Neighbors

[Heel Fly]

With my dad having had a stroke this will be the first yr in, well ever that he has missed a branding. I mean EVER. One of my sisters called all paniced to see how we were going to manage. I had to laugh. My dad used to get so stressed about branding, like it was a do or die situation, he in turn passed it down to my siblings that branding had to be this huge ball of stress. I told my sister that that was the beauty about having neighbors as good as we do, they can gather,brand and ship your cattle and you don't even need to show up.
We are blessed with some of the best hands around. Sometimes we forget how good we have it, but I know that at any given time I can pick up the phone and call for help and someone will come running.
I never have figured out why our branding had to be such a stressful thing.It's a major part of ranching yes, but to me brandings are the payoff. It's when you get to gather as a rural community and catch up on all that you missed during the winter.
It's like the first spring flowers, once they bloom you forget how cold Jan. was!!!

 

[Tap]

Heel Fly,

Sorry to hear of your dad's health problems. I bet it is really tough on him and your family that he can't do the things he is used to doing. I can see you have your priorities in the right place though, so that probably makes things easier to get through. I look forward to branding each year, but it is more stressful to do it at your own ranch, when you have a big crew coming. When calves break back, or whatever might go wrong, it seems like a lot bigger deal than it does when you are at the neighbors.

Have a good one.

 

[Jinglebob]

You got it figured out Heel Fly.

I t6hink most people get stresses at their own brandings, for fear that they won't measure up ion some way.

When I quit worryin' about what the nieghbors might think, or say, life got a lot easier. :wink:

And we are like you. I could make one phone call and everything would would be taken care of for the next year. Good neighbors are what made this country and what still keep us going. As I tell people, there are a lot of SOB's around here, but they are good SOB's! :wink:

When we are 25 , we worry about what everyone thinks about us.

When we are 35, we worry about what we think of the neighbors.

When we are 45, we realize no one was thinking about us at all!

Or something like that. :lol:

 

[Faster horses]

Jinglebob, you have such a great way with words. Excellent advice, post, all of it!!!!

Mr. FH had just about taken the fun out of branding for me, because
he worried about it so much. Finally we have a place set up where we
can brand every year. I think he thought he had those portable panels
so he could set them up someplace else different every year. That's a big job and it isn't necessary here. Not anymore, anyway. We just bought some more panels and set them up permanetly this spring. Took the work out of it, and heck, when we're dead and gone, someone can sell the panels!!!

Sorry about your dad, Heelfly. It's hard on those old fellers to have to
give up what they have always done. With my dad, it was so hard for
him to give up driving his car. When his driving became too dangerous, he had the car parked at the assisted living home so he could look out and see it. Helped him somehow to know it was there if he needed to drive it. His lady friend had a fit about it being out there, but I felt it was best for dad. I asked him to promise me he wouldn't drive it on the highway and he promised. I don't think he drove it anywhere. He knew he couldn't and be safe, but with the keys in his jeans, he felt like he COULD.

 

[cert]

I've never had the pleasure of attending a branding. But I full well understand the need for good neighbors. I'd hope that someone would think of me as a good neighbor at some point.

The folks that I call neighbors are more than a hop skip and a jump away but if I was in a pickle, they'd be here fast as the truck could get them here.

 

[Hanta Yo]

With my dad having had a stroke this will be the first yr in, well ever that he has missed a branding. I mean EVER. One of my sisters called all paniced to see how we were going to manage. I had to laugh. My dad used to get so stressed about branding, like it was a do or die situation, he in turn passed it down to my siblings that branding had to be this huge ball of stress. I told my sister that that was the beauty about having neighbors as good as we do, they can gather,brand and ship your cattle and you don't even need to show up.
We are blessed with some of the best hands around. Sometimes we forget how good we have it, but I know that at any given time I can pick up the phone and call for help and someone will come running.
I never have figured out why our branding had to be such a stressful thing.It's a major part of ranching yes, but to me brandings are the payoff. It's when you get to gather as a rural community and catch up on all that you missed during the winter.
It's like the first spring flowers, once they bloom you forget how cold Jan. was!!!

Our prayers are to your dad, but your attitude about branding with the neighbors is sooooo true!!!! The first couple years we stressed, but now it is NO BIG DEAL and everyone is relaxed and we all have a good time gettin' the job done 'specially now we lease this ranch and own the cows 8) 8)