I had a very vivid dream remembering visits to my relatives' Farm/Ranch in SD. When I woke up, I scribbled down these notes and then refined them a little today before posting:
- Milk Cows do not understand "I could not get to you today"
- "Well... OK, I guess" is Cowboy code for "you have to learn you're wrong sometime"
- If a Cowboy does not answer, it does not mean he did not hear what you said
- Cowboys leave their ego at home; cattle are shorter and dumber but there's a lot more of 'em
- Only the Cowboy knows when he did the job right; their father's only say when it is wrong
- Separate your butt from your brain; Cowboys think ahead but do what needs doin' now or end up doing more than they think
- Nothing helps a cowboy learn like a broken finger, rope burn or a cow kicking you in the chest
- Agree or argue until you do. Not doing so is offensive at best and dangerous at worst
- No bad day, argument, shouting match or other such thing can outlast the happiness of sitting down to a meal together
- Teach the next generation even in the intensity of the harvest or branding season. You may not be around the next year to teach them
- Everything you have is yours for a short time and then only if you willing to work HARD every single day to keep it
Spring planting, harvest, calving, branding, fixin' fence, fighting grass fires, building chicken pens, slopping hogs and, of course, milking cows. I appreciate these memories now more than I did then.
Thanks to all my Mom's relatives and especially my Grandpa, Walter Dale Miller, Uncle Randy, Aunt Mary, Uncle Rick, Aunt Karey Aunt Renee and all my cousins who put up with the "city kid." sometimes.
