My Mom

My mother passed away July 29, 2009, after having been bed-ridden for a year as the result of a stroke in 2006 or so. This picture is from 2008, right before she went into the nursing home. I spent the last three days of my mom's life, along with my sisters and her husband, at her side.

I won't go into the all the profound thoughts about the mysteries of life and death this event has evoked in me. I will say that I am grateful for the kindness and compassion shown to me by friends, family, the LT Beef customers I was working with at the time of her death, and even strangers. This is still a tender time for me and my family, but I hope and intend that one outcome be my increased compassion for others who are suffering from any cause.

Local Beef?

About seven years ago I answered an ad in the local Cuero paper about free kittens. When I called, the cat owner told me he and his family would be out of town that day but come by and pick out a cat. He gave me directions and I drove to a beautiful ranch property, pipe fence galore, big in-ground swimming pool, and a bunch of friendly dogs. I picked out our cat now known as Mousemaster and have always appreciated this man's trust in strangers and the obvious good care he took of the livestock and pets in his charge.

This family recently opened a restaurant and meat market about twelve miles from us. Tom and I made it over for lunch today and the atmosphere was pleasant and the food the usual fare in small towns, all off the Benny ? truck that supplies all the ready to heat and serve food products. I thought that maybe their steaks would be good since they had found a market to sell their own beef.

That is not to be the case, however, as when we visited the meat market next door we were told that all the meat came from IBP . Which means my somewhat-distant neighbor sells his beef at a local auction, the animals are probably shipped hundreds of miles to a feed lot, and then on to IBP. So I guess its possible that some of the beef in the case is off his own ranch, but highly improbable. Like the man running the meat market told us, there are just no local processors around anymore, and even though one is rumored to have re-opened 50 miles away, getting organized to get it set up to sell their own local beef will take some doing.

Don't I know that!

Snake Wrangling 101

This morning, before coffee, I saw the wren nest that had been in a cubby on my porch on the ground, empty of its two young, still unfeathered, inhabitants.  My two cats, waiting to be fed, were my first suspects as to the cause of the loss.  Then I saw a snake wrapped around my hats, beneath the cubby.  No more mystery of the nestlings' fate; however, the parent wrens were quite noisy and dive bombing at me, as if I was the cause of the tragedy in their lives.

Not to miss an opportunity for excitement, I video taped my part in the matter (after milking the goats and feeding the chickens, of course.)

This is a five-minute video but does have an interesting ending!

Will have a post soon on my new goat management practices and its harmonic convergence with all things organic.  Check back soon!

Black Bull Exercise Program

Ariel is spending a week with me at the ranch while Joseph is doing a short summer semester at A & M Corpus Christi.  After completing morning chores (milking the goats, releasing the chickens, feeding the dogs, etc.) we were enjoying a cup of coffee and looking at some photos from our trip to Europe last month.

My next-door neighbor, an 83-year-old widow, called me to let me know our bull was in her pasture.  This neighbor, similar to all our other older neighbors, can be hell on cattle.  She takes no mercy on them, chasing them into the pens, letting them know in no uncertain terms that they will behave while under her command.  While all this is well and good, I have this pre-conceived notion that little old ladies (80ish) should not be climbing fences to dodge charging bulls.  So, when Trula told me she would pen my bull for me, Ariel and I got up, hooked the trailer to the truck and headed over.

She indeed did have the bull penned and Ariel and I were able to load him within a matter of minutes.  Trula let me in the chute with him to load him, so maybe she is slowing down a bit.  Anyway, Poindexter III is back home now.  

 

This is a good example of enforced exercise and lifestyle choice.  No doubt I would have been content to enjoy my coffee and browse the computer, do a little gardening later in the morning and do my goat work after I was "well rested."  But I got an extra hour of exercise today, which included fence climbing and being generally active, exercise that I would not have gotten had I had my old desk job or even had my 3-day-a-week gym membership.

If I can keep at this, maybe one day I'll be an 80-ish little old lady capable of putting these bulls in their proper place.