Farm & Ranch
Tooth Ferry
Baxter Black, Syndicated Columnist
I lost a tooth today. The molar on the northwest side next to my only wisdom tooth that ever came in. Which explains why sometimes I go over the edge of common sense. I mean, how many wise men would pass a policeman on a double yellow line, pass up an opportunity to invest in USTRC at its beginning, and put Brown Swiss bulls big as box cars in with a pen of replacement heifers?
I was born with no teeth ... Really. And four of the permanents never came in. It’s genetic because my father and uncles were missing lateral incisors. We were born to take a bit. I asked my dentist if I was evolving up or down the food chain? He said people’s jaws were getting smaller and we don’t need as many teeth as Adam and Eve, therefore I was in the fast lane!
Which reminds me, I also got a ticket for going too slow in the fast lane in California.
I mentioned my kinfolks. I confess, by the time I was old enough to pay any attention to my dental history, they’d already lost all their teeth and wore dentures. They were raised pre- “fluoride-in-the-water” and “in-the-toothpaste.”
I’ve often wondered if we had lived in Lubbock more than two years, maybe I’d have stronger teeth? There was so much fluoride in that Texas panhandle water kids rarely had cavities. Although, the fluoride turned their teeth brown. A small price to pay.
A kind word about dentists, they are a misunderstood profession. I have friends who compare dental work to water boarding, but not I! Look at what they have accomplished improving the condition of teeth in the U.S.A., and all without appointing a Dental Czar!
I go to the dentist to relax. Maybe it’s the chair, or the music, or the smell of burning hair ... whatever, just wake me when it’s over. That’s how I felt after I received two tickets for speeding between El Paso and Alamogordo. Two days in a row. One going, and one coming back.
An older couple sat at the cafe counter in Hooper, Neb. He had a hamburger cut in half on his plate. His sweet wife sat next to him, patiently with nothing in front of her. A stranger walked in, observed, and in a moment of generous compassion offered to buy the missus her own burger.
“No, thank you,” the old man said smiling, “We share everything.”
The stranger went and washed his hands. Upon returning his heart swelled and he offered again.
“Thank you, but no,” answered the old man. “As I said we share everything.”
The frustrated stranger turned to the sweet lady. “Wouldn’t you like your OWN hamburger?”
“Thanks anyway, Sonny. I’m waiting for the teeth!”
u
Black may be reached at e-mail coyotecowboy@theriver.com. Columns submitted to The Weatherford Democrat by guest writers reflect the opinions of the writer and in no way reflect the beliefs or opinions of The Weatherford Democrat.
- Farm & Ranch
-
-
Planned grazing course with Kirk Gadzia this April in Fort Worth
FORT WORTH — Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers and Holistic Management Texas team up to offer a new “Planned Grazing” course at the Will Rogers Memorial Center April 21-25.
The emphasis for this five-day course will be on grazing planning, but instructor Kirk Gadzia will cover rangeland monitoring, financial planning and land planning as well. The content will be relevant to both managerial and operational level employees, with varying levels of formal education. There will be a lands-on Learning aspect if weather permits. Class runs from 8am to 4:15pm each day. -
One more for the tourists
Moira and Clive, British tourists, had taken in the Arkansas attractions of Eureka Springs, the Chuck Wagon races in Clinton, the sale barn in Green Forest, and now found themselves in Fort Smith for the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association Trail Drive.
-
Cowboy ingenuity
Cowboys are nothing if not ingenious. It takes that sort of out-of-the-box mentality to allow them to solve the myriad of problems that arise when you combine horse, cow and rope!
-
Local wins at San Antonio Stock Show
SAN ANTONIO — The Junior Market AOB Steer Show was held Feb. 19, at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.
Taylor Cody won the honor of Breed Champion AOB with her 1334 pound steer. -
Olympic distraction
You know the inmates have taken over the asylum when you’re turning to PETA as the voice of reason! These are the animal rights extremists who compared eating chicken to the Holocaust, compared the murdering cannibal Jeffery Daumer to butchering hogs, and once proclaimed that it would be great if Foot and Mouth Disease infected animals in the U.S.
-
Scholarships awarded to Parker County youth
SAN ANTONIO — Cade Hansma and Alannah Chalmers of Weatherford, and Jens Rudibaugh of Poolville, were the recipients of scholarships from the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo at this year’s horse and llama shows.
-
Jake working overtime
In an effort to make managing the 20 section ranch more efficient, the boss bought Jake a Ranger, a four-wheel drive muscle car ATV.
-
Local student wins at Fort Worth Stock Show
FORT WORTH — Dylan Mask, a 4-H member from Weatherford, exhibited a First Place Medium Weight Hampshire Barrow in the Junior Barrow Show at the 2010 legendary Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo Feb. 4. J
-
Local youth wins Calf Scramble at Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo
FORT WORTH — Jacob Sheffield of Weatherford, Texas, a Perrin FFA member, was among the winners in the Calf Scramble event during the Feb. 4 evening performance of the Rodeo at the 114th edition of the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show.
-
Harry and the hog
Many of us took a meats course in college or have dressed wild game and have a basic understanding of how it gets from the pasture to the plate. Harry is not one of us, in that regard.
- More Farm & Ranch Headlines
-
Planned grazing course with Kirk Gadzia this April in Fort Worth
