The word of the day comes in a purple box.  It is a crisp cookie coated in caramel, sprinkled with toasted coconut, and striped with dark chocolaty coating.  I know that some of you addicts knew what it was when you read purple box.

Yes, the word of the day is Samoas.  I was tickled when Tammy found a Girl Scout that was selling cookies.  I only bought 8 boxes.  I’m wishing that I would have bought more.  Especially since Duke found them.  I now don’t have as many as I used to.  If I ever name a buck Samoas, you will know that he is a great one.

We just finished the Ellis County Stock Show.  Just a premium sale left now.  Good feeling.  Always an honor to watch  a livestock legend such as the Tom Lamle judge stock.  No matter the species, Mr. Lamle can line them up.  I do have a fun memory of a county fair hog show with Lamle judging…but…you might need to buy the book.  Or just catch me in the right company.  I love that story.  Or ask Frank Powell.

Quote of the day:  With Trump building his wall, Mexican intelligence is building a trojan piñata.

Another quote of the day:  OPTIMISM IS GOING AFTER MOBY DICK IN A ROWBOAT AND TAKING TARTAR SAUCE WITH YOU.

I normally buy some items on the Okie Coalition sale but I didn’t get to a computer until it was done.  Looks like that sale went well.  Good deal.  Plan on bringing $20 bucks to the OYE goat shows.  There is some dang good stuff that will be in a drawing for button purchasers.  DANG good stuff, I tell ya!

How did these goat animals ever survive the ride on Noah’s Ark?  Those two goats were obviously low quality as those kind breed.  But the more we “improve” them, the less they raise live offspring.

I am part of a group text of various goat breeders.  This group text basically consists of the various train wrecks that happen when dealing with doe goats.  Yesterday, had a breeder send a pic of doe that had ate her way UNDER the round bale that was in a round bale feeder.  She was now hung up between the cradle of the feeder and the round bale.  WTH?

These texts are “The picture and text of how in the heck did this goat get stuck like this?”  The “train wreck of a flush” text.  The “$10,ooo doe that cut her leg off in a door” kind of deal.  Or the pic of doe with a fresh C section incision.

Today, I added the “Doe has quintuplets train wreck.”  4 dead, 1 still on life support.  I quickly received the smart-ass answer of “At least buck fertility was not a problem.”  And then a reply of “Your five kids from one doe and live cover is better than I have on my flush programs.”  Then I added the “Newborn doe kid has a prolapsed rectum”.  Add that to your hadn’t seen that list of crap in the goat world.

Today’s tally of kidding.  2 does–6 kids, 5 dead, 1 kind of alive.  This classifies as a train wreck.  I left to go take care of move-in day for the Ellis County Stock Show.  I told Duke to get rid of the mess.  Coyotes will have a snack tonight.

Other species of show people ask why do good goats cost so much?  Because the good genetics are limited and they are hard to raise is the straight forward answer.

Have a good one and a WAY better tomorrow.  I hope the flu bug or the crud bug doesn’t get you.

I have numerous reasons for a headache and none include a self-inflicted problem.  I simply don’t have time for that.

First and foremost is our weather.  I broke ice on Thursday morning.  Then it got windy.  Friday afternoon, the pickup thermometer read 91 degrees ON FEB. 10!  And there is a chance for snow on Sunday.  WTH?  Make up your mind.

I saw a sign that describes our weather.

Mother Nature:     You CANNOT have all four seasons in ONE week!  You simply can’t!

NW Oklahoma:  Huhnh!!   Hold my beer and watch this $h!t.

For the third February in a row, I have complained about my current job.  Taking care of livestock show entries for Woodward District and OYE are not fun.  If I had to choose between getting “cut” or doing these entries….I would gladly take the snipped option.  I’ve done it and it is way less painful.  And you only have to do that procedure once.

Between entries, a county stock show, ineligible lists and does that aren’t kidding on time, I have a headache.    The Dragon Lady is fighting the “bug” that is going around.  And then…..

My son has me in a quandrum (is that the appropriate spelling…who cares)   I am absolutely thrilled with some of his skills—this kid can weld!  6011–he rolls it.  When he was about 10 years old and struck his first arc, I told his mother that he was a natural welder.  But his scholastic habits make me want to choke him.

I was extremely confident in his sister’s abilities to be successful and she proved me right.  I am even more confident in this kid.  There is ZERO doubt that this kid is going to be successful at making a living, paying taxes and being an outstanding person.  But dang, he wants to go to work now.  School is literally in the way.  May of 2019 is already highlighted on his calendar.  As well as his parents calendar.  His mother and I don’t want him to grow up, but it’s too late.

And then I helped a kid with a science fair project.  It involved hog crap.  And now I feel the urge to wash my hands…again….and trim my fingernails.  Some smells just don’t go away and may very well cause headaches.

In conclusion, if these are the worst of my problems…..well then, people…..I have it pretty good.  I hope you all have it as good as I do.  Have a great day, a better tomorrow and if you are in NW OK or the TX panhandle, wear shorts on Saturday and coats on Sunday.

p.s.  Ironically, I had to go to the southside ACE hardware in Woodward on this fine Friday (science fair project crap).  And I got to visit with one of my senior citizen employees from Western.  He told his current boss that I was his favorite boss of all-time but working at ACE was his absolute favorite job that he ever had.  As I was texted this morning “ACE is the place”.

I have a tendency to roll things around in my brain as I am driving down the road.   Yesterday, as I was in a hurry to get back to Shattuck, I was thinking about my substitute teacher.  I had told him that I would be back by 1 but now it looked more like 2:30.  Crap!  I was hoping that this wasn’t going to screw up his plans and then I was like, “Dang.  He wasn’t going quail hunting today.  His calendar is open.”  Then I got to thinking more.

I have only had one substitute teacher this year.  Same person, every time that I have been gone to a stock show, judging contest, leadership event, whatever.  It is great.  He is good with the kids.  The kids like him.  I like him.  I can let the shop kids go to work.  Paperwork–He takes care of it.  Kids bring entry money.  He handles it.  Work gets done.  It’s awesome.  Why does it work?  He is retired and comes from a generation that takes care of business.  Yeah, he might be a senior citizen.  But, it’s great!  As long as I don’t mess with Steve Care’s quail hunting, he is good to go.

This past October, I couldn’t go to the National FFA Convention, so my parents took a set of officers to get our chapter award.  The kids were in better hands with these people than if I went.  Mom and Dad enjoyed Indianapolis.  The kids had experienced tour directors.  Cool deal!

Last week, I needed help getting a couple of suburban loads of kids to the NW district livestock judging contest.  I asked Daryle Greer to help me out.  What’s better than a 34 year veteran of OK ag-ed to help? Nothing.

We’ve got a lady that checks in on me and the kids to make sure that we have the greenhouse in-line.  She might have retired from teaching, although she still comes around to teach the teachers, motivate the kids and then leave–on her own schedule.  It’s awesome.  Science fairs, greenhouse, robotics, tech ed, ag-ed–whatever.  What’s better than Sue Ann Schoenhals making sure that the Shattuck schools operate properly?  Her husband, who was not a teacher, also helps.  And helps whoever needs it.

The south side ACE hardware in Woodward is the only place in NW OK that uses more Sr. citizens than the Shattuck FFA.  And I love going to that hardware store.  The employees are friendly, helpful and I normally buy more than what I went to buy.

I had a couple of seniors that worked with me at Western.  We had to do some things to get around their “retirement” but it was worth it as they were great employees.  Work ethic does not have an age limit.  Kids need to be around attributes that make for good people.  I am happy to have people like this helping me and the kids.

And if you can’t tell.  Here in a few years or twenty, I’ll be working at ACE hardware.

Tammy and I had to journey to Waynoka today.  It was tough.  We, along with hundreds of others, had the tough job of attending a funeral.  It was a ceremony for a great kid from a great family that was only months away from graduating OSU and then marrying his high-school sweetheart/best friend.  I had the honor of watching our friend Allan Poe handle the tough job of the eulogy.  He did great.  RIP Layne Meriwether.

Sometime when you can get me in story telling mode, hit me up about Layne, the pirate patch and a state winning speech.  Or ask me about Layne getting Max Redgate to deal on a heifer.  Or ask me about some of my older kids teaching Layne to “shoot the bird”.  Poe Cat and I have stories about this kid that is gone way to soon.  There is a reason GOD took him, but I do not know it.  It’s tough.

We had visitors to the Kelln Kompound on this fine Wednesday evening.  A mother and son had asked if they could come interview me about goats for a 4H speech.  They are from Texas and drove an hour to do this.  I’m not going to say no to a kid that is tough enough to drive to Fargo and talk to me about goats.  That is one of the great things about the agriculture industry.  I think that about anybody will stop and talk to a kid about the industry.  Personally, I think that it is a requirement to take time and help kids.  Especially if they are tough enough to ask questions and then tough enough to give a speech.  I love it!

Speaking of tough.  I had to pick up a package at the post office this morning.  More baby chickens.  Is it not amazing that these things hatched on Tuesday, put in a box, shipped via the US Postal Service to Fargo, America and are perfectly fine when I opened the box?  Those things are tough.  Now that they are here, the Dragon Lady (aka Crazy Chicken Lady) will have them spoiled.

I routinely write/talk about restaurants from my travels.  But sometimes, one can leave out a great one that is a regular stop.  Rafy’s Tacos in Shattuck is awesome.  Small scale, big time good.  I have always eaten their tacos–either asada or barbacoa beef.  But tonight, I had the green sauce beef enchiladas.  AWESOME!!  They’ve also got me hooked on pineapple Jarito’s for my drink there.

If you are in need of tacos, and it is an emergency, dial 9-Juan-Juan.

The webmaster–aka Julie–is giving the Kelln Livestock page a facelift and a conversion kit.  She had to backup the blog page.  1146 total blog posts.  Not bad for not-quite-5 1/2 years.  What is scary is that the best blogs never got the submit button pushed.  Some of those probably needed to see the light of day, but it is probably best that they didn’t.

One has not truly lived until they have driven a school suburban to a judging contest that is filled with 9th & 10th graders and gotten to hear the concert of these kids singing Charlie Daniel’s “Devil went down to Georgia”.

My feeding program does not involve a whole lot of different additives.  For years, my standard program has been Special K feed mixed with GO Juice and Vindicator.  We vary feed amounts, exercise levels and styles according to each goat’s fit and finish.  Some have called this a “minimalist” approach and I won’t disagree.  But the results show that it works.

Over the past week, Duke and I have sheared his 4 wethers.  One is going to be an under 90 pounder.  That is where he fits and where his genetics are dictating that he will be.  So be it.  Two others are weighing similar and they both handle similar–a bit soft.  The fourth one handles right one and we are feeding him hard.  As Duke and I were discussing current weights, feed amounts, growth patterns, time left on feed and pulling/pushing to meet a desired weight for each goat, it is becoming apparent that we are going to have 3 wethers all weighing about the same.  I am a believer that it is more important to make an animal look and handle appropriate than it is to enter at a given weight.  So, we will play our hand of cards like we know what we are doing and see how it all turns out.  If it doesn’t work out, well, we will wish that it would have.

Have a good one and a better tomorrow!

I just watched those dudes in top hats and tails drag a groundhog out of his hole on Gobbler’s Knob.  According to them, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, so here we go with 6 more weeks of winter.

I guess Feb. 1 was a holiday as well.  Some people get a little bit too excited about national football signing day.  This is kind of liking declaring a major show winner on sale day.  There is a lot of time and work in between these days and the day that actually matters.

Made it to a livestock judging contest on Wednesday. It was a good trip, even though we left some points laying around.

Checking does for signs of action.  We have reached the due date of the first one.  We’ll see how things go from here.

I am back among the living.  I spent all of last week trying to keep from getting this flu bug.  Last Monday hit me hard as I was SORE!  But I though that it was a result of running a chain saw, hauling limbs and being fat and out of shape.  By Monday evening, I felt rough.  Over the next couple of days, I made it through the day.  Then back home to crash for a bit.  Thursday brought the Ag Boosters Auction.  It went well.  I only kind of had my voice, but we made it throught it.  

On Saturday, I had students going different directions to jackpots.  I decided to stay home and try to heal up.  I think that I will stay home more often.  One family had grand lamb at the sheep jackpot and several had breed champions.  Another family won the steer jackpot.  No need for me to go.  

Saturday afternoon brought a sinus infection.  Lots of snot and head cold.  I started the meds.  A tablespoon of honey with a 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.  Then Tammy poured some kind of wintergreen stuff into a HOT bath for me.  By Sunday evening, all good.  

I sorted some heavy bred does that are due later this week.  I’m going to have start earning my keep around here.  So far this winter, all I have done is keep feeders full and hay out.  Times are changing.  

And this brought Monday.  And it was 72 degrees here in paradise.  Too nice!  There is still plenty of chances for winter to kick us square in the crotch.  There are several families in this part of the world that still don’t have electricity.  Some are now on day 16.  Can’t blame the linesman as they have been working every day.  But I am sure that these people are ready for some juice.  

Have a good one.

I’ve had several calls the past week or two wanting to know what to use to add some cover to their wethers.  There are several options that we like to use.  1–Up the GO juice.  2–Glu-Coat–the cattle glu-coat.  This stuff will help appettites and will add cover.  Better be careful because too much will get them spongy.  3–High Noon brand Shine Em Up.  Used heavily in the sheep ring.  It will add cover.  It’s all good stuff.

The Shattuck FFA was happy to host part of the Oklahoma FFA State Officer team on this fine day.  It was a really good program.   I was very mpressed with the State officers but even more impressed with the Shattuck officers.  These kids planned, prepared and operated the program today.  Any day that you have good kids doing good stuff–well it’s just good stuff.

Speaking of good stuff.  Right now on the tube, the great movie Shrek is airing.  That is a well written movie.  It has a message, action, adventure, love story and a whole helping of comedy.  Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy absolutely killed their roles in this flick.  Although, I won’t say that this is my favorite movie, it is dang good and I wouldn’t argue with anybody that says that it is the best ever.  Kela about wore this movie out when she was young.  Although, I think she did wear out a vcr tape or two of the Eddie Murphy hit Dr. Dolittle.  That kid loved watching that movie.  

I’m going to kick back and watch the rest of Shrek.  I will be in a good mood.  

Dong-key!  

And the main song from Shrek is “I’m a believer.”  The Monkees had a huge hit with this song.  But it was written by the great Neil Diamond.  He just had a birthday this week.  It is a little known fact that I am a Neil Diamond.  My favorite–“Sweet Caroline”.  

Dong-key!  

we got power back on.  Only 8 days without electricity.  Sure, it was a bit of an inconvenience and I have spent a pile on gasoline for the generator, but it really wasn’t that bad.  Hats off to the crews that have been working to get the power back on for this part of the world.  

Several things have happened during this power outage.  At some point in time, the Russians hacked this website.  They couldn’t just stop with hacking the DNC server.  I feel honored to get hacked…again.  

Friday night led Tammy, Duke and I to Lupe’s in Woodward to eat.  We also watched the inaugral balls.  Without a doubt, we got an upgrade in the 1st lady department.  

A couple of times last week, I took FFA kids around Shattuck and hauled off tree limbs.  I was really proud how the kids worked.  We hauled 18 trailer loads of limbs.  During the same time, every evening, Duke and I loaded limbs at the house.  He and I hauled 15 loads of limbs.  We’ve got all of the big ones, but it is going to take a rake and some time to get all of these little limbs that are piled underneath each tree.  Elm trees do not fare well in an ice storm.  

The triticale and wheat pasture has been limited or non-existent this year.  However, with the moisture and several sunny days, the goat pasture has perked up and the does have been out grazing.  Better late than never.  

We’re only a couple of weeks away from does being due to drop some babies.  

Wether check lists:  

1–Proper feed management

2–blankets

3–exercise daily

4–native grass hay (twice a week)

5–fresh water

6–salt blocks

7–work showmanship

And if you are just now doing any of this, you are behind the competition.  

Over and out.  Have a good one.