All day long.  Have a good one.

    What a day?  It started with Tammy and I planning on going to Wichita Falls, TX to attend the Champion’s Choice meeting.  I had to get feed.  I hadn’t checked the feed bin until Friday night about 8 pm.  Oh $h!t!  Somebody screwed up.  I had to get feed.  Hungry does aren’t fun to deal with.  It rained a 1/2 an inch about 4 am.   So, I did chores in the mud and then I hooked on to the feed wagon and headed to Vici to get feed at Sweet’s little business operation.  As usual, they took my money.

     By the time I got home and got stuff done, we were going to be late to the meeting.  Tammy really didn’t want to go as the weather news was calling for storms in western OK.  So, we stayed home.  We were going to go to the meeting then get a room, chill out and watch the Preakness then go celebrate our 23rd anniversary.  Yes, I have managed to put up with her for 23 years.  And if you read last week when we celebrated Kela’s 25th birthday….You do the math.  Yep, we got an early start.  But it is still working.  

     It rained again at noon.  Another inch.  I told Tammy if we didn’t have any weather, we would go to Canadian, TX and hang out.  But NO, it rained again about 4:30.  This rain had thunder with it and it was screwing with the DISH tv signal.  I was worried about missing the Preakness.  Another inch.  It quit just in time for clear reception.  And it was raining in Maryland also.  But as we watched and learned , American Pharoah is a mudder.  He won it going away.  Now, we’ll have to watch the Belmont to see if there will finally be another Triple Crown winner.

     After the rain stopped, I went outstide and realized that we had runoff.  The big pond was finally fillling.  I now have a plan, let’s get Kela’s kayak out of the barn.  I floated the goat pasture.  Water hasn’t run through that waterway in years.    Then Duke took a turn.  Paradise is green and we have water.  Everything is awesome.

      Then, Kela texted me in a panic.  She was at a music recital for her bosses kid.  Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters was also in attendance.  Must be rough, living in LA, watching a bunch of rich people’s kids singing.  They might be good, but I bet that I heard better singers the other night at the Shattuck spring concert.  

     It has been a good day.  But I want to eat.  Maybe I can take her to Charlie’s for an anniversay supper. Here’s to horseshoes and shamrocks and hoping that all of you had a big fun kind of day.

     Tammy hollered at me and told me to Walk This Way.  So I did.   She wanted to tell me about a friend of ours who is at a watch party to see who wins this season of American Idol.  This friend is personal friends with one of the finalists. I walked in to watch.  I’m sure that there will be some Sweet Emotion when they announce the winner.  Steven Tyler was performing.  I was like “Hey, that’s cool seeing an old rocker Back in the Saddle.  I watched the cameras scan the audience.  You could see it all over the young audience members faces: “Wow!  Liv Tyler’s dad is pretty good.”  

     I watched Steven Tyler perform with some little band called Aerosmith back in 1990.  That was the most energetic front man that I have ever seen.  He and that band brought it.  True performers.  I know that they are lucky to still be around.  They had hits in the 70s, 80s, 90s and still made music in the 00s. I like the fact that this show tries to bring in big-time old school performers.  Teach these young ones a thing or two.

     I watched part/most of the first season of idol.  Obviously it is a good show as it is still on TV.  Here’s to longevity no matter your career.  I better keep watching as I wouldn’t want to miss a thing.  

     I’ve been looking at the young wether prospects around here and I just kind of Dream On about the possibilities.  I’m done.  Have a great day and a better tomorrow.

     Yesterday afternoon held true to form.  I needed to unload a trailer of panels then load a smoker on it then do chores, so that I could get back to Shattuck to watch the Spring Concert.  They have a heckuva choir program and I wanted to see the kids perform.  But first, I had some people show up to pick up a goat.  Then the hay guys called and had got a swather stuck in a terrace channel.  Then I noticed that one of the does had decided to have an unscheduled birth (nice surprise when they are alive).  Got everything done and made it the concert.  I only missed the first song, which is the jr. high boys choir singing “Eye of the Tiger”.  Yeah, this was kind of the main song that I wanted to hear.  Oh well.       Have a good day and a better tomorrrow.

      I was digging around in a closet at home.  I found a stack of CDs.  Not bank CDs, those things aren’t worth much.  I am talking about Compact Discs, you remember CDs.  Lots of George Strait, Metallica, Cross Canadian Ragweed and AC/DC.  I had been hunting an Outlaw CD that had the Tompall Glaser classic  “Put Another Log on the Fire.”  I found it.       I also found a CD that was burnt from back in the late 90s.  I had “burnt” several songs on this thing.  So I decided to listen to it on the way to work this morning.  I found several nice surprises.  First, it was loaded with great tunes.  But then I had also managed to add the Matt Foley–Motivational Speaker sketch from SNL with Chris Farley.  That always puts me in a good mood.  La De Frickin Da!     Recently, I sorted through open & possible late-bred does.  It’s always a nice surprise to find a doe bred that you didn’t think had settled.  I’m having such a good week, I need to go buy a lottery ticket. 

     I was blessed to have a mom that  was strong enough to raise three boys.  All three of us have been successful.  More importantly, all three of us have married well.  We all married smoking hot women that raise great kids and put up with our crap.  None of us married for money.  It is obvious that we were all after quality.  All three of us are way deep into our first and only marriage.  Now, all three of us have kids.  Of course, I have one living in California and one in junior high while Jake & Daniel’s kids are in grade school.  Hopefully, my brothers can learn from my mistakes. And I have made plenty.

      Cheers to all of the mothers.  None of us would be here without our mother.  Thank you Mom.  And thank you Tammy for being the mother of Kela and Duke.  Job well done. 

    I have had a large time the past several days.  Nope…there wasn’t any parties.  Not many great stories.  Nothing but me living the dream.  I have fun just looking at good stock.  And I really like looking at good stock when dealing with great people.  Well heck, that’s just what I did the past several days.  

     I left paradise early on Thursday morning.  I headed south and crossed the Red River.  I picked up a passenger and then traveled to various goat-related stops in the great state of Texas.  We made numerous stops at breeders.  We looked at mature bucks, yearling bucks, buck prospects, wethers, doe kids and maybe even saw a snake or two.  

      I learned a lot.  I learned that almost ALL Texans band their kids WAY early.  I saw lots of really good goats.  There are lots of small, HIGH quality herds.  There are some really big herds that are raising a LOT of really good goats–DUH!  Some want to price goats and some don’t want to sell anything unless it goes through an auction.  All of them have a different feeding regimen than the other.  Cooper’s BBQ in Llano still knows how to smoke some meat. 

      Here’s what else that I learned.  Did I mention that Cooper’s could cook?  Black headed vultures will steal a day old kid from a momma.  Not many quick stops in south Texas keep Mountain Dew on tap.  Somebody is making a pile of cash AIing and flushing goats.  It is green from south Texas all the way to Fargo.  Some snakes are smaller than others.  There is a market for HIGH quality buck kids.  I did not miss a chance to ask if there was a chance. Like prom night, you don’t want to miss out on a chance.  So it’s better to ask if there is a chance than to miss out.  And Ralph Shafer is the same person that I met back in 2006–some things don’t change and for good reason.  I also know that I wish that we could have made more stops, but Mother’s day is a priority.  

      I had a large time just driving and looking.  And I drove every mile.  I also looked at every stop. Believe it or not, I can shut up and be a good student when need be.  I also stopped and looked at things that bring back memories.  Like the concrete drainage canal that Rainman is named after.  Sometimes, you just have to stop, look and realize that life is fun.  

       In order to reiterate, these past couple of days were fun.  I’m glad that I could make this venture.  

     I’m not old, but my daughter is getting there.  She is now a quarter of a century old.  When I was her age, I had been teaching for three years and she was 6 years old.  Her mother and I are really proud of what she has done thus far with those 25 years.  Kela has been a huge role model for her younger.  Thank goodness that Tammy and I are not grandparents…yet.  Happy birthday to my favorite daughter.  

or arbitrary.  Both of these terms mean Random.  And that is where we are heading…in a random path with no general path or direction.  For example, I would think that Moore, OK has the highest home/building insurance of anywhere in the US.  It has become an annual news event as to what kind of tornasty or other bad storm is headed for Moore.  Luckily, this time it was just flooding.  But dang, I feel for those people.  

     Duke and I purchased a Stihl cultivator for his gardening project.  I taught him how to mix oil & gas for a 2 stroke engine.  He ran it.  Like every Stihl product, it works great.  Then, I decided to use it.  I managed to reach out and grab a really good garden hose and cut it 2/3 of the way through.  Basically, I am retarded as I knew that I was getting too close.  If that is the dumbest thing that I do this week, then it was a good week.

    About 3 or 4 times a month, I get to the ag building about 15 minutes later than usual.  This means that I stop and watch a deal that I just don’t know much about.  None-the-less, I sit and watch this deal.  There is a brother and sister that lives somewhere west of the school.  The brother is in Duke’s class.  The sister is a year or two older.  I don’t know the family, even though it is Shattuck.  Although the sister is older, she has some (for lack of better terminology) issues.  The brother is small for his age and isn’t an honor student.  But those facts are trivial.  

     Beings how (I know, I use some bad English) this blog is well-known to be NOT politically correct, we will stay true to form.  This young lady’s classroom is the special needs building east of the high school.  They call it the Co-Op building as all of the county schools send students here for class.  They have some exceptional teachers in this facility.  It is a good deal.  I won’t use the term retardation because I know a bunch of people that I look up to that are retarded.  I can prove that I am retarded.  I don’t know the situation or the mental capabilities of either student.  Don’t care.  By watching these siblings, I am real sure that they are better people than myself.  I watch because these two kids force me to judge myself every time I see them.  You see; every school day, the brother holds his older sister’s hand as he walks her to her classroom.  They walk past the Ag Building into the middle school, down the hall into the high school, out the south side then past the nicest gym in Oklahoma (Shattuck has nice facilities) and then over to the Co-Op building.  The brother then comes back to his classroom and immediately starts acting like a typical 8th grade boy–yep, retarded.  And then, when school is out, he goes and gets his sister and walks her home–all while holding hands.  It will make a donkey-hole like myself, swallow hard and realize that there are good things around us.  Part of me wants to talk to these kids.  The rest of me wants to leave it alone.  Why?  I am a firm believer in GOD and the mysterious ways in which HE works.  I am barely smart enough to realize that I can’t make it better.  Don’t mess with perfection.  And yes, I’ve asked others if help was needed.  I will respect the fact not everybody needs help.  

      Every time that I watch these two humans interact, I have to wonder what would I have done if my brothers would have needed me to hold their hand.  Heck, my parents told me not to touch the soft spot on Jake’s head when he was little.  I was 5 years older than that meathead.  You tell me to be careful and I’m going to thump him right in the soft spot.  I feel guilty now as I am pretty sure that Jake has some issues caused by me thumping that soft spot when he was little.  Likewise, I am real sure that he passed it right on down to Daniel.  I even think that Jake thumped Big D harder.  It would explain a lot.  I digress.  How different would my life have been if my kids….

       I’ve got some killer great stories regarding kids and parents that had to deal with some issues.  But they didn’t make excuses.  They just made it work.  

      All of us have great things going on around us, but we get blinded by our heads being inserted in our donkey’s.  Sometimes, a person just needs to stop, watch and realize that there are greater powers.  And by all means, help whenever it is needed and wanted.  Have a great day and a better tomorrow.   

     As I sit here at my desk, in front of this mac screen, wondering, I realize that I need some tunes.  Def Leppard..you bet.   Better yet some Tesla.  Anyways, I am just wondering.  I’m wondering what this weekend has in store for me.  Work or fun?  Will it cost me money? Will I learn anything?  I bet that I do.  I tend to learn something new everyday.  Some of this learning translates into “Crap, don’t do that again.”  While other experiences lead me to “That was fun.  Let’s try that again.”   We will find out.  The anticipation is exhilarating.  

     I also watch online auctions and you guessed it, with great anticipation.  And this Cinco de Mayo looks like a good day to sell RED goats.  Halfman is selling a killer kool red doe and Fleming is selling a solid red wether that looks like he would cost a pile if he wasn’t red.  It is with anticipation that I wait on major show judges to use goats of color.  For I have a dream…..

     I think that I will stop there.  I’ve never understand the color barrier in livestock.  Gray, yellow or red steers should be able to compete with blacks.  And they do now.  I’ve used a Dorset wether to win a sheep show…  without a doubt it was the best lamb there.  And that includes the champion Suffolk that ended up being a class winner and 3rd overall Suffolk at Tulsa.  The Dorset was better than as well.  I’ve used Polands, Berks and Herefords to win.  I don’t care about breed or color.  I just like good stock.  The best heifer that I have ever laid my good eye on was RED.  Why are we still waiting on goat judges to catch up?  

      All that I really know is that it is GREEN in paradise.  We have had numerous rains.  We have been anticipating these rains.  So have the frogs and water dogs that are enjoying the wet weather.  Thank GOD!  I hope that you had a good one today and I anticipate a better tomorrow.