Category: Musings
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May is for Shearing
Sheep Shearing in South Dakota
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Mom’s Eden
Mom’s tomato plants —she gets mad when I eat the pretty white powder she sprinkles on the leaves. I like helping mom plant seeds. She puts them in my palms. I poke my tiny index finger in the soil to make homes for each seed. Sometimes I eat the seeds and get distracted by the…
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How I got my name
I get asked this question all the time. It has a lot to do with a red New Holland Combine. In the 1980’s farm crisis, land was dirt cheap. Ag land values plummeted, and interest rates soared. Many farmers and ranchers couldn’t make payments on ag loans. Creditors took possession of family farms and ranches…
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I would make a poor matador.
Last Saturday I checked into the unconscious hotel for minute or two. I was just starting to enjoy my stay, flying in the clouds, when I awoke to a mouthful of dirt. My dad was holding my head, mumbling desperate prayers to Jesus, asking me if I knew where I was. “The ranch?” I heard…
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Women Ranchers
Three reasons why I didn’t think I could be a rancher
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Melting point poetry – for the spiritually frozen
Melting point Help me let you melt me –When I can’t feel –When thick layers of apathy cover an ocean of living water.I’m sick of skating atop the surface–Pretending I’m walking on waves. I’ve tried to break the ice myself –simulated religious experience to no effect.–preached about the sea while frozen solid.My angry axe never…
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Why I don’t go fishing : an extended metaphor
When academia isn’t enough
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Divine Invitation
I believe God is revealed in nature. That’s one of the ways God revealed Himself to me about 5 years ago. Riding out on the ranch by myself, I couldn’t escape God’s glory. It seemed to shout at me through these giant skies; His existence became so obvious to me, that I couldn’t keep enjoying…
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Packing
Lately, I have this anxious feeling. It’s like I’m about to miss a flight—spending too much time packing, rushing around making sure I pack all the right things for my trip to the future. Meanwhile, I never actually board the plane because I can’t pack perfectly. This reminds me of a trip my friends and…
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Sheep are Generous Creatures
Some people don’t like to work with sheep. I don’t blame them. They can be infuriating little creatures, especially if you’re trying to herd them. They’re always getting themselves in some kind of trouble it seems (There’s a reason why us humans are compared to sheep so much in the Bible). On the ranch we…