tried to limit my attitude and be informative, after all that is what they want of me. I won't deny it was difficult. I stuck to things I knew were facts, and even hyperlinked to other credible sources to back me up. I may be opinionated but I do my research. Well, here it is. Feel free to give me feedback and I will hopefully be writing about the rain this afternoon.

My birthday, my life

2011-07-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

So, I woke up this morning to happy birthday wishes online from several friends. It made me feel loved and happy for about 15minutes before it hit me. I am 35 and what do I really have to show for it? I have cows, a donkey, a dog and a husband. I have travelled the country and met great people. I have seen numerous teenagers grow and turn into adults before my eyes. I have been crushed by the loss of some very dear people in my life and I am not sure I will ever get over it. To be honest, I am not sure I want to. I have ridden the roller coaster of life and wouldn't change a thing about it. Well, almost. However, it hit me again today, what is my purpose in my life? If I were gone tomorrow, outside of my family, would anyone even notice?

SO, I am making a resolution to change my life today. I want to make a mark in this world and be happy doing it. I don't wish for fame and fortune. I don't wish for notoriety. I don't even want to be loved by the masses. I just want someone to say when I am gone, "she was a helluva gal" or "she did a lot for..." Is that too much to ask? I don't think so.

I say watch out world of agriculture! ;)

Building Fence, well patching

2011-07-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

I went today to make sure the fence work I did last Wednesday is holding up and the critters haven't escaped to the shade of the neighbor's jungle. Well, it was a jungle until they let us run the cattle over there. Now it is just a canopy of trees and nothing more. It never ceases to amaze me how cattle can clear out everything nutritional in a short period of time if given the opportunity.

That place hadn't been grazed in a few years because the new owners didn't want any livestock of their own. In the mean time, tree tops kept the best grasses starved for sun and it got grown up with Indian Grass and weeds. When the crazy hereford (she was really a sweet cow, just not bright) decided to eat mesquite leaves from trees on the other side of the fence, she popped wires with her horns and the herd saw it as a chance to defect to shade. After I got them moved back, the neighbors decided it would be good for them and their kids to have the cows clear the weeds. So, we re-opened the gap that had been there 15yrs ago and let them move back and forth. That was month ago. Neighbor calls last Tuesday and asked me to fix it so his friend can bring horses over to fatten up. I guess they didn't look to see how naked their pasture is. Can't complain about it though, it was a few weeks that our good grass got to grow after irrigation while our critters trimmed trees and devoured mesquite beans.

That brings me to the fence work. I permanently closed the wire gap and the cows, horse and donkey couldn't care less. They aren't dumb, they know that place isn't good for anything now but some shade. I just hope the new neighbor horses stay on their side and aren't tempted by our pretty grass. The fence still isn't great, but now that the hereford is gone, the others should stay put.

Lets get this started!

2011-07-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

I have been told over and over this past year that I needed to start a Blog. All I could think was "Why?" I have my photos on a special Facebook page and I have a Shutterfly site where people can find large versions of my work and I could write there if I wanted. I also attempt to write as agriculture industries examiner for that online publication and I am on Twitter. What could I possibly have to say that wasn't already said to my friends and followers in all those places?

Evidently there is a lot I can say here. So let me get the first little bit off my chest and clear the air. I am still Agriculture Industries Examiner for Examiner.com and intend to continue to write there when I find something inspiring that I can be non-biased about. With that said, here is my back story for why I will be extremely selective.

As I began my writings as the Ag. Industries Examiner I hit scores of road blocks. I chose to write about things that were deemed "controversial" such as animal rights activists that were attacking agriculture, which meant they were attacking my friends and family. I was told that I needed to work toward educating people on how to be better consumers. I thought that was what I was doing. I was told to write about how people should look for farmer's markets and go organic and to encourage "green" agriculture. To quote one of my modern day heroes, Mike Rowe, at the 2009 National FFA Convention he said, "If you scrape the dirt off a farmer or rancher, you find the greenest people around." The public just doesn't get that.

How better to educate the masses of consumers than to explain why and how farmers and ranchers use "chemicals"? Not to mention those things called wind turbines that have saved many a family farm and given us clean energy. It was suggested I limit talking about how good these things are for consumers, because they were very controversial. It was a power struggle, so I have attempted find a middle ground. I will continue to take the high road with my writings there and still feel I can be an ag-vocate through them.