I pulled the kids into the cattle pen last Wednesday morning, where our Jersey, Pepper, was hanging out. She looked pretty darn close to calving, so I figured we could do a quick lesson on “calving signs.” Little did I know that she’d go into active labor just hours later—so what we were actually looking at was a cow very, very ready to calve.
A tremendous flood in South Central Texas in early July resulted in hundreds of fatalities. USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey says it was not one factor but a combination of several behind the sudden rain deluge and flash flooding.
I make a lot of jokes here at Beyond Reason. Some are at the expense of the game of pickleball. Some are the expense of the pickleball players. While I do try to make other jokes about other topics—bugs, potato salad, and, of course, gourds—heretofore, I’ve never attempted a single joke about the Dewey Decimal System.
After the fair wrapped up, the kids felt, well, a little lost. In the weeks leading up to it, their days were packed with training, washing, and grooming animals, plus finishing up projects and all of the entry work. Then suddenly, the fair was over, and they felt so strange with all the free time they now had.
The Horton Senior Center members had drinks and treats brought in by our members on Tuesday morning. Our president made a few announcements about upcoming events. Those of us that volunteered to help deliver shelf stable food boxes for Northeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging were reminded to be at the center at 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 24. Thank you to Mary Pat and Phillip Jeffery, Laura and Larry Paulsen, and Jerry Holsman and Mary Patterson for volunteering!
America believes in second chances. It’s the land of reinvention. The country that invented brunch, rebooted Batman eleven times, and gave Paul Giamatti a leading man phase. And now, it has done the impossible: turned a backyard barbecue game into a professional sport.
My oldest loves the beef project in 4-H. Two years ago, she raised a second-year bucket calf and got a solid introduction to raising and handling a bigger beef. Last year, she raised and trained her first market steer. Everything besides a bucket calf, including a market steer, is a beef that was raised by its momma, so not a tame thing, nor are they little. Last year’s market steer was picked straight from the herd, and there couldn’t have been a better first steer to raise. With her diligence in training, he ended up being quite the puppy dog. With this year’s steer, she helped with the picking. We chose a nicely built calf in the winter and brought him home to the corral containing my son’s second-year bucket calf. He was deemed “Arnold.”
The Horton Senior Citizens met on Tuesday, July 8 for Coffee Group followed by our monthly board meeting.
Germany is efficient. France is flirtatious. Canada apologizes for being in your way, even though I don’t know anyone on their way to the North Pole other than Will Steiger. But America? If you want to understand America, skip the textbooks or history lessons. At a distance, just observe the month of July.