Frank J. Buchman

Cowboy • Horseman • Writer

No Reason To Complain

People are never satisfied, and cowboys often seem to lead the complainers.

“It’s too dry, it’s too wet,  it’s too cold, it’s too hot, it’s too windy, it’s too still out….”

There’s no legitimate justification to complain about the weather now. With lushest prairie grass stirrup high, crops all emerald green and blue water in every pond, stream and draw, it’s a unique August weather wise.

Yet, just yesterday, somebody bellyached: “It’d sure be good to stop raining for a while, so we can get this haying finished.”

They’re exactly the same one who was fretting earlier in the year that there’d be no hay. And, the first one who’ll question if it’s “ever going to rain again,” when we’ve gone a week-and-a-half without a shower.

However, even louder comments of recent have been from town folks gripping about how fast their lawns are growing.

Reports of mowing more than once a week are common, and “the grass is so heavy the mower won’t even cut it.”

Moisture seems to be retained with high humidity adding to resistance, leaving grass bunches all across mown lawns.

While we’ve seen a couple of irrigation systems working, nobody’s watering their lawns, just talking about fast growth.

So, here we go, all of the truly great rains make not only the pasture and lawn yield. Weeds, intrusive brush, tree limbs, and sprouts are setting growth records, too.

Every tree in the yard has branching shoots, despite diligent pruning.  Even with livestock in them, corrals are overgrown with green plants, unpalatable or certainly not liked by the critters.

Locust trees we’d spent months hand clipping and chemical treating are all coming back as if fertilized and thicker than before.

Ever since attempting to keep grass, bindweed and morning glories from under woven wire fencing at the two-acre Frankie’s Miniature Ranch as a teenager, that’s always been our intent for ranch headquarters’ frontage.

After 45 years, with heavy prodding and ample reimbursement, finally the grandson with a new mechanical weed eater accompanied by a new push lawnmower was making progress on that personal objective for us.

Although not completely finished with the highway-view under fence grass and weed clearing, what was done first, now needs trimming again.

Reminds us of Philippians 2:14: “Do all things without grumbling and complaining and questioning.”

+++ALLELUIA+++

X–33–8-14-16

The Latest: