Guest Blog

It is hard to believe that once again I am here with another whole year in the rearview mirror. I would really like to pull over into the right lane or even the shoulder for a while and get out of the passing lane. Time seems like it keeps building up speed and passing faster and faster all the time. Needless to say, 2015 was a blur.

It’s been almost two years since I became a ranch hand. Taking nonstop orders from my husband has been – how shall we say? – a bit of an adjustment. After all, I grew up on this ranch. I knew my way around. I just hadn’t been home a lot lately thanks to the town job, so perhaps I was a little out of date. And it’s not like I questioned his authority. Much.

This is a monumental week at our house. Yes, basketball practice starts, but that is not it. We should have everything buttoned down and in place for the winter, and while that makes me happy, that is not it either. This week, Wednesday to be exact, Jennifer and I celebrate 20 years of wedded bliss. OK, so it has been 20 years of wedded bliss farmer-style.

You have probably played that children’s game where the first person tells a short story and one by one it is shared down the line until the last person hears a completely different story than the original. This is the issue with production agriculture.

When I was 6 years old, we got a pair of lambs. My dad built them a special shelter. I petted them, bottle fed them, put on little collars and broke them to lead. I would have slept with them if I could have snuck them past my mother and into the bedroom.

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. —John Milton