The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

The shiny new four wheel drive pickup rolled into the yard. As Rancher Smith walked up to the driver’s side window he was greeted by a big jovial smiling face. “Howdy, I’m your new neighbor across the...

I have never considered myself a superstitious person, in fact I have made fun of friends who believed in any type of that behavior. I will admit, however, if it is genetically heritable, I may have...

Growing up in Eastern Colorado there were two things I had little, if no, experience with and never developed a like for. Deep water and high places. In a region with about 12 inches of annual precipi...

I have lost track of how many columns I’ve written about my dislike of computers. Well, here is one more. Everywhere I turn there is a story about A.I. No, not the kind of AI we livestock people a...

A few weeks ago I wrote an “Under The Wire” in which I complained about my on going battle with weeds here on the Hodgson Rancho. It included descriptions of moving, spraying, chopping with a sho...

Fall is a wonderful time of the year. Trees turn wonderful colors, night begin to become longer and cooler, days are shortened a few seconds every day and best of all the frosts that accompany fall...

Some things in this world don’t require much explanation for them to make sense to just about anyone. On the other side of the coin, there are certain situations that are difficult to explain to a...

One of life’s great mysteries is how a father and mother can produce two children and have them be so different. I also wonder how some couples had a particular child and even wanted to chance having...

How often have you asked someone “How are you doing?” and received a reply of, “I’m doing OK but I wish someone would shut off this wind!” I find this notable because rarely does anyone want to “shut...

I have often said everything I know about people I learned from a cow. Today, however, I am writing about something I doubt even a cow could understand. We all have heard about “Test Tube Meat," t...

Long time “Under the Wire” readers are by now aware of my propensity towards accidents and injuries. The truth of the matter is, new readers won’t have to read very many of these columns to figur...

A recent, rare, Hodgson family vacation via automobile, drew me from the familiar flatlands of Eastern Colorado to an area so starkly different, it could have been the moon as far as I knew. In fact,...

Folks like us who make a big part of their living off the land develop an appreciation not only for how it serves us but also for those who took care of it before we came along. As a student, I will...

In the past when a cowboy got ready to leave for a rodeo, he loaded old Dobbin in the trailer, crawled into his truck and pulled onto the super slab. Today, nothing really has changed, except for one...

Those of you who know who Cher is will be surprised to learn she and I share a unique similarity. Slightly younger readers probably wonder, “Who the heck is Cher?” Once you hear about her, cha...

“What comes around, goes around.” I have no idea who to attribute this quote to. It’s about as common as “look at the sunset,” so I’m going to guess nobody knows who said it first. This concept has...

Anyone who has ever hauled a horse to a rodeo, team penning, barrel race, cutting or horse show, has had this happen. You’ve been tuning and grooming on old Bay for days, maybe weeks, even months. T...

It would be the world’s biggest understatement to say we are concerned about terrorism in our Country. Since 9/11, no corner of America has been immune to the fear terrorists have brought to our h...

Oh, for the good old days of the cowboy. Back when the horse was King, there was no internet (or electricity for that matter) and saddling your horse was so much easier. The saddling procedure itself...

These days, every new idea seems to involve the internet or a computer. That is, every new idea by everyone but me. While the rest of the world seems to think only in terms of e-mail, Web sites and Do...

Sue and I bought a new “cowboy car” a while back. In case you’ve never heard of a “cowboy car” before, don’t worry about it. I just made up the term a few days before we bought it. Everybody k...

The end of each year brings attempts to name the “best” of the past year, decade or even longer. Best actor, best news story, best jar of jelly, etc, etc. When we finished a year, century and mil...

I suppose it is the old “left brain, right brain” thing. You know what I’m talking about ... The difference between a guy’s thinking and a gal’s thoughts. Left brain right brain, of course means in...

Did you ever get the feeling you’ve wasted your life? Maybe you should have gone into another line of work? Everyone else seems to have done better with their life than you? No? Well, me neither. Most...

I can’t believe I did it but I forgot about winter. I’ll admit that seems pretty silly but it happened. It must have been all those pretty pictures I’ve been looking at. My eyes have gazed lovin...