Had to do a few items recently that require a notary public. It came to me that I don’t know any male notary publics. Why is this?

Had a guy come in and buy a used new holland baler. I am always glad to get rid of that off brand crap like something from new holland. This guy came in about 9:30 AM. He was smoked. I mean whiskey-ed up, sideways smoked, at 9:30 AM! That was the model of baler that he wanted, the amount he wanted to spend and it was ready to be his. He paid for it and left. Good deal for both parties.

Today, I had to make a trip north of Enid to work on a combine so I took Ransom, one of our mechanics, with me. I was telling him about the guy drunk at 9:30 in the morning. Upon listening to the story, Ransom came up with an interesting observation. He said, ” Its hard to drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.” I might have to put that slogan on a t-shirt and sell next to beer coolers at quick stops.

It used to be an exciting thing to get the mail. Go gather up the envelopes that were sent to that address and bring them to the house. Back in the day, it was rare to get junk mail. If there was an envelope in the mailbox, it was either a letter, bill or a check. Or once a month, the yellow outlined magazine known as “National Geographic”. Or the swimsuit SI issue with Kathy Ireland or Elle McPherson on the cover. They didn’t have to do body paint to make them look good back then. Good stuff.

I remember a time or two in Shattuck back in the eighties, that we might have put a neighbors’s cat in the mailbox. It was a really nice mailbox. I don’t know why the cat didn’t seem real happy when the door was opened. It was all Jake’s idea, not mine. But I would do it again, if given the chance.

Now, we click on an icon to see what kind of mail we have gotten. Did we get an actual E-mail or just some spam crap? I have numerous e-mail accounts. One for work, one that needs to be extinct and one that I get all kinds of good stuff sent to me from people all over the world. The bad thing about e-mail is that there are people that look forward to getting an e-mail from ME. Why? Because if I forward something it is probably funny, political, or just plain wrong and you will lose a few minutes of your day laughing.

Sometimes, the pony express shows up. Today, a great American LEGEND delivered an envelope to our little piece of paradise. The great American was none other than Big Jim Rhodes. No, he wasn’t riding a Shetland. But he did bring mail. The envelope was addressed to Duke and was sent from the Oklahoma Youth Expo. It was a class money check and a premium sale check. It was interesting to see the break down of the money that went into the premium sale check. The check could have been for a smooth hundred dollars and we would still show without complaints. We do this because we like it, not because we are trying to make it cash-flow. It is real evident why I buy all of our tires, Kelln and Western Equipment’s, at K&S tires and I finance stuff throught Farm Credit. I highly recommend everybody do some trading with these places. Had some money from an old hog jock–Mike Robertson. I’ll need to buy him a cold beverage when the time is right. There was also money from a couple of oilfield industries such as Aaron Engine and Chesapeake Energy. There might have been money from a Papa and a Mimi included. Come to think of it, I could probably be convinced to buy all of these a cold beverage, maybe two.

Industrial Ignition & Engine Corp. from Hennessey, Ok was another company included. If you aren’t familiar with this company then you need to be. These people understand what the stock show game is all about–KIDS. Their daughter is why they do this and she is as cool as a Mercedes. If you ever want to discuss the importance of stock shows, talk to the Hardin family. They get it.

Also had some money included from a fellow showman. People ask me why we do what we do. We like kids and we like good animals. No other reason. It’s the little things that add up. Tammy and I love watching kids grow up in this program. Kela is currently “Living the Dream” because of her upbringing in the livestock industry. As I type this, she is in route to Australia.

We truly believe in passing it on to the next one in line. You earn your way to the front of this line through hard work. This person already had moved to the fore-front and didn’t need to put money on Duke. None-the-less, the gesture is appreciated. Her goats had already been picked out because of hard work and a dedication to achieving goals that is truly inspiring. I’m not going to name any more names, I’ll just say “Thank you”. And I mean thank you to all that support our junor livestock exhibitors.

Everybody likes getting mail, snail mail or e-mail, we like it. We should all remember the good old days and how exciting it was to actually get mail in the mailbox next to the road. Take time to walk to the mailbox and open it. There might be a check there. Maybe not. If a cat comes screaming out like it had turpentine on it’s ass, Jake did it.

Fairview schools started a new schedule this year where they are out of school on Friday from spring break to the end of school. We did this when I taught at Waynoka and I liked it. Attitudes of students and teaches was better. There was still plenty of stuff happening on Friday, just not classes. A lot of schools in this part of the world are using this schedule now.

Duke absolutely loves it. It means he only has to suffer through four days of school. It means no homework on Thursday night. It means no bedtime on Thursday night, which means he may stay up watching animal shows until 2 am. However, last night it was GI Joe. He also doesn’t schedule much on Friday. Our neighbor, Darin Wichert, comes to get Duke on Friday and they check cows, eat lunch at the quick stop, and all of the other usual stops. I don’t know what they talk about, but I am sure it is highly intellectual.

Have a good Friday.

Weaned a set of kids recently. I bred 3 does to kid around the 1st of March. It turned out to be my kind of buck/doe ratio. Six kids born–5 wethers, 1 doe kid and that one doe kid is way good. Burnt horns on the mid April kids. Disbudding is not a fun management practice. Sasha is the only one around our place that likes it. She loves the crispy horn buds. She snatches them up like they are candy.

If you haven’t been watching the Discovery channel, then you need to start. They have a show called Frozen Planet with Alec Baldwin narrating. This is one well designed, outstanding video, great story telling tv program. I have always loved animal shows, books, magazines, watching them, etc. This is the best animal program since Marty Stouffer’s Wild America shows that used to air on PBS. It is all about wildlife in the Arctic and Antarctica. The video shots are phenomenal. Duke and I highly recommend it. We have also been watching River Monsters on Animal Planet. Pretty good viewing.

Yesterday marked the end of an era at Kelln Livestock. We had a doe that we called “Mouth Bite”. She was tag 227. I bought her at Turner’s sale in May 2006. She was a yearling when I bought her. She had a big red spot on front and was blaze face. She was a wild rip that you couldn’t catch, but you didn’t need to very often as she was a phenomenal mother. She never raised a real good wether, but she did leave us with some outstanding daughters and grand-daughters.

“Mouth Bite” got her name in March of 2007. Our lovely neighbors had a damn pit-bull that they just had to let off the chain one afternoon. My father-in-law drove over to check on the livestock since we were gone. We were in OKC showing during the grand drive. Kela had a pair of Pfeiffer goats that year that were res. div 1 and ch. div. 3. She was in the grand drive when Darrell called Tammy and told her that he shot a pit-bull in the corralls and there was lots of damage. He was right.

Fourteen dead does, twenty-nine abortions and numerous scars, missing ears, etc. The beast had obviously caught 227 by the end of the muzzle. She had scars right below her eyes and all around her mouth. Somehow, she got loose from the demon. He tore the jaw muscles loose to the point that she had holes in her cheeks. She couldn’t make suction to get a drink. We had to drench her to keep her hydrated. The scars became permanent and thus she became known as “Mouth Bite”. She survived that ordeal and raised an awesome pair of doe kids out of All Jacked Up. These two does are known as MB1 and MB2.

There are still other does here that have scars; P8 has a mangled ear and B7 is missing an ear.

No, I didn’t get any money out of the neighbors. The law was contacted. It would basically cost me a couple of thousand in legal fees to get a judge to tell them that they owed me money, but they were unemployed and dealing drugs. Oh well. The neighbors are no longer there. The dad died due to complications from using meth and mom is in jail. The house has been bulldozed. The pit bull had left behind a litter of fourteen pups. I shot 12 of the pups, Kela ran over one of them and after a confrontation with me, they got rid of the last one before I finished the job. I don’t miss the neighbors. But I do wish I had back all of the does that we lost during that ordeal.

Feast or famine. A year ago, we couldn’t buy a rain in this part of the world. Now, we got 1 1/2″ inches Sunday morning and another 1″ this morning. We’ve gotten about 8″ for the month of April. Its green in this part of the world. I was planning on going to Garber and Tonkawa this morning to look at some trades, but after seeing the 8″ of rain that they got this morning, I think I will wait. I hope it rained in the Texas and OK panhandles. They need it.

I’ve had some people tell me that I am opinionated. I’m not opinionated, I’m just always right!! I actually have a key chain with this slogan on it that a student bought for me years ago. Still have it. I also have another key chain that another student gave to me that says “My foot and your ass need to meet.” These are the only two key chains that I have ever had or still have. I laugh everytime I see these keychains.

I still laugh at a lot of stories from my teaching days. I had a lot of good students and a lot of good times. I miss the kids and the stories from teaching. However, I don’t miss all of the other crap that goes with teaching.

Mandy, who is the secretary at the store, likes for me to tell stories. It doesn’t help that one of my sales staff is a former student who likes to remind me of certain stories. Sometimes, I think I might write a book. Other times, I think that might not be a good idea.

I am really pleased where all of my doe kids are ending up after the sale. Three stayed in Oklahoma, one to Arkansas and one to Texas. The sixth one will go to a lucky individual. The winner of today’s Kelln doe kid lottery (tag 1224) is—-Big I. Congrats!!

Lots of wheat is being rolled up into round bales in this part of the world. Some of it was hail damaged. A lot of them are trying to rebuild hay stock piles after depleting their cow hay the past two years. Some are doing it because they have too much rye mixed with their wheat. No matter the case, it’s been good for business.

It is really green around here. It is nice not having to put hay out. The only ones that I am feeding alfalfa to are does nursing kids. Everything else has plenty of green to chase. A person doesn’t have to go very far west to see that the drought is still in progess. The Texas and OK panhandles are still extremely dry. They need several good rains just to get started.

I’ve had several calls wanting to know when our next sale is. I can solidly answer–I don’t know. There is a set of March 1 babies that are just being weaned that we will sell sometime in June. Just don’t know when. I also have a set of mid-April babies on the ground that may be ready by late June. Not sure if I will online everything or not. It looks like there will be a wheat harvest this year, so I might be busy and just sell everything privately.

We will have the Best of the West sale on Labor Day in Woodward, OK. This sale will consist of Kelln, GT, Helms, Shafer and Morriss. It will be a really good set of does and wethers.

Yesterday was a little bit hectic. Work has been extremely busy, which is good. Couple that with judging the NW district speech contest and having an online doe sale, and it was just a little bit crazy. Had to put the phone on the charger a time or two in order to make it through the day. I had my phone shut off during the speech contest, which was over about 7 pm. Lots of texts and voicemails to reply to when I turned that puppy back on.

Thanks to all who purchased or bid on goats. Had a lot of interest from several states.

As far as the speech contest goes, I had the honor to judge the animal science division. Top to bottom, 1 though 10, this was the deepest division of speakers that I have ever judged at a district contest. All speeches were memorized and well presented. The top 4 could all easily place in the top 5 at state. Really good speakers. The other two judges and I all agreed.

Make arrangements with Milligan to pay for and pickup doe kids from me. My does are at Perry. Easy to get to for easy pickup.

The doe sale is today. This is a really nice set of doe kids. Study the videos, call the breeders or call me or Milligan. Ask questions. There are some good ones in this deal.

Look at the bucks and the genetics that are backing these girls. Trust me, there has been a lot of miles, dollars, time, sweat, and cuss words used developing this set of genetics.

Rainman consistently had doe kids and wethers at the top end of their classes all year long at every show in OK this past year, including numerous premium sale wethers and trophy winning doe kids. RainTime is a Rainman son. Joe Dirt had wethers in the sale at Enid, Woodward and OYE in his first crop. This is the first offering of doe kids out of Fade2Black. They are really cool. Seelke’s are selling a pair of purebreds that will compete anywhere. Buy them, show them and then dump a wether type buck on them and make something. Or breed them pure if you want. Either way, it will work.

Ocho Cinco is a Goofy son on a Powell/Holman doe. Milligan bought him off the ranch. If you aren’t aware of the genetics that Milligan has been gathering, then you haven’t been paying much attention to the goat industry. That set of does needs to be studied. There might be a bonafide great one in there.

I had 7 doe kids out of this Dec/Jan set of kids. I kept one and she isn’t the best one, her momma had never had a doe kid before, so I’m keeping it. My best doe kids are in this sale. I’m probably not very smart for sellling these, but I don’t have the time for more does and I don’t have the room. So here you go.

This is a very good offering of doe kids. They will feed. They will get better with maturity. They will compete in the show ring and they have the genetics to produce good ones. You won’t be disappointed.