aggieI expect all would agree, he was a good man. History records it and his family certainly would attest to it. In fact every animal on earth benefitted from his monumental act of good will. He was a hard worker. He provided for his family. He took ridicule from his neighbors but persevered and did the right thing. He protected his family. Even when that first drop of moisture fell from the sky, he persevered. A little odd he might have been but by golly was he ever a lover of animals and a boat maker extraordinaire. And who could not think of this man the last few (ok, a bunch) of rainy days lately? And in light of Father’s Day coming up, I thought I’d pay homage to the man.

Though the endless falling of raindrops did make me think of Noah a few times over the course of the last few months, it was what he did that struck me. No, not the building of the ark, though that was a crazy task he could check off his bucket list. Nor was it his attune arborist (knowledge of trees) skills knowing what gopher wood was. Sidenote: Ask me sometime the response I received when, one day bored from the rain, I got on the phone and started calling lumber suppliers asking for gopher wood, what responses I heard! You would chuckle too! What made the greatest impact on me was how so many pitched in to help each other. I am always disappointed when folks do some of the meanest things to each other but oh how refreshing it was the last few weeks to see neighbors helping neighbors. From scenes out of Van, as the destruction became clear, what I saw over and over was how many wanted to help. Did you see the lines of cars and trucks trying to get “in” the area to help? And the dollars raised to help strangers? WOW. Or the herd of cattle that had to be rescued out of the flooded pastures? How many showed up on horseback and trailers to get them to higher ground? Many just strangers offering help. So though we may have been blessed with rain, I am glad to see that we continue to be blessed with the good will of man.

So maybe we not just thank our dads in a few weeks, maybe we find a way to extend our appreciation to others who are out there helping, just cause. Thank you dads and “thank you”!

WAIT…. Holy cow do I get distracted. Maybe my brain is still water logged. I almost forgot to mention a couple of important dates for us all. Knowing that with the delay of getting hay cut, everybody’s days will be packed during the coming weeks. So to accommodate that our Cattle Workshop will be in the evening rather than a luncheon. June 25 at 6:30 pm in our barn we are thrilled to have Dr. Cleere as our speaker. Dr Cleere is a professor at Texas A&M (WHOOP! Sorry, but the title of my blog is “Advice from an Aggie”) and is the coordinator of the school’s largest Animal Science event all year, The Beef Course. Seating is limited and we encourage you to RSVP as soon as possible. The evening will be entertaining, fun and more than informative as we discuss the cattle industry and current trends and topics. Too, dinner is always good!

Have a super June and see you soon!