I look up from my journal and follow Daisy’s gaze out the window. The sun is just starting to set. The fields are empty as the last steer is gone the way of steers. Families will be happy at the dinner table as a result. A new batch of young stuff will be here in a month or so. Hopefully. the grass will be back by then and there won’t be a need for much hay. It’s been cold, but today is warm. Daisy needs a job to do. The armadillo family that lives in the woods back of the house agrees. They are tired of being chased and rounded up. Chasing a ball isn’t the same, I guess. Oh, she does it, but it’s clear that it’s a poor substitute.
I look back at my journal. The page is filled with ideas. Things I believe in. Goals. Hopes. Dreams. There’s too many places I want to go. Too many campuses. Too many students looking for answers to important questions. The right answers. Because what we believe about some things is the most important thing.
Now she’s at my side, nudging my elbow. When that doesn’t do it, she’ll climb up and lick my ear. That usually does the trick. I get up before that this time and we walk outside. A north wind is blowing. Cool, off some far away mountain slope. It smells a little like rain. That would be good. Rain is always good in cattle country. I wonder what goings on this wind has passed on it’s way south.
Back at my desk, Daisy on her mat in the corner, I make a decision about what I’m going to do, tomorrow.