Enjoying The Little Things

Summer is here. A typical summer day at the ranch goes like this: rise and shine around 6:30 a.m. usually with a "sleep over" or two. We're haying; swathing alfalfa, baling and raking, swathing canola and preparing for wheat harvest. This year I've lost my raking position to the grandsons. I walk over to the office and work on renewing Indian leases which makes me want to pull my hair out. I listen to my dad recount his night; lightening struck his house and knocked him out of bed. Four grandkids circulate through the office as I try to make our church bank deposit. Our oldest son was in the emergency room last night with a 103.4 temp, he calls to recount his night. Between phone calls I try to do an inventory on our cattle herd. Our health insurance has increased 17% so try to figure out what to do there. Around 10:30 I slip out of the office back to the house with the four little ones trailing me...they're hungry...again (I am blessed with Linda, our great secretary, otherwise I couldn't make these routine escapes.) Before I whip up lunch, the crew wants to show me their "new fort" the one in the horse pasture. We all climb aboard the golf cart for the grand tour. Through the eyes of a child (which I see 20/20)it's perfect---complete with rusty springs,old chairs, buckets, rasps- anything of value that could be drug easily from the ranch dump. Then back to the house. A mother coon bore her young behind our fireplace insert, and a mother swallow has hatched her young on my back porch. We can't get to the coons, and I don't have the heart to knock the swallow's nest down, plus watching the 6 homely smiling faces peaking over their nest gives my little guys something to oooh and aaahh over before entering the house. I slip in several links to my ExPOSE HSUS site, download some pictures from our Pilot Party for Brad (he got his pilots license last week and we celebrated Sunday evening with all the family coming over for Mexican Fiesta. By 5:00 p.m. it's time to take a three and four year old to their tee ball game in their hometown twenty miles away. At the game I watch an outfield brawl, the three year old sister tackles her four year old brother in an attempt to recover the ball. High shrill screams pierce the evening air as brother comes up with the ball...they're on the same team. It was a perfect end to a perfect summer day