Your Community Builder
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Hello, I really don’t care for a lot of things that happen on the Fourth of July - I used to. I used to like fireworks, but as I’ve aged, they have lost a lot of their bang. And when you have horses and dogs near a city, it is stressful because cities will announce, “No fireworks inside city limits.” So, that means celebrators drive a mile or two out of town and set them off by our pasture. I used to like parades, but as I’ve aged, parades don’t carry the same appeal they used to. When a five-year-old kid can beat me to...
Hello, You haven’t seen me around lately. No, this isn’t a repeat of last week’s column. Although I have been known to do that. The reason for my disappearance this week is hay. Now, I know hay is not real exciting. Hay is not real funny. Hay is not interesting. There is not much you can say about hay. But, as in the Forrest Gump movie, when Bubba is talking about shrimp; there is alfalfa hay, CRP hay, slough hay, prairie hay, wet hay, dry hay, haylage, timothy hay… I have to tell you a little about haying. Fresh cut hay sme...
Hello, We lost a neighbor this week. A cowboy. A one in a million kind of guy. Bob Christophersen. In the Dakotas, you don’t have to live down the street or across the fence to be a neighbor. As Garrison Keillor once said, “North Dakota is really just a mid-size town with real long streets.” So when we lose someone we’ve known and loved, it hurts. One of the weekly news shows on Sunday mornings always closes with a segment aptly named “A Life Well-Lived.” That show could be about Bob. Bob was a cowboy. A Hall of Fame cowboy...
Hello, I think maybe the rain we had over the weekend was one for the books. It’s not many times in your life when we get a June rain like this. Most reports are from one to three inches. And it came straight down! Here, in the Dakotas, rain and snow don’t often come straight down. I know I’ve told you of wet roundups before, but dang, it’s hard not think of them when you get a rain like this. Once the roundup had started you went every day. Kind of like the postman. “Neither rain nor sleet nor hail,” you know. Only lack o...
Hello, I suppose you are getting tired of me writing about branding. You should be, because I seem to write about brandings fairly often. I guess it’s because they really show how a neighborhood comes together to work or play. The season is pretty well wrapped up now. A few of us have some late calves to brand, but most people are pretty well done. I should rephrase that. I don’t have late calves. To me, a calf is a calf. When we preg check cows, when the person checking asks what the cutoff date is to mark for late cal...
Hello, Let’s make a deal! Let’s make a deal! We all have that friend, or maybe relative, that is always looking for a deal. Maybe you are the friend or relative that is looking for “the deal.” You know what I mean. The person that will spend a day going to rummage sales, looking for that painting they can take to Antique Roadshow and sell for $1.3 million dollars, after they bought it for 50 cents along Highway 21. Or they sleep in the street when it is 15 below so they can be first in line when Walmart opens and can buy an...
Hello, It’s been a long time since I read or listened to any of Aesop’s fables. I imagine there are many of you in the same boat I am. We sit and stare at the TV, clicker in hand, and complain because there is nothing good on. Oh, Seinfeld reruns are OK, and once in awhile I watch a Twins game. In spite of this, my reading has diminished the past few years. And that is a bad thing. What started this train of thought was watching Shirley this past week. She planted her garden. Now, I’m not much of a gardener. I was 22-ye...
Hello, Do you know the song “Muleskinner Blues”? It’s an old classic. I’m not going to sing it for you. It’s a hard one to hit the high notes on. I’ve got the muleskinner blues. They actually started last fall. I’ve a friend in South Dakota who raises miniature ponies and donkeys., And when you have a miniature jackass and miniature ponies, you often get miniature mules. I stopped and looked at them last fall, but couldn’t get a deal done. All winter long I thought of those ponies. I couldn’t get them off my mind. It was l...
Hello, I think for many people, May is the best month of the year. Grass is greening up, calving is winding down, farmers are starting to curry the ground, and the flies and mosquitoes haven’t really got going yet. So you can have a drink on the deck in the evening without battling bugs. One of the activities that takes place in ranch country is branding calves. Now for most ranchers, this is a community project. A couple weeks before branding people start arranging their schedule. You check with the neighbors to see when t...
Hello, As is always said, old age is not good, but it is better than the other option. What made me think of this is my age. I’m getting old enough where I suppose I would be referred to as elderly. I used to think elderly was around 50, then I thought 60, then 70…Now I’m figuring it is in the early hundreds. I remember when Lynn turned 50. We were on the way to a rodeo and maybe had a cold beer. I toasted his birthday and Lynn said, “Just like a spare tire that’s never been out of the trunk!” I didn’t believe him. That tir...
Hello, Lena is leaving. No, not that Lena. My saddle horse. I bought Lena, I suppose, three years ago. We were trailing cattle north of Killdeer and Russ was riding her. He had saved her from going to the kill pen. A guy had dropped her at his house and Russ was to haul her to the horse buyer a couple days later. She was destined to be a steak sandwich in France. Russ is a hand and he made her look good as we moved those cattle. And by the end of the day, Lena, who is of Norwegian Fjord heritage, was in my trailer. For the...
Hello, You can tell a lot about a person by the hat they wear. At least, that is what I thought until now. I can remember Grandpa Herb and Uncle Hugh’s hats. They were sweat and grease stained. Grandpa had a few little holes cut in an old greasy felt hat to let a little fresh air in during the summer. The brims were scrunched over at the edges and they each had a unique shape. But when they cleaned up for the Fourth of July rodeo or parade, they would don a new straw hat, or dig out the felt hat that Grandma or Dorothy m...
Hello, I’m not too much into vehicles. I mean I drive them a lot. But I’m not the kind of guy that lines up at the car wash when I get a little dust on a vehicle. I think I inherited that trait from my Grandpa. I don’t think he ever washed a vehicle. If the windshield on the pickup got too dirty, he would turn the wipers on and throw a bucket of water on it. That would do. I’m not saying how I treat a vehicle is right, but it’s just the way I roll. A couple of years ago, my kids gave me a “detailing” for my pickup at an...
Hello, I’m not going to write about the horrible calving weather last week. And I won’t mention the forecast for this week. As I write this early Monday morning, this week looks like more of the same. So you can read last week’s column and find out about saving calves in the bathtub. Every year I swear we are going to switch to May calving, and every year, when we have trouble keeping the bulls in, we say, “What the heck? Maybe it will be nice next spring.” But this year, I really mean it. Someone posted on social media the...
Hello, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just that I’m getting older. But I can’t remember the wind blowing like it has recently. I mean, every morning, the windows are rattling and snow is moving around the yard. The other day we lost a calf. Well, we didn’t really lose it. The cow lost it. I mean it died. out was that the cow was trying to have that little guy against the wind. If she had only stood up and turned around, would have been all right. Every rancher who has swung a leg over a horse, or saddled up the four-wheeler for a q...
Hello, I’ve told you about my friend that is worse around the house than I? You know, the one that complained because none of the businesses were open on Sunday and he needed his solid oak doors sawed off because he had put in a new carpet and the doors drug on the floor. And since nothing was open, he was upset and sawed the doors off himself. Which would have been all right if he had a carpeted ceiling, because he sawed the top off. He does have a struggle. We were out for supper one night last week with some friends. S...
Good Day to you Laddie, Tis that favorite time of the year again lads, St. Paddy’s Day. The day we all celebrate the wee bit of Irish that we all wish we had. A day with a pint of Guiness or a shot of Jamison. Since I married an Irish/Norwegian lass, I have learned to appreciate the Irish wit and need for celebration. And I have deduced that there are a few things that you know if you are Irish. 1. When you were growing up, much of your food was boiled. 2. After a few beers, you become quite poetic. 3. Not knowing the words t...
Hello, I’ve told you before, and I know you believe me, I’m not the brightest bulb in the closet. I proved it again this morning. I am snowed in at Jamestown. I’m not familiar with Jamestown, although people have suggested there is a place for me here. Being a rather broke person, I searched for the cheapest motel I could find. $39.95 per night. That is reasonable. They don’t know about the Bakken here. I booked the room. There was ice on the toilet. I guess heat is extra. But I slept with my clothes and coat on and by morn...
Hello, I know most of you in the western Dakotas are familiar with cow cake. For those of you that are neophytes in the cattle industry, I will try to explain. Cows, much like humans, require a certain amount of protein to survive. The protein can come from grass, grain, hay, or wherever. They can graze for protein, or eat it out of a hay feeder or feed bunk. As you drive across ranch country you will see many yards surrounded by big tires. These are placed there to feed chopped hay or silage into. And they make a wonderful...
Hello, A couple days ago, Slate, our youngest grandson and I were moving some stuff in the barn. I have good barn cats. But they are well fed and will not work real hard at mousing. The mice had them figured out and had built a resort under feedbags that were stacked on a wooden pallet. The mice had eaten holes in the bottom of the sack so were on a wonderful diet of ground corn, distiller’s grain, and wheat mids. They didn’t have to ever come out for food, and the cats couldn’t get under the pallet to get them. It was a lit...
Hello, The luge. I think I’ll try the luge. I enjoy watching the winter Olympics. More so than the summer Olympics. I suppose it’s because as a kid I was really slow. I wasn’t a track and field guy. If you see me running, it’s not me. I did run if a cow was after me, or a mouse. But I just couldn’t see running if nothing was chasing you. I picked rock, so I abhorred lifting for fun. But now winter Olympics, they are different. It’s something I can understand. It’s a lot like home. Especially in South Korea. Because it is...
Hello, We usually take a little vacation in the winter. You know, four or five days. We kind of do it on the cheap. Look for cheap vacation packages. Like driving to relatives and staying for free in their house and eating their food. But, after decades of this, it is getting harder to find relatives that will make our beds and prepare a nice menu for us to choose from. This year we found a relative of a friend that had a house in Cabo. For my non-traveling friends, that is on the southern tip of the Baja. Which, I am sure...
Hello, I’ve a good friend who has lots of stories. They are stories about cows, cowboys, and old pickup trucks. Remember the Peanuts cartoon when Snoopy is writing a book. It always starts out “It was a dark and stormy night..” My friend’s stories always start out, “We was drinking one time, it might have been Cheyenne. Or it could have been Calgary.” And I’ve decided that cows and cowboying are really good for one thing. They are good for stories. That is because I am working on our taxes. I’ve often said, “Income taxes a...
Hello, I’ve told you I’m not a real big football fan. I do enjoy the playoffs. It was fun seeing the Jaguars put forth a great effort against the New England Referees. And that’s all I’m going to say about that because I don’t want to incur a fine from the NFL. And I guess there was another game after that. And that’s all I’m going to say about that because…Well, just because. We watched those games at home. I’ve told you about how Shirley is about football. She was devastated when she found out the Minnesota Twins c...
Hello, The wind chill is minus 45 again this morning. And Shirley is home to help with chores! That makes it so much easier when I don’t have to get out of that warm cab on the tractor to open gates. In fact, I only wear a light jacket. I gave her a new knife for Christmas to cut the twine off bales! What a wonderful country we live in. I suppose you are tired of hearing about the Vikings game. I know, I know. It has been overdone. And I am not a real big sports fan. I enjoy watching and listening to Twins baseball, R...
