What a year to be in the cattle business! The rain this season was spectacular and it was a very good cattle market to boot. These back to back wet years and a good price for my stocker cattle is a rarity that is much appreciated. What I really want to convey to all you out there in “blog land” is the sheer beauty of every green growing thing on the ranch. All the trees have enthusiasm to make all their leaves bigger and brighter, and I’m sure their trunk growth rings will record for all the historians in the distant future, just what “yummy” means in the plant world. 

          When a person makes a decision to earn their living off the land one of the credentials that most people earn over time is pessimism. Because if you look hard enough at this yummy season it looks like the last rain was the most beneficial rain. Except, most of the Oak trees were in bloom and the rain and wind knocked nearly all of the blooms off so it might be a meager acorn crop. But, when I think about Mother Nature’s time schedule, if one oak tree that might live four or five hundred years is to produce only one mature offspring in all those centuries to be a success, then my concern about the upcoming acorn crop means nothing to nature. Though, it does have a near term effect on the food supply for many different species of wildlife that might suffer with a few hunger pangs. Jack, you had to find one insignificant ding in an otherwise great year to keep your pessimism alive. I do really like the bright side of life rather than the pessimistic side, so I will close by telling you all, that the Little Cholame Creek is still alive with clean clear water and all the Cottonwood trees are just about ready to send plentiful numbers of cottonwood seeds airborne. Some will land near water and their kind of soil and my pessimistic side will have to run and hide as thousands of infant Cottonwoods try to make the cut to become a full fledged, long lived, member of the Yummy world. 

                            See Ya, 

                              Jack