This has been a week of eye-watering events. \u00a0For one, this was the LAST county stock show that Tammy and I will be participating as parents. \u00a0YESSS!!! \u00a020 years as stock show parents and we are all but done. \u00a0We will get a pay raise in the next few months. \u00a0The countdown continues. \u00a0Tears of joy!<\/p>\n
Next, I have been fighting a bad donkey sinus issue. \u00a0I don’t get sick very often. \u00a0And other than the fact that I can’t breathe, I’m fine now. \u00a0However, the internal pressures from inside my sinus cavity has caused my eyes to water more than once. \u00a0And the sneezes that have dislodged ribs and my diaphragm from the base of my lungs has caused me to shed a tear or three.<\/p>\n
And then our youngest offspring returned home from a welding competition. \u00a0He did not win. \u00a0He allowed that he shouldn’t have won. \u00a0He wasn’t sure that the bevel was 22.5 degrees on the 3\/8″ steel that he had to do a vertical up MIG weld on for part of the test. \u00a0He was very critical of his own work and what he could in order to do better. \u00a0It was almost enough for a dad to have to wipe an eye.<\/p>\n
For those of you that don’t know, Duke is not his first name. \u00a0It is actually his middle name. \u00a0After my grandpa “Duke” Schneider. \u00a0We thought about naming him Krawdad. \u00a0Think about it, Krawdad Kelln has a ring to it. \u00a0But, we went with sentimental names instead. \u00a0Either way, this kid was getting a kool name.<\/p>\n
I can’t remember if I have ever wrote about this or not. \u00a0Don’t care. \u00a0If I have, it’s like a great Whitesnake song, “here I go again.”<\/p>\n
In August of 1989, I headed to Stillwater, OK for the beginning of my college years. \u00a0I had pledged to a fraternity and we had some damn pledge retreat at a church camp in the greater Guthrie, OK area. \u00a0I didn’t know very many of these dudes. \u00a0We were kind of seated in a horseshoe shape. \u00a0They had the dude sitting across from me start by stating his name, hometown, honors, awards and special interests.<\/p>\n
That first dude listed his valedictorian status, GPA, ACT score, complete resume, etc, etc, etc. \u00a0“I am \u2026.. I was valedictorian of whatever High School, I was all state in \u2026\u2026 I was a public speaking winner, I was, I was\u2026..GEEZ!! \u00a0Then the next one, then the next one. \u00a0I’m looking around the room wondering how it is that I will be the last one and what in the hell am I doing here?<\/p>\n
This torture continued until it hit the dude to my left. \u00a0He has been sitting there with his head hung low, glasses even lower on his nose. \u00a0He has been watching and listening but not making a sound or showing any signs of emotion. \u00a0I would have guessed that he was about my height. \u00a0Then they called his name and he kind of unfolded out of the folding chair. \u00a0He was over 6′ tall. \u00a0He pushed the glasses up off his nose. \u00a0This dude looked around the room and said his name. \u00a0 “Yes, I have four first names. \u00a0 I am from Orlando. \u00a0Oklahoma that is. \u00a0Not where the mouse has a kingdom in Florida. \u00a0I was born in the floorboard of a ’59 Ford truck and my favorite hobby is hunting skunks with a baseball bat.”<\/p>\n
OOHHH \u00a0HECK YEAH!!!! \u00a0 \u00a0I’m still friends with several guys that were in that room. \u00a0But that dude is the reason that Duke’s first name is Connely. \u00a0Some of you will do the math and realize who that dude is.<\/p>\n
Tonight, as Connely Kelln returned to the house after feeding cows, I was reminded of this story. \u00a0Why? \u00a0With this sinus issue, I can’t smell but my eyes were watering. \u00a0He managed to run over a skunk with the gator while feeding cows. \u00a0As his mother keeps handing him cans of tomato juice and boxes of baking soda, I can’t help but think of my buddy hunting skunks with a baseball bat. \u00a0I have NO doubt that this is a true story.<\/p>\n
And as I write this drivel, I think to myself, I don’t remember a goat being sprayed by a skunk or a goat getting into a porcupine?!? \u00a0 HHmm?<\/p>\n
Goats don’t move much after dark. \u00a0I don’t think that they see well in the dark. \u00a0Therefore, in the goat world, most skunks and porcupines move on unnoticed. \u00a0Then again, most bucks could get sprayed by a skunk and that would improve their odor.<\/p>\n
People, have a good one and a better tomorrow. \u00a0Horseshoes and shamrocks to all. \u00a0I’m hoping to catch several straight hours of sleep and no skunk smell in the morning. \u00a0I bet my happiness will not happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This has been a week of eye-watering events. \u00a0For one, this was the LAST county stock show that Tammy and I will be participating as parents. \u00a0YESSS!!! \u00a020 years as stock show parents and we are all but done. \u00a0We will get a pay raise in the next few months. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2798"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2798"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2803,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2798\/revisions\/2803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}