Hot Thursday

It was ten after 6 and I was finally headed to the ranch. I used one of the little two-year-old fillies to pen the roping cattle this morning and then cut the calves out. They were staying here. But the steers, they were headed back south. I was going to swap them out for some more roping calves. The penning and sorting went quickly, even in the dark. The loading was the hard part. The only loading chute of any kind is what is formed by one panel and the trailer gate. No problem most of the time. Not this time.

There's always one in the bunch. This one was actually a heifer, and she was white with some brendal stripes. She had screwing my early morning efforts up down to a fine art. She had two moves (1) Be the first in the trailer, wheel around and hook the other steers on her way back out while taking at least one with her (2) refuse to go in at all until the steers that were loaded decided to come on back out.

Enter Gus. Gus is my right hand man and appears in the top right hand corner of this website every now and then. He's worth his weight in gold. (even though he was half asleep in the truck bed this morning and i had to go get him) Anyway, once Gus realized that today his work day was going to start before we got to the ranch, he got after it. I just loaded the cooperating steers and let him have that d@&mn heifer while I went to pen the roping calves.

The calves were re-penned in no time and thrown in with the steers. The ones in the trailer were dropped back out and by this time, that white heifer was wanting to be somewhere else. I just loaded them all and cut the calves back out from inside the trailer. Done. Finally. Ridiculous. It's 5 freakin 30 in the morning and I'm soakin' wet. The dog days of summer are upon us.

So I head inside to change clothes. I load up Bugzy and Senorita and head south.

I was a little late so Morgan had already gotten everything fed up at the house. We finished up the feeding rounds and then penned a set of bulls. We were branding again. Mick and Dick had a set of replacement heifers to be branded as well. We were going to try and get them all done before lunch. After the irons were hot (one Jh, one number 8 and one O-B) we started the machine. If you don't know what machine I'm talking about check out this post for pictures and this post for a description.

Anyway, we got it done.

After lunch we caught up the '08 fillies from the Murphy. It was time to brand them as well. There was just one problem.

They were a little wet.

The news said 105 with a heat index at 115.

Well, sweat, or rain (which we haven't had to worry about) creates a problem when branding, especially with horses. It's also more of an issue when you're dealing with barely halter broke yearlings that you know are going to fret a little which will cause them to sweat even more. The brand won't run, but when first placed on the hide, the iron will slide putting the brand where you don't want it. Or worse, burning a spot here and there. So we decided to wait until it cooled off a bit.

One hour later, it's 102. It's not going to get any cooler until midnight. Our breeze just wasn't coming.

We went and got them and got it done. Slowly. When these kinds of situations come up, and they come up ALOT down south, you can't just wait. Hell, we'd never get anything done. You just have to slow down - Calm diligence.

Always press the limits - But at a walk.

Truth

Happy Memorial Day!

Please remember the veterans and active military in your prayers. We are truly blessed to have soldiers such as these protecting our freedom. Special thanks to:

Dr. Allen Lasiter
Louis Balas
Joe Biancalana
Morgan O'Brien
Stoney Portis

Several days ago a great message was shared with me in the same time it took you to read this sentence. Sermons can run short, long or in between. Sometimes they're gripping, deep and even funny. Sometimes they're boring. You may rather be watching the big game. Guess what. . . the padre may also.

Well, this particular day was running slightly on the long side when the gem fell forth like a star in the night sky.

"What is truth?" he asked rhetorically. Then he answered, "When you let the spirit guide you. . . The result, is truth."

I spent the rest of the mass thinking about that statement. That statement, and a couple of friends of mine. Stoney and Alison Portis. They take Christ by the hand and walk through life. The spirit guides them and the result is Truth. True dedication. True faith. True friendship and True love.

Stoney is a Captain in the United States Army. Alison is a serial entrepreneur. The nature of her passion coupled with military travel arrangements creates the need for her to launch her career in intervals. See, she's a photographer - an extremely talented photographer. And with the assistance of her business minded husband, she's usually grabbing market share before her new neighboring photographers even know she's there.

OK, so he's military and she's a photographer. How does that make them so special. It doesn't. Christ does.

As the supplanter at the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority the summer of 2002, it seems that Stoney's military training at West Point was already paying off. When Alison met her field replacement, the whirlwind started. She got the bad end of a summer gig and loved every minute of it. Time would see her to New York City as often as she could get there as she traveled from College Station and her home in Seguin to see Stoney at West Point.

Stoney graduated from West Point in May 2004 with a degree in international relations. He has been trained as a cavalry reconnaissance scout and has been a platoon leader, executive officer (second in command of a company) and staff officer. He proposed to Alison in February of 2006. She graduated from Texas A & M University in May of 2006. The couple were married in July of 2006 and Stoney deployed to Iraq October of 2006. He was gone until January of 2008.

I could try to explain their marrital success despite their lifestyle, but I couldn't do it justice. I recently contacted them to get permission to write this post and to get a little info from them. This is what Stoney had to say about Alison:

• Alison makes the sacrifices for our family and our country... not me.


• I deploy away to Iraq or Afghanistan to do my part as a soldier for a year at a time. She accepts the fact that I'm gone, not always necessarily understanding what I'm doing or why I'm doing it.


• I feel called to serve the military, she never asks why or tries to talk me out of it; instead, she is patient, supportive, and prayerful.


• I'm given orders to move every couple of years to a new military base to fill a new position or receive training for progression. While I'm consumed with the new job, she's busy making a house a home, finding a new network of professionals and friends, and restarting her photography business.

Alison is more of a friend than I could ever ask for, an angel of a wife and a gifted photographer. I define a photographer as someone who captures a moment of significant importance. Alison is certainly that by trade, but she is also that as my wife and best friend. She's captured my heart and filled my life with memories covered with smiles.

Not a word about his military activity, nothing about his rank. Not even one sentence discussing the heritage of West Point. Stoney will deploy again soon. Details won't be shared here, but please pray for him and his lovely bride. Nothing in his return email mentioned that either. His love for the Lord, Alison, and Country. That's it. This is a man with his priorites in order. A man lead by the Spirit.

His bride is no different. Here's what Alison had to say about Stoney:

Stoney has always been so supportive of my passion for photography, and I am truly thankful for that.

Looking back at how Stoney and I met, our time spent courting and the engagement, every single day we are blessed with as husband and wife, I realize that I fall more and more in love with him every single day. He has a huge heart. He cares so much for me, for his family, friends, and soldiers. Stoney is such a hard worker. He puts countless hours toward his work...a job he truly feels called to do. I know he's the best at what he does. There is no doubt in my mind that he can't accomplish anything he put his mind to... I love that he puts the Lord first. I love that he is an amazing, loving, Christian husband. He is my spiritual leader. That's more than I could ever ask for.

Being in the military we have to both be committed to his service. We feel it's a calling. Deployments suck (to put it bluntly), but we know that it's what we are called to do. I think being apart ( while, of course, we would much rather be together) makes us that much stronger. Through the last deployment we learned that every moment we are able to spend together is so precious. We try not to ever take those moments for granted. Stoney always makes life interesting... I love that!

So, what is Truth. Christ is the Truth. He is the Way and the Life. These guys have it figured out. What's number one in your life? Do you trust in the Spirit to guide you always?

Stoney's response when asked about the importance of military service:

The most important thing to me about my military training is what I got inscribed on the inside of my ring when I graduated from West Point: Isaiah 6:8 - Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying 'Who will go for us? Whom shall I send?' and I said here am I Lord, send me!

That's what this is all about to Ali and me (and always has)... the service. Service to country, soldiers, family and friends.

WORD.


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Further Reading:

• Read Stoney's poignant comment on The Journey.


• Check out Alison's photography.


• Please visit Alison's Blog and leave comments.

Dedication

Hal is a calf roper. He meets a good friend of his at least once a week and they trot out into the pasture to the arena and rope calves. A couple years back, Hal was given a son of the great Doc O Dynomite by Mr. John Scott. This horse was the real deal. No amount of money could touch him. And he knows it. You can see it in his eyes. He's one of the great ones, but he has nothing to prove. His new job is to take care of Hal. And he does.

Hal works hard. He recently told a good friend of mine that he just couldn't get to those calves like he wanted to be able to so he started running wind sprints in the mornings. He practices every week. And tries to make a calf roping every weekend.

That horse he's got makes it look easy. You can see that he knows that he is one of the great ones. But he just cruises out there and lets Hal rope. He puts those smaller calves on the ground for him so he doesn't have to get them up. He can just tie them down right there.

You see, Hal is 78 years old. His buddy that ropes with him every week is rollin by 80. They'd rope every day they say, but it hurts too bad.

Now I've seen Hal get down the rope, and I can't imagine how long that set of wind sprints takes him in the morning. ;)

But, that's not the point. Dedication. That's the point. Planning like we'll live forever and living like we may die tomorrow.