Baby Jim
Photo courtesy of The Old Cowboy Archives

9/24/2019
I was totally blown away this morning to get an e-mail from a fellow I was in the Army with at both Fort Benning Georgia and Fort Carson Colorado.

He has been following my blog for some time and noticed that I had not posted anything for over a year and contacted me to see if I was still extant.

I immediately replied and realized how trifling I have been. I used to love writing and made it a priority, but lately I have let it slide. I have been thinking about it ever since I got the e-mail…Why I have I changed my habits.. Not sure but several things occur to me as factors…

1. Changes in my life……Since I lost Marie on May 8th of 2018 a lot of priorities in my life have changed as well as responsibilities. There never seem to be enough hours in the day any more…A look around the farm shows that I am way behind on everything.

2. Old age…approaching completion of my 71st trip around the sun….hoping for a few more but can feel the trip catching up with me. Supporting more Doctors these days than I knew existed…but I must say they are making my life more bearable……Especially Dr. Carleton my Rheumatologist…before I was referred to him I was losing the use of my hands and hurt all over. He has given me back my life…

3. Have only managed to get on a horse about once a month lately….I try to make the PPRC rides but that is about the only time I get out…and then I wonder why my horse is so amped up and raring to go…DUH..a good horse needs regular riding and exercise…Now that Stewart is getting ready to ride again maybe that will be a higher priority and everything else will have to slide.

4. Changes in the cattle situation…my neighbor lost his pasture and due to affiliation with him so did I…So I have less cattle but now they are all at home…Down to two cows with calves and two heifers one of which is the neighbors and one two year old bull…he should not be with us much longer as he is going to a new home. This is the last bull we will raise…We have already banded the bull calf born around Labor day…the other is a heifer and we have high hopes for her.

5. Weather…sounds silly but weather has made life pretty difficult for well over a year and a half now…First it was too wet to do anything…All last fall was wet….all winter was a muddy mess, killing grass and ruining pastures…The rain continued into the spring….then it stopped…Has hardly rained since…Nearly as dry as it was in 2002 which was the last big dry spell we had…Pastures are all dried up and nothing is growing and it is still in the nineties in late September…no stockpiled grass for this winter. Feeding hay already…Have even thought about selling the cows but that would be sort of like cutting off my leg and watching myself bleed out..

6. Facebook….I have a number of friends on facebook and many are long ago acquaintances. It is so easy to post something on facebook and hit send and reach as many people as care to read it…So I guess I have still been writing but just not in the familiar format…..  try to find my page on facebook…

7. Borderline depression…yeah I recognize it.

All of this and a lot of time to myself have made me think a lot. Then the e-mail this morning made me think some more…and reflect on life..

I probably have a few more stories to tell.. Need to sort them out and remove any incriminating evidence..

I have never been a bad man…but I have been termed as a bad influence by the wives of every friend I have ever had…they all disliked me…too carefree…too stubborn…too unwilling to step back…too much a cowboy… Lucky I am still travelling around the sun…

Stewarts wife does tolerate me…and here lately has been feeding me with her great cooking.