I’ve never owned a Harley or any other big bike for that matter.  Decades ago, I had almost pulled the trigger on a ’91 Fatboy that was in El Paso.  Instead, my brother Jake and I bought a set of Hereford cow/calf pairs.  Good decision as those rips were profitable.  Nonetheless, I still kind of wish that I would have bought the bike.

Tuesday evening found me responding to a book face post.  Halie Schovanec had posted pics, that she had taken, of Chesley Comstock.  Dudes, I literally sat in one place for a bit.  I sat there, just reminiscing at how many AWESOME kids that I have had the honor to deal with on a regular basis.  Yes, I’m getting old.

Halie is doing well and is engaged.  Chesley is raising the bar higher & higher.  She was just named an outstanding OSU grad.  That crew of kids that are now 19-24ish turned out wicked awesome.  And there was so many of them.

Later, I was sitting on my donkey, just watching a movie with my family.   A buddy tried to call about 9 pm.  Oh hell, he’s wanting to talk quail hunting.  I thought to myself, “I’ll call him back in the morning.”

Bout 11 pm, I get a text.  I looked at it, cocked my head sideways, read it again, my eyes watered up and then I responded.  $h!t…….    NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Tonight, I just got on my loader tractor.  Cab-less.  The weather was perfect.  I just needed to move some bales out of the field.  The wind was in my hair…and people, I do have some hair at this point.  That dude in Cabery, IL might want to write some stuff about unleashing hair genetics.  Well, the covid has allowed me to unleash the Schneider white hair genetics.  Salt-N- Pepa is a real thing on this skull.  Chin, scalp, ear, nose…all of the above. Lots of gray hair.

One of the kids that I was looking forward to seeing while in this current “shag” mode was Chancery Bruce.  One, she would look at me in the eyes to make sure that it was me.  But she wouldn’t have said anything until she heard me speak.  Then, her eyes would get big and for fear that her grandmother reads this, I won’t type what she would have said.  But she would have told me that I looked bad.

The Bruce family are friends of ours.  Hell, they are friends of anybody that has ever met them.  Brandon the Bruce has been mentioned on this blog MANY times.  Chancery was the best of all of us.  Nobody ever said a negative word about her.  She looked like her mom, acted like her dad, was ornery like her grandparents and had the work ethic of all of them.  The only thing that Chancery didn’t have was a line on a resume with a big goat win.  That would be my failure.   She made premium sales and did very well but I never got that right one for her.

I’ve got several stories but there are 2 that keep rising to the top.

The first one is that I did not want to ride that wagon down the ramp at the American Royal.  I mouthed off about it, she heard it and then Chancery is the one that didn’t let me back out of it.

The second one comes from the month of May in 2017.  Duke & I were getting ready to make a run into Texas.  Chancery texted me.  “Dad needs a vacation from farming.  We need a vacation from Dad.  Can you please take him to Texas with you?”

We did take Brandon the Bruce on a trip with us.  We were well behaved.  Just Duke, Brandon and I.  It was a great trip.  Great Trip!

Such a cool spirit that is no longer here.   Just one of those bad timing car wrecks that is really nobody’s fault.   But Damn!!!

Great, great family that has always stepped up to help others.  All I ask, is for you people to say a quick prayer.  Or a long one.  The Bruce family is the kind that always helps others.

I may have to stop typing.  I don’t think keyboards work well with moisture in the keys.  This deal is kicking my ass.