It is time for the Kansas GOP to change its people and its way of operations. The way things are going now is totally against the Will of the People. They set us up for failure in the last election with the Governor candidate, Derek Schmidt. While I did vote for Derek in the election, there were two things that caused him to lose, 1) the independent candidate who was a Republican, 2) Derek was just a 2.0 version of another Brownback or GOP RINO. The Republican party makes their own decisions on who they want to be Governor and who we send to Washington DC by hand picking candidates before they give the People the chance to look at all their options. In fact, I will go so far as to make the claim that they refuse to allow the little guys to even attempt to run for office.
I for one have attempted to contact the GOP to let them know that I would love to serve the People in an elected office but never got a reply via email or phone call. That is proof enough to me that they don’t want the everyday worker to run because they aren’t as trainable and controllable as those they choose. So, what are we to do?
There are several things we can do to get the KS GOP’s attention and one is to REFUSE to support them. Don’t sent any contributions, starve them financially. The second is to organize another organization that will over power the current mess, albeit it cold prove challenging. Third, get active and send letters demanding that the same old games be stopped and let more people with true leadership abilities be allowed and supported to run for office.
If YOU don’t fight back, there is no way will will ever have another Republican governor!
At this time of the year people start to look back over the past year and see the good and bad of their lives. I can’t say that 2022 has been a good year. I can say that some changes are taking place, for good or bad is yet to be seen. As far as the political scene goes, nothing has improved, the Biden Administration is still dead set on ruining this great country in every area they can, not only from the economic stand point by shutting down oil production with their “New Green Deal” but by also stifling growth by taxation and by using unfair racial tactics, sexual tactics and any type of deviancy they can. But change is coming and when it does come, the Left will be so shocked that they will not know where to hide or how fast to get out of the way. But of course this all depends upon the new House that is to be sworn in at the beginning of 2023.
We still aren’t out of the woods with the Land grab issues, in fact, it is getting pretty bad as we find out more and more ways they have infiltrated agriculture and other areas of the country. But the people are finding out and are pushing their elected officials to fight back and those officials know that if they don’t do the People’s Will, they will be short lived in politics.
Changes are coming here at home as well as I transition into a different income field. I have started training working dogs and will limit my travel with the goats as my mom ages and requires me to be home more. I am hoping that the folks I spoke with last fall about getting into weed & brush control with goats are still wanting to enter the industry, to help me.
Sometimes change can be good and other times bad. Change just to change is sometimes problematic. Who knows what will happen. I do hope to be able to spend more time writing in the near future as I have slowed down with this blog. Let’s look forward to 2023 as a year of positive change and see where we end up.
PS My dog Fly had a litter of puppies in November and I am posting videos and photos on my Barnyard Weed Warrior Facebook page. Check out the fun as puppies do make life sweeter.
2022 has not been the best of years for me, having lost a dear friend who was a mentor, encourager and icon, and my best working dog unexpectedly dying as well. Then there were family health issues to address, leaving my business to suffer. I can never forget the time Queen Elizabeth II spoke of the year for her that was one disaster after another and stating that one of her more sympathetic correspondents had dubbed the year an annus horribilis, or rather ‘horrible year’.
This year I was hoping to have more influence in State politics but due to life, I was struck silent for the most part and my heart while mourning loss could not find the fire needed to continue writing with meaning. But, like many writers who have a period of ‘writer’s block’, I seem to have gotten a second breath or like a phoenix, from the ashes that still smoldered beneath the rubble, a slight shift in wind has brought back a small ember. It could also be that the litter of puppies that my young border collie, Miss Fly just had has brought some adventure back into my life that has jumpstarted my creativity. What ever it is there are some things that are clear that need to be addressed.
The People of Kansas need to be more educated when it comes to Politics on all levels and stop relying on the local television stations and left leaning propogandist. The same could be said by the left against the right. The Truth is, neither the DNC or GOP want the People to use their voices, they want to keep them as blinded by the Truth as possible, it is their plan all along. We have a House of Lords and Ladies and not a Congress, unless you realize that a group of apes is called a congress. They are monkeying around with our freedom and we have to stop it. The excuse is “we can’t do anything” is not an excuse it is surrender! This thinking needs to stop!
No one can keep track of everything going on in politics right now or at any time, you need to have a group of trusted friends to pick their favorite cause and keep track of it. Their job is to keep the others informed of what is going on and if there is a need to make phone calls to your elected representatives to voice your opinions. By spreading out the duties of keeping track, all you need to know is the potential dangers or unintended consequences that any legislation may cause. One of my ’cause’ is land rights and government over reach. For at least a year I have kept my followers updated as things concerning the 30×30 Land Grab and NHA’s (National Heritage Areas) comes out. More and more people are realizing the dangers to this Biden Administrations Executive orders and how they will completely upend our Freedoms and Rights. Angel Cushing, a friend and one or the Champions of land rights has been able to keep me informed and she battles on, picking up a few others to help as well but needs more help to get the word out.
The left has fought hard with their tactics of being ‘woke’ and ‘racist’ accusation and pushing agendas such as drag queen shows for children, lying about abortion legislation that was written to include exception but stating that it doesn’t. They are pushing a New World Order and Global Warming which has been proven false so they can push us to ‘renewable’ energy which is more toxic to the planet than fossil fuels. There is no common sense at all. In the MidWest, which by the way, is targeted to be windmill farms and solar farms by running the farmers and ranchers off the land, cannot survive on electric vehicles in the winter. With winter blizzards and long distances to travel to cities, battery operated vehicles are not reliable to get you through a storm that pops up and shuts down highways. Death is certain if stranded on the interstate with a battery, with a vehicle running on fossil fuels, you don’t have to worry about the battery going dead if you are stranded for a while.
Another thing the Left has out for People is the attack on religious beliefs and morals. They have none and the rise of Satanism is growing, proof enough that Judeo-Christian beliefs are under attack. The Left claims inclusion but excludes and ridicules Religious belief. They hate us. In fact, they hate the Constitution because as I often quote by John Adams; “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any others.” Meaning that immoral people cannot abide goodness of what the Founding Fathers set up for us and seek to destroy it to push for enslavement of the whole, not just the few. Which is why we must fight tyranny at all costs. John Hancock said; “Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual…Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.” In otherwords, Christians need to get off their butts and stand up for our God-Given RIGHTS or we won’t have them much longer.
IN a year that hasn’t been very good, in fact, since Biden got into office, we have seen and had terrible years. It is time to raise the roof, do what we can, even if it is pray and make phone calls when needed. We have to fight to survive or we will lose what is so precious but not appreciated.
It is our sacred and undeniable RIGHT to fight for a country like our Founding Fathers set up and deny anything other, which is what we are dealing with now! Fight now or die!
I am a farmer, rancher and one of the many of less than 2% of the population that produces food for your city slicker mouths. This is in response to you complaining about how we who produce food are destroying the world and making ‘all that money’. If you have half a clue as to what you were saying, you would zip your lip. Allow me to explain some of what it takes to get one package of hamburger to your house.
5 years prior to the birth of the animal that made your package of hamburger, a rancher either purchased a heifer (Young cow that hasn’t had a calf before.) or raised one. It is actually more profitable (If $395 is a big profit) to raise your own, which requires understanding good genetics and selecting the right semen or bull to raise said heifer. Then you spend around $2300 per heifer to get them up to breeding age.
When the heifer calves out (has a calf), the cost to raise that calf to slaughter weight at around1300 pounds is $1700. So to get that animal to the slaughter house, the rancher has $4000 invested in that animal that he sells to the packing house at maybe $1790. Yeah, he profited around $90 (whoopti doo!) for that calf but he is still in the hole around $3900 for his investment. That cow may or may not go on to have 5 to 6 other calves or if she is of good stock and longevity, let’s say 8 more calves. He may have gotten his money back on his investment of that cow, maybe not.
That steer the rancher sold for around $1790 goes into the packing plant and in less than 3 days is in the store or on your plate. The meat packer makes a profit of around $2000 off that $1790 steer. You see, as the steps to the consumer got up, so does the profit of the handlers of that product after it leaves the ranch. If you bought directly from the producer, your food would be a LOT cheaper.
Let’s address the issue of destroying the world. Did you know, that the land cattle graze is unfit for farming (growing a crop)? Cattle utilize the grass and turn it into protein in a most efficient manner. You aren’t getting a product that has chemicals in it like the ‘plant based’ chemicals you are purchasing as meat replacer. Beef is 100% organic versus chemical fake meat. Did you also know that ranchers practice special grazing techniques to ensure the land continues to produce grass yearly? I bet not, you don’t care, you just believe that the global environmentalists say. But yeah, in the Flint Hills, cattle are usually allowed to graze for short periods of time on the prairie. This allows them to get the nutrients needed to grow and then when removed, the prairie can continue to grow and maintain itself from year-to-year. Oh and the early spring burn,, that allows for the old growth to burn to leave potash, which is needed for plant growth. The black ashes also absorb the sun’s heat and warms the earth so the grass can grow back sooner so when the spring rains come in April, the grass is there to prevent much soil erosion. By burning, it also allows for more grass to grow where the old grass would kill out areas of grass.
Did you know that a lot of people in agriculture are using goats to graze areas of land that are overgrown with weeds instead of using chemical? Probably not. You don’t care. All you care about is the price of your food and what someone on television says. You refuse to think that anyone in agriculture that ‘rapes’ the land by putting cattle on it are incapable of doing any good. When in fact we are preserving the land in the best way possible since the great federal government killed off all the bison in the 1800’s.
Did you know that the rancher that raised that package of hamburger probably was up every two hours every night for at least a month, checking on that heifer that had that calf you are now eating? Do you know that most ranchers may gross hundreds of thousands of dollars every year but when they take out their costs of medicines, machinery to produce feed and hay for that steer, the fuel, maintenance and other costs, like shipping, income tax, property tax, vehicle taxes and fuel tax; they are lucky to maybe make $30,000/ year? Some ranchers and farmers even have to have a town job so they can continue to produce that package of hamburger you are cooking in that skillet right now.
When I worked in the feed yards, I sat down and figured out what I was making per hour and it was WAY below minimum wage. Some days I was making a whole $4/hour, on longer days I was down to around $2.50 per hour and that was in the early 2000’s. It hasn’t changed much since then. If you add in a rancher paying me, paying for the fuel used to transport me and my horse to check outside cattle, run the feed truck, the payloader to fill the truck with feed, the tractor to cut hay or plant crops, there isn’t much left. Do you really think $90/head of profit goes very far?
You may ask why the ranchers, farmers and us cowboys continue to do what we do if it doesn’t pay that well. You would have to understand the lifestyle behind it and your city slicker head would never be able to fathom this life. In fact, you are so used to going to an easy job, your bodies couldn’t handle the hard work we farmers and ranchers put our bodies through to provide that package of hamburger to you. Until you can walk a week in our shoes, you will have no clue but still, we do it to provide food for you.
First off, let me explain a few things. The Federal Government should not own ANY land outside of the 10 square miles of Washington DC and the land on which military posts are located and that the State in which a military post should have a say in whether they want that post or not. Secondly, BLM land held in the Pacific Northwest and OTHER areas as well as National Parks should be managed by the States in which that land is located, not by bureaucrats in Washington DC! It is my opinion that States who have allowed the BLM and National Parks Service to take over land in their State should demand it back as who better to make decisions about the land than those living next to it?
Grazing permits have been restricted, taken away and people are angry. I don’t blame them but the biggest question is, why did they allow the government to take over the land in the first place? Another issue is the cattle industry being under attack by environmentalists about cattle polluting the air with farts. (Let me go off on a rabbit trail on this one.) : The bison that once roamed the Great Plaines far outnumber the number of cattle in the USA today I am sure they didn’t pollute the air as they claim cattle are. But those are the excuses the government is making in regards to not issuing grazing permits.
The cattle industry is under fire for the negative lies environmental terrorists have spread. The BLM stopped logging and they have stopped issuing grazing permits. Wildfires are everywhere and the BLM decides to PAY someone to bring in goats to manage a small area and pays them $1000/acre (which as a goat rental professional, I know is the going rate for the SERVICE provided) and the people who lost permits think that people bringing in the goats should have to PAY for a permit.
Goats are browsers, they mainly focus on brush, woody plants and young trees. The goats also clean up the ground litter (leaves, and other tasty things to goats). People are upset that someone is getting paid to do this work because they claim the cattle will do the same thing. Well, NO, not really. Goats are lightweight animals and have less of an impact on the soil (250 pound goat vs a 1200 pound cow). Goats can navigate rough terrain, cattle can to certain degree. Goats eat the ‘junk’ plants cattle won’t. They prefer to leave grass along, for the most part, cattle focus on the grass.
People who lost grazing permits think that goat rental professionals should have to pay the BLM money to graze the land. Okay, but we are providing a SERVICE. This is a free country, we are capitalists here, why should a goat rental professional PAY to do WORK that the GOVERNMENT has ASKED them to do? Why can’t the cattle ranchers use their cattle to manage the grass on BLM land? Why have they allowed the government to abuse them? It isn’t the goat rental professionals fault, they are just trying to make a living.
IF you took machinery and a work force into the same areas, you would pay more in taxpayer dollars for fuel, machinery, maintenance on machinery, have the ground disturbed by the machinery and some areas machinery can’t navigate due to being sensitive to erosion. If you use chemical, you have chemical run off that can pollute lakes and streams. Using goats is much cheaper, environmentally friendlier and less maintenance for the government because the contractors deal with all the fencing and manage the animals.
All I am saying is, I am sorry that people think goat rental professionals should pay for grazing permits and they are not grazing, they are target managing the land for a purpose and it is a JOB for us goat rental businesses. Using goats is the most economical and environmentally friendly way to manage the land. If anything, as much as I hate to admit it, we should at least give the BLM some credit for hiring the goats to do the work. It is a step in the right direction. As for the cattle producers ( we don’t want to forget the sheep producers as well) who have lost their grazing permits, I am sorry. You need to get your state legislators on board to take back the land from the Fed and let the States manage the land.
It is what it is and if the cattle ranchers and sheep producers who are upset about someone in Agriculture making money, then perhaps they should figure out a way to get the BLM to pay them for grazing the grass on BLM land.
Jinx was four weeks old when I named her. Of the whole litter, she was the one no one wanted, but I did. I was there the moment she was born at 8:30 PM and I held her, marveling at this future streak of lightning and what her life would be like. I was there the moment she left this life too, heartbroken and sobbing uncontrollably.
The litter Jinx was born in was all sitting on command by the end of 5 weeks. Five little black and white fuzz balls wiggling for a treat. Of all the pups, Jinx had a tail that was curled up tight that was straight up and down. Her littler mates Hank and Jill each had curly tails that curled to the right or left. When we walked down the dirt road, Jinx was always in the middle, the pup with the tail that curled right was on the right and the other with the left curling tail was on the left. It didn’t matter when we walked, they were always that way.
Jinx was a jumper. The first time she jumped into my hands was from the couch. By the time she was 11 months old, she was able to launch from 12 feet away, into my arms. I never will forget the time she overshot and flew over my left shoulder. Not sure who was more shocked, her or me. That jumping came in handy when she needed to jump into a pen to help or get across a creek to stop the goats.
She loved to run and run she could! Many times she wanted out of the pickup just before we got home so she could ‘race’ me home on our dead end road. That quarter of a mile was clocked at 35 mph and she loped beside me like she was just getting warmed up. When she ran, she looked as if she was moving in slow motion but in reality, her long stride allowed her to cover the ground with ease. The other dogs were spinning their wheels to keep up and could never catch her. She outran the horses, cattle and goats with easy, as if she was playing games with them.
I don’t know how many times this dog scared me half to death. Four times she was mouth-to-mouth with badgers and lived to smile about it. Her only wound was a small cut in her tongue that she had the rest of her life. She made my heart skip beats when she jumped out of the pickup to chase deer. After the third time, I learned to keep her window half up. The time the horse kicked her when she was 8 months old, I ran to her, believing she was dead, only to just get to her and she raised her head up and looked around like, “Wow! What happened?”
Those who knew Jinx, knew better than to approach me with my back turned. She would run at them with this wicked bark, warning them that they would have to get past her to get to me and most knew from her sound, they didn’t want to attempt a try.
We had a period of separation. Three weeks she was with my friend Penny, while Jinx recuperated from a cellulitis while I was on the road. She had only been home again with me 24 hours, when I found out my parents were in a car wreck and Penny had to take all 4 dogs for six weeks. Jinx never recovered from that trauma and for the rest of her life, I had to take her with me to most of the events I attended, including cowboy poet gatherings or meetings. I too had separation anxiety from Jinx. She was never able to get bred because I called the breeder 4 times in 40 minutes to check on her and by the Second day, the breeder told me to bring Joy and come get Jinx.
When her sister, Joy’s puppies arrived, Jinx was curious but distant until the pups were up and wandering the yard. Fly took up with her aunt and when we gathered the goats each night, Fly was following Jinx and when the pup got too close to the goats, Jinx would turn to the pup and let her know she needed to back off. To this day, Fly hesitates to take the right flank of the herd because that is and was Jinx’s position. Fly learned much from Jinx and for that, I will always see Jinx in Fly as this young dog takes over as the lead dog.
It was the night I named Jinx that I received the scar on the tip of my nose. As a four-week-old, I held her on my chest while I was in my recliner. She hadn’t been named and I was going through all the J names I could think of and then I remembered the robot on from the movie “Space Camp” was called Jinx. When I said the name, her ears perked up. So I fell asleep with her on my chest and at midnight, the little devil grabbed my nose with those puppy sharp teeth, to play. Blood was everywhere but Jinx wanted to play. Every night since then, at midnight, she would come to me, climb on my chest and gently grab my nose to play our little game of ‘bite face’, where I would gently bite her nose and she would do the same to mine. I will miss this game.
Jinx by Elaine O’Brien
Her ability to know what I was thinking made working livestock easier. I could tell her to go find the goats and she could bring them back by herself, even when they were over a mile from home. You can’t ask for a better dog. She was like lightning and was around the goats. She learned hand signals because she could get far enough away to see but not hear me. Those hand signals came in handing when she lost her hearing.
I could go on about this amazing dog but I am starting to cry again. The following is the a poem I wrote about my Border Collies and now two of the dogs that are mentioned in it are gone but never forgotten.
Border Collies
“Get around them.” I said, and she flew out of sight,
A black and white streak that ran into the night.
The goats had escaped and all scattered,
But with Jinx in control, she’d catch them n o matter.
Her speed like the lightning, her skill beyond measure,
I smiled with pride at my wonderful treasure.
She stopped their escape and gathered them in,
She sat beside me, looked up and grinned.
No greater value, no better friend.
I can’t brag enough about my border collie,
She is worth more than gold and all the world’s coffee!
She’s constantly awaiting my command or a pet,
Is she my life? That you can bet.
Her sister is Joy, another true treasure,
She works much slower but is getting much better.
Jinx uses speed and pressure to herd,
Joy uses her eyes to control the herd.
Together they bring the herd back home
And together they help me, wherever we roam.
The old dog, she sat back and watched it all,
Miss Allie the dog that started it all.
This old gal, a while back did depart,
But the memories and love will forever fill my heart.
The puppy that follows Joy and Jinx,
The next generation and she knows how to wink!
Fly is her name; she has a great future,
Her daddy’s a champion and he’s a good teacher.
What would I do without my border collies?
I hate to think of that by golly.
To most, Jinx was ‘just a dog’ to me, she was an extension of me and part of my life that I can never get back but I can marvel and smiling, believing that God gave me this dog to get a taste of unconditional love that only a human body can understand, because God’s unconditional love for us is so great our human bodies cannot fathom it. I can also hope that one day, that beautiful dog that God created will be waiting for me, when I cross over to the other side.
It is one of those things we in the feed lot industry don’t talk about much but it does happen. This week a video surfaced of Kansas feed lot animals that had died and were being piled up. Not just a few but THOUSANDS of cattle. Conspiracy theories, misinformation, accusations of abuse and lots of Bull Feces is being spread. Let me Educate the uneducated city slickers who want to blame or spread BS.
The cattle that died in that video were all black hide and haired. Black absorbs a lot of heat any way and a fat animal of 1500 pounds or more just stresses easier in heat. Cattle are basically in ideal temps between 50 and 75 degrees. But turn the heat up to 90 or above and add high humidity and no breeze to cool them down and they start to stress. Cooler night temperatures usually help the animals deal with the heat of the day. Also, the temps prior to the heat up were in the 80s and the animals weren’t adjusting to the heat because it went from cool to hot in less than 24 hours). Add to t his a micro burst of heat at 10PM instead of temperatures dropping and it is a perfect storm.
Let’s look at some of the situation in Western Kansas. There was cooler temps, then some rain and then high temps with no wind. It is like living in a sauna! A human can only take so much of a situation like this, but a fat beef can handle it to a point. That point was reached when the night temperatures spiked over 103! There was no relief at night. But then again, that adjustment from cool to hot was not over a period of time it was one day cool next day too hot.
When I worked in the feed yards, I saw something like this happen. I started the day by being told to get the payloader and haul the deads out of pen 13. When I got to the pen, there were 23 dead, some were laying as if they fell asleep and never woke up. I started by putting a dead in the payloader bucked and chaining 2 others to the bucket and hauling them out. This was at 7:30 AM. By 9 AM, I could only haul one animal at a time because they have cooked from inside out and were decomposing rapidly. Yes it was as awful as it sounds and the smell stayed in my nose all day. By quitting time I was halfway through picking up all the deads and I ran from my payloader to my pickup in tears, drove home and promptly dumped a half bottle of bleach on my head in the shower to get rid of the smell.
The next day I continued to haul dead animals to the place I would spend the following day digging a huge pit that was over 12 feet deep, 75 feet long and 22 feet wide, all the while the pile of deads lay decomposing, melting down all their bodily fluids right beside the pit. I went through a lot of bleach that week and mentally I wasn’t dealing well. I drank a lot of beer that week, trying to forget.
City folks don’t know what cowboys and cowgirls go through to produce your beef. It is, as with all animal species in agriculture an emotional ride at times. Disease, toxins in feed, extreme weather and just years that want to kill animals off for little or no reason. The producers, whether in feed yards or ranches, fight every day to keep the animals going and some just die in spite of everything we do. Someone asked if the animals that died had all their vaccinations! Honey, vaccinations wouldn’t stop an animal from dropping dead from the perfect heat storm or a massive blizzard that rages for days on end. Oh, we forgot about all the feed yard animals dying in blizzards don’t we? Because that makes sense but 128 degree heat indexes are something that animals shouldn’t die from. Forgive my sarcasm folks, I am offended by stupid people who don’t know, they just have no clue. Yet they want to blame the ranchers or cowboys for not taking care of the animals! Well I have some very nasty choice words that translate simple to: “Go screw the pooch! You have no clue what you are talking about!”
That situation in the feed yard was years ago but my mind still remembers the smell, the heat, the flies and the cowboys and cowgirls who fought to haul water, tried to cool the animals off and who were force to watch as MOTHER NATURE cruelly killed the fat cattle in pen 13. It isn’t something we talk about or brag about but thousands of animals do die this way.
That person who posted the video should be hung out to dry. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an animal rights extremist that was planted at that feed yard to find something like this happening. They often set up in dairies to find something to skew and make up or set up when the owners aren’t watching but this is something that no human could ever set up. No, this was Mother Nature at her worst. Sprinkler systems would only add to the humidity. Shades are an option and some feed yards have them but the normal 14mph winds they usually have would rip them to shreds. They did put light colored bedding down to reflect heat but it was not going to save those that died.
What needs to happen now? Pray for those involved with the clean up efforts. It is not pleasant and the heat always makes things worse. If you can, share this post and maybe just maybe those who want to say this is conspiracy or animal neglect MIGHT understand. I hope I can at least educate some of those out there willing to listen. This was not a deliberate kill off of livestock and it was not enough to affect the food chain. The government MIGHT provide some financial assistance to the producers who had the losses but I doubt it. Insurance for livestock is expensive for just t his reason, so I doubt there was any insurance. This was a major loss for the producers but unless the meat packers take advantage of the situation and jack prices up higher, you probably won’t see a shortage of beef. Thank God.
June 10, 2022, the Agricultural World lost one of the greatest AGvocates, humorists/cowboy poets; Baxter Black, former large animal veterinarian. He was a true friend in every sense, always ready to listen and his laughter made you feel good. It has been said that in the United States, you cannot make a living as a poet. But Baxter was not only a poet, he was a COWBOY POET and a heck of a good one at that! He made a successful life selling his books, CD’s, DVD’s, weekly columns and comments. His words were true gold.
As a young cowgirl poet, I was unsure of myself, my writing and asked Baxter to critique my work. He refused. He then told me that my audience was the ones who would tell me if my work is good and that his opinion wasn’t important. But it was to me. I later realized that he did like my work, because he would occasionally call me to find out what misadventure I had found myself in and if I had written any more poetry. In a way, he was a “special” audience, silently cheering me on and looking back I think he was my greatest fan. He had a way of bringing out my best poetry, just by the few words we spoke between us.
I remember his last Kansas performance. The county fair at St. Francis, Kansas had booked him. That was a wet year out there and a thunderstorm had postponed the show and most of us waited almost 2 hours for him to perform. It was worth the wait! Even though he was tired, he took the time to visit with everyone after the show and then he sat down with me as I asked for advice. It was nearly midnight and he still had to drive to his motel but he took that time to speak with me. I will never forget that evening, the visit and the words of advice. To this day, his book, “Lessons from a Desperado Poet” goes with me where ever I go, just like my Bible. His inscription “Stay Strong” means more to me than just what the words do. From time to time, when we visited on the phone or via email, I told him about the arrows I was shooting into the sky, a lesson I took from that book. He would laugh and I could tell he hadn’t really expected me to take his book so seriously, but it has been a huge influence on my writing.
Baxter was a living legend in my opinion. He made cowboy poetry fashionable to listen to when NPR took him on for his wit and common sense. RFD-TV shows his videos. His articles in ag magazines and papers were the first thing I looked for, before I read the rest. Yeah, he was important to me and to many others like me who are just getting our feet in the cowboy poetry pool.
From time-to-time, I would visit on the phone or exchange emails with his wife Cindy Lou and his office assistant, Vikki. They like Baxter have that same “everyone is a friend” personality. I am truly heartbroken for those family members and former employees who worked with him daily. I can only imagine how fun it was to be in that office. OH, to be a fly on the wall! I am sure their loss is great and I pray that God’s Peace that Passes all understanding will envelope them and hold them as Baxter’s passing although we knew it was coming, is still so hard to accept.
Baxter was a Godly man and it showed. He will be missed on this earth and I envy all those who are up beyond those Pearly Gates because not only did another Saint join the Heavenly Realm, they are laughing and enjoying stories and poems that Baxter wrote! It makes me impatient to get there myself. It seems I have more mentors and good cowboy friends already “UP THERE.”
To my dear friend, mentor and greatest encourager: Baxter, you will be dearly missed. I am not sure how long it will be, but I WILL see you on the other side!
You may have noticed that my posting is becoming less frequent. There are reasons. As things heat up temperature wise, I am getting ready to get on the road with the Barnyard Weed Warriors. I am hoping that my summer is uneventful. I prefer quiet jobs with a few visitors and no escaping goats! I will try to get a few comments written but it will be a challenge to write with just a smart phone. I ain’t that smart and a phone is a challenge for me.
Things to remember and to do during the summer.
1. Continue to fight the 30×30 land grab, educate everyone you can. Same goes for the National Heritage Areas.
2. Keep after our Kansas legislators to protect us from the Federal government.
3. Go to Commission & School board meetings, and hold them to the fire.
4. Go to church and PRAY for out country!
5. Enjoy the family & friends.
6. Enjoy Kansas and our wonderous country full of beauty that God created.
Yesterday the pro-abortionists went mental when a leak from the Supreme Court showed that the Court was about to reverse the Roe v Wade decision of the 1970’s. While I believe every woman should have a choice, they need to understand that once a choice has been made and if a child has been conceived, then that child’s life is just as important as hers and murdering that unborn child is not and should not be a choice!
Call me old fashion, call me anything you like, but you need to understand that this isn’t just a clump of cells. In agriculture, specifically the beef or dairy industries, we use artificial insemination and embryo transfers to improve the species in which we are working with. An embryo is harvested from donor mother and transferred into a recipient mother. This embryo has a value and in many cases are sold to other ranchers and farmers to improve their herds. Some of the most valuable genetics can be worth thousands and the person purchasing that ‘clump of cells’ knows that the dairy or beef animal they are purchasing as an embryo, if all goes well, will one day be a calf that will grow to be and adult cow or bull. A clump of cells in a woman’s uterus also has a value and it won’t be long before it is looking like a human.
We have people harvesting embryos to save for later implantation, these are future children. They have value. By aborting a future child, it is nothing short of murder. If you are in a car wreck and a pregnant woman’s unborn child is killed (unintended abortion) the person causing the wreck is often charged with murdering this baby. What is the difference between murdering a child by abortion or car wreck? A woman’s choice.
If a woman finds herself pregnant with an unwanted child, all she needs to do is wait 9 months, have the child and then give it up for adoption. If she took the time to spread her legs and give herself to a man, she has the time to finish that process and give birth. She can get paid for that child and she can go on her way. She can feel good that in spite of a bad situation, she gave life to a child that will be loved by adopting parents. In other words ladies, that Panty worm will bite, so make sure you are prepared for the consequences.
We have those who use the excuse of incest & rape as a good reason for abortion, whether it be a young girl or adult and while those are tragic situations that need to be addressed, a victim of those types of assaults can go get help immediately and medical facilities can take care of the victims to prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. I think we have the understanding that help is available and a woman or girl shouldn’t be scared to get help to prevent that possibility from ever happening.
The medical excuses for abortions are mute these days. I have visited with doctors who are in the know and they say that very few medical situations would force an abortion upon a pregnant woman. In most cases a woman would have a choice to decide and in many cases, the woman choses to keep the pregnancy and a child is born, just look at Tim Tebow as a good example. Then there is the grossly formed unborn that has little or no chance for survival situation. Generally these babies will either be naturally aborted or they die shortly after birth. Neither is a good situation and both are heartbreaking. Still, they deserve the chance and the odds are generally against them if they survive the birth. They still have a value.
The problem with abortion is that society has gotten so used to throwing away problems or situations and devaluing the human race that we have forgotten compassion and value of a child, whether born or not. California has passed legislation to allow the MURDER of a child after it is born, giving a parent up to 28 days to decide if they want to murder something they created!
Don’t get me wrong, I think a woman should have the choice to decide if she should spread her legs or keep them shut. It is plain and simple, there was a time when a woman didn’t freely give her body to a man until after she married him. I think we as a society should look at the value of such an idea. After all, most people who have never had sex before they are married usually don’t go bed hoping afterwards. That is called chastity and I think we could do more to promote that in society. It is after all the best way to prevent STD’s and it also promotes two parent homes and lowers the divorce rate.
Call me old fashion if you like. The federal government was wrong to pass Roe v Wade in the first place and I am glad to see the correction now. After all, look at all the black babies that were aborted since Roe v Wade passed. Look at how society has devalued a child since then. Let the pro-abortionists have their meltdowns, I see this as a victory for all those black children and other children that are yet to be born who now have the chance to live!
Educated Cowpuncher 